After the Bath by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1875.
Porträt der Mary Gainsborough, Tochter des Künstlers by Thomas Gainsborough, 1777.
Thomas Gainsborough’s captured image of his daughter, Mary.
Oil on canvas, Tate Gallery.
Mr. And Mrs. William Hallett by Thomas Gainsborough, 1785.
Thomas Gainsborough was an English painter of portraits and landscapes who lived from 1727 to 1788. Gainsborough was noted for the speed with which he applied his paint, and he worked more from his observations of nature (and of human nature) than from any application of formal academic rules.
Oil on canvas, National Gallery in London, England.
The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1767-1768.
Oil on canvas.
David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio, 1609-1610.
Chiaroscuro was practiced long before he came on the scene, but it was Caravaggio who made the technique definitive, darkening the shadows and transfixing the subject in a blinding shaft of light. With this came the acute observation of physical and psychological reality which formed the ground both for his immense popularity and for his frequent problems with his religious commissions. He worked at great speed, from live models, scoring basic guides directly onto the canvas with the end of the brush handle; very few of Caravaggio’s drawings appear to have survived, and it is likely that he preferred to work directly on the canvas.
Galleria Borghese, Rome.
“If a man devotes himself to art, much evil is avoided that happens otherwise if one is idle.”
Self-Portrait by Albrecht Durer, 1493.
The earliest painted self-portrait of the German painter, printmaker and theorist. It was painted during a four year stint spent travelling to various locations throughout Europe, learning skills from other artists. (He was 22 when he painted this particular portrait.) It was most likely sent back to his fiancée, Agnes Frey.
Oil on canvas transferred from vellum, the Louvre.
Bathsheba by Willem Drost, 1654
Willem Drost is a mysterious figure, closely associated with Rembrandt van Rijn, with very few paintings clearly attributable to him. At the age of 17, he became a student of Rembrandt. At the age of 21, he painted “Bathsheba,” which now hangs in the Louvre, where his tutor’s painting of the same title also resides. He was 25 when he died in the city of Venice.
Drost is considered one of Rembrandt’s most talented disciples, so much so that his 1654 painting titled: Portrait of a Young Woman with her Hands Folded on a Book was attributed to Rembrandt for more than 300 years. In fact, Rembrandt is credited with over 2,000 paintings and etchings, and the authenticity of his paintings is so important that the Rembrandt Research Project was formed in Amsterdam to review the attribution of all his works. They have now reattributed a number of Rembrandt’s paintings to his pupils and associates, such as Drost.
Oil on canvas, the Louvre.
The Nightwatch by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1632
This piece is interesting because Rembrandt depicted the Kloveniersdoelen, the musketeer branch of the civic militia, in an action scene rather than a stately, formal line-up. It is also interesting because parts of the canvas were cut off (approximately 20% from the left hand side was removed) to make the painting fit on the designated wall when it was moved to Amsterdam town hall in 1715. However, the Rijksmuseum contains a smaller reproduction of the work in what is understood to be its original form; the four, foremost figures occupy the painting’s center.
Oil on canvas; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
“All painting, but also all literature, is merely a process of going round and round something inexpressible.”
