The Venus Series by François Boucher ✎

Last year, I visited the Wallace Collection, and enjoyed The Venus Series by François Boucher, the Rococo master. 

The series is a celebrated group of three large-scale vertical paintings. The fourth got added into the mix years afterwards.

I really like Rococo. I think they are wonderful, silly and a pure aesthetic delight. I think today this art is considered rather passe. The colour palettes and forms are a wonderful way to explore ideas about femininity and luxury, even modern ones.

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The Judgment of Paris by François Boucher (1754)

The central panel. Gorgeous.

Rococo was all about lightness, charm, and curves. The cherubs are a decorative tool to better frame the composition. The tree goddesses do look like they could be sisters.

It depicts one of the most famous incidents of Greek mythology, leading to the Trojan War. It follows the story of Paris, a prince of Troy, who is forced to settle a dispute between three goddesses over who is the fairest: Juno, Minerva, and Venus. He picks Venus. In the myth of the judgment, she won the contest by bribing Paris. She promised him the hand of the most beautiful mortal woman in the world: Helen of Sparta.

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Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan by François Boucher (1754)

Love it. So magical.

In this dramatic composition of Boucher’s masterpiece, Vulcan (the Roman name for a Greek god) is the husband of Venus. He plays the role of the “wronged husband” who has just caught his wife in an affair with Mars, the god of war.

Moment in flagrante.

Venus is absorbed in romance. Mars appear startled.

Vulcan pulling back the golden netting, darker and less soft &, luminous.

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Venus and Vulcan by François Boucher (1746)

Another beautiful painting.

Venus visiting her husband Vulcan at his forge to request armor for her son, Aeneas. 

Venus seems to radiate light.

I love Venus’s wrap around the more rigid, angular, and dark-toned form of Vulcan. Boucher juxtaposes their bodies to create a visual harmony. The sheer number of cherubs with a swirling & upward energy leads the eye across the entire painting.

Cupid a Captive by François Boucher (1754)

Wonderful.  Based on the popular theme of love disarmed.

The central figure is Cupid, god of love.

Boucher has depicted him as being “captured” by a group of wood nymphs. 

They have taken his legendary bow and arrows and have playfully tied him up with garlands of flowers.

The Epifania Cartoon by Michelangelo (1550-1553) ✎

Last year, I went to an exhibition at the British Museum, and saw the Epifania cartoon by Michelangelo.

I wanted to share this on my blog for some time.

It’s easy to forget that “cartoon” in the Renaissance sense refers to a massive full-scale preparatory drawing rather than a sketch. At 2 meters, the Epifania is one of the few large-scale works on paper by Michelangelo that has survived into our modern age.

It underwent a major conservation:

Tears in the fragile paper have been mended, while discoloured areas have been tended, enabling details of the master’s original vision in black chalk and charcoal to be seen with new clarity.

Sarah Vowles, the British Museum’s curator of Italian and French prints and drawings, told The Telegraph: “Some of the chalk lines are so much crisper than they were before. You can get a sense of the power and the drama of the way that Michelangelo draws these lines. Details of some of the figures - the Christ Child’s toes, for example - are much more visible now than they were before. This is one of our most incredible drawings.”

The drawing was made of 26 sheets that had been glued together. It is a “cartoon”, a term derived from the Italian for a large piece of paper - “cartone” - meaning that it was drawn to the scale of a planned painting, although this one was apparently unexecuted.

It depicts the Virgin Mary, Christ Child and St John the Baptist. The man to her left, whom she gently pushes away (v. strange?), is likely St. Joseph (wiki).

Michelangelo created the cartoon for his friend and biographer, the artist Ascanio Condivi. He then began a painting based on the cartoon, but left it unfinished:

The Condivi version.

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Sir Keir Starmer and the Mandelson-Epstein saga ✎

Has anyone in public office ever been so inept and corrupt?

Some fascinating news has been released in England this week on the Lord Mandelson & Jeffrey Epstein scandal. 

At the beginning of this year, Congress started releasing the Epstein files, and Mandelson is just, well, everywhere (in his underwear too). From the bizarre (such as Epstein giving Mandelson’s husband £10k for some “course”) to the unlawful (passing on confidential government information to Epstein (post-conviction)). The PM has been claiming not to have been aware of the extent of it all. Parliament then ordered the release of all Whitehall papers in relation to the Mandelson appointment.

This Telegraph video relates to the first batch being released:

Sir Keir Starmer may have lied to Parliament, claiming not to have known what he had clearly been told about Mandelson and Epstein. He is such a weak leader, with very poor judgement, and low morals. He cannot and will not accept personal responsibility for anything, and hides behind advisors and rules.

The government is constantly saying that we should think the victims of Epstein, but they couldn’t give a hoot about the victims when he was appointed, as the documents show. 

A Lion Hunt by Peter Paul Rubens (1614-1615) ✎

This is a famous sketch from the National Gallery.

I am always blown away by his mastery of color and the fluidity of his brushstrokes.

This is a beautiful oil sketch which was formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel, former PM. Rubens created oil sketches as a preparatory study for the composition. Once it was approved, Rubens handed the sketch to his studio assistants. They would use it as an exact, scaled guide to transfer the complex, swirling mass of bodies onto a giant canvas before the final, full-color layers were applied by Rubens himself.

In this sketch, the hunters become hunted in a chaotic bloodbath. The terrifying muscular dynamism of the horses, lions and indeed humans is terrific. He has been revered for centuries, mostly for his raw muscular power combined with a delicate luminous beauty. He engineered theatrical experiences.

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Probably influenced by Leonardo da Vinci’s The Battle of Anghiari. Rubens not only studied it, but retouched it (having owned it):

Trip to Edinburgh ✎

I recently travelled to Edinburgh to see a special exhibition on Renaissance drawings and pictures.

These are some pictures of my day trip.

As soon as I exited the train station, I saw this enormous Victorian Gothic monument to Sir Walter Scott. 

Sir Walter Scott.

This is the National Galleries of Scotland.

It is in “The Mound” in central Edinburgh.

I visited the European art galleries.

Gardens of “The Mound”. Beautiful spot. 

Monument to 18th-century Scottish poet Allan Ramsay in West Princes Street Gardens.

The statue overlooks the gardens and Edinburgh Castle in the background.

The iconic Edinburgh Castle.

I walked past these burial grounds kirkyard.

Charming, like most of Edinburgh’s Old Town.

The King’s Gallery in Edinburgh.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse.

I popped into this historic palace to see some Dutch masters.