Artworks Damaged/Destroyed by Islamic Totalitarians: Nergal Gate at Ninevah

Nationality: Mesopotamian

Creation Date: c. 700 BC

Media: Granite

Location: Nineveh, Iraq

This sculpture was named after Nergal, an ancient Mesopotamian deity.  It was intended to be a protective figure.  More information about this type of human/animal sculpture can be found here. 

In February of 2015 ISIS attempted to deface/vandalize/destroy this huge granite sculpture.  This piece was not in great shape before 2015, but you can see that the are behind the figure's head has been removed.

Before:

Gustav Igler's "The Newborn"

Nationality: German

Born-Died: 1842-1908

Size: 29.33 × 34.6 in. (74.5 × 88 cm)

Creation Date: 1872

Media: Oil on canvas 

Location: Private collection

I don't recall ever seeing it before but it was in my files so I must have seen it.  When I saw it this morning, I though, "Wow, that's beautiful."  I was really struck by the color, the value contrast (meaning light and dark, not philosophical values), the gestures of the figures and the overall arrangement of the shapes.  Then, I started noticing the various narrative elements such as the cat NOT playing with the ball of string and instead staring at the boy drinking milk.  The little girl is lovingly gazing into the face of her new sibling and it seems as if the maid(?) is trying to return the child to the mother.  However, the mother isn't looking so good--she is quite shadowy.  The more I look at this image, the more questions I have.  What is the significance, if any, of the clock's time?  What is the basket above the bed?  Is the mother going to die?  I'm going to look at it a while longer.

Unknown Print (of an Unknown Sculpture) by Unknown Artist

Nationality: French?


Another myserious work that I've had in my files for a long time.  I just like the fact that her chariot is pulled by squirrels!

St. Giles Cathedral, Day 4: Carved Animals

Nationality: Scottish
Media: Wood
Location: St. Giles Church, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Osman Hamdi Bey's "The Tortoise Trainer"

Nationality: Turkish
Born-Died: 1632-1675
Creation Date: 1906Size: 87.2 × 47.2 inch (221.5 x 120 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: The Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey

This wonderful painting seems to have some kind of message and I wish I knew what it was.

Norman Rockwell's "The Gift"

Nationality: American
Born-Died: 1882-1925

Creation Date: 1935

Media: Oil on illustration board (?)

Art I Hate and Why: Fernando Botero's "Man on Horse"

Nationality: Columbian
Born-Died: 1932-

Creation Date: 1992

Size: 25.125 x 34.875 inch (63.8 x 88.5cm)

Media: Bronze

Location: The Israel Museum, Jeruselem, Israel

 
Not only is Botero a mediocre artist, (this is one of his better works) but his view of man is hate-filled buried in cutesiness—a kind of defeated smile of acceptance in regards to what he believes is stupid and evil.  When I see artists ridicule the good, the serious, the capable, the majestic, the beautiful, the graceful, the heroic, I don’t believe it is because those artists have some sort of special knowledge about the nature of human beings.  Alternatively I think it is because they have a view of themselves as bad, absurd, incapable, lowly, ugly, graceless and cowardly.  To me, that is sad. 

Jean-François Millet's "Autumn Landscape with a Flock of Turkeys"

Nationality: French
Born-Died: 1814-1875

Creation Date: c. 1872-1873

Size: 31.875 x 39 in. (81 x 99.1 cm)

Media: Oil on canvas

Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, USA

Detail photos by me.

Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello

I was chatting with a friend about which of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' namesake was the best artist--I found it challenging to say. Which do you like best? Which do you like least? With this in mind, I thought it would be fun to show my favorite piece by each of these artists (in no particular order.)

Raphael's La Fornarina

Nationality: Italian
Born/Died: 1483-1520

Creation Date: 1518-1519
Size: 33 in × 24 in. (85× 60 cm)
Media: Oil on panel
Location: Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy

(This picture doesn't do this painting justice)



Michelangelo's Lybian Sybil

Nationality: Italian
Born/Died: 1475-1564

Creation Date: 1508–1512
Media: Frescoe
Location: Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy



Donatello's St. Mark

Nationality: Italian
Born/Died: 1386-1466

Creation Date: 1411–1413
Size: 93 in. (236 cm)
Media: Marble
Location: Orsanmichele, Florence, Italy



Leonardo's Lady with an Ermine

Nationality: Italian
Born/Died: 1452-1519

Creation Date: 1489-1490
Size: 21 in × 15 in. (54× 39 cm)
Media: Oil on panel
Location: Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, Poland

Justin Wisniewski's "When the days of the old, gray dog..."

Full title:When the days of the old gray dog,
Had all been loved into evenings,
--He aimed a little glance and a little thought,
--At the sparkling forest he once saw,
In a younger dog’s dream.

Nationality: American
Born/Died: 1978

Creation Date: 2010
Size: 18.5 x 24.75 in. (47 x 62.9 cm)
Media: Graphite on hotpress watercolor paper
Location: Private Collection

All the lines are individually drawn with an ordinary mechanical pencil.

Cat Sculpture by Unknown Egyptian Artist

Nationality: Egyptian

Media: Stone
Location: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Rosa Bonheur's "The Horse Fair"

Nationality: French
Born/Died: 1822-1899
Creation Date: 1853
Size: 96 1/4 x 199 1/2 in. (244.5 x 506.7 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, USA



Detail shots by me.

Works by Henry G. Keller

Nationality: American
Born/Died: 1869-1949

Media: Various
Location: The Cleveland Artists Foundation, Lakewood, Ohio, USA

Since I've been going through the images I took of works from the Cleveland Artists Foundation's collection lately I thought I would post Henry G. Keller's work. Some of his work is better than others, but the good ones are very good. I was suprised to learn that Keller exhibited in the famous Armory Show in 1913. There is even a drawing scholarship in his name.

Apologies for the blurry images.

Jan Van Eyck's "The Arnolfini Wedding Portrait"

Nationality: Flemish
Born/Died: c. 1395-1441

Creation Date: 1434
Size: 32.4 × 23.6 in. (82.2 x 60 cm)
Media: Oil on panel
Location: National Gallery, London, UK

One of the many things I enjoy about this painting is that despite being about love between two people, it is incredibly stoic, reserved, poised and brilliantly clear. There's no mushy, sentimentality in van Eyck's style.

Ford Maddox Brown's "The Pretty Baa-Lambs"

On this Day in the History of Art: Pontormo born (1494), "Mary Had a Little Lamb" published (1830)
Nationality: English
Born-Died: 1821-1893
Creation Date: 1851-1859
Media: Oil on wood panel
Size: 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm)
Location: The Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK

Bouguereau x 2 Week - "The Virgin With Angels" and "Little Esmeralda"

On this Day in the History of Art: Vilhelm Hammershøi born (1864), Emily Dickinson died (1886)

This week I'm going to post two images per day of Bouguereau’s work--one piece that I don't like and one that I do.

Nationality: French
Born-Died: 1825-1905



The Virgin With Angels
Creation Date: 1900
Media: Oil on canvas

This painting is an example of artistic second-handedness that would rival the likes of Peter Keating.

Sandro Botticelli's "The Trials of Moses"

On this Day in the History of Art: Rome sacked by Spanish and German troops, which some historians mark as the end of the Renaissance (1527), Stolen "Guitar Player" by Johannes Vermeer recovered (1974)

Nationality: Italian
Born-Died: 1445 - 1510
Creation Date: 1481-1482
Size: 137.2 in × 220 in. (348.5 cm × 558 cm)
Media: Fresco
Location: Sistine Chapel, Rome, Italy

Botticelli is a very interesting figure in the history of art because not only is his work really great, but he was virtually forgotten for hundreds of years.

Not many people know that the Sistine Chapel in Rome has many painted works in addition to the famous works by Michelangelo and this is one such work that was painted there. Although this image may appear to present one scene with many figures (and it is painted to appear that way), the painting was intended to depict various scenes from the life of Moses. He is shown here wearing yellow robes, sometimes with a green garment performing various actions throughout the image such as leading the Jews to the promised land, killing an Egyptian for harassing someone, and taking off his shoes which I believe is something he is said to have done before coming into the presence of God in the Old Testament.

Hans Holbein the Younger's "Portrait of a Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (Anne Lovell?)"

On this Day in the History of Art: David Cox born (1783), Lorado Taft born (1860)

Nationality: German
Born/Died: 1497 or 1498 - 1543
Creation Date: c. 1527–1528
Size: 22 x 15.3 in. (56 x 38.8 cm)
Media: Oil and tempera on oak panel
Location: National Gallery, London, U.K.

Hans Holbein is undoubtedly my favorite painter from the Northern Renaissance and I am not sure why I haven't posted more of his work. In particular I like the idea of posting a week of his beautiful drawings.

I believe this woman is holding a European red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) as opposed to the Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) which is what I see in the US. Apparently, during this time period squirrels were commonly kept as pets. It also appears to have a tiny leash, which is adorable.

Lorenzo Bartolini's "Portrait of Napoleone Elisa Baciocchi"

On this Day in Art History: Edward Muybridge born (1830), Victor Vasarely born (1908)

Nationality: Italian
Born/Died: 1777-1850

Creation Date: 1810-1812
Size: 44.5 x 15 .25 in. (113 x 39 cm)
Location: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Media: Marble

This is a sculpture of Napoleon's niece. The wall-label for this piece remarked that although it may be strange for a contemporary audience to see depictions of nude children, this was common throughout European art history. I personally don't see why it would be an issue but perhaps contemporary audiences would be shocked by it.

Thomas Millie Dow's "Spring"