Tag Archives: Art

Four Women of the Renaissance

5 January 2025 By in Art, Biography, History, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Leonardo da Vinci, who died on May 2, 1519 at the age of 67, began around 40 paintings in his lifetime, of which fewer than 20 survive. Of those that survive, only about 15 are believed to be complete.

The artist painted only four known portraits of women:

  • Ginevra de’ Benci at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
  • La Belle Ferronnière at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
  • Mona Lisa also at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
  • Cecilia Gallerani (known as “Lady with an Ermine“) at the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland.

Cecilia Gallerani was the mistress of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, and was painted while da Vinci worked in the Duke’s court in Milan, Italy. The Polish government paid 100 million Euros for the painting in 2016.

Trivia: Many believe that Leonardo da Vinci continuously reworked the Mona Lisa throughout his life; it was still in his possession when he died. The fact that the Mona Lisa does not have eyebrows suggests, to me, that the painting was still unfinished. The absence of eyebrows in the Mona Lisa has led to other theories as well:

  • Others argue that da Vinci might have intentionally left them out for artistic reasons.
  • There’s also the theory that the eyebrows might have faded over time due to the varnish or other conservation issues.

Source: Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson, 2017. Graphic: Lady with and Ermine by da Vinci, public domain.

Friends

22 December 2024 By in Art, History Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

On a fine, lazy summer day along the banks of the Seine in 1880, possibly 1881, Pierre-Auguste Renoir began sketching and painting his most celebrated structured composition, “Luncheon of the Boating Party”.

The luncheon party takes place on the balcony of the Maison Fournaise restaurant and includes 14 friends and acquaintances of the painter, 13 of whom have been identified.

The Phillips Collection, where the painting resides, comments that, Renoir has immortalized his friends to such a degree that the image is “not anectdotal [sic] but monumental.” …Renoir’s magnus opus is a very tightly composed work, uniting within one image the time-honored compositional traditions of figure painting, still life, and landscape.

Edward G. Robinson, American actor and art collector, in “All My Yesterdays: An Autobiography” amusingly remarks, “For over thirty years I made periodic visits to Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party in a Washington museum, and stood before that magnificent masterpiece hour after hour, day after day, plotting ways to steal it.”

Source: The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C. All My Yesterdays by Robinson. Graphic: Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881. Public Domain.

Flowers for Purpose:

9 December 2024 By in Art Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Georgia O’Keeffe, a major influence and definer of early 20th-century American Modernism, was an exemplar of the natural world, painting flowers, desert landscapes, and skyscrapers with precision, coated with a veneer of the sublime and a touch of the surreal.

Her flowers were her gifts and instructions to the world. In the May 16, 1946, issue of the New York Post, she articulated her artistic purpose: “When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not.”

The American Modernism movement is difficult to define, though O’Keeffe seems to have taken the movement a step back from the light and color of French Impressionism to a more classical form, incorporating precision of shape with the synthesis of modern abstraction.

When she abandoned precision for immersion in total abstraction, she sometimes found herself lost in amateurish erotica or unending interpretive babbling, enigmatically and essentially labeling these works as meaning whatever she wanted them to mean.

Source: Georgia O’Keeffe Edited by Barson, 2016.  Graphic: Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, oil on canvas by Georgia O’Keeffe, 1932; in the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Arkansas. 121.9 × 101.6 cm. Edward C. Robison III/ © 2016 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/DACS

Know Thyself

29 September 2024 By in Art Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Draughtsman, etcher, painter, Rembrandt van Rijn, fascinated with the expressive face, inclined to acting out different character roles, inserting himself into the crowds to witness his subjects, shaping his public persona through his art, uncertain in youth, self-assured by mid-life, reflective towards the end, it is believed, with scholars still counting, that he created 40 to 50 paintings, 31 or 32 etchings, and 7 drawings of himself over a period of 44 years.

It is believed to be a record for self-portraits by a renowned artist.

The curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, C.S. Ackley writes that: “The artist used himself as a cheap model, studying his contorted features in the mirror.”

A student of Rembrandt wrote in 1678 that a young budding artist should use a mirror to aid in the representation of the passions or emotions in order “to be at once performer and audience.”

To paraphrase the Delphic maxim: Know your art by studying yourself.

Source Rembrandt’s Journey by C.S. Ackley, 2003. ThoughtCo. 2019. Graphic: Rembrandt, Self-Portrait, Oil on Panel, 1629, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.

Versailles

22 September 2024 By in Architecture, Art, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

The Palace of Versailles is the modern definition of grand opulence. Opulence beyond the comprehension of the common man. Built as a tribute to, and glorification of, himself, King Louis XIV, who stood at the apex of the world stage in the 17th century.

He built the palace to move his court out of Paris, supposedly so he could exert more control over the French nobility.

Initial construction began in 1661 with the Grand Palace and its surrounding gardens and culminated in 1710 with the completion of The Royal Chapel. The entire estate covers about 2000 acres and various estimates suggest that Versailles would cost $2-50 billion to construct today.

The Hall of Mirrors, shown in the graphic, was added, along with the wings to the Grand Palace from 1678-1684.

Source: Versailles by Perouse de Montclos, 1991. Graphic: Hall of Mirrors, Britannica.

The Hand of God

1 September 2024 By in Art, Books Nonfiction Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Guillaume de Laubier and Jacques Bosser in their book ‘Sacred Spaces: The Awe-Inspiring Architecture of Churches and Cathedrals’ capture the artistic wonderment and engineering marvels that sprang from the last two millennia of Christian faith. From St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and back to Barcelona’s Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, the authors showcase the magnificent architectural monuments to Christ that are unsurpassed in our contemporary world of concrete and steel. The beauty presented in these ‘Sacred Spaces’ were constructed with flesh and blood but only God could have provided the inspiration and the will to create them.

The photo is the baldachin, or canopy, which hangs in the Barcelona Sagrada Familia. It represents the Holy Spirit covering the cross of Christ and hangs below the representation of the Father (not shown), which taken together represent the Holy Trinity of Christian faith.

Source: Sacred Spaces: The Awe-Inspiring Architecture of Churches and Cathedrals by Jacques Bosser and Guillaume de Laubier, 2018. Graphic: The Baldachin: Representation of the Holy Spirit at the Sagrada Familia by Blog Sagrada Familia, 2018.

The Divine Comedy:

21 July 2024 By in Art, History, Philosophy, Poetry Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

William Blake (1757-1827), in the final years of his life created 102 watercolors and 7 copper plates, most unfinished, for Dante’s ‘The Divine Comedy’. One of the more profound and captivating of these paintings is ‘Antaeus Setting Virgil and Dante into the Ninth Circle of Hell’.

The giant Antaeus, son of Neptune and Gaia, was invincible as long as he remained attached to his mother. Hercules, for his 11th task, had to defeat Antaeus but couldn’t if he touched the Earth, so he lifted him off the ground and strangled him to death.

The Ninth Circle is reserved for the treacherous and is subdivided into 4 rings. The first part is reserved for familial traitors and is named Caina as in Cain and Abel. The second ring, Antenora for Antenora of Troy is for national traitors. Ptolomaea for Ptolemy is the third ring for those who betray their guests. Finally, the inner ring is called Judecca for Judas Iscariot betrayer of Christ and is for the worst traitors: those who turn on their masters. At the center of the Ninth Circle resides Satan.

Finally, as an aside, Dante’s ‘The Divine Comedy’ shouldn’t be interpreted as The Divine Humor, but as The Divine Outcome. The author meant that comedy was the opposite of tragedy. Tragedies begin well and end badly, but Dante’s Comedy begins badly, in Hell, and ends well with Dante reaching his desired destination: Heaven.

Source: Will Blake, The Divine Comedy by David Bindman, 2000. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, circa 1321. Bulfinch’s Mythology, 1867. Graphic: Antaeus Setting Down Dante and Virgil in the Last Circle of Hell, Blake, 1827, Public Domain.

The Travels of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus

7 July 2024 By in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Rest on the Flight into Egypt was painted by the Venetian Renaissance master Tiziano Vecellio, better known as Titian, while he was in his late teens or possibly 20 years old in the year 1508. The painting was inspired by Joseph’s dream, recounted in Matthew 2:13-23, telling him and his young family to flee Herod and Judea.

The painting has changed hands repeatedly over the centuries being possessed by Dukes, Archdukes, Marquess, thieves, and other rich and powerful people. Below is a compilation of known owners of the painting through the years:

  • Possibly the first owner was Alfonso d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, 1508? Unverified.
  • Purchased by a Venetian merchant, Bartolomeo della Nave at an unknown date. Sold 1638
  • Purchased by James Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton in 1638
  • Purchased by Leopold Wilhelm, Archduke of Austria in 1649
  • Acquired by Hugh Andrew Johnston Munro of Novar in 1851
  • Acquired by John Thynne, Marquess of Bath in 1878
  • Stolen from Alexander Thynn, Marquess of Bath in 1995
  • Recovered for Alexander Thynn, Marquess of Bath in 2002. The painting was found at a bus stop in south-west London.
  • Sold by Ceawlin Thynn at Christie’s to an unknown buyer on 2 July 2024 for 17,560,000 pounds or about 22.17 million dollars.

Source: Christie’s June 2024. Artnet.com. The Art Newspaper.  Graphic: Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Titian, 1508, Public Domain.

Gol Stave Church

7 May 2024 By in Art, Religion Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

 

At the Scandinavian Heritage Association’s Heritage Park in Minot, North Dakota there is a full-size replica, built in 2000, of the Gol Stave Church. The original was constructed in Gol, Hallingdal, Norway (~100 miles NW of Oslo) around 1250 AD. It was moved to Bygdoy Park in Oslo, Norway about 100 years ago.

According to Valebrokk et al, inside the church, the corner posts are essential. They are often accentuated and are heavier and more richly decorated than the other structural elements. “They represent the four gospels whose teachings are the supporting foundation of all Christianity” is the description given in a sermon in the thirteenth century. This sermon was held during a church consecration, in which each section of the stave church’s structure was related to spiritual values. The beams upon which the columns rest “signify God’s apostles, the foundation of all Christianity.” The floorboards represent “the humble men who bow in honour; the more they are exposed to the trampling feet of the congregation, the more support they provide.”

The roof surface which protects the church from snow and inclement weather “represents the men…whose prayers protect Christianity from temptation.”

In addition to the replica in Minot, additional replicas exist in the Gordarike Family Park in Gol, which was built in 1995 and in the Norwegian Pavilion in EPCOT, Orlando which was built in 1984.

Source and graphic: scandinavianheritage.org. Excerpts above from Norway’s Stave Churches by Eva Valebrokk and Thomas Thiis-Evensen. Wikipedia.

Mona Lisa Eyes

25 March 2024 By in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment 
Her hair is Harlow gold
Her lips sweet surprise
Her hands are never cold
She's got Bette Davis eyes

Bette Davis Eyes. By Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon

In 1503 Leonardo da Vinci ended his association with the murdering and duplicitous Cesare Borgia, meaning he was again without a patron or in today’s vernacular; unemployed and without income. Likely, through a paternal connection, familial duty, and the need for money, he agreed to take a commission from a silk merchant to paint his 24-year-old wife: Lisa del Giocondo nee Gherardini.

He posed her in a seated, half-length, unconventional three-quarter portrait view with a typical Leonardo background of winding rivers, mountains, and misty sky. Her enigmatic smile and follow-you-anywhere eyes are the subject of endless discussions and debates. He employed his now famous, delicate blending of colors with soft edges; “sfumato”, and his almost transparent layering to create what is now considered the archetypical Renaissance art form, and the world’s most famous and valuable painting. Some estimates place the value of the painting somewhere north of one billion dollars.

In predictable fashion, Leonardo never finished the painting. He began the painting in 1503, as confirmed by a margin note in a book dated to that year, and continued working on it until he died in France in 1519 at the age of 67. If you look closely at the painting, you will notice that Lisa does not have any eyebrows or eyelashes although modern science has detected them as being originally there. It is believed that they were removed over time by repeated cleanings, but it is just as likely Leonardo overpainted them with the intent of painting them back on at some later date.

The painting is now on display in the Louvre, having been purchased by the King of France, Francois I, Leonardo’s final patron, shortly after the painter’s death.

Source: Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. Published 2017.

Painting from Wikipedia. Public Domain