European Art at the Blanton

What to Paint?

In the 17th century, the European academies

established a subject hierarchy:

Doctrine of Catholic Church

• The Annunciation, c. 1585

• Mary and archangel Gabriel

• Learning of her role in the birth of Jesus

• Accuracy with Gospel stories key

History Paintings

• Flora, c. 1712-1716• Nymph Chloris and

Zephyrus• History paintings

include historical happenings, mythological subjects and events, literary or allegorical subjects

Portraits

• Portrait of a Man, c. 1715

• Growing bourgeois class had portraits made

• Captures the physical and personality traits of sitter

Middle Class Portraits

• As middle class rose in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, portraits became popular signs of status

• While rulers were portrayed on horseback, in battles, and within historical settings, middle class subjects were set in genre scenes.

Genre and Animals

• George Stubbs is one of the best known painters of animals.

• Blanton collection lacks a strong animal painting

Landscape

• Pastoral Landscape, c. 1628-1630

• Dürer one of the first people to use the term “landscape”

• Northern Europe especially excelled in landscapes

Still Life

• A Roemer with Glass and Grapes, 1600s.

• Golden Age of Still Life in 17th c. in the Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium)

We have spent a lot of time with religious works of art, so

let’s look at

Portraitsand

Still Life Paintings

Functions of Portraits

• Work of art• Biography• Document• Gifts, proxy• Memorial,

commemoration• Political tool

Keep in mind

• Portraits are of a unique individual

• Portraits commissioned by the sitter or a patron

• Artist enters into a negotiation and then an agreement with the subject/patron.

• The “model” is the subject

Who is depicted?

• Kings, queens, aristocrats, church leaders

• Celebrities, actors, dancers, poets, singers

• Artist self-portraits• You and me?

In 14th century Italy, a treatise on the subjects of portraits stated that only virtuous upper-class

individuals should be portrayed. It was hoped that the viewers of a

less fortunate lot in life would adopt characteristics just by

looking at the portraits.

The First Portraits

• Earliest portraits are of skulls modeled in clay (Jericho)

• Egyptians are the first people to make identifiable portraits for funerary purposes

400 BCE

• First coin portraits of Alexander the Great

• Shown in profile• People continued to

put him on coins to show carrying on tradition

• Realistic depictions

Middle Ages

• Jean le Bon, King of France

• Artist unknown• Believed to be the

first profile portrait on wood panel

• Circa 1350

Around the World

• Bai Juyi- Chinese poet from the Tang Dynasty (7th-10th c)

• Known for writing protest poems of his day

• Often quoted in the Japanese classic Tale of Genji

Portrait as Biography

• Think about the literary form biography.

• Appearance at a specific point

• Type of life is alluded to• By 19th and 20th c.,

artist probes the character of the sitter

• Conveys the presence of the sitter

George Romney

• One of the three greats of British portrait painters (Reynolds and Gainsborough)

• Known to be nervous and unsociable but worked in his favor

Romney the artist

• Able to bring forth the neutral qualities desired to be seen by society: youth, health, good looks, air of good breeding

• Need not be curious about the secrets of the sitter

Romney and Emma

• Met in 1781 and some believe the beginning of his downfall

• He became consumed by her

• Even when he painted other women he made them look like Emma

• Because of him, she was the most painted woman in Europe

“I have had a great number of ladies of fashion sitting for me since you left England but they fall short of the Spinstress, indeed, it is the Sun of my Hemisphere and they are but twinkling stars.”--- George Romney in a letter to Emma

The Spinstress

Blanton’s Portrait• Married on Sept. 6,

1791 in London’s St. Marylebone Church

• Romney captured this moment after the nuptials

• His last portrait of her from life

• Represents her in a moment of transition

• Romney in deep depression

Ruler Portraits

• Believed the ruler derived power from God- “divine right”

• Many times put in profile because did not want to appear to be glaring at viewer

• Many times put on a horse to show ultimate authority- think Marcus Aurelius of Imperial Rome

Marcus Aurelius

Thomas Gainsborough

• Learned painting from his mother

• Arch rival was Reynolds

• Shared court patronage with Benjamin West

HRH George, Prince of Wales, 1781

• Ruled 1820-1830• Oldest son of George III• Patron of the arts • Had his father’s book

collection donated to the state which became the foundation for the British Museum Library

• Regency Period of British history

The Duke of Wellington described him as such: "He was the most

extraordinary compound of talent, wit, buffoonery, obstinacy, and good

feelings, in short, a medley of the most opposite qualities, with a great preponderance of good - that I ever

saw in any character in my life."

Future of Portraits?• After photography• Matisse, Portrait of

Madame Matisse with a Green Stripe, 1905

• Recognizable portrait but he uses the green stripe to suggest the shadow

• His flippant treatment of a genre known for its mimetic qualities shocked people

Create your own Portrait

• Frances Hodgkins (1869-1947) b. in New Zealand, w. in England

• Known for self-portraits made to look like still life paintings

Still Life

What is a Still Life?

• A painting of things standing still• From the Dutch— stilleven• Greeks and Romans painted the earliest form

of still life paintings on walls of homes and villas. A number survive from Pompeii.

• Many still life artists interested in how light reflects off of a surface.

Golden Age of Still Life

• Post-Reformation Netherlands: less demand for religious art

• Extraordinary realism portraying domestic objects

• Still lifes are full of symbolism

The Dutch Golden Age

• In 1600, won Battle of Nieuwpoort against Spain

• Opened doors for development and flourishing of arts and economy

• Great sea power, economic leaders

Golden Age Painting

“Vanitas”

• Designed to make the viewer think about own mortality

• Subset of Dutch still life• Reject the material

world• Symbols for the end of

life- skull, open watch, hourglass, smoking candle

Banquet Still Life

• Food used since ancient Greek Zeuxis painted grapes on a wall

• Known as onbijtjes, or breakfast-pieces

• Range from elaborate to the more simple

Books

• Nancy Frazier, The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art History, 2001.

• Carol Strickland, The Annotated Mona Lisa, 1992.

• Alexander Sturgis, Understanding Paintings, 2000.

• Shearer West, Portraiture, 2004.