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.

John William North's "Halsway Court, Somerset"

Nationality: English

Born-Died: 1842-1900

Media: Watercolor

A very nice painting for spring.

Justin Wisniewski's "Autumn and Winter"

Nationality: All American

Born-Died: 1978-

Creation Date: 2012

Size: 7 x 5 inch (17.8 x 12.7 cm)

Media: Oil on panel

Location: My studio

Little self-portrait (without glasses.)  I tried to paint the meeting of two seasons.  Also, the colored elements are supposed to be Japanese maple leaves, not flowers.

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth "Aspiration"

Nationality: American

Born-Died: 1880 - 1980

Creation Date: 1933

Media: Stone

Location: Berwind Tomb, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Konrad Dielitz's "Wotan Takes Leave of Brunhild"

Nationality: German
Creation Date: 1892
Media: Typogravure(?) on Paper

Justin Wisniewski's "Winter"

Nationality: All American

Born-Died: 1978-

Creation Date: 2012

Size: 7 × 5 inch (115.5 x 82.5 cm)

Media: Oil on MDF panel

Location: My studio

99% finished.

Justin Wisniewski's "Valerie Defended Valerie with her Violin Bow"

Nationality: All American
Born: 1978
Creation Date: 2011
Media: Graphite on paper
Location: Collection of the artist

Johannes Vermeer's "The Geographer"

Nationality: Dutch
Born-Died: 1632-1675
Creation Date: c. 1668
Size: 20 × 17.9 inch (52 × 45.5 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, Germany


Another wonderful "Romantic" painting by Vermeer.  It has been suggested that the model might have been Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek (see below), the father of microbiology.  Vermeer and Leeuwenhoek certainly knew one another.  Not only is there a historical account of Vermeer having the chance to look through one of Leeuwenhoek's microscopes to see microbes within a drop of water, but Leeuwenhoek was hired to manage Vermeer's estates after he died.  

Do you see any similarities between these two paintings?

Johannes Vermeer's "The Astronomer"

Nationality: Dutch
Born-Died: 1632-1675
Creation Date: c. 1668
Size: 20 × 18 inch (51 × 45 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

This is one of my favorite Vermeer paintings.  The character here reminds me of Howard Roark or Equality 7-2521.

Like "The Art of Painting" this painting was at one time owned by the Nazis.  I recently read that they stamped a swastika on the back and I am dying to know if it is still there.  I'm sure it would have been small, but that is still strange.

Albert Bierstadt's "Sunset in the Rockies"

Nationality: German-American
Born-Died: 1830-1902

Creation Date: 1866

Media: Oil on canvas

Caspar David Friedrich's "Sea of Ice" or "The Wreck of Hope"

Nationality: German
Born-Died: 1774-1840

Creation Date: 1823-1824

Size: 38× 49.9 inch (96.7 × 126.9 cm)

Media: Oil on canvas

Location: Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Art I Hate and Why: John Silk Deckard's "Eternal Vigilance"

Nationality: American
Born-Died: 1938-1994

Creation Date: 1978

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

Media: Larger than life size

Location: The Erie Art Museum, Erie, Pennsylvania, USA

I have never seen a less inviting work of art adorning the entrance of any building, let alone an art museum.  I would be lying if I said I felt anything but loathing for this sculpture, which is appropriate considering it stems from a loathing of man and of self.  It sits outside the old entrance of the Erie Art Museum in Erie, Pennsylvania.  The museum’s collection is small but nice, the new wing is beautiful and I even am proud to have briefly worked there.  However, I would shudder at the thought if going inside if I only saw this sculpture without knowing that the Erie Art Museum is such a nice place.

Justin Wisniewski's "The self-sacrificer contemplated new ways of watering the plants"

Nationality: All American
Born-Died: 1978 -

Creation Date: 2011

Size: 9.875 x 5.625 inch (25.08 x 14.2875cm)

Media: 24K gold (goldpoint) on acrylic and gouache primed masonite

Location: Collection of the artist, USA
 

This is a goldpoint drawing.  It was drawn with a small stick of pure, 24K gold on a piece of masonite which was primed with an abrasive titanium ground.  It's just like drawing with a pencil only the metal filings which make up the drawing are much more permanent.  They will never fade or change color (because gold is inert) and they cannot be erased either.  Essentially, this drawing will last as long as the substrate it is drawn on lasts.

Michael Sweerts Week: "Self Portrait"

Nationality: Flemish Born-Died: 1618-1664

Creation Date: c. 1656
Size: 37.4 x 28.7 in. (95 x 73 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, USA

I like it.

Michael Sweerts Week: "Young Man in a Grey Jacket"

Nationality: Flemish

Born-Died: 1618-1664

Creation Date: c. 1659

Size: 18.7 x 15.4 in. (47.5 x 39.2 cm)

Media: Oil (on ?)

Location: Private Collection

For a “genre painter” (what Ayn Rand would call a “Naturalist"), Sweerts certainly made this image very Romantic.  I love it.

Caspar David Friedrich's "Wanderer Above the Sea and Fog"

Nationality: GermanBorn/Died: 1774-1840

Creation Date: 1818
Size: 37.3 × 29.4 in. (98.4 × 74.8 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Daniel Chester French's "Memory"

Nationality: American
Born/Died: 1850-1931

Creation Date: carved 1917-1919, revised 1909
Size: 57.5 x 25 x 42.5 in. (146.1 x 63.5 x 108 cm)
Media: Marble
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, USA

Xavier-Alphonse Monchablon's "Victor Hugo"

Nationality: French
Born/Died: 1835-1907

Creation Date: 1883
Size: 54 x 25.25 x 37 in. (14.2 × 10.2 cm)
Media: Photogravure of an Engraving (?)

So awesome. You can buy prints of this image on eBay for very little money.

Gustave Doré's "First Ascent of the Matterhorn"

Nationality: French

Born/Died: 1832-1883

Creation Date: 1865

Media: Lithograph on paper

Attilio Piccirilli's "Fragilina"

Nationality: American
Born/Died: 1866-1945
Creation Date: 1923
Size: 48.5 x 15.5 x 25 in. (123.2 x 39.4 x 63.5 cm)
Media: Marble
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, USA

Photos by me.