© 2021 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Here’s a nice love story for Valentine’s Day – it comes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a poem written in the 8th century in Rome that is based on a story from Greek mythology. Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with his statue … Continue reading
Jan Pogorzelski, Hanukkah Converter Lamp, 1893, Silver, 26¾” x 18” x 8¼”, Jewish Museum, New York, Photo courtesy of the Jewish Museum
The converter lamp became popular in Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland in the middle of the 19th century. These upper portions of menorah lamps could be inserted into candlesticks that people already owned. The firm of Jan Pogorzelski in Warsaw … Continue reading
James McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and Black, 1871, oil on canvas, 56.8” x 63.9”, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Artwork in the Public Domain, Photo from Wikipedia.
This old gal still holds a fascination for viewers 145 years after James McNeill Whistler painted her. The American expatriate artist gave the painting the title, Arrangement in Grey and Black because his primary interest was to create a balanced … Continue reading
Charles-François Daubigny, Spring, 1862, oil on panel, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, artwork in the Public Domain.
The Barbizon School is a group of French painters who lived in the village of Barbizon near the Forest of Fontainebleau and worked roughly from 1830-70. A precursor to Realism, these artists’ subjects were taken from the French countryside, often … Continue reading
Shiviti Amulet; Taddana, Morocco; 19th Century, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, Berkley, CA, Photo via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License
A shiviti is a representation of a candlestick that is used for the meditation of God’s name in the Jewish religion. A shiviti displays the name of God above the Temple seven-branch candelabrum. Shiviti is the first word in the Hebrew … Continue reading
Gustave Courbet, Self-Portrait with Pipe, 1848-9, oil on canvas, 45 x 37 cm, Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France, Photo in Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Gustave Courbet French Realist Painter Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was born on June 10, 1819 to Régis and Sylvie Oudot Courbet in Ornans, France. The charismatic leader of the Realist Movement rejected the artificiality of Neoclassical art and the prevailing Romantic style, preferring … Continue reading
Paul Gauguin, Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?), 1892, oil on canvas, 40” x 30”, Qatar Museums, Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Last week, artnews reported that Qatar purchased Paul Gauguin’s painting, Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?), for a rumored $300 million in a private sale. This is the highest price ever paid for a work of art. Since its … Continue reading
Francisco Goya, Charles IV of Spain and His Family, 1800, oil on canvas, 9’17” x 11’, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
King Charles IV did not reject Francisco Goya’s less than flattering group portrait, Charles IV of Spain and His Family, but we know he didn’t like it much. This is not a surprise. One easily could argue that Goya made … Continue reading
Berthe Morisot, Hollyhock, oil on canvas, 1880, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Berthe Morisot French Impressionist Painter Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot, born on January 14th, 1841 in Bourges, was one of only three women who were members of the French Impressionist group of artists in Paris. Daughter of Edme Tiburce Morisot, a high-level government official, and … Continue reading
Asher Brown Durand, Kindred Spirits, 1849, 46.1” x 36.2”, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
This iconic painting by Asher B. Durand depicts the artist’s mentor and close friend, Thomas Cole, the leader of the Hudson River School, in conversation with the poet William Cullen Bryant. The pair stands at a distance from Kaaterskill Falls … Continue reading
Julia Margaret Cameron, The Angel at the Tomb, 1869-70, Royal Photographic Society, Bath, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
British photographer Julia Margaret Pattle was born on June 11th, 1815 in Calcutta, India to Adeline de l’Etang, a French aristocrat, and James Pattle, a British official of the East India Company. In 1838, in Calcutta, she married Charles Hay … Continue reading
Maurice Denis, Easter Mystery, 1891, oil on canvas, 41
“Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a nude, an anecdote or whatnot, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order.” Maurice Denis, founder of Les Nabis Happy Easter from The Art Minute