Posts Tagged ‘ The National Gallery ’

‘As Quatro Alegorias do Amor’, de Paolo Veronese

Com Ticiano [ca.1490 –  1576] e Tintoretto [1518 – 1594], Paolo Veronese [Verona , 1528 – Veneza , 19 Abril 1588] integra  “o grande trio que dominou a pintura veneziana do século XVI”.

O último quartel do século XVI foi de intensa actividade para a oficina de Veronese, com um conspícuo trabalho para a igreja e aristocracia veneziana, expresso em grandes retratos e também formatos menores dedicados a temas mitológicos ou alegóricos, retirados da literatura clássica, com claras alusões eróticas e sensuais. Exemplos dessas produções são a Criação de Eva ( Art Institute of Chicago ), O Rapto de Europa (Palácio Ducal em Veneza) e Moisés salvo das águas (Museu do Prado em Madrid).

Também desse período são as famosas Quatro Alegorias do Amor (ca. 1575) , inicialmente fazendo parte de um único conjunto decorativo de um tecto, ou vários, e que actualmente pertencem à National Gallery em Londres.


‘Penitente Madalena’, de Georges de La Tour

La Madeleine é um dos temas favoritos de Georges de La Tour [14 Março 1593 – 30 Janeiro 1652]. Existem quatro pinturas originais com um esquema de composição idêntico: ‘Madalena Arrependida’(1635-40) – National Gallery em Washington, Madalena à luz da noite’ (1640-45) – Museu do Louvre, esta ‘Penitente Madalena’ (ca. 1640) – Museu Metropolitan em Nova York, e Madalena com chama fumegante (1635-37) – County Museum em Los Angeles.


‘Surprised!’, de Henri Rousseau

Henri Rousseau [21 Maio 1844 – 2 Setembro 1910] – Surprised!, 1891


Henri Rousseau – Surprised!, 1891 Oil on canvas, 129.8 x 161.9 cm
The National Gallery

‘Calais Pier’, by William Turner

J.M. William Turner [23 Apr 1775 – 19 Dec 1851]

«Calais Pier, with French Poissards preparing for Sea: an English Packet arriving», 1803
Tate Gallery, London

A cross-channel ferry (a packet), fully laden with passengers and flying a British flag, is approaching the port of Calais. Around it, small French fishing boats (‘poissards’) head out to sea. The water is rough and dark storm clouds gather, although a shaft of sunlight breaks through to illuminate the white sail in the centre of the picture. In the lower right foreground, a small fishing boat is trying to get away to avoid being battered against the pier. The scene looks chaotic and there is a risk of collision.

Turner’s painting is based on an actual event he experienced, when he travelled from Dover to Calais in 1802 on his first trip abroad and was ‘nearly swampt‘ in a storm at sea. Although it had a mixed response when first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1803, the critic John Ruskin declared it to be the first painting to show signs of ‘Turner’s colossal power’.

‘The Adoration of the Kings’, by Jan Gossaert

Merry Christmas with Jan Gossaert‘s ‘The Adoration of the Kings’

‘Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba’, by Claude Lorrain

From Claude Lorrain [1604/5 – 23 November 1682], French painter of the Baroque period, ‘Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba’, 1648


Two paintings by Claude, Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba and Landscape with the Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca, are known as the ‘Bouillon Claudes’ because they were made for Frédéric-Maurice, Duc de Bouillon (1605–1652), a French general in the papal army in Rome. They were completed in 1648 and remained in the Bouillon family throughout the eighteenth century. They even escaped seizure during the French Revolution, despite Bouillon’s successor being imprisoned in 1794 and his property confiscated.

Although documents survive to tell us these paintings were commissioned as a pair, the scenes belong to different biblical stories. They are, however, harmonious in the subjects they depict. Each explores the relationship between men and women, whether during a wedding celebration or because of a journey that brings friendship. There is a contrast between the bustling urban seaport and the peaceful countryside. The central activity of each painting is framed by either buildings or trees, with the sea or a substantial river in the background. Via The National Gallery.

‘Le Musée du Havre’, de Claude Monet

Embora no início da década de 1870 Claude Monet [14 Novembro 1840 – 5 Dezembro 1926] vivesse preferencialmente em Argenteuil, viajava frequentemente para a sua terra natal Le Havre, na Costa da Normandia. O Museu de Belas Artes, tema desta obra de 1873, foi destruído durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Claude Monet – ‘The Museum at Le Havre, 1873
The National Gallery, London

Christ Mocked (The Crowning with Thorns) – Hieronymus Bosch

Four torturers surround Christ, pressing towards him, while he looks out at us. Bosch’s picture emphasises the contrast between the brutality of the tormentors and the mild, suffering Christ. Its emotional intensity is achieved in a variety of ways. The half-length figures create a sense of proximity, and the lack of recession in the painting makes it appear very claustrophobic. From the centre of the picture Christ seems to appeal to us to share in his suffering.

The characterisations here are not just grotesque, but reflect specific ideas. Christ’s torturers were often referred to as savage beasts, which may explain why the man at the top right appears to wear a spiked dog collar. The figure at the lower left has a crescent moon of Islam and yellow star of the Jews on his head-dress, which mark him as an opponent of Christianity.

Via The National Gallery and Google Arts & Culture

‘As Banhistas’, de Paul Cézanne

O tema de As Banhistas, em que composições figurativas se fundem com a paisagem, foi um dos conceitos que Cézanne [19 Janeiro 1839 – 22 Outubro 1906] desenvolveu ao longo da sua carreira artística, durante a qual reinterpretou várias versões e em diversos formatos o tema da mitologia clássica, procurando estabelecer uma ruptura com as possibilidades de representação pictórica e, simultaneamente, criar obras de valor intemporal.

Os corpos femininos nus de As Banhistas não foram incluídos pela sua beleza mas pela harmonia entre as figuras e a paisagem. A obra assumiu um papel  inspirador durante o despontar do cubismo, nomeadamente para Picasso e Matisse.

Paul Cézanne, 1839 – 1906 | Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses) – about 1894-1905
nationalgallery.org.uk

A execução de Lady Jane Grey

Os últimos momentos de Jane Grey, bisneta de Henrique VII, proclamada Rainha de Inglaterra após a morte de Eduardo VI, tal como ela, protestante. Vítima de uma conspiração dos partidários de Mary Tudor, a filha católica de Henrique VIII, foi condenada à morte na Torre de Londres, por alta traição.
Pode ser vista até domingo na The National Gallery, Londres.

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey - Paul Delaroche, 1833

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