Orazio Riminaldi

Samson defeats Philistines, 1625

A painter from Pisa, Orazio Riminaldi was a Baroque tenebrist born in 1586 on September 5th. Riminaldi was unfortunately one of many painters who died young, in his case from the plague in 1630, but it is what he accomplished in those brief years that merits attention. Riminaldi's expressive faces and body language, along with superb skin tones and dramatic skies, take his art to a deeper level than some his contemporaries, who were perhaps more cautious in their techniques.

Look at the fury of the scene above. It is quite rare in painting to see a pile of bodies with a warrior like Samson no less, stepping on top of one while grabbing the hair of another. And yet Riminaldi manages to make it look majestic and noble. The anatomy of the figures shows foreshortening combined with Caravaggio's chiaroscuro in a tight yet carefully arranged composition. By making it vertical, in a triangular design, it heightens the sense of drama while requiring less figures to paint. The shadows also maintain plenty of detail to see the figures. Here we see how Riminaldi uses physical contrast in how the figures are alternating from prone to supine to twisting to the right. Interestingly, Samson is not depicted as a large man but strong in intention. Note the background figure fleeing in horror.

Juno Putting the Eyes on the Peacock's Tail, 1600's

A haunting interpretation of Juno, where she takes the eyes of decapitated Argus to place into the feathers of the peacock, Riminaldi creates a scene that stings more of harsh realism than Greek mythology. Note however, the interesting similarities to Samson above. Her figure appears strong and heroic, one foot on top of his corpse lieing supine on the ground beneath her. The anatomy once again is extraordinary. Riminaldi drapes her in vivid red that contrasts perfectly with the dream-like greenish-grey skies behind her. This is a stunning work of art that requires long observation.

The Martyrdom of St.Cecilia, 1630

Not one for sentiment even with female subjects, Riminaldi portrays St. Cecilia, patron saint of music being grabbed forcefully by the hair from her executioner. However, this time the descending angel is no longer a distant background figure but a key element in the composition. Note the violin and bow beside her laid in the shape of a cross, which the executioner looks down at thoughtfully. Her robes are in bright complementary colors. Although it seems rather restrained as a whole for a work by Riminaldi, the inherent drama taking place needs no explanation. It is powerful nonetheless.

Amor Vittorioso, 1627

In a nonchalant polarity to his other works, here Cupid is depicted as a fully-grown adult, completely self-aware and mature. Note the very sharp swords beside him, mimicking the angle of his leg. Riminaldi has no illusions about love here. What you see is what you get. His work questions what we hold to be sacred or romanticize versus what we tend to ignore or run away from. This was truly a thinking man's painter.

Bouguereau

Nymphs and Satyr, 1873 If there is one artist today that hardly needs an introduction, it would be William-Adolphe Bouguereau , supreme giant of 19th century Academic art. Born on November 30, 1825 in La Rochelle on the southwest of France, his talent would define the era he lived in only to fall into obscurity for decades after his death in 1905 until as recent as the early 1980's, shockingly. Today he has the distinction of being lionized by the Art Renewal Center as one of the greatest artists of all time while at the other end of the spectrum vilified by modernists as artificially perfect and sentimental. In fact it is quite rare to see such polarization over an artist of a calibre like Bouguereau, whose bravura is difficult to equal yet at the same time thematically his work admittedly tends toward women and children, a subject matter that sold well and he had endless patience for. Over the vast array of his oeuvre, some 820 paintings, I have tried to fi...

The Sensuality of Corrado Giaquinto

Allegory of Peace and Justice, 1754 Born on February 8, 1703 on the eastern coast of Italy, Corrado Giaquinto was a Rococo painter. His early training was under Neapolitan Master Francesco Solimena , then Giaquinto worked mainly in Rome, under another Neapolitan great, Sebastiano Conca . During this time he moved between Turin and Madrid where he received important commissions including Church frescos, alterpieces and a ceiling in Turin. Giaquinto marks a period in Italian Art where the elegance and sophistication of the Baroque leaned toward a more sensual liberty that would ultimately never quite return again. His work reflects the influence of his Neapolitan Masters yet also reveals a certain French sensibility in terms of colour, as he was sometimes referred to as an Italian François Boucher . Giaquinto however, has a drama that is particular in that his Baroque roots remain intact despite the grace he conveyed. In Allegory of Peace and Justice above, he uses an i...

Hans Gude, Norwegian Lord of the Land and Sea

Norwegian Highlands in Sunrise, 185 Hans Fredrik Gude was born on March 13, 1825 in Oslo (formerly Christiania), Norway. A Romanticist from the Düsseldorf school of painting , a German Romanticist school in the mid-1800's that produced an impressive array of artists painting in a very detailed yet powerfully emotional way. The landscape as an artistic genre, although very common today, was often regarded as a lower genre and something not as "serious" as the more religious, historical or portrait genres that dominated the art world for centuries. German Romanticism changed that in a relatively short period of time and attracted artists from all over the world to study at the prestigious Düsseldorf Academy . Gude's career established him as an icon of Norwegian artists and became a master of the seascape and a distinguished art professor in his later years. He often collaborated with artist Adolph Tidemand, a highly skilled portrait and figure painter on ...

beside the easel

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