Interiors by Danish Artist Peter Vilhelm Ilsted 1861-1933

Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) Girls at Window


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) Two Girls Playing


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) Boy Studying


Peter Ilsted (1861-1933) & the work of the painters Danish artists Carl Holsøe (1863-1935) & Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916 who was Ilsted's brother-in-law), formed the core of the Copenhagen Interior School. They portrayed scenes of everyday life inside houses. Ilsted, Hammershøi,& Holsoe's quiet rooms, delicate lighting -- mostly by sunshine -- usually focus on a single person. They use a limited palette with dull tones emphasising how the sunlight reflects on each surface giving them different textures. Some find the depictions calming & powerfully beautiful, others see the women inhabiting these spaces as lonely & waiting. All 3 artists were members of The Free Exhibition, a progressive art society created around 1890, famous for painting images of "Sunshine & Silent Rooms," all in subtle colors. Their works reflect the orderliness of a tranquil life, similar to the earlier works of Vermeer. These interiors evoke at once a sense of calm, as well as a sense of mystery. Ilstedes achievements in mezzotints were revolutionary. Some of his mezzotints, most of which were created in black as well as color, are considered among the finest ever made.


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) Interior 1896


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) Interior with Girl Reading


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) Looking Out the Window


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933)


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) Mother and Child 1892


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933)


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933)


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) The Open Door


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) Two of the Artist's Daughters at Liselund


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) Woman Reading by Candlelight


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) Woman Reading by Sunlight


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) Young Girl Serving Tea


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933)


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) Girl Sitting on the Steps


Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (Danish artist, 1861-1933) In the Bedroom

Women reading indoors by Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1841-1919

1897 Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919). Young Girl Reading

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)  Reading an Illustrated Journal 1880

 Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)  The Reader 1875-1876

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)  Girl Reading 1886

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)  Woman Reading

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)  Girl Reading

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)  Girl in Blue Reading 1890

 Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)  Woman Reading 1877

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919) Graziella 1910

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)

 Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)   Young Girl Reading

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)  1909

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)  Reading

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919) Les Deux Soeurs 1889

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)

18C Reading Indoors or How to flirt with a book

At first, of course, there is the innocent, virtuous young girl...

Pietro Antonio Rotari (Italian artist, 1707-1762) The Virtuous Girl

Italian painter Pietro Antonio Rotari (1707-1762), was a highly successful, itinerant artist who traveled painting portraits of wealthy patrons across Europe. As a young man he studied under Antonio Balestra in Rome & Francesco Trevisani in Naples. Thereafter he returned to Verona where he set up a studio for a while, before he began to travel.  His work attracted royal & aristocratic patrons in Dresden, Vienna, Munich, & Saint Petersburg.  In order to earn a living between commissioned portraits, he created many genre portraits, often images of pretty young girls casting coquettish glances. He died in St Petersburg, where he had traveled to paint for the Russian court.

Pietro Antonio Rotari (Italian artist, 1707-1762) Young Woman with a Book 1762

Pietro Antonio Rotari (Italian artist, 1707-1762) Girl with a Book

Pietro Antonio Rotari (Italian artist, 1707-1762) Young Lady with a Book

Pietro Antonio Rotari (Italian artist, 1707-1762) Self Portrait

Precious gentlemen...

Lovis Corinth (German artist, 1858-1925) The Freemasons

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I seldom include paintings with completely male subjects; but this one is just too precious to pass by.  Oh my...

The Female Saints of Francisco de Zurbarán 1598–1664

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Apolonia

Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664), born at Fuente de Cantos & active mainly in Seville, devoted himself almost entirely to religious works. He worked for churches & monasteries over a wide area of southern Spain and his paintings were also exported to South America. His simple compositions & emotionally direct altarpieces, combining austere naturalism with mystical intensity, made him an ideal Counter-Reformation painter.

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Casilda of Burgos

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Casilda. c 1630-1645

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Casilda

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Dorotea

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Dorothea

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Eufemia

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Isabel

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Margaret. c 1630-1635

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Marina

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Eulalia

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Rufina. Early 1630s

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Ursula

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Santa Lucia 1625

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Santa Lucia 1633

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Agatha

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Ursula

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Lucy

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Mathilda

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Barbe

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Ines

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Engracia

Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish painter, 1598–1664) Saint Engracia