Famous Paintings

15January2022

Mary Magdalene Painting – Frederick Sandys

Famous Paintings0

Frederick Sandys

Mary Magdalene

Date: 1858

Media: oil

Style: Religious Painting

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This beautiful portrait in profile, titled Mary Magdalene, is a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite Frederick Sandys, a disciple of Rossetti, one of the movement’s founders. Painted between 1858 and 1869, Mary Magdalene is surrounded by a rich damask background and holds a cup in her hand while wearing a rich pale pink dress and a luxurious floral shawl.

This subject is the only biblical figure painted by Sandys. It is interesting to see that Sandys never painted any other biblical figure. The choice of Mary Magdalene appears less trivial then. The ambiguity of the character (who has seen her story altered with time) creates a mystery.

It allows some subtle erotism to transpire from what would otherwise be considered a purely religious painting and contributes to its attractiveness for art collectors and decor enthusiasts alike. This painting has plenty of details, whether it is on the dark-green upholstery or in the details of Mary Magdalene’s dress, and will continuously create a focal point in a room.

The identity of Mary Magdalene is confirmed by the alabaster ointment cup the woman is holding in her hands. Thought to have been used to anoint Jesus before his death by Mary Magdalene, it has become a traditional attribute to the Saint. Acquired by Samuel Bancroft in 1894, one of the principal Pre-Raphaelite collectors, the painting is now exhibited in the Delaware Art Museum.

While it is supposed Sandys used Lizzie Siddal (Rossetti’s wife) as his model, it has never been confirmed. However, a pure and nearly transcended beauty emanates from this female figure. The delicate strawberry blond hair cascade along Mary Magdalene’s back and
accentuate the pallor of her face. The forest-green damask in the background makes the woman stand out and gives the scene a rich aspect. Mary Magdalene’s dreamy look and half-open mouth create a dreamy sensuality that the viewers will never grow weary of.

The Soul of Art is offering you the opportunity to purchase a quality art print of this masterpiece and lets you choose the way you want it. Whether you are looking for the perfect canvas print to enhance your interior for a soft and lavish finish or merely want to send a thoughtful note to a fellow art lover with a beautiful postcard, we have a format to suit your needs.

Complete your office equipment with idyllic stickers, notebooks, and even wall clocks with high-detailed reproduction of Mary Magdalene’s painting.
Stand out in the gym with one of our Mary Magdalene’s printed drawstring bags or be eco-friendly in style with our shopping cotton tote bag and showcase your love of the Pre-Raphaelites movement.

Appealing to the romantic souls and art lovers alike, Mary Magdalene is a beautiful portrait of feminity that will never cease to please the eye and offer a calm and nearly pious canvas for reflection.

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26November2021

Luncheon of the Boating Party: Renoir’s Last Impressionist Masterpiece

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✍🏻 Author: Genevieve Munch

Luncheon of the Boating Party: Renoir’s Last Impressionist Masterpiece

Painted in 1881, Luncheon of the Boating Party is an Impressionist painting by French painter Pierre-August Renoir. Full of light, airy colors, the scene is that of Parisian leisure in which friends enjoy a relaxed afternoon on a veranda together.

Of course, we’ll dive into what makes it a masterpiece, but just by looking at it the work you can see the skillful hand of Renoir and the chemistry of the friend group. Stylistically, the composition is particularly diverse—the eye roams around the delicate objects on the table, the lush nature that surrounds them, and even small boats floating in the background.

The subject matter—friends relaxing in the height of summer—is timeless, and has remained one of the most famous 20th-century paintings. Luncheon of the Boating Party currently resides in the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

About the Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Renoir’s name is well-known in art history. Born in France, Renoir spent most of his adult life in Paris, where he enjoyed considerable fame during his lifetime. In fact, he grew up close to the world-famous Louvre, which he frequented often, and fell in love with the works of the Old Masters.

His first artistic job was in a porcelain factory. He was gifted at work, but he often grew bored of it and would find inspiration in the beautiful paintings in the Louvre. However, his talent was recognized by others, and he would go on to study art and become a fine artist.

Renoir is well-known for his role in founding Impressionism, which was a movement away from realism and aimed to capture the fleeting qualities of nature. We’ll get this this later, but Luncheon of the Boating Party was painted during a pivotal time in his art career, when he was starting to move away from his original Impressionist style and developing his own.

Luncheon of the Boating Party Story

Interestingly, the models in the painting—all friends of the artist—have been identified.

Briefly, let’s dive into the Luncheon of the Boating Party story. A woman who frequently modeled for Renoir named Angèle looks up at a journalist standing on the right named Maggiolo. Gustave Caillebotte, a fellow Impressionist painter, sits and looks across the table at Aline Charigot, who would become Renoir’s wife. He famously scratched out another sitter to have space to include her face. She sits and looks lovingly at her puppy.

There are several more art-world figures in the composition: Charles Ephrussi, editor of Gazette des beaux-arts, and Jules Laforgue, a poet and critic. In this happy scene, Renoir immortalizes all of his friends in a moment of pleasant socialization.

They sit on a veranda around a table surrounded by lush foliage—Renoir’s treatment of the nature around them feels perhaps the most Impressionist with the light shifting between the hues of green and yellow.

The veranda on which they sit is a real place that still exists; it’s called Maison Fournaise of Chatou, which is a floating restaurant on the Seine River. Boaters could float up to the restaurant, and it was a popular place to visit for Parisians during warm weather. He actually worked on the canvas both en plein air and in his studio. He had to work in his studio because he needed to focus on all of the fourteen sitters, who couldn’t all be together at once to pose for Renoir.

In 1954, the Phillips Collection caused some controversy when they hired restorers to work on the painting—unfortunately, several people thought the color was very negatively impacted, with colors reduced to drabby hues. You can look up the differences of the painting before and after the restoration to see the effects of the restoration for yourself.

Renoir, Luncheon of the Boating Party

Source video: Smarthistory

Why We Are Talking About Luncheon of the Boating Party

Luncheon of the Boating Party is widely perceived to be a masterpiece. Other than being a visually beautiful, it has a fascinating story making it all the more interesting.

The canvas is one of the largest Renoir ever painted—in addition to its size, the composition is quite complex. In fact, Renoir commented on this painting, “every once in a while you must attempt things that seem too difficult.” (source) The work is a unique mix of figure painting, still life, and landscape—it is a carefully planned composition that merges them elegantly together. Despite the easygoing atmosphere, it was a long process to paint—he worked on this for sixteen months.

Apparently, he was stuck at one point during the process, but an interesting event helped him break through. Four months into the painting, Renoir fell off his bike, injuring his right arm, and forced him to use his non-dominant left hand, which actually ended up inspiring him to move forward. He once wrote, “It’s even better than what I did with the right. I think that was a good thing that I broke my arm. It allows me to make progress.” (source). Until this point, he was lost in the process which was “annoying” him. Some view this painting as an incredible example of artwork made largely with a non-dominent hand.

This is widely considered to be his last genuinely Impressionistic painting— it captures Renoir mid-career, between two styles. He worked on it at time when he was financially struggling, and his association with Impressionism (which was an edgy, almost outsider movement at first rejected). He was worried that it would prevent him from getting commissions. So, he shifted more into his mature figure-painting style, in which he depicted weightier bodies rather than the lighter treatment of Impressionist figures.

To illustrate this shifting style, note the glasses on the table and the boats in the background, which are painted with extremely loose brushwork in a classic Impresisonist manner. However, the figures themselves are more defined, especially the ones in the foreground. If you look at his earlier work, figures are painted much looser than in Luncheon of the Boating Party.

What do you think of the Luncheon of the Boating Party story? While paintings can stand on their own, knowing more of the background can add more meaning for the viewer.

Both conceptually and in terms of the artist’s life, it is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece that exemplified the lesireuly life of some Parisians in the summer. It lets the viewer sit in with this group of friends, and Renoir’s dreamy colors make it all the more pleasant to let your eye roam around.

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13November2021

Titian – Venus of Urbino

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Titian

Venus of Urbino by Titian

Date: 1538

Media: oil, canvas

Style: High Renaissance

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Venus of Urbino by Titian, circa 1538

The Venus of Urbino by Titian is probably one of the most recognisable paintings of feminine nudity in Art History.

Throughout the years, this painting has puzzled many. Some find in it absolute beauty, like Vasari stating that it is “the most beautiful nude Titian had ever painted” while others reject it, Mark Twain being the most prominent accuser. He described it as “the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses.”

No matter how you see it, it is undeniable that this nude has influenced many, including Manet and his Olympia, and set the path to a new way of depicting the female gender in its bath suit.

While it is not fully ascertained, it is widely accepted that Titian’s Venus was commissioned by Guidobaldo II Della Rovere for his then 15 years old wife, Giulia Varano, as a wedding gift. The painting is said to have been completed in 1535 and, the sale record shows that it was in Guidobaldo’s possession by 1538. Guidobaldo was Duke of Urbino, and Venus takes its name from his title.

Using a popular genre of the early Renaissance, Titian took inspiration in the Venus of Dresden by Giorgione. Titian was familiar with this painting as he worked on it and even completed it after Giorgione’s death. But, with the Venus of Urbino, Titian creates something audacious and daring to probably serve one purpose, the exhibition of his own skills.

The Venus of Urbino by Titian meaning: a traditional wedding picture.

In appearance, the Venus of Urbino has all the elements of a traditional wedding picture. Serving as a marriage lesson the painting refers to love, physical and ethereal, faithfulness, and motherhood.

Venus is lying gracefully on a red bed with white sheets symbolising respectively love and purity. The roses held in Venus’s right hand and the myrtle at the window are here to confirm her identity. They are also a commonly used symbol of married life.

The little dog lying at the edge of the bed is a token of marital fidelity. In the background, a young maid is digging through a cassone (chest traditionally given to the bride by the groom) while her elder is motheringly supervising her. This may be the Venus of Urbino by Titian Meaning.

A daring twist on a traditional composition.

However, unlike in Giorgione’s version, Venus is not asleep in this composition. She is looking directly and provocatively at us. She is not anymore a celestial goddess captured in nature unknowingly. Here, she is put in a domestic setting and, while her conventional features are still here, these are skewed and minimalised.

Removed from the wild, the nude figure becomes domesticated and, one can only wonder, who is the courtesan in Titian’s painting. Some theories suggest that she was modeled on Angela del Moro, also known as Zaffetta, a favoured courtesan and friend of Titian.

Others see in her Guidobaldo’s mother as some similarities with an earlier portrait of Eleanora Gonzaga from Titian can be observed. Whatever the answer is, Venus loses her status as a goddess and becomes a common mortal in this painting.

There is a real sense of erotism coming from this feminine figure. Her hair falls in delicate braids which encompass her breast, the straight line of the architecture contrast with the curves of her body, even the light in this painting highlights her nudity. Finally, her hand is modestly resting on her genitals.

This pose is a copy of the Venus of Dresden’s gesture, but Titian’s Venus’s attitude suggestively implies that she might be doing a little more than just resting there. Although not entirely unusual, this is a very daring approach to a traditional genre. One, that will influence and inspire many artists.

In this painting, Titian exhibits all his skills and expertise. The softness of the subject’s skin is a true wonder and, the intensity coming out of Venus leaves no one untouched. In doing this, Titian achieved a truly daring painting for its time and a masterpiece of sensuality and erotism.

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9November2021

Amedeo Modigliani – Nude on a Blue Cushion

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Amedeo Modigliani

Nude on a blue cushion

Date: 1917

Media: oil, canvas

Style: High Renaissance

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The Story Behind Nude on a Blue Cushion (1917) by Amedeo Modgliani

Nude on a Blue Cushion (1917) is a painting by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. Sizing at roughly 25×40 inches, the composition depicts—as the name suggests—a reclining female nude resting on a blue cushion. This nude is one among many that Modigliani painted in 1916 and 1917, a time in which he devoted himself to the well-canonized subject.

The work is held at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in the West Wing which is devoted to modern art. In fact, if you roam among the halls, you’ll come across many, many female nudes, highlighting their popularity with many artists of the 20th century.

In Nude on a Blue Cushion, a woman’s right arm props her up off the pillow while the left arm coyly touches her face. She gazes rather seductively at the viewer with her head slightly tilted, adding to the overall suggestive mood of the painting. Many viewers have interpreted the picture as quite erotic.

We’ll get to this more later—but this painting was not well-received In Paris, where it was made, as it was too revealing for popular sensibilities. It wouldn’t earn acceptance until long after Modigliani’s premature death at 37.

A Brief Biography: Amedeo Modgliani

When looking at art—even if it doesn’t add value or skill to the work—it’s interesting to dive into the background of the artist who made it. So, who was Amedeo Modgliani?

Born in 1884, he grew up in a Jewish family in the port city of Livorno, Italy. The town was a refuge of sorts from those suffering persecution due to their religion, making it home to a sizable Jewish community.

One fascinating story from his childhood was that his birth saved the family in a way. Modigliani’s father was on the verge of financial collapse when his fourth child was about to be born. Creditors were not allowed to seize the bed of a pregnant woman or a woman with a newborn child—they walked in as she went into labor, and the family piled valuable assets onto the bed to protect them from also getting taken.

Despite the dire circumstances surrounding his birth, Modigliani would grow up in relative comfort. Later, his work became defined by a rejection of his bourgeois childhood following his formal art education. Inspired by Existentialism and the writing of Nietzsche, Baudelaire, and Carducci, he lived a vagabond lifestyle upon his move to Paris in 1906.

He chose to forego painting landscapes and instead painted portraits to explore the psychology of himself and his subjects, who were generally other artists or lovers. His style is very expressive, often similar in treatment to portraits of Paul Cezanne, whom he greatly admired; Modigliani was also friends with his contemporary Pablo Picasso after they met in Paris in 1906. Like Picasso, he drew a lot of inspiration from the imagery of so-called “primitive” cultures, most often African or Pre-Columbian statues. Elongated faces, necks, and bodies define his work.

A rather important fact about Modigliani—which at times defined his art practice—was his intense use of alcohol and drugs, which got worse throughout his life. At the time of the creation of Nude on a Blue Cushion, he was deeply struggling with his addictions. Furthermore, he was wracked with Tuberculosis since childhood, and his symptoms worsened towards the end of his life. He reportedly didn’t mind if people thought him an alcoholic as its ragged toll on his body covered up his battle with Tuberculosis, which was a contagious and therefore unaccepted condition. He died in 1920 poor and without achieving significant artistic recognition.

More on The Story Behind Nude on a Blue Cushion (1917)

So, why do we keep mentioning the seductive nature of this piece? Why does it matter? Who is the woman? Nowadays, we are much more used to seeing a wide variety of subjects, and art that was once offensive is commonly accepted nowadays.

There is not an overwhelming concrete background to this work. We know that in 1916, while living in Paris, Modigliani was commissioned by his dealer Zborowski to paint a series of nudes. He subsequently moved into the dealer’s apartment where he painted supplied models already paid for—Nude on a Blue Cushion was probably a part of this commissioned series. Apparently, the artist gave his models quite a bit of freedom when choosing their poses. Around the same time, he met his wife-to-be, Jeanne Hébuterne, who he would paint frequently but never in the nude.

The series of nudes differed from the rest of his practice in multiple ways: he was painting someone he didn’t know (normally he painted acquaintances) and they were commissioned work, therefore perhaps meant to appeal to Zborowski or commercial purposes.

Lastly, as we’ve mentioned: for the time, this portrait was seriously daring. It was more sexualized than most other female nudes of the time, and it was just one among many: he made several of them during his creative mission of devotion to nudes in 1916 and 1917. At this time, his lifestyle even stood out in the Bohemian atmosphere of Paris—he was struggling with drinking and drugs and having affairs, in part fueled by his financial support of his dealer.

Why Are We Talking About This Work?

As is the question with much art: why is it worth talking about? Well, Modigliani’s borderline erotic works have become iconic pieces of the early 20th century. The Paris Show of 1917 was Modigliani’s only solo exhibition during his life and was notorious—the show was closed by police on its opening day due to the public’s immediate reaction to the obscenity.

Additionally, he was a fascinating figure whose legacy is rather complicated. Art historians can’t squarely fit him into one movement, but his work is often associated with Expressionism, Cubism, Proto-Cubism, and more. His legacy is further muddled by his disheveled estate of works, and his early death and rising art market value has encouraged many fakes of his work to be maden which has caused drama in recent years.

Since his death, Modigliani’s reputation has received much more attention. Several books, a documentary, three feature films, and a play have been made about his life. To put it into context, he was known to exchange works of art for meals at restaurants, but nearly a century later, in 2012, collector Steven A. Cohen purchased Reclining Nude with Blue Cushion (another nude from the same period) for $118 million.

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