Artist as King
Kings and queens dominate European history not just factually as the figurehead of an era or the instigator of events but also as a symbol of all that is most pure and powerful in the human soul. It is an idea that runs through the art and literature of every century with a solid foundation in Scripture. Old Testament prophets, like Moses and David, were raised in royal households, according to their constructed myths, because royalty signified a semi-divine status above mundane life and thus a step closer to God. Jesus, from a humble family, became “King of the Jews”. In Asia Buddha started life as a royal prince for similar reasons. The palace garden in the Middle Ages also symbolized a secure, enclosed space more rarified than field or street. It became the setting of troubadour poetry, an important avenue for the Inner Tradition. In alchemy too the king and queen represented the male and female principles in each of us which, when combined, become the symbol of our purest essence, the Self we all share with Nature.
Most Recent Articles
All Articles (Alphabetical by Artist, then Title)
Sometimes objects with meaning are so prominent and so large, viewers miss them
Aertsen’s Peasants by the Hearth (1556)
An easy-to-recognize demonstration of how artists fuse the studio and their subject into one image
Coello’s St. Louis Worshipping the Holy Family (c.1665-8)
An early caricature reveals the same elements as previously shown in Daumier's mature work
Daumier’s Sire, Lisbon is Taken… (1833)
See how Degas subtly changed his copies after the Old Masters to fit his own (and art's) agenda
Degas’ Copy after Holbein’s Anne of Cleves (c.1860)
When Delacroix was at last given large public rooms to decorate, he turned to Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel
Delacroix’s Justice in Palais Bourbon (1833-7)
Fouquet's king, Bernini's Richelieu and Rigaud's Louis XIV have more in common with your innermost self than you probably realize
Fouquet’s Charles VII, Bernini’s Richelieu and Rigaud’s Louis XIV
See how a classical legend becomes the perfect setting for an allegory on the artist's studio
Giandomenico Tiepolo’s Building of the Trojan Horse (c.1773-4)
Sent on a mission to paint a potential queen for the blood-thirsty and dangerous Henry VIII, how did Holbein "paint" himself in painting the future Queen?
Holbein’s Anne of Cleves (c.1539)
How Ingres became Napoleon and the Emperor became an artist
Ingres’ Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne (1806)
See how artists play with our historical memory and immortalize their own
Isaac Oliver’s Rainbow Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (c.1600)
Find out how every painter paints herself as well
Labille-Guiard’s Portrait of Madame Adélaïde (1787)
A 20th-century version of medieval angels playing stringed instruments. See how.
Lichtenstein’s Girl with an Accordion (1961)
Ordinary subjects produce extraordinary content
Lichtenstein’s Untitled or Man with Chest Expander (c.1961)
See how even a contemporary artist follows the hidden tradition of the great masters
Lucian Freud’s Queen Elizabeth II, Part 1
Everyone knows that Boating is a masterpiece. Why is it so difficult to explain?
Manet’s Boating (1874)
Art scholars have sometimes wondered why the execution squad in Manet's Execution of Emperor Maximillian are so unrealistically close to their target. Indeed, on close inspection, their rifles are aimed as though they would miss.
Manet’s Execution of Emperor Maximillian (1867-8)
There is more to the Tragic Actor than meets the eye. Find out what's there that others cannot see.
Manet’s Tragic Actor (1865-6) Part 2
Miró's inventive and individualistic style, however modern, is merely a complement to his deep traditionalism. And that's as it should be.
Miró‘s Painting / The Circus Horse (1927)
Keeping alert to differences in style within a painting can help unlock its meaning
Parmigianino’s Allegorical Portrait of Emperor Charles V (1529-30)
Indian art though always separated from Western art, in both museums and scholarship, may have more in common with it than ever thought before.
Payag’s Shah Jahan Riding a Stallion (c.1628)
Peale's American portraits have more in common with great European art than is generally accepted.
Peale’s Portrait of George Washington (c.1780)
One of the earliest self-portraits in stone is based on the likeness of the king, or vice versa
Peter Parler’s Self-Portrait (c.1370-79)
Just like Michelangelo's, Picasso's women are masculine too....here's how and why.
Picasso’s Woman in an Armchair (1948)
How the setting is so rarely what you think....you must think differently
Rembrandt’s Bathsheba at Her Bath (1643)
Learn how one artist copies another and makes it his own
Rubens’ Copy of Titian’s Charles V in Armor with a Drawn Sword (c.1603)
Relax. Look past the superficial forms to see what's really there.
Titian’s Pope Paul III and His Grandsons (1545-6)
See how the face of the same sitter changes depending on who paints him
Van Dyck’s Emperor Charles V (c.1623) and Titian’s too
See how Velazquez portrays the artist and his art and then apply the lesson learned elsewhere
Velazquez’s Prince Baltasar Carlos with a Dwarf (1632)
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