beside the easel

Central portion of "L'Hémicycle des Beaux-arts", 1841-42 Hippolyte Delaroche, aka Paul Delaroche, was a French painter born on July 17, 1797. A true Classical painter to the end, Delaroche breathes life into whatever subject matter he paints with a unique realism, whether portraiture, mythological or historical. Delaroche is the one you have to see in person in a museum to fully appreciate. The above painting is actually a section of a massive curved mural (over 27' long) at the École des Beaux Arts, hence the name Hémicycle . Taking over three and a half years to complete, seventy-five artists from the past to Delaroche's era are represented here in life-size scale, and some are easily spotted such as Rubens, Raphael, Michelangelo, Velazquez, and Van Dyck. This painting was done apparently in both oil and encaustic, which shows the incredibly vivid colors quite well. Why this theme of honoring the great artists of the past was not continued is quite sad, act...