Carl Larsson, Azalea, 1906. Thielska Gallery, Stockholm. On Monday (6 September) I will be lecturing about two great Swedish artists from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, Anders Zorn and Carl Larsson, both of whom (and I know I’ve said this before) deserve to be better known. Aside from their enormous technical skill, theContinue reading “135 – Say it with flowers”
Category Archives: Flowers
126 – Mary Moser
Mary Moser, Spring and Summer, c. 1780. Royal Academy, London. One of the artists I won’t be able to cover in my admittedly brief series Three Women in the 18th Century is Mary Moser, which is a great shame. Her fame is eclipsed by her contemporary Angelica Kauffman (who will, of course, be the subjectContinue reading “126 – Mary Moser”
Lent 2
Three more plants today – and we shall ignore the delicate black slipper and the cloth of gold hem, although the scale at which they are depicted does suggest that we are not looking at a landscape painting, even if the landscape could still play a significant part. On the left is a broad-leaf plantain,Continue reading “Lent 2”
Lent
It is the first day of Lent, and this year I will be giving up abstinence. Well, I say, ‘this year’. To be honest, it’s a sacrifice I’ve been making for the past two decades at least, but there seems no reason to give up giving up now – so much has been given upContinue reading “Lent”
120 – The Colour of Virtue
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Maestà, c. 1335. Museo di Arte Sacra, Massa Marittima. I’m giving a talk for ARTscapades on Wednesday afternoon (at 2pm) entitled Good and Bad Government, which would be fine, apart from the fact that it has a subtitle The Lorenzetti Brothers in Siena. What was I thinking? I will have plenty of timeContinue reading “120 – The Colour of Virtue”
An Advent Calendar – 7
‘The Floor’ – Looking down, we see that the floor is in the same condition as the walls – in a chronic state of decay, and in desperate need of repair. It is part of the setting of this religious drama, and, like the rest of the scenery, it is symbolic of the old orderContinue reading “An Advent Calendar – 7”
104 – Don’t touch!
Fede Galizia, Noli mi tangere, 1616, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. Great news this week, which I know some of you will have heard already. But just in case you haven’t, I’m glad to let you know that the National Gallery has managed to completely re-schedule the Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition. And not only that, but theyContinue reading “104 – Don’t touch!”
Day 98 – Out of Eden
Giovanni di Paolo, The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise, 1445, Metropolitain Museum of Art, New York. I alluded yesterday (Picture Of The Day 97) to the medieval conception of the Universe, in relation to the tapestries across the top of the walls in the tower of The Lady of Shalott – so what betterContinue reading “Day 98 – Out of Eden”
Day 97 – The Mirror Crack’d
William Holman Hunt, The Lady of Shalott, 1886-1905, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford CT. Finally, after 97 days, I’ve found the perfect expression of the lockdown. I’m beginning to understand how this Lady feels. I suspect we’ve all been going through this for a while now – “I am half sick of shadows,” said the Lady of Shalott.Continue reading “Day 97 – The Mirror Crack’d”
Day 94 – Narcissus
Claude, Landscape with Narcissus and Echo, 1644, National Gallery, London. I last talked about Claude, one of the great innovators of landscape painting, when we were exploring the story of Psyche, and if you want to more about him, and why I think this artist who produced all his work in Italy was not really French,Continue reading “Day 94 – Narcissus”
