beside the easel

The Birth of the Virgin, ca.1660 Born on November 19, 1607 in Antwerp, Erasmus Quellinus II was a Flemish painter and engraver who worked under Peter Paul Rubens . Erasmus came from a family of artists that profoundly influenced Flemish Baroque in the 1600's. Unlike Rubens, Erasmus had never been to Italy and so his style evolved from the influence of Rubens and others around him, including his brother, sculptor Artus Quellinus II. Although the influence of Rubens is very strong—sometimes easy to mistake—Erasmus developed into a deeper Baroque sensibility with less emphasis on color and sensuality and more on chiaroscuro and architecture. Today little is mentioned about Erasmus, especially in that he worked with Rubens for less than ten years yet became a major painter in the years after Rubens' death in 1640. In The Birth of the Virgin above, we can see here that the cluttered confusion of this composition doesn't quite have the flow and grace of his Master, Rubens....

Portrait of the painter Caspar de Crayer by Anthony Van Dyck , 1630 A contemporary of Rubens, Gaspar de Crayer was born in Antwerp on November 18, 1582. Crayer is interesting in that his style gradually evolved from his early career as a high-Renaissance Flemish artist to Baroque after being in contact with Rubens and his workshop. It is not clear the kind of working relationship they had, but one can easily see the grand scale and intricate compositions of Rubens that held an enormous influence on Crayer. Yet curiously Crayer paints his women with a distinctly Italian sensibility that is reminiscent of Titian, Veronese, and even Spanish artist Murillo. At any rate, judging by the brilliant portrait of him by Van Dyck above his company was well-received by and not seen as a competitor of Rubens nor Van Dyck. Alexander and Diogenes, early 1600's Crayer bathes the figures in an uncharacteristically Titianesque warm light. I like how Crayer uses body language to great effe...

The Family of the Artist, ca.1621 Born on May 19, 1593, Jacob Jordaens was a Flemish painter from the Baroque era who worked together on occasion with Anthony Van Dyke under the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens . Jordaens' style, having been taught by Adam van Noort, the same teacher as Rubens, is often difficult to discern between the two and today several drawings and oil sketches require scholarly interpretation to identify the artist. His paintings however are a Rubenesque-Caravaggio Baroque flavor that is uniquely Jordaens with his strong dramatically-lit figures, dynamic composition and vibrant palette. Having never travelled to Italy, Jordaens' artistic inspiration came from studying copies or originals available within his vicinity. His work has an immediacy and depth that is more inviting than his Flemish counterparts, and you can see this in person studying his work in that he relies on color and chiaroscuro. Jordaens, like Rubens, most often painted on a massive sc...

A Drink for the Drummer, 1889 A Viennese painter born on August 2, 1848, Eduard Charlemont represents a natural Classical realism from among the last of the great artists born before the 20 century. Inspired by and trained in the Dutch Old Master painting techniques of the Baroque, Charlemont remains one of those underrated treasures you stumble upon and savour like an unexpected rare wine, ripe and full, only getting better with time. Above shows a drummer savoring a drink, quite possibly wine, in a room with soft shadows and cool northern light. Charlemont's gift for natural body language, detailed costume and expression is musical, to make a pun on the subject: the musician smiles broadly as if having just said a joke, and the woman smiles bashfully while cleaning her copper pot. Notice how the angle of the drum and her pot are similar, facing us the viewer. Hers is empty for a reason: there is a clear difference in social class, by the manner of dress in these two people ...

The original painter of light, Rembrandt van Rijn was born on July 15, 1606 in Leiden, Netherlands. He is one of the most imitated painters in terms of brushwork, although his particular use of chiaroscuro is truly unique and personal. His etchings are also what make him one of the greatest in that genre, producing an enormous amount in his lifetime, and lastly, his self-portraits are among the most famous of any artist in history for their sincerity and penetrative insight. Of the many he painted the example above is one of his finest, in my opinion, for its execution and presence: he was 34 years old, towards the peak of his success. Years ago I watched the film of his life made in 1936 by Charles Laughton , and is still the best film I've seen on an artist to date. Laughton was perfect for the role. Danaë, ca.1636-47 Rembrandt's interpretation of this often painted mythological scene is intimate and real, and Danaë's body language is what makes this painting so ...

Legend of Tomyris, 1622-1623 In the art world of the Baroque, Rubens' bio reads like the stuff of legend: scholar, art collector, diplomat, polyglot (spoke seven languages), knighted by three kings, independently wealthy and one of the most prolific painters in history. Although he ran an enormous workshop of nearly a hundred artists, his design and finishing touches were on every single piece, and he painted on a scale that even today makes anyone's jaw drop. In fact, Rubens painted so much and often scenes of vast complex figures that it is challenging to pick only a few, not to mention his incredible drawings and studies that often give insight into his techniques. In this post I will attempt to show a sample from one of his various categories. In the above painting, Rubens has separated the women on the left and the men on the right. The kneeling figure holds the head of Cyrus the Great before Queen Tomyris of Massagetae—he is actually draining the blood into an urn. ...

Portrait of Peeter Stevens, 1627 Four hundred and thirteen years ago two giants of art were born about three months apart— Velazquez, who was born in June and Anthony Van Dyck, who was born on this day. Child prodigy extraordinaire, he was already painting at a high level in his early teens, and by nineteen he was already Rubens' top assistant. Genius of this kind is rather difficult for most of us to really comprehend, and we can safely assume by the confidence in his early self-portraits how cocky he must have been. Still, even he learned a great deal working for a boss like Rubens, the multilingual scholar who made composition and colour seem like no sweat at all. Rubens would have instilled a deep understanding of skin tones and anatomy that would raise Van Dyck to the next level. I remember reading the story once of how while the master Rubens was out of the studio meeting aristocratic clients, the workshop boys were goofing off and someone got pushed into one of the paintin...