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Leander’s Tower on the Bosporus
Oil on canvas, 1876, by Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823 – 1880) There is a sense of undeserved nostalgia which resonates from this dreamy...
Aug 6, 20205 min read
57 views


Caravaggio's David and Goliath
David and Goliath Oil on canvas, 1599, by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 – 1610) David with the Head of Goliath Oil on wood,...
Aug 2, 20208 min read
76 views


Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife
Oil on canvas, 1640, by Paolo Finoglia (1590 – 1645) or 1623, by Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 – 1656) That there is some debate over the...
Jul 26, 20207 min read
78 views


Cranes
Pair of two-panel folding screens; ink, colour, and gold on paper, 1825, by Suzuki Kiitsu (1796 - 1858) Left panel Right panel These two...
Jun 28, 20205 min read
38 views


Saint Sebastian by Régnier
Saint Sebastian Oil on canvas, 1620, by Nicolas Régnier (1591–1667) Saint Sebastian Oil on canvas, 1620, by Nicolas Régnier (1591–1667)...
Jun 22, 20205 min read
132 views


Requiescat
Oil on canvas, 1888, by Briton Rivière (1840 – 1920) This heart-wrenching painting by the British painter, Briton Rivière could arguably...
Jun 14, 20206 min read
58 views


Piazza San Marco, Venice
Oil on canvas, 1734, by Canaletto (1697 – 1768) Global pandemics permitting, you happen to be in Italy, seeing the sights, indulging in...
Jun 7, 20206 min read
31 views


Three Paintings by Degas
Singer with a Glove Pastel on canvas, 1878 by Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917) The Rehearsal Oil on canvas, 1878 Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917)...
May 29, 20206 min read
27 views


Three Pairs of Shoes
Oil on canvas, 1887 by Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890) Would the mighty Roman empire have risen if it were not for the fact that Roman...
May 25, 20205 min read
20 views


A Sea-Spell
Oil on canvas, 1877, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882) We learn from Homer’s The Odyssey how the mythical Sirens posed yet another...
May 17, 20205 min read
35 views


Miss Alice Kurtz
Oil on canvas, 1903, by Thomas Eakins (1844 – 1916) Yet another artist misunderstood, under-appreciated and falling foul of the...
May 10, 20204 min read
75 views


Images (V0l. 5) - Cecil Beaton Images
The whole point of Camp is to dethrone the serious. Camp is playful, anti-serious. More precisely, Camp involves a new, more complex...
May 6, 20205 min read
25 views


The Abduction of Psyche
Oil on canvas, 1895, by William-Adoplhe Bouguereau (1825–1905) Poor old Psyche has been put through the ringer by the time her depiction...
May 3, 20205 min read
202 views


The Punishment of Cain
Oil on canvas, 1836, by Théodore Chassériau, (1819 – 1856) There are some fundamental “problems” with the parable of Cain and Abel which...
Apr 26, 20204 min read
47 views


Images (Vol. 3) - Steichen Images
In photography’s early decades, photographs were expected to be idealized images. This is still the aim of most amateur photographers,...
Apr 14, 20205 min read
31 views


Images (Vol. 2) - Appropriated Images
The idea of bricolage - of what I would call "purposed appropriation" - can be summarised as follows: "All systems fall on a continuum...
Apr 7, 20202 min read
49 views


Images (Vol. 1) - Black Images
He - Antoine-Henri Becquerel - noted that when uranium salts were left on a photographic plate sealed in paper, an energy from the salts...
Apr 1, 20202 min read
17 views


Grisly Reflections
Lucian Freud: The Self-Portraits, Museum of Fine Art, Boston (March - May 2020) This week has presented one of contrasting perspectives...
Mar 6, 20208 min read
38 views


Venus Mourning the Death of Adonis
Venus Mourning the Death of Adonis Oil on panel, 1646, by Bartholomeus Breenbergh (1598 – 1657) Reclining Male Nude Oiled charcoal and...
Mar 1, 20206 min read
79 views


Saint Jerome at the Fogg Museum
Saint Jerome Oil on canvas, 1640, by Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) Saint Jerome in the Desert with Saints John the Baptist and Ansanus...
Feb 24, 20205 min read
19 views
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