Contemporary, portrait, landscape, painting, best, top ten, paintings, oil, artist, artists, gallery, life, figure, graphite, sketch, Snowdonia, drawings, pencil, Art, geometry, composition, Master, Masterpiece, Welsh, Wales
A while ago I mentioned how disappointed I had been in the Velasquez room at the Prado. Not 'Las Meninas' of course (which was one of his later works, painted in 1656), but all the boring royal portraits.
So here's a posting which attempts to give a more balanced view of this great painter.
He has been called the greatest European painter ever, and while I personally would not go that far, he is, without doubt, in the very, very top league of world artists. (No apologies to the post-modernists who wish to dismiss all 'hierarchies', particularly hierarchies relating to relative quality).
Nevertheless, I've always loved his work, since I first encountered it as a teenager.
The particular painting that I would include in my Top Twenty Artworks is one of his early works, made before he moved to Madrid, the 'Old Woman Frying Eggs'.
'Old Woman Frying Eggs'
Diego Velazquez, 1618, National Gallery of Scotland.
I certainly don't think of this as a perfect painting, but I love it's direct realism, and I find it very interesting.
Although it is a relatively early work, it is very powerful and realistic, and uses the strong chiaroscuro which is seen in the work of other Baroque artists, particularly Caravaggio.
Although it is a relatively early work, it is very powerful and realistic, and uses the strong chiaroscuro which is seen in the work of other Baroque artists, particularly Caravaggio.
Q: Did Velazquez (like Caravaggio is suspected to have done) use a camera obscura? It certainly has the feel of a work which has been collaged - which can be a characteristic 'look' of a painting which has been made using some variation of lens media, (this collaged look is caused because the camera obscura can only display a smallish image, - but the artist can then position this small image alongside other smallish images to build up a large painting).
See, for example, the way the woman appears to be almost looking towards the lad, - but not quite (i.e, past him, not at him). It suggests that they were seen in isolation, and then put together.
Here are a few of the other, wonderfully painted details....
See, for example, the way the woman appears to be almost looking towards the lad, - but not quite (i.e, past him, not at him). It suggests that they were seen in isolation, and then put together.
Here are a few of the other, wonderfully painted details....
And here's another interesting point, - I'm pretty sure that this young boy appears in a few of Velazquez's other paintings of the same period. (I don't know the story of this young chap, but I'll try to find out at some point). In the meantime here's a couple of paintings which seem to include the same boy.....,
These are 'The Lunch', 'The Three Musicians', and the 'Waterseller of Seville' .....and note that all these paintings were produced in the same brief period, between 1617 - 1620.
They all have a realistic and fairly detailed approach, compared to his later paintings. (It's a cliché that artists working in the naturalistic arena often paint in a more precise manner in their early works, and progressively get looser as the years go by).
quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz “details, details............” quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz
In which painting do we find this, and who painted it?
(The answer will be in the next posting.)
And here's the answer from the last posting -
by Georges Seurat, 1884, Art Institute of Chicago
quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz “details, details............” quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz
"Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation."
Henri Cartier-Bresson
. . and now, a Recommended Read . .
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Music
Click here to find a few songs on YouTube, and I'll add more as time goes by.
Music
Beyond painting, my other preoccupation is music - particularly songwriting.
I've recently started, just for fun, linking the two preoccupations together, by featuring a few paintings along with one of my recorded songs. If you have a spare minute, you're welcome to take a look. . .
These songs can also be found on (and downloaded from) iTunes, Spotify, CDBaby, and many other platforms, - (my intention is to upload a different song each month)
Also in the last period I've been recording some songs with some friends - have a listen here if you have the time.
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August 1914
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Vintage Classics
Vintage Classics
I know that I've recommended a Solzhenitsyn before, but this book is so good it is also worth sharing at the risk of being (almost) repetitive. I've been trying to figure out what is so impressive about his writing, and I think I've come to the conclusion that it is because his writing is so 'simple'. Not in terms of breadth of vision, or characterisation, or the great sweep of events, or 'plot', etc. Just that he writes in such an unpretentious, uncluttered, style-free way.
Although he is telling us about something that is incredibly complex and subtle, he relates it in the most direct manner possible. He's just saying what happened. Great.
Although he is telling us about something that is incredibly complex and subtle, he relates it in the most direct manner possible. He's just saying what happened. Great.
In the first month of the First World War the Russian campaign against the Germans creaks into gear. Crippled by weak, indecisive leadership the Russian troops battle desperately, even as the inevitability of failure and their own sacrifice dawns. Solzhenitsyn’s astounding work of historical fiction is a portrait of pre-revolutionary Russia, a tragic war story, and an epic novel in the great Russian tradition.
Review from Amazon.
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