Sir Joshua Reynolds' "Portrait of British General John Burgoyne"

Seven works of art I would like to see at the Frick

I recently visited New York and seeing the Frick was part of my plans, but due to time constraints I couldn't do it.  Anyway, in an effort to turn lemons into lemonade, I'm going to post seven works of art from the Frick that I wish I could have seen.  

Nationality: English

Born-Died: 1723-1792

Creation Date: c. 1766

Media: Oil on canvas 

Location: The Frick Collection, New York City, New York, USA

It may be obvious to people who follow this blog but this is my favorite kind of painting--"grand manner" portraiture.  


This is an image of a hero--an image of a man that embodies virtue.  In terms of art, it makes no difference if that actual sitter for this painting was virtuous or not.  The value of art is that the scene is it's own world reflecting what is important in our world, not that it is a journalistic recreation of the particulars of this world.  


The overall statement of this painting is positive, but the world he lives in is not world made out of Nerf and candy.  He has carved out a place for himself in it and it doesn't look like it was a cake walk.  It reminds me of Howard Roark.  Roark suffered tremendously in his world, but in the end his triumph was so great that it far overshadowed the trials he passed through.

John Hoppner "The Honourable Lucy Byng"*

Seven works of art I would like to see at the Frick

I recently visited New York and seeing the Frick was part of my plans, but due to time constraints I couldn't do it.  Anyway, in an effort to turn lemons into lemonade, I'm going to post seven works of art from the Frick that I wish I could have seen.  

Nationality: English

Born-Died: 1758-1810

Creation Date: Late 1700's

Size: 30.1 × 25  in (76.5 × 63.5 cm)

Media: Oil on canvas 

Location: The Frick Collection, New York City, New York, USA

This painting is gorgeous and appeals to my personal interest in Jane Austen.  I've never seen this image before and I love it!  I only wish I could have seen it at the Frick.

* I believe this is correct.

Herbert James Draper's "Gates of Dawn"

Nationality: English

Born-Died: 1617-1694
Creation Date: 1900

Size: 78 x 40 in (198 x 100 cm)

Media: Oil on canvas

Location: The Drapers' Company Collection, London, UK

Great news, art lovers!  This blog has a new store where you can buy prints of your favorite works from 1OAOotD!   Draper's "Gates of Dawn" is now for sale for only $9.99!  Check it out.

This Print + Your Wall = Awesome

John Michael Wright's "Portrait of a Lady"

Nationality: English/Scottish

Born-Died: 1617-1694
Creation Date: 17th Century

Size: 27.75 x 34 in (70.5 x 86.5 cm)

Media: Oil on canvas

Location: Private Collection


They really knew how to do it back then.

John William North's "Halsway Court, Somerset"

Nationality: English

Born-Died: 1842-1900

Media: Watercolor

A very nice painting for spring.

Henry Ryland's "Rachel at the Well"

Nationality: English

Born-Died: 1856-1924

Creation Date: c. 1890

Media: Watercolor on paper

Location: Private collection (?)

I just discovered this artist.  Although I think his work is sometimes hit-or-miss, this is a beautiful painting.

Frederick Sandys' "May Margaret"

Nationality: English
Born-Died: 1829- 1904

Creation Date: 1865-1866

Size: 17.5 x 11.5 inch (44.45 x 29.21 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas

John Michael Wright's "Mrs. Salesbury with her Grandchildren"

Nationality: English-Scottish
Born/Died: 1617-1694
Creation Date: c. 1676
Size: 88 in. (129.5 x 133.6 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: The Tate Collection, London, UK

I can only guess what she's going to do with those children! Happy Halloween!

J.W. Waterhouse's "Juliet"

Nationality: English
Born/Died: 1849-1917

Creation Date: 1898
Size: 18.3 × 27.5 in. (46.5 × 70 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Private collection

Joshua Reynold's "Mrs. Baldwin"

Nationality: English
Born/Died: 1723-1592

Creation Date: 1489-1490
Size: 43.5" x 53.94 in. (110.5 x 137 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas

Arthur Hacker's "Imprisoned Spring"

Nationality: English
Born/Died: 1858-1919
Creation Date: 1911
Size: 36.2 x 28.1 in. (92 x 71.5 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Private Collection

The shadows and sunlight on the table and the way the figure looms out of the darkness are particularly striking.

"The Street Girl's End" by an Unknown Printmaker

Nationality: English?
Media: Engraving

Several works by Lucian Freud

Nationality: English
Born/Died: 1922-2011

Media: Oils on canvas

Lucian Freud died yesterday. He was a great artist in the true sense of the term and his work will be rationally valued and appreciated for centuries to come. From an aesthetic point of view his work powerfully embodies his metaphysical assessment of man and of reality in the form of concretes with extreme clarity. Artists and audiences of any stripe can learn volumes about art and about art-making from his brilliant work and studio practices.

Reflection

Lucien Freud was a great artist, but he was a truly disgusting human being. It would be accurate and fair to call him “Kant’s artist.” From an ethical point of view Freud's work embodies an acutely nihlistic view of life and particularly of self. It is impossible for someone who holds such a sharply realized anti-man, anti-self philosophy—and his was a very philosophical mind—to be happy. Now that he has died biographies will be published that reveal just how dark his psychological state was. It should be recognized that such a psychological state is not to be envied or mimicked, but to be judged and possibly pitied. Such a state is not inherently artistic, virtuous or “true.”

Unknown Portrait by Thomas Sully

Nationality: English
Born/Died: 1783-1872

Location: Private Collection

This is an image of a Thomas Sully painting that I saw being sold at an online auction for a very low price. Since Sully is still a relatively famous artist the low price might seem strange...until you see the painting. This painting is in absolutely awful condition. I think it is interesting to see a work that was probably very expensive and cherished at one time only to be abandoned in an attic or basement for a couple hundred years.


This second image has been digitally manipulated by me.

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

Atlas Week: William Cunningham's "Atlas with an Armillary"

On this Day in the History of Art: Paolo Veronese died (1588), Lord Byron died (1824)

Because the Atlas Shrugged movie came out recently I thought it would be fun to post a week of images of Atlas by various artists from history.

Nationality: English

Creation Date: 1559
Media: Engraving ink on paper (?)
Location: London, UK

This engraving is unusual because instead of depicting Atlas supporting the heavens and earth he is shown supporting an armillary sphere--a model of the earth and heavens. This image was the frontispiece for an English scientific text called The Cosmographicall Glasse from 1559 and this image reflects many ideas about the cosmos that were held during the Renaissance(1)--a time when scientific observation and religious belief were often blended.

I suspect that the text "primum mobile" refers to God as the "first cause" and that the text on the next layer, "cristalline firmament," refers to the substance known as "the ether" which was believed to fill the space beyond the terrestrial plane. According to Christian mythology, this was the location of heaven. (2) Next comes fire and air, then "ye earth" (here shortened to "yearth") and water reside at the center. It is also noteworthy that there are ten rings which separate the earth from the heavens, which may be an allusion to the ten-ringed worlds of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Atlas' ribbon-like label reads "Atlas supporting the heavens," and strangely Atlas is crowned. I think this comes from his mythology because in The Aeneid he is described as "with piny forests crown'd" although I'm sure that refers to forests held above his head. Perhaps he is made out to be a king with his castle in the background or perhaps kings were seen as Atlas-like.

I am told that the Latin text at the bottom refers to the following lines from The Aeneid:

Sir Thomas Lawrence's "Self-Portrait"

On this Day in the History of Art: Thomas Lawrence born (1769), Louise-Ernest Barrias born (1841), Handel’s Messiah premieres (1742), The Metropolitan Museum of Art founded (1870), Van Cliburn (American) wins Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow (1958), William Orchardson died (1910)
Nationality: English
Born/Died: 1769-1830

Creation Date: 1788
Size: 23 1/4 x 19 3/4 in. (59 x 50 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Denver, Colorado, USA

Thomas Lawrence was largely self-taught and this portrait depicts him at around eighteen or nineteen. Despite his youth, he portrays himself as a dignified, intense, beautiful, intelligent being with his hair slightly blowing in the wind.

Thomas Cooper Gotch's "The Child Enthroned"

This painting is very unusual for its strict symmetry, which is a wonderful and powerful stylistic device that is rarely used to this extent. If you look carefully, however, you'll notice that there are subtle non-symmetrical areas, such as the positions of the hands (the hand on the right is slightly lower) and the lighting on the dress. This extreme unification lends an obvious seriousness and a purposefulness to the character of the child.

Through design, this painting perfectly exemplifies Ayn Rand's words: "Art brings man’s concepts to the perceptual level of his consciousness and allows him to grasp them directly, as if they were percepts."

Lawrence Alma-Tadema's "Spring"

Great Art-Bad Philosophy Week: Francis Bacon's second version of "Painting"

This week I'm going to showcase great works of art which reflect some sort of terrible philosophical stance. Many of these works I enjoy and respect from an artistic standpoint though I don't share the artist's philosophy.



While Francis Bacon's paintings commonly elicit powerful feelings of revulsion and disgust, this attests to their quality as works of art--not to their being something other than art. Fortunately, I don't think there are many people who share his utterly defeatist view of life or his incredibly unhealthy psychological state to extent that he embodied them in his paintings.