beside the easel

Portrait of Florence, 1898 Thomas William "Tom" Roberts was born on March 8, 1856 in Dorchester England and a prominent member of The Heidelberg School , which was an Australian Impressionist art movement of the late 1800's. His family moved to Australia when he was 13, where he stayed for 12 years before returning to study in England and travel through Spain, where he met artists such as Ramon Casas . Roberts painted mostly landscapes and portraiture. His work is characterized by distinctive brushstrokes, subtle contrasts of edges, and a muted but natural palette in contrast to many of his contemporaries, who often used vibrant colors in their shadows. In Portrait of Florence above, Roberts shows us the scale of his talent and the Spanish influence. I love the wistful look on her face. The tactile fabric of her dress, in warm neutral tones seems to resonate with the background even though the tones are very similar. The pink ruffled collar is what g...

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...

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, ca.1726 Born June 6, 1687 in Venice, Giovanni Battista Pittoni was a late Baroque/early Rococo painter. Pittoni enjoyed a popular career throughout Europe both as an artist and restorer, and at the age of 71 he became the second president of the famous Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia whose alumni include not only Tiepolo but Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Francesco Hayez, and Antonio Rotta among others. Pittoni's work is characterized by grand gesture, strong, dramatic figures and of course, being Venetian, a bold palette of beautiful colors. Look at The Rest on the Flight into Egypt above and we immediately see two interesting things: a low viewpoint, where our eye level is right about at baby Christ's yet intersects the waistline of Joseph and just below the neckline of Mary, and second, dynamic figure placement that focuses on Mary and Joseph more than baby Jesus. I love how Joseph is portrayed in true Humanist style, sculptural a...

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 i...

The Garden of the Hesperides‎, 1892 Sir Frederic Leighton was born in Scarborough, England on December 3, 1830. He is one of Britain's most well-known artists from the Victorian Age , typifying a style of Romantic sensual Academic Classicism that foreshadows Art Nouveau . Leighton gives all his figures an elegance and grace—sometimes forced— yet somehow musical to watch, a visual poetry. He has a similar sensibility to the Dutch artist of the same era: Lawrence Alma-Tadema . Leighton also has a strong sense for colour that is more organic than his contemporaries. His use of reds, oranges, yellows, greens and blues are never garish or unnatural. Portraiture was also something he was easily well-versed in, capturing his sitters with a dignity and poise that was distinctive. He often used a lovely female actress of the day as his model whose beauty still inspires today. In The Garden of the Hesperides‎ above, Leighton's feminine side dominates the composition and tone...

La Vérité, 1870 Born on March 14, 1836 in Tournan-en-Brie, France, Jules Lefebvre was a French figure painter and respected teacher, whose students include names such as Kenyan Cox, Edmund C. Tarbell, and Paul Cornoyer . Lefebvre is well-known for his highly sensual female nudes, yet looking deeper into his work we see a keen insight into personality and character, creating mood and atmosphere as an essential ingredient in all of his paintings. A contemporary of William Bouguereau , Lefebvre approached the feminine form unabashedly and without the sentimentality of children nor the predictable satyrs and nymphs prancing about in lush landscapes. Lefebvre's women are unique and charming, as he was more keen on capturing who they were first and their physical beauty second. La Vérité above, was modelled after a famous actress of the time, Sophie Croizette: La Vérité reveals an aesthetic visual manifesto of sorts on the superiority of beauty and Classicism. Although m...