24 Nov 2010
Why do artists fib?
The secrecy with which artists create is an enduring topos but not one that those interpreting art pay much heed to. The stories that are particularly intriguing are the ones in which artists seem about to explain their meaning only to end up mi
23 Nov 2010
Art and Eckhart
“Knowledge of Meister Eckhart’s work is indispensable to the understanding of medieval art, even though he has been almost totally neglected by those who like to call themselves ‘historians of art.’”
So wro
21 Nov 2010 | 2 Comments
Basquiat in Paris
Basquiat at the Musée de L’Art Moderne in Paris is well worth seeing for anyone who wants to come to grips with this difficult artist. It is amazing to see how much one man can produce in a short time, especially if one considers that what’
19 Nov 2010
Bronzino’s Ginger Hair
No-one knows how Agnolo di Cosimo gained his nickname, Bronzino, but the general view seems to be, without any evidence, that he may have had a dark complexion. Yet how about the color of his hair? A portrait of Bronzino by an unknown painter sh
17 Nov 2010
Bronzino’s Mirror
I just discovered a self-portrait of Bronzino that I did not know. According to the catalogue for the current exhibition in Florence and earlier scholars too, Bronzino depicted himself in a religious painting as the poet-king David (above right)
10 Nov 2010
Gauguin’s Method
I was reading about Gauguin today and his own explanation of The Vision after the Sermon: Jacob Wrestling with the Angel. It struck me that if I was trying to explain this image I would say the same: that the figures in the foreground represent
08 Nov 2010
The Reincarnation of Great Masters
Two recent entries, Manet's Croquet at Boulogne on the website and his Copy of Tintoretto's Self-Portrait posted on this blog, have both discussed the feeling, quite common among great artists, that they are reincarna
05 Nov 2010
Dante Pops Up Again!
No art historian has yet commented, positively or otherwise, on how the presence of Dante’s profile in Michelangelo’s Last Judgement makes sense within the overall concept that Michelangelo himself pronounced: “every painter paints himself
05 Nov 2010
Manet as Tintoretto
A large number of Manet's early copies after other masters are either self-portraits or depictions of other artists. Art is often the apparent subject. One of his copies is Tintoretto's Self-Portrait (above), of which Carol Armstrong, a Manet sp
01 Nov 2010
Basquiat as Boone as Warhol
I just finished writing an entry on Jean-Michel Basquiat's strange portrait of Mary Boone when I realized I had missed something. It's an example of, no matter how much you see in truly poetic art, there is always something more. In this case, I
31 Oct 2010
Analyzing Freud and the Queen
Britain's press went nuts when Lucian Freud gave the Queen a tiny portrait of herself, just 9" x 6", and notably ugly at that. She had spent hours posing for him over 19 months. She could not have been amused. Now we reveal on the site, for
30 Oct 2010
The Frick’s Fiction
The Frick Collection's Portrait of Philip IV by Velazquez is described as one of the best portraits he ever painted. It is indeed magnificent and has just opened as a one-painting exhibition, accompanied by new explanations of what
27 Oct 2010 | 2 Comments
Van Gogh’s Nose
Noses are important in art history. Ovid's middle name was Nose, or naso in Italian, and his Metamorphoses were for centuries artistic fodder for painters and sculptors alike. Maybe that's why Michelangelo was so interested in his own nose, tell
27 Oct 2010 | 2 Comments
Van Gogh’s Eyes
Cruising along the Lungotevere on a Vespa I had time to admire the vast self-portrait of Vincent on the back of a Roman tour bus. The poster, promoting yet another one-man show of his work, had a glorious reproduction of the artist in which ever
25 Oct 2010
Pamela H. Smith’s Body of the Artisan
Much of the new information on this website, the revelations that surprise, come not from literature, art historical writing or aesthetic theory, but from visual images themselves. It may seem odd but I learnt much of what I know by studying Edo
21 Oct 2010
Inner Tradition Reading List
Here, as promised, is a highly subjective Introductory Reading List for those who would like to learn more about The Inner Tradition, that strain of thought common to mystics in all religions that believes divinity is inside us, not out. It is i
19 Oct 2010
Wisdom in the Chilean Dark
Everyone has their own memorable moment in the story of the Chilean miners. Mine came after the first few of the buried men arrived on the surface. One declared in translation: “Underground, I was with God and the Devil. They fought each o
09 Oct 2010
Rembrandt’s “Weakness”
Using short entries to explain art, we do not get much chance to quote the opinions of others striking the same chord. Hence this new segment called Quotations. Much of the time the quotes will point out a great master's "weakness", the type
07 Oct 2010
Bronzino in Florence
The current show of Bronzino’s paintings at Palzzo Strozzi in Florence is a marvel, beautifully organized and arranged. With 70 Bronzinos, a room-full of portraits and vast tapestries designed by the master, it is a sumptuous display
05 Oct 2010
Painting Himself
I'm always on the look-out for contemporary artists who fit the mold and many do. Cindy Sherman, for instance, has made a career out of photographing herself as other people. Then along comes Liu Bolin. As you can see from the image above, h
30 Sep 2010
Mona Lisa’s Bad Hair Day
After breakfast this morning I read an article on Tudor coinage – God knows why –but what a lucky break! Who would ever have thought that England’s Bloody Mary and the Mona Lisa would have anything in common? But, first, some backgro
29 Sep 2010
Rubens’ Commander is Rubens
A Rubens was recently sold at Christies described as Portrait of a Commander, three-quarter-length, being dressed for battle though any keen user of this site would recognize the image as Portrait of Rubens as a Commander being painted by two of
26 Sep 2010
Face It! Anthea is Parmigianino
Fifteen years ago a computer scientist named Lillian Schwartz published her discovery that the proportions of the Mona Lisa’s face matched those of Leonardo in his famous Self-Portrait almost exactly, too exactly to be coincidence.1 Art hi
15 Sep 2010
Sense and Nonsense about Caravaggio
Every writer from Caravaggio's day to our own has spoken of the artist's astonishing realism. One critic wrote a century after his birth that Caravaggio:
"recognized no other master than the model, without selecting [as artists
12 Sep 2010
Putin’s Portraits
Recent news from Russia suggests that Vladimir Putin is not a regular user of this website. According to The Art Newspaper he has approved plans to create the first National Portrait Gallery. “Society has a huge interest in our national hi
10 Sep 2010
Warhol Shooting
I just read on The Art History Blog about a musical on Andy Warhol that ran in December 2009 at the Yale Repertory Theater. It includes a scene in Warhol's studio in the 1960's with actors playing famous American artists who come in and cause a
07 Sep 2010
Fusion Confusion at The Wallace Collection
The Wallace Collection in London, an august institution, has a painting by Van Dyck of Paris, the mythological judge of beauty, posing by himself. A detail of his face is illustrated above (left). Whatever else one has to say about this pa
06 Sep 2010
Mauro Molinari
I turned up on the last day of an exhibition of Mauro Molinari’s work at the Carlo Bilotti Museum in Rome, a small but fascinating show by an artist I did not know. There was only one visitor present, a short, happy Italian man in hi
04 Sep 2010
The Error of “Errors”
Allowing an art lover to interpret art on their own is the purpose of this site and we reveal many ways to do so. This tip, though, is so effective at finding a route into the artist's meaning that I reveal with it some hesitation: the artis
03 Sep 2010
Window of a Roman Art Gallery
I have been arguing for years that the concept every painter paints himself is alive and well in the art world, even if art scholars are unaware of it. So I was particularly delighted when I came across this notice posted on the window of an art
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