Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Babel Tower

Babel Tower - 1563

Kunsthistorischesmuseum - Vienna 

Genesis - Chapter 11: 1 to 9

1 - "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

2 - And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

3 - And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

4 - And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

5 - And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6 - And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 - Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8 - So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9 - Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth".
Genesis-chapter 11: 1 to 9

According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood , speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar a geographical locale of uncertain boundaries in Mesopotamia where they resolved to build a city with a tower "with its top in the heavens. The all idea reflects an unfortunate mistake of using their “one language and the same common speech” (Genesis 11: 1) in attempting to become God. They erected a monumental temple thinking that it would reach the Heavens and would thus give them access to absolute divinity. As a result of their deliberate disrespect of God’s invitation to accept His graces and use their communion to fully live their partnership with God and everyone who was different, God confused them and made them speak in different languages without mutually understanding one another. This led to a dispersion of mankind across the Earth. Along the centuries we have seen that the Babel story repeats itself. Men tend always to repeat the same mistakes. We have witnessed daily the construction of new Babel Towers every time someone refuses to focus on the multidisciplinary confrontation of ideas, on the differences, whether their origin comes from race, creed or social background. Men persist on the dictatorships, on the oligarchies, so common in Arab countries and Latin America, that it is not surprising to witness the chaos in several countries caused by today fundamentalism, extremism or by the misuse of religion within countries like in the Middle East. Babel Tower gives us, even today, this concept of Babylonian dispersion. The notion of spreading civilizations, ordained by God, so that all humanity can coexist respecting each other. Babel Tower and the Genesis, give us a lesson of tolerance and peace to which we should all learn.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569) painted the Babel Tower in 1563. In the book illumination of the Early and High Middle Ages, local buildings that were less than monumental were used as models for the architecture of the Tower of Babel. Starting on the 16 th century, artists oriented themselves on the Mesopotamian type of step-shaped ziggurat (temple tower), which, however, was rectangular rather than round. Bruegel’s monumental composition had several forerunners in Netherlandish painting, but his work became the famous classic among the Tower of Babel depiction and was frequently copied in many different variations.

The sense of scale is provided by the Flemish-style port city, which is impressively tiny in companion to the tower. With meticulous precision an encyclopedic interest Bruegel depicts an abundance of technical and mechanical details, from the supply of the building materials in the busy harbor to the various cranes and the scaffolding on the unfinished brick foundation. He sets the workers’ dwellings into the stone outer structure, which blends elements of classical with Romanesque architecture, and they appear to be more than merely temporary. By anchoring the building on the rocky slope, Bruegel creates the impression of static equilibrium. Reaching up to the clouds, the building, however, is optically distorted and appears to have slightly sunk into the ground on the left side. This is an artistic gesture, on the one hand enhancing the impression of the building’ s monumentally, and on the other hand alluding to human hubris and the impossibility of completing the tower because,

“the Lord confused the language of all the Earth”. Genesis 11:9.

If you care to know some History theories about the place where Babel Tower was built, you’ll find on this page some interesting perspectives.

Source: Kunsthistorischesmuseum Guide, Wikipedia

Raphael - Sistine Madonna

                                                                 Sistine Madonna - 1513-14
                                                     Germaldegalerie - Dresden - Germany

Raphael dramatic masterpiece known as the Sistine Madonna has a fascinating history that combines church rethoric and the skills of practiced illusionism. Finished shortly before his death, 1513–1514, as a commissioned alterpiece, it was the last of the painter's Madonnas and the last painting he completed with his own hands.It was originally commissioned to decorate the sepulchre of Pope Julius II. The image of Pope Sixtus I, seen at left, was chosen primarily because he was the patron saint of Julius’s clan, the Della Rovere family. St. Barbara painted on the right of the Virgin, inspects the scene with her downward glance towards the two winged putti , who gazed intently at the heavenly proceedings above them. Perhaps the most admired feature of the picture today, the putti, are thought to symbolize the funeral procession. Reproductions of their passive embodiment of childlike curiosity has become very popular and if you have a look at the Florence handcraft shops you’ll find lots of comercial products with these little angels which have become very popular around the world. This, however, should not distract us by undervaluing the brillance of Raphael’s other characters. As the curtains part to revel the ordered and triangular arrangment of the Virgin hosting the Christ child, clowds below out as stage smoke might engulf the modern audience. St. Sixtus, positioned in a humble repose with his papal tiara located at the edge of the painting points outwards to the faithful, confirming his role in this tradition of enduring devotion . The painting was first installed in the Convent of St. Sixtus in Piacenza. It was later donated to Augustus III, king of Saxony. The Sistine Madonna was rescued from destruction during the Bombing of Dresden in World War II  but the conditions in which it was saved, and the subsequent history of the piece are themselves the subject of controversy. The painting was stored, with other works of art, in a tunnel in Saxon, Switzerland when the Red Army encountered them. They took them from war-torn Germany to Moscow for safe keeping, so they say, and only returned to Dresden some years later.

Source: Steven Pullimood, Wikipedia, net

Francisco Ribalta - Christ Embracing St. Bernard Clairvaux

Christ embracing St. Bernard Clairvaux - 1625

Prado Museum - Madrid - Spain

Francisco Ribalta was a spanish painter of the Baroque period, mostly of religious subjects. He reached the pinnacle of his mature style with his painting "Christ Embracing St. Bernard" which transformed the Spanish Baroque and which I find very beautiful once it reflects de Resurrection of Christs in a very original way
"Christ breaks down the wall of death, and in Him there resides the fullness of God, which is life, eternal life".
In doing so, Ribalta discards  Mannerist conventions for a new type of naturalism and so he became Valencia’s leading artist set a course for Spanish art that paved the way for masters such as Velázques, Zurbarán, and Rivera. With its virile realism, Christ Embracing St. Bernard archives a synthesis of naturalism and religiosity that defined the art of the seventeenth-century Counter Reformation. Playing off rapturous limpness against divine strength, and the human against the transcendent, the painting shows both a scene of devout piety and of distinctly human interaction. The corporality of Christ’s body (descended from the Cross), as well as the careful attention to the draping of St. Bernard’s habit (juxtaposed with the almost nude and suspended body of Christ), give a sense of intimacy and weighty presence to a mystical vision. In its introspective and expressive depiction of deep religious experience, the painting proposes a redemptive vision of mankind. The sculptural modeling and dramatic chiaroscuro that define the two figures – against a stark background in which two others are barely visible – recall Italian tenebrists such as Caravaggio . Although it is uncertain whether Ribalta ever visited Italy, the painting reflects many of the features of the Italian Baroque, and is most likely drawn from a replica of Caravaggio alterpiece Ribalta is known to have copied.
Source: Net, João Ribas - Prado Museum

Leonardo da Vinci - The Last Supper

The Last Supper - 1498

Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie - Milan - Italy

For centuries this spectacular mural has been seen as one of the world's finest paintings and perhaps the greatest expression of its creator, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), who played a leading role at the forfront of the Italian Renaissance - the flourishing of the learning that peaked in the sixteenth century. His genius lay in an inventive curiosity that embraced both art and sciences. The Last Supper is the perfect synthesis of Leonardo's talent. Cleverly situated and conceived, it looks down from its lofty position on the north wall of the Convent of Santa Maria's refectory. As the diners sat down to eat, Christ and his twelve disciples cast their inspiring spiritual presence over the pious individuals beneath, Leonardo subtly highlights Christ's status in the group by painting his figure slightly larger and framed against the light of the window. He introduces human drama to the mural by choosing to illustrate the point when the disciples ask Christ who would betray him. Each disciple is shown reacting in a way that reveals much about them without resorting to the symbolism forced by his contemporaries. Da Vinci painted this mural on a dry plaster, which allowed him to work it as a whole, rather than having to finish one section at a time as was norm with traditional wet-plaster frescoes. Sadly, decay set in early because medium was less durable. Two early copies of The Last Supper are known to exist, presumably the work of Leonardo's assistant. The copies are almost the size of the original, and have survived with a wealth of original detail still intact. This bold experimentation, along with his pioneering grasp of composition, light, and perspective, are among the reasons da Vinci achieved an eminence that has lasted across centuries.

About the significance of the attitude and position of the Apostles:
From left to right: Bartholomew, James, son of Alphaeus and Andrew form a group of three, all are surprised. Judas Iscariot, Peter and John form another group of three. Judas is wearing green and blue and is in shadow, looking rather withdrawn and taken aback by the sudden revelation of his plan. He is clutching a small bag, perhaps signifying the silver given to him as payment to betray Jesus, or perhaps a reference to his role within the 12 disciples as treasurer. He is the only person to have his elbow on the table and his head is also horizontally the lowest of anyone in the painting. Peter looks angry and is holding a knife pointed away from Christ, perhaps foreshadowing his violent reaction in Gethsemane during Jesus' arrest. The youngest apostle, John, appears to swoon. Jesus Apostle Thomas, James the Greater and Philip are the next group of three. Thomas is clearly upset; James the Greater looks stunned, with his arms in the air. Meanwhile, Philip appears to be requesting some explanation. Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot are the final group of three. Both Jude Thaddeus and Matthew are turned toward Simon, perhaps to find out if he has any answer to their initial questions.
Source: Ann Kay - Da Vinci and Wikipedia

Caspar David Friedrich - Wonderer Above the Sea of Fog

Wonderer Above the Sea of Fog - 1818

Kunsthalle Hamburg - Hamburg - Germany

The sublime power of nature was a dominant theme in Caspar David Friedrich (1774 – 1840) paintings and this work is a perfect example of how the landscape of his native Germany was a source of inspiration, although Friedrich's personal history might also explain the omnious tensions between beauty and terror in his representation of nature. When he was a child, he was skating with his brother on the frozen Baltic sea when the ice cracked. Casper slipped and his brother died trying to save him. Friedrich's adult depression led to a suicide attempt in Dresden. After he tried to slit his own throat, he was always wore a beard to hide the scar. The relationship between trauma and inspiration is evident in Friedrich's statement:

"The painter should paint not only what he has in front of him, but also what he sees inside himself. If he sees nothing within, then he should stop painting what is in front of him".

A frightening, raging sea crashes in front of the lone, elegant figure. A young man, who stands upon a rocky precipice, is back to the viewer, wrapped in a dark green overcoat, and grips a walking stick in his right hand. His hair is caught in the wind and we may wonder what he gazes at, out there, on a garish landscape covered in a thick sea of fogin. We will never know what he was thinking about. This utterly arresting painting, which Friedrich produced the year he married, could express his own personal struggle to tame his surging emotions for the sake of his young bride. Friedrich, only began painting with oils after the age of thirty. He demonstrates a profound understanding of the medium in the depths of dark color he employs to execute his emotionally wrenching imagery. Both Friedrich's life and art are marked with an overwhelming sense of loneliness. This becomes more apparent in his later works, from a time when friends, members of his family and fellow pioneers of early romanticism began to either become distant from him or die. Art historians and some of his contemporaries attribute the melancholy in his art to the losses suffered during his youth to the bleak outlook of his adulthood, while Friedrich's pale and withdrawn appearance helped reinforce the popular notion of the "taciturn man from the North". Events corrupted Friedrich's legacy when Adolf Hitler chose to appropriate one of his paintings Two Men Contemplating the Moon (1830-35) for use as a Nazi propaganda. Despite that anachronistic connection, the mystical, melancholic beauty of his landscapes has endured and thankfully we are here to appreciate them as they deserve.
Sources: Anne Hildyard and Wikipedia

Rembrandt van Rijn - Self-portrait with Saskia

Self-portrait with Saskia - 1635

Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister - Dresden

I find this a delightful painting. It’s a portrayal of an utter happiness; it cheerfully expresses Rembrandt van Rijn 's joy in his marriage. He holds Saskia on his knee and raises a glass to us. Funny is that Saskia’s expression betrays a certain embarrassment at the rather vulgar laughter of her husband. Rembrandt met the twenty-year-old Saskia at the home of Hendrick van Uylenburch, his associate and dealer. She was a close relative of van Uylenburch. On the dead of her father, who had been burgomaster of Leeuwarden, she had left the province of Friesland in order to settle in Amsterdam. A love affair developed between the young artist and the cultured, florid, and rather timid girl. Saskia and Rembrandt, defying the guarded reaction from her tutor and relatives, became officially engaged on June 5, 1633. Arrangements for the marriage were made, with Rembrandt’s mother dithering for a long time before giving her consent. Finally on July 22, 1634, Rembrandt and Saskia, were married, having chosen to return to Saskia’s native Friesland for the wedding. Rembrandt and Saskia enjoyed a mutually affectionate relationship, based on imagination, fun, and sensual fulfillment. Thanks to his successful marriage and consistently high fees he earned as a painter and engraver, Rembrandt became a wealthy man almost overnight, on a par with highly respected professionals and members of high society. In 1635, at the age of 29, he was able to move to an elegant dwelling on the banks of the Amstel. For Rembrandt, a miller’s son, the marriage also involved a considerable rise in his social status. Soon he would become famous at the Court at The Hague. He was thus to receive many aristocratic commissions, although the fees were not always settled promptly. Regarding this happy painting some critics have seen this happy couple as also a parable of the prodigal son, who squandered his father’s fortune on improper revelry. However the genuine happiness expressed by the painting seems to contradict any possible intention to moralize.

Source: Stefano Zuffi - The Great Dutch Master 

Agnolo Bronzino - Eleanor of Toledo with her son Giovanni

Eleanor de Toledo with her son Giovanni - 1545

Galleria degli Ufizzi - Florence

Agnolo di Cosimo, also known as Agnolo Bronzino (1503–1572), was an italian mannerist painter from Florence. He became famous after receiving the Medici patronage in 1539, when he was one of the many artists chosen to execute the elaborate decorations for the wedding of Cosimo I de Medici , Grand Duke of Tuscany, with Eleanor of Toledo, age 17, daughter of Don Alvarez de Toledo Viceroy of Naples. Don Alvarez, ruled Naples harshly upon the orders of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain and besides being his second cousin he was also one of his most trusted lieutenants. The marriage, between Cosimo and Eleanor, became highly attractive for the Medicis for a variety of reasons. First, Eleanor’s royal Castilian ancestors and relations with the Habsburgs provided the Medici with the royal blood they had lacked till then. Secondly, this association began the process of placing The Medici on the same footing as other European sovereigns and gave Cosimo a relief on the struggle he was endeavour in order to solidify and strengthen not only the Florentine State but also his own position as its leader . Through her father Eleanor also provided the Medici a powerful link to Spain, at that time ultimately in control of Florence.

I’ve been reading about Eleanor’s (Toledo 1522 – Pisa 1562) interesting life lately and it has fascineted me the way she became an influencial consort in the Court of Tuscany. Despite her initial unpopularity as a Spaniard, she turned to be loved by her people, founded many churches, encouraged the arts and became patron to many of the most notable artists of her time. Eleanor also revelead interest in business and agriculture helping to expand and increase the profitability of the vast Medici estates, serving as regent of Florence during her spouse absences, establishing her position as the first modern first lady. I saw Bronzino’s painting, for the first time, in Florence, at the Galleria degli Uffizzi and I became fascinated by her distinct and noble bearing and her stunning dress. Bronzino, was the court painter to Cosimo for most of the Duke’s long reign. His chillingly refined treatment of subjects is typical of the Mannerist esthetics. Eleonor’s portrait is a stunning example of the uncompromising detail and clarity which caractherized Bronzino’s work, and the portrait of Eleanor, dated 1546 is no exception. I found fascinating the dress. Luxurious and elegant with a fabric stylistically choosen for a spanish Duchess which influence, surely, affected fashion at that time.

As Joe A. Thomas quotes: “The costume and fabric are given such importance that the painting almost becomes still life. The image of Eleanor in this dress became the equivalent of her state portrait and was repeated in various copies (one of them at the Wallace Collection, in London). This elegant garment would not have been an everyday wear. Eleanor may have chosen her favourite, most elegant gown in which to be memorialized in her portrait. We know that this was a special gown to her not only because she was depicted in it in her portraits, but also because she was buried in it. When the Medici tombs were opened in the nineteenth century, Eleanor’s otherwise unidentified body was recognized because she was wearing this exact dress”.

Eleanor and Cosimo had 11 children and 2 of their sons, Francesco and Ferdinando, reigned as grand Dukes of Tuscany. The child in the picture is believed to be her second male son, Giovanni, who later became Bishop of Pisa and Cardinal.

Source: Joe A. Thomas and Wikipedia

Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio - Narcissus

Narcissus - 1597-99

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica - Rome

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio,(1571-1610) enduring fame stems partly from his extraordinary life and partly from his even more remarkable art. In life he earned a reputation as swaggering brawler, became a fugitive after killing a man over a bet,  and died prematurely at the age of thirty-eight. Yet Caravaggio also produced paintings of breathtaking originality, becoming the most influential Italian artist of his generation. Narcissus belongs to the early part of Caravaggio’s career, and comparatively little is known about his work at this stage – indeed, some critics have even questioned whether this painting is actually by Caravaggio. Nevertheless, some of the artist’s trademarks are already apparent. From the outset, he favored the dramatic device of placing large, boldly lit figures in dark settings, like actors caught in spotlight. He also had a tendency to use sensual young men as his models. More importantly, the composition is simple but eye-catching. Narcissus and his reflection form a loop, revolving around the boy’s illuminated knee. A similar effect can be found in Caravaggio’s Conversion on the Way to Damascus (1601), which focuses on a horse’s hoof. The subject is drawn from Ovid. Narcissus was a handsome youth who fell in love with his own reflection and gradually pined away. At his death, he was transformed into the flower that now bears his name. Here, the doleful expression of the reflection already hints at this fate. Mythological subjects are quite rare in Caravaggio’s work, and the circumstances of any commission are unknown.

Source: Ian Zaczek

Pieter Bruegel The Elder - Children's Games

Children's Games - 1560

Kunsthistorischesmuseum - Vienna

One of the things that I appreciate in masters like Pieter Bruegel the Elder  (1526/30-1569) or later Hendrick Avercamp (1585-1634) is that they succeed, through their paintings, to become true story tellers. From a bird’s eyes view these masters could legibly fit in their work an impressive number of figures which gave us a good perception of the daily life on those days. A common fact to their paintings is that the viewer looks down into a wide square zone where we understand that there’s a transition between an urban and a rural setting at the edges. On this painting “Children’s Games” the view opens, on the right side, to a long street laid out in a central perspective which leads to the city centre, where a church steeple soars into the sky. On the edge of the square towards the city opens into an arcade running parallel to the course of the stream.  At the left edge of the painting, an idyllic village appears on the horizon. I saw this painting, last July 2010, at the Kunsthistorischesmuseum, in Vienna, and I've became fascinated with the impressive number of children in this painting: something like 230 in all (according to the cathalogue), and all of them are occupied with 83 different games. The funny thing here is that all the city seems to be theirs and the observer gets an extraordinary view of the children’s games at the time of this painting. The tininess of the figures and scenes forces the viewer seeking to decipher all the games to study the individual parts of the painting, slowly and minutely, which can turn out to be an entertaining past time. Some modern art school however have refused to accept such a humanistic – oriented interpretation and they claim that Brugels idea was to create through the children’s games a parable for the senselessness and foolishness of human behavior.

Source: Kunsthistorischesmuseum

Johannes Vermeer - Girl With a Pearl Earing

The Girl with the Pearl Earring - 1665

The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis - The Hague - Netherlands

This is one of my Johannes Vermeer's  favourite paintings. It is easy to see why this irresistible image has become one of the painter's best loved work. Here he uses a simple balanced composition, some air of mistery, trademark blue and yellow palette , and delicately pearlized light effects, the so called " virtuoso technique" and subtle rendering of light effects, unique to him and arguably unprecedented. Girl With a Pearl Earing shows Vermeer has being much more than simply a painter of charming small-scale "genre" scenes of everyday life. Vermeer draws the spectator into the painting by making his subject look lingeringly over her shoulder, directly at the viewer. Slighly parted lips add sensuality to the mistery - who is she? Her turban lends exoticism to the enticing mix, but is in fact simply explained. The picture is not a portrait but a study of a woman's head known in Vermeer's day as a tronie. Tronies represented certain emotions or types, with this showing an exotic type. The colors of the paintings are fresh, the brushwork smooth but just lively enough to capture every nuance of light, the unusual composition is powerful but harmonious, and the whole is unified by limpid light effects. The pearl captured in just two main strokes (you may see here in detail) clearly reflects the model's white collar, her eyes sparkle, and tiny dotted highlights play across her turban. Despite of becoming head of the painter's guild in Delft, Vermeer acquired only a modest local reputation in his lifetime, and more widespread recognition had to wait until much later. Vermeer most likely had a patron who bought most of the paintings he produced. In addition to his work as a painter, Vermeer twice served as dean of the painters’ guild and was also active as an art dealer and appraiser of paintings. In the end, despite the extra income from these activities, he could not manage to earn enough. When he died, he left his wife and eleven children with massive debts. His techniques, in particular his mastery of light, have inspired modern artists of all kinds, including Salvador Dali  who was a great Vermeer's admirer, and painted his own version of The Lacemaker and pitted large copies of the original against a rhinoceros in some now-famous surrealist experiments. Dali also immortalized the Dutch Master in one of his famous paintings named The Ghost of Vermeer of Delft Which Can Be Used As a Table dated 1934.

Sandro Botticelli - Birth of Venus

Birth of Venus - 1482-86

Galleria degli Uffizi - Florence

Birth of Venus is one of the most famous paintings in the world. It was painted by Alesandro di Mariano Fillipepi (1445-1510), known as Sandro Botticelli, who was an italian painter of the Florentine School. He served an apprendiceship under Fra Filippo Lippi, the best Florentine painter of that time. Botticelli made his name with his painting Allegory of Fortitude (1470), and he was subsequently commissioned to paint, Birth of Venus for Lorenzo de Medici “The Magnificent” from the wealthy Medici family. In mythology, Venus was conceived when Titan Cronus castrated his father, the god Uranus, whose severed genitals fertilized the sea. Birth of Venus depicts the moment when, having emerged from the sea in a shell, Venus lands at Paphos in Cyprus. She is attended by two winds who blow her towards the shore, while a nymph is poised to wrap a cloak, decorated with spring flowers, around Venus to cover her nudity. The stance of Venus is believed to be based on classical statuary, which was highly prized in Florence at that time. Despite the strange proportions of the body - the elongated neck and her overlong left arm - Venus is an arrestingly beautiful figure with her delicate skin and soft-flowing curls fresh from the sea. She is born to the world as the goddess of beauty, and the viewer is witness to this act of creation. She steaps off a gilded scallop shell, the winds shower her with roses - each with a golden heart - and the orange blossom on the tree behind her is also tipped with gold. Historically, this is the most important depicted nude, since classical antiquity and although it was charged by the Inquisition as being a vehicle of dissemination of paganism, it was miraculously saved from the holy fires because it was inside Villa Medicea di Castello, protected under the supervision of the Medici family.

Vincent Van Gogh - Midday Rest after Millet

Midday Rest after Millet - 1890

Museé D'Orsay - Paris

After staying only 3 days in Paris, in May 1890, Vincent left the bustling, restless city for the rural quiet of Auvers-sur-Oise. One of the residents of this village, thirty kilometres northwest of Paris, was doctor Paul Gachet. A physician and amateur painter Gachet had been a friend of Montecelli and had assembled an art collection that included works by Paul Cézanne, Renoir and Pissaro. It was Pisarro who had suggested to Vincent's brother Theo to contact Gachet and ask him if he could take Vincent under his wing. Gachet did take an eye on Vincent encouraging him in his work. Three weeks after arriving in Auvers, Vincent wrote that he had found a true friend in Gachet. The artist liked Auvers, where he felt a tranquility à la Puvis de Chavannes. This gave him the sense of calm which he needed to produce many works in a a short time,  such as landscapes. Vincent wrote to his brother Theo:

"Auvers is very beautiful. There were many old thatched roofs, something that is becoming rare (...) It is entirely rural, distinct and picturesque. (...) I am almost sure that on these canvas I have articulated what I cannot express in words, namely how healthy and heartening I find the countryside".

The fields and countryside around Auvers became the subject of many of his paintings. He discribed them in his studies, in many of his letters to his brother Theo,  which can be explored here , in a fabulous site where you will be able to read many of the artist's thoughts, fears, anxieties and states of mind. You can read more about Van Gogh's letters on my blog Manifesto and about his life here.

Sofonisba Anguissola - The Chess Game

The Chess Game - 1555

Muzeum Naradowe - Poznan - Poland

Sofonisba Anguissola (1535-1625) was a fortunate young italien woman in that her enlightened father endeavored to educate all seven children - including the girls - in the best humanistic tradition. Although several of her sisters also painted, it quickly became clear that Sofonisba was a prodigy. She trained with the eminent masters Bernardino Campi and Bernadino Gatti, and - quite unusual for a woman - gained an international reputation. "The Chess Game" is probably her most famous painting and signals a departure in portraiture. She dispenses with stiff formal poses and instead depicts three of her sisters - Lucia left, Europa middle, and Minerva on the right with someone generally considered to be a servant - in a relaxed, informal game of chess. The servant might appear as a chaperone to suggest the virtue of the girls, however, she also presents a contrast in both class and age to the three girls of noble birth. Chess was considered a masculine game requiring logic and strategic skills, rarely the attributes ascribed to females. In spite of the good humour of the painting, it is clear from Europa's impish delight in Lucia's imminent victory that she took the game seriously. Acess to nude models was denied to woman artists at the time, so this restricted the available subject matter. Anguissola focused on bringing life to the genre of portraiture. Her achivement was recognized by Giorgio Vasari who rated her above other female artists, writing that:

"Anguissola has shown greater application and better grace than any other woman of our age in her endeavors at drawing; she has thus succeeded not only in drawing, coloring and painting from nature, and copying excellently from others, but by herself has created rare and very beautiful paintings."

Source: Stephen Farthing

Egon Schiele - The Embrace

The Embrace - 1917

Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere - Vienna

When we watch this painting we immediately understand that it exhales a reflection of harmony between both lovers, Egon Schiele and his wife Edith Harms. They got married in 1915 and Schiele’s paintings, on the months that followed the wedding, became less tortured and depressive. In this large canvas they lie on a rumpled white sheet over a yellow cover with their arms interlocked. The woman’s hair tumbles over the pillow, her face is turned away and her hand in placed on the man’s shoulder in a manner reminiscent of Klimt’s The Kiss, which Schiele, as a friend and protégé of Klimt, knew well. The man, who must be Schiele himself, is gaunt and contorted but less so than in previous self-portraits. Schiele’s drawings and paintings have frequently drawn the accusation of pornography but, as other have pointed out, they are imbued with humanity, which sets them apart from such works. His obsession with sexuality, however, is akin to religious fervor, and he is reported as saying that he wanted his works to be experienced in that way. The tender unity of “The Embrace” marks a distinct change from the explicitly sexual paintings and drawings that preceded it and reflects Schiele’s growing contentment in married life. However, at six month pregnant Edith died in the Spanish Influenza epidemic that swept through Europe after the war. Schiele died three days later, at the age of twenty-eight. If you care to read more about Schiele’s life please visit here my blog "Manifesto".

Source: Stephen Farthing - Paintings at Belvedere

Claude Monet - Poppie field at Argenteuil

Poppie field at Argenteuil - 1873

Musee D'Orsee - Paris

Argenteuil is a small town, not very far from Paris where many painters from the Impressionist movement converged looking for the quietness and beautifulness of extended poppies fields which ended up on the banks of the river Sean. But Argenteuil would become also famous, among the artist community, because of the industrial booming that arised on its suburbs giving an interesting contrast on a wide palette of colors which varied between the intense country sight colors and the grays which so well characterized the industrial suburbs from the 19th century. These contrasting sights were extensively explored by artists and Argenteuil was very much looked not only because it aggregated these unique contrasts but also because it was on Paris ' s vicinities. Claude Monet was no exception among his colleagues and he also explored the colors of Argenteuil in a very fresh and vivid way, matching perfect stokes with beautiful blue skies and charming fields of scarlet poppies. This painting is one of my favorites and I absolutely agree with Emile Zola when he refers to Claude Monet’s style saying that “like a true Parisian Monet brings Paris to the countryside. He simple can’t help painting a landscape without including well-dressed ladies and gentlemen. Nature seems to lose Monet’s interest if it is not complemented with our references”. In fact, this is absolutely true and if we take some of Monet’s countryside paintings we always find lovely ladies, charming dresses and colorful umbrellas among peaceful and harmonious landscapes. Many of his paintings look like if they were the result of an instant photograph which immediately embraces the viewer placing us among the characters. On a later stage of his work we’ll realize that Monet will tend to the abstractionism focusing his imagination exclusively towards nature abandoning those graceful characters in his pictures. If you’d care to read about Monet's abstraccionism, you'll find here my impressions about the Madrid's exhibition, last June 2010.

Jan Brueghel "The Elder" - Flowers in a Wooden Vessel

Flowers in a Wooden Vessel - 1606-7

Kunsthistorisches Museum - Vienna

I saw, for the first time, "Flowers in a Wooden Vessel" , last year, at the  Kunsthistorisches Museum, in Vienna and it immediately captured my attention for its poetic composition and the perfect brush strokes made by master Brueghel The Elder. It was painted for Archduke Albert VII, the sovereign regent of the Spanish Netherlands, and became one of the most famous floral still lifes in European art. The grand format, the perfect painting technique and the highly successful composition make it a characteristic piece for an art collection of the time. It’s interesting that the references usually found in floral still life related with the transitoriness of earthly things occurs here in an incidentally way: we can see that some flowers that have fallen are wilted or have been damaged by insects but in the all picture they aren’t relevant enough to caught our attention. This painting also has another curiosity which is to aggregate flowers associated with different seasons of the year. Here they all bloom at once, a situation only found in the “eternal spring” of Paradise. In a letter written by Brueghel The Elder it’s interesting what he says about this painting:

”when winter approaches, covering everything in ice, I take pleasure in the view – and in my imagination even in the scent – of flowers, if not the real ones then the artificial kind found in the painting”.

Source: Masterpieces of the Picture Gallery - Kunsthistorisches Museum - Vienna by Cecilia Bischoff

Peter Paul Rubens - Susannah and The Elders (3)

Susannah and The Elders (3) - 1611

The Hermitage - St. Petersburg

Peter Paul Rubens - Susannah and The Elders (2)

Susannah and The Elders (2) - 1609

Museo de la Real Academia de San Fernando - Madrid

Peter Paul Rubens - Susannah and The Elders (1)

Susanna and The Elders (1) - 1607-1608

Galleria Borghese - Rome