On 26 Feb, 2011 With
The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David The Death of Marat (French: La Mort de Marat ) is a 1793 painting in the Neoclassic style by Jacques-Louis David, it is one of the most famous images of the French Revolution. This work refers to the assassination of radical journalist Jean-Paul Marat, killed on the 13th of July 1793 by Charlotte Corday, a French Revolutionary figure from a minor aristocratic family. Corday, who blamed Marat for the September Massacres and feared an all out civil war, claimed “I killed one man to save 100,000.” La Mort de Marat Jacques – Louis David and a quote by fashion photographer Eugenio Recuenco Jean-Paul Marat (24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793), was a…
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On 24 Feb, 2011 With
Gabrielle d’Estrées, mistress of King Henry IV of France and quotes by different artistes The painting Gabrielle d’Estrées et une de ses soeurs by an unknown artist (c.1594), is of Gabrielle d’Estrées, mistress of King Henry IV of France, sitting up nude in a bath, holding (assumedly) Henry’s coronation ring, whilst her sister sits nude beside her and pinches her right nipple. Henry gave Gabrielle the ring as a token of his love shortly before she died. The painting is a symbolic announcement anticipating the birth of Gabrielle’s first child with Henry IV, César de Bourbon. Her maternity is expressed in three ways: her sister pinches the source of the new mother’s milk, the servant in the background knits in…
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On 20 Feb, 2011 With
Art Jokes: Van Gogh’s Glasses
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On 18 Feb, 2011 With
Girl reading a letter by an open window by Johannes Vermeer
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On 16 Feb, 2011 With
Nijinsky Photos of Nijinsky
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On 16 Feb, 2011 With
Art Terms: Vellum Vellum (from the Old French Vélin, for “calfskin”) is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used. The manufacture involves the cleaning, bleaching, stretching on a frame, and scraping of the skin with a hemispherical knife. To create tension, scraping is alternated by wetting and drying. A final finish may be achieved by abrading the surface with pumice, and treating with a preparation of lime or chalk to make it accept writing or printing ink. Modern “paper vellum” (vegetable vellum) is used for a…
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On 14 Feb, 2011 With
Painting Techniques – Working in layers Oil Painting Working in layers is used extensively in oil painting for paintings that require more than one session. For a painting that develops over several days, allowing for the oil paint to dry for a given layer, it is helpful to work with explicit painting layers. The first layer may be a ground, usually applied all over the surface. Then an underdrawing in outline may follow. Then comes underpainting, overpainting, and finally semi-transparent glazes and varnish. All of these layers will affect the appearance of the final painting. To understand the role of underpainting, one can use metaphor and think of the underpainting as a base-rhythm in music, and the overpainting as a…
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On 10 Feb, 2011 With
Art Terms: Underpainting In art, an underpainting is an initial layer of paint applied to a ground, which serves as a base for subsequent layers of paint. Underpaintings are often monochromatic and help to define colour values for later painting. There are several different types of underpainting, such as verdaccio and grisaille. Underpainting gets its name because it is painting that is intended to be painted over (see overpainting) in a system of working in layers. There is a popular misconception that underpainting should be monochromatic, perhaps in gray-scales. In fact, a multi-color underpainting is much more useful and was used extensively by artists such as Giotto (whose technique is described in detail by Cennino Cennini), as well as by…
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On 7 Feb, 2011 With
Art Terms: Brunaille A Brunaille is a painting executed entirely or primarily in shades of brown. Such a painting is described as having been painted “en brunaille“. Brunaille has its roots in 12th century stained glass made for Cistercian monasteries which in 1134 prohibited the use of color in their art. However, it was only in the early 17th century that the French term “brunaille” was coined to describe pictures painted in shades of brown. Brunaille are less common than paintings executed in grey (grisaille).
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On 3 Feb, 2011 With
Painting techniques – Chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro (Italian: “light-dark”) in art is characterized by strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for using contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modeling three-dimensional objects such as the human body. Further specialized uses include chiaroscuro woodcut, for coloured woodcuts printed with different blocks, each using a different coloured ink; and chiaroscuro drawing for drawings on coloured paper with drawing in a dark medium and white highlighting. Similar effects in the lighting of cinema and photography are also chiaroscuro. Origin in the chiaroscuro drawing Chiaroscuro originated during the Renaissance as drawing on coloured paper,…
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