A coffee with Art

Sit down with me, just for the time of a good black espresso. Let's have a quick chat about Art.

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Showing posts with the label Don Gaspar de Guzman

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Diego Velázquez - Portrait of the Count of Olivares (c. 1640)

on May 05, 2020

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Lorenzo Lotto - Portrait of two spouses (1523-1524)

A nice portrait of a couple to celebrate a union. That it is also a happy union is a bit difficult to say, but from the faces it would seem serious. When you want to insert a symbol in a portrait, then you must expect the doors of guess and meaning hunt to open. The man points to a squirrel that remains in the dark and one must struggle to see it. What is represented? You do: lust, according to a medieval legend when the food is scarce the squirrel drives out the female or domestic prudence. The possibilities are not lacking. But man holds a sheet of paper where it is written in Latin: man never. The hypotheses are and will remain open, the solution is a certainty only for the couple.

Claude Monet - Pond in Montgeron (1876-1877)

Monet breaks all the rules of painting based on light, shape and color; sets the hues of Nature without asking which real object they belong to. We begin to lose the hegemony of the object; only the sensations that are imprinted on his retina are reproduced. The brush strokes are as vigorous as only light can be. A decorative work in terms of size, shape and subject. With a surprise: cherchez la femme!

Andrea del Sarto - Assumption of the Virgin (about 1526)

Assumption of the Virgin about 1526 Oil painting on canvas (379x222 cm) Palazzo Pitti, Florence ******* The painting is divided in a physical and spiritual way, two large rooms characterize it: sky and earth. The Virgin ascends to heaven, surrounded by angels, while on earth the apostles watch the scene with great amazement. St. Thomas is characterized by his scientific spirit: I must ascertain and prove that Mary is no longer in her tomb and that she is actually taken up into heaven even with her body. In front of the scene two important saints: Nicola and Margherita; the patrons of the donor and of the city for which the altarpiece was designed. The painting is somewhat rigid, a typical aspect of the Italian Renaissance. The Florentine painters enjoyed the fame of great draftsmen and Andrea del Sarto no less; there is no doubt that he made several preparatory drawings to achieve the desired balance. Andrea del Sarto received many commissions in life, especially frescoes and was known...

Arnold BÖCKLIN - Fight of centaurs (1873)

Fight of centaurs 1873 Oil painting on canvas (105x195 cm) Kunstmuseum, Basel ******* This work more than representing a scene of horror, it represents a sensation. In an otherworldly landscape, the canvas is dominated by figures of heroic centaurs engaged in a highly dramatic choreography. The tension of this painting derives mainly from the contorted poses and tormented poses of the centaurs, which are drawn with a few brushstrokes rich in color, from which a very acute dramatic sense emerges. Böcklin spent most of his artistic career in Italy, a country where he was able to find inspiration for classical and mythological themes, which he was able to interpret in a romantic style similar to that of Eugène Delacroix and Théodore Géricault. Great was his popularity in life, achieved thanks to his unreal scenes, threatening tones and a latent feeling of fear; his works inspired German expressionism and French symbolism. Great interest was reserved for his allegorical paintings, wh...

Hans BALDUNG GRIEN - The three ages of man and death (1539)

The three ages of man and death 1539 Oil on the table (151x61 cm) Prado Museum, Madrid ******* Four simple figures, an allegory: the three ages of human life together with inevitable destiny. A sleeping girl is childhood, a girl is youth and an old woman is old age. Death is easily recognized by itself. Does the end of all things have an hourglass in your hands, a symbol of time that passes inexorably or the inevitable that sooner or later arrives? A strong realism permeates the bodies created by Baldung, the result of his very careful and prolific studies on real life models. He received very practical help from his engraving techniques, an activity that unites him with his famous master: Albrecht Dürer. With Hieronymus Bosch he shares a passion for terror and suffering represented through fantasy. Thanks to his Art he was able to enjoy great fame and well-being, when he died in Strasbourg he was one of the most important and influential members of the community. Comparing artis...

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin - Still life with the attributes of Art (1766)

His hunger among contemporaries was impressive, all thanks to his still lifes. Hermes is a statue with a signature (Jean-Baptiste Pigalle) and dominates all the attributes of art: painting (palette, brushes and colors), architecture (plants, tools and commemorative medal for the foundations and completion of the buildings), a medal to the order of San Michele (awarded to Pigalle in 1756). A still life that not only speaks of art but also of biography.

Thomas Gainsborough - Lady in Blue (1770-1780)

Between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the portrait is the most appreciated style; consequently unique techniques and effects develop. Playing between pastel shades and delicate colors, the whole portrait is pervaded by a sense of peace and serenity. Confirmed by the intense gaze of the woman. Thanks to the flowing brush strokes, it seems to glimpse an almost imperceptible movement in the painting.