beside the easel

Self-Portrait, 1627 Born on January 9, 1590 in Paris, Simon Vouet was the giant of his era and is credited with introducing Baroque art to France. Coming from a family of painters, his precocious talents lead him to travel at quite a young age and in his early twenties he stopped in Italy and lived there for 13 years, longer than any other European artist at that time. His extensive travels within Italy allowed him to absorb all the major painters and styles with keen fascination, clearly inspired by the rich history of art that was lacking back in his native France. During this period he also became a "principe" at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, and probably the first non-Italian artist to teach there. Vouet's talent and sharp business savvy led him to a very successful career and a pioneer of the Baroque outside of Italy. Above is his self-portrait, one of my very favourites for its spontaneity and freshness with skilled brushwork. Painted in his late thir...

Jeanne-Marguerite Lecadre in the Garden Sainte-Adresse, 1867 Claude Monet was born on November 14, 1840 in Paris. Father of Impressionism and pioneer of en plein air , it is difficult to imagine a world without his loose brushstrokes, but Monet was a rebel in his day to the establishment. While painters of the era were copying Old Masters in the Louvre Monet could be found sitting near a window or outside in the open air painting nature. It was this profound love of the natural world around him and the artists who inspired him, such as Constable and Turner, who took their Romantic ideals of emotion to new levels in their later years that lit the fire within for Monet. The difference for Monet was a lack of drama altogether, finding everything to express himself in nature itself without polish or attention to details. This was revolutionary thinking, and to our modern eyes we associate Monet with flowers and sunsets but it is his understanding of color and value that make him a p...

Woman Holding a Balance, 1664 Johannes Vermeer was baptised on October 31, 1632—the exact date is not known. A master of indoor scenes with cool daylight, Vermeer worked slowly and deliberately, with particular attention to objects, details, body language, symbolism and composition. His exact technique is something of debate amoung scholars, with theories floating around about everything from camera obscura devices to complex glazing techniques, yet one thing is certain: no drawings of his survive. It brings attention to how he was able to conceive of such elaborate compositions without the slightest preparatory sketch or drawing, and even looking at his work up close he often blurs details and smooths out brushstrokes, as if trying to mimic a camera. At any rate his understanding of light and how it falls on an object or person, inspired by the studies of Da Vinci, reveal a simple yet very complex observational skills and technique. In Woman Holding a Balance Vermeer's de...

Pissarro Building, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas While on holidays on a cruise a few years back in the Caribbean I passed by this curious museum which, unfortunately was closed at the time and I couldn't return later much to my disappointment. Camille Pissarro was born and raised here on July 10, 1830, in this heaven-on-earth island, but he spent most of his adult life painting in Paris. Although not exactly a household name to many familiar with Impressionism, he was a huge influence and father figure to many artists of that era including Cezanne, Van Gogh, Seurat and Gauguin. What makes Pissarro cool is that he seems to get only better with age, and his urban landscapes are light years ahead of any painter in the genre. The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning, 1897 A perfect snapshot of the era and a stunning painting, this kind of work seems remarkably simplistic up close but step back and it has a photographic realism to it. This is obviously true of all Impressi...

Yesterday was the 185th birthday of one of my favourite French painters, someone who could merge figures and landscape together beautifully like no other artist, someone who made fields of harvesters against the setting sun seem real yet dreamlike. Welcome to the world of Jules Breton... The Song of the Lark, 1884 This is like music. Squint your eyes and the golden glow of that late sun spreads across that orange sky and down that empty field...the woman is barely silhouetted against that sky, sickle in hand, listening to the sound of a lark after a long day's work. Breton is telling us to stop and appreciate the natural world around us. He also maintains the dignity and character of all his subjects, not as poor and ignorant, but real people who help to feed the world. The Barbizon School sought to cherish nature and the landscape, to preserve it from the oncoming Industrial Revolution and factories that would later lure people out of the countryside and into the city for wo...