Category: 365 Days
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24 Works, Today, May 1st. is artist Jules Breton’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #120
Since ancient times, peasants have celebrated the longest days of summer with festivities. This dance around a fire marks the feast of Saint John the Baptist on June 24, an important occasion in France. Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton (1 May 1827–5 July 1906) was a 19th-century French Naturalist painter. His paintings are heavily influenced…
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26 Works, Today, May 30th. is Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #148
Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto (May 30, 1892 — April 24, 1972) was one of the most important artists in the history of painting in the Philippines. Amorsolo was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. He is popularly known for his craftsmanship and mastery in the use of light. Amorsolo is best known for his illuminated…
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11 Works, Today, May 25th. is Carlo Dolci’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #143
In this intimate copper, destined for private devotion, we find the Magdalene repenting in the wilderness, her alluring nakedness reminding us of her unchaste past. Her breasts are exposed and the blue folds of her robes reveal her leg up to the thigh in a scene that, for all its allusion to the vanity of…
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17 Works, Today, May 24th. is Pontormo’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #142
The Adoration of the Magi (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: A Magis adoratur) is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of…
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20 Works, Today, May 22nd. is Mary Stevenson Cassatt’s day, her story, illustrated with footnotes #140
The carefully defined representation of the figures’ faces in Madame and Her Maid contrasts with the expressive application of pigment Cassatt uses in the background of the composition. This latter technique imbues the work with an air of immediacy and spontaneity that suggests it was conceived from direct observation. More on this painting Mary Stevenson…
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15 Works, Today, May 10th. is Jean-Léon Gérôme’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #128
Julius Caesar was assassinated in Rome on the Ides of March (March 15), 44 BC. Characteristically, Gérôme has depicted not the incident itself, but its immediate aftermath. The illusion of reality that Gérôme imparted to his paintings with his smooth, polished technique led one critic to comment, “If photography had existed in Caesar’s day, one…
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23 Works, Today, May 7th. is artist Azim Aslan oglu Azimzade’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #126
Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi, also Firdawsi (935–1026), was a Persian poet and the author of Shahnameh (“Book of Kings”), which is one of the world’s longest epic poems created by a single poet, and the national epic of Greater Iran. Ferdowsi is celebrated as one of the most influential figures of Persian literature. More on Firdousi…
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27 Works, Today, May 3rd. is artist Viktor Vasnetsov’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #122
Sirin is a mythological creature of Russian legends, with the head and chest of a beautiful woman and the body of a bird (usually an owl). According to the myth, they lived “in Indian lands” near Eden or around the Euphrates River. These half-women half-birds are loosely based on the Greek stories about sirens. They…
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15 Works, Today, May 2nd. is artist Charles Gleyre’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #121
The Bacchae; also known as The Bacchantes is an ancient Greek tragedy. The tragedy is based on the Greek myth of King Pentheus of Thebes and his mother Agave, and their punishment by the god Dionysus. The god Dionysus appears at the beginning of the play and proclaims that he has arrived in Thebes to…
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12 Works, Today, April 19th is artist Emanuel Krescenc Liška’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #108
Fox, Emanuel Krescenc (19 April 1852, in Mikulovice — 18 January 1903, in Prague) was a Bohemian painter and illustrator. Most of his works were on religious themes, but he also created scenes from works of poetry… Please follow link for full post
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11 Works, Today, April 10th is artist Jules Girardet’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #99
After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte was briefly kept prisoner on a warship in Plymouth Sound. The harbour became packed as crowds flocked to see their defeated enemy. Now the city is commemorating this most unlikely, and involuntary, of south coast holidays. More on Napoleon in Plymouth Sound Jules Girardet (10…
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14 Works, Today, April 7th is artist Ferdinand Leeke’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #96
Ferdinand Leeke (1859–1923) was a German painter best known for his illustrations of Richard Wagner’s operas and other mythological scenes. Born on April 7, 1859 in Burg bei Magdeburg, Germany. Around 1889 Siegfried Wagner, son of the composer Richard Wagner, commissioned Leeke to paint a series based on ten different operas written by his father…
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15 Works, Today, April 6th is artist John William Waterhouse’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #95
John William Waterhouse RA (6 April 1849–10 February 1917) was an English painter known for working first in the Academic style and for then embracing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood’s style and subject matter. His artworks were known for their depictions of women from both ancient Greek mythology and Arthurian legend… Please follow link for full post
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20 Works, Today, April 3rd is artist Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #92
The Battle of Mazagran was a combat between Arab and Berber forces against French troops during the French conquest of Algeria. The small French contingent, holed up in a fortification at Mazagran, near the port city of Mostaganem, withstood several days of assault by `Abd al-Qādir’s troops. Unaware that the French defenders were running short…
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15 Works, Today, March 27th. is artist Per Aass Deberitz’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #85
Justøya or Justøy is an island in Lillesand municipality in Agder county, Norway. The name comes from Old Norse word Jóstr. Per Aass Deberitz (also Peder Deberitz, 27 March 1880–14 October 1945) was a Norwegian painter. He was regarded as a neo-impressionist and was also a pupil of Henri Matisse during the years of his…
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17 Works, Today, March 24th. is artist José María Casado del Alisal’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #82
The Battle of Clavijo is a mythical battle. However, it was believed for centuries to be historical, and it became a popular theme of Spanish traditions regarding the Christian expulsion of the Muslims. The stories about the battle are first found centuries after it allegedly occurred; according to them, it was fought near Clavijo between…
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11 Works, Today, March 22nd. is artist André Utter’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes 80
André Utter (20 March 1886–7 February 1948) was a French painter. He was in the 18th arrondissement of Paris to parents of Alsatian origin. He is best known for having been the second husband and manager of French painter Suzanne Valadon and the father-in-law of her son, Maurice Utrillo. The trio have also been called…
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16 Works, Today, March 19th. is artist Charles Marion Russell’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #077
Charles Marion Russell (March 19, 1864 — October 24, 1926), also known as C. M. Russell, Charlie Russell, and “Kid” Russell, was an American artist of the American Old West. He created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Native Americans, and landscapes set in the western United States and in Alberta, Canada, in addition to bronze sculptures.…
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13 Works, Today, March 18th. is artist Josephine Hopper’s day, her story, illustrated with footnotes #076
Josephine Verstille Hopper (née Nivison; March 18, 1883 — March 6, 1968) was an American painter who studied under Robert Henri and Kenneth Hayes Miller, and won the Huntington Hartford Foundation fellowship. She was the wife of Edward Hopper, whom she married in 1924… Please follow link for full post
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10 Works, Today, March 13th. is artist Pierre-Narcisse Guérin’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #071
Cato the Younger (95–46 BCE) was a pivotal figure in Rome during the first century BCE. A defender of the Roman Republic, he forcefully opposed Julius Caesar and was known as the highly moral, incorruptible, inflexible supporter of the Optimates. When it became clear at the Battle at Thapsus that Julius Caesar would be the…
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