“The eye must be opened to the true and wondrous life of nature, and the hand must be trained to do the soul’s bidding quickly, easily, and beautifully. This alone can be the aim of instruction in any of the pictorial arts.” Carl Gustav Carus, Nine Letters on Landscape Painting, Letter VIII. Johan Christian Dahl’sContinue reading “Johan Christian Dahl (1788–1857): Two Landscapes through Windows”
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Raphael (1483–1520): Drawings for the Vault of the Stanza di Eliodoro
The drawings considered here converge around Raphael’s decoration of the vault of the Stanza di Eliodoro. Their significance lies not only in the light they cast on the completed frescoes, but also in what they reveal about Raphael’s working practice, his movement between projects, his responsiveness to different visual sources and his adaptation of drawingContinue reading “Raphael (1483–1520): Drawings for the Vault of the Stanza di Eliodoro”
Giovanni Lanfranco (1582–1647) and the Reworking of the Annunciation
A group of three related Annunciations by Giovanni Lanfranco seems to trace the reworking of a successful invention: the small copper now in the Hermitage, the large canvas in Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle in Paris, and the later altarpiece in the Costaguti Chapel of Santi Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari in Rome. The precise dating of the HermitageContinue reading “Giovanni Lanfranco (1582–1647) and the Reworking of the Annunciation”
Rue Scribe: Giuseppe Casciaro (1861–1941) and an Italian Network in Paris
Giuseppe Casciaro’s association with Paris appears to have developed earlier than has often been assumed. Vito Carbonara notes that, in 1889, Pio Enea Cugeno referred to works by the young painter as already exhibited, or intended for exhibition, in the French capital. A further indication appears in April 1891, when the Gazzetta delle Puglie reportedContinue reading “Rue Scribe: Giuseppe Casciaro (1861–1941) and an Italian Network in Paris”
Corot: A Girl Reading
A young woman sits absorbed in a small book, her head inclined towards its pages in quiet concentration. Corot has reduced the setting to little more than a subdued arrangement of warm browns and ochres, relieved by the white of her blouse and the open pages before her, while the deep red of her jacketContinue reading “Corot: A Girl Reading”
Luca Giordano (1634–1705) at the Casón del Buen Retiro: The Alegoría del Toisón de Oro and the Last Habsburg Court
Luca Giordano was born in Naples on 18 October 1634, the son of Antonio Giordano and Isabella Imparato. According to Maria Giovanna Sarti, his father was a picture dealer of Puglian origin and also a modest painter, and seems to have introduced him early to the practical world of painting. Although the sources report anContinue reading “Luca Giordano (1634–1705) at the Casón del Buen Retiro: The Alegoría del Toisón de Oro and the Last Habsburg Court”
Meiffren Conte (c. 1630–1705) and the splendour of still life
Meiffren Conte and the splendour of still life Meiffren Conte, also found as Comte, Le Conte or Lecointe, was born in Marseille around 1630 and died there in 1705. He belongs to a later seventeenth-century world in which still life was no longer confined to modest arrangements of fruit, flowers or household objects. In hisContinue reading “Meiffren Conte (c. 1630–1705) and the splendour of still life”
Giovanni Andrea Donducci, detto il Mastelletta (1575–1655): Sacred Stories, Private Pictures and Imagined Landscapes
Giovanni Andrea Donducci, detto il Mastelletta Giovanni Andrea Donducci, called il Mastelletta, was born in Bologna in 1575 and died there in 1655. His career belongs to one of the most crowded and difficult moments in Bolognese painting: the period after the Carracci reform, when the city’s painters were working under the shadow of Ludovico,Continue reading “Giovanni Andrea Donducci, detto il Mastelletta (1575–1655): Sacred Stories, Private Pictures and Imagined Landscapes”
Ettore Cumbo (1833–1899): Still Life and Quiet Refinement
Ettore Cumbo: Natura morta con uva Ettore Cumbo is a painter whose career sits slightly to one side of the usual regional narratives of nineteenth-century Italian art. He was born in Messina in 1833, but Gioacchino Barbera, in his entry for the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, describes him as Roman by adoption. He lived inContinue reading “Ettore Cumbo (1833–1899): Still Life and Quiet Refinement”
Cecco del Caravaggio: the rejected Resurrection
Cecco del Caravaggio remains one of the most elusive figures in the immediate wake of Caravaggio. He is usually identified with Francesco Boneri, or Buoneri, probably from Bergamo, and is repeatedly described as a painter unusually close to Caravaggio, perhaps even active around him as a model. The documents remain sparse, and the name itselfContinue reading “Cecco del Caravaggio: the rejected Resurrection”
Inner Surfaces 