Monday, July 21, 2014

Fashion! - Jean-Baptiste Le Prince 1734-1781 paints Turquerie


Jean-Baptiste Le Prince (French Painter, 1734-1781) Young woman in Turkish costume


Born to a family of ornamental sculptors & gilders, Le Prince began studying art with Francois Boucher (1703–70) around 1750. In 1754, the young artist traveled to Italy.  By 1757, Le Prince was painting for Catherine the Great at the Imperial Palace in Saint Petersburg. He traveled extensively in Russia, Lithuania, Finland, Holland, & perhaps Siberia, returning to Paris 5 years later eager to make a name for himself.  The sketches Le Prince made on his travels of exotic costumes & customs served him well, when he returned to France in 1763.  He became a copper engraver, & a genre, landscape & portrait painter. He is also credited with being the first artist to introduce aquatint into his etched & engraved plates. Upon becoming a member of the Académie Royale in 1765, Le Prince exhibited 15 paintings at that year's Salon, all Russian subjects.  The drawings he made in Russia provided the basis for a considerable body of work that added to the general taste of 18th century Europeans for exotica.   After 1770, Le Prince's health declined, & he left Paris for the French countryside.  There he painted the pastoral subjects; which he had learned from Boucher as a young man & from the 17th-century Dutch & Flemish genre & landscape painters, which he so admired.


Jean-Baptiste Le Prince (French Painter, 1734-1781) Lady in Turkish Dress


Jean-Baptiste Le Prince (French Painter, 1734-1781) The Fortune Teller

Friday, July 11, 2014

Fashion! - Swiss artist Jakob Emanuel Handmann 1718-1781 paints Turquerie


Jakob Emanuel Handmann (Swiss artist, 1718-1781)  Unknown lady 1775


Jakob Emanuel Handmann was the 9th child of Johann Jakob Handmann, a baker in Waldenburg, & his wife Anna Maria Rispach. Between 1735 & 1739, he apprenticed in Schaffhausen with the painter & stucco plasterer Johann Ulrich Schnetzler. The young artist then traveled to Paris, Rome & Naples. In Paris, he worked at the studio of Jean Restout II. In 1742, Handmann worked in France with Hörling Handmann painting the heads of the sitters. Later he worked in the studios of Marco Benefial & Pierre Subleyras in Rome. There he produced commercial copies of masterpieces from the Classical Antiquity & Renaissance periods.  By June 1746, he was back in Switzerland; and in 1747, he settled down in Basel, where he opened his own studio.


Jakob Emanuel Handmann (Swiss artist, 1718-1781) Philippine Fellenberg


Jakob Emanuel Handmann (Swiss artist, 1718-1781) Lady in Turkish dress 1775


Jakob Emanuel Handmann (Swiss artist, 1718-1781) Catherine Augusta Lerber Sturler

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Fashion! - Frenchman Antoine de Favray 1706-1792 paints Turquerie + Knights & Ladies of Malta


Antoine de Favray (French painter, 1706-1792) Maltese Women


Antoine de Favray was a French painter best known for His portraits of the Ottoman Empire. In 1738, he was Mentioned as a private pupil of Jean-François de Troy II, who was then director of the Académie de France in Rome. In 1739, Antoine de Favray was registered as a student at the Académie. In 1744, the artist left Rome for Malta, remaining there for much of the rest of His career Devoting himself primarily to portraiture & amp; genre painting. His portraits of women talking together in relaxed situations are Particularly important, Because most women in the Ottoman Empire Remained almost Exclusively Within Their family settings or among other women. Already he had lived a long life, When He wrote to Chevalier de Turgot in 1788, " In spite of my weak sight, a heavy hand and an exhausted imagination, I always spend my time making something or other ... Years pile upon each other, Which does not pain me, on the contrary. For this century is the century When things happen. It is near its end and so am I, luckily " 


Antoine de Favray (French painter, 1706-1792) Annette Comtesse de Vergennes in Turkish Gown


Antoine de Favray (French painter, 1706-1792) Turkish Women


Antoine de Favray (French painter, 1706-1792) Portrait of a family, c 1760


Antoine de Favray (French painter, 1706-1792) grecques Dames en costume intérieur dans un jardin


Antoine de Favray (French painter, 1706-1792) Ladies of the Knights of Malta With Their Maid Servants


Antoine de Favray (French painter, 1706-1792) Dames de Malte if faisant visits in 1763


Antoine de Favray (French painter, 1706-1792) Officers of the Knights of Malta


Antoine de Favray (French painter, 1706-1792) Malta Interior (Gentlemen Only)

Friday, June 27, 2014

Simeon Solomon, English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905


Simeon Solomon (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905) Night 1890


Simeon Solomon (1840-1905) was born into a prominent Jewish family in England. He was the 8th & last child born to merchant Michael (Meyer) Solomon & artist Catherine (Kate) Levy. Solomon was a younger brother to painters Abraham Solomon (1824–1862) & Rebecca Solomon (1832–1886). His first exhibition was at the Royal Academy in 1858, where he continued to exhibit until 1872. In addition to literary paintings favored by the Pre-Raphaelite school, Solomon's subjects often included scenes from the Hebrew Bible & genre paintings depicting Jewish life. In 1873 his career was cut short, when he was arrested in a public urinal in London & charged with attempting to commit sodomy & was fined. He was was arrested again in 1874 in Paris, after which he was sentenced to spend 3 months in prison. In 1884 he was admitted to the workhouse, where he continued to paint; however, his talent was blighted by alcoholism. Twenty years later in 1905, he died from complications of his alcoholism.


Simeon Solomon (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905) Dawn


Simeon Solomon (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905) Marguerite 1866


Simeon Solomon (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905) Mother of Moses 1860


Simeon Solomon (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905) Love Dreaming by the Sea 1871


Simeon Solomon (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905) Beatrice


Simeon Solomon (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905) Autumn


Simeon Solomon (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905) Toilette of a Roman Lady 1869


Simeon Solomon (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905) Priestess Offering Poppies


Simeon Solomon (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905) Bacchus


Simeon Solomon (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905) Allegorical Self Portrait 1873Simeon Solomon (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1840-1905) Self Portrait 1860

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Women by French Painter Jacques-Emile Blanche 1861-1942


"he is liable to twist things he hears."  He seems to twist many of his sitters into similar predicaments.

Jacques-Emile Blanche (French Painter, 1861-1942) Femme en 1887

Jacques-Emile Blanche (French Painter, 1861-1942) Donna Olga Caracciolo dei Duchi di Castelluccio, later Baroness de Meyer, 1889.

Jacques-Emile Blanche (French Painter, 1861-1942) Eugenia Huicidi Errazuriz

Jacques-Emile Blanche (French Painter, 1861-1942) Portrait of a Lady

Monday, June 23, 2014

The delicate, slightly unsettling portraits of British artist Madeline Emily Green 1884-1947



Madeline Green (British painter, 1884-1947) The Young Man


Artist Madeline Green was a long-term resident of the borough of Ealing and completed many of her works in her studio at The Mall in Ealing. Ealing is London's third largest borough, which is located in the heart of west London. Madeline Green was a figurative artist whose style is lively & fluid, bringing her characters to life & infusing her work with a sense of grace & humour. Madeline Emily Green exhibited regularly at Britain's Royal Academy & the Society of Women Artists between 1912-1943.


Madeline Green (British painter, 1884-1947) Two Children in a Stable


Madeline Green (British painter, 1884-1947) Kate and Another


Madeline Green (British painter, 1884-1947) Glasgow


Madeline Green (British painter, 1884-1947) The Model c 1915


Madeline Green (British painter, 1884-1947) The Chenille Net

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Inadvertently Sharing the Harvest - 1600s Food for hungry dogs, cats, monkeys, squirrels, & a random parrot



Adriaen van Utrecht (Flemish Baroque Era Painter, 1599-1652) Still Life with Dog and Monkey (and parott) 1644



Unknown Dutch artist, The Cat's Meal. 1625-50



Frans Snyders (Dutch artist, 1579-1657) Monkeys Stealing Fruit



Adriaen van Utrecht (Flemish Baroque Era Painter, 1599-1652) Still Life with Dog and Cat (and squirrel)



Frans Snyders (Dutch artist, 1579-1657) Still Life with Lobster, Poultry, & Fruit (and cat!)



Giuseppe Recco (Italian, Neapolitan, 1634–1695) Cat Stealing Fish



Balthasar van der Ast (Dutch Baroque painter, 1593-94–1657) Still Life with Macaws 1622


Sunday, June 15, 2014

The sad, wealthy Victorian women of English artist George Frederic Watts (1817-1904)


George Frederic Watts (English artist, 1817-1904) Alice Ellen Terry


George Frederick Watts created both portraits & symbolist paintings. He intended that his symbolist paintings would form part of an epic symbolic cycle called the "House of Life," in which the emotions & aspirations of life would all be represented in a universal symbolic language. He also painted portraits, such as these, of the most powerful & wealthy English men & women of the era, intended to form a "House of Fame." In his portraits Watts sought to create a tension between disciplined stability & the power of action. He was known for emphasising the signs of strain & wear on his privileged sitter's faces. Oh, the oppressive burden of power & wealth...


George Frederic Watts (English artist, 1817-1904) Julia Margaret Cameron


George Frederic Watts (English artist, 1817-1904) Dorothy Tennant Later Lady Stanley


George Frederic Watts (English artist, 1817-1904) Choosing


George Frederic Watts (English artist, 1817-1904) Lilian MacIntosh


George Frederic Watts (English artist, 1817-1904) Eveleen Tennant (Mrs F W H Myers)


George Frederic Watts (English artist, 1817-1904) Mrs Arthur Sassoon


George Frederic Watts (English artist, 1817-1904) Portrait of a Lady


George Frederic Watts (English artist, 1817-1904) Josephine Elizabeth Gray Butler


George Frederic Watts (English artist, 1817-1904) Violet Lindsay


George Frederic Watts (English artist, 1817-1904) Self Portrait 1834