GINEVRA DÉ BENCI

Ailsa Mellon Bruce, daughter of Andrew Mellon, the founder of the National Gallery of Art, was herself a lifelong benefactress of the museum. In 1967, she provided over $5 million that allowed the museum to purchase this painting from Lichtenstein royalty. It is still the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the Americas. Leonardo was in his early 20s when he painted this work.

Ginevra dé Benci by Leonardo da Vinci (1474)

There is another "portrait" on the reverse side of the painting. It shows Ginevra's emblem, a juniper sprig encircled by a wreath of laurel and a palm and the phrase: VIRTVTEM FORMA DECORAT (beauty adorns virtue). The Italian word for juniper is ginepro, suggesting Ginevra's name. Some believe the painting was commissioned to celebrate her marriage in 1474. However, a more plausible possibility is the painting was commissioned by  Bernardo Bembo, the Venetian ambassador to Florence, to celebrate his platonic adoration of her. It is known that Bembo's emblem is near identical to Ginevra's, and infrared examination has also revealed Bembo's motto, Virtus et honor, painted beneath Ginevra's scrolling motto. During the Italian Renaissance platonic love affairs between gentlemen and wealthy ladies, often conducted from afar, were not uncommon.

Reverse side of Ginerva dé Benci © National Gallery of Art           

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The top photo in this blog post was taken by me during my visit to the National Gallery of Art in September, 2013. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

A GIRL WITH A WATERING CAN

Pierre Auguste Renoir began his artistic career as a dish painter. While an art student he met a couple of fellow artists who would become famous in their own right: Frédéric Bazille, Claude Monet, and Alfred Sisley. Through his friendship with Monet he would meet Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne.

A few years after returning from war service, due to rejections by the snooty Salon juries, Renoir and his artist friends banded together to exhibit their works. This was the first Impressionist exhibition. The first one didn't go as well as hoped...the term "Impressionist" resulted from critics calling the paintings "impressions" rather than completed paintings...but Renoir and his pals did eventually sell a few paintings along the way.

Renoir did tire of the Impressionist technique of painting and in the 1880s, changed his method to a more disciplined technique, his later works being influenced by the paintings of Velazquez, Titian and Raphael after traveling to Spain and Italy. However his Impressionist paintings will always be appreciated by us art lovers.

The painting below, with its colors and light of the impressionist palette, is part of the extensive French painting collection donated to the National Gallery of Art by Chester Dale.

A Girl with a Watering Can (1876)

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The photo in this blog post was taken by me during my visit in September, 2013.

RAPHAEL IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART (THANKS TO JOSEPH STALIN)

Now I know that Joseph Stalin was not the most likable person in world history. However lovers of the National Gallery of Art should give thanks to him for ordering the sale of over 250 masterpieces from the Hermitage Museum in 1930 and 1931. The Russians needed American currency to finance their industrialization, so Stalin ordered the Hermitage to sell some of the museum's most important paintings, some of which had belonged to both Czar Nicholas I and Catherine II, empress of Russia.  Andrew Mellon took advantage of this amazing opportunity to purchase 21 of the world's greatest masterpieces for nearly $7,000,000. These paintings became part of the collection that Mellon donated to the museum as his founding gift. How ironic that Andrew Mellon, the archcapitalist, would purchase paintings from the archcommunist, Joseph Stalin.

In the early 19th century Raphael was the most highly-esteemed artist that rich Americans were buying. By purchasing these two Raphael paintings, the Alba Madonna for $1,700,000 and the St. George and the Dragon for $745,000, Mellon became the only American to have purchased three Raphael paintings, having purchased his first Raphael painting three years earlier.

The Alba Madonna (1510) by Raphael

St. George and the Dragon (1510) by Raphael

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Photos in this blog post were taken by me during my visit in September, 2013.

BAL DU MOULIN DE LA GALETTE

Bal du Moulin de la Galette (1876) by Pierre Auguste Renoir

Like many of his fellow Impressionist painters, many scenes Pierre Auguste Renoir painted were influenced from living and working in the Montmartre area of Paris. This painting, which hangs in the Musée d'Orsay, is one of his most important early Impressionist works. Several of Renoir's friends appear in the painting which portrays Parisians enjoying themselves in this popular dance garden in Montmartre.

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The photo was taken by me during my visit to the Musée d'Orsay in May, 2006.

YOUNG GIRL WITH HAT

Young Girl with Hat (1892) by Berthe Morisot

Berthe Morisot identified herself as an impressionist, that group of 19th-century French artists who rebelled against the Salon and the academic works exhibited there. Associated with Monet, Renoir, and Degas, Morisot was included in all but one of the impressionist exhibitions held between 1874 and 1886. Although associated with the renegade group, as a woman Morisot often escaped the unfavorable judgments the other artists received. Most 19th and 20th-century critics focused on the "feminine" qualities in her work: intuitiveness and delicacy.  Morisot is generally considered one of the most important woman painters of the late 19th century.

Morisot achieved significant recognition during her lifetime. Her work was included in George Petit's International Exhibition and in Paul Durand-Ruel's exhibition of impressionist painting in New York, both in 1887.  She was married to Eugène Manet, although previous to her marriage, she was romantically involved with Édouard Manet; the famous painter was her soul mate, but unfortunately married to someone else.

Her works can be found in the museums in Paris and around the world. This painting here is part of the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, and it is one of my favorite paintings. Unfortunately it has not be on view for some time.

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This photo was taken by me during my visit to the Art Institute of Chicago.

COURTYARD, DELFT

Like fellow Delft artist Johannes Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch specialized in quiet scenes of Dutch domestic life especially courtyards at the back of upper middle class homes. Painted in the 1650s, this painting may be one of de Hooch's earliest examples of the subject and offers a glimpse into the private world of the Dutch home that visitors rarely saw.

This painting is part of the fabulous permanent collection of the Toledo Art Museum. The Toledo Art Museum is FREE to the public. 

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This post was originally published in my blog Tutti Capolavori on November 18, 2012. 
The photo was taken by me during my visit to the Toledo Art Museum.

SUPPER AT EMMAUS

According to the Gospel of St. Luke, after the death of Christ, two of his disciples traveling down the road to Emmaus met a stranger and invited him to join them.  At supper the stranger blessed the bread and broke it to give to the disciples.  Immediately the disciples saw the stranger was Christ risen from the dead.  

This painting dramatically captures the moment when the disciples realize the stranger is Christ himself. Caravaggio painted this masterpiece in 1601 for a Roman nobleman and avid art collector.  The painting contains all the stylistic elements that Caravaggio is noted for: the realistic figures and the dramatic changes of light and dark, known as chiaroscuro.

This painting is part of London's National Gallery of Art's permanent collection, but in late 2009, the National Gallery lent the painting to the Art Institute of Chicago for three months in return for borrowing a painting by Francisco de Zurbará which would play a key part in an exhibition. During a visit to the Art Institute, I was fortunate to be able to see the painting on display.

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This post was originally published in my blog Tutti Capolavori on October 16, 2012. 
The photo was taken by me during my visit to the Art Institute of Chicago.