• [[...and now, to conclude our trio of Sickert’s work, here is one piece of a quiet evening street in London, a city that went through extensive changes during the turn of the 20th Century, up until the turbulent outbreak of World War I...]]
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    [[...and now, to conclude our trio of Sickert’s work, here is one piece of a quiet evening street in London, a city that went through extensive changes during the turn of the 20th Century, up until the turbulent outbreak of World War I...]]
  • [[...to all our daily commuter friends, welcome to Bayswater station, along the Bakerloo line. It’s 1916, and the underground is still in its early days, with only a preliminary red & white diamond logo established (as you see on the left). The work was painted by the leader of the Camden Town Group, Walter Sickert, who was inspired by the Impressionists to depict daily life of Londoners, of everyday streets, signs and sights... happy travelling all...]]
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    [[...to all our daily commuter friends, welcome to Bayswater station, along the Bakerloo line. It’s 1916, and the underground is still in its early days, with only a preliminary red & white diamond logo established (as you see on the left). The work was painted by the leader of the Camden Town Group, Walter Sickert, who was inspired by the Impressionists to depict daily life of Londoners, of everyday streets, signs and sights... happy travelling all...]]
  • [[... and now, a small trio of works by a personal favourite artist of mine, a man named Walter Sickert, who founded the “Camden Town Group” — an English art collective who wandered the streets of London capturing scenes and sights of pre-world-war life... see here this piece painted at the theatre, and perhaps compare to the Renoir theatre pieces from last week...even though the scene is similar, the perspective is completely different, with an emphasis not on one individual subject, but on the whole overall space instead...]]
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    [[... and now, a small trio of works by a personal favourite artist of mine, a man named Walter Sickert, who founded the “Camden Town Group” — an English art collective who wandered the streets of London capturing scenes and sights of pre-world-war life... see here this piece painted at the theatre, and perhaps compare to the Renoir theatre pieces from last week...even though the scene is similar, the perspective is completely different, with an emphasis not on one individual subject, but on the whole overall space instead...]]
  • [[... to understand the true extent of the resentment the Impressionists received when first showcasing their work to the world, take a look at the words of one prominent art critic at the time: “Try to explain to Renoir that a woman’s torso is not a mass of decomposing flesh with those green and purple stains that indicate a state of complete putrefaction in a corpse!”... well... with that, we shall leave Renoir behind us for now, and I hope you have enjoyed his pieces over these last couple of weeks...]]
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    [[... to understand the true extent of the resentment the Impressionists received when first showcasing their work to the world, take a look at the words of one prominent art critic at the time: “Try to explain to Renoir that a woman’s torso is not a mass of decomposing flesh with those green and purple stains that indicate a state of complete putrefaction in a corpse!”... well... with that, we shall leave Renoir behind us for now, and I hope you have enjoyed his pieces over these last couple of weeks...]]
  • [[... The first public auction of Impressionism in 1894 was a complete failure. A hostile crowd mocked and laughed at the artists. The public caused pandemonium in the salesroom. The police were called to keep the peace. • Renoir’s “La Loge” (above, now one of the most famous and valuable Impressionist paintings of all time, now considered by some to be Renoir’s finest masterpiece) didn’t even fetch for 500 Francs it was priced for. Monet was forced to purchase his own canvasses. On the following day, papers were flooded with columns of art critics violently criticising their works...]]
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    [[... The first public auction of Impressionism in 1894 was a complete failure. A hostile crowd mocked and laughed at the artists. The public caused pandemonium in the salesroom. The police were called to keep the peace. • Renoir’s “La Loge” (above, now one of the most famous and valuable Impressionist paintings of all time, now considered by some to be Renoir’s finest masterpiece) didn’t even fetch for 500 Francs it was priced for. Monet was forced to purchase his own canvasses. On the following day, papers were flooded with columns of art critics violently criticising their works...]]
  • [[... Nowadays, we revere the work of the Impressionists, but this was not always the case. When they first began to showcase their work they were cast as failures, for nothing quite like their painting had ever been seen or appreciated before. Their subjects, like this Renoir above, were profoundly unconventional: public individuals at operas and concert boxes, aimless landscapes and vague, blurry reproductions of town and city life. Who could have known just how famous their works would become? ...]]
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    [[... Nowadays, we revere the work of the Impressionists, but this was not always the case. When they first began to showcase their work they were cast as failures, for nothing quite like their painting had ever been seen or appreciated before. Their subjects, like this Renoir above, were profoundly unconventional: public individuals at operas and concert boxes, aimless landscapes and vague, blurry reproductions of town and city life. Who could have known just how famous their works would become? ...]]
  • [[...evening all, here another Renoir portrait for you: his feminine figure fusing into the background, his softly touching brushstrokes blending subject and space into one...]]
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    [[...evening all, here another Renoir portrait for you: his feminine figure fusing into the background, his softly touching brushstrokes blending subject and space into one...]]
  • [[... Renoir adored old Renaissance master paintings, and sought to emulate the style after a visit to Italy. He was captivated by the way the old masters portrayed characters in grand frescoes inside cathedrals...]]
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    [[... Renoir adored old Renaissance master paintings, and sought to emulate the style after a visit to Italy. He was captivated by the way the old masters portrayed characters in grand frescoes inside cathedrals...]]
  • [[...if Renoir isn’t for you, you’re not alone. In fact, you are welcome to take up arms against him in a movement designed to banish his works from galleries across the globe: @renoir_sucks_at_painting #SharpieEyes #EndTheTreacle ...]]
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    [[...if Renoir isn’t for you, you’re not alone. In fact, you are welcome to take up arms against him in a movement designed to banish his works from galleries across the globe: @renoir_sucks_at_painting #SharpieEyes #EndTheTreacle ...]]
  • [[ ...see soft salmon cream and pink luminous skins tones sink into silky bodice laid over with lace and loose diaphanous sleeves... here we have Renoir’s portrait of a famous socialite of the early 20th Century: Misia Godebska, the mistress of one of the wealthiest men in Paris and a passionate patron of the arts... ]]
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    [[ ...see soft salmon cream and pink luminous skins tones sink into silky bodice laid over with lace and loose diaphanous sleeves... here we have Renoir’s portrait of a famous socialite of the early 20th Century: Misia Godebska, the mistress of one of the wealthiest men in Paris and a passionate patron of the arts... ]]
  • [[...Consistent in the core of Renoir’s work is a profound celebration of candid human beauty, with an acute sense for light, shadow and composition...]]
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    [[...Consistent in the core of Renoir’s work is a profound celebration of candid human beauty, with an acute sense for light, shadow and composition...]]
  • [[ ...Pierre-Auguste Renoir is renowned for his studies of the feminine form, portrayed always with vibrance and blended brush-strokes. It may take some getting used to, but the man was crucial to the development of Impressionism... ]]
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    [[ ...Pierre-Auguste Renoir is renowned for his studies of the feminine form, portrayed always with vibrance and blended brush-strokes. It may take some getting used to, but the man was crucial to the development of Impressionism... ]]
  • [[ ...here’s another by Leonardo, this one a beautiful example of the way he showers his subject in light. If you would allow me to show you something that indicates da Vinci’s profound dedication to real-world details: • Take a look at her chin and follow the edge along the left side of her face, hidden in shadow, not exposed to the light source. And yet... can you see the bottom corner of her cheek is lit slightly in a pinkish glow? Leonardo is painting the light reflecting off her left shoulder. • He would write about this this thing in his notebooks all the time, explaining how secondary reflections are different from primary ones, and tertiary ones, how the colours subtly change, and how to paint light realistically through different sources and mediums...]]
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    [[ ...here’s another by Leonardo, this one a beautiful example of the way he showers his subject in light. If you would allow me to show you something that indicates da Vinci’s profound dedication to real-world details: • Take a look at her chin and follow the edge along the left side of her face, hidden in shadow, not exposed to the light source. And yet... can you see the bottom corner of her cheek is lit slightly in a pinkish glow? Leonardo is painting the light reflecting off her left shoulder. • He would write about this this thing in his notebooks all the time, explaining how secondary reflections are different from primary ones, and tertiary ones, how the colours subtly change, and how to paint light realistically through different sources and mediums...]]
  • [[... for perhaps the world’s most renowned artist in history, Leonardo da Vinci only completed a handful of works in his lifetime. He was a notoriously slow and unreliable client. • Only around 15 finished painted pieces survive today, and among them are two almost-identical pieces, both titled ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’. • The work was commissioned by a church in Milan when Leonardo was 31…. He didn’t submit it until he was 56. About 10 years in, da Vinci apparently demanded double the agreed-upon salary to complete the work. He was refused, and so sold the original painting to a higher bidder. That’s what you see here, currently on display in the Louvre, Paris, although I’ve framed it in a chapel space from Clare College, Cambridge. • Eventually, over the course of the following 15 years, he painted a copy in fits and starts whenever he happened to be in Milan. That’s what you’ll see if you swipe right a bit more, the so-called “National Gallery Version” on display in London, Displayed on a wall I liked the look of in the tunnel outside the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. • Instead of ultimately receiving the specification of a “brightly coloured panel of the Virgin Mary, two prophets and Christ surrounded by angels and thinly covered in gold paint“, the church was presented with this darker, moody piece of mastery. • Present are 4 characters. The Virgin Mary crouches in the centre with a single angel by her side. She rests inside a rocky grotto along her journey to Egypt, and places her left palm open above the head of Christ. The holy child is holding his right hand in blessing towards his cousin: the baby John the Baptist kneeling on the left. • Personally, I’m not sure which one I prefer... the differences are subtle but they both have their merits. Some argue the composition in the final version to be cleaner, without the angle’s pointing gesture interfering with Mary’s devoted hand hovering over Jesus. But in the original painting, the angel stares right out at us, speaking to us with her gesture, something that crops up time and time again in da Vinci’s work...]]
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    [[... for perhaps the world’s most renowned artist in history, Leonardo da Vinci only completed a handful of works in his lifetime. He was a notoriously slow and unreliable client. • Only around 15 finished painted pieces survive today, and among them are two almost-identical pieces, both titled ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’. • The work was commissioned by a church in Milan when Leonardo was 31…. He didn’t submit it until he was 56. About 10 years in, da Vinci apparently demanded double the agreed-upon salary to complete the work. He was refused, and so sold the original painting to a higher bidder. That’s what you see here, currently on display in the Louvre, Paris, although I’ve framed it in a chapel space from Clare College, Cambridge. • Eventually, over the course of the following 15 years, he painted a copy in fits and starts whenever he happened to be in Milan. That’s what you’ll see if you swipe right a bit more, the so-called “National Gallery Version” on display in London, Displayed on a wall I liked the look of in the tunnel outside the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. • Instead of ultimately receiving the specification of a “brightly coloured panel of the Virgin Mary, two prophets and Christ surrounded by angels and thinly covered in gold paint“, the church was presented with this darker, moody piece of mastery. • Present are 4 characters. The Virgin Mary crouches in the centre with a single angel by her side. She rests inside a rocky grotto along her journey to Egypt, and places her left palm open above the head of Christ. The holy child is holding his right hand in blessing towards his cousin: the baby John the Baptist kneeling on the left. • Personally, I’m not sure which one I prefer... the differences are subtle but they both have their merits. Some argue the composition in the final version to be cleaner, without the angle’s pointing gesture interfering with Mary’s devoted hand hovering over Jesus. But in the original painting, the angel stares right out at us, speaking to us with her gesture, something that crops up time and time again in da Vinci’s work...]]
  • [[ ...500 years ago to this very day, Leonardo da Vinci — a spirit of ineffable genius and curiosity, of passionate and profound observation — passed away in the arms of a king, surrounded by the most masterful of his works, including this piece here of a little known silk-merchant’s wife named Lisa. • We have remembered this man primarily for his painting, but the diversity of his pursuits and interests is utterly boggling. While working on the enigmatic smile of our dear Mona Lisa, he spent his evenings in the depths of a hospital morgue. Exchanging paintbrush for scalpel, he cut beneath the lips and cheeks of corpses to study the network of nerves that lay beneath. In order to paint the most celebrated smile in all of art history, he needed to unearth the mechanisms that controlled the construction of a simple smile. • His brilliance extended across Nature’s universal lines and patterns, onto spiralling eddies and water-flows, fossils, floods and river diversions, the hydraulics of blood in beating hearts, the dynamics of moving muscles, the mechanics of spinal-cords and machinery of all shapes and sizes: flying machines, armoured tanks, giant crossbows, stage sets and theatrical productions. • His enquiring and experimental mind was astonishing, wondering on why our sky is so blue, or where the light of our moon arises, or how rocks are deposited and mountains moved over millennia. • His work is simply spiritual, and has served for centuries as divine inspiration on Nature’s heavenly wonders. What a world what it be if he wondered and roamed our streets today? Watching the soft landing of birds in flight, and the beating of dragonfly wings, and the complex sets of spirals in turbulent water waves and locks of curly hair? What would he think of our world today? • As might be slightly evident, I adore the work of this man, and will try to make a worthy exhibition of his paintings in the museum (www.picturesofpaintings.com) in the coming year. Allow me to leave you now with his own words: • “A well-spent day brings a happy sleep, so a well-employed life brings a happy death.” ...]]
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    [[ ...500 years ago to this very day, Leonardo da Vinci — a spirit of ineffable genius and curiosity, of passionate and profound observation — passed away in the arms of a king, surrounded by the most masterful of his works, including this piece here of a little known silk-merchant’s wife named Lisa. • We have remembered this man primarily for his painting, but the diversity of his pursuits and interests is utterly boggling. While working on the enigmatic smile of our dear Mona Lisa, he spent his evenings in the depths of a hospital morgue. Exchanging paintbrush for scalpel, he cut beneath the lips and cheeks of corpses to study the network of nerves that lay beneath. In order to paint the most celebrated smile in all of art history, he needed to unearth the mechanisms that controlled the construction of a simple smile. • His brilliance extended across Nature’s universal lines and patterns, onto spiralling eddies and water-flows, fossils, floods and river diversions, the hydraulics of blood in beating hearts, the dynamics of moving muscles, the mechanics of spinal-cords and machinery of all shapes and sizes: flying machines, armoured tanks, giant crossbows, stage sets and theatrical productions. • His enquiring and experimental mind was astonishing, wondering on why our sky is so blue, or where the light of our moon arises, or how rocks are deposited and mountains moved over millennia. • His work is simply spiritual, and has served for centuries as divine inspiration on Nature’s heavenly wonders. What a world what it be if he wondered and roamed our streets today? Watching the soft landing of birds in flight, and the beating of dragonfly wings, and the complex sets of spirals in turbulent water waves and locks of curly hair? What would he think of our world today? • As might be slightly evident, I adore the work of this man, and will try to make a worthy exhibition of his paintings in the museum (www.picturesofpaintings.com) in the coming year. Allow me to leave you now with his own words: • “A well-spent day brings a happy sleep, so a well-employed life brings a happy death.” ...]]