The Master of the Aachen Altarpiece, The Crucifixion, about 1490-5. The National Gallery, London. I’m really enjoying getting to know the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool – it has a fantastic collection, with some real gems – and am looking forward to starting my online stroll around the museum this Monday, 12 February with aContinue reading “216 – Between Earth and Heaven”
Category Archives: Repoussoir
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”
192 – Role reversal
Berthe Morisot, Eugène Manet on the Isle of Wight, 1875. Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris. Last week I talked about a traditional, old fashioned couple, where the man was in the driving seat. This week, we will see woman take the reins: Madame Manet, better known by the name she called herself – as she neverContinue reading “192 – Role reversal”
151 – Mommie dearest
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, 1871. Musée d’Orsay, Paris. This coming Monday’s talk, White: Whistler’s Woman… is an introduction to the Royal Academy’s exhibition entitled Whistler’s Woman in White. This does not refer to one specific painting, though, but to a person, as the subtitle of the exhibition makesContinue reading “151 – Mommie dearest“
Psyching myself up
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Psyche showing her Sisters her Gifts from Cupid, 1753, National Gallery, London. I was going to write a new post today, but it turns out I’m still in acting mode. After two weeks in Sidmouth playing three different roles in the four playlets that make up Neil Simon’s California Suite we have half a weekContinue reading “Psyching myself up”
Day 64 – Ascension
Pietro Perugino, The Ascension of Christ, 1495-98, Musée des beaux-arts, Lyon. Today is the Feast of the Ascension, forty days after Easter, when Jesus went up into Heaven – Jesus himself makes three references to it, before it has happened, in the Gospel of St John, and it is described in both the Gospel of St LukeContinue reading “Day 64 – Ascension”
Day 43 – Psyche
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Psyche showing her Sisters her Gifts from Cupid, 1753, National Gallery, London. I thought I’d have some presents today… for various reasons. Did you know it is the 75th anniversary of the death of Adolf Hitler? Or that it is the 137th anniversary of the death of Edouard Manet? Neither of these are the reason, obviously. ButContinue reading “Day 43 – Psyche”
Day 30 – The Supper at Emmaus
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, The Supper at Emmaus, 1601, National Gallery, London. People often ask me what would be the best book to read as an introduction to renaissance art, and my answer is almost invariably ‘the Bible’. And its value is not restricted to the Renaissance. Most ‘Old Master’ painting was produced in a profoundlyContinue reading “Day 30 – The Supper at Emmaus”
Day 27 – Birds, Butterflies and a Frog among Plants and Fungi
Day 27 – Melchior d’Hondecoeter, ‘Birds, Butterflies and a Frog among Plants and Fungi’, 1668, National Gallery, London. Well, here’s a curious thing! In terms of the standard classifications of art, it’s hard to know where to put it. Given its size (68 x 57 cm) and its subject matter, it should be a Still LifeContinue reading “Day 27 – Birds, Butterflies and a Frog among Plants and Fungi”
dr richard stemp 