beside the easel

Birthday Wishes, ca. 1880 Born on the 24th of July, 1841 in Rome, Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta was a Spanish realist painter. Coming from a long line of painters in the family, Raimundo moved back to Spain and studied at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, then in Paris under Léon Cogniet. Raimundo stayed in Paris most of his life and like his family did mostly portraiture. Raimundo is distinctly unique from most in the way he paints fabric and drapery...elevating the women of his era in their beautiful shimmering dresses like very few artists in history. Despite this interesting niche Raimundo was a brilliant portrait painter of both men and women. Look closely in his brushwork and the influence of Velázquez is unmistakable, yet Madrazo has an ability to make those strokes dance. In Birthday Wishes above, the narrative is clear: a woman reads a card addressed to her from an admirer while holding a bouquet of flowers. The background wa...

A Fire on Kultorvet, 1900 Born in Copenhagen on July 22, 1860, Paul Gustav Fischer was a Danish Naturalist painter. Fischer has a palette and tone that is more British than many of his fellow countrymen, although his depiction of everyday life in pure Naturalist form is definitely Danish. His work has an atmosphere, a narrative that asks questions more than it illustrates—in short, he conveys presence. I love A Fire on Kultorvet above. Look at how we are placed right in the middle of the action, without explanation, as if happening right in front of us. This painting works on so many levels: historically, compositionally, atmospherically, and of course visually in terms of palette and texture. Off to the right a firefighter feeds coal into a steam-powered fire engine, a complex and very heavy machine...revolutionary for its time. Note off to the far left a firefighter operates what was back then a modern invention, the fire hydrant. The huge crowd watching is conveyed br...

By Summer Seas, 1912 Born in London, 1863, Herbert James Draper was a Victorian Classical painter. He made his early career on mythological subjects then moved onward to portraiture, yet it is his keen understanding and appreciation of the female form, in an age of repression, that I find fascinating about his work. I cannot think of another artist who combined Classical structure of the body with a relaxed sensuality and a deep awareness of body language as a key narrative element. Observe By Summer Seas above and you can clearly see the difference between the two females. The kneeling figure is very Classical and pretty, hair tightly compressed in a traditional scarf, yet she seems to defer to the graceful and sensuous figure seated on the rocks, hair blowing gently in the wind. Note how Draper uses a very cool skin palette to give their skin a soft glow. It contrasts beautifully with that incredible water behind them, reflecting the warm rocky mountain. Draper perches them bo...

Elegante au sofa, 1895 Continuing on this series of sensual artists of French background is Julius Leblanc Stewart , born on September 6, 1855. He was a Philadelphia-born artist who lived and painted most of his life in Paris, earning him the nickname " the Parisian from Philadelphia ." Stewart's family had moved there when he was only 10 years old, and from the wealth of his father's Cuban sugar plantation Stewart lived and painted to his heart's content. One teacher who had considerable impact on him was Gérôme . His father's wide influence as businessman and prominent art collector helped to secure Stewart's place in the Parisian art world within a relatively short period of time. Stewart's breadth of work ranges from the social life of the belle epoque to sensuous yet fun outdoor female nudes. Elegante au sofa above is an sophisticated yet natural portrait of a woman seated in a warm room with simple furnishings. I love the contrast in textur...