#classic column

[allegorypaintings]

Clio, Muse of History

Artist: Charles Meynier (French, 1768–1832)

Date: 1800

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Description

Clio, the Greek muse of history, is the daughter of Zeus and Titaness Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. Clio is depicted here writing and surrounded by objects associated with preserving the memory of historical figures and events: busts, reliefs, and sculptures. This painting belongs to a cycle of works commissioned by businessman François Boyer-Fonfréde for his home in Toulouse.

[mythologypaintings]

Clio, Muse of History

Artist: Charles Meynier (French, 1768–1832)

Date: 1800

Medium: Oil on canvas

Location: Castle of Wallenreid, Switzerland

Description

Clio, the Greek muse of history, is the daughter of Zeus and Titaness Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. Clio is depicted here writing and surrounded by objects associated with preserving the memory of historical figures and events: busts, reliefs, and sculptures. This painting belongs to a cycle of works commissioned by businessman François Boyer-Fonfréde for his home in Toulouse.

[royalty-nobility]

Queen Henrietta Maria with Sir Jeffrey Hudson

Artist: Sir Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, 1599 - 1641)

Date: 1633

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, United Kingdom

Henrietta Maria of France

Henrietta Maria of France (French: Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until his execution on 30 January 1649. She was the mother of Charles II and James II and VII. Under a decree of her husband, she was known in England as Queen Mary, but she did not like this name and signed her letters "Henriette" or "Henriette Marie".

[artandthebible]

St James

Artist: Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino) (Italian, 1591–1666)

Date: 1650-1651

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna, Austria

The Apostle James, Brother of Jesus

James was a son of Mary and Joseph and therefore a half-brother to Jesus and brother to Joseph, Simon, Judas, and their sisters (Matthew 13:55). In the Gospels, James is mentioned a couple of times, but at that time he misunderstood Jesus’ ministry and was not a believer (John 7:2-5). James becomes one of the earliest witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7). He then stays in Jerusalem and forms part of the group of believers who pray in the upper room (Acts 1:14). From that time forward, James’ status within the Jerusalem church begins to grow.

James is the author of the epistle of James, which he wrote somewhere between A.D. 50 and A.D. 60. James identifies himself by name but simply describes himself as “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1). His letter deals more with Christian ethics than Christian theology. Its theme is the outworking of faith - the external evidence of internal conversion.

[portrait-paintings]

Horace Vernet

Artist: Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (French, 1789-1863)

Medium: Oil painting

Date: 19th century

Horace Vernet

Horace Vernet was born at the Louvre in 1789, the grandson of the painter Joseph Vernet, and the son of the equestrian painter Carle Vernet. He proved himself to be a worthy successor to the dynasty despite failing to win the Prix de Rome, and very quickly found favour with Napoleon I and his family. He initially moved in Romantic circles in the 1820s, alongside his friend Théodore Géricault, where he developed an easy, appealing style and learned the art of lithography.

When Horace Vernet’s paintings were rejected by the Salon in 1822, he organized a solo exhibition in his own studio which was such a resounding success that it set the seal on his reputation. This marked the beginning of a long official career. This exhibition aims to demonstrate how Horace Vernet’s works evolved stylistically from the Romantic verve he shared with Géricault to more considered battle painting.

Horace Vernet was the favourite painter of the Duke of Orléans. When he became the King of the French, Louis-Philippe launched a major building project at the Palace of Versailles to abolish its status as a royal residence and transform it into a museum dedicated “to all the glories of France”. He was passionate about history, a discipline which was evolving into a science at that time, and decided to bring together all the painted, sculpted, drawn and engraved images of major historical events and figures since the birth of the French nation. He commissioned a number of paintings from Vernet to adorn the walls of the Historic Galleries at the Palace of Versailles. The King of the French commissioned several paintings which have earned their place in history, such as The Capture of the Smalah of Abd-el-Kader, depicting Louis-Philippe’s eldest son, the Duke of Aumale.

[allegorypaintings]

Allegory of Sculpture

Artist: Paolo Veronese (Italian, 1528-1588)

Date: 1553

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: La Venaria Reale, Torino, Italy

[allegorypaintings]

Allegory of Grammar

Artist: Laurent de La Hyre (French, 1606–1656)

Date: 1650

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Description

This painting is one of a series depicting the Seven Liberal Arts, which represent disciplines associated with learning and language – grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy – as half-length figures of women. Grammar is shown as a woman watering plants, conveying the idea that young minds need encouragement to develop and grow. The Latin inscription on the scroll can be translated as ‘A meaningful and literate word spoken in the correct manner’.

La Hyre’s figure imitates classical sculpture: her drapery appears solid and is arranged in crisp, overlapping folds. Further references to the classical age can be seen in the column and ornate urn.

La Hyre was probably inspired by Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia, an illustrated dictionary in which ideas were represented through images of people. The French edition was published in 1644, about five years before the artist began his series.

[royalty-nobility]

Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Artist: j (English, 1777-1839)

Date: ca. 1820

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Caroline of Brunswick

Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Caroline Amelia Elizabeth; 17 May 1768 – 7 August 1821) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Queen of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until her death in 1821 as the estranged wife of King George IV. She was Princess of Wales from 1795 to 1820.