John Singleton Copley’s Portrait of Paul Revere

by 18th century ArtAmerican ArtArtSocial StudiesStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
John Singleton Copley, 1738 – 1815
Portrait of Paul Revere, 1768, oil on canvas, 89.22 x 72.39 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA, USA https://collections.mfa.org/objects/32401  

Listen, my children, and you shall hear /  Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, / On the eighteenth of April in Seventy-Five; / Hardly a man is now alive / Who remembers that famous day and year. / He said to his friend, –“If the British march / By land or sea from the town to-night, / Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch / Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light— / One if by land and two if by sea; / And I on the opposite shore will be, / Ready to ride and spread the alarm / Through every Middlesex village and farm, / For the country-folk to be up and to arm…     /     So through the night rode Paul Revere; / And so through the night went his cry of alarm / To every Middlesex village and farm,— / A cry of defiance, and not of fear, / A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, / And a word that shall echo forevermore! / For, borne on the night-wind of the Past, / Through all our history, to the last, / In the hour of darkness and peril and need, / The people will waken and listen to hear / The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed, / And the midnight message of Paul Revere. Thus, begins and ends Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem “Paul Revere’s Ride.” On the 4th of July 2022, I want to remember and honour the man, the brave Massachusetts Minuteman, and the talented silversmith… by looking at John Singleton Copley’s Portrait of Paul Revere! https://poets.org/poem/paul-reveres-ride

By 1867 Paul Revere was a member of the Massachusetts Minutemen, a group of patriots ready to act against the British army at a moment’s notice, had joined the Sons of Liberty group and was an active political figure. He was also famous for his considerable talents as a silversmith. Today his fame springs from Longfellow’s poem “Paul Revere’s Ride.”, a work that was first published in the January 1861 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, his remarkable portrait of 1768 by John Singleton Copley, and a select group of silverware like the “Sons of Liberty Bowl,” commissioned by 15 members of the Sons of Liberty in 1768, and made by the artist.

John Singleton Copley, 1738 – 1815
Portrait of Paul Revere (details), 1768, oil on canvas, 89.22 x 72.39 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA, USA https://smarthistory.org/john-singleton-copley-paul-revere/

It is interesting how John Singleton Coplay portrayed Paul Revere in his traditional job as a silversmith, and not as the important revolutionary figure he was. He stands behind his highly polished table, holding a silver tea-pot, tools of his trade in front of him, modestly dressed… showing an industrious and humble character. It is no surprise that Revere was portrayed this way, for the revolutionary Americans, especially those of the north, were very proud of their industrial nature. https://gschmittleinushistory.weebly.com/mfa-project.html

Copley’s portrait of Paul Revere is, according to Dr. Bryant Zygmont, striking in many ways. The way he is dressed is one of them… Revere, shown by Copley in half-length, wigless, holding his chin with his right hand and regarding the viewer as if he has just looked up, is not portrayed wearing his “Sunday’s Best” clothing, as was the custom of the time. Revere wears, for example, no Jacket or Coat, as every Colonial American man would have worn if they could afford to do so. Instead, he wears simple working attire, a decision that underscores his artisan, middle-class status. Details not to be missed are… the open-collared shirt, made from plain white linen, the lack of cravat, a kind of formal neckwear, the open undershirt peeking from underneath his linen shirt, and a wool (or perhaps a dull silk) waistcoat, unbuttoned as well, yet featuring two gold buttons. https://smarthistory.org/john-singleton-copley-paul-revere/

There are more details to notice. Revere’s, for example, open white shirt and the blue-green waistcoat is worn without a jacket are associated with work clothes. Yet, the cleanliness of his attire, the golden buttons of his vest, the nearly completed silver tea-pot in his left hand, and the polished, pristine table in front of him, do not reflect the garments Revere actually wore to ply his trade, nor the craftsman’s workbench. Is John Singleton Copley’s Portrait of Paul Revere an idealized image of the American artisan at work? One can only wonder! https://collections.mfa.org/objects/32401

Happy 4th of July

Information for my short presentation was sourced in https://smarthistory.org/john-singleton-copley-paul-revere/ and https://collections.mfa.org/objects/32401

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

For a Student Activity on Copley’s Portrait of Paul Revere, Check the Teachers Resource Book of Picturing America by the National Endowment for the Humanities, pp. 10-11 https://web-archive-2017.ait.org.tw/zhtw/PUBS/PicturingAm/PA_TeachersResource_Book_en.pdf

Photo of the 2019 Exhibition Becoming a Painter in 18th-Century Boston: Copley and Others. Copley’s Portrait of Paul Revere and the “Sons of Liberty Bowl,” created by Paul Revere Jr. and commissioned by 15 members of the Sons of Liberty in 1768.
https://www.mfa.org/programs/gallery-activities-and-tours/becoming-a-painter-in-18th-century-boston-copley-and-others

Simon Bening’s July

by 16th century ArtArtFlemish ArtManuscriptsNorthern RenaissancePowerpointsRenaissanceStudent Activities
Simon Bening (d. 1561) and his workshop
Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, July (f. 24v),c. 1540, 30 Parchment leaves on paper mounts, bound into a codex, 110 x 80 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm), British Library, London, UK
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/10/

Simon Bening’s July page presents, in painting, the ancient sport of falconry clearly, with elegance and poise… Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), with his poem Falconry, wonders, and questions…  A prince survives by unseen acts. / At night the chief advisor knocked / at Frederick’s workroom in the tower / and found him formulating facts / for treatises on wingèd power / while his penman turned out text.     /     It was in this aerie room / he’d walked all night with her on arm, / turbulent and barely fledged. / Whatever plans then sprang to mind, / whatever fondness deeply chimed / in recollection he would trash / and tend the frightened and impassioned / thing he wished to understand. / Every night he made a time / for nothing but the young unhandled / animal. It was her staring / inborn mind he’d worked to learn,     /     so he was lofted with her grace / when she, the bird that nobles praise, / thrown gleaming from his hand (her wingbeats raised / into the heartfelt morning air) / and diving like an angel struck the hern… https://allpoetry.com/Falconry

The Book of Golf pages dedicated to the summer month of July present interesting events in the life of the Flemish Renaissance aristocracy and farming class.  The main full-page miniature painting (f. 24v) is dedicated to a popular aristocratic sport, that of hunting with falcons. The miniature, on the other hand, of folio 25recto given to July, is dedicated to farm work, particularly the transportation of hay with a cart. Interestingly, the background painting of folio 24verso is also reserved for farm work. It shows haymakers mowing a lush, green field. http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_24098

Simon Bening (d. 1561) and his workshop
Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, July (Details, f. 24v and f. 25r), c. 1540, 30 Parchment leaves on paper mounts, bound into a codex, 110 x 80 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm), British Library, London, UK
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_24098_fs001r
Simon Bening (d. 1561) and his workshop
Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, July (Details, f. 24v), c. 1540, 30 Parchment leaves on paper mounts, bound into a codex, 110 x 80 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm), British Library, London, UK
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_24098_fs001r

A nobleman on horseback is the main character in folio 24v of Bening’s Book of Golf. He is depicted with all the characteristics of a Flemish aristocrat. He wears a blue tunic with a square neckline, a high-necked, buttoned shirt underneath, and a noticeable gold chain around his neck. A feathered grey hat stylishly adorns his auburn features. A glove covers his right hand, and a falcon, possibly a peregrine falcon, is perched on the (metal glove) on his left hand. Finally, the aristocrat in Bening’s July page wears full-length hose and ankle boots. He is portrayed mounted on an equally imposing dark-grey stallion practicing falconry, the favourite pastime of the aristocracy.  All signs of nobility are present… elegant, and expensive attire, a beautiful horse, and the sport of falconry… here are the status symbols of high social, moral, and financial standing. If this is not enough… the pictured aristocrat is accompanied by two servants carrying falcon’s perches (tall staffs covered in soft fabric for birds to rest upon and for beating bushes and trees to make prey take flight) and also a hooded peregrine falcon and goshawk. https://www.moleiro.com/en/books-of-hours/the-golf-book-book-of-hours/miniatura/5034926fa3d32

I live my life in widening circles / that reach out across the world. / I may not complete this last one / but I give myself to it.     /     I circle around God, around the primordial tower. / I’ve been circling for thousands of years / and I still don’t know: am I a falcon, / a storm, or a great song? Wonders Rainer Maria Rilke once more… https://onbeing.org/poetry/widening-circles/

For a PowerPoint on the  Golf Book, please… Check HERE!

For a Student Activity on Simon Bening’s July page, please… Check HERE!

Simon Bening (d. 1561) and his workshop
Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, July (f. 24v and 25r),c. 1540, 30 Parchment leaves on paper mounts, bound into a codex, 110 x 80 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm), British Library, London, UK
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/10/

Villa Pisanella in Boscoreale

by Ancient Roman VillasArtPowerpointsRoman Art
Villa Pisanella, 40-20 BC, Fragment of a Fresco wall decoration from the upper floor of the Villa, featuring a Woman on a black background presenting fruits, Boscoreale Antiquarium, Italy https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Women_villa_della_Pisanella_Pompeii_Museum_Boscoreale.jpg

Boscoreale, write the Metropolitan Museum experts, an area about a mile north of Pompeii, was notable in antiquity for having numerous aristocratic country villas. This tradition endured into the time of the Bourbon kings, as is attested by the region’s name, the “Royal Forest,” which implies that Boscoreale was a hunting preserve. Some of the most important Roman “treasures” surviving from antiquity come from Roman Villas at Boscoreale built shortly after the middle of the first century BC. Villa Pisanella in Boscoreale was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, but in 1868 excavations by Modestino Pulzella brought it back to a “second” life. During the 1895 excavation period, archaeologists came across a large quantity of gold coins, a few pieces of jewellery and an exceptional collection of silverware afterwards presented to the Louvre by Count Edmond de Rothschild. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cubi/hd_cubi.htm and https://sites.google.com/site/ad79eruption/boscoreale/villa-pisanella

Villa Pisanella (old photo), looking North across Area A, the courtyard/peristyle and cella vinaria.
https://www.pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/VF/Villa_013%20Boscoreale%20Villa%20della%20Pisanella%20p1.htm

Villa Pisanella has been the subject of excavations, or rather of explorations, which date back to the last century, and were essentially aimed at the recovery of “treasures,” now dispersed in various museums, and at the preparation of building archaeological plans. During the 1894 and 1903 seasons, the famous Boscoreale Treasure of gold coins, jewellery, and silver tableware was unearthed, along with many bronze furnishings, household utensils, and parts of the Villa’s unpretentious fresco decoration in the Fourth Pompeian Style. All finds are now dispersed among the Louvre, where the gold and silver artefacts are housed, Berlin, the Field Museum in Chicago, and the Boscoreale Antiquarium in Italy. On completion of the 1894-1903 “excavations,” the villa was reburied. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=boscoreale

Plan and Model of the reconstruction of the Villa “alla Pisanella” before the volcanic eruption of 79 AD https://sites.google.com/site/ad79eruption/boscoreale/villa-pisanella

The Villa’s archaeological ground plan shows a modest “Villa Rustica.” It was the headquarters of a farming estate producing olive oil, grain, and enough wine to have two presses and 84 dolia (round fermentation vessels) in its court for fermentation. The owners lived in an apartment arranged in the Villa’s upper story. On the ground floor, archaeologists discovered a single big triclinium, a bath complex, a large kitchen, and the necessary rooms/areas for the management of the farm. http://www.deprisco.it/villapisanella/pisanella.htm

The most important Rooms/Areas in Villa Pisanella are: 1. The letter marks the Entrance of the Villa near the middle of the southwest side as shown in the plan. 2. The letter b marks the Inner Court, wide enough for carts and wagons. 3. Room d is the Villa’s large Kitchen with an open hearth almost in the center of the room, on which the remains of a fire were found, and Room k is the Bakery with a single mill and an oven. 4. Rooms e, f, and g indicate the Bath House of Villa Pisanella beautifully adorned with black and white, simple but elegant, floor mosaics. In the narrow area between Room g and Room i, opening to the Kitchen, archaeologists discovered the Villa’s Boiler Room with a lead-heated water reservoir standing on a masonry foundation. 5. Room i, is the Villa’s main Tool Room. 6. Room J marks the Villa’s only ground-floor Triclinium in which the remains of couches with luxurious bronze trimmings were discovered. 7. The long Room l on the northeast side of the court was the Torcularium where grapes were pressed to produce wine. At each end was a large press with a raised floor. 8. Room r and Room s were dedicated to the making of olive oil containing a small oil press in Room r and an olive crusher in Room s. 9. Area m is the Cella Vinaria, the area where 84 Dolia (round fermentation vessels) were discovered sunk in the ground. Local wine was stored in the Villa’s Dolia to ferment. According to Pliny’s ‘Natural History’ in Campania the best wine underwent fermentation in the open air, exposed to sun, wind, and rain.10. Area o is the Threshing Floor of Villa Pisanella. 11. Rooms marked c, are the Villa’s Cubicula (bedrooms). https://sites.google.com/site/ad79eruption/boscoreale/villa-pisanella

Boscoreale Treasure, 50 BC-50 AD, silver, Louvre Museum, Paris, France
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tr%C3%A9sor_de_Boscoreale_%E2%80%93_Mus%C3%A9e_du_Louvre_%E2%80%93_Q178624_%E2%80%93_a.jpg

In 1895, while excavating Room l, the Villa’s Torcularium for wine, archaeologists discovered a Hoard consisting of a large quantity of aurei coins (aureus is a Roman gold coin valued at 25 pure silver denarii), a few pieces of valuable jewelry, and an exceptional collection of silverware. After the Hoard’s amazing discovery, Vincenzo de Prisco, the owner of the property where Villa Pisanella was discovered, travelled to Paris where he sold the Boscoreale Treasure, as the Villa’s Hoard was named, to Museums and wealthy collectors. Part of the treasure, 109 pieces of silverware and jewelry, was bought by Baron Rothschild, who donated it to the Louvre Museum. A POST dedicated to the Boscoreale Treasure will be the subject on another BLOG presentation.

For a PowerPoint on Villa Pisanella, please… Check HERE!

Summer by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

by 16th century ArtArtMannerismPowerpoints
Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1527-1593
The Four Seasons – Summer, 1563, oil on panel, 670×508 mm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giuseppe_Arcimboldo_-_Summer_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Beneath the blazing sun’s relentless heat / men and flocks are sweltering, / pines are scorched. / We hear the cuckoo’s voice; then sweet songs of the turtle dove and finch are heard. / Soft breezes stir the air….but threatening north wind sweeps them suddenly aside. The shepherd trembles, fearful of violent storm and what may lie ahead.     /     His limbs are now awakened from their repose by fear of lightning’s flash and thunder’s roar, as gnats and flies buzz furiously around.     /     Alas, his worst fears were justified, as the heavens roar and great hailstones beat down upon the proudly standing corn. This is Antonio Lucio Vivaldi’s (1678 – 1741) Sonnet of L’Estate (Summer). The great composer wrote it as a descriptive accompaniment, experts believe, for the music of his “Four Seasons.” Today the first day of Summer, I took the time to listen, read and look at Summer by Giuseppe Arcimboldo! It was a magical time! https://www.charlottesymphony.org/blog/vivaldis-four-seasons-poems/

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was a very popular artist among royalty and wealthy patrons of 16th-century Europe. He became the official artist and Master of Festivals for three successive German Emperors. He was also in charge of creating costumes, stage settings, chariots, creative waterworks, and other diversions for courtly events and ceremonies. Last but not least, he directed the acquisitions for the royal cabinet of curiosities, which included art, antiques, curios, oddities of nature, and exotic animals and birds. https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/edu/object/summer 

Four hundred years later, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, is considered the great master of Renaissance allegorical painting. He is celebrated for using flowers, fruits, and vegetables, associated with the Seasons of the year, to create paintings of whimsical “composite heads,” and thus, he acquired international fame and fortune! For Emperor Maximilian II, for example, he painted in 1563, his signature Portraits of the 4 Seasons, exhibited today in Vienna, Paris, and Madrid. The 1563 set of four “composite” Portraits of the Seasons became so popular, that the artist replicated them multiple times over the course of his life. The originals, gifted to Maximilian II, were the plainest and most unadorned of all sets he later created.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1527-1593
The Four Seasons – Summer (detail), 1563, oil on panel, 670×508 mm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
https://dyscover24x7.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/1seaso21.jpg

Archiboldo’s 1563 Portrait of Summer is the perfect example to celebrate the beginning of the Summer season. Interestingly, it is on “Summer” that Arcimboldo chooses to sign his name for the series, carefully woven into her gown. Hidden in the dress’s collar is “Giuseppe Arcimboldi • F,” where the F stands for “Fecit” meaning “he has done it,” and in the sleeve of the gown is the date of completion “1563.” The date in the original Portraits of the 4 Seasons is very important to help scholars date the artist’s subsequent copies, and discern changes in the composition. http://omeka.wustl.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/arcimboldo-s-gift–the-fantast/fourseasons/summer

Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1527-1593
The Four Seasons – Summer (detail of signature), 1563, oil on panel, 670×508 mm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giuseppe_Arcimboldo_-_Summer_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1527-1593
The Four Seasons – Summer, 1563, oil on panel, 670×508 mm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giuseppe_Arcimboldo_-_Summer_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg The Four Seasons – Spring, 1563, oil on canvas, 76×63.5 cm, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giuseppe_Arcimboldo_-_La_Primavera_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

A comparison between Arcimboldo’s Portraits of Spring and Summer is helpful and revealing. Spring is presented as a youthful, flowery, “fresh” girl, while Summer, is a young woman, mature and fertile. The Portrait of Spring is composed entirely of flowers and bright green leaves. The Portrait of Summer is a lush arrangement of heavy, ripe fruit and vegetables, bountiful, unblemished, but matured. Arcimboldo uses a large peach for the cheeks, quince, garlic, young white onions, yellow beets, and white eggplant. The mouth and lips are formed of cherries and the open peapod within imitates a row of teeth. The nose is a young wild cucumber, and the chin is a pear, the eye shines as a glassy sour cherry between two small pears… What an arrangement! My favorite part is what Lady-Summer wears… a hat made of fruit and vegetables bedded in greenery, from which emerge oat spikes resembling a hat feather, a magnificent, sur mesure, woven straw jacket, and a single artichoke presented as a special, luxurious piece of jewelry! What an opulent vision the Portrait of Summer is!   https://www.teachercurator.com/art/spring-by-giuseppe-arcimboldo/ and https://www.wga.hu/html_m/a/arcimbol/3allegor/1seaso2.html and http://omeka.wustl.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/arcimboldo-s-gift–the-fantast/fourseasons/summer

For a PowerPoint of the Four Seasons by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, please… Check HERE!

I would like to draw your attention to a modern take of Arcimboldo’s The 4 Seasons paintings… a set of four and a half meters high fiberglass sculptures of the Four Seasons by American artist and filmmaker Philip Haas, created in 2012. Interesting… to say the least! https://crystalbridges.org/blog/the-four-seasons-philip-haas-interprets-giuseppe-arcimboldo/

Philip Haas, b. 1954
The Four Seasons – Summer, 2012, fiberglass, H. 4.572 m, first seen in the garden of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK
https://laughingsquid.com/giant-head-sculptures-representing-four-seasons/

Portrait of Alexander Cassatt and Robert Cassatt

by 19th century ArtAmerican ArtArtImpressionismStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Mary Stevenson Cassatt, American Artist, 1844 – 1926
Portrait of Alexander J. Cassatt and His Son, Robert Kelso Cassatt, 1884, Oil on Canvas, 100.3 × 81.3 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/104479

The Portrait of Alexander Cassatt and Robert Cassatt by Alexander’s sister Mary Stevenson Cassatt is a perfect example of what an American artist could achieve in Paris… the Mecca of Modern Art, and Old World charm. Starting in 1865, at the end of the Civil War, traveling to Europe became an American institution! Americans were attracted by French culture and bohemian life. They attended social events, art exhibitions, and archaeological monuments. They studied art or collected antiquities, artworks of the Old Masters, or paintings by contemporary artists. This phenomenon is best described by Henry James who wrote…It sounds like a paradox, but it is the simple truth that when, today, we look for American art, we find it mainly in Paris. When we find it out of Paris, we at least find a great deal of Paris in it. https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/americans-in-paris–1860-1900

Mary Stevenson Cassatt, American Artist, 1844 – 1926
Portrait of Alexander J. Cassatt and His Son, Robert Kelso Cassatt (Detail), 1884, Oil on
Canvas, 100.3 × 81.3 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA
https://www.gazette-drouot.com/en/article/mary-cassatt-the-franco-american/4732

How more affectionate can a father/son moment be! The great Alexander J. Cassatt is depicted sitting comfortably on a plush armchair reading his paper while his son Robert sits on the chair’s arm embracing him. Both portraits share similar characteristics… focused gazes, flushed cheeks, and black clothing. Mary Cassatt achieved to depict an intimate moment, the special bond between father and son, and the natural physical resemblance between them. Clad in black Alexander and Robert stand out, further emphasizing their tender rapport… Mary Cassatt’s famous double Portrait of Alexander Cassatt and Robert Cassatt was painted in December of 1884, during a surprise visit to Paris by her relatives. https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/104479

Mary Stevenson Cassatt, American Artist, 1844 – 1926
Portrait of Alexander J. Cassatt, 1880, Oil on Canvas, Pastel, 92.3×72 cm, Seattle Art Museum, USA https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mary_Cassatt_-_Portrait_of_Alexander_J._Cassatt_-_Seattle_Art_Museum.jpg

Alexander J. Cassatt was the first vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad and one of the most powerful businessmen in the United States. He was also Cassatt’s beloved older brother, whom she painted on several occasions. Every time she did so, he is depicted casually posing in his sister’s house, a dear relative rather than a  famous public persona, absorbed in his thoughts, revealing both the kindness and formality that were attributed to him. In a letter home to the United States, Alexander’s wife wrote: “Mary has painted a very good portrait of Aleck for which he has been posing every morning for two hours for two weeks.” http://art.seattleartmuseum.org/objects/10259/portrait-of-alexander-j-cassatt;jsessionid=14B64D561385E3770309506FB79F6022

Mary Stevenson Cassatt, American Artist, 1844 – 1926
Portrait of Master Robert Kelso Cassatt, c. 1882, Oil on Canvas, 50x61cm, Private Collection https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09689/lot.45.html

Images of Mary Cassatt’s friends and family constitute a pivotal, according to the Sotheby’s experts, a component of the artist’s prolific body of work. Robert Kelso Cassatt was Mary’s favourite nephew and one of her favorite models. Robert first bonded with his expatriate aunt during the summer of 1880, when he visited the artist and his grandparents at their rented villa in Marly, in the countryside outside of Paris. Robert was not the easiest of Mary’s models… he wouldn’t sit still… but Cassatt grew fond of him, hoping for a time that he would become an artist himself… https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09689/lot.45.html

Happy Father’s Day

For a Student Activity on the Portrait of Alexander Cassatt and Robert Cassatt, please… Check HERE!

Donatello’s Pazzi Madonna

by 15th century Italian Renaissance ArtArtExhibitionsItalian Renaissance ArtPowerpointsRenaissance
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (Donatello), ca. 1386-1466
Madonna and Child (the Pazzi Madonna), 1420-25, Marble, 74,5 x 73 x 6,5 cm, Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/11/30/first-major-donatello-exhibition-in-nearly-40-years-to-open-in-florence

…Donatello was so admirable in knowledge, in judgment, and in the practice of his art that he may be said to have been the first to illustrate the art of sculpture among the moderns; and he deserves the more commendation because in his time few antiquities had been uncovered. He was one of those who aroused in Cosimo de’ Medici the desire to bring antiquities into Florence. He was most liberal and courteous, and kinder to his friends than himself; nor did he care for money, keeping it in a basket hanging from the ceiling, where his workmen and friends could help themselves without saying anything to him. When he got old, therefore, and could not work, he was supported by Cosimo and his friends. Cosimo dying, recommended him to Piero his son, who, to carry out his father’s wishes, gave him… enough… Giorgio Vasari writes back in 16th century Florence, to pass the rest of his life as friend and servant of the Medici without trouble or care.  Please allow me to present Donatello’s Pazzi Madonna of c. 1420, as an introduction to Donatello, The Renaissance Exhibition, currently at the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Musei del Bargello in Florence, Italy (March 19-July31). http://www.artist-biography.info/artist/donatello/ and https://www.palazzostrozzi.org/en/archivio/exhibitions/donatello/

Celebrated as one of the greatest Renaissance artists, Donatello’s Pazzi Madonna, depicts both mother and child with their faces turned towards one another and away from viewers, says Francesco Caglioti, curator of the Donatello, The Renaissance Exhibition. Their foreheads are touching, and they share a profoundly intimate moment which every mother has experienced, he continues. It is a profoundly intimate, emotional, and thus, a powerful work of art, proving Donatello to be an exceptionally talented artist in translating nature into art. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/11/30/first-major-donatello-exhibition-in-nearly-40-years-to-open-in-florence

The Pazzi Madonna in the Berlin Staatlichen Museum is believed to originate from the Palazzo Pazzi in Florence, where according to a 1677 Florentine Guide Book, the sculpture could be seen in the Palazzo Garden. Although this identification is challenged, it is worth reading the Renaissance text… In the house of Francesco Pazzi there is a beautiful marble Madonna in low relief by Donatello; the Christ Child, seated upon a cushion, is supported by the Virgin’s right hand, while he, with his raised left hand, holds the veil that hangs from her head. It is charming in every part, the draperies are most beautiful, and the Virgin’s tenderness toward her son is expressed with great art and is such, that in the following succession, Alessandro, the father of Francesco, bought it for 500 scudi according to the valuation that was made. http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&lang=en

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (Donatello), ca. 1386-1466
Madonna and Child (the Pazzi Madonna) (detail-faces), 1420-25, Marble, 74,5 x 73 x 6,5 cm, Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin
https://www.palazzostrozzi.org/en/upcoming-exhibitions/
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (Donatello), ca. 1386-1466
Madonna and Child (the Pazzi Madonna) (detail-lower part), 1420-25, Marble, 74,5 x 73 x 6,5 cm, Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donatello_Bode_Madonna_Pazzi_05.jpg

Donatello’s Pazzi Madonna is greatly admired for its Renaissance “modernity.” The artist revived, for example, Antiquity by using and “playing” with monochrome, off-white coloured marble for his bas-relief, diverging from the popular tradition of using color in sculpture. He employed linear perspective to present spatial perception, a novel, introduced in 1415, “invention” by Filippo Brunelleschi. He used strong foreshortening to accentuate the best point of vision for the viewer. He created a tender, yet emotionally powerful, very “humanized” composition. The Pazzi Madonna is a Donatello masterpiece that still inspires and enchants viewers today.

Today, Francesco Caglioti, curator of the Donatello, The Renaissance Exhibition believes that Donatello is a colossal artist, more important than Giotto, Raphael or Caravaggio because those three revolutionized the traditions of their time. Donatello broke with tradition completely, taking inspiration from the art of antiquity and the Middle Ages and mixing all those elements with his own vision to create an entirely new language for art. Donatello, The Renaissance Exhibition is currently on view in Florence (March 19-July31), will be presented in the Berlin Gemäldegalerie (September2-January 8 2023), and in London at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2023. This is a historic Exhibition hosting over 130 works from the world’s leading museums and collections set out to reconstruct the astonishing career of one of the most important and influential masters of Italian art of any age. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/11/30/first-major-donatello-exhibition-in-nearly-40-years-to-open-in-florence

For a new PowerPoint on Donatello’s Masterpieces, please… Click HERE!

Teaching with Donatello is a set of student activities and worksheets inspired by the great Italian artist I much admire… Click… https://www.teachercurator.com/art/teaching-with-donatello/

The commemorative Donatello, The Renaissance Exhibition Book https://www.artbook.com/9791254630068.html

The magnificent Bronze Quadriga in San Marco

by 19th century ArtAmerican ArtArtStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Charles Caryl Coleman, American Artist,1840-1928
The Bronze Horses of San Marco, 1876, Oil on Canvas, 102.2 × 82.6 cm, Minneapolis Institute of Art, USA
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Caryl_Coleman_-_The_Bronze_Horses_of_San_Marco,_Venice_-_79.13_-_Minneapolis_Institute_of_Arts.jpg

I read Brenda Riley-Seymore’s poem on The Horses… Don’t cry for the horses that life has set free. / A million white horses, forever to be. / Don’t cry for the horses now in God’s hands. / As they dance and prance to a heavenly band.     /     They were ours as a gift, but never to keep / As they close their eyes, forever to sleep. / Their spirits unbound, forever to fly. / A million white horses, against the blue sky.     /     Look up into Heaven. You will see them above. / The horse we lost, the horse we loved. / Manes and tails flying, they gallop through time. / They were never yours, they were never mine… and I think of  The magnificent Bronze Horses in San Marco… and imagine them… dance and prance to a heavenly band… https://www.horsesofhope.org/horses/tribute-to-first-horse

The Bronze Quadriga of San Marco, scholars’ opinions still range between the 5th century BC and the 4th century AD, Bronze, 96.67% copper, bronze, and mercury gilding, Museo Marciano, Basilica di San Marco, Venice, Italy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadriga#/media/File:Horses_of_Basilica_San_Marco_bright.jpg

The bright bronze quadriga came to Venice as part of the rich war plunder gathered by the Venetians, under doge Enrico Dandolo, after the conquest of Constantinople at the end of the 4th Crusade in 1204, together with other works of inestimable value, many of which are still housed in the Basilica’s Treasury. The Quadriga is magnificent, and the introduction by the experts of the Basilica di San Marco in Venice was enlightening. The Quadriga story is that of admiration, greed, plunder… and artistic inspiration… http://www.basilicasanmarco.it/basilica/scultura/la-decorazione-delle-facciate/quadriga-marciana/?lang=en

Charles Caryl Coleman is according to the Smithsonian experts, a decorative and genre painter who has been largely overlooked by the American art community since his death. He studied art in New York, and later, in Paris, under Thomas Couture. He served with the Union during the Civil War and established himself as an artist by exhibiting his work, regularly, at the Boston Athenaeum, the Brooklyn Art Academy, and the National Academy of Design. Early in 1867, he moved to Italy and rarely looked back. There, he joined a vibrant, international community of artists that included Vedder, Maitland Armstrong, William Graham, Thomas Hotchkiss, Frederic Leighton, Giovanni (Nino) Costa, and other artists in the circle of the Macchiaioli. In 1876, while in Italy, Colemanfinished his pivotal painting, titled The Bronze Horses of San Marco. https://www.aaa.si.edu/blog/2019/08/charles-caryl-coleman-rediscovered

Coleman’s painting of San Marco’s Bronze Quatriga is, I believe, one of the finest painted representations of Venice’s magnificent treasure. The artist depicted the bronze horses as they stood on the porch of the Basilica of San Marco, using foreshortening, and displaying an unusual diagonal perspective for his composition. Placing the bronze horses on the central/right side of the painting, he was able to add a refreshing view of the upper section of the Piazza’s monumental Clocktower in all its decorative glory. Cool tones of paint, restrained brushstrokes, and the artist’s love of the decorative, combined with fine art created a painting that greatly exemplifies Coleman’s qualities as a leading artist of the International Aesthetic Movement. https://collections.artsmia.org/art/2607/the-bronze-horses-of-san-marco-charles-caryl-coleman

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

Silver Flabellum in the Collection of the Dumbarton Oaks

by ArtByzantine ArtByzantine SilverByzantiumEarly Christian ArtStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Flabellum, 565 – 578, silver and gilding, 30.9 x 24.77 x 1.91 cm, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, USA http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27007

A flabellum (plural flabella), in Christian liturgical use, is a fan, made of metal, leather, silk, parchment, or feathers, intended to keep away insects from the consecrated Body and Blood of Christ and from the priest, as well as to show honour. The Apostolic Constitutions, a work of the fourth century, state (VIII, 12): “Let two of the deacons, on each side of the altar, hold a fan, made up of thin membranes, or of the feathers of the peacock, or of fine cloth, and let them silently drive away the small animals that fly about, that they may not come near to the cups.”. The 6th century Silver Flabellum in the Collection of the Dumbarton Oaks is not only liturgical but a work of great art as well! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flabellum

The Bliss-Tyler Correspondence, always fascinating, provides two references to the purchase of the Silver Flabellum/ Rhipidion (in Greek)/Fan of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection by Robert Woods Bliss in 1936, in Paris, France. The first reference is made in a letter dated February 1, 1936…  I’m much excited about your recent acquisitions. Hurrah for the Drey cross! And for the Rhipidion (fan). And I’m prepared to enthuse about the pyx when I see it or a photo. The second reference is dated March 6, 1936… The rhipidion (flabellum) is certainly early VIe cent. The hallmarks make that certain, and the style is perfectly consistent. https://www.doaks.org/resources/bliss-tyler-correspondence/letters/01feb1936 and https://www.doaks.org/resources/bliss-tyler-correspondence/letters/06mar1936

Riha Silver Group, 6th century AD, silver and gilding, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, USA http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27007

During the turbulent years (7th century) of the Sasanian and then the Arab invasions of Syria, devoted Christians buried a precious collection of liturgical vessels for safekeeping, hoping they will be able to reclaim them when peace would have prevailed. The silver Rhipidion, along with an amazing Paten and a Chalice, all three of them in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection today, were discovered at Riha, a small village south of Aleppo in central Syria. It has been written by Stephen Zwirn of the Dumbarton Oaks, that the Riha Treasure along with silver treasures from nearby Stuma, Hama, and Antioch were discovered at about the same time, and it has been suggested that these hoards actually constituted one large group brought together for protective burial, which was divided into smaller sets after it was unearthed early in the twentieth century. The original owners never came back to retrieve their treasures… and thus, many centuries later, they ended up in different Museums and private collections around the world! http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27007http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27007 and https://www.doaks.org/resources/bliss-tyler-correspondence/annotations/silver-treasure

The Riha chalice, paten, and fan were each impressed, writes Stephen Zwirn, with stamps that indicate the emperor’s reign during which they were made. The chalice was fabricated during the reign of Justinian I (527–65), while the paten and fan belong to the reign of his successor, Justin II (565–78)… They form a set for use in the Orthodox Eucharist, or Communion: the paten held the leavened bread, still a tradition in Orthodox worship, the chalice contained the wine, and the fan was used to keep insects away from the bread and the wine. It has been suggested that they were produced in Constantinople and purchased by Megalos and Nonnous, a couple named in the inscription of the paten, for presentation to a church in Syria soon after 577.    http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27007 and file:///C:/Users/aspil/OneDrive/Blog/Byzantium/Age_of_Spirituality_Late_Antique_and_Early_Christian_Art_Third_to_Seventh_Century.pdf pages 617-18

Flabellum (detail), 565 – 578, silver and gilding, 30.9 x 24.77 x 1.91 cm, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, USA http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27007

The silver Flabellun/Rhipidion/Fan in the Dumbarton Oaks is engraved with sixteen peacock feathers around its scalloped rim. On its central disk, the 6th-century silversmith, engraved a tetramorph cherubim, the four-winged creature described in Ezekiel 1:4–21. The same tetramorph has been, summarily, engraved on the reverse side as well. The luxury of all liturgical vessels discovered in Syria indicates the splendor of the Early Christian Church Service, and the magnificent silver Rhipidion in particular, the ceremonial status altar fan had during the Orthodox Eucharist or Communion Service. file:///C:/Users/aspil/OneDrive/Blog/Byzantium/Age_of_Spirituality_Late_Antique_and_Early_Christian_Art_Third_to_Seventh_Century.pdf pages 617-18

For a Student Activity inspired by the Silver Flabellum in the Collection of the Dumbarton Oaks, please… Check HERE!

Simon Bening’s June

by 16th century ArtArtFlemish ArtManuscriptsNorthern RenaissancePowerpointsRenaissance
Simon Bening (d. 1561) and his workshop
Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, June (f. 23v),c. 1540, 30 Parchment leaves on paper mounts, bound into a codex, 110 x 80 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm), British Library, London, UK
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/11/

Simon Bening’s June presentation is part of an amazing, illuminated manuscript of the 16th century. It presents the quintessential games of chivalry… and I think of Gauvain Micaille, the gallant Frenchman squire from Beauce, a gentleman of tried courage, who had advanced himself by his own merit, without any assistance from others… Is there among you any gentleman who for the love of his lady is willing to try with me some feat of arms? He questions… If there should be any such, here I am, quite ready to sally forth completely armed and mounted, to tilt three courses with the lance, to give three blows with the battle-ax, and three strokes with the dagger. Now look, you English, if there be none among you in love… he continues, and he jousts for the honour of France showing his courage and bravery… an extraordinary man, a wonderful story, and a brilliant manuscript illumination by Simon Bening! https://uts.nipissingu.ca/muhlberger/FROISSART/GAUVAIN.HTM

Unhorse Your Foe! people cried… and off “they” went to “battle.” “They” were armored knights striding armored horses who tested their skills in mock combats, called “tournaments.” These games were a way for them to practice for battle in between wars, and display their talents in front of a broad audience… writes Rachel Smith, of the MET in New York. The June page of the Book of Golf (f. 23v) displays a perfect tournament day in a Flemish city. https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/metkids/2019/knights-tournaments-medieval-europe and https://www.moleiro.com/en/books-of-hours/the-golf-book-book-of-hours/miniatura/161

Simon Bening (d. 1561) and his workshop
Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, June (Details, f. 23v and f. 24r), c. 1540, 30 Parchment leaves on paper mounts, bound into a codex, 110 x 80 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm), British Library, London, UK
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_24098_fs001r

Simon Bening, combining cool, greys and blues, and warm tones of ochre and red, organized a “busy” three-parts composition. The background presents a Flemish city with impressive buildings and the tournament audience, in great numbers, enthusiastically looking at the event through windows, standing behind parapets, seated on tall parapets,  or sitting in the “royal box.” They seem to be finely dressed and adorned with elaborate headdresses, talking to each other, full of excitement… maybe contemplating, even debating whom they are going to favor!

The Knights, fully armored and crowned with striking plumes are depicted riding their equally remarkably armored horses. They “fight” for victory. Their goal is to show gallantry and honour… their hope is to attract the attention of “their” Lady and get a token of her favor… a veil, a ribbon, maybe a wreath!

The “busiest” part is definitely the foreground of Bening’s composition. Attended by their servants are two knights on their mounts attempting to strike the other down with their swords. Their broken lances lie on the ground. A mounted herald on the left sounds a small trumpet, whilst two armed riders on the right wait their turn to fight. https://www.moleiro.com/en/books-of-hours/the-golf-book-book-of-hours/miniatura/161

The middle ground area of June’s composition is where Jousting takes place. Simon Benning depicts two knights on either side of a palisade, ready for the tournament “game” to commence! They wear a full-length armor made of thin, sliding steel plates, over a velvet garment, a helmet, finished with plumes, and carry their battling lance. According to the Wikipedia… Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horsemen wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying hard to strike the opponent while riding towards him at high speed, breaking the lance on the opponent’s shield or jousting armor if possible, or unhorsing him. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The participants experience close to three and a quarter times their body weight in G-forces when the lances collide with their armor.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jousting#CITEREFColtman1919

For a PowerPoint on the  Golf Book, please… Check HERE!

For information on the art of the armorer, and how arms and armor, are pivotal not only in conquest and defense but also in court pageantry and ceremonial events like tournaments… Check the Metropolitan Museum site… https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/collection-areas/arms-and-armor

Simon Bening (d. 1561) and his workshop
Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, June (f. 23v and 24r),c. 1540, 30 Parchment leaves on paper mounts, bound into a codex, 110 x 80 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm), British Library, London, UK
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/11/

Irises by Vincent van Gogh

by 19th century ArtArtPost-ImpressionismPowerpoints
Vincent van Gogh, Dutch Artist, 1853 – 1890
Irises, 1889, Oil on Canvas, 74.3 × 94.3 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, CA, USA  https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/826/vincent-van-gogh-irises-dutch-1889/

Well. Then we had the irises, rising beautiful and cool on their tall stalks, like blown glass, like pastel water momentarily frozen in a splash, light blue, light mauve, and the darker ones, velvet and purple, black cat’s ears in the sun, indigo shadow, and the bleeding hearts, so female in shape it was a surprise they’d not long since been rooted out… writes Margaret Atwood describing Serena Joy Waterford’s Spring Garden in The Handmaid’s Tale. Well, how can we best describe the Getty painting of Irises by Vincent van Gogh? https://www.skyminds.net/the-handmaids-tale-chapter-25-analysis/

In May 1889, write the Getty experts, after episodes of self-mutilation and hospitalization, Vincent van Gogh chose to enter an asylum in Saint-Rémy, France. Within the first week, he began Irises, working from nature in the asylum’s garden. These deep violet-blue coloured Irises are popularly known as Iris Vulgaris or Iris Germnica, and they seem to grow, even unattended, in Southern France, like in the overgrown “deserted” garden of the Saint-Rémy Asylum. https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103JNH and https://books.google.gr/books?id=LUZ-dHerY3sC&pg=PA21&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false, page 21

If you are wondering why van Gogh painted Irises… consider the following two reasons. Vincent van Gogh loved to paint flowers! They are colorful, and they allowed the artist to experiment with tints, and shades, intensity, and value. Like Eugène Delacroix, who he considered to be “the greatest colorist of all,” van Gogh used colour to offer contrasting effects and create depth by projecting specific parts of his paintings. The simplest explanation, however, is that Irises, magnificent in every aspect, were at the time available, in full bloom, in the Asylum garden… “begging” van Gogh to paint them! The artist considered the Getty Irises painting a mere study. His brother Theo, however, quickly recognized its quality and submitted it to the Salon des Indépendants in September 1889, writing Vincent of the exhibition: “[It] strikes the eye from afar. It is a beautiful study full of air and life.” Could these magnificent flowers provide the artist’s troubled psyche with feelings of hope? Did they help him ease the pain and temporarily appease his mental state? One can only hope! https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/stories/looking-for-contrast#2 and https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103JNH  

Vincent van Gogh, Dutch Artist, 1853 – 1890
Irises (detail), 1889, Oil on Canvas, 74.3 × 94.3 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, CA, USA  https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/five-ways-of-seeing-van-goghs-irises/

The Vincent van Gogh Getty Irises painting is unique. He carefully studied the flowers’ movements and shapes to create a variety of curved silhouettes bounded by wavy, twisting, and curling lines. It is only right to mark that the French art critic Octave Mirbeau, one of Van Gogh’s earliest supporters, wrote: “How well he has understood the exquisite nature of flowers!” https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103JNH

For a PowerPoint on Irises by Vincent van Gogh, please… Click HERE!

It is interesting to Watch the Getty Museum Video presentation Van Gogh’s Irises: A Closer Look… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGgjAL9qVH4 and Read the results of this examination… https://www.getty.edu/news/a-rare-opportunity-to-study-van-goghs-irises/

A Rare Opportunity to Study Van Gogh’s Irises, The J. Paul Getty Museum, CA, USA  https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/rare-opportunity-to-study-van-goghs-irises/

Listen to a Getty Museum Podcast on Irises by Vincent van Gogh… https://dea3n992em6cn.cloudfront.net/museumcollection/000947-en-20120210-v1.mp3

Another interesting Video of an in-depth analysis of Irises by Vincent van Gogh… https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155040353870097

Vincent van Gogh, Dutch Artist, 1853 – 1890
Irises (detail), 1889, Oil on Canvas, 74.3 × 94.3 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, CA, USA  https://creativepro.com/free-high-resolution-art-the-getty-museum/