Frans Hals A Young Man in a Large Hat Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 13, 2009
A Young Man in a Large Hat by Frans Hals
1628-30
Oil on panel, 29,2 x 23,2 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Frans Hals Andries van der Horn Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 13, 2009
Andries van der Horn by Frans Hals
1638
Oil on canvas, 86 x 67 cm
Museu de Arte, São Paolo
At mid-height on the right side an inscription: “AETAT SVAE 38 / AN 1638″. Andries van der Horn was an important member of the Haarlem society, his portrai can be found also in the group portrait Officers and Subodinates of the St George Civic Guard Company (c. 1639).
Frans Hals Anetta Hanemans Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 13, 2009
Frans Hals Anna van der Aar Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 13, 2009
Anna van der Aar by Frans Hals
1626
Oil on panel, 22,2 x 16,5 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Frans Hals Banquet of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 13, 2009
Banquet of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard by Frans Hals
1616
Oil on canvas, 175 x 324 cm
Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem
The portrait of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard is the first major group portrait by Frans Hals, and the first monumental civic guard painting in the new era of Dutch painting. Together with the leaders of public, charitable and professional associations, the civic guard societies were the main patrons to commission group portraits. This patronage took on considerable proportions in the course of the century. These group portraits are also of value as historical documents, for which lists were drawn up giving the names of the figures portrayed. The paintings themselves were displayed prominently on the premises of the respective association.
These civic guard portraits were an expression of the Baroque will to representation, whose tradition is rooted in the medieval era. There had been civic guards in the Netherlands since the 13th century. They had played an important role in the emancipation of the cities and towns from feudal rule and had gained considerable political and military significance in the Netherlands’ struggle for independence.
Cornelis van Haarlem had already painted the officers of the St George Civic Guard in 1599. Hals, however, revolutionizes this type of painting. Instead of merely painting a row of individual portraits, he places them within a specific context by creating a banquet scene. This is not simply a moment captured at a table, but an extremely witty and calculated composition in which a scenic context is created between all the figures involved, and, on the other hand, each of the figures poses and acts independently and individually. Hals has found a new and persuasive solution to the problem of portraying a large group without difference of rank.
Hals seems to have arranged the officers casually around the festive board. But this is not the case. The places they occupy are in strict accord with military protocol. The colonel, the company’s highest ranking officer, is seated at the head of the table; at his right is the provost, the second ranking officer. They are flanked by the company’s three captains and the three lieutenants are at the lower end of the table. The three ensigns, who were not members of the officer corps, and the servant stand. Hals other group portraits of officers at banquet tables, which look equally informal, follow a similar hierarchical arrangement.
Perugino Madonna and Child Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 10, 2009
Perugino Madonna in Glory with the Child and Saints Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 10, 2009
Madonna in Glory with the Child and Saints by Perugino
1495-96
Oil on panel, 152 x 124 cm
Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna
The represented saints are Sts Michael, Catherine of Alexandrai, Apolonia, and John the Evangelist. The painting is signed as “PETRVS PERVSINVS PINXIT”.
Perugino Madonna del Sacco Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 10, 2009
Madonna del Sacco by Perugino
1495-1500
Oil on wood, 88 x 66 cm
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence
The attribution to Perugino goes back to the origin of the picture in the Medicean inventories. Modern criticism however consigns it at leat in part to the school, and indeed in relation to other works of this master there is a definite weakness in several respects. It is nevertheless difficult to erase it entirely from the list of Perugino’s works, if only for the composition, so well balanced and tranquil, and for the atmosphere of suspended contemplation
Perugino Madonna with Child and Little St John 1 Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 10, 2009
Madonna with Child and Little St John 1 by Perugino
1497
Oil on wood, 73 x 52 cm
Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt
Benozzo Gozzoli Adoration of the Magi Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 10, 2009
Adoration of the Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli
1440-41
Fresco
Convento di San Marco, Florence
Benozzo Gozzoli was a student of Fra Angelico who had a formative influence on him. He collaborated in the pictorial decoration of the dormitory cells in the Florentine Dominican monastery of San Marco, which took place from 1438 to 1444/45. There Fra Angelico and his assistants were painting a small devotional fresco in each cell, while Cosimo de’ Medici’s double cell (cell 38/39) was furnished with a larger wall painting, the Adoration of the Magi (cell 39) and a Crucifixion with Saints Cosmas, Damian, John and Peter (cell 38, the vestibule). The complete integration of the youthful Benozzo’s artistic style with that of Fra Angelico has meant that it is only in recent times that it has been possible to identify with a fair degree of accuracy a variety of interventions by his hand, which were first limited to isolated figures or group of figures. Later he had more responsibility and scholars now agree that he was almost exclusively responsible for the decoration of Cosimo de’ Medici’s cells.
Gozzoli’s decisive part in the production of the Adoration of the Magi can be recognised stylistically by the fact that, compared t the works of his teacher, the colours are softer, the plasticity of forms is reduced in favour of sharper contours, and the landscape in the background acts as a backdrop. Here the religious theme of the Epiphany is set in a bleak rocky landscape which rises up behind the Three Kings’ retinue. This corresponds to the religious mood of Fra Angelico’s pictures and does justice to the fresco’s function as a devotional picture.
Benozzo Gozzoli Angels Worshipping (left side) Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 10, 2009
Angels Worshipping (left side) by Benozzo Gozzoli
1459-60
Fresco
Chapel, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence
In contrast to iconographical tradition, Gozzoli has not depicted the arrival of the procession but shows the events in the chronological order in which they happened in the biblical account of Christmas: the corner pilasters flanking the choir separate the earthly procession from the heavenly sphere of the angels. The angels – unrecognised by the humans – are paying homage to the Christ Child on the altar painting, while the Three Kings are still travelling and the shepherds in the fields are yet to experience the annunciation of the birth.
Perugino Madonna and Child 2 Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 10, 2009
Benozzo Gozzoli Angels Worshipping (right side) Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 10, 2009
Angels Worshipping (right side) by Benozzo Gozzoli
1459-60
Fresco
Chapel, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence
The singing and praying choirs of angels are embedded in a paradisiacal landscape. In the dark chapel, with the only artificial light coming from candles and torches, the powerful and shining colours and the gold and metal layers on the wall paintings must have created an impressive sight.
Benozzo Gozzoli Birth of Mary Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 10, 2009
Birth of Mary by Benozzo Gozzoli
1491
Transferred fresco
Biblioteca Comunale, Castelfiorentino
This scene is on the exterior wall of the Shrine of the Visitation. The Birth of Mary takes place in the presence of several women in a perspectively constructed interior, a bed chamber that is furnished with marble wall paneling and a wooden coffered ceiling.
Benozzo Gozzoli Assumption of the Virgin Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 10, 2009
Assumption of the Virgin by Benozzo Gozzoli
1484
Transferred fresco
Biblioteca Comunale, Castelfiorentino
The composition of the right wall painting of the Shrine of the Madonna della Tosse precisely repeats the construction of the scene on the left wall: the catafalque and the empty sarcophagus correspond to each other, as do the strip of landscape used to separate the earthly and heavenly spheres. As in earlier examples, Benozzo Gozzoli has combined the Assumption with a depiction of Mary lowering her girdle.
Thomas Gainsborough Conversation in a Park Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
Conversation in a Park by Thomas Gainsborough
c. 1740
Oil on canvas, 73 x 68 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris
This charming picture belongs to Gainsborough’s early period, when he was working in London and Suffolk. The theme of the conversation in a park evokes Watteau and his school; it denotes a French influence, which played a considerable part in the formation of the artist – he was in fact a pupil of the French engraver Gravelot at the St Martins Lane Academy. This picture has been thought to represent Thomas Sandby and his wife. At the Watson sale in 1832, it was described as depicting the artist and his wife. The painter’s marriage took place in 1746; a very similar work, Mr and Mrs Andrews, is dated 1748.
The open-air portrait is a familiar theme in the English school, whereas in eighteenth-century France the portrait is usually in an interior. The evocation of nature by the English portrait painters is on the whole conventional; it is quite another matter with Gainsborough, however, who has treated the landscape for its own sake.
Thomas Gainsborough Johann Christian Bach Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
Johann Christian Bach by Thomas Gainsborough
1776
Oil on canvas
Bibliografico Musicale, Museo Civico, Bologna
The artist preferred the company of actors, artists, dramatists and musicians to that of politicians, writers or scholars, and was himself a talented amateur musician in addition to being a painter. Some of his finest portraits are of musicians and include the composer Karl Friedrich Abel (San Marino, Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery) and Johann Christian Bach.
Listen to an example of Johann Christian Bach’s music.
Johann Thomas Gainsborough Christian Fischer Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
Johann Christian Fischer by Thomas Gainsborough
c. 1780
Oil on canvas, 228,6 x 150,5 cm
Royal Collection, Windsor
Johann Christian Fischer (1733-1800) was an outstanding musician. He was born in Germany at Freiburg-im-Breisgau and played for a time in the court band at Dresden before entering the service of Frederick the Great. On coming to London, where he is first recorded on 2 June 1768, he became a member of Queen Charlotte’s Band and played regularly at court. His performance of Handel’s fourth oboe concerto during the Handel Commemoration at Westminster Abbey in 1784 gave particular pleasure to George III. Regardless of such successes, he failed in 1786 to secure the post of Master of the King’s Band. He collapsed in 1800 while playing in a concert at court and died shortly afterwards.
Fischer was a composer and virtuoso oboist. His two-keyed oboe is visible on the harpsichord-cum-piano against which the musician leans. Fanny Burney praised the ‘sweet-flowing, melting celestial notes of Fischer’s hautboy,’ but the Italian violinist Felice de’ Giardini (1716-93) referred to Fischer’s ‘impudence of tone as no other instrument could contend with.’ In the portrait on the chair behind Fischer is a violin, on which he was apparently also an accomplished performer although only in private. The harpsichord-cum-piano, made by Joseph Merlin who came to London from the Netherlands in 1760 and established a successful business in the production of pianofortes, presumably refers to his abilities as a composer, as no doubt do the piles of musical scores.
This portrait of Johann Christian Fischer stands as testimony to Gainsborough’s own love of music. The artist preferred the company of actors, artists, dramatists and musicians to that of politicians, writers or scholars, and was himself a talented amateur musician in addition to being a painter. Gainsborough once wrote to William Jackson: ‘I’m sick of Portraits and wish very much to take my Viol da Gamba and walk off to some sweet Village when I can paint Landskips and enjoy the fag End of Life in quietness and ease.’ Yet some of his finest portraits are of musicians and include, in addition to that of Fischer, the composer Karl Friedrich Abel (San Marino, Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery) and Johann Christian Bach (Bologna, Museo Civico, Bibliografico Musicale). These two portraits date from the late 1770s, whereas that of Johann Christian Fischer was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1780.
Gainsborough seems to have known Fischer while he was still living in Bath (Fischer moved permanently to London in 1774). As early as 1775 Fischer evinced an interest in the artist’s elder daughter Mary (1748-1826), whom he married at St Ann’s Church, Soho, on 21 February 1780. The wedding was agreed to reluctantly by Gainsborough, who, although he admired Fischer as a musician, perhaps hoped that his elder daughter might make a better marriage, and lodged doubts about the musician’s character. He wrote to his sister on 23 February 1780: ‘I can’t say I have any reason to doubt the man’s honesty or goodness of heart, as I never heard anyone speak anything amiss of him; and as to his oddities and temper, she must learn to like as she likes his person, for nothing can be altered now. I pray God she may be happy with him and have her health.’ The marriage did not last and Mary gradually became insane. Whatever tensions Gainsborough might have been experiencing with regard to Fischer’s relationship with his daughter, Gainsborough’s portrait is masterly in its compositional sophistication, use of colour and sympathetic characterisation. It is clear, however, that the likeness has been painted over another portrait which will no doubt be revealed by X-ray. The portrait came into the Royal Collection indirectly. It appears to have been painted for Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of Abingdon (died 1799), a radical politician and a talented amateur musician, but was sold by his successor. Eventually it was acquired by Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, who in 1809 presented it to his brother, the Prince of Wales (later George IV). Both were admirers of Gainsborough’s work.
Theodore Gericault An Officer of the Imperial Horse Guards Charging Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
An Officer of the Imperial Horse Guards Charging by Theodore Gericault
1812
Oil on canvas, 349 x 266 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris
This was G閞icault’s first major work. The rider is turned round so far from the waist that the forward movement of the charging horse is exactly the opposite of the rider’s gaze. The curving sabre underlines the turn of the body. The whole painting makes an immediate and spontaneous impression, with all its elements forming one dramatic whole.
The painting was commissioned by an officer who wanted to be represented in uniform, and G閞icault created the supreme image of the wildly charging fighter. He won a medal for the painting in the Salon of 1812.
Theodore Gericault Insane Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
Insane by Theodore Gericault
c. 1820
Oil on canvas, 61,2 x 50,2 cm
Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent
This painting belongs to a series of ten portraits of mental patients that Gaicault painted in Parisian lunatic asylums around 1820. Gaicault was the friend of the psychiatrist Dr. Georget, to whom he presented the ten works. The project reflected the notion at that time that there was a link between mental illness and facial expression. Five of the ten portraits survived, including the one in Ghent. Gaicault displays an almost scientific interest in facial expression in this work, which is balanced by his Romantic empathy with the depth of this grimacing face. The painting illustrates the pursuit of truth through the concentrated observation of reality that typified the leading Romantic painters and writers.
Theodore Gericault The Raft of the Medusa Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault
1818-19
Oil on canvas, 491 x 716 cm
Musee du Louvre, ParisIn expressing the predicament of the shipwrecked everywhere in the world, Geeicault had laid the foundations of an aesthetic revolution. The Raft of the Medusa marks the first appearance in painting of ‘the ugly’ and thereby proclaims its scrupulous respect for the truth, however repulsive the truth might be. This concern for truth is integral to the Romantic temperament.
For his Salon picture in 1819, Geeicault chose a dramatic episode — the wreck of the frigate Meduse, which had set off with a French fleet on an expedition to Senegal, and had been lost in July 1816. The French admiralty was accused of having put an incompetent officer in charge of the expedition; he was the Comte de Chaumareix, a former emigre who had not commanded a vessel for twenty-five years. The picture was an enormous success, more on account of the scandal than because of an interest in the arts; but Geeicault only received a gold medal, and his picture was not bought by the government. One wonders who it was suggested commissioning this painter of horror subjects to do a Sacred Heart.
Geeicault was mortified, and decided to exhibit his picture in England, where a pamphlet had been published on the wreck of the Meduse. He entrusted the vast canvas to an eccentric character named Bullock (as Lethiae had done with his Brutus Condemning his Sons), and it was exhibited in London from 12 June to 31 December 1820, and in Dublin from 5 February to 31 March 1821. Geeicault received a third of the takings, and the operation brought him in quite a large sum (probably 20,000 francs).
The painting was priced at 6,000 francs at the posthumous sale of the artist’s possessions. It was bought by Dedreux-Dorcy, a friend of Geeicault, for an additional five francs, and he sold it to the State for the same amount.
The most horrifying part of the shipwreck had been the drama of 149 wretches abandoned on a raft with only some casks of wine to live on, and the ensuing drunkenness and abominations. When the frigate Argus found the raft, after many days, she was only able to rescue fifteen survivors, of whom five died after being brought ashore. After some hesitation, G閞icault chose this last episode — the sighting of the Argus by the survivors on the raft. With regard to the latter, he set himself to the task of carrying out an inquest as thoroughly as any examining magistrate. He rented a studio opposite the Beaujon hospital, so that he could make anatomical studies of the dying.
The picture was painted by G閞icault in an extraordinary state of tension; ‘the mere sound of a smile prevented him from painting’.
Thomas Gainsborough Elizabeth Wrottesley Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
Elizabeth Wrottesley by Thomas Gainsborough
1764-65
Oil on canvas, 76 x 64 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, MelbourneElizabeth Wrottesly (died 1822) was the second wife of Augustus Henry Fitzroy (1735-1811), Duke of Grafton. She was one of the ancestors of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Thomas Gainsborough Lady Alston Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
Lady Alston by Thomas Gainsborough
1760-65
Oil on canvas, 226 x 168 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris
This work dates from Gainsborough’s mature period, when he resided in Bath as a fashionable portraitist of the aristocracy. Following the elegant Van Dyck tradition, he places the model in a broad landscape background. However, the strong contrasts of the lighting of the figure and the flashing effect achieved on the silk of her dress against the deep, impenetrable forest behind her, make this mysterious and poetic portrait a totally original work.
Theodore Gericault The Race of the Barbary Horses Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
The Race of the Barbary Horses by Theodore Gericault
1817
Oil on canvas, 45 x 60 cm
Museedu Louvre, Paris
Geeicault painted five studies of this theme for large painting which was never realized. Two versions depicts the subject as a contemporary scene, to other three (one of them in the Louvre) as antique.
Theodore Gericault Woman with Gambling Mania Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
Woman with Gambling Mania by Theodore Gericault
c. 1822
Oil on canvas, 77 x 65 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris
Gaicault seems to have felt something like an inner mission when he chose the most pitiable creatures in society for his subjects. In his studies of neurotics, he made shattering documentations, like this painting.
di Buoninsegna Duccio Adoration of the Magi Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
Adoration of the Magi by di Buoninsegna Duccio
1308-11
Tempera on wood, 42,5 x 43,5 cm
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena
In the Adoration of the Magi the detail of the king holding his crown on his arm while bending to kiss the child’s feet is taken from the pulpit by Nicola Pisano. It is equally interesting to note the two camels, an evident reminder of the eastern origins of the Magi, while a star, badly damaged through loss of colour, shines above the grotto.
di Buoninsegna Duccio Agony in the Garden Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
Agony in the Garden by di Buoninsegna Duccio
1308-11
Tempera on wood, 51 x 76 cm
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena
In the Agony in the Garden, Jesus is turning to Peter, James the Great and John, shaking them and warning them not to fall into temptation, while the other disciples are sleeping. On the right, in accordance with the Gospel of St Luke, which is the only one to mention an angel appearing, he withdraws in prayer. In this quiet setting, both episodes are visualized through the gestures of Christ, Peter and the angel.
di Buoninsegna Duccio Announcement of Death to the Virgin Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
Announcement of Death to the Virgin by di Buoninsegna Duccio
1308-11
Tempera on wood, 41,5 x 54 cm
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena
In the simple architectural frame enclosing the scene space is articulated with effortless accuracy. The beamed ceiling, the linearity of the horizontal pattern on the back wall, the slender arches opening onto the room where Mary is sitting, lend calm elegance to the surroundings. In the Announcement of Death the angel, his robe light and fluttering, offers the palm branch to the Virgin – the palma mortis is present in all the episodes as an emblem of death and a symbol of paradise to come.
di Buoninsegna Duccio Annunciation Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
Annunciation by di Buoninsegna Duccio
1308-11
Tempera on wood, 43 x 44 cm
National Gallery, London
The episode of the Annunciation, told only by Luke, is set in vividly articulated architectural surroundings, where consistency of line and colour lend harmonic energy to the whole. Gabriel is portrayed in movement, in the act of greeting (his hand and right foot are the opposite ends of a perfect diagonal), while Mary appears to be drawing back. She is illuminated by the ray of the Holy Spirit, in the form of a small white dove, penetrating from a cusped arch. The unreal perspective of the vase of lilies, reminiscent of Oriental art, has often been noted.
di Buoninsegna Duccio Appearence Behind Locked Doors Painting
Posted by anglekissmetoday in November 9, 2009
Appearence Behind Locked Doors by di Buoninsegna Duccio
1308-11
Tempera on wood, 39,5 x 51,5 cm
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena
The episodes Appearence Behind Locked Doors and Doubting Thomas take place in the same surroundings, the house where the apostles took refuge for fear of the Jews. The door in the centre, firmly shut with a horizontal bar (a detail which emphasizes the miraculous nature of the event), frames and shows up the dominant figure of Christ, towards whom the two groups of apostles are converging.
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