Painted by Pablo Picasso (Malaga 1881 – Mougins 1973) in 1939, “Female Head” was donated by the artist to the Greek people in honour of its brave resistance during the Nazi occupation; it formed part of the French Artist’s Donation, made on the initiative of the Milliex couple in the aftermath of the War. It is a portrait of the photographer Dora Maar, Picasso’s companion between 1936 and 1943, as evidenced by the fact that this painting can be seen in a photograph by her from the studio at Royan, in 1940, where they retreated when Paris was occupied by the German army.
Dora Maar documented as a photographer the complete production process of the Guernica; her personality provided Picasso with the model for “the weeping woman”. Two and a half years after “Guernica”, the same attitude towards colour is noted in “Female Head”, conveying the pessimist mood prevalent during World War II.
This excellent work, acquired in 2002 by the National Gallery, may be considered as one of Volanakis’ most free “impressionistic” achievements. Painted in Munich, it depicts fishermen pulling the nets at sunrise. The boat and the fishermen are shown as silhouettes, as the light is coming from behind, from the background. The sky and the waves are flooded with light, which is rendered in orange and violet tones. The brushwork is free, and the entire work pulsates with life.
The “Crucifixion” of Christ and the two thieves, the good and the bad, was painted by Andreas Pavias in the latter half of the 15th century, using egg tempera on a wood panel, that is, adhering to the traditional Byzantine iconography process.
The scene is dramatically narrated in many episodes, against a flat golden background. Reminding us that we are dealing with an idealistic rather than a realistic painting, in Byzantine art the golden background denotes the sky; the figures are divine, transcendental, existing outside of time and place, in the infinite space-time. The figures seem lit from within themselves rather than by an external source of light. The scene is arranged in three levels, leading the eye upward, without perspective or depth. On the bottom left is depicted the resurrection of the dead, who can be seen rising from their graves; on the right hand side, the painter has portrayed the soldiers, playing dice for Christ’s crimson robe. In the middle ground, there is the colourful crowd, witnessing the tragic event; the main scene shows the Madonna fainting, supported by the Holy Women and St John, while St Magdalene is throwing her arms around the Holy Cross in lament. A colourful crowd in exotic costumes and hats, horses and a wealth of details complete the scene. On the upper, third section, in which the crosses with the bodies of Christ and the two thieves are portrayed, angels are flying about, in deep lamentation, while others are collecting the Saviour’s sacred blood in chalices. In the background on the left, an angular building structure evokes the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There is a multitude of always meaningful detail, such as the stork above the Holy Cross, piercing its own breast in order to feed its young ones – a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice in order to save Humanity from the original sin.
The Cretan artist Nikolaos Kounelakis studied in St Petersburg but lived and worked in Florence, where he was inspired by the great masters of the Renaissance, such as Raffaello, as well as the neoclassicism of his contemporary French artist Ingres, also related to Florence. Both artists, Raffaello and Ingres, sought to capture the ideal figure.
Zoe Kambani was the artist’s fiancee. She is shown putting her engagement ring around her finger, against a solid dark background, her eyes dreamy, as if lost in tender anticipation of love. An opened love letter on the table with the flower vase is the only additional element in the painting. The girl’s comely face, softly modelled, and her plain blue dress underline the classical character of the work.
“Psyche” (ca. 1880-1882) by the Victorian symbolist painter and sculptor George Frederic
Watts (London 1817 – 1904), is a gift of Alexandros K. Ionidis, a great collector of British society, as was his father, Konstantinos Ionidis-Iplixis, and a personal friend of the artist’s.
Psyche was a beautiful mortal maiden, and the goddess Aphrodite was so envious of her beauty that she sent her son Eros to poison with his arrows all men, preventing them from falling in love with her. Yet, Eros himself fell in love with her and, as Psyche being mortal was not permitted to face an immortal, he led her to a palace where he came to visit her only at night, in the dark, without her ever being able to see him. Yet, Psyche, full of curiosity about her obscure husband, one evening while he was sleeping took a lamp and went to see his face. She was astounded by Eros’s beauty and dropped oil from the lamp on him and woke him up. Angered by her curiosity, he left. In regret, she looked for him everywhere and, after many trials, with the help of Zeus, who made her immortal, reunited with Eros for ever.
In Watt’s work (a different version of the work in the Tate Gallery, inv. no. 1585), the only hints for the story of Psyche are the feather on her foot, the lamp fallen on the ground, and the bed in the background. On the contrary, the idealized “impersonal” slim and tall nude female figure personifies pure divine eros.
This work was purchased by the National Gallery in 1996, after it was presented at the exhibition “El Greco in Italy and Italian Art”. Despite the fact that the original attribution given in the exhibition catalogue was to Jacopo Tintoretto, it subsequently came into question, and the curator of the Western European collection at the time, Angela Tamvaki, decided, after considerable research, that the work should be attributed to his workshop; the work itself was still purchased, because of its quality. Furthermore, it is well-known that Tintoretto, trying to deal with the multitude of commissions he received, had put together a large workshop with many assistants and fellow workers, among whom were his sons Domenico and Marco, and his daughter Marietta.
In terms of style, the work is a characteristic example of Venetian painting from the second half of the 16th century. It is a diagonal composition dominated by a figure twisting and sweeping ahead. The light falls on the face and the body brilliantly and drenches the dark ends of the hair, which is held in place by a piece of gold jewellery decorated with precious gems at the back part of the head. The ornamentation of the figure is comleted by necklace and ear-rings, both of pearl. The overcoat, decorated with leaf designs, falls in undulations, creating movement in the saint’s otherwise devout attitude. The brushstroke is quick and broad. The figure itself is depicted without details while, conversely, the moulding of the flesh is more sensual. Despite its small size, the painting is characterized by the same monumental and sculptural temperament one finds in Tintoretto’s works.
Since this is a fragment of a larger composition, it is not certain if the depicted figure should be identified with this specific saint or not. The halo on her head and her devout attitude bear witness to the fact that this not a secular but rather a religious figure, and in keeping with the fashion of that period in Venice, she is depicted as an aristocrat, wearing resplendent garments.
Ιn contrast to his Impressionist friends, Fantin-Latour evinced no inclination to work in the open air; he was a painter of the atelier. His early still life works, from the 1860s, were austere depictions of fruit and flowers. He frequently, as in the present painting, placed the table at an oblique angle, cutting off the corners, thus making the image more dynamic and worked it in a way that it was viewed from a slightly elevated angle. In the still life at the National Gallery, which is made up of flowers, most probably pelargoniums (flowers from the geranium family) and summer fruit, the objects are arranged lengthwise along two parallel lines formed in relationship to the table’s far corners; the vase placed behind the fruit is, in reality, the composition’s vertical axis. The white “spots” that represent the flowers, the plates and the sugar are set in contrast to the vivid colors of the fruit, the dark tone of the wood set against the tepid grey background. The melon sliced open and the fully-ripened strawberries arouse the sense of taste while the gleaming cherries, apparently freshly picked, and the sugar, encourage one to sample the fruit. The simplicity of this still life, austere but at the same time provocative, in terms of the sense of taste, is an example of a subtle quest, of an admirable blending of material, painting surface and shadow. The black vase and the table made of wood, with an exceptionally glossy polish, is often seen in this painter’s still life works with fruit and flowers which he did the same year (National Gallery, Washington D.C. and The Metropolitan Museum of New York).
