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.

 

ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER

In 1905, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was one of the founding members of the art movement Die Brücke (The Bridge). The Brücke style attempted the creation of pure expression through color and form. Their aim was to find new ways of artistic expression and to free themselves from the traditional academic style of the time. The Brücke was therefore one of the earliest German artists’ associations which had a crucial impact on the development of classical modern art. The artists collectively created a style which was to be defined within 20th century art history as Expressionism.

In 1937 the Nazis confiscated nearly all of Kirchner's paintings that were in German museums (over 600). Already suffering from mental problems (he suffered a nervous breakdown during his service in World War I), Kirchner committed suicide in 1938.

Here are three of his masterpieces that are part of the permanent collection of the St. Louis Art Museum.

Portrait of a Woman (1917)

View of the Basel and the Rhine (1927/1928)

Circus Rider (1914)

 




































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This post was originally published in my blog Tutti Capolavori on August 25, 2012. 
The photos were taken by me during my visit to the St. Louis Art Museum.

PIERRE BONNARD

Pierre Bonnard was a founding member of a group of artists called Les Nabis (Nabi means prophet in Hebrew), a short-lived group of Post-Impressionist artists in Paris in the 1890s. Although trained as a lawyer (the wishes of his father), Bonnard really wanted to be a painter and at age 21, he began studying at the Académie Julian in Paris; many of his fellow classmates would become members of Les Nabis. Known for his use of intense color, Bonnard's earlier works such as the top painting, Girl with a Straw Hat (1903), were still being influenced by Impressionist painters such as Renoir. During his lifetime Bonnard also contributed illustrations for many books and magazines, successfully published several series of lithographs and even designed set decorations for theater and ballet productions. Bonnard constantly showed his works in major art exhibitions not just in France, but throughout the world. In 1910, he made his first trip to the south of France; after making annual trips to the area, he permanently moved there in 1925. Bonnard would paint over 300 paintings, such as the bottom painting, View from the Artist's Studio, Le Cannet (1945).

These two paintings are why many art historians believe that Pierre Bonnard is considered one of the greatest colorist painters of the modern art.

These two masterpieces are part of the collection assembled by Mrs. Harry L. Bradley during the second half of the 20th century, beginning in 1950. Over the next twenty-five years she acquired over 400 works of art. The idea of gifting the collection to the Milwaukee Art Museum came after she and her husband noticed how much families enjoyed visiting the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.  They wanted the same enjoyment for their hometown museum even though other major U.S. museums tried to obtain the collection. In addition to the works of art, Mrs. Bradley gave the museum $1,000,000 to erect the Bradley Wing to house the collection. After the Bradley Wing opened in 1975 until her death in 1977, Mrs. Bradley came to the museum nearly every day to view her collection and greet museum visitors.

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This post was originally published in my blog Tutti Capolavori on July 29, 2012. 
The photos were taken by me during my visit to the Milwaukee Art Museum.

VERMEER AND CAMERA OBSCURA

Many art historians believe the 17th-century Dutch Master painter Johannes Vermeer used the camera obscura. 

(photo courtesy: www.essentialvermeer.com)

The reason they believe Vermeer used camera obscura is by observing the visual effects in some of his paintings. For example, when you look at the above painting Officer and Laughing Girl, you will notice the officer's body is nearly twice the size of the girl.  The disproportionate size is a result of seeing the scene through a lens, in other words, a photographic perspective.  If this were a photograph rather than a painting, the size variation would not be as noticeable. We are quite familiar today with foreground objects appearing very large in snapshots, but in a 17th century painting this was rather unusual.  Vermeer's fellow painters would have painted the officer and girl equally in size.  This scene is correct in the visual sense; the officer just looks so much bigger because of his closeness to the viewer.

If you would like to read more about Vermeer and his use of camera obscura, click here for a very interesting three-part article, Vermeer and the Camera Obscura.

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This post was originally published in my blog Tutti Capolavori on July 10, 2012.

CAMERA OBSCURA

In the previous post, I mentioned that Canaletto often used a camera obscura as an aid to creating his drawings and paintings.  Let's discuss what that is...

The principle of the camera obscura has been known since ancient Greek and Chinese time, but it became popular during the Renaissance of the 1500s.  The literal translation of the Latin term is dark room (camera for "room", obscura for "dark").

It works like this: You are in a very dark room on a very sunny day.  Cut a small hole in a window cover and look at the opposite wall.  What do you see?  Magic! There in full color will be a view of outside the window upside down! This magic is explained by a simple law of the physical world.  Light travels in a straight line and when some of the rays reflected from a bright subject pass through a small hole in thin material they do not scatter but form an upside down image on a flat surface parallel to the hole.  With mirrors positioned inside the room the image could be flipped 180 degrees and reflected right-size-up onto a surface for tracing onto a canvas.

In the image above you can see how an artist would use the camera obscura to help create his painting.  The reflected image inside the camera obscura not only miniaturizes the scene reflected, but it also intensifies color, and highlights and increases the contrast of light and dark areas.  The image could then be traced to create an accurate sketch and be transformed into a painting.  

In the mid-17th century the portable camera obscura was developed and became the basis of the photographic camera.

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This post was originally published in my blog Tutti Capolavori on July 6, 2012.

VIEW OF THE RIVA DEGLI SCHIAVONI, VENICE

Venice, with its light and architecture, its canals and people, was a subject of endless fascination and exploration for Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto.  In this painting from the late 1730s, the flicker of light on the water, the gondoliers, and the clearly delineated buildings against a crisp blue sky demonstrate Canaletto's passion for recording the details of his native Venice. Often using a camera obscura as an aid to composition, Canaletto painted his compelling views of Venice primarily for Englishmen, a masterpiece being the ultimate souvenir of their Grand Tour.  This painting hangs in the Toledo Art Museum.

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This post was originally published in my blog Tutti Capolavori on July 3, 2012. The photo in this blog post was taken by me on my visit to the Toledo Art Museum in May, 2012.

RECREATING AN OLD ART BLOG

This new blog has actually been recreated from an old blog of mine. I originally started Tutti Capolavori back in 2012, but that blog got thrown on the back burner due to trying to keep up with A Great Europe Trip Planner blog and my life.

However, I have decided to recreate it (along with naming it correctly by adding the "I" to the title). I'm going to start out by slowly copying the current posts from the old blog, then writing new posts about my favorite artists and their paintings from my visits to art museums, here in the U.S. and in Europe.

I hope you will enjoy this blog as much as my travel blog. Thank you for visiting.

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