Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Banjo Lesson, 1893, Hampton University Museum, Hampton, VA. I’m always glad to learn about new artists, and this week, for reasons which I hope are clear, I’ve decided to seek some out. Henry Ossawa Tanner promises to be the most exciting recent discovery. His style sits somewhere between Realism and Impressionism, theContinue reading “Day 81 – The Banjo Lesson”
Author Archives: drrichardstemp
Day 80 – Gabriel’s Mission
Giotto, Gabriel’s Mission, The Annunciation and The Visitation, c. 1305, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. Ah – Scrovegni Saturday! How many more will there be, I wonder? So far we’ve looked at the West Wall, with the Last Judgement (behind us, in the photo below), and the Virtues and Vices along the bottom of the South and North walls respectively, the Story of Joachim and Anna atop the SouthContinue reading “Day 80 – Gabriel’s Mission”
Day 79 – Pygmalion
François Boucher, Pygmalion and Galatea, 1767, The Hermitage, St Petersburg. The day before yesterday I was talking about a self portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola seeming to come alive (Picture Of The Day 77), and referred to the myth of Pygmalion – so what better than to explore that idea a little further today. The origins ofContinue reading “Day 79 – Pygmalion”
Day 78 – St Petroc
C. E. Kempe & Co. Ltd., St Petroc, 1914, St Olaf’s Church, Poughill. It’s all too easy to forget precisely how many Saints there are – probably because I doubt that anybody even knows how many saints there are. The Vatican must have an exhaustive list, but several have come and gone, some of them because even theContinue reading “Day 78 – St Petroc”
Day 77 – Sofonisba Anguissola
Sofonisba Anguissola, Bernardino Campi painting Sofonisba Anguissola, late 1550s, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena. Who could not love this artist given her name? Quite apart from her talent, of course. I will come back to her very soon to explore her life and her work in more depth. But for now, I want to look at a paintingContinue reading “Day 77 – Sofonisba Anguissola”
Day 76 – Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck, The Annunciation, about 1434-6, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. It’s Picture Of The Day 76, and this is the first time I’ve talked about Jan van Eyck. I should be sacked! Well, that aside, my reason to include him today is that I’m talking about him online tomorrow, and the publicity materialContinue reading “Day 76 – Jan van Eyck”
Day 75 – Pentecost II
El Greco, Pentecost, 1596-1599, The Prado, Madrid. To be honest, I couldn’t decide which picture to show you yesterday, either the painting by Plautilla Nelli (Picture Of The Day 75), or this one – so I decided I would talk about both. The theological content of the painting has been covered just as much as IContinue reading “Day 75 – Pentecost II”
Day 74 – Pentecost
Suor Plautilla Nelli, Pentecost, 1554, San Domenico, Perugia. Today is Pentecost, fifty days after the Resurrection, and ten days after the Ascension. According to the Acts of the Apostles, 2: 1-4: And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound fromContinue reading “Day 74 – Pentecost”
Day 73 – Mary
Giotto, Stories from the Life of the Virgin, c. 1305, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. Welcome back to Scrovegni Saturday – we’re well into the story. Joachim has been rejected from the temple, and as William Caxton put it back in 1483, ‘And then Joachim, all confused for this thing, durst not go home for shame’ (POTD 66). Meanwhile, Anna is waitingContinue reading “Day 73 – Mary”
Day 72 – Immaculate Conception II
Diego Velázquez, The Immaculate Conception, 1618-19, National Gallery, London. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a series! But it is a chance to talk about a very beautiful painting… and to bring us up to date with the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. I explained yesterday (Picture Of The Day 71) that there were two mainContinue reading “Day 72 – Immaculate Conception II”
dr richard stemp 