Jessica Crabtree

January 6, 1832: Birth of French illustrator & engraver Gustave Dore

Dore was a French illustrator whose engravings of famous literature have become so pervasive, they are almost inseparable from the works they depict. For generations they were the benchmark in capturing the grandeur and mystery of epics, religious writings, poetry and even fairy tales. The dark, expansive, highly detailed look of his engravings is instantly recognizable.

He was extremely prolific, producing sometimes hundreds of illustrations per work – but his skill and imaginative style was remarkably consistent. His most famous works include the complete illustrated edition of the 1866 English Bible; Don Quixote, The Idylls of the King, and the epics of Milton and Dante; and an anthology of fairy tales.

He also published a famous collection of caricatures.

Wikipedia: Gustave Dore

WikiPaintings: Gustave Dore

November 10, 1697: Birth of preeminent English painter, printmaker, and political cartoonist William Hogarth

Hogarth was born to a lower-class London family. At the beginning of his art career, he started out as an engraver’s apprentice, but became more independent as the demand for his prints rose. This enabled him to marry his art teacher’s daughter and live comfortably, honing his skills as a painter and satirist and becoming well-established as a portrait painter by the 1730′s. His portrait of the actor David Garrick in his role as Richard III sold for the highest price of any English portrait up to that time.

Below: My favorite Hogarth pieces are the serious, sensitive portraits such as the “Servants” above and the tantalizing, enigmatic Shrimp Girl.

Most of Hogarth’s work reveals his voice as a social commentator. He is best known for his “morality serials” depicting the vices and social ills plaguing populous urban England, and the sham of upper-class manners. Series such as “The Rake’s Progress,” “The Harlot’s Progress,” and “Marriage a la Mode” were published in installments and quickly became wildly popular. The rampant pirating of his pieces, and similar experiences of his colleagues, prompted him to lobby Parliament for the creation of the Engraver’s Copyright Act, which was passed in 1735.

Left: Another portrait of Garrick, this time in a more informal setting with his wife.

Hogarth’s drastic rise in social status never seemed to hamper the strong sense of ethics and civic responsibility reflected in his art. He used his means to found an art school, which was a precursor to famous Royal Academy. And he and his wife, unable to have a family of their own, fostered foundling children. His popularity, and the respect he enjoyed from his peers and his public, is portrayed in the epitaph Garrick wrote upon Hogarth’s death in 1764:

“Farewell great Painter of Mankind
Who reach’d the noblest point of Art
Whose pictur’d Morals charm the Mind
And through the Eye correct the Heart.

If Genius fire thee, Reader, stay,
If Nature touch thee, drop a Tear:
If neither move thee, turn away,
For Hogarth’s honour’d dust lies here.”

Wikipedia: William Hogarth

WikiGallery: Online Collection of Hogarth’s Prints and Paintings

Today I’m paying another visit to the Louvre website. Last time, I toured one of the “Closer Look” thematic studies – today I decided to try out the Kaleidoscope feature under “Collections.” Pick a theme – mythology, still life, monarchs etc. – and before you flashes an array of art pieces from the Louvre’s collection. I choose portraits.

For an art lover and a history buff, it’s a bit tantalizing to see such a diversity of pieces flash before your eyes: medieval miniatures; pompous, dignified Renaissance busts; a hazy profile study by Da Vinci; a brusque Revolution-era portrait by David. A clay head sculpture of an important man, found in an ancient Persian burial vault, stares back at us large as life, looking for all the world as if he was still observing life from beyond the grave. The unusual Elamite style strikes us with its prominent Oriental features and stylized curly beard and hair.

The first portrait to draw me further in is that of a young woman from Roman Egypt. She reminds me of the mosaic portraits of ancient Italy, with her smooth classical features and huge, dark lustrous eyes.

The incredible detail is achieved on cedar panel by encaustic painting, an unusual method that combines the pigments with beeswax or other resins to adhere to the wood. Apparently this technique was a signature of late Egyptian funerary artwork; the finished portrait would then be placed over the face of the mummy. One would imagine that the ancient artist had to work quickly with the melted wax. Or was his palette held in a container over a flame, to keep the pigment liquid? A quick google reveals that encaustic painting is widely used by artists today.

The exhibit description explains how the fine lines of the eyelashes are created by scratching through the encaustic layers to expose the black base coat beneath – a method not unlike the one I use in pastel on suede. Judging by the adornments in this portrait, the young woman was apparently of noble rank, and her family must have spared no means in her burial or in commemorating her by commissioning this exquisite likeness.

The Fayum portraits would be a great topic for a later post. It seems to me this level of depth and realism was not approached again until the Renaissance.

A little less remote in time and place is Chardin’s Self Portrait, 1771, pastel on paper (a medium he adopted only in the latter part of his career). The strong diagonal grain often seen in pastel pieces always makes me think of a driving rain!

I always loved the frank, unassuming personality of Chardin’s portrait. His decision to portray himself in such a low-key, mediocre way is unprepossessing, yet remarkably self-assured. The masterful loose strokes have a futuristic nuance that reminds me of some of Hogarth’s pieces from a generation earlier (the collage of his servants’ faces, perhaps, which is a favorite of mine – or even the Shrimp Girl?)

That’s all for this quick glance – but as usual I leave the exhibit with something to mull over for next time. Isn’t it ironic that it’s impossible to leave a museum – full of old things and old ideas – without taking away something new?

Scientists unearth a paint workshop in Blombos Cave in South Africa

The ancient Stone Age artists used abalone shells and quartzite grinders to produce pigments with ochres and charcoal, using animal oils as binders. It’s not clear how these ‘pigment pastes’ were being used – for tableau painting on smooth rock faces, body painting, or other ritual practices. Earlier finds suggested that blocks of pigment may have been used almost like pastels, like those responsible for Europe’s famous Stone Age cave paintings. But these artifacts predate those by tens of thousands of years, making them among the oldest evidence of conceptual thinking ever discovered.

Just imagine sweeping out the windblown sand to uncover the intact workshop of a prehistoric artist, complete with supplies and paints. Makes you think how little some things have changed over the ages. This artist even favored an ocean-front studio, like some modern artists I know…

BBC News: Ancient ‘paint factory’ unearthed

September 4, 1893: Birth of fictional character “Peter Rabbit”

Since his conception in a letter to a little boy in Victorian England, Peter Rabbit has become the signature creation of English artist and naturalist Beatrix Potter. He became the first patented character after Potter licensed the production of a trademarked plush toy in 1903.

When Peter Rabbit was first published in 1902 by Frederick Warne & Co., Potter designed every aspect of the book, from the illustrations to the covers and bindings. In the 1930′s her stories were re-issued using this first publication as a template. The Warne centenary edition in 2002 took this effort up a notch by completely restoring and remastering the copy film to reflect the original format, resulting in the most authentic rendition to date.

Right: The original “Peter Rabbit” letter written to Noel Moore dated September 3, 1893 (Image: The World of Beatrix Potter)

About Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter was born in 1866 to a well-off English family. From a young age she had an exceptionally agile mind which the conventions of Victorian culture were slow to accommodate. Though shy and reserved, her girlhood journals show her to have been an imaginative and talented budding artist and a shrewd social critic.

Photo: Children’s Classics.com.au – Biography of Beatrix Potter

Her passion for wildlife was evident early in life, from the small animals she and her brother kept (later to become models for some of her characters) to her growing interest in the natural sciences and conservation.

Her Tale of Peter Rabbit – written, like Lewis Carroll’sAlice in Wonderland, for the entertainment of a small child – spawned a series of watercolor-illustrated animal tales that quickly became established children’s classics. By the end of the first year’s publication alone, 28,000 copies were in circulation.

The stellar success of her illustrated books offered Potter some independence in the face of social restriction and family expectations. It enabled her to buy property in England’s beautiful Lake District, where her ‘Hill Top Farm’ became a thriving operation and is today a national historic site. She became one of the country’s most respected figures in sheep-raising and land management and conservation.

Her life was recently the subject of the 2006 film Miss Potter, earning actress Renee Zellweger a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of the artist.

Links

The World of Beatrix Potter – The ‘official’ website of Peter Rabbit & friends; plus detailed material on Potter’s work and legacy

The Beatrix Potter Society of the UK

More than just Bunnies: The Legacy of Beatrix Potter

Wikipedia: Peter Rabbit

Wikipedia: Beatrix Potter

August 30, 1748: Birth of the French painter Jacques-Louis David

David was born to a privileged family of Parisian architects during the height of France’s ancien regime. He was expected to follow this profession, but his early education quickly revealed a strong proclivity for art and a heady temperament – both of which would define the course of his adult life.

His first art teacher was an old-school artist of the Rococo style who recognized David’s strong Classical sympathies and sent him to a colleague, Joseph-Marie Vien, who became David’s long-time mentor. Under his tutelage, David attended the Royal Academy (part of what is today the Louvre). In 1774, after several failed attempts, he won the prestigious Prix de Rome, and later traveled to Italy with Vien where he immersed himself in Classical art forms and early Renaissance painting.

Upon returning to Paris five years later, he was finally admitted membership to Royal Academy, and was also granted residence at the Louvre by royal appointment. Despite all these honors he was impatient for greater recognition and frustrated by what he felt was discrimination against his age. His problematic attitude did not endear him to his superiors and his brash, ardent and sometimes narcissistic nature meant inevitable collisions with his peers and his patrons. But his position offered him both means and security and the 1780s found him a man in his forties with a family, a comfortable living, an expanding student roll, and a growing reputation.

Left: Portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and his Wife (1788)

Lavoisier was a brilliant French scientist who was executed during the Reign of Terror on minor charges, partly through the influence of Marat (the same Marat whose death David later portrayed so iconically). Fellow scientist Lagrange said, “It took them only an instant to cut off his head, but France may not produce another such head in a century.”

David’s appetite for the heroic and grandiose, however, was about to be filled, and he was soon swept up in the radical changes erupting throughout France. His quest for the Neoclassical ideal – austere, noble, self-sacrificing – found a new outlet on the stage of the French Revolution.

David and other Neoclassicists felt they could elevate the artistic plane of their society by reviving the order and refinement of Greco-Roman civilization, uplifting humanity to a new level of honor, nobility, and reason. They saw the Revolution as the opportunity, and art as the catalyst.

This worldview is exemplified by paintings of the period, such as The Oath of the Horatii (1784) and The Death of Socrates (1787), which glorify their Classical subjects and project their values and virtues onto the revolutionary cause. But they also illustrate how easily the line between public expression and propaganda can become blurred.

True to his impetuous nature, David became embroiled in politics – as a member of the Jacobin Club and a friend of Robespierre, voting for the king’s execution in 1792 and even turning his influence against the Royal Academy (possibly out of frustration in not receiving all the benefits he felt he deserved). He organized public spectacles: festivals, processions, and carefully orchestrated unveilings of politically charged paintings, intended to stir or sway popular sentiment.

The limelight was intense but short-lived. As revolutionary fervor escalated out of control and the Reign of Terror began, internal power struggles undermined Jacobin leadership and David himself only narrowly escaped being executed alongside Robespierre. He landed in prison where he painted his famous self-portrait. This brush with danger was enough to satisfy even David’s thirst for the heroic.

“This is Civilisation” presented by art critic Matthew Collings – This excerpt gives a visual tour of The Oath of the Horatii – austere, paternalistic, typically Roman. The episode examines the careers of both David and Spanish painter Goya to contrast their evaluation of human nature.

(continue reading…)

So here’s my first foray into the web interactives of the Louvre Museum. First of all I’ve got say how much I love the practical layout of the features – so much to see but all very accessible and well-organized.

Out of the list of thematic mini-sites I’ve chosen “Rembrandt the Draftsman”. Of the three areas in which Rembrandt made his mark (no pun intended) – painting, etching, and drawing – this exhibit highlights the last. And with pencil and paper being my first love I could hardly resist.

France, it seems, has had a long history of Rembrandt appreciation, and French collectors of his drawings go way back. The Louvre alone possesses 64 of them, and many of these were acquired in the early 18th century.

Rembrandt’s drawings, to a greater extent than those of other artists, are like strobe photos of an artist’s mind in action – like a flip-book of creative ideas taking shape in his head. He sketched prolifically and copied works of his mentors to explore their method and many of these sketches are still extant.

Interior with Saskia in Bed – a scene from Rembrandt’s own home. This one I found unique in its masses of heavy rich shading that give structure to the composition. A very warm and domestic example of his genre painting.

Most of his drawings are done with chalk or ink wash or a combination of both. With his distinctive blunt, rapid, scrambled style, they are spontaneous enough to capture the essence of the subject with very little premeditation and an added sense of lightness and motion (especially so in his narrative scenes).

Cornelis Claesz – This was one of the most articulate and sensitive in the exhibit. It uses not only ink and wash but chalk and gouache, and is much more elaborate and self-sufficient than most of his drawings. The subject was a prominent Dutch Mennonite.

Below, completely different in tone and subject, is the sketch Shah Jahan on Horseback, with a Falcon on his Left Wrist. It shows Rembrandt’s uncanny readiness to assimilate other styles. He must have been fascinated with the line and texture of Oriental painting. He made this copy of the Mughal ruler’s portrait from a miniature, probably a piece in his own eclectic collection. His widely multifarious interests qualify him as something of a Renaissance man, notwithstanding the Netherlands’ cosmopolitan society.

The most interesting section (I think) was ‘Rembrandt the Narrator.’ He was certainly at his best as a storyteller – his exuberant curiosity and attention to detail made the combination of human dynamics with an eloquent (and sometimes flamboyant) presentation a no-brainer. I think they reveal his character the most. They exploit his favorite subjects – the expressiveness of the elderly face, the body language of individuals in states of strong emotion, and the intrigue of exotic settings and dress.

The counterpoint between his subjects is strong but not forced, because there is a real sense of innocence in Rembrandt’s characters. I think part of this quality stems from the way he explored lesser-known subjects: for instance, rather than painting many dozens of Madonnas over and over, he looked for the dramatic potential in obscure Old Testament scenes, such as Jacob’s sons returning from Egypt, or in the pages of the Apocrypha.

The Parable of the Talents – To the right is a close-up of the hired man: his face downcast, and his posture suggesting even more strongly his embarrassment and despondency.

Something remarkable about Rembrandt’s sketches is that no matter how spontaneous or cursory they appear, the faces are always given equal treatment. Even with just a few marks he makes sure that they convey the suggestion of expression that carries the symbolic weight of the narrative.

And finally, landscapes first appeared in his portfolio around 1640, done mostly from plein-air sketches. These have become fixtures of his portfolio representing the Dutch style (of course how could the mention of Rembrandt fail to conjure a vision of those iconic ink-wash windmills?)

River with Wooded Banks – one of Rembrandt’s later pieces. It illustrates how drastically his style softened over time. It is strikingly atmospheric and harks to a much later style of painting – perhaps to Turner or even the Impressionists?

The Old Masters: Rembrandt van Rijn This Day in History

I’ve been wandering through the collection of the world’s most-visited museum – the Louvre of Paris.

Well, not literally; but I have discovered its excellent and fascinating website. Spending time in it is like spending time in the Louvre itself. It is really exhaustive, as you might expect, with a slew of things to tempt the artist, the history buff, or the merely curious mind (all three of which apply to me!)

The material ranges from student-friendly to quite technical. The interactive “Workshop” gives an amusing guided tour of museum highlights fit (I think) for all ages:

The most significant attraction for me is the series of “In-Depth” studies of great paintings. On my first visit I explored the feature for Delatour’s pastel portrait of Madame de Pompadour (yes, that is a pastel!) This video, for instance, discusses the composition of the painting, the biography of both artist and subject, and the evolution of pastel technique. Like a 15-minute all-in-one art class.

There are features classed also by era or special exhibition – all very attractively presented – I will definitely be going back for more. Which brings me to the introduction of my new blog series…

As I explore the Louvre (digitally at least) I’ll post on the most interesting pages and give my best picks. It should make for some good conversation, n’cest pas?