painting

Painting: The Garden Of Earthly Delights

~ beetleypete ~ 34 Comments

This well known surreal painting was originally titled ‘The Garden Of Lusts’. It was painted between 1490 and 1510 by the Dutch artist, Hieronymus Bosch, and is said to either be a celebration of sexual joy, a warning of the perils of the flesh, or both.

To my view, it depicts the creation on the left, the excesses of humanity in the centre, and the consequences of those on the right.

It is packed with so many small details, it requires numerous viewings to see everything. Painted on three boards, so known as a tryptich, the size of the work is 12 feet 6 inches wide, by 6 feet 6 inches high, and is currently on view at the Museo Del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

Please click on the photo to see the fullscreen image.

Painting: Still Life With Curiosities

~ beetleypete ~ 35 Comments

Still life paintings are often packed with small details, and this one is no exception. It was painted by Dutch artist Jan Van Der Heyden in 1712, shortly before he died. Not only does this feature an exquisitely-detailed twin globe and open books, it also has a painting within a painting, hanging on the wall above the marble fireplace. It is incomprehensible to me how he achieved such minute detail using only paints and brushes.

There is also a Turkish carpet, and a roll of decorated Chinese silk, all on a relatively small canvas of 2.5 feet by 2.1 feet. It is currently on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.

The photo can be enlarged slightly by clicking on it.

Painting: Scotland Forever

~ beetleypete ~ 35 Comments

This painting depicts the famous charge of the Scots Greys at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. It was painted by Lady Elizabeth Butler in 1881, and can be seen at the Leeds Art Gallery in Yorkshire, England. The canvas is just over 3 feet high by 6.5 feet wide.

Like many paintings of wartime action, the charge is romanticised by the painter. In reality, it was part of a relatively slow attack by all the British Heavy Cavalry that day, and the Scots Greys suffered terrible casualties as a result of being attacked in turn by French Lancers. But the details of the horses and soldiers are excellent, and the sense of motion and movement in the painting makes the viewer feel as if they are standing in front of the oncoming cavalry.

One click on the photo will enlarge it to fullscreen.

Painting: Frost Fair On The Thames

~ beetleypete ~ 39 Comments

This incredibly detailed painting from an unknown artist depicts a fair held on the frozen River Thames in London. It has been dated to around 1685, and the Old London Bridge complete with houses and shops built on it can be seen in the distance. The river froze to a thickness of 12 inches deep that year.

This has a double appeal to me, as a Londoner and a lover of detail in paintings. The canvas measures 2.75 feet by 3.05 feet and can be viewed at the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT. (New England, USA)

The photo can be significantly enlarged by clicking on it twice.

Painting: Sunday Afternoon

~ beetleypete ~ 35 Comments

Laurence Stephen Lowry RBA RA; 1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976 was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Greater Manchester (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years), as well as Salford and its vicinity. Lowry painted scenes of life in the industrial districts of North West England in the mid-20th century. He developed a distinctive style of painting and is best known for his urban landscapes peopled with human figures, often referred to as “matchstick men”. His use of stylised figures which cast no shadows, and lack of weather effects in many of his landscapes led critics to label him a naïve “Sunday painter”.

I have chosen his 1957 painting ‘Sunday Afternoon’, depicting the local people on the only day off from work for most of them. The park in the centre is crowded, and the smoke belching from the factories in the distance reminds us that the industry of the region never stops working. The details are tiny, but there are many of them. This painting was kept in a private collection for many years, and not openly displayed from 1957 until February this year, when it was sold for £6,300,000.

As I write this, I have no idea where (or if) it can currently be viewed.

Painting: The Art Of Painting

~ beetleypete ~ 37 Comments

Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter famous for the portrait of The Girl With A Pearl Earring, among others. The painting I have chosen is his work ‘The Art of Painting, which was completed in around 1668 and now displayed in a gallery in Austria. Considered to be his most detailed canvas, it shows his wonderful use of light, as the painter represented works on a portrait of a woman dresed in blue and holding a book and a musical instrument. Incredible details can be seen, not least the huge accurate map of the Low Countries on the far wall. I think it is amazing, and so did Vermeer. As he refused to sell it during his lifetime, keeping it in his studio as an example of his talent.

Painting: Ophelia

~ beetleypete ~ 42 Comments

Continuing the series of my love for details in famous paintings, here is the 1852 painting by John Millais representing the sweetheart of Hamlet singing before she drowns.

John Millais was a founder member of a group of Victorian artists known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was dedicated to producing a fresh and naturalistic realism in his art, and had a very good eye for detail. Millais planned his painting of Ophelia with meticulous care, beginning with the background, which he painted directly from a section of the Hogsmill River in Ewell, Surrey. The laborious task of faithfully recording every bud, every leaf, and every blade of grass took Millais a solid five months of work.

The woman who sat for the painting was also an artist, Elizabeth Siddal. She posed for many hours in a bath tub full of water until Millais was satsified with his work. This painting can be seen in the London gallery, Tate Britain. (Formerly the Tate Gallery)

Painting: The Lady Of Shalott

~ beetleypete ~ 54 Comments

The Lady of Shalott was painted in 1888 by the English artist John William Waterhouse. It is a representation of the ending of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s 1832 poem of the same name. It depicts a scene from Tennyson’s poem in which the poet describes the plight and the predicament of a young woman, loosely based on the figure of Elaine of Astolat from medieval Arthurian legend, who yearned with an unrequited love for the knight Sir Lancelot. The Lady of Shalott was donated to the public by Sir Henry Tate in 1894 and is usually on display in Tate Britain, London, in room 1840.

I remember seeing this painting as a teenager and thinking the details were incredible, especially in the quilt. I also thought that the woman stll looked contemporary in 1960s London, almost like a hippie.

Painting: Meeting On The Turret Stairs

~ beetleypete ~ 43 Comments

Frederic William Burton was from Ireland, but worked extensively in London where he later became the director of the National Gallery.

This was painted in 1864, and depicts Hellelil and Hildebrand inside the turret of a castle. The detail is amazing, and the emotion captured is palpable.

The subject is taken from a medieval Danish ballad translated by Burton’s friend Whitley Stokes in 1855, which tells the story of Hellelil, who fell in love with her personal guard Hildebrand, Prince of Engelland. Her father disapproved of the relationship and ordered her seven brothers to kill the young prince.