Donated by Aikaterini Rodokanaki in 1907, “Madonna and Child and Saint John the Baptist in a Landscape” could be associated with a series of paintings dating from the late 1620s, painted after Jan Brueghel the Elder’s depictions of the Holy Family in an idyllic wooded landscape. In this painting, we can see the Virgin and Child, accompanied by Saint John the Baptist as a child; seven cupids carry baskets of flowers and fruit (week of 3 September). The scene is set in a heavenly landscape of flowers, trees, small animals (week of 7 September), and birds flying over a river on the left.
As was the case with his father, most of these religious works by Jan Brueghel the Younger were produced with the help of Hendrik van Balen I (Antwerp 1575 – Antwerp 1632), Brueghel’s permanent collaborator, who was tasked with painting the figures in such compositions.
The painting in the Evripidis Koutlidis Collection depicts the vernissage day at the Palais des Champs-Elysees, or Palace of Industry, built for the 1855 World Fair in competition with London’s Crystal Palace. The 1878 and 1889 World Fairs, the Salon from 1857 on, and other exhibitions, horse races, and other events were held there until its demolition in 1897 to make room for the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, which would host the 1900 World Fair.
This is a group portrait surrounded by sculpture exhibits, featuring some of the most prominent artists of the Third Republic, including Bouguereau, Puvis de Chavannes, Bonnat, Gerome, Roll, Carolus Duran, Harpignies, and the author Alexandre Dumas. Sculptors Dalou and Rodin, alongside Gustave Larroumet, can be seen talking near Alfred Boucher’s sculpture “To the Finishing Line” (“Au But”). Ιn the foreground on the right can be seen Auguste Cain’s sculpture “A Tigress Feeding Her Cubs” (“Tigresse apportant un paon a ses petits”). To the right of the composition is depicted the artist and his wife.
This painting documents, not only the social and artistic life of the time, but also the building itself, as it preserves its architecture, famous for its iron construction. The scene takes place underneath the arched glass roof and before the iron interior and the imposing stained-glass window depicted in the background.
The still life at the National Gallery is one of the few signed and dated works by this artist. The work is an example of Linard’s first period. We see a wooden table, on which a pewter plate has been placed, set against a dark background, and on which are arranged peaches, plums and pears in a pyramidal configuration. The velvety and fleshy texture of the fruit, the cold feel emanating from the metal combined with the hard surface of the table, create the impression of a real scene. The composition is thus characterized by the harmonious blending of cold and warm colors and balanced shapes. The credibility of the image is further intensified by the piece of paper in the middle of the table on which the artist has signed and dated the work. The manner in which this is presented nailed on one side and slightly ripped from the second nail, that was supposed to hold it, as well as its detailed description is reminiscent of another kind of painting that also developed in the 17th century, namely trompe-l-oeil.
This charming portrait is a characteristic example of the painter’s work, especially popular during the era she lived in, when it became the fashion and was eagerly sought by European Courts and aristocratic circles. These attractive portraits are today viewed by some with a fair amount of irony because of their flimsy manner and superficial content, but they also mirrors, to a degree, the spirit of her time and they also constitute an original and purely Venetian form of creation.
Contrary to most of her predecessors and contemporaries, who were not specialized portrait painters, Carriera did specialize in this kind of work, one she was notably successful at. The beautiful woman depicted in this painting, with her ethereal charm and expressive glance, holding a mask in her hands, powerfully brings to mind the feel of the atmosphere of Venice and its inhabitants’ love of festivals, highlighted by their unique Carnival.
An appealing as well as seminal work, this painting marks the beginning of Greek portraiture. A painting by an unknown to us artist beckons us to visit a young Greek painter’s studio. He is wearing a characteristic costume of the Greek islands, sitting in front of his easel, adding the finishing touches to a male portrait. The sitter, a youth dressed in occidental clothes with a bow-tie is upright, examining his likeness in the painting. Another young man, probably an apprentice painter, also wearing an island costume and cap, is comparing the sitter and his image in order to evaluate the verisimilitude. These may well be young students of the recently established School of Arts, practicing the new genre of portraiture.
Brauner, surrealist painter, Romanian of Jewish origin sought in his images to reply to the question “What is the meaning of Being?” His overall outlook is based on Empedocles’ On Nature, according to which heads without a neck, arms without shoulders, and eyes without a face wandered on earth, until two superior laws, Love and Hate, collected these haphazard pieces and composed either monsters or divine creatures. In Brauner’s work, these creatures sometimes keep a different self, often a heterogeneous one – of a different sex, or a different kind of species – hidden within themselves, or seek one, with which to unite.
Employing the language of symbols of his religion, or of other ethnic religions (such as those of South America), of Mexican or Indian art, the artist provides the key for deciphering his images
