The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun – click for a larger version.

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun – click for a larger version.

The Great Red Dragon and the Beast from the Sea – click image for a bit larger image.

The Number of the Beast is 666 – click image for a bit larger image.

William Blake was a very unusual artist. While most of his contemporary colleagues were wallowing in Romanticism he dug deeper. A lot of his work is romantic, but there is always a dark background that makes you feel uneasy and intrigued at the same time.

From Wikipedia:

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry has led one modern critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". Although he only once journeyed farther than a day’s walk outside London during his lifetime, he produced a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced ‘imagination’ as "the body of God", or "Human existence itself".

Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterized as part of both the Romantic movement and "Pre-Romantic", for its large appearance in the 18th century. Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the Church of England, Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions, as well as by such thinkers as Jacob Boehme and Emanuel Swedenborg.

Wikipedia also has a great article about William Blake’s appearances and influence on popular culture.

His Dragon series are some of the most famous classical paintings – also some of the most disturbing.

Lord Leighton is one of my personal gods. I love his art – so I was pretty excited to hear that his work would be on display at the Villa Stuck here in Munich.

What an disappointment.

Only a few paintings came to Munich – it was mostly sketches and a few sculptors.

Bah!

Click image for a larger version.

Evelyn de Morgan belongs to the rare breed of female classical painters. Her Pre-Raphaelite style is as powerful and enchanting as that of her male colleagues.

John Charles Dollman (1851-1934) is hardly a well known Master and he has only produced a few interesting paintings – but this one of my all time favorites (I think that Chimp near that temptress is just brilliant) .

The Temptation of St. Anthony is an old subject, painted by many great artists. I am actually not sure which St. Anthony they depict, because there are so many Saints by that name – but this one should be the right one: St. Anthony the Great:

According to Athanasius, the devil fought St. Anthony by afflicting him with boredom, laziness, and the phantoms of women, which he overcame by the power of prayer, providing a theme for Christian art. After that, he moved to a tomb, where he resided and closed the door on himself, depending on some local villagers who brought him food. When the devil perceived his ascetic life and his intense worship, he was envious and beat him mercilessly, leaving him unconscious. When his friends from the local village came to visit him and found him in this condition, they carried him to a church.

Wonderful!

The death of heroes is always celebrated with grandeur and excitement in classical paintings. Sure there are many pieces of canvas that try to cope with pain as well. But there are only a few pieces of art that deal with those left behind.

Maestro Bouguereau presents to us these two women mourning the death of a loved one. But instead of loads of drama and hysteria he leaves us to observe the silent suffering of these two graces. There is no story, there is no name on the grave.

The scene is set in an autumn setting – and no season is more symbolic for the mortality of life.

Everything has to die …

Since it’s a stormy today – I have to post this fitting image.

I am a big fan of Germany expressionists – and Frau Münter is at the top of my list. She is always referred to as Kandinsky’s lover – but she is a great artist by her own achievement. Especially in a time when males still dominated every facet of arts & culture.

There are not many big pictures of her art on the intranets. I guess I have to get myself a book and do some scans.

BTW, many of the expressionists paintings are even more fabulous when you stand before them and I am a lucky bastard, since many of the image of the Der Blaue Reiter are in Munich.

More? Gabriele Münter @ Wikipedia

Maestro Hans Memling is hardly a household name, but his artwork deserves close attention. Although his topics are typical for his day and age – it’s his intensity and skill that impresses me.

Amazing work!

One of the most fascinating things about ancient Greek culture is their insights into the human psyche. Their Gods depict all the basic human desires and archetypes – and western culture is still using these.

Bacchus (which is the Roman version of Dionysus) and Cupid (which is Eros in the Greek original) are certainly still in "use" today. Drinking and lust go very well together.

More? Jean-Léon Gérôme @ ArtRenewal

Once again a great painting by Maestro Stuck: simple, harsh and effective. But as usual he nails the story perfectly.

Note to all Heroes: beware of the young princess – she has neither the maturity nor the backbone to withstand the temptations of power and sexuality. She’ll be your doom!

More? Stuck and Salome @ Wikipedia

Click image for a larger a hungarian Übervater.

Dürer’s portraits are simply breath taking. The details, the atmosphere and the intimacy. He took this art form to a new level as a master painter and an artist.

From Wikipedia about Albrecht Dürers Family heritage:

Dürer was born on May 21, 1471, third child and second son of his parents, who had between fourteen and eighteen children. His father was a successful goldsmith, originally named Ajtósi, who in 1455 had moved to Nuremberg from Ajtós, near Gyula in Hungary. The German name "Dürer" is derived from the Hungarian, "Ajtósi". Initially, it was "Thürer," meaning doormaker, which is "ajtós" in Hungarian (from "ajtó", meaning door). A door is featured in the coat-of-arms the family acquired. Albrecht Dürer the Elder married Barbara Holper, from a prosperous Nuremberg family, in 1467.

Dürer about his father (taken from here) – who was also his first art teacher:

My father suffered much and toiled painfully all his life, for he had no resources other than the proceeds of his trade from which to support himself and his wife and family. He led an honest, God-fearing life. His character was gentle and patient. He was friendly towards all and full of gratitude to his Maker. He cared little for society and nothing for worldly amusements. A man of very few words and deeply pious, he paid great attention to the religious education of his children. His most earnest hope was that the high principles he instilled into their minds would render them ever more worthy of divine protection and the sympathy of mankind. He told us every day that we must love God and be honourable in our dealings with our neighbours.

But one more thing is truly remarkable: the age of his father. Not many people reached 70 in these days. Albrecht Dürer himself died age 56 – a lot younger than his father. I couldn’t find out when his father actually died.

Maestro Bouguereau has painted a lot of crap – mostly woman more or less dressed. But he also had many great moments, full of drama, insight and pure bliss.

"Homer and his guide" is one such moment. It shows the dignity and vulnerability of the great (blind) author – and the aggression and hate he faces from dogs and enemies (in the background). The scene plays on Mount Ida – and Homer is protected and guided by the goat herder Glaucus. Notice the lyra on Homers back – his instrument as a poet – and his firm posture – like nothing in the world can shake him. The boy seems more afraid than he is – he holds – rather nervously – a big stone in his hand.

It’s also a great scene about compassion and following your path, even when you need outside help and you are despised by others.

The moment is taken from a tale about Homer – as Homer himself seems to be only a fictional character. So the creator of some of the greatest Greek myths – the Iliad and the Odyssey – turns out to be a myth himself.

I know it’s rude – but I would label Maestro Fragonard as a horny Kitsch painter – but that is exactly why his “Swing” is the best image to celebrate the beginning of spring. And yes, he was a Frenchmen.

More? Frogonard @ Art Renewal Center

Click image for a larger center.

Click image for a larger image of the left panel. 

Click image for a larger image of the right panel. 

Many great paintings like this one are hard to see or show on a blog – because they are painted on walls or ceillings. “Portable” painting on canvas are a modern “trend”.

So Paul Delaroche’s painting of the ceiling of the National School of Fine Arts in Paris is literally a neck breaking piece of art. I can show you only three fragments of the semi-circular painting – you have to stitch together in your mind. Some day someone will make a 3D panorama shot of this.

From Wikipedia:

The Hémicycle

In 1837 Delaroche received the commission for the great picture, 27 metres long, in the hemicycle of the award theatre of the École des Beaux Arts. The commission came from the Ecole’s architect, Felix Duban. This represents seventy-five great artists of all ages, in conversation, assembled in groups on either hand of a central elevation of white marble steps, on the topmost of which are three thrones filled by the creators of the Parthenon: architect Phidias, sculptor Ictinus, and painter Apelles, symbolizing the unity of these arts.

To supply the female element in this vast composition he introduced the genii or muses, who symbolize or reign over the arts, leaning against the balustrade of the steps, beautiful and queenly figures with a certain antique perfection of form, but not informed by any wonderful or profound expression. The portrait figures are nearly all unexceptionable and admirable. This great and successful work is on the wall itself, an inner wall however, and is executed in oil. It was finished in 1841, and considerably injured by a fire which occurred in 1855, which injury he immediately set himself to remedy (finished by Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury); but he died before he had well begun, on the 4th of November 1856.

More? Paul Delaroche @ Wikipedia

Overall I am not a big Turner fan. I was always amazed in London when people spent hours in front of his blurry masterpieces in the National Gallery.

But this one I like (more info here):

The scene is fairly certainly identifiable as Maidenhead railway bridge, which spans the Thames between Taplow and Maidenhead. The bridge, designed by the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and completed in 1839, has two main arches of brick, very wide and flat. The view is to the east, towards London.

On the left people are boating on the river, while to the right a ploughman works on a field. The tranquility of these traditional activities contrasts with the steam train rushing towards the viewer, the stark outline of its black funnel clearly visible. In front of the train a hare, one of the speediest of animals, dashes for cover.

Turner’s picture can be associated with the ‘railway mania’ which swept across England in the 1840s. It is also an outstanding example of his late style of painting. Sky and river landscape are dissolved in a haze of freely applied oil paint, to give a striking impression of the contrasting movement of driving rain and speeding train.

*Thanks to Edosan to sending in this picture*

What better way to celebrate Easter than watching some Christian pain porn? Maestro Waterhouse once again proves his sense for drama and half naked ladies with this piece.

Poor little St. Eulalia was just a young girl, when she was brutally tortured and than finally killed for refusing to pay homage to pagan gods. From Wikipedia:

Eulalia of Mérida was a Roman Christian child martyred in Emerita in Lusitania (modern Mérida in Spain) during the persecution of Christians in the reign of emperor Diocletian and his co-emperor Maximian. Others place her death at the time of Trajan Decius (AD 249-51).[2] There is some dispute as to whether Saint Eulalia of Barcelona, whose story is similar, is the same person.[3]

Eulalia was a devout Christian virgin, aged 12–14, whose mother sequestered her in the countryside in AD 304 because all citizens were required to avow faith in the Roman gods. Eulalia ran away to the law court of the governor Dacian at Emerita, professed herself a Christian, insulted the pagan gods and emperor Maximian, and challenged the authorities to martyr her. The judge’s attempts at flattery and bribery failed. According to the Spanish-Roman poet Prudentius of the fifth century, she said:

    Isis Apollo Venus nihil est,
    Maximianus et ipse nihil:
    illa nihil, quia factu manu;
    hic, manuum quia facta colit

    (Isis, Apollo and Venus are naught,
    Nor is Maximian anything more;
    Nothing are they, for by hand they were wrought,
    He, for of hands he the work doth adore)

She was then stripped by the soldiers, tortured with hooks and torches, and burnt at the stake, suffocating from smoke inhalation. She taunted her torturers all the while, and as she expired a dove flew out of her mouth. This frightened away the soldiers and allowed a miraculous snow to cover her nakedness, its whiteness indicating her sainthood.

Can’t wait for Mel Gibson to make another bloody movie about her.

The painting itself has an unusual symmetry, since the main subject literally falls flat on the lower third of the image. The central space is almost vacant. Compared to most other Waterhouse paintings (where the woman and the tension is located smack in the center of the image) this one requires some “looking” to realize what is actually going on.

The Story of Elijah is a huge epic – for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. He has raised the dead and brought fire from haven. Quite a religious superman. But he had his weak moments too.

He challenged King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel to a contest – and was promptly forced to flee their anger. As usual for prophets in the region he was stranded in the desolate wilderness with hardly enough food and water. He has a harsh time ahead of him (from Wikipedia):

Elijah travels, for forty days and forty nights, to Mount Horeb and seeks shelter in a cave. God again speaks to Elijah (1 Kings 19:9): “What doest thou here, Elijah?” Elijah lays out all his complaints and his despair. Up until this time Elijah has only the word of God to guide him, but now he is told to go outside the cave and “stand before the Lord.” A terrible wind passes, but God is not in the wind. A great earthquake shakes the mountain, but God is not in the earthquake. Then a fire passes the mountain, but God is not in the fire. Then a “still small voice” comes to Elijah and asks again, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” Elijah responds again with his complaints and his sense of hopelessness.

In the scene above we see an Angel bringing supplies to the sleeping Elijah.

Lord Leighton has this keen sense for drama and posture for his scenes. He knows how to place his actors for full effect. Too bad he never made movies – I am sure he would have been a great director for something like Cleopatra or Gone with the Wind.

More? Lord Leighton @ ArtRenealCenter

I am a huge fan of Burne-Jones. His paintings are always touching and very intimate in an almost personal way. Not many painters are able to connect to deeply by using ’simple’ topic.

On this painting Saint George doesn’t come across as the dragon kicking hero, full of testosterone and male desire to save the damsel in distress. He is rather a melancholic-charming fellow. His gaze is almost shy and he seems to feel a bit awkward as well.

I love how Burne-Jones integrated the serpent and the damsel on Saint George’s shield design. Plus the red flag from his lance representing blood or passion in a very subtle way …

Until the great Iconoclasm triggered by Martin Luther – Christian art was to believed to have divine powers – reflecting those depicted. So praying or touching a Madonna statue or altar piece was not just worship – but a physical connection and portal to higher plane. Many pieces of art were meant to have miracle powers.

That is why many processions literally tried to carry the holy person depicted all around town – to bring the saints blessing to every person and house.

Before many artworks of old Masters became JUST great pieces of art they often were important religious objects. It took the bloody days of the reformation and destruction of huge amounts of church art to get religion and idol worshipping ‘out’ of art.

After the Renaissance and the Reformist Iconoclasm there was a huge change in art: the topics, attitudes and perspective of European Art changed completely. And instead of mostly the Holy Mother Church and the feudal class normal (rich) citizens, and companies commissioned artwork.

Click image for a larger Teutonic Master.

Herr Dürer is simply a God of Art. He paints and draws like none other. Too bad his great skills were wasted during the Dark Ages. This is his self-portrait aged 28.

More? Albrecht Dürer @ Artrenwal

Click image for a larger Paul.

A strange moment. It’s hard to say if he is happy or sad, in balance or in misery.

Socrates death was a tragic loss for Athenian culture – and still stands as a grave warning to all Democracies around the world: don’t kill your intellectuals, just because you don’t understand or appreciate them telling you the truth.

Athens just started it’s decline – it had lost the Peloponnesian War against Sparta. Socrates himself had fought for Athens and was a loyal patriot. But he also challenged the status quo of it’s society and wanted more progress. His ’smartass’ questions made the citizens of Athens more and more uneasy.

Plus Socrates had a large following of younger man and often met with them in more or less secret places to discuss their ideas. It didn’t help that some of Socrates biggest followers Alcibiades had betrayed Athens during the war with Sparta. So it was suggested that Socrates was corrupting Athens’ youth and he should therefore be punished. And Socrates challenged the religious believes of his times.

His trial was a huge event – he was judged by 500 of his fellow citizens. Socrates stuck to the truth, even mocked the jury and all the accusations instead of playing ‘nice’ and begging for mercy. He was found guilty 280 to 220. But he was still defiant. When his punishment was discussed he himself suggested being threat like an Olympic winner and given free meals (which was a great insult). So his death sentence had an even greater majority 360 to 140.

His execution was a sad affair – he refused to flee the city or take any chance to redeem himself.

We have seen the prosecution of smart wise man again and again in all cultures by kings, priests and mobs alike. Democracy is not a protection against acts of stupidity and uneducated destruction of brain power.

The curse of any great thinker will always be that his fellow citizens will be far behind him. The great publicity and admiration people like Einstein, Freud or Oppenheimer in their days was and is very unusual. Today’s bighead like Noam Chomsky and Richard Dawkins face very hostile opposition and ignorance. Once again the citizens of democratic states don’t like to be asked simple questions or have their religion challenged by ‘thinkers’ …

More? Jacques-Louis David @ Wikipedia and Socrates @ Wikipedia

Here is a great description of this painting taken from Euroweb.hu:

Bruegel painted this picture when he was still living in Antwerp and supplying drawings to the engraver Hieronymus Cock. Turning his back on the then-dominant Italian models, he plunges into the then old-fashioned tradition of Hieronymus Bosch’s world. An apparently inextricable mixture of persons and shapes offers itself to our bewildered gaze. Emerging from distant depths in a halo of light, monsters are thrown to earth as from a breaking wave. Angels combat them, led by St Michael, thin as a rake in his golden armour, striking with his sword at the dragon with the seven crowned heads on which he has his foothold.

The combat of the archangel with the fallen angels is described in the Book of Revelation (12, 3-9) and was frequently illustrated from the Middle Ages onwards. In Bruegel’s rendering, the violence is expressed not in the bitter nature of the battle – indeed St Michael and his sparse troops do not appear particularly threatened by the demons – but by the intensity of the fall – infernal and endless – of this crawling, hideous multitude that invades the entire surface of the picture, in a remarkable unity of action which increases its impact. By borrowing minutiously observed elements from the plant, animal, mineral and human worlds and combining them to form hybrid, deformed beings, Bruegel invents creatures that are the most repulsive, but also the most curious and fantastic imaginable. Mussel shells grafted onto a gigantic shrimp, a human head with butterfly wings attached to a shapeless, bloated body, a puffy gnome carrying a sundial and with a plumed helmet on his head, viscous fish with arms, lizard scales, crustacean paws… a seemingly endless list. Within the "mêlée", every element is differentiated by the scrupulous rendering of the textures. With their long, refined silhouettes, St Michael’s allies, elegantly garbed in delicate, luminously coloured albs, are automatically on the side of the Good, in a state of grace that enables them to dominate effortlessly the monstrous hordes, moving around in a clear and azure sky which is in profound contrast with the darkness reserved for the rebels.

Bruegel reveals himself here to be a marvellous colourist, dexterously distributing accents of red, green, blue and white and alternating the dark browns and lighter beige ochres with brio.

Too bad I only have such a small copy of this great painting. For years now I have been looking for a better image to zoom into details. No luck so far. Someone out there who has a larger and better file?

Bouguereau painted many biblical, pagan and really trivial moments in his life. Most biblical paintings pick a well known or popular scene to play to the audience or the rich patron.

In this case Bouguereau has chosen a very unusual situation: Adam and Eve mourn the death of Abel – who was famously slain by his Brother Cain. Abel was the first human to die – and also the first one to by slain by his own kin and kind. And he is also considered the first Martyr.

What a great start for humanity after being exiled from Paradise.

Death scenes make great drama and many painters really go for christian kitsch and symbolism (especially in biblical scenes). Bouguereau keeps it very simple and very human.

The painting has also a very personal meaning: Bouguereau painted it after the death of his second son.

More? Adolphe-William Bouguereau @ ArtRenewal.org and Wikipedia

Dedicated to Lisa and lucecorner – who both asked for more paintings with music. Bitteschön!

He seems to be quite a charming young fellow, don’t you think Lord Archibald?

I really love his sensual paintings and lush surroundings. When you see more than three of his images you immediately spot his style and addiction to a certain type of woman.

But once you know that his wife Elizabeth Siddal in 1862 – who killed herself after the birth of their dead child – it all becomes all so understandable.

Heartbroken Rossetti drowned his sorrows with booze and drugs. His life was not a happy one. Apart from being a gifted painter he also wrote poetry and published works on Italian authors.

Elizabeth was also the model for many other artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood – so you might know her from other paintings as well.

He died sad, broken and mentally unstable 1882.

More? Rossetti @ ArtRenewal.org or @ Wikipedia and a List of his paintings. And an excellent online exhibition by the Walker Art Gallery.

Click image for a bigger apple and arrow …

The title derives from Latin literature and means ‘Venus, turner of hearts’. This is the Sonnet he wrote for this painting:

She hath the apple in her hand for thee,
Yet almost in her heart would hold it back;
She muses, with her eyes upon the track
Of that which in thy spirit they can see.
Haply, ‘Behold, he is at peace,’ saith she;
‘Alas! the apple for his lips, – the dart
That follows its brief sweetness to his heart,-
The wandering of his feet perpetually!’

A little space her glance is still and coy;
But if she give the fruit that works her spell,
Those eyes shall flame as for her Phrygian boy.
Then shall her bird’s strained throat the woe foretell,
And her far seas moan as a single shell,
And through her dark grove strike the light of Troy.

Poetry and image information taken from here.

More? Rossetti @ ArtRenewal.org or @ Wikipedia

Hey Stumblers … don’t forget to check out the other Rossetti paintings below.

Click image for more red hair …

Lilith is the first woman Adam met in paradise – not Eve. She was an tempting topic for many painters. And this motive is pre-christian and appears in the Gilgamesh epos.

More? Rossetti @ ArtRenewal.org or @ Wikipedia

Click image for more Rossetti music …

The model is Alexa Wilding and the paintings shares some creative DNA with another of his great images "Venus Verticordia".

More? Rossetti @ ArtRenewal.org or @ Wikipedia

Click image for more blue amazement.

Once again the classic Rossetti Lady (the famous Jane Burden aka Jane Morris) in perfect pose. Unusal are the blue and green tones – he usually prefers red hair and warm earth tones. This is his last painting before he died in the same year.

More? Rossetti @ ArtRenewal.org or @ Wikipedia

Click image for an even larger master piece.

I think this is the most touching painting I know. Blindness surrounded by the beauty of nature and color (in form of a rainbow in the background). But it’s also about the unfairness of life itself. She is blind, her little sister / daughter isn’t.

More? Some articles discussing the painting: Victorian Web, Wikipedia and Millais entry @Artrenewal.org

Click image for more Death and Drama.

In the absence of mass media and the Internet in the old days it could take years or even decades before important scenes were framed and ‘archived’ for the public to see.

Word of mouth was often the only and the fastest ways to get the news. It must have been a strange time compared to our high speed lifestyles.

Just compare this ‘lonely painting’ to all the news, images, videos and dribble that has been written and broadcast about Princess Diana’s death.

Click images for a more stunning Venus.

Once of the most iconic images of European art – and one of the greatest goddesses of all times. If you look around you we are surrounded by fit young and blonde Sisters of Venus these days.

Her breasts are a bit too small compared to the current beauty ideal and her facial expression is also a bit too innocent. We like our woman a bit more slutty these days.

Click image for a larger drama.

Gustave Dore is a giant. He created amazing illustrations and paintings. Too bad that modern publishers hardly illustrate their books anymore.

Click image for more vibrant colors.

Ah, I love these contrasts. Matisse was never afraid to REALLY use color. That’s what I love about him!

Click image for more drama.

Breath taking moment from a great master. Open the big image and get lost in this painting …

Click image for more geometry.

In many Picasso paintings I often wonder if he wanted to insult or make fun of his models? The three ladies on the left are portrait almost realistically and in classic poses. While the two on the right look rather ghastly.

What do you think?

Click image for a larger village.

This must be a weird village – all the people and animals constantly dress up or take drugs. Those colors are just stunning!

Click image for an even mightier Jupiter.

What a monumental moment – although Jupiter (the Roman version of Zeus) looks a bit like wearing a wig? I love Ingres for his dramatic and powerful style. His creations have the same quality like movies – Ben Hur and the like.

You feel like being in the presence of Jupiter – almost touching that godly aura of his. And just in case you are wondering who Thetis is … visit this Wikipedia entry.

More? Ingres on Wikipedia

Click image for a larger wave.

Another classic from one of my favorite painters. This painting feels fresh and vibrant. Her nudity is natural – not extra sexy and not extra horny.

The only thing I want to see now: what happens when that wave hits her?