Tag: Fine Art
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16 Works, Today, May 23rd. is Carl Heinrich Bloch’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #141
In describing Jesus’ experience in Gethsemane, Luke confirms many details found in the other three Gospels. Jesus left the upper room and went “as he was wont, to the mount of Olives” Jesus was accustomed to going to Gethsemane, as John indicates An angel appeared to the Savior for the express purpose of strengthening him…
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20 Works, Today, May 22nd. is Mary Stevenson Cassatt’s day, his 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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18 Works, Today, May 21st. is Luc-Olivier Merson’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #139
Saint Isidore was born in Madrid, Spain, and farming was to be his labor, working for the same landowner his whole life. While he walked the fields, plowing, planting, and harvesting, he also prayed. He and his wife Maria, who is also honored as a saint, proved to all their neighbors that poverty, hard work, and sorrow…
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18 Works, Today, May 20th. is Edward Armitage’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #138
Whether or not the dancer is Salome performing the dance of seven veils in order to secure the beheading of John the Baptist, any image of dancing in the presence of Herod brings to mind the extraordinarily popular fin-de-siecle subject of Salome, the epitome the sexual, destroying woman for the Decadents of the ’90s and…
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20 Works, Today, May 19th. is Jacob Jordaens’ day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #137
The right side of the huge painting contains the biblical scene of the Tribute Money: apostle Peter on the lake at Capernaum miraculously finds a coin in the mouth of the first fish to bite. The coin allows Jesus and his disciples to pay compulsory tribute money to the temple in Jerusalem. The ferryboat, heavily…
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10 Works, Today, May 18th. is Gustave Courtois’ day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #136
Standing in the center, draped in red, is Octavian — soon to be named Augustus — who used a combination of politics and war to wrest for himself control of the Roman Empire in the aftermath of Julius Caesar’s assassination. He stands over the mummified remains of a much older, long-dead conqueror. The incredibly preserved body, dressed in white…
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21 Works, Today, May 17th. is Martinus Rørbye’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #135
Martinus Christian Wesseltoft Rørbye (17 May 1803–29 August 1848) was a Danish painter, known both for genre works and landscapes. He was a central figure of the Golden Age of Danish painting during the first half of the 19th century. Martinus Rørbye was born in Drammen in Norway on 17 May 1803. . He was not…
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13 Works, Today, May 16th. is John Opie’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #134
The paintings illustrate a scene from James Thomson’s 1727 poem Summer in which a young man accidentally sees a young woman bathing naked, and is torn between his desire to look and his knowledge that he ought to look away. The scene was popular with English artists as it was one of the few legitimate…
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26 Works, Today, May 15th. is Nicolae Grigorescu’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #133
Nicolae Grigorescu (R15 May 1838–21 July 1907) was one of the founders of modern Romanian painting. He was born in Romania. In 1843 his family moved to Bucharest. At a young age he became an apprentice at the workshop of the Czech painter Anton Chladek and created icons for the church of Băicoi and the…
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17 Works, Today, May 14th. is Domenico Induno’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #132
The painter in one of his letters describes the first of the three works as follows: “ It is July 14, 1859, when the news of the peace of Villafranca came to Milan by surprise; I want to reach the impression it made in the people and not already the official act […] of workers,…
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15 Works, Today, May 13th. is Teodor Axentowicz’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #131
In Kolomyjka, Teodor Axentowicz’s fascination with rural traditions, which was very fashionable in his time, translates into a vivid, expressive picture in which dynamics and joyful mood are more important than realism or the traditional rules of composition. The Oberek is the second most popular Polish folk dance after the polka, and consists of a…
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24 Works, Today, May 12th. is Sir Frank William Brangwyn’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #130
Sir Frank William Brangwyn RA RWS RBA (12 May 1867–11 June 1956) was a Welsh artist, painter, watercolourist, printmaker, illustrator, and designer. He was born in Bruges, Belgium where his father, William Curtis Brangwyn, moved after winning a competition organised by the Belgian Guild of St Thomas and St Luke to design a parish church.…
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15 Works, Today, May 11th. is Ettore Roesler Franz’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #129
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter’s Basilica (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal enclave that is within the city of Rome. More on Saint Peter Basilica Ettore Roesler…
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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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09 Works, Today, May 8th. is Anton von Werner’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #127
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire (and later, the Third French Republic) and the German states of the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. France was to suffer the greatest humiliation since the defeat…
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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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20 Works, Today, May 6th. is artist John Charles Dollman’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #125
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie (from Old Norse valkyrja “chooser of the slain”) is one of a host of female figures who choose those who may die in battle and those who may live. Selecting among half of those who die in battle, the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain,…
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15 Works, Today, May 5th. is artist Teofilo Patini’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #124
The parable of the Good Samaritan is a didactic story told by Jesus in Luke 10:25–37. It is about a traveler who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road. First a priest and then a Levite comes by, but both avoid the man. Finally, a Samaritan comes by. Samaritans and…
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16 Works, Today, May 4th. is artist François Gérard’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #123
Ossian is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, under the title The Poems of Ossian. Ossian, a blind bard, sings of the life and battles of Fingal, a Scotch warrior. Characters and passages of Ossian are based on established Celtic and Scottish folklore.…
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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…
Zaidan Gallery 