Monday Morning Museum: Filippo Lippi

Self Portrait, circa 1441-1447, by Filippo Lippi

Filippo Lippi – 1406 Florence to Sunday 8 October 1469 Spoleto

Italian Early Renaissance Painter

Portrait of a Woman With a Man at a Casement, circa 1440

"This is the earliest surviving double portrait in Italy, the first to show the sitters in a domestic setting, and the first with a view onto a landscape. The woman, dressed luxuriously ala francese, her sleeve embroidered with letters spelling "faithful" (lealta), is observed by a man—her betrothed or lucky possessor?—appearing at a window, his hands on an identifying coat of arms. The two figures may be Lorenzo di Ranieri Scolari and Angiola di Bernardo Sapiti, who were married about 1439. Lippi’s task was complicated by the Italian preference for the profile view." – Metropolitan Museum of Art

Last Monday’s Artist – Peter Paul Rubens
Next Monday’s Art – Abstract Expressionism: Action Painting

“Monday Morning Museum” logo created by Adrean Darce Brent

Monday Morning Museum: Peter Paul Rubens

Self-Portrait, 1623 by Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens – Friday 28 June 1577 Siegen, Germany to Saturday 30 May 1640 Antwerp, Belgium

Flemish Baroque Era Painter

Rubens, His Wife Helena Fourment (1614-1673), and One of Their Children, Mid-1630s

"This magnificent portrait of Rubens, his second wife, Helena Fourment, and one of their five children has usually been dated on stylistic grounds to the late 1630s. The child's blue sash, heavy shoes, and plain collar resemble adult male attire and suggest that he is either Frans Rubens, born in 1633, or, more likely, Peter Paul, born March 1, 1637.

Rubens married Helena Fourment on December 6, 1630, when he was fifty-three and she was sixteen. Helena became the model and the inspiration for many paintings by Rubens dating from the 1630s, particularly those dealing with themes of ideal beauty or love. The present composition was considerably revised during execution to shift the emphasis from Rubens, as the dominant half of a courtly couple, to Helena, as ideal wife and mother. The parrot, long a symbol of the Virgin Mary, suggests ideal motherhood, while the fountain, caryatid, and garden setting imply fertility and recall Rubens's own garden in Antwerp, where he frequently escorted Helena." – Metropolitan Museum of Art

Last Monday’s Artist – Jean-Antoine Houdon
Next Monday’s Artist – Filippo Lippi

“Monday Morning Museum” logo created by Adrean Darce Brent

Winter Solstice 2012 - End of the World!

"Winter Solstice 2012 (World Ends)" graphic created by Adrean Darce Brent

"Winter Solstice 2012" card created by Adrean Darce Brent

Monday Morning Museum: Jean-Antoine Houdon

Jean-Antoine Houdon

Jean-Antoine Houdon – Friday 20 March 1741 Versailles, France to Tuesday 15 July 1828 Paris, France

French Neoclassical Sculptor

Sabine Houdon, 1788

"Houdon's canonical portraits of the French philosophes (as well as of America's founding fathers) have contributed to his popularity in America. No less beloved are his depictions of children, of which the most beautiful may be the head of his own daughter Sabine. The delicate naturalistic folds of flesh at the intersection of Sabine's chest and arms are carved with a melting softness that perfectly captures the limpid fragility of infant skin. Her alert, unsentimentaliized features present a personality whose distinction transcends the category of children's portraits." – Metropolitan Museum of Art

Last Monday’s Artist – Charles Demuth
Next Monday’s Artist – Peter Paul Rubens

“Monday Morning Museum” logo created by Adrean Darce Brent

Monday Morning Museum: Charles Demuth

Self-Portrait, 1907 by Charles Demuth

Charles Demuth – Thursday 8 November 1883 Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Wednesday 23 October 1935 Lancaster, Pennsylvania

American Precisionist Painter

I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, 1928

"This painting pays homage to a poem by William Carlos Williams. Like Marsden Hartley's "Portrait of a German Officer" and Arthur Dove's "Ralph Dusenberry," this portrait consists not of a physical likeness of the artist's friend but of an accumulation of images associated with him — the poet's initials and the names "Bill" and "Carlos" that together form a portrait.

Williams' poem "The Great Figure" describes the experience of seeing a red fire engine with the number 5 painted on it racing through the city streets. While Demuth's painting is not an illustration of Williams's poem, we can certainly sense its "rain/and lights" and the "gong clangs/siren howls/and wheels rumbling." The bold 5 both rapidly recedes and races forward in space, and the round forms of the number, the lights, the street lamp, and the arcs at the lower left and upper right are played against the straight lines of the fire engine, the buildings, and the rays of light, infusing the picture with a rushing energy that perfectly expresses the spirit of the poem." – Metropolitan Museum of Art

Last Monday’s Artist – Georges de la Tour
Next Monday’s Artist – Jean-Antoine Houdon

“Monday Morning Museum” logo created by Adrean Darce Brent

Monday Morning Museum: Georges de la Tour

Georges de la Tour – Tuesday 13 March 1593 Vic-sur-Seille to Friday 30 January 1652 Lunéville

French Baroque Era Painter

The Fortune Teller, probably 1630s

"While an old gypsy crone tells his fortune, a naive youth is robbed by her accomplices, a subject popular among Caravaggesque painters throughout Europe in the 17th century. La Tour's painting can be interpreted as a genre or theatrical scene, or as an allusion to the parable of the prodigal son. It has been variously dated from about 1620 to as late as 1639. The inscription includes the name of the town where La Tour lived, Lunéville in Lorraine." – Metropolitan Museum of Art

Last Monday’s Artist – Henri Fantin-Latour
Next Monday’s Artist – Charles Demuth

“Monday Morning Museum” logo created by Adrean Darce Brent