beside the easel

Madonna della Misericordia by Fra Bartolomeo, 1515 In this article, Bob Duggan discusses how Renaissance Art redefined culture by overturning dogma and challenging religious notions, sometimes vain but always intriguing. Based on the book The Controversy of Renaissance Art by Art History professor Alexander Nagel he explains how Humanism deeply influenced artists of the day yet were criticized for being superficial and distracting people from the intended message. The Art triumphs ultimately after the fall of Savonarola's radical puritanism and paves the way for artists to explore ideas and concepts within the scope of religion and Neo-Platonism that changed the world.

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 incredible,...

View of the Grand Canal and the Dogana, ca.1743 Born in Venice on January 30, 1721 Bernardo Bellotto was the nephew and student of his famous uncle Giovanni Antonio Canal , or Canaletto. Bellotto's style has a stronger use of chiaroscuro and tighter integration of the landscape whereas his uncle focused more on Venetian architecture as a distinctive splendor within the landscape. Bellotto was equally fascinated with old alleyways and crumbling Roman ruins as his Venetian roots. The other important distinction is that Canaletto remained in Venice for most of his career, venturing out only to London while Bellotto travelled to other parts of Italy and also to Germany, Austria, and Poland. Bellotto also returned on occasion to the vedute tradition of capriccio from Pannini , or painting from imagination rather than life, something Canaletto only depicted in his etchings. Above in View of the Grand Canal and the Dogana we can see Bellotto's informal and approachable eye...

Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness, ca.1662 A lesser known Dutch Master, Karel Dujardin was born on September 27, 1622 in Amsterdam. Although active during the Dutch Golden Age he spent most of his career in Italy where he developed a rather diverse style ranging from moody landscapes to religious Baroque subjects. Dujardin is hard to pin down for this very reason, as his travels must have been extensive one can see the vast influences that permeate his work. In fact, much of his work doesn't even appear to be from the same artist yet indeed it is. It is this kind of miscellany that is fascinating to me, especially being able to handle the landscape and religious figures with the same fervor since most artists did either one or the other. In Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness above we see the tenebrist influence of Caravaggio yet is stylistically quite distinct from other Italian artwork of this sort. Dujardin uses a triangular arrangement of the figures, with a notable ...

Saint Sebastian, 1625 One of the most famous of the Bolognese, Guido Reni was born on November 4, 1575. Although his father Daniele was at the time a respected musician Guido was kind of a black sheep, preferring the brush to the harpsicord, and in his early twenties he joined the famous Carracci school Accademia degli Incamminati . For three years he absorbed the style of his favourite painter, Raphael with the teachings of the school whereupon he went to Rome with Annibale to help out with the Farnese frescos. A man of physically short stature and unassuming features, Reni would soon become a huge figure in the Baroque that would influence countless artists to come. His Saint Sebastian above, one of many Reni painted depicts the saint as youthful and handsome, an innocent victim rather than a martyr. This is a painter's painting. Study the brushstrokes and see how Reni alternates between blending and rough edges, thick highlights with sof transparent shadows, and his use o...

Self-Portrait, 1730 click here for larger version Born near Avellino on October 4, 1657, Francesco Solimena was a giant of the Baroque, both painter and architect, who made Naples his home in his early twenties. His figures seem to have a musicality to them, his compositions inspiring, and his sense of color and chiaroscuro is majestic. The fact that he was not a northerner like his contemporaries makes him also unique, and he helped to establish Naples at that time as one of the painting capitals of the world. His career was quite successful and his studio also became an academy for several artists including Francesco De Mura and Gaspare Traversi. His Self-Portrait above shows a man of confidence and stature, someone who took his craft seriously and enjoyed the discipline of his hard work. Sitting in a rather noble red chair, Solimena is showing us that artists need not feel any shame in who they are or whom they work for, that artists contribute much to society and can be w...

Joseph's Dream, ca.1790 Gaetano Gandolfi belongs to a family of artists from the 18th century that, although not as well known as the Carracci , their artistic influence cannot be understated. Ubaldo, the elder and Gaetano, both brothers, along with Gaetano's young son Mauro formed the second Bolognese trinity, their difference being that the Baroque was coming to an end and being replaced by Neoclassicism. Between these three, a period of a hundred years would reveal the rise and fall of Napoleon right through to the end of great patronage, leading to the beginnings of Romanticism. Gaetano, born August 31, 1734, would be the most prolific of the three, forming a style synthesized by his strong Venetian influences and his Baroque foundations. The commonality that all three exhibit are an eloquence, a sense of poetry and drama that defines the era they lived in. In Joseph's Dream above, Gaetano uses a cool green palette to create the dream-like mood, emphasizing the...

Lucrezia as Poetry, ca.1641 Born on July 21, 1615, Salvator Rosa was an Italian Baroque painter from Arenella, near Naples. Rosa is one of the only artists from the era to have had an influence on the Romantic artists, namely Turner , for his emotionally charged landscapes and highly independent attitude of being an artist, often rejecting lucrative commissions and only painting "my brushes when I am in ecstasy". An accomplished poet, he wrote many satires and was highly cynical in matters of the heart and marriage, quoted as saying that Un buon cavallo e una bella donna sono due care bestie — a good horse and a beautiful woman are two dear beasts. This painting above of his wife, Lucrezia shows a stylized yet perceptive manner of portraiture. Judging by her appearance she was younger than him by more than a few years. This image here from Wikipedia is not the best for detail but it illustrates Rosa's understanding of body language and facial expression. Astrai...