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The Exaltation of Beauty
22 Sept, 10:40
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The Carpenters Shop, by Edward William Stott (1859-1918)
The Exaltation of Beauty
22 Sept, 10:40
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Sainte Marguerite, Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne 1500-1520, de Jean Bourdichon
The Exaltation of Beauty
22 Sept, 10:40
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Johannes Bosboom, Interior of the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft
The Exaltation of Beauty
22 Sept, 10:40
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Anthony van Dyck, The Tribute Money
The Exaltation of Beauty
20 Sept, 14:36
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The title of the painting, however, through a witty transposition also refers through the furtive glance of the young woman to the myth of Psyche, who was forbidden to look at her beloved Amor, but secretly could not resist.The Japanese prints in a portfolio reveal the artist's interest in Asian art. Stevens was an early collector, and was especially fascinated by the trinkets and other exotica that better suited him and his own lifestyle. He summarized the rubbish in the studio as d'une vérité bien hollandaise (of a truly Dutch reality). In a laudatory article, he pointed to the similarity between Vermeer and Stevens, especially the way in which both could paint to the finest detail not familiar, but rather exotic gems and objects: rubies, turquoise, and even the wonderfully colored wings of an exotic butterfly.The Exaltation of Beauty
20 Sept, 14:36
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Nearby struts a small parrot, a reference to art's mimetic function. The backs of canvases and portfolios of prints or drawings represent some of Stevens's working materials. On a chair are Japanese prints, reminders of the artist's great passion: collecting Japanese art.The painting's title alludes to multiple things, most notably the myth of Psyche and Cupid and the type of large mirror depicted on the left, wherein one can see oneself fully. A full-length mirror with chassis was invented in the late eighteenth century and took its name, psyché, from the aforementioned legend of Cupid and Psyche, a story that thematizes looking. Yet this is not an actual psyché but an easel with a mirror where the canvas would normally sit, an analogue to a psyché suggesting that art is a reflection of life.Le Psyché shows a young model in Stevens' Parisian studio during a break. She is half
The Exaltation of Beauty
20 Sept, 14:36
forwarded from @thirstforbeauty
The Psyché (My Studio) by Alfred Stevens, 1871The Psyché is noted for its realism, witticism, and allegory, three dimensions generally perceived sequentially herein. The French word psyché (meaning, as in English, both "the mind" and the ancient goddess beloved of Cupid) also designates a full-length mirror, invented in the late eighteenth century, that can be moved up and down or tilted on its chassis. Here, however, the psyché is placed on an easel, where a canvas is supposed to sit. The young woman, like Psyche to Cupid in the ancient tale, peers stealthily around the edge of the mirror to the viewer. In this painting, Psyche looks both into the mirror and, via the latter, at the viewer.A cloth partially covers the mirror, hiding the reflections of the studio. Focus instead is on the model, who may have interrupted her posing session to peer around the edge of the mirror, which
The Exaltation of Beauty
17 Sept, 15:21
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Saint John on the island of Patmos, anonymous, 16th century
The Exaltation of Beauty
17 Sept, 15:21
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Cornelis Holsteyn, Venus mourning Adonis c.1655
The Exaltation of Beauty
17 Sept, 15:21
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Friedrich von Amerling - Caritas (1887)
The Exaltation of Beauty
17 Sept, 15:21
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Winter gives way to Spring, pencil and watercolour with bodycolour and gum arabic on paper, by Henry Meynell Rheam (1859-1920)
The Exaltation of Beauty
17 Sept, 15:21
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Boreas and Oreithyia by Evelyn De Morgan
The Exaltation of Beauty
15 Sept, 13:34
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The Seven Wonders of the World, Bernard Rantwyck (Flanders, active c. 1573 - 1596), Pitti PalaceThese paintings are a pictorial transposition of the Maarten Van Heemskerck’s designs for the engravings by Philip Galle in 1572. The Coliseum is found in both series, while the Lighthouse of Alexandria is only found in the engraving series. Rantwyck mainly follows the prototypes, however he changes certain aspects to render the fantasy-like atmosphere. He arranges the seven monuments in prominent positions within the general organization of the paintings. Moreover he adds episodes from the history of the monuments themselves through the presence of main characters, ‘macchiette’ (figurines) and an enchanting landscape.The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, The Walls of Babylon, The Coliseum, The Temple of Arthemis at Ephesus, The Pyramids in Egypt, The Colossus of Rhodes, The Statue of Zeus at
The Exaltation of Beauty
14 Sept, 15:15
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Jean-Léon Gérôme. The Antique Pottery Painter: Sculpturae vitam insufflat pictura, 1893
The Exaltation of Beauty
14 Sept, 15:15
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Jean-Léon Gérôme - View into a Ceramic Shop in Tanagra
The Exaltation of Beauty
13 Sept, 16:02
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The Angel Gabriel is also in a position of humility, he dominates, certainly, he is the divine messenger, but his attitude, his hands crossed on his chest, his legs slightly bent, his feet united, his calm and serene face, the softness that emanates from him adds to the feeling of recollection, to the importance of the moment of the event that transcends them both of them.At this moment, Gabriel has just arrived, divine words spread through the air while he is still suspended in his flight, his feet do not touch the ground yet, his clothes are still inflated with air, his wings are still vibrant, the branch of lilies bent by his flight.And yet it seems so calm, so light, the time of the earthly world has stopped, we entered into the divine, into the mystery of faith.The depth of the feeling that emerges from this Annunciation makes it one of Botticelli's most beautiful works, one
The Exaltation of Beauty
13 Sept, 16:02
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The heavenly rays that accompany Gabriel to his left turn into rays of divine words of which the longest of them arrive directly on Mary's face.Words that we see, that we hear resonating under the vault of the Virgin's chamber.She is there, humble, submissive, her head tilted, one hand on her chest and the other open.She receives this divine message, she agrees to be the one that gives birth to the son of God, as in the prophecy of Isaiah (7,14) which she was reading in the Bible open on her lectern, Isaiah who prophesies that a young girl will give birth to a son.All her humility, her acceptance, is amplified by the calm and orderly folds of her clothes that show her leaning forward before the envoy of God.
The Exaltation of Beauty
13 Sept, 16:02
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Botticelli, “The Annunciation of San Martino alla Scala” at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, mural fresco (243 x 555 cm) 1481Calm, serenity, dignity, recollection, this great fresco is full of poetry and sweetness while being particularly powerful, imposing by its simplicity and purity that emanates from it.The masses of the composition of this Annunciation with, on the one hand, the Angel Gabriel landing on the left and on the other hand, the Virgin, in her room on the far right, are perfectly balanced.This visual treatment makes it possible to link the Angel to the Virgin in a powerful way, yet so far away from each other.This remoteness does not prevent them from responding, quite the contrary, they are here strongly linked to each other.
The Exaltation of Beauty
12 Sept, 14:39
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The present Vanitas is the only independent still life that is generally accepted as by Guercino, though highly naturalistic still life elements are often found in Guercino’s larger figural compositions: as noted in the inscription, the roses beside the skull are very similar to those included in the Casa Tanari Assunta of 1623 (State Hermitage, St. Petersburg); the skull itself recalls that in the foreground of Guercino's Magdalene of circa 1624 and his Et in Arcadia Ego of circa 1618. As Guercino had moved to Rome in 1621 at the invitation of the Ludovisi Pope, Gregory XV – right around the moment this unusual still life was painted – it is also possible that Guercino’s Vanitas could have been inspired by Caravaggio’s famous depiction of Saint Jerome in his Study (c. 1605) in the Borghese collection, which includes a similarly haunting union of a skull and book.The Exaltation of Beauty
12 Sept, 14:39
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Guercino, A vanitas still life with a skull atop a book, an hourglass and two glass vases of flowers, 1620, oil on canvas, 30.8 x 38.5 cm, private collectionIn this moving contemplation on the passage of time and transitory nature of life, Guercino painted his only known still life: a decaying skull sits atop the Book of Life; beside it, the sands of time slip through an hourglass; to the left, a vase of French roses, traditional symbols of vita brevis; on the right, a vase of wallflowers, marigolds, pansies and daisies, all Christian symbols of humility.The canvas was first recorded in the sacristy of the Santissima Trinita dei Cappuccini church in Cento, but that was already more than a century after Guercino’s death, and the painting itself disappeared from sight around 1796. Its style indicates a dating to around 1620, before the period covered by the artist’s surviving account
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