Turquoise Moon | Every picture tells a story: on how to read Art. Part 12.

Every picture tells a story: on how to read Art. Part 12.

At the height of the period of French Romanticism, in the first half of the 1800s, the artist Théodore Géricault stuggled to make his name known. He was a talented painter in a country heaving with talented painters. For the salon he chose to paint a controversial scene, which he named Le Radeau de la […]

Posted 12 years ago

The Rainbow Horse

“Travels with a Biro” Yesterday a little girl came up to me, here at our property – she is staying with her dad in one of our cottages – and asked me if I would draw her “un cheval a l’arc-en-ciel”. A rainbow horse. WHAT is a rainbow horse ? I only had a […]

Posted 12 years ago

Every picture tells a story – on how to read Art. Part 11.

This painting was done in 1621 by a woman named Artemisia Gentileschi. She was the daughter of one Orazio Gentileschi, an Italian and an equally talented artist who was erroneously credited with his daughter’s work for many years. The painting shows a story that would have been well-known at the time. Varying versions of it […]

Posted 12 years ago

Every picture tells a story – on how to read Art. Part 10.

El Greco Like the term “Renaissance” the term “Mannerist” applies to a very broad range of styles and of painters. It was a fairly short-lived style, lasting about 60-80 years and gone by the mid- 1600s. It is characterised by exaggerated movement, rather gushy postures with a lot of limb gestures and facial expressions. The […]

Posted 12 years ago

Stray dogs, Spain.

“Travels with a Biro” An item on Facebook a week or so ago made me remember a rescued dog I had when I lived in Spain. Actually, I had several dogs, all rescued, three cats, a goat, a rabbit and an owl. The first dog I named Kingston, because I had been living in Kingston, […]

Posted 12 years ago

Every picture tells a story – on how to read Art. Part 9.

Jan van Eyck, the Dutch master, is often credited with discovering oil paint, but this is not correct. Oil-based paint had been in use for a long time, usually for sculptures. What van Eyck discovered and mastered was how to put a long-lasting varnish over paintings. The real breakthrough came soon afterwards when the van […]

Posted 12 years ago

Every picture tells a story: on how to read Art. Part 8.

In the 15th Century the Gothic style developed in two different directions. One was in Florence, and Italy in general, in the form of the Renaissance. The other was in the north of Europe, notably in the Netherlands. The northern style let go of the overly decorated and gushy golden look and adopted instead a […]

Posted 12 years ago

Every picture tells a story – on how to read Art. Part 7.

At the height of the Middle Ages, ie around 1300 AD, Gothic art emerged in Europe. It began with architecture. A new era of prosperity had started, and Christianity had become triumphant. The age of chivalry was born. Magnificent Gothic cathedrals went up, some of the best examples being in Chartres, Rheims and Amiens in […]

Posted 12 years ago

Every picture tells a story – on how to read art. Part 6.

The Bayeux Tapestry in Bayeux, France, is not a tapestry at all but a cloth with woollen embroidery. It is, in Europe, perhaps the epitome of the story-picture of the Dark- and Middle Ages and tells the story of William of Normandy’s invasion of Saxon England in 1066, and of Harold’s failed attempt to keep […]

Posted 12 years ago

Every picture tells a story – on how to read art. Part 5.

The thousand-year period from around 400 AD to 1400 AD is referred to as the Dark Ages in western Europe. Despite the pejorative implication, this was not a period in history that was totally without art. The Roman Empire had fallen, ancient Greece was long gone and Byzantium was fading at the other side of […]

Posted 12 years ago

Blog

Every picture tells a story: on how to read Art. Part 12.

The Rainbow Horse

Every picture tells a story – on how to read Art. Part 11.

Every picture tells a story – on how to read Art. Part 10.

Stray dogs, Spain.

Every picture tells a story – on how to read Art. Part 9.

Every picture tells a story: on how to read Art. Part 8.

Every picture tells a story – on how to read Art. Part 7.

Every picture tells a story – on how to read art. Part 6.

Every picture tells a story – on how to read art. Part 5.

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