Illuminated Manuscripts - Creatures

After eating his victim, this crocodile will cry crocodile tears.  Museum Meermanno, MMW, 10 B 25, Folio 12v

Off to Russia - Vasily Tropinin 1776-1857

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Portrait of AI Tropinina, the Artist's Wife. 1809.

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Ukranian Woman in a Landscape

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Portrait of an Elderly Woman in a Cape Town. 1820s

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Portrait of the Artist's Sister Vatopinin

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Portrait of Leviskaya Volkonskaya

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Girl with Plums Chelyabinsk

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Portrait of Countess Zubova NA. 1834.

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Portrait of LK Makovsky

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Girl with a Candle

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Portrait of Mrs Botsigetti

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Portrait of the Writer Kozhina IN. 1836.

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Woman in the Window (Wife of a Treasurer). 1841.

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Portrait of Ea Sisalinoy

Vasily Tropinin (Russian artist, 1776-1857) Girl with a Pot of Roses. 1850.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Creatures

Merman with wings.  British Library, Harley 3244, detail of f. 55r. Bestiary. 1236-c.1250

Off to Russia - Philip Andreyevich Maliavin 1869-1940

Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (Russian Painter, 1869-1940) Girl with a Book 1895


Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (Russian Painter, 1869-1940) Elizaveta Martynova 1897


Russian painter Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (1869-1940) studied religious icon painting at the St Panteleimon monastery, Agios-Oros, Greece, from 1885 to 1891. He then left the cloistered life of the monestary to enroll at the Academy of Arts in St Petersburg, where he stayed until 1899, taking lessons from Il’ya Repin.


Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (Russian Painter, 1869-1940) A Peasant Woman


His early paintings of women were calm, simple depictions, such as the portraits which open this posting. About the time of his marriage, he began to portray colorful, animated Russian peasant women. At the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, he was awarded a gold medal for his picture "Laughter" a celebration of peasant women.


Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (Russian Painter, 1869-1940) Laughter 1900


Many believe that Maliavin’s best period was 1905 to 1907, in the midst of Russia’s revolution crisis. In 1906, he created “The Whirlwind,” said to be his greatest painting.


Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (Russian Painter, 1869-1940) Laughing Woman


Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (Russian Painter, 1869-1940) Baba Yaga The Witch


Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (Russian Painter, 1869-1940) Peasant Girl 1903


Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (Russian Painter, 1869-1940) Peasant Woman Dancing 1900s


Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (Russian Painter, 1869-1940) Peasant Women 1905


Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (Russian Painter, 1869-1940) Whirlwind 1906


Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (Russian Painter, 1869-1940) Verka 1913


Philip Andreyevich Maliavin (Russian Painter, 1869-1940) The Swings

Illuminated Manuscripts - Creatures

Hungry whale. Liber de natura bestiarum, England after 1236. British Library, Harley 3244, fol. 65r

Illuminated Manuscripts - Creatures

Statutes of England to 1495, about 1495-1500. Bodleian Library

German artist Lovis Corinth (1858-1925) paints his family

1902 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth Wading

Lovis Corinth (1858-1925) is often labeled as a German Impressionist or Expressionist; but he never considered himself either.


1902 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth in a White Dress


Corinth began his academic artistic training in 1876, when he enrolled at the Academy of Königsberg. Corinth attended the Munich Academy in 1880, which rivaled Paris as the avant-garde art center in Europe at the time. There he was influenced by Courbet & the Barbizon school as interpreted by Munich artists, Wilhelm Leibl & Otto Trubner.


1902 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth


During a 3-month stay in Antwerp in 1884, he was influenced by the vitality in the painting of Peter Paul Rubens. Later that year, Corinth moved to Paris to study at the Académie Julian, under William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Corinth was in Paris, when the Impressionists worked & exhibited there, but he claimed to have been entirely unaware of their work.


1903 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth with Cat


Disappointed by his lack of acceptance within the Parisian art world, Corinth returned to Germany in 1887. Soon after, he became involved in the Secession movement, an artists’ association formed by the painter Max Liebermann as a protest against the academic art schools in Berlin & Munich.  In 1891, Corinth returned to Munich; but in 1892, he abandoned the Munich Academy to join the very first Secession movement. In 1894, he joined the Free Association; and in 1899, he exhibited in an Berline Secession exhibition.


1904 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth in Morning Sun


In 1900, he moved to Berlin, where he had a one-man exhibition at the famous gallery owned by Paul Cassirer.


1904 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth in a Silk Robe


After settling in Berlin in 1901, Corinth’s mature work was rendered with loose brush work & strong colors which have often been described as Expressionist. Despite similarities, Corinth actively opposed the rise of Expressionism by excluding its artists from Secession exhibitions. He later grew to accept Expressionism’s merits, however, & embraced its intensely emotional approach in his own work.


1904 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth on a Stool by Lovis Corinth


In 1902, at the age of 43, he opened a School of Painting for Women & married his 1st student, Charlotte Berend, who was 20 years his junior. Charlotte was his youthful muse, spiritual partner, & mother of his two children. Family life became a major theme in his art during this time.


1907 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth


In 1911, he suffered a stroke partially paralyzing his left side. With the help of his wife, a year later he was back to work with his right hand. His brushwork became more vigorous; & his work done after 1911, is often considered his best.


1908 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth in a Black Mask


From 1915-1925, he served as President of the Berlin Secession. In 1925, he traveled to Holland to look at the works of his favorite Dutch masters; & while there, he caught pneumonia, & died in Zanvoort.


1908 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth with a Glass of Wine


It may be fortunate, that Corinth did not live to see Hitler's rise to power in 1933. Corinth's early works were left undisturbed; but those works executed after his stroke were politically labeled "Degenerate."


1908 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth


1909 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth with Daughter Wilhelmine


1910 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth in a Corset


1911 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth on 31st Birthday


1911 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth with Lilies


1911 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth at her Dressing Table


1911 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth by a Goldfish Tank


1911 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth A Mother's Love - Charlotte with Son Thomas


1912 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth on the Balcony in Bordighera


1912 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth


1912 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth at the Mirror


1913 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Daughter Wilhelmine


1915 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth in a Purple Hat


1916 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Son Thomas and Daughter Wilhelmine


1921 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Charlotte Berend-Corinth


1922 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Daughter Wilhelmine with Her Hair in Braids


1923 Lovis Corinth (German Painter, 1858-1925) Self Portrait