Your daily dose of dutch art by Rembrandt van Rijn
Self-portrait, Bare-headed
Medium: etching - material: paper
Dimensions: height 174mm, width 154mm
Your daily dose of dutch art by Vincent van Gogh.
Portrait of Adeline Ravoux
"Still Life with Flowers," Rachel Ruysch, 18th century.
I've talked about Ruysch before, but to recap quickly, she was the best-documented woman painter of her time, with an enormously successful career, getting commissions from many wealthy and influential clients. Poets wrote elegies in honor of her death in 1750, and despite the fact that she specialized in florals, her work was highly praised and fetched high prices after her passing; she even outsold Rembrandt!
The daughter of a scientist and professor of botany, Ruysch depicted plants and flowers with meticulous detail, developing her own style that straddled the line between Baroque and Rococo. Even today, she is regarded as one of the most talented still life artists of all time, bar none.
Happy Flower Friday!
From the Hallwyl Museum, Stockholm.
Your daily dose of dutch art by Rembrandt van Rijn
Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves
Medium: etching - material: paper
Dimensions: height 135mm, width 101mm
Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp's "Vlucht voor de bui" transports viewers to a moment of urgency and emotion in 1918, capturing the essence of movement and nature's unpredictability. How does this artwork resonate with your own experiences of life's sudden changes?
#Rijksmuseum #Art #Photography #DutchArt
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/RP-P-1967-918
"Vase of Flowers," Jan Davidsz de Heem, 1670.
How's this for a Valentine's bouquet?
De Heem (c. 1606 - before 1684) was a Dutch painter who did almost exclusively still lifes. Working in both Utrecht and Antwerp, he was a highly regarded painter in his lifetime and even today is seen as one of the great Dutch Baroque artists.
He came from an artistic family, and his sons were artists as well...and there's stories of his sons doing paintings for him to retouch and sign, to meet the high demand for his work.
This is a fun riot of flowers, and I like the moths and insects that also can be seen hovering around this. And one really neat detail is the reflection of the window in the vase; you can tell it's a cloudy day and there were some objects on the windowsill.
Happy Valentine's Day and Flower Friday!
From the Mauritshuis, The Hague.
Your daily dose of dutch art by Vincent van Gogh.
Sunset in Montmartre (1887)
In museum: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Dimensions: height 21cm, width 47cm.
Your daily dose of dutch art by Vincent van Gogh.
Vase with Peonies
"Portrait of a Married Couple," Pieter Codde, 1634.
Much of Pieter Codde's life (1599-1678) is unknown; we don't know who he studied with, We know he was married; she divorced him after he reportedly assaulted the maid. His wife abandoned him for another artist; he spent a night in jail as there was no proof of what happened.
He is noted for his technical skill and attention to detail. His work was mostly genre art (scenes of everyday life), guardroom scenes (a favorite of 17th century Dutch collectors), and portraits, generally of richly dressed people in sparse surroundings, as we have here. Sadly, the couple is unknown.
From the Mauritshuis, the Hague.
"Flowers in a Wan-Li Vase," Jan Brueghel the Elder, c. 1610-15.
Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625) was a member of the Brueghel family of artists, which produced some exceptional ones. He operated in the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and was something of a pioneer in the floral painting genre, as few artists of the period had done them before him.
There's an interesting economic take on this that I'm seeing...the Chinese vase is an indicator of the Dutch trading prowess on one hand, but on the other...the tulips are prominently featured, and the Dutch tulip mania was just starting to come to life when he painted this, becoming history's first recorded speculative bubble and a byword for any market where the prices of something outstrip their intrinsic value.
But hey, it's Flower Friday!
From the Mauritshuis, the Hague.
"Bacchanal (Triumph of Bacchus)," Michaelina Wautier, before 1659.
Wautier (1604-1689) suffered the fate that too many female artists have suffered; her work was attributed to men. It's only in the last 20 years that she's been recognized as a significant artist of the Baroque period.
Little is known of her life; her brother Charles was also a painter, but where they received training is unknown. She painted many different subjects in different genres at a time when women artists normally stuck to portraits and still lifes.
This canvas, regarded as her masterpiece, is also unusual in that we have a naked male body painted by a woman (in fact, Bacchus' groin is the center of the painting) and lady on the right is a self-portrait, uninvolved in the action, looking out at us serenely. A daring work for the time!
And for some of us....a preview of Thanksgiving....
From the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
"Flowers in a Vase," Henriëtte Geertruida Knip, 1830.
Knip (1783-1842) was a Dutch floral painter. She learned a lot from her brother Joseph, who was also a painter, but when he and their father lost their eyesight, she was able to support her family through her art, selling pleasant florals like this one.
It was an artistic family; her niece was Henriëtte Ronner-Knip, famous for her cute paintings of cats that prefigured the modern rage for cute cats on the internet.
From a private collection.
"Flowers in a Glass Vase on a Marble Table," Rachel Ruysch, 1690.
I've talked about Ruysch before, so she needs no introduction except maybe a reminder that she achieved international fame in her lifetime and is the best-documented artist of the period.
This is typical of her work; the flowers are meticulously rendered and could almost be scientific illustrations. At the same time, the mass of roses, irises, lilies, tulips, and others don't all bloom at the same time, so this bouquet is a piece of fantasy.
Flowers for Friday!
From a private collection.
"The Harvest," Vincent van Gogh, 1888.
Van Gogh needs no introduction. But this lovely landscape shows the harvest in full swing. I love the patchwork of the land, the horses and carts that you can see, the haystack, the little buildings here and there, and the rising mountains in the distance. This is rural life, what Vincent sought to portray in his works.
He was quite proud of this painting, and regarded it as one of his best. I agree.
From the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
"Wheatfield with a Reaper," Vincent van Gogh, September 1889.
Van Gogh needs no introduction.
This is a great image for this time of year, with the reapers bringing in the harvest. The wheatfield is convoluted in the typical van Gogh way, as if representing how tall grass moves and sways in the wind. Van Gogh himself thought of this as an image with reminders of death everywhere....but still, suffused everywhere with gold and without a sad note anywhere.
From the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
"Grove of Large Oak Trees at the Edge of a Pond," Jacob van Ruisdael, 1665.
Van Ruisdael (c. 1629- 1682) was the pre-eminent landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age. Born into a family of artists, it's unknown exactly who taught him. It's assumed he learned from his father and/or uncle, but there's no documentation. His earliest known work is dated 1646.
Details of his life are sketchy and unclear; he might have studied medicine, some claim he was Jewish (although he's buried in a Protestant cemetery), there are no known likenesses of him, no known marriages or relationships, and there were rumors he died in poverty although that was disproven.
This painting works well as an allegory; we have the tall oaks but also the fallen, broken one under a stormy sky; all comes to an end. Also worth noting that the herdsman and cattle were added by another artist much later; this is known as "staffage" and makes me cringe.
From the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.
