Famous Picturest (2)

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Sistine Madonna (detail)1513-14Oil on canvas, 270 x 201 cmGemäldegalerie, Dresden

Famous Pictures

(2)

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Sistine Madonna1513-14Oil on canvas, 270 x 201 cmGemäldegalerie, Dresden

RAFFAELLO SanzioThe Sistine Madonna

The canvas with the Virgin, Child and Saints Sixtus and Barbara, usually called the Sistine Madonna, is characterized by an imaginary space created by the figures themselves. The figures stand on a bed of clouds, framed by heavy curtains which open to either side. The Virgin actually appears to descend from a heavenly space, through the picture plane, out into the real space in which the painting is hung. The gesture of St Sixtus and the glance of St Barbara seem to be directed toward the faithful, whom we imagine beyond the balustrade at the bottom of the painting. The Papal tiara, which rests on top of this balustrade, act as a bridge between the real and pictorial space.

The painting was probably intended to decorate the tomb of Julius II, for the holy pope Sixtus was the patron saint of the Della Rovere family and St Barbara and the two winged 'genii' (visible at the bottom of the picture space) symbolize the funeral ceremony. The canvas was located in the convent of St Sixtus in Piacenza and was later donated by the monks to Augustus III, King of Saxony. It was carried to Moscow after the Second World War, and was later returned to Dresden.

Generations of visitors to the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden have been deeply impressed by the way in which Raphael portrayed the Madonna in this painting. It has been reproduced over and over again, and almost everyone is familiar with the putti leaning on the balustrade. The Madonna appears from behind a curtain, confident and yet hesitant. The curtain gives the illusion of hiding her figure from the eyes of the onlooker and at the same time of being able to protect Raphael's painting.




MANET, Edouard A Bar at the Folies-Bergère1881-82Oil on canvas, 96 x 130 cmCourtauld Gallery, London

MANET, EdouardA Bar at the Folies-Bergère

In the winter of 1881/82 Manet painted a picture that can stand as a summation of his art: A Bar at the Folies-Bergère. Now exempt (as an award winner) from the jury process, he exhibited it at the 1882 Salon. Recent scholars have rightly been fascinated by the qualities of the painting and the intensity and diversity of Manet's renewed analysis of part of the society he lived in.

The colours are rather subdued (which may be intended to convey the smoky somnolence of the pleasure palace), but on the other hand Manet gives us first-rate proof of his still-life talent in the foreground. The hard, cold quality of the white light globes is perfectly caught, they are like buttons on the canvas. Manet's pastose brushwork creates a unified tapestry of colour correspondences and contrasts across the various spatial levels.

Those levels themselves are intentionally confusing: most of what we see is a reflection in the bar mirror behind the woman. The laws of perspective are broken in a fashion that was a radical departure at the time. The woman's back is reflected at an angle.

MANET, EdouardA Bar at the Folies-Bergère1881-82(detail)Oil on canvas, 96 x 130 cmCourtauld Gallery, London

MANET, EdouardA Bar at the Folies-Bergère1881-82(detail)Oil on canvas, 96 x 130 cmCourtauld Gallery, London

RENOIR, Pierre-Auguste Dance at Bougival1883Oil on canvas, 182 x 98 cmMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston

RENOIR, Pierre-Auguste Dance at Bougival

Bougival is a village in north-central France, located about 15 km from Paris in its western suburbs. Bougival was a popular recreation spot where the Impressionist painters, including Renoir, Monet and Sisley, painted country scenes along the Seine.

RENOIR, Pierre-AugusteDance at Bougival1883Oil on canvas, 182 x 98 cmMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston

RENOIR, Pierre-AugusteDance at Bougival1883Oil on canvas, 182 x 98 cmMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston

VELÁZQUEZ, Diego Rodriguez de Silva yLas Meninas or The Family of Philip IV1656-57Oil on canvas, 318 x 276 cmMuseo del Prado, Madrid

VELÁZQUEZ, Diego Rodriguez de Silva yLas Meninas or The Family of Philip IV

"Las Meninas" is a Portuguese word used to name the Maids of Honour of the Royal children in the 17th century.Las Meninas or The Royal Family is one of the great problem pictures in the history of art. An almost infinite number of interpretations have now been proposed for the scene it shows. At first sight, however, Las Meninas seems to present no problems at all, and indeed appears perfectly straightforward in its sober geometry and good-humoured clarity.

It is set in a room in the Alcázar, equipped by Velázquez as a studio, and shows the heiress to the throne, the Infanta Margarita, with her court. Palomino names all those present. The queen's maid of honour, Dona Maria Agustina Sarmiento, one of the meninas, is kneeling at the Infanta's feet, handing her a jug of water. The other maid of honour, Dona Isabel de Velasco stands behind the princess, and beside her we see the grotesquely misshapen female dwarf Mari-Bárbola and the male dwarf Nicolasico Pertusato; the latter, as Palomino points out, is placing his foot on the mastiff lying in front of the group to demonstrate the lethargic animal's good temper. Further back, almost swallowed up in the shadows, are a man described only as guardadamas - a guard or escort to the ladies - and the lady in waiting Doña Marcela de Ulloa.Velázquez is standing with brush and palette in front of a tall canvas; we can see only the back of it. There are some large pictures hanging on the back wall of the room. Two of them were painted by Velázquez's son-in-law, Mazo, from models by Rubens, and show scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses, one of them another version of the punishment of Arachne. The princess's parents, the king and queen, appear in a dark frame below these pictures, probably the glass of a mirror. To the right of the mirror, on a flight of steps leading up to a doorway and a brightly lit adjoining room, stands Jose Nieto, the queen's palace marshal.

There are several basic questions that have been asked again and again about this picture. What is Velázquez painting on the front of the canvas that is hidden from us? Where did he stand in order to paint the scene and himself in it? What is the source of the image in the mirror - that is, just where in the room must the royal couple have been standing for their reflection to appear? And finally, is there any significance in the fact that the red cross of the Order of Santiago is prominently applied to the artist's clothing?It was long thought that Velázquez was creating a picture without any metaphysical or speculative reference, and was merely recording a fleeting moment in permanent form, as if in a snapshot. According to this theory the subject was no more than an ordinary scene of palace life.

A different hypothesis is put forward by art historians, who believe that intellect and keen perspicacity, as well as the artist's eye and hand, were involved in the painting of Las Meninas. The largest number of interpretations have been put forward for the mirror on the back wall, sometimes also thought to be a painted canvas. Much learned industry has also been applied to the question of location: in which room in the palace is this scene taking place?

Despite the riddles hidden in the painting of Las Meninas we must not overlook its artistic mastery, particularly as expressed in the figure of the Infanta Margarita surrounded by people of lesser birth. For it was on the princess that the dynastic hopes of the Spanish Habsburgs rested after the death of Prince Baltasar Carlos.

VELÁZQUEZ, Diego Rodriguez de Silva yLas Meninas or The Family of Philip IV (detail)1656-57Oil on canvas, 318 x 276 cmMuseo del Prado, Madrid



VERMEER, Johannes The Milkmaidc. 1658Oil on canvas, 45,5 x 41 cmRijksmuseum, Amsterdam

VERMEER, Johannes The Milkmaid

This picture ranges among the most highly appreciated paintings by Vermeer, since shortly after his demise and also in subsequent years, second only to his View of Delft. It also fetched the second highest price in the Amsterdam sale of 1696, no. 2: "A maid pouring out milk, extremely well done, by ditto, fl 175." The price is reasonable, given the mediocre level at which his paintings traded. The work never left Holland, and its attribution to Vermeer was upheld throughout. Slankert enumerates various Amsterdam sales in which the Milkmaid is mentioned and highly spoken of, until the canvas became part of the Six collection, Amsterdam, in the earlier part of the nineteenth century. It was acquired by the museum in 1907-8 from this source.

Although the genre of "kitchen pieces" belongs to a long tradition in the Netherlands, with Joachim Beuckelaer and Pieter Aertsen in the sixteenth century being its initiators, it lost favour in the subsequent century, with the exception of Delft, where it endured. Vermeer's realization, however, has nothing in common with his archaic forerunners. His vision is concentrated on a single sturdy figure, which he executes in a robust technique, in keeping with the image that he wants to project. The palette features a subdued colour scheme: white, yellow, and blue. But the colours are far from frank or strident, and are rather toned down, in keeping with the worn work clothes of his model.

The still life in the foreground conveys domestic simplicity, and the light falling in from the left illuminates a bare white kitchen wall, against which the silhouette of the maid stands out. One gains from this deceptively simple scene an impression of inner strength, exclusive concentration on the task at hand, and complete absorption in it. The extensive use of pointillé in the still life lets us presume the use of the inverted telescope in an effort to set off this part of the painting against the main figure and alert the viewer to the contrast between the active humanity of the maid and her inanimate environment.

VERMEER, JohannesThe Milkmaid (detail)c. 1658Oil on canvasRijksmuseum, Amsterdam



REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van RijnSaskia as Flora1634Oil on canvas, 125 x 101 cm (transferred to new canvas)The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van RijnSaskia as Flora

Rembrandt's brand-new bride, Saskia van Uylenburgh, was probably the model for Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, springtime and fertility, here crowned with flowers and dressed in a costly gown. On 22 July 1634 Rembrandt married Saskia, and in the same year he painted his Flora.

Rembrandt portrayed a modest, charming Flora, dressed in a rather oriental costume. Her floral finery includes a red tulip, in those days a flower both costly and popular. Flowers also entwine the stick in her hand. The foliage in the background indicates the outdoor setting.

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REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van RijnSaskia as Flora (detail)1634Oil on canvasThe Hermitage, St. Petersburg

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Famous Picturest (2)