Small Arch of Galerius

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Small Arch of Galerius, early 4th century AD, carved from a single block of marble, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki

“The Galerian Complex, the most important monumental group in Thessaloniki, was built at the turning-point of two worlds, the Roman and Byzantine. Its erection began in the late 3rd century-early 4th century AD when the Caesar Galerius Valerianus Maximianus (293-311 AD) chose Thessaloniki as the seat of the eastern part of the Roman Empire.”  The Small Arch of Galerius found in the Octagon area of the Complex, valued and cherished, is exhibited today in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. http://galeriuspalace.culture.gr/en/

One of the most important buildings within the Galerian Complex, the Octagon is a significant and luxurious structure worth exploring. It was the first important building that visitors arriving at the Palace by sea would enter and be dazzled. Facing the glorious Thermaic Golf of Thessaloniki, the Octagon is massive and opulent. All Palace buildings were meant to impress the visitor and set the tone… the Octagon area did an excellent job!

Excavation of this amazing structure started in 1950 and continued up until 1981, bringing to light all that survives today.  A splendid conservation and restoration program continued and in 2008, the archaeological site of the Palace of Galerius in Thessaloniki was awarded a EUROPA NOSTRA medal by the European Union. Today, the Galerian Complex, right in the heart of the city, is one of the most popular archaeological sites in Thessaloniki.

The Galerian Complex and the Octagon Area

… Agathoniki was on an official visit to the Court of Emperor Galerius in Thessaloniki… powerful and rich, she was treated with respect for her age and the loyal services extended to the Emperor…  She was modestly dressed but her gifts to the Emperor were valuable and exotic, coming all the way from Seres, the mythical lands of the East. She was guided to enter the Palace Complex through the grand, South Peristyle Court, its Porticos adorned with magnificent floor mosaics and a beautiful garden in the center. It was her first visit to Thessaloniki and she enjoyed every single thing she saw… she was, however, on a mission, so she briskly walked through a triple arch, a Tribelon with two columns, to enter an impressive Vestibule with two semi-circular niches on its narrow ends. She stopped for a minute to compose herself, reflect on her mission, and confidently entered the grandest room of the Palace… the domed Octagon! The room was magnificent! Its walls were covered with multicoloured marble revetments and square panels intricately worked in the opus sectile technique. The floor, featuring marble geometric motifs, created simple yet elegant chromatic oppositions… and there were four different Emblemata, right where she was standing, worthy of a great master! What a wonderful Audience Hall this is, she thought, as the entrance of the Emperor brought her to her knees…

Agathoniki, the imaginary visitor of our story, saw many more wonderful rooms and artefacts in the Palace of Galerius… My favourite artefact, still surviving today, is a small, marble Arch. Discovered at the north end of the eastern portico of the South Peristyle Court, the Small Marble Arch crowned a horseshoe-shaped niche framed by pilasters. This Arch, known by the conventional name “The Small Arch of Galerius”, is on display in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. Could this small, luxuriously adorned, niche be a Palace Temple?

This Arch, known today as “The Small Arch of Galerius”, is on display in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. According to Thessaloniki Museum experts, “The arch, a work of high artistic quality, is the product of a local workshop in Thessaloniki. The rich relief decorations occupy three sides of the arch. The main side depicts two men from the East, possibly Persians, raising two circular medallions with their hands. The right medallion depicts Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus, while the left one initially depicted his wife, Galeria Valeria. During a later intervention, after Galerius’ death, a mural crown was added to the female portrait. This alteration transformed the female bust into the depiction of a deity, most probably the “Tyche (fortune) of Thessaloniki”, who accompanied Galerius, the deified ruler of the city. Two winged Eros figures holding a garland fill the space between the medallions. Another medallion with a bust of Dionysos is located at the inner part of the arch, surrounded by vine branches. The right side of the arch depicts the hooved god Pan playing a pipe and holding a lagobolon (stick for hunting hares). The left side depicts a maenad.”    http://galeriuspalace.culture.gr/en/monuments/oktagono/    and    https://www.amth.gr/en/exhibitions/highlights

Along with my Grade 6 students, we study the history of Thessaloniki, visit the Archaeological Site of the Galerian Complex and prepare a RWAP (Research-Writing-Art-Project) that they thoroughly enjoy…

For a PowerPoint on the Galerian Complex Octagon Hall, please click HERE!

For a student RWAP on the Small Arch of Galerius, please click HERE!

For examples of Student RWAP Work, please click HERE!

Grade 6 student RWAP
RWAP stands for Research – Writing – Art – Project

Singer with a Glove…

by with No Comment 19th century ArtArtImpressionismStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Edgar Degas, 1834 – 1917
Singer with a Glove, c. 1878, pastel on canvas, 53.2 x 41 cm, Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see,” Edgar Degas once said. What do we really see in his pastel painting of a Singer with a Glove?

“What a creature he was, that Degas!” Renoir said about him, and he was right! A reluctant Impressionist, the offspring of a wealthy family with Creole ties, Edgar Degas studied in the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and then in July 1856, he travelled to Italy, where he would remain for the next three years drawing and painting numerous copies of works by the great masters of the Renaissance. However, Degas’s Italian art studies were not conventional. He learnt the secrets of each painter’s art by focusing his attention to a particular detail that had caught his attention, a secondary figure in a large composition, or a minor portrait in a master’s painting.

Edgar Degas, 1834 – 1917
Self-Portrait, 1863, oil on canvas, 925 x 665mm, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon

Upon his return to France in 1859, and for the next thirteen years, Degas kept busy exhibiting, annually, at the Salon (1865-1870) drawing attention with his historic paintings, defending Paris as an enlisted member of the National Guard, during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and travelling extensively visiting friends in France or spending a year visiting family in New Orleans (1972). In 1873 Degas was back in Paris, facing the death of his father and financial ruin due to enormous business debts amassed by his brother René. He sold his house and Art Collection to preserve his family’s reputation, and started fresh, producing much of his greatest work, joining a group of young artists who were soon to be known as the Impressionists.

Edgar Degas, 1834 – 1917
A Cotton Office in New Orleans, 1873, oil on canvas, 73 cm × 92 cm, Musée des beaux-arts de Pau, France

Degas participated in seven of the Impressionist Exhibitions (1874-1886) taking a leading role in their organization and final disbanding in 1886. Deeply conservative in his social views, Degas disliked the term “Impressionism” that was popularly attached to the group as much as he disliked and mocked painting “en plein air” like Monet and others did, writing “You know what I think of people who work out in the open. If I were the government I would have a special brigade of gendarmes to keep an eye on artists who paint landscapes from nature. Oh, I don’t mean to kill anyone; just a little dose of bird-shot now and then as a warning.”

He was very much, however, an Impressionist in painting the reality of the Parisian world around him with a strong sense of immediacy, using blazing and luminous colours, the force of light, and off-centre compositions. By the late 1860s women became Degas’s source of inspiration, and conforming to contemporary ideas, Degas painted hard-working women like milliners and laundresses, but women entertainers as well, like Ballet Dancers and Singers.

Edgar Degas, 1834 – 1917
Singer with Glove, 1878, pastel on paper marouflé on toile, 62,5 x 48 cm, Copenhague, Ordrupgaard, Danemark
Café Singer, 1879, oil on canvas, 53.5 × 41.8 cm, Art Institute of Chicago
Singer with Glove, 1878, drawing on paper, Louvre Museum
http://www.degas-catalogue.com/fiches.php?id=25

The Singer with a Glove is one such painting. Using the harsh artificial light needed to illuminate the stage of the famous Parisian Café Chantant, maybe his favourite Café des Ambassadeurs, Degas presents the singer as she holds an operatic note holding her gloved hand up to stress her effort! He uses harsh light and strong colours… shades of orange, washes of pink and green, stark black and pure white. Degas uses light and colours to dominate his composition and create… drama needed to stress new values for France’s newly established Third Republic!

Bibliography on Degas is extensive and interesting. For easy access to Internet short articles on the painting in focus, please go to https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/art/228652    and    https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1884-degas-singer-in-green/    and    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Degas#cite_note-26

For a student Activity on the painting of the Harvard Art Museums Singer with a Glove by Edgar Degas, please… click HERE!

The work of my Dear Student Kalypso I.

The Mauritshuis

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Hans Holbein the Younger (formerly attributed to)
Portrait of a Woman from Southern Germany, c. 1520 – 1525, oil on panel, 45×34 cm, The Mauritshuis in The Hague

“A visit to a museum is a search for beauty, truth, and meaning in our lives. Go to museums as often as you can” wrote Maira Kalman and she couldn’t be more right. Go to the  Mauritshuis in the Hague, stand in front of the Portrait of a Woman from Southern Germany and quietly wait for the experience to envelop you!

Back in 2006, I visited the Mauritshuis in the Hague for the first time, and I will never forget the Experience. It is the kind of Museum I particularly enjoy and love… small, intimate and colourful!    https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/

Designed as a private house for Johan Maurits of Nassau, Count (from 1664), Prince of Nassau-Siegen, Grand Master of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg) and governor of Dutch Brazil, the   Mauritshuis is palatial in both, inspiration and essence. The Prince of Nassau-Siegen hired the finest architects of the time in The Netherlands, Jacob van Campen and his assistant Pieter Post, to design and materialize his dream residence. Johan Maurits, however, was not in a harry! As governor of the Dutch Brazil and one of Holland’s preeminent military leaders, he travelled extensively, while his architects were busy building important architectural works to establish their name. So, the Mauritshuis started in 1636 and finished in 1641. The Prince lived in the house for only three years, from 1644 to 1647, after which he moved to Germany for yet another important post, to become stadtholder of Kleef.

Mauritshuis is often referred to as Sugar Palace, but this is not a reference to the light-coloured natural stones used for building its façade. Johan Maurits earned a lot of money in Brazil trading in sugar cane, and Mauritshuis was made possible thanks to cane sugar and to the efforts of enslaved men and women from Africa. Sugar Palace is just one reminder of European colonialism and exploitation! https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/discover/mauritshuis/history-of-the-building/

Today, the building Johan Maurits of Nassau commissioned is one of the finest examples of Classicist Dutch Architecture in The Netherlands and the Home of a Great Collection of Dutch Masterpieces. Mauritshuis is the home of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring or the astounding View of Delft,  Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp or his 1669 Self-Portrait, Carel Fabritius’ Goldfinch of 1654, Paulus Potter’s Bull of 1647, and The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man of 1615 by two famous Flemish masters: Rubens and Brueghel.

Hans Holbein the Younger (formerly attributed to)
Portrait of a Woman from Southern Germany, c. 1520 – 1525, oil on panel, 45×34 cm, The Mauritshuis in The Hague

Today, I would like to stand in front of a Renaissance Painting I find alluring… the Portrait of a Woman from Southern Germany of 1520-25, formerly attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger. Her face is so striking, standing out well against a rather cool, blue background… beautiful but stark, pale, yet bright, clear and strong. She wears a finely pleated collared blouse, a fur-lined jacket fastened with a red cord and a rather old-fashioned cap and veil, like those worn by townswomen in Southern Germany. Whoever painted this magnificent Portrait, the Woman from Southern Germany, young and demure, greets us with her hands clasped, her eyes modestly cast down, and a faint smile to brighten her whole face! She is grand! https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/explore/the-collection/artworks/portrait-of-a-woman-from-southern-germany-275/detailgegevens/

For a PowerPoint on more Renaissance Paintings in the Mauritshuis Museum, please… click HERE!

Virtual Trip to meet the 1st Emperor of China

by with No Comment ArtTravel
Terracotta Warrior from Qin Shihuangdi’s Tomb, 210 BC, Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, Xi’an, China

Confucius once said that… Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it! During COVID 19 Days, we meditate, seek our inner soul and find beauty in many little things around us… like taking a Virtual Trip to meet the 1st Emperor of China. Please… Stay in the comfort of your HOME! Snack on something deliciously CHINESE …and ACTION!

Today I would like to take you on a trip to a Country I visited few years back and wish to visit again… when all, will be easier once more… CHINA!

I would like you to meet Quin Shi Huang Di, the man who spent a life time uniting all of China’s kingdoms “under heaven” and his rule, becoming the 1st Emperor of China!

Quin Shi Huang Di unified the country, standardized the laws, money, weights, measures and writing. He built the Great Wall of China and even had the country named after him. He built himself an amazing tomb that is famous for the army of 6,000 terra-cotta warriors.

Explore the Museum of QIN SHI HUANG DI Terracotta Warriors and Horses with lots of valuable information and multimedia references…. https://web.archive.org/web/19990128143139/http://www.bmy.com.cn/Defaulte.htm and https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/south-east-se-asia/china-art/a/terracotta-warriors-from-the-mausoleum-of-the-first-qin-emperor-of-china …and YouTube Videos with amazing Facts and Pictures!

Movie Time in China …and more ACTION!

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – This is the famous 2000 Ang Lee adventure of a young Chinese warrior who steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man… https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190332/?ref_=ttls_li_tt

The story of the uncompromising Mulan, the story of the young Chinese maiden who disguises herself as a male warrior in order to save her father. You can see the new 2020 version of Mulan… https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4566758/

or the old Mulan animation classic… https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120762/

SNACKS …Chinese in style with Stir-Fries everybody will… love! https://www.thespruceeats.com/top-stir-fry-recipes-694945

For the original Virtual Trip to meet the 1st Emperor of China document, please… click HERE!

The Iron Crown

by with No Comment ArtByzantiumStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
The Iron Crown, dated between the IV-V and IX centuries, gold, silver, enamel and cabochons with garnets, blue corundum, amethysts, Teodolinda’s Chapel, Monza Cathedral

“…And so I left her to her prayers, and went    To gaze upon the pride of Monza’s shrine    Where in the sacristy the light still falls    Upon the Iron Crown of Italy    On whose crowned heads the day has closed, not yet    The daybreak gilds another head to crown…” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, A Last Confession

Once upon a time… there was a Bavarian princess named Teodolinda (570 – 627) whose fate was to prudently rule over Lombardy, and bequeath the people of Italy, a great treasure… the Iron Crown of Monza! She was the wife of two Lombard kings, Authari (c. 540 – 590) and Agilulf, (c. 555 – 616) and mother, and regent of king, Adaloaldo (603-629).

She is described as a beautiful and intelligent woman, a follower of the Nicene Creed (the First Council of Nicaea, 325 – adopted to resolve the Arian controversy) and a devoted friend of Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540 – 604). She is also described as a great patroness of the arts, providing Monza, the Lombard summer capital, with its Cathedral, a spectacular basilica dedicated to St. John the Baptist. A local legend describes how Queen Teodolinda while riding alongside the Lambro River in the area of Monza met with a dove which instructed her to build a church in the area…and how, dutifully, she did! Today, gazing upon the Monza Cathedral one can only think of the truth behind the legend!

Queen Teodolinda and Pope Gregory the Great are responsible for bringing to Monza some astonishing Early Christian works of art and relics. The Iron Crown is one such extraordinary relic, an item of veneration and great mastery of Early Christian goldsmithery.

The Crown consists of six golden, rectangular plates beautifully embellished with enamelwork and cabochon gems… garnets, amethysts and blue corundum. Each plate is divided into two uneven in size, parts. The right part is narrow and consists of a vertical row of three cabochon gems, one under the other. The other one is three times bigger in size and rectangular in shape. It is decorated with a central cabochon gem, four gold rosettes, and four amazing enamelled floral motifs. The combination of shining gold, opaque and translucent enamels add to the grace and beauty of the Crown, making it an alluring artefact of the Early Christian period.

The Iron Crown of Monza is one of the most venerated relics in Italy as tradition and legend ties it up with the Passion of Christ and the first Christian emperor, Constantine. According to Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan,  Saint Helena while visiting Palestine in 326, found the nails used for Christ’s martyrdom. One of these nails was inserted as an inner circle in the creation of the Iron Crown that was first worn by no other than Emperor Constantine himself! That Crown, always according to Ambrose, was brought to Milan by Emperor Theodosius, and after many interesting adventures passed to Queen Teodolinda and finally, the Cathedral of Monza. Historically, the Iron Crown was used for the Coronation of all Italian Kings since the Carolingian Period.

Ambrogio (active 1441 – 1481) and Gregorio (active 1453 al 1481) Zavattari
Teodolinda, queen of the Lombards, marries Agilulf, duke of Turin (detail), 1444, fresco, Chapel of Queen Teodolinda, Monza Cathedral

The original Monza oraculum (chapel) built on the Greek Cross plan Teodolinda commissioned back in 595, is long gone… only some walls exist today. On the exact site, however, starting from the 13th century, the Monza Cathedral was built,  a Basilica church in the Latin Cross plan with an octagonal tiburium. The famous Teodolinda chapel was built at the same time. Today, the Chapel is famous for the mid-15th century wall paintings, painted by Milanese artists from the Zavattari workshop, that recount 45 episodes from Queen Teodolinda’s life and a consecrated altar, built by Luca Beltrami in 1895-96, that holds this most important of Italy’s relics… the Iron Crown of Monza.  https://www.wmf.org/project/duomo-theodelindas-chapel

For a Student Activity, please check HERE!

Brussels Virtual Destination

by with No Comment ArtArt NouveauNewsTravel
Hôtel Hannon, In 1902 the engineer Edouard Hannon (1853 – 1931) called upon his friend, the architect Jules Brunfaut (1852 – 1942) to build this mansion, a masterpiece in the Art Nouveau style.

The Swiss painter Hans Ruedi Giger (1940 – 2014), once said that… I like elegance. I like art nouveau; a stretched line or curve… During our COVID 19 Days, we need the elegance of Art Nouveau Art… and stretched, curved lines to feel comfortable and cosy! The Belgian capital city Brussels is so much Art Nouveau in spirit! It’s an ideal travel destination for our 1st May Weekend! Stay in the comfort of your HOME! Snack on something deliciously BELGIAN! …and ACTION! in a Brussels Virtual Destination Tour!

The city of Brussels, capital of Belgium, is located in the heart of Europe, and serves as the de facto capital of the European Union, as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions. Do you know that the most common theory of the origin of the name Brussels is that it derives from the Old Dutch Bruocsella, Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning “home in the marsh”?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art short but a wonderful article that follows is an introduction to the Art Nouveau style in the arts…  https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/artn/hd_artn.htm

The spectacular glass cupola of Victor Horta’s Van Eetvelde House, 1895

…while the following article and the YouTube Videos introduce us to the Art Nouveau capital city of Europe… Brussels! https://theculturetrip.com/europe/belgium/articles/the-most-remarkable-art-nouveau-houses-in-brussels/

Movie Time in BRUSSELS …and ACTION!

King of the Belgians is a 2016 mockumentary comedy film produced, written and directed by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth. While Nicolas III, King of the Belgians, is making an official visit to Istanbul, Wallonia declares its independence and so Belgium doesn’t exist any more… The hard trip back home becomes not only a desperate (and comical) travel across the Balkans but also an inner trip where Nicolas III tries to understand who he really is. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4818804/

Tintin and the Lake of Sharks is a 1972 French-Belgian animated adventure film based on The Adventures of Tintin, directed by Raymond Leblanc. It was not written by Hergé, but by the Belgian comics creator Greg (Michel Regnier), a friend of Hergé. It was later adapted into a comic book with still images from the film used as illustrations. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069383/

FOOD Brussels style

Belgian chocolate is supposedly the best in the world! For almost 400 years, Belgium has been producing delicious chocolate. The unique combination of the finest ingredients, exclusive production methods and stringent quality controls make Belgian chocolates a favourite worldwide. Today, Belgium counts approximately 2000 chocolate shops. Among them is the popular Brussels shop of a Chocolatier from Thessaloniki, Mina Apostolidis. http://www.minachocolate.com/moms-are-special/?fbclid=IwAR1wq0puPyd6l8TtINEsXOLJysgtvdnbfm8iGW6ynuB6OwovTMH5FW-mR6M

For the original Spring Break Virtual Destination document, please… click HERE!

The Month of May

by with No Comment ArtPowerpointsRenaissanceTravel
The Month of May, latest 1407, possibly by Maestro Venceslao, Fresco, Torre Aquila, Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento, Italy

“Fresh new rose Delighting Spring,    By field and stream,    Singing gaily,    I declare your rarity    – to the flowers.” by Guido Cavalcanti (between 1250 and 1259 – August 1300), the Italian poet, troubadour, and best friend of Dante Alighieri. https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Italian/Italianpoetry.php

The Month of May fresco comes from the Torre Aquila in the Castello del Buonconsiglio, in Trento, Italy. It is part of an amazing fresco Cycle of the Twelve Months painted on the walls of the tower’s 2nd-floor main room. It was commissioned by Prince-Bishop George of Liechtenstein, who wanted to show life and prosperity in his “well-governed” territories. The painter of these remarkable frescoes, Master Wenceslas, understanding well what he was commissioned to do, created the best 15th-century advertising brochure for the Alpine city of Trento. The Month of May presents a bright spring scene, crowded with well-dressed aristocrats who, in the lush local countryside, serenely enjoy the splendours of their privileged life. 

Master Wenceslas, a Bohemian painter active in Trento since 1397, creates an amazing May scene, full of natural beauty… the sun triumphs, nature is in full bloom, and roses are present wherever you see! This is the time for Trento peasants to rest after a busy April, preparing and sowing the fields, repairing or rebuilding the fences of the vegetable gardens.  Their duties accomplished by April 23, the feast of San Giorgio, as the custom dictates, they are out of the “picture.” The Month of May scene is dedicated to the local ladies and gentlemen and their idle aristocratic activities.

Master Wenceslas paints a striking May scene introducing themes and focusing on details. A city on the upper left side of the panel, surrounded by bright red walls sets the tone… bright, elaborate, almost otherworldly. The white Gothic church within its Walls balances the effect and stands out, introducing one of the four main colours present in the composition, white, red, green and blue. Next to the walled city but connected with it through a bridge, two aristocratic couples are about to eat al fresco, as a circular white-clothed table displays an abundance of delicacies. What an amazing and luxurious “picnic” setting this is… rugged mountains, a deep dark green forest, and a well-constructed fountain of spring water! They sit comfortably and talk amicably around the table, dressed in their brightest and finest, while one of the ladies is about to fetch water from the spring. Is this vignette a reference to the Fountain of Youth, which, according to legend, could renew beauty and youth for eternity?

The lower part of the composition is entirely devoted to the pleasures and amusements of courtly society. In a lush meadow filled with roses and wildflowers, gracious gentlemen and beautiful ladies gather, mostly in pairs, to celebrate spring and the month of love! A young man kneels, in an act of homage, in front of his lady, another bends his forehead to be crowned with a wreath of flowers, and couples talk intimately or hold hands, lovingly. They wear their finest multicoloured garments, jewelled crowns or wreaths of flowers. Men wear tight-fitting jackets with coloured socks, or large cloaks with frayed edges, women are dressed in tight-fitting overcoats. The most fashion-conscious wear the long-toed shoes that are furious in France. The Trento scene of May is cheerful, sunny, elegant and optimistic! http://italianocontesti.ru/il-calendario-medievale-torre-aquila-a-trento-maggio/ and https://www.discovertrento.it/en/citta-di-trento/eventi/dettaglio/-/dettaglio/Torre+Aquila-Buonconsiglio+Castle/569149#.Xqui86gzZPZ

For a PowerPoint, please… check HERE!

Theodoros Ralli

by with No Comment 19th century ArtArtGreek ArtOrientalismStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Theodoros Ralli, 1852-1909
Veiled Woman, 1889, oil on vellum, diameter 22 cm, ALPHA Bank Collection

“Art is ANYTHING you can get away with” Andy Warhol once said… How true is he when we consider the artistic oeuvre of Theodoros Ralli and his amazing Orientalism! A wealthy Greek ex-patriate artist, living between the West, mostly in Paris, and the East, Cairo during the cold month of winter, Theodoros Ralli is a true cosmopolitan of the late 19th century Gilded Age.

“A perfect Parisian type, wearing a beret à la Hermonville and a light brown vest with gold trim buttoned to the neck, still very youthful and of an open, jovial character, Mr. Ralli is a delightful conversationalist and very gallant.”

Not just so… Theodoros Ralli, born in Constantinople, at the crossroads of East and West, the mythical capital of the Byzantine Empire and the alluring EAST, was destined to become the most representative of the Greek, Orientalist painters. He was “the offspring of a wealthy family from the island of Chios, active in commerce in England and around the world.” Theodoros Ralli had no financial problems to pursue, unobstructed, his passion for the Arts. The photographs of his Parisian Studio that still survive today preserve his appearance and way of living. Documents of the period present him as a personality, and discuss “his courtesy, gentility, humour, patience, tenacity, smoking habit, love of Wagnerian opera, a weakness for watercolourists, aversion to long-term relationships, industriousness and his love for the fair sex, in Parisian Studios he had the nickname of Don Juan.”  All documents “reinforce the picture of a man who despite his genteel and fragile appearance, disposed of enormous psychic reserves, had an iron will and the perseverance to become what he had dreamed of becoming: a painter.”

The Artist’s Studio in Paris

Theodoros Ralli studied painting under the academic teacher and Orientalist painter Jean-Leon Gerome until approximately 1880, sharing his teacher’s aversion towards Impressionism and the avant-garde movements of the later 19th century. He exhibited, uninterruptedly, in the official French Salons, the World Exhibitions of Paris, as well as many other exhibitions both inside and outside France, winning medals and establishing international recognition. He travelled extensively to Greece and many Middle Eastern countries, drawing inspiration for his paintings. He kept two Studios, one in Paris and another in Cairo, where he kept warm and stimulated during wintertime.

Theodoros Ralli, 1852-1909
Veiled Woman, 1889, oil on vellum, diameter 22 cm, ALPHA Bank Collection

Orientalism in later 19th century Art is a tantalizing, multi-faceted, genre much loved by Europeans of the time. We can trace it back to the merchants of the Silk Road, the few adventurous Northern European travellers of the “Grand Tour,” or the Venetian Renaissance fiestas painted by Veronese, the Dutch Curiosity Cabinets, Rococo eroticism or to the many Odalisques that inspired both Ingres and Delacroix. Then we have to consider Napoleon, his Egyptian Campaign of 1798-1801, and the gradual European desire for… political involvement and colonialism. Whatever the cause of European curiosity and pathos for the East, it lingered for a long time, inspiring and creating great works of art. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/euor/hd_euor.htm    and    https://www.artuk.org/discover/stories/inspired-by-the-east-thoughts-about-orientalism

For a Student Activity on Orientalism inspired by Theodoros Ralli, please… Click HERE!

Written both in Greek and English, this is a valuable source of information for the Artist: Theodoros Ralli, Looking East – The catalogue was first published on the occasion of the exhibition “Theodoros Ralli. Looking East” Benaki Museum, Museum of Islamic Art, 11th December 2014 – 22nd February 2015 https://www.benaki.org/images/publications/pdf/rallis.pdf

For Browsing through a collection of paintings by Theodoros Ralli, go to https://paletaart.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/%CF%81%CE%AC%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%B8%CE%B5%CF%8C%CE%B4%CF%89%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%82-rallis-theodoros-1852-1909/

New York Virtual Destination

by with No Comment ArtNewsTravel
Childe Hassam, 1859-1935
Manhattan’s Misty Sunset, 1911, Oil on canvas, 45.72 x 81.28 cm, Butler Institute of Art

Socrates once said that… The secret of happiness is not found in seeking more, but in developing the ability to enjoy less… During our COVID 19 Days, seeking happiness needs nurturing… and Art can be of great assistance… for a New York Virtual Destination!

Our travel destination this upcoming weekend is in New York… and we can do it Virtually! Stay in the comfort of your HOME! Snack on something deliciously AMERICAN! …and ACTION!

Let’s start our TOUR with no other than Frank Sinatra and his famous New York, New York!!!

As an introduction to the great city of New York, the following Documentaries are of great help! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEHSPA0MI50 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWhSpFXhcos

As we experience this most challenging and uncertain time, The Metropolitan Museum of New York contributes to the effort to make this pandemic as pleasurable as possible… https://www.metmuseum.org/

The MET connects people to creativity, knowledge, and ideas… bringing people together… with GREAT ART… and The Met 360° Project https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/met-360-project …for our KIDS and TEENS! https://www.metmuseum.org/learn/kids-and-families https://www.metmuseum.org/learn/teens

Movie Time in NEW YORK …and more ACTION!

West Side Story, is the 1961 musical tribute to New York, the historic city of immigrants.  Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ Romeo and Juliet reboot West Side Story – based on the 1957 musical – shows the depth of the cultural divides between the Sharks and Jets, NY street gangs. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055614/

The Age of Innocence, Martin Scorsese’s 1993 sumptuous adaptation of Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer-winning 1920 novel, is a period-perfect evocation of the late 19th-century Gilded Age in New York City. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106226/

Ghostbusters is the 1984 hip comedy in which Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis play parapsychologists who save New York City from a ghost infestation with a 100-foot marshmallow man. Among the New York institutions captured by Ghostbusters were Columbia University, the New York Public Library, Columbus Circle, and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087332/

FOOD New York style

Egg Benedict – This epic dish has defined brunch for many decades, an agglomeration of poached ova and Canadian bacon on an English muffin splooged with a very French hollandaise sauce. It was the creation of the legendary Chef Oscar at the Waldorf Hotel in the 1890s… https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/eggs_benedict/

New York… style Cheesecake – This New York cheesecake recipe has it all. It’s rich, dense, slightly tangy, and so creamy. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/original-new-york-cheesecake-51200640

For the original Spring Break Virtual Destination document, please… click HERE!

The Philadelphia Crucifixion

by with No Comment ArtMuseumsRenaissanceStudent Activities
Rogier van der Weyden, 1399 or 1400 – 1464
Crucifixion Diptych, c. 1460, oil on oak panels. Left panel: 180.3 × 93.8 cm – Right panel: 180.3 × 92.6 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” the first thing that comes to my mind when I see Rogier van der Weyden’s Philadelphia Crucifixion!

Spiritual, innovative, intense, unique, sophisticated… here are some adjectives I can use to describe this very special Diptych, the great master of Northern Renaissance, Rogier van der Weyden, created back in 1460. Painted with vibrant colours, warm and engaging in some parts, but equally cool and standing apart, in others, Rogier’s colours create an atmosphere of poise, composure and utter sorrow. The two panels are quite distinct, as the right one, heavenly and unearthly, is dedicated to Christ’s greatest moment of Sacrifice, and the left, depicting Saint John the Evangelist supporting a devastated Mary, grounds us to human reality. Yet, the two panels unite through homogeneity in the background, and Mary’s tunic that trails from left to right, creating together, a unique composition.

Not only so… as the Philadelphia Crucifixion, his finest, in my humble opinion, masterpiece, proves Rogier to be the master conductor of a symphony in lines, shapes and glorious colours.

Just observe how masterfully he uses straight, vertical and curved lines… Bold straight lines mark the cornice of the background wall and highlight the face of Christ. The vertical lines of the cross and Christ’s body enhance the necessary need for monumentality and stability, while the outstretched and crossed hands add to Christ’s Pathos. Curved lines observe the postures of both figures on the left panel, John and Mary, adding emotional warmth and humanity. Finally, an imaginary diagonal line, pulls us towards the lower part of the right, Crucifixion panel, emphasizing the meaning of Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross with the depiction of “Adam’s” Skull on the hill of Golgotha.

Equally important to consider are the shapes Rogier incorporates in his composition and the colours of his palette. The highlight, similarly important in both panels, is undoubtedly the use of two vivid red rectangular pieces of cloth hanging over the background wall, creating the ideal setting for the three protagonists of this amazing Crucifixion. While the hanging cloth is painted a vivid red, the garments the three figures in the composition wear, bathed in stark light, are the palest, crispiest tints the artist could use.

The meaning of this composition is complex. The way these amazing panels were used is equally perplexing… The following Bibliography might help…

Mark S. Tucker, from the Philadelphia Museum of Art: Handbook. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2014, pp. 98–99. http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/102845.html    and    https://www.facebook.com/rvdweyden/posts/crucifixion-diptych-the-crucifixion-with-the-virgin-and-saint-john-the-evangelis/10162026910315231/

Dr. Christopher D.M. Atkins and Dr. Beth Harris, “Rogier van der Weyden, The Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist Mourning,” in Smarthistory, June 20, 2018, accessed April 15, 2020… https://smarthistory.org/rogier-van-der-weyden-the-crucifixion-with-the-virgin-and-saint-john-the-evangelist-mourning/

The Wikipedia site on Rogier’s PhiladelphiaCrucifixion is interesting and rich… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_Diptych_(van_der_Weyden)

For a Student Activity on the discussed Diptych, please… click HERE!