The Other Bolognese

Death of Cleopatra, ca.1659

Born on January 19, 1601 near Rimini, Italy, Guido Cagnacci was a Baroque painter from the Forlì school and also the Bolognese School, whose contemporaries include Guido Reni, Domenichino, Guercino, and Lionello Spada among others. Considered odd and unreliable, it is unfortunate because his work represents a rare vision on the sensuality of women at a time when the Inquisition did not have an open mind about it. Cagnacci's work is unique from most of his contemporaries for this reason, and his women are unaffected and life-like in a way that is ahead of his time.

In Death of Cleopatra we clearly see the Baroque influence from Caravaggio but here Cagnacci heightens the soft flesh with transparent shadows and bright colored drapery. The asp coils loosely around her wrist and bites the forearm of Cleopatra yet her expression is one of surrender, if not pleasure. Cagnacci groups her closest servants on a horizontal plane yet creates a confined space by placing the three figures to the left overlapping each other while the three on the right nearly evenly spaced out. The chair Cagnacci uses bears a resemblance to the one used by the Pope himself. His drybrush skills reveal a remarkable control of the paint with very smooth blending and intuitive color sense. This is a beautiful painting.

Martha Rebuking Mary for her Vanity, ca.1660

Depicting Mary Magdalene, who lies topless on the floor with her jewelry and fancy clothing scattered beside her, is being lectured by her sister Martha, who points to the devil being driven out of the room by an angel. This idiosyncratic interpretation is a synthesis of fantasy and allegory with visual influences of Renaissance, Mannerism, and Baroque to create a surreal, dream-like work. Note the similarity in the soft light on Martha's face to Cleopatra above.

David with the Head of Goliath, ca.1650

A rather stylish and bold interpretation of a well-known biblical theme, here David is androgynous and flamboyantly dressed, complete with feather in cap. Cagnacci uses color and costume to tell an age-old story, and here the blue and red create a visually compelling harmony against the cool grey background. In contrast to Martha Rebuking Mary for her Vanity, Cagnacci is suggesting that style and talent are the very thing that conquers brute strength and ignorance.

Allegory of Vanity and Penitence

Cagnacci seems preoccupied with this theme of vanity, and yet here there is a very different interpretation. The young model Cagnacci has chosen is stunningly beautiful and Classical, clutching a rose in one hand with a skull in the other. Her skin is luminous with transparent shadows...he paints her with confidence, unaffected by the judgements of others. The painting is surprisingly modern in its approach, and deserves merit for capturing a state of mind and for its strong sensuality.

Lucrezia

Cagnacci's interpretation of the suicide of Lucretia is sympathetic and without the dramatic chiaroscuro one would associate with this theme, which has been painted by countless artists. Her skin is remarkably cool and softly glowing, yet it is the drapery that Cagnacci paints with breathtaking realism. One could study those orange folds for hours and still learn something from them. Look closely and you can see subtle green midtones in certain areas. Cagnacci may have been odd or unusual, but he could definitely paint, and he painted women in a special way.

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 requi...

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...

Carl Holsøe, Master of Rooms

The Artist's Wife sitting at a Window in a sunlit Room, ca.1900 Carl Vilhelm Holsøe was born on the 12 of March, 1863 in northeast Denmark. Holsøe studied in Copenhagen and under the Danish Master Peder Krøyer . Unlike many painters who worked outdoors and favored the majestic landscapes of their environment, Holsøe chose the psychological mood of the domestic interior and the way light spills into rooms. Although Holsøe is often compared to his contemporary and friend, Vilhelm Hammershøi , Holsøe is more authentic and less vacant emotionally. His use of sunlight captures the mindfulness of the moment in a way that is reminiscent of Dutch Masters, utilizing the power of quiet and reading as emotionally satisfying and tranquil. In the painting above, his wife sits in a kitchen chair looking out the window. On the table are cups of tea and a teapot that Holsøe gently lights the rims. The drapes are of a texture so thick it almost seems like pastel. Look at the greenish reflect...

beside the easel

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