Hans Holbein the Elder, The Basilica of St Paul, 1504. Staatsgalerie Altdeutsche Meister, Augsburg. I am looking forward to the exhibition Holbein at the Tudor Court at the Queen’s Gallery, and so wanted to write about Holbein today. This is by Hans Holbein, although probably not the Hans Holbein you are thinking of. Today’s paintingContinue reading “210 – Hans Holbein, already in the picture”
Category Archives: Bible
Reverting to Type
Elisabetta Sirani, The Penitent Magdalene, 1663. Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie, Besançon. I first got to know today’s painting when I wrote about it back in November 2020, but only saw it for the first time in the flesh (flesh being the operative word) the week before last, when I was in Hamburg. It featuresContinue reading “Reverting to Type”
209 – Rubens: a nude, with nuance?
Peter Paul Rubens, Samson and Delilah, about 1609-10. The National Gallery, London. Relatively few people get their own adjective, but as far as Rubens is concerned, that could be a good thing. ‘Rubenesque’ can be positive or negative, or an all-too-obvious attempt to be polite, I suppose, it depends on your attitude. A basic definitionContinue reading “209 – Rubens: a nude, with nuance?”
195 – Behold!
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ecce Ancilla Domini! (The Annunciation), 1849-50. Tate. Today’s painting is the very first thing you will see if you visit The Rossettis at Tate Britain, the exhibition I will be introducing this coming Monday, 15 May at 6.00pm. It’s the perfect choice to start this exhibition, as I will explain below, andContinue reading “195 – Behold!”
193 – Visionary
Paul Gauguin, Vision of the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel), 1888. National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh. From Shaping Impressionism last week, I am moving on to After Impressionism, the big blockbuster of a show at the National Gallery which I will introduce this Monday, 1 May at 6.00pm, hence my discussion of Paul GauguinContinue reading “193 – Visionary”
Donatello, take 2…
Donatello, The Feast of Herod, c. 1435, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille. Well, I’m just off out to talk about Donatello, so I’m afraid I don’t have the time to write a new post now. Instead, I’m going to revisit a post from 6 May 2020: it was Picture of the Day 49. Re-reading it, I wasContinue reading “Donatello, take 2…”
183 – Another Epiphany
Elisabetta Sirani, Study for ‘The Baptism of Christ’, c. 1658. Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna. Happy New Year! And Happy Christmas (yes, as I write, this is the Twelfth Day), and (given when I am writing) may I wish you a Happy Epiphany for tomorrow? The Wise Men will arrive and recognise Jesus as The Boy BornContinue reading “183 – Another Epiphany”
182 – The Rest of Christmas
Luisa Roldán, The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c. 1690. The Hispanic Society of America, New York Happy Christmas! And yes, it is still Christmas – as I write it is only the fifth day of twelve, and on the Fifth Day of Christmas… but that doesn’t matter right now. As far as theContinue reading “182 – The Rest of Christmas”
181 – Candlemas comes early
Jacques Daret, The Presentation in the Temple, c. 1434-35. Petit Palais, Paris. Theoretically I should have written about this painting last week, as I talked about the theme – The Presentation in the Temple – in Monday’s talk. This coming week, Week 4 of The Childhood of Christ, I will include a lot of paintingsContinue reading “181 – Candlemas comes early”
179 – Surviving treasures
Jacques Daret, The Adoration of the Kings, c. 1434-35. Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. It’s December 1st – let the Advent Calendars be opened! I wrote one in 2020, and if you want something to read every day, and weren’t with me two years ago, I wrote about a single detail from Gossaert’s glorious AdorationContinue reading “179 – Surviving treasures”
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