Quote of the Day

"I paint what I see and not what others like to see.” - Édouard Manet

Rembrandt: Brilliant Brushwork and Dramatic Illumination

Rembrandt - Man in Oriental Costume - 1632 - Oil on canvas - 60 1/8 x 43 3/4in. (152.7 x 111.1cm) - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (click photo for larger image)An intense psychological study of people, objects, and their surroundings coupled with an earnest Christian devotion fueled Rembrandt's (1606-1669) life and work. Incredibly gifted as an artist from a very young age, he became a master of portraits of all types, historical, biblical, and mythological scenes, as well as simple, charming but dramatic landscapes. 

He used many types of materials and techniques with unusual sensitivity and spontaneity to develop his message. His approaches to composition, color usage, and shadow produced the most powerfully moving yet natural moments of human existence. 

Rembrandt’s supreme mastery of light (influenced by Leonardo and Caravaggio) and texture to emphasize emotional depth weaved a common theme through all of his creations, cementing his status as one of art's greatest, innovative masters. These qualities are evident from his large, ambitious early history paintings to his more intimate and glowing later style. 

The iconic genius is generally regarded as the most important artist in Dutch art history as his work epitomized the great period of wealth and cultural achievement known as the Dutch Golden Age.

In 1888, Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo that he thought about Rembrandt's work a lot but also about the master as a man and a Christian. He explained, "...Rembrandt goes so deep into the mysterious that he says things for which there are no words in any language. It is justice that they call him Rembrandt - magician - that's no easy occupation." 

During the 1630s Rembrandt depicted many figures (such as the one featured here) wearing Middle Eastern garments in his paintings, drawings, and etchings. The commercial enterprises of the Dutch Republic had reached the Middle East by the early seventeenth century and Levantines were to be seen in the streets and marketplaces of Amsterdam. Portraits of imaginary Persian, Ottoman, or other "Oriental" princes became popular in the bustling city. But Rembrandt's images are not mere portraits of those people. Rather, they are imaginative representations of a distant culture that feature Dutch models, including Rembrandt himself, dressed in exotic attire. (Excerpted from TheArtStory.)

Degas and Tradition

Edgar Degas - The Bellelli Family - 1860-62 - Oil on canvas, 200 x 253 cm (79 x 100 in) - Musée d'Orsay, Paris (click photo for larger image)Edgar Degas (1834-1917) began artistic studies in 1855, at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts, but left in 1854 and went to Italy. Degas explored Italy for four to five years studying Italian art, especially Renaissance works.

Degas went to Italy because this is where part of his family lived, in 1856. In Florence in 1858, he painted his portrait of the Belleli family, which represented his first brush with tradition. He worked on the picture for almost ten years before showing it under the title Family Portraits at the 1867 Salon in Paris, where it passed unnoticed. He did numerous detail studies (faces, hands) and packed the composition with deliberate meaning.

The picture portrays the domestic drama of a family exiled from Naples to Florence, much to the despair of Laura (his seriously depressive cousin) and her irascible husband Gennaro, who had no proper job and whom we see turning almost reluctantly to face his wife and daughters. 

The youngest, Giulia, sitting on a stool with one leg tucked under her, appears impatient, lending animation to the whole, while in the great tradition of group effigies from the classical era Degas includes a portrait of his grandfather Hilaire Degas, on the wall behind his daughter Laura. Hilaire had just died in Naples (in 1858), hence the dark mourning dress, alleviated only by the girls' pinafores.

It wasn’t until his return from Italy that Degas met Édouard Manet and began to explore more unconventional approaches to painting. Works such as the one featured here, however, demonstrate the artist’s mastery as a draughtsman.

Did You Know?

Leonardo da Vinci could write with the one hand and draw with the other simultaneously.

Caravaggio: Probing Humanity

Caravaggio - The Cardsharps - c. 1596 - Oil on canvas, 92 x 129 cm - Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (click photo for larger image)

While most other Italian artists of his time slavishly followed the elegant balletic conventions of late Mannerist painting, Caravaggio painted the stories of the Bible as visceral and often bloody dramas. He staged the events of the distant sacred past as if they were taking place in the present day.

Even though he only lived until the age of 39, Caravaggio had a profound influence on the painters around him and on later art movements notably Baroque art and 19th-century Realism. His art also influenced poets, and cinematic artists, including Martin Scorsese.

Caravaggio died at age 38  and was buried in an unmarked grave.

The Cardsharps, lost for almost a century, helps to fill in an important stage in the development of Caravaggio's art. Behind a table that protrudes into the spectator's space, a youthful innocent studies his cards, overlooked by a sinister middle-aged man, whose fingers signal to another, younger scoundrel to his right, who holds a five of hearts behind his back. To the left-hand side of the canvas is the object of their conspiracy, a pile of coins.

It was to have many imitators - within a few years of the painter's death an early variant had been painted by the Franco-Roman Valentin de Boulogne - but few equals. Caravaggio was less melodramatic than many of the artists known as the Caravaggisti who painted in his style, and he suggests only enough of the interaction between the three actors to imply the sequel!