Paintings Explained

Notes over modern paintings and descriptions in nutshell. The information gathered together from books as History of Art by Gombrich and the Course of  European Paintings: From Leonardo to Rembrandt to Goya on EdX

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Hendrick Avercamp, A Scene on the Ice Near a Town. c l615. Oil on panel. h58 x w90 cm. H22 in. National Gallery. London

A town full of people seems to be enjoying itself on a frozen lake. The attention to detail in many of the figures, brings the scene to life, a joyful feeling. His careful observation of lighting effects made his paintings highly prized. He was also one of the originators of realist landscape painting in 17th century Holland.

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Antonello da Messina, Saint Jerome in his Study. C1475-6. Oil on panel. h46xw36.5cm, National Gallery. London

St Jerome's study is shown absorbed in his reading in this painting. The composition is framed with the stone arches and St. Jerome is placed centered. All drawing seems to be drawn with a one-point perspective. It is possible that Antonello was influenced by aspects of Netherlandish painting; details such as the objects on the shelves, the tiled floor, the birds perched on the windowsill.

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Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, A Coign of Vantage. 1895. Oil on canvas. h64.2 x w45 cm in. Private collection This charming work conveys a sense both of height and of warm sunlight. The marble ledge, the bronze sculpture, and the fabric of the Roman women's clothes, all drawn in delicate and in detail and great perspective considered the women and the sea far below.

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Hi guys, a little break from the art. I have recently started to transform my photographs from London into postcards. I wanted to share some of them with you and ask you to take a look and maybe put a like or so if you like them :) There are views from everyday life, people, architecture and street life of London and Bath I am trying to gather photos from other cities as well. I really appreciate any comment and feedback on these. It is a very new game for me and I love to hear from people. Hope you are liking this blog I cannot share as much as I want but I will try to do it more often from now on. Please stay safe, healthy, and curious!

H Ps. Etsy and Instagram links here on this text and below,

by Cartolinery

You searched for: Cartolinery! Discover the unique items that Cartolinery creates. At Etsy, we pride ourselves on our global community of se

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The Garden of Eden, Jan Brueghel, 1620, Victoria and Albert Museum, London Exotic and non-exotic animals wander in the Garden of Eden. The figures of Adem and Eve are reduced to insignificant in this painting. The main concern was to creation of the magical and imaginary landscape. The detailing of the fauna and the flowers helped development of the tradition of Dutch-Landscape Painting. 

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The Beach at Trouville, Eugène Boudin 1864, Musee d’Orsay, Paris A crowd of formally dressed Parisian is seen basking in the sun. Boudin was the painter of the beaches and he was particularly good at capturing the characteristics of the people. With the subtle and free brush work he created a glowing sky or a glittering sea.  By putting the sky on two third of the painting Boudin pushes viewers eyes to characters below. 

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The conversion of St Paul, Caravaggio, 1601, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome

The chiaroscuro effect creates and incresible realism in this picture. Caravaggio uses this technique to put the subject of the painting forward. St Paul lies on the floor with an excentric angle and seems strucked by the light and knowledge that he recieved.

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Scotland Forever, Lady Elizabeth Butler,1881, Leeds Art Gallery Soldiers with red uniforms are riding their white horses to the viewer at full fling. Painter shatters the feeling of impossible and two dimensionality of this painting with the usage of incredible perspective.

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Still Life with Bowl of Citrons, Giovanna Garzoni, 1640s, tempera over the parchment, 27,6x 35,6 cm, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Tempera over parchment means using paint made within egg yolk over-processed animal skin. This type of paint would dry extremely quickly therefore painter needs to be fast while painting from light tones to dark tones.

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Isenheim Altarpiece, Matthias Grünewald, 1512-16,345c482 cm, Unterlinden Museum, Colmar

The triptychs were small pieces that are easy to move around. It was possible to simply put them out for religious ceremonials and close afterward. It has also had the nature of telling a story scene by scene due to the separation of the panels. In this particular one, it is possible to see St. Sebastian and St. Antonius both symbolize protection from diseases.

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The miracle of the Holy House of Loreto, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 123x77,2 cm, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. This is what left from the ceiling ornaments from Scalzi Church in Venice. The technice called 'di sotto in su' means from bottom to top and it is possible to read the painting from the sinners of earth at the bottom to God and heaven on top

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The Tribuna of the Uffizi, Johann Zoffany, 1772-7, Royal Collection, London In this portrait it is possible to see the Master Collection belonged to Medici, Granduc of Toscana. Paintings inside this painting are distributed in the style of 'Salone' and aristocrats around the paintings are discussing these pieces. In this delicate work we can see the paintings belonged to Raffaelo, Holbein and Rubens

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Vanitas, Cornelius Gysbrechts,1664, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull. Gysbrechts points out the physicallity of the painting by showing teared canvas and dripping paints.

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Portrait of a Black Woman, Marie-Guillemine Benoist, 1800, Louvre, Paris. The painting expresses a period in time. The woman in the picture is calm and self-confident. Even though the naked breast of the model shows a different type of captivity, the portrait is done to celebrate the end of slavery in colonies.

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Leonardo da Vinci´s Workshop, Mona Lisa, c. 1503-1519, 73 x 57 cm, Madrid, Museo del Prado

This is a copy of the 'Monalisa'. It looks very similar to the original. It's in the Prado in Madrid. Recent studies have shown that it was made at the same time as the original. 

This shows that as Leonardo was painting one painting, his assistants were next to him making this and maybe more copies. The client may have asked for more than one version or the artist may have intended to sell the copies.

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Petrus Christus, A Goldsmith in his Shop, 1449, 100 x 86 cm, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975

In the fifteenth century, the market for many types of goods, including paintings, was organized in annual fairs which took place in many cities. Specialized dealers would set up shops there, in a way similar to what we see in this painting from the middle of the fifteenth century, from a leading artist from the Netherlands, Petrus Christus.

It shows the shop of a jeweller, a pair of potential buyers stands behind them, inside the shop. Reflected in a mirror, in the lower right, we see two other elegant clients who look into the stall from the street.