Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres - Raphael and the Fornarina

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Inspired by: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres - Raphael and the Fornarina

For Ingres, Raphael was the pinnacle of artistic achievement. Frequently borrowing from the oeuvre of Raphael, Ingres positioned himself as the modern-day descendent of the revered painter. In this painting, we are given a glimpse of the personal life of his idol.

Raphael had a thing for a woman known as “La Fornarina”. She was his model, muse and lover and he painted her many times. According to the biographer Giorgio Vasari, who documented the lives of many of the Renaissance painters, this relationship led to the young artist’s death (aged 37) from “excessive passion”. Here we find ourselves in Raphael's studio. His latest canvas barely begun on the easel before him. La Fornarina

has risen from her pose to embrace the artist, sitting on his knee and looking out to the viewer. Her confident look says he is mine. Raphael’s gaze is firmly fixed on his painting telling us that the artist must not abandon the high calling of art to pursue the pleasures of love.

Ingres was amongst a litany of artist enamored with Raphael and his mistress. Picasso created several etchings, that depict them In flagrante delicto. He added Michelangelo spying on them from behind the draperies or under the bed. And sometimes the Pope is peeping through the keyhole.

To see the original:  https://bit.ly/4q3honz  

Painter’s Triumph

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Inspired by: William Sidney Mount, Painter’s Triumph

Mount started his career as a sign painter, but quickly switched to portraits and historical paintings.  When later he transitioned to rural scenes, he found his niche, becoming America’s first major genre painter. Many of his works were engraved and distributed in the US as well as Europe giving him wide recognition.

He was born and died in Setauket, on the north shore of Long Island. There he sketch-ed extensively in notebooks and painted plein-air oil sketches, devising a studio-wagon in which he travelled all over the island. Many of his paintings include vividly realistic images of his friends and neighbors. His personal belief regarding his work, "Never paint for the few but for the many," gave average Americans the chance to view themselves, for the first time, as subjects of art. He painted Painter’s Triumph when he was 31 and used himself as the model for the artist. The characterization of the gap-toothed, awestruck farmer is comical, but he also pokes fun at himself in this spoof of the artistic personality.

Although he was an accomplished painter, he had many other talents, such as playing the fiddle. Born into a musical family, Mount’s preoccupation with American indigenous folk music became both a hobby and an important artistic muse. He wrote and published quite a few Fiddle tunes. He also designed and patented a novel type of violin, which he called "The Cradle of Harmony."

See original: bit.ly/3TBvMVi

The Cradle

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Inspired by: Berthe Morisot  -  The Cradle

Berthe Morisot was the only female painter who took part in the first Impressionist exhibition in Nadar’s studio, in 1874. She exhibited pastel and watercolor works and four paintings, including “The Cradle”. It depicts her sister Edna watching her sleeping daughter Blanche. It's Morisot’s first painting depicting motherhood, which would later be one of her favorite subjects. Berthe built strong friendships with other painters and writers. Monet and the poet Mallarmé were buddies. Renoir was also a loyal companion, and only one month younger. Édouard Manet, spent a great deal of time with Morisot. He painted her 12 times. They often painted together, but Berthe was seen as Manet’s student. Manet was happy with this idea, but it angered Berthe.
Years later she would marry Eugène Manet, Edouard’s brother. Morisot was barred
from a formal arts education, because of her gender. For this reason, she was almost self-taught, making studies of old master paintings at the Louvre. she rarely painted outdoors like the other Impressionists. It was a practice which invited scandal. At that time, women were expected to leave home with a chaperone. For this reason, she was relegated to painting in the homes of the wealthy. Although the critics liked her, Morisot’s gender played a role in how she was perceived. They used terms like “flirtatious” and “charming” to describe her work. Like other women of her time, she could not have a real career. Painting was considered just another female leisure activity, and as a woman, she was seen as an amateur. Morisot was well aware of her skills. She suffered in silence and spoke with her brush.

To see original painting:  https://bit.ly/4ms05uS

Thomas Eakins - The Agnew Clinic

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Inspired by: Thomas Eakins - The Agnew Clinic

This painting was commissioned in 1889, to honor anatomist and surgeon David Hayes Agnew, on his retirement from teaching at the University of Pennsylvania. His students put up the $750 (equivalent to $21,600 today) to pay for the depiction. Each student came to Eakins studio to be sketched for placement in the final painting. Eakins placed himself in the painting on the far right behind the nurse – although the actual painting of him is attributed to his wife, Susan Macdowell Eakins.

It depicts a mastectomy, which was a novel procedure. Despite the lack of expectation of cure, it was an attempt to lengthen the life of the patient. The portrayal of a procedure in which a partially nude woman is observed by a roomful of men (even though they were doctors) was controversial. It was denied a spot in 1891's Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and 1892's New York's Society of American Artists. One art critic warned that “delicate women or children suddenly confronted by the portrayal of these clinical horrors might receive a shock from which they would never recover.” Agnew asked not to have as much blood as seen in the Gross clinic (one cause for its rejection). His hands are covered in liquid, which would have been used for sterilization, rather than blood.

To see original: bit.ly/4c9bCJQ

Hieronymus Bosch and workshop - The Conjurer

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Inspired by Hieronymus Bosch and workshop - The Conjurer

There are five known versions of this painting and one engraving, but most experts believe this one is the most reliable copy. It is kept locked in a safe and loaned out on a limited basis for special exhibitions. It’s been under lock and key, since it was stolen in 1978, but luckily returned a few months later.

Like many Flemish paintings it conveys a moral message. The owl in the basket at the conjurer's waist signifies the dark arts. The frog jumping from the mouth of the dupe represents reason having given in to bestial impulses. The child, watching the victim being robbed of his money purse exemplifies the Flemish proverb: "He who lets himself be fooled by conjuring tricks loses his money and becomes the laughing stock of children."

The conjurer enthralls his audience with a game of “cups and balls”, an ancient gambling game. It is based on deception and sleight of hand, thus the conjurer. The routine includes many of the fundamental effects of magic: the balls vanish, appear, transpose and reappear. An illustration of this game can be found on the 2500BC wall of an Egyptian burial chamber.

To see original: bit.ly/3MYwqtD

Sandro Botticelli - The Birth of Venus

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Inspired by: Sandro Botticelli - The Birth of Venus

This painting is all about Venus, and how Botticelli wanted to immortalize her. Not because of the goddess of love she represents, but because he was madly in love with the model, Simonetta Vespucci. Simonetta was born in 1453. At the age of 15, she arrived in Florence with her husband Marco. Marco’s family was connected to the Medici, so they were invited to court. It was there that Simonetta’s beauty became legendary. She didn’t just look like Venus, but totally embodied her grace and charisma.She modelled for Botticelli, di Cosimo and other painters who attempted to capture her remarkable features. She became Botticelli’s muse and is found in a number of his paintings. Her presents filled his masterpiece “Primavera”, where many, if not all, of the women are modelled after her. She died at the age of 22 from tuberculosis. This painting was created posthumously, almost ten years later. After those many years Botticelli still had a clear vision of her face and body. At the time of Botticelli’s death in 1510 he was penniless. His work had gone out of favor after Michelagelo and Raphael hit town. On his death bed, he asked to be buried at Simonetts’s feet, and that is where he lies today.

To see original: https://bit.ly/3y4qxTd

Jan van Eyck - The Arnolfini Portrait

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Inspired by - Jan van Eyck - The Arnolfini Portrait

The verdict is still out concerning the interpretation of this painting. It is littered with iconography, which has kept researchers teetering between wedding celebration or memorial to a lost love.
The painting portrays a Bruges draper, Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife Trenta. She died in 1433 during childbirth, which was a year prior to the date signed on the painting. For this reason many people think Mrs Arnolfini is seen here in the family way. Although others think she has bunched up the dress material in her hand to show off her husband’s wears. Giovanni’s black clothing signifies a period of mourning, since black was not fashionable at this time, and definitely not for a wedding. Many of the icons found in the canvas symbolize her passing. Saint Margaret, the patron saint of the child-bearing woman, is carved on a chair in the background. The gargoyle seen next to her hand signifies her doom. The mirror, at the back of the room, is decorated with scenes from the Passion of Christ. On the woman’s side are scenes of death and resurrection, while on the man’s side are images of Christ’s life. A dog sits at their feet. In ancient Rome, dogs were carved on female tombstones, believed to guide them to the afterlife. Also, this dog is missing from the mirror, which adds to its status of a mythical character. A little spooky is the candelabra above them. The candles have all burned out except the one over the man’s head.

To see original: https://bit.ly/3JQDPKk

Inspired by: Edgar Degas - The Absinthe Drinker

Absinthe (also known as La Fée Verte or ‘the green fairy’) was a green colored, highly alcoholic spirit. Poured over ice and served with water and a cube of sugar to soften the bitter taste. It was highly addictive and known to cause hallucinations. Its growing popularity and its negative social effects led to absinthe being banned in much of Europe and America.This cafe has been identified. It is "La Nouvelle Athènes", in Place Pigalle near Sacre-Coeur, at the foot of the Montmartre hill. At the time it was a meeting place for modern artists and a hotbed of intellectual bohemians. Degas asked people he knew to pose for the figures. Ellen André was an actress, and an artist's model, who posed for a number of other impressionists. Marcellin Desboutin was an engraver and artist. When criticism of the painting cast a slur on their reputations, Degas had to state publicly that they were not alcoholics. 'L'Absinthe' sparked controversy more than once. The painting was first shown, along with 25 of his paintings, in the Third Impressionist Exhibition of 1877. The critics found it ugly and disgusting. It was then put into storage. It was shown again 16 years later, in England. The English critics viewed it as a warning lesson against absintheand the French in general. In May 1893, the work was bought for the amazing sum of 21,000 francs ($275,000 today) by Count Isaac de Camondo, who bequeathed it to the Louvre in 1908 and from there to the Musée d'Orsay. Its original title was Dans un Café, a name often used today. Other early titles were A sketch of a French Café and Figures at Café. It was changed to L'Absinthe when it was exhibited in England in 1893.

To see original: https://bit.ly/3GgFkho