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Caravaggio – The Seven Acts of Mercy 1607

orangeguru — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:10:29 +0000

Caravaggio is one of the bad boys of classic art – his life was anything but quiet and peaceful.

So it’s always surprising to see how he mastered topics that were quite contrary to his lifestyle. But maybe he longed in his heart for such a good and quiet life?

From Wikipedia (which has a nice entry about this painting):

The seven acts represented on the painting are the following Corporal Works of Mercy traditionally recognized by the Roman Catholic church, as follows:

On the right appear: (1) the burial of the dead and the episode of the so-called Carità Romana (Cimon’s daughter breastfeeding her father, who was sentenced to life in prison), containing at once the two charitable acts of (2) visiting prisoners and (3) feeding the hungry.

Appearing in the foreground are St. Martin and the beggar, symbolizing (4) dressing the naked. Next to this scene, the host and St. James of Compostela allude to the (5) offering of hospitality to pilgrims. Samson drinking from the ox jaw represents (6) relieving the thirsty. The youth on the ground behind the beggar of St. Martin may also represent the merciful gesture of (7) caring for the sick.

William Blake’s Great Red Dragons – scaring Christians and Unbelievers since 1805

orangeguru — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:41:12 +0000

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.

Frederic Leighton Exhibition in Munich

orangeguru — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:28:33 +0000

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!

Evelyn De Morgan – Cadmus and Harmonia (1877)

orangeguru — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:09:06 +0000

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 – The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1897)

orangeguru — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:56:05 +0000

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3. Study for four minutes this great piece of art and all the drama.

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.

Arturo Michelangeli plays Debussy’s Reflets dans l’eau

orangeguru — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:46:08 +0000

Wonderful!

William-Adolphe Bouguereau – The Day of the Dead(1859)

orangeguru — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:58:41 +0000

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3. Study for three minutes this great piece of art and it’s momentum.

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 …

John William Waterhouse – Windswept 1902

orangeguru — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:04:29 +0000

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

Gabriele Münter – Der Blaue See 1934

orangeguru — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:21:39 +0000

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3. Study for four minutes this great piece of art and it’s beauty.

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

Hans Memling – Triptych of Vanity and Salvation ca. 1485

orangeguru — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:57:06 +0000

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3. Study for two and a half minutes this great piece of art and all the drama.

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!

Jean-Léon Gérôme – Anacréon, Bacchus and Cupid 1848

orangeguru — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:49:05 +0000

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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

Franz von Stuck – Salome (1906)

orangeguru — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:46:43 +0000

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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

Albrecht Dürer – Portrait of Dürer’s Father at 70 (1497)

orangeguru — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:10:57 +0000

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.

William Bouguereau – Homer and his guide (1874)

orangeguru — Sat, 24 May 2008 11:11:26 +0000

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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.

Jean-Honore Fragonard – The Swing 1767

orangeguru — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:25:34 +0000

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2. Click the image to also have a closer look at the lady.

3. Study for three minutes the picnic.

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

Paul Delaroche – Hemicycle of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts 1841

orangeguru — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:50:29 +0000

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

J.M.W.Turner – Rain, Steam, and Speed

orangeguru — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:01:28 +0000

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3. Study for twoandahalf minutes this great piece of art and all the drama.

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*

John William Waterhouse – St. Eulalia 1885

orangeguru — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:04:10 +0000

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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.

Lord Frederick Leighton – Elijah in the Wilderness 1878

orangeguru — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:19:07 +0000

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3. Study for three minutes this great piece of art.

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

Edward Coley Burne-Jones – Saint George 1877

orangeguru — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:42:45 +0000

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 …