Paintings and painters
Art has always been a way of understanding the world and expressing feelings and emotions. There are many different forms of art and painting is only one of them.
Horace said that a “picture is a poem without words” and indeed it is so. Throughout centuries many techniques have developed to allow artists to transform their feelings into images on canvas.
Russian painters represent Russian art which is in many ways unique and has always impressed people around the world. It originates from the world-known icon-painters, the most renowned of whom is Andrey Rublyov.
Many Russian painters praise the beauty of the Russian nature in their works. Ivan Shishkin is especially famous with his canvases representing Russian forest (e.g. “Morning in the Pine Forest”) while Isaac Levitan derived inspiration from the Russian autumn.
The Peredvizhniki included artists of the XIX century. One of them was Ilya Repin who is an artist celebrated for his large canvases like “Ivan the Terrible and his Son Ivan” or “Barge Haulers on the Volga”. Victor Vasnetsov chose the folk Russian style for his “Bogatyrs” and Mikhail Vrubel is noted for originality of thought. His “Demon” is the fruit of his fantastic imagination.
Ivan Aivazovsky gained a world-wide fame by his romantic paintings representing sea. "The Ninth Wave" is a masterpiece revealing the beauty of the mighty sea on a stormy day.
Russian Art is exhibited in The State Russian Museum in Saint-Petersburg. And in the department of English Art in the Hermitage you can enjoy some of the masterpieces of the British painters.
One of the most famous of them is John Constable - an English Romantic painter who is principally known for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, an area near his house in Suffolk which is now known as “Constable Country”.
William Turner was a landscape artist whose style can be said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism.
William Hogarth is renowned not only for his portraits but also for the series of paintings with satiric details characterizing English high society, in the 1740s.
Thomas Gainsborough is one of the most famous portrait and landscape painters of 18th century Britain. In the National Gallery, London, you can see colorful painting “Mr. and Mrs. Andrews" which is a combination of family portrait and landscape, and dark portrait of "Mr and Mrs William Hallett" that exemplifies Gainsborough's mature style.
William Blake is an English poet and painter. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime today, his works considered significant in the history of both poetry and the visual arts. His paintings may seem very unusual and fantastic. For example, he depicted Isaac Newton as a divine geometer.
Paintings and artists
Art has always been a way of understanding the world and expressing feelings and emotions. There are many forms of art, and painting is only one of them.
Horace said that “a picture is a verse, only without words” and this is actually true. Have developed over the centuries different techniques, allowing artists to transform their feelings into images on canvas.
Russian artists represent Russian art, which is unique in many ways and which has always amazed people all over the world. It originates from world-famous icon painters, the most famous of whom is Andrei Rublev.
Many Russian artists glorify the beauty of Russian nature in their works. Ivan Shishkin is especially famous for his paintings of Russian forests, such as Morning in a Pine Forest, while Isaac Levitan drew inspiration from Russian autumn.
The Wanderers included artists of the XIX century. One of them was Ilya Repin, an artist famous for his large canvases, such as “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan” or “Barge Haulers on the Volga.” Viktor Vasnetsov chose the Russian-folk style for his “Bogatyrs”. Mikhail Vrubel is known for his originality of thought. His "Demon" is a figment of his fantastic imagination.
Ivan Aivazovsky gained worldwide fame thanks to his romantic depiction of the sea. The Ninth Wave is a masterpiece that reveals the beauty of sea power in a storm.
Russian art presented at the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. And in the department English art at the Hermitage you can enjoy some masterpieces by British artists.
One of the most famous of these is John Constable, an English Romantic painter best known for his landscapes of Dedham Vale, an area near his home in Suffolk that is today known as Constable's Land.
William Turner was a landscape painter; one might say that his style marked the beginning of impressionism.
William Hogarth is famous not only for his portraits, but also for a series of paintings with satirical details that characterize English high society in the 1740s.
Thomas Gainsborough is one of the most famous portrait and landscape painters in 18th century Britain. At the National Gallery in London you can see the colorful Mr and Mrs Andrews, which is a combination of family portrait and landscape, and the dark portrait of Mr and Mrs William Hallett, which exemplifies Gainsborough's more mature style.
William Blake - English poet and artist. Unrecognized during his lifetime, today his works are considered important in the history of both poetry and fine art. His paintings may seem unusual and fantastic. For example, he depicted Isaac Newton as a divine geometer.
Vocabulary:
canvas - canvas, canvas
celebrated - famous
depict - depict
derive inspiration - receive inspiration
divine - divine
evoke - evoke, awaken (feelings)
exemplify - serve as an example
folk - folk
fruit of imagination - fruit of imagination
Horace - Horace
landscape - landscape
landscape artist - landscape painter
lay foundation (for) - lay the foundation, beginning
masterpiece - masterpiece
mature - mature
mighty - powerful, mighty
noted - noticeable, famous
originate - to begin
praise - to praise
predominate - to dominate
renowned - renowned
reveal - to open, expose
unrecognized - unrecognized
visual art - visual arts
world-known - world famous
Answer the questions
l.What did Horace say about paintings? How do you understand his words?
2. Who is Andrey Rublyov? What is he famous for?
3. What Russian artists praised the beauty of nature?
4. What artists are called The Peredvizhniki?
5. What paintings by Ilya Repin do you know?
6. What is Ivan Aivazovsky renowned for?
7. In what museums can you see paintings by Russian artists?
8. In what museums can you see paintings by British artists?
9. What is "Constable Country"? Why is it called so?
10. Whose style has laid the foundation for Impressionism?
11. Which painter was also famous for satirical portraying of high society?
12. What is Thomas Gainsborough famous for?
13. What do you know about William Blake?
14. What are your favorite artists and why?
For many, remembering artists and their paintings seems like an impossible task. Over hundreds of years, history has written down the names of many artists whose names are well known, unlike their paintings. How to remember the artist's personality and style? We have prepared a brief description for those who want to understand fine arts:
If the paintings show people with big butts, you can be sure it's Rubbens
If people in beautiful clothes relax in nature - Watteau
If men look like curly-haired women with hairy eyes - This is Caravaggio
If a painting with a dark background shows a person with a beatific expression or a martyr - Titian
If the painting contains multi-figure compositions, many people, objects, Christian and surreal motifs - this is Bosch
If a painting contains multi-figure compositions and complex plots, but they look more realistic than Bosch’s paintings, rest assured that this is Bruegel.
If you see a portrait of a person against a dark background in dim, yellow light - Rembrandt
Biblical and mythological scenes depicting several plump cupids - Francois Boucher
Naked, pumped up bodies, perfect shapes - Michelangelo
Ballerinas are drawn, this is Degas
Contrasting, sharp image with gaunt and bearded faces - El Greco
If the painting shows a girl with a unibrow, this is Frida
Quick and light strokes, bright colors and depictions of nature – Monet
Light colors and rejoicing people – Renoir
Bright, colorful and rich - Van Gogh
Dark colors, black outlines and sad people - Manet
The background is like from the movie “The Lord of the Rings”, with a light blue fog. Madonna's wavy hair and aristocratic nose - Da Vinci
If the body depicted in the painting has an unusual shape - Picasso
Colored squares like an Excel document – Mondrian
Today we present to your attention twenty paintings that are worthy of attention and recognition. These paintings were painted famous artists, and they should be known not only by those who engage in art, but also by ordinary mortals, since art colors our lives, aesthetics deepens our view of the world. Give art its due place in your life...
1. “The Last Supper.” Leonardo Da Vinci, 1495 - 1498
Monumental painting by Leonardo da Vinci depicting the scene of Christ's last meal with his disciples. Created in 1495-1498 in the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.
The painting was commissioned by Leonardo from his patron, Duke Ludovico Sforza and his wife Beatrice d'Este. The lunettes above the painting, formed by a ceiling with three arches, are painted with the Sforza coat of arms. The painting began in 1495 and was completed in 1498; work proceeded intermittently. The date of the start of work is not certain, since "the archives of the monastery were destroyed, and the negligible part of the documents that we have dates back to 1497, when the painting was almost completed."
The painting became a milestone in the history of the Renaissance: the correctly reproduced depth of perspective changed the direction of the development of Western painting.
It is believed that many secrets and hints are hidden in this picture - for example, there is an assumption that the image of Jesus and Judas was copied from the same person. When Da Vinci painted the picture, in his vision Jesus personified good, while Judas was pure evil. And when the master found “his Judas” (a drunkard from the street), it turned out that, according to historians, this drunkard several years earlier served as a prototype for painting the image of Jesus. Thus, we can say that this picture captured a person at different periods of his life.
2. “Sunflowers.” Vincent Van Gogh, 1887
The title of two cycles of paintings by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. The first series was made in Paris in 1887. It is dedicated to lying flowers. The second series was completed a year later, in Arles. She depicts a bouquet of sunflowers in a vase. Van Gogh's friend Paul Gauguin acquired two Parisian paintings.
The artist painted sunflowers eleven times. The first four paintings were created in Paris in August - September 1887. Large cut flowers lie like some strange creatures dying before our eyes.
3. “The Ninth Wave.” Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky?, 1850.
One of the most famous paintings by the Russian marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky is kept in the Russian Museum.
The painter depicts the sea after a severe night storm and shipwrecked people. The rays of the sun illuminate the huge waves. The largest of them - the ninth shaft - is ready to fall on people trying to escape on the wreckage of the mast.
Despite the fact that the ship is destroyed and only the mast remains, the people on the mast are alive and continue to fight the elements. The warm colors of the picture make the sea not so harsh and give the viewer hope that people will be saved.
Created in 1850, the painting “The Ninth Wave” immediately became the most famous of all his marinas and was acquired by Nicholas I.
4. “Makha naked.” Francisco Goya, 1797-1800
Painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya, painted around 1797-1800. Pairs with the painting “Maja Dressed” (La maja vestida). The paintings depict Macha, a Spanish townswoman of the 18th-19th centuries, one of the artist’s favorite subjects. "Maha Nude" is one of early works Western art depicting a fully nude woman without mythological or negative connotations.
5. “Flight of Lovers.” Marc Chagall, 1914-1918
Work on the painting “Above the City” began back in 1914, and the master applied the final touches only in 1918. During this time, Bella turned from a lover not only into an adored wife, but also the mother of their daughter Ida, forever becoming the painter’s main muse. The union of the rich daughter of a hereditary jeweler and a simple Jewish youth, whose father made a living by unloading herring, can only be called a misalliance, but love was stronger and overcame all conventions. It was this love that inspired them, lifting them to heaven.
Karina portrays Chagall’s two loves at once – Bella and Vitebsk, dear to her heart. The streets are presented in the form of houses separated by a high dark fence. The viewer will not immediately notice a goat grazing to the left of the center of the picture, and a simple man with his pants down in the foreground - humor from the painter, breaking out of the general context and romantic mood of the work, but this is all Chagall...
6. “The Face of War.” Salvador Dali, 1940.
Painting by Spanish artist Salvador Dali, painted in 1940.
The painting was created on the way to the USA. Impressed by the tragedy unfolding in the world and the bloodthirstiness of politicians, the master begins work on the ship. Located in the Boijmans-van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam.
Having lost all hope for normal life in Europe, an artist from his beloved Paris leaves for America. War covers the Old World and seeks to take over the rest of the world. The master does not yet know that his stay in the New World for eight years will make him truly famous, and his works will become masterpieces of world painting.
7. "Scream" Edvard Munch, 1893
“The Scream” (Norwegian Skrik) is a series of paintings by Norwegian expressionist artist Edvard Munch created between 1893 and 1910. They depict a human figure screaming in despair against a blood-red sky and an extremely generalized landscape background. In 1895, Munch created a lithograph on the same subject.
The red, fiery hot sky covered the cold fjord, which, in turn, gives birth to a fantastic shadow, similar to some kind of sea monster. Tension has distorted space, lines are broken, colors are inconsistent, perspective is destroyed.
Many critics believe that the plot of the picture is the fruit of the sick imagination of a mentally ill person. Some people see in the work a premonition of an environmental disaster, others decide which mummy inspired the author to create this work.
8. “The Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Jan Vermeer, 1665
The painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (Netherlands: “Het meisje met de parel”) was painted around 1665. IN given time kept in the Mauritshuis Museum, The Hague, the Netherlands, and is the hallmark of the museum. The painting, nicknamed the Dutch Mona Lisa, or Mona Lisa of the North, is painted in the Tronie genre.
Thanks to Peter Webber's film "The Girl with a Pearl Earring" in 2003, a huge number of people far from painting learned about the wonderful Dutch artist Jan Vermeer, as well as about him famous painting"Girl with a pearl earring."
9. "Tower of Babel." Pieter Bruegel, 1563
Famous painting by artist Pieter Bruegel. The artist created at least two paintings based on this subject.
The painting is located in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
There is a story in the Bible about how the inhabitants of Babylon tried to build a high tower to reach heaven, but God made them speak different languages, ceased to understand each other, and the tower remained unfinished.
10. "Algerian women." Pablo Picasso, 1955
“Women of Algeria” is a series of 15 paintings created by Picasso in 1954–1955 based on the paintings of Eugene Delacroix; the paintings are distinguished by the letters assigned by the artist from A to O. “Version O” was painted on February 14, 1955; for some time it belonged to the famous American art collector of the 20th century, Victor Ganz.
Pablo Picasso's painting "Women of Algeria (Version O)" sold for $180 million.
11. "New Planet". Konstantin Yuon, 1921
Russian Soviet painter, master of landscape, theater artist, art theorist. Academician of the USSR Academy of Arts. People's Artist USSR. Laureate Stalin Prize first degree. Member of the All-Union Communist Party since 1951.
This is an amazing painting, created in 1921 and not at all typical of the realist artist Yuon, “ New planet” is one of the brightest works that embodied the image of the changes that became in the second decade of the 20th century October Revolution. New system, new way And new image thinking of the newly emerging Soviet society. What awaits humanity now? Bright future? They didn’t think about it then, but what Soviet Russia and the whole world is entering an era of change, obviously, as is the rapid birth of a new planet.
12. “Sistine Madonna.” Raphael Santi, 1754
A painting by Raphael, which has been in the Old Masters Gallery in Dresden since 1754. It belongs to the generally recognized peaks of the High Renaissance.
The painting, huge in size (265 × 196 cm, as the size of the painting is indicated in the Dresden Gallery catalog), was created by Raphael for the altar of the church of the monastery of St. Sixtus in Piacenza, commissioned by Pope Julius II. There is a hypothesis that the painting was painted in 1512-1513 in honor of the victory over the French who invaded Lombardy during the Italian Wars, and the subsequent inclusion of Piacenza into the Papal States.
13. “Repentant Mary Magdalene.” Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), painted around 1565
A painting painted around 1565 by the Italian artist Titian Vecellio. Belongs to the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Sometimes the date of creation is given as "1560s".
The model for the painting was Julia Festina, who amazed the artist with her shock of golden hair. The finished canvas greatly impressed the Duke of Gonzaga, and he decided to order a copy of it. Later, Titian, changing the background and posing of the woman, wrote a couple more similar works.
14. "Mona Lisa". Leonardo Da Vinci, 1503-1505
Portrait of Mrs. Lisa del Giocondo, (Italian. Ritratto di Monna Lisa del Giocondo) - a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, located in the Louvre (Paris, France), one of the most famous works of painting in the world, which is believed to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of the Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo, painted around 1503-1505 .
According to one of the put forward versions, “Mona Lisa” is a self-portrait of the artist.
15. “Morning in a pine forest”, Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich, 1889.
Painting by Russian artists Ivan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitsky. Savitsky painted bears, but the collector Pavel Tretyakov erased his signature, so that the author of the painting is often indicated alone.
The idea for the painting was suggested to Shishkin by Savitsky, who later acted as a co-author and depicted the figures of the bear cubs. These bears, with some differences in poses and numbers (at first there were two of them), appear in the preparatory drawings and sketches. Savitsky turned out the animals so well that he even signed the painting together with Shishkin.
16. “We didn’t expect it.” Ilya Repin, 1884-1888
Painting by Russian artist Ilya Repin (1844-1930), painted in 1884-1888. It is part of the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery.
The painting shown at the XII traveling exhibition is part of a narrative cycle, dedicated to fate Russian revolutionary populist.
17. “Bal at the Moulin de la Galette”, Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1876.
The picture painted French artist Pierre Auguste Renoir in 1876.
The place where the painting is located is the Musée d’Orsay. Moulin de la Galette is an inexpensive tavern in Montmartre, where students and working youth of Paris gathered.
18. “Starry Night.” Vincent Van Gogh, 1889.
De sterrennacht- a painting by the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh, painted in June 1889, with a view of the pre-dawn sky over a fictional town from the eastern window of the artist’s home in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Since 1941 it has been kept in the Museum contemporary art in New York. Considered one of Van Gogh's best works and one of the most significant works of Western painting.
19. “The Creation of Adam.” Michelangelo, 1511.
Fresco by Michelangelo, painted around 1511. The fresco is the fourth of nine central compositions of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
“The Creation of Adam” is one of the most outstanding compositions of the Sistine Chapel painting. God the Father flies in infinite space, surrounded by wingless angels, with a flowing white tunic. Right hand stretched out towards Adam's hand and almost touches it. Adam's body lying on the green rock gradually begins to move and awakens to life. The entire composition is concentrated on the gesture of two hands. The hand of God gives an impulse, and the hand of Adam receives it, giving vital energy to the whole body. By the fact that their hands do not touch, Michelangelo emphasized the impossibility of connecting the divine and the human. In the image of God, according to the artist’s plan, it is not the miraculous principle that prevails, but gigantic creative energy. In the image of Adam, Michelangelo glorifies the strength and beauty of the human body. In fact, what appears before us is not the creation of man itself, but the moment at which he receives a soul, a passionate search for the divine, a thirst for knowledge.
20. “Kiss in the starry sky.” Gustav Klimt, 1905-1907
Painting by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, painted in 1907-1908. The canvas belongs to the period of Klimt’s work, called “golden”, last piece the author in his “golden period”.
On a rock, on the edge of a flower meadow, in a golden aura, lovers stand completely immersed in each other, fenced off from the whole world. Due to the uncertainty of the place of what is happening, it seems that the couple depicted in the picture is moving into a cosmic state that is not subject to time and space, on the other side of all historical and social stereotypes and cataclysms. Complete solitude and the man's face turned back only emphasize the impression of isolation and detachment in relation to the observer.
Source – Wikipedia, muzei-mira.com, say-hi.me
20 paintings that everyone should know (history of painting) updated: November 23, 2016 by: website
It turns out that other images are hidden under the paintings of some famous artists. Sometimes, if you look closely, they are visible to the naked eye. But more often they are found by art historians while studying paintings by famous masters or by restorers working on restoring paintings. In our review, there are six interesting cases when paintings concealed hidden images.
Answering the question about hidden pictures, scientists note that the reasons for their appearance on famous canvases are different. Sometimes the artist simply did not like the original version, sometimes the painting had to be redrawn due to public opinion, and it also happened that the artists found themselves in a dire financial situation, could not afford to buy a new canvas, and used old ones for their new works.
1. Bust of the monarch in the painting by Jean Auguste Ingres
On the left side of the canvas by the French neoclassical artist Ingres "Portrait of Jacques Marquet, Baron de Montbreton de Norvin" (1811-12), which depicts the chief of police in Rome after the conquest of the city by Napoleon, even with the naked eye you can see a bust of the head of a child. It is believed that this is a bust of the head of Napoleon's son, whom his father proclaimed King of Rome. In 1814, when Napoleon was finally defeated and abdicated the throne, Ingres painted over the painting for political reasons and painted a new one over it.
2. The woman in Picasso’s painting “The Old Guitarist”
Pablo Picasso had a difficult period, when he did not even have money to buy new materials for work. He often primed old canvases and used them to create new paintings. One of the most famous examples of pentimento in the works of Picasso is the painting "The Old Guitarist", in which the painted figure of a woman was discovered.
Art historians had previously noticed a vague outline behind the guitarist’s curved neck, but only by illuminating the picture with X-rays were they able to identify an old image of a woman feeding a small child, with a bull and a sheep next to them.
3. The bearded man in Picasso’s painting “The Blue Room”
Picasso's 1901 painting "The Blue Room" also contains a secret, recently discovered using infrared optical tomography. If you place the picture vertically, under the layer of paint you will find a certain bearded man with many rings on his fingers.
4. Strap on John Singer Sargent's painting "Portrait of Madame X"
"Portrait of Madame X," which is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is considered a style icon due to the lady's simple black clothing, statuesque figure and haughty expression. However, at one time this portrait was considered a scandalous insult to decency and had a very negative impact on the artist's career in Europe.
The woman in the portrait is the famous Parisian socialite Virginie Gautreau. The pallor of her skin, which was considered the standard of beauty at that time, prompted one modern critic calling Gautreau's skin tone "cadaverous". This effect was achieved by taking arsenic. Gautreau also tinted her hair with henna for added contrast. Sargent, to emphasize Gautreau’s unusual beauty, depicted her in a black dress, one of the straps of which fell flirtatiously over her shoulder.
When the portrait was first exhibited at the Paris Salon, the public exploded with indignation because the half-lowered strap was considered very obscene. As a result, Sargent rewrote this detail of the dress, lifting it onto the shoulder.
5. Woman at the window
At the National Gallery in London, during the process of restoring a painting from the 1500s by an unknown artist, an unusual “makeup” was discovered. It turned out that the blonde in the picture is actually a brunette, and the color of her hair was rewritten by the artist over the original. Today the painting has been restored to its original condition and placed in the National Gallery.
6. Whale in Hendrik van Antonissen's "Beach Scene"
When this Dutch painting seventeenth century was donated to the Fitzwilliam Museum, it simply depicted a beach scene. However, art critics were puzzled as to why the painting depicted a crowd gathered near water for no apparent reason. After restoration, under a layer of paint, an image of a whale washed ashore was discovered. The whale is believed to have been painted over for aesthetic reasons in the 18th or 19th centuries.
Art connoisseurs will be interested in learning about.
Great artists not only signed their paintings with flourish, but also painted hidden self-portraits on their creations. Some were so sophisticated that they depicted themselves in a decanter of wine, others simply painted themselves in the crowd, and one of them even painted himself in a female form.
“Bacchus” by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
The painting Bacchus, painted in 1595 by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, depicts the ancient god of wine, inspiration and religious ecstasy. A young guy with leaves and grape berries in his hair languidly holds out a shallow glass of wine to the viewer, as if inviting him to join him. Caravaggio, when creating this picture, wanted to move away from the idealized image of the ancient god - in order to lower Bacchus to the ground, the artist depicted dirt under his nails, and also placed a plate of rotting fruit next to him.
But eternal theme earthly and divine is not the only thing that makes this picture so remarkable. After cleaning the canvas, using reflectography, a self-portrait of Caravaggio was found in the reflection on the glass of the decanter, in the lower left corner. The artist depicted himself working at an easel. Also, after the layers of dust were removed, it became possible to see the reflection of the face of Bacchus on the surface of the wine in the bowl.
“Adoration of the Magi” by Sandro Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli painted the painting “The Adoration of the Magi” around 1475, commissioned by the Florentine banker Gaspare di Zanobe del Lama, a member of the Guild of Arts and Crafts of the city of Florence. Botticelli's creation was intended for the funeral chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella.
For many art historians, this painting is notable for the fact that it contains an image of a whole series of historical characters. For example, the artist depicted his client on the right in a blue robe, pointing at himself and looking directly at the viewer. The eldest of the Magi, who knelt before the baby, is Cosimo de' Medici, founder of the dynasty of rulers of Florence and grandfather of Lorenzo the Magnificent. In the very center, with his back to the viewer, is a man in red clothes, Pietro Medici, son of Cosimo and father of Lorenzo. Lorenzo the Magnificent himself is depicted, according to art critics, in profile, wearing a black and red robe. On the left, in the foreground, with his arms crossed on the hilt of his sword, stands Giuliano de' Medici, brother Lorenzo and the lover of the girl who posed for Botticelli during the creation of the painting “The Birth of Venus”. And finally, the young man on the farthest right, who looks you straight in the eyes, is a self-portrait of Botticelli himself.
The painting can be seen in Florence, in the Uffizi Gallery.
“The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch
“The Garden of Earthly Delights” is a triptych painted by the master of the grotesque Hieronymus Bosch (real name Jeroen Anthony van Aken). Some consider the artist a surrealist of the 15th century, others are sure that Bosch wasfollower of the Cathar heresy, and still others - that the painter’s paintings reflect medieval “esoteric disciplines”: astrology, black magic, and alchemy. Each canvas is soaked a huge amount symbols that are difficult for our contemporaries to count.
The left wing of the triptych depicts God presenting Eve to Adam in a serene Paradise. In the middle of the triptych are scenes from the garden of pleasures, where people and fantasy animals indulge in worldly pleasures. Well, on the right side of the picture there are complex torture machines, monsters and himself, an artist with a body like a shell, who smiles sarcastically at all this Hell.
The painting is kept in the Prado Museum in Madrid.
“The Last Judgment” by Michelangelo
Michelangelo's Last Judgment is depicted on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. The artist worked on the fresco, the main theme of which was the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse, for four years, from 1537 to 1541. Art historians believe that this work ended the Renaissance and opened new period disappointments in the philosophy of anthropocentric humanism.
At the feet of Christ, Michelangelo placed Bartholomew, who can be recognized by the knife in his hand. He holds the flayed skin on which, according to art historians, the artist painted his self-portrait. Some believe that Bartholomew is very similar to Pietro Aretino, Michelangelo's enemy who insulted him. This is how the artist saw his redemption. Others believe that Michelangelo depicted himself on the flayed skin as a sign that he did not want to finish the fresco and carried out this order of the Pope under special duress.
The fresco can be seen in Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican Museum.
“Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci
Created by Leonardo da Vinci, the Mona Lisa is probably the most talked about painting in the whole world. Now it hangs under impenetrable glass in the Louvre, and once decorated Napoleon's bathroom. This creation by da Vinci contains a secret that art critics cannot unravel: some suggest that Gioconda’s grin is the smile of a pregnant woman who caught the movement of the fetus, others that it is the smile of Leonardo’s lover Giacomo Salai, psychiatrists see schizophrenia in the facial expression of Mona Lisa , and dentists are sure that this is the smile of a toothless woman.
Another hypothesis is that the girl depicted with a grin— Leonardo da Vinci himself. A computer comparison of the anatomical features of the face of the artist and the sitter showed that geometrically they match perfectly.You can see this for yourself by comparing the Mona Lisa and da Vinci’s self-portrait, which the artist painted in red pencil.
The painting is in the Louvre, Paris.
“The School of Athens” Raphael Santi
Raphael Santi, creating the fresco “The School of Athens,” depicted everyone on it: the aforementioned Leonardo da Vinci in the image of Plato, and Michelangelo in the image of Heraclitus, and Socrates, and Alexander the Great. Santi did not forget to draw himself next to the painter Sodoma, who began work on the fresco before him. In total, over 50 people are represented in the picture.
The main idea of the fresco “The School of Athens” is the possibility of harmonious agreement between different directions of philosophy and science. By the way, this concept is one of the the most important ideas humanists. Raphael Santi, under the arches of the Vatican Palace, depicted essentially an ideal community of thinkers of the classical era. In the center of the composition are Aristotle and Plato, who personify ancient wisdom and represent two schools of philosophy.
The fresco is located in the Vatican Palace.
“Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple” by Jan van Eyck
“Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple” by Jan van Eyck is another difficult-to-interpret Renaissance painting – debate about who is depicted in it continues to this day. The most common version is that the artist painted the merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife on the canvas - presumably in their house in Bruges.
But what interests us most in this work is not the characters in the foreground, but who is depicted in the mirror on the wall, which is located on the central axis of the composition, directly above the hands of the characters. If you look closely, you will see figures from the back in red and blue suits. Judging by the silhouettes of their clothes, they are a man and a woman. Unfortunately, the features of their faces are impossible to make out. Most art historians are confident that the inscription above the mirror, which reads “Jan van Eyck was here,” directly indicates that one of those standing on the threshold of the room is the artist himself.
The painting is inLondon National Gallery.
