“Caravaggio’s Cupid” exhibition at the Wallace Collection ✎

Earlier this year, I visited the Wallace Collection in London to see Caravaggio’s famous Victorious Cupid (also known as Amor Vincit Omnia), painted in 1601-02.

This was the first time this monumental Baroque masterpiece had ever been seen in public in the UK. I really enjoyed this once-in-a-lifetime display of one of the great masterpieces.

Rating: 4/5 ★★★★

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Victorious Cupid by Caravaggio (1601-1602)

I found this painting both captivating and a bit unsettling.

As I stood in front of it, the tension between classical idealism and raw gritty street reality becomes clear.

Caravaggio painted Cupid. As embodiment of love, he conquers the lute (music), armour (war), a globe (travel), manuscript (learning).

Usually, Cupid was depicted as a soft cherubic being. But, Caravaggio did the opposite. He hired a real street kid from Rome - it was suggested that the model was his lover (Francesco Boneri).

Also, is there something mocking in Cupid’s grin? He knows we want love, or carnality. 😉

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Caravaggio painted heavy sweeping eagle wings with extraordinary plumage and feathers.

The chiaroscuro emphasises his soft & warm rounded fleshiness of cheeks. 

I think Caravaggio’s smile carries a sense of playful, perhaps teasing intimacy.

“Wellington’s Dutch Masterpieces” exhibition at Apsley House ✎

Earlier this year, I went to Apsley House at Hyde Park Corner for a very special exhibition.

Apsley House is the home of the Duke of Wellington. The 1st Duke established both his fame and wealth in the Napoleonic wars.

France, in 1816-1818, was a period time of immense economic disruption and ruination. Napoleon’s defeat left many French aristocrats, military officers, and financiers financially ruined. As such, the Duke purchased these 17th-century Dutch paintings at public auctions in Paris, and out-bid everyone & acquired top-tier masterworks, like Jan Steen’s The Wedding Party, with ease.

What makes this exhibition fascinating, and beautiful, is that it displays 18 magnificent 17th-century Dutch paintings collected by the 1st Duke of Wellington. These intimate genre scenes and landscapes of Wellington’s feature the ordinary people of the Dutch Golden Age, their social gatherings, and daily life. They are magnificent and v. beautiful.

They also include some my personal favourites: Pieter de Hooch, Jan Steen, and Jan van der Heyden.

Rating: 10/10.

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A Musical Party by Pieter de Hooch (1675)

For those that follow my blog, Pieter de Hooch is an absolute personal favourite of mine among the Dutch masters.

For me, though, I think I prefer his earlier Delft works (focusing on simple, sunlit courtyards and modest hearty domestic life). His later Amsterdam paintings shifted toward high society, grander architecture, and wealthy patrons enjoying their leisurely time.

Here the painting is split between the music at the fore and the love/holding hands/kissing at the back. I love the two dogs playing at the fore too.

As ever, the atmosphere is beautifully captured with rich red curtains that filter and warm the incoming light. It even reflects off the marble tiled floor.

Me :)

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A Wedding Party by Jan Steen (1667)

Love it.

Jan Steen is antithesis of De Hooch.

Loud, chaotic, theatrical, and packed with brilliant Dutch wit.

He even paints himself at the fore leaning against a large wooden barrel, looking directly out at the viewer with a glazed smirk.

Jan Steen depicting himself.

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The Milkwoman by Nicolaes Maes (c. 1655-1657)

Wonderful.

Classic Maes with his distinctive vibrant colour saturation. 

Before he became famous for his genre scenes, he was Rembrandt’s star pupil in Amsterdam during the late 1640s. It’s obvious he inherited Rembrandt’s powerful chiaroscuro: the light directs the viewer’s eyes to the story here. A brilliant white light strikes the milkwoman’s crisp white sleeve and the open palm of her hand.

Milkmaids were often a flirtatious subject in Dutch art. Here, she is the embodiment of honest work and virtue.

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The Eavesdropper by Nicolaes Maes (1656)

What a lovely and v. famous painting. 😆

It’s amazing that Duke Wellington managed to get his hands on this painting.

The maid stands at the foot of a wooden staircase, making direct eye contact with us, holding a finger to her mouth in a classic “shh” gesture.

As ever, with Dutch art, trying to convey some high-brow moralism.

I love the smile. It’s like she’s trying not to giggle.

A kiss? A fondle?

It’s interesting the orange/white colours define both maids.

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The Château of Goudestein by Jan van der Heyden (1674)

Beautiful.

For me, Jan van der Heyden’s View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam at the National Gallery is breathtaking in its meticulous, near-microscopic attention to detail.

This painting typifies the cultural phenomenon of 17th-century Dutch life: atristoractic country retreats.

Not only meticulous in landscape, but his sweeping blue skies with their soft drifting clouds, elegant swans etc.

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The Dissolute Household by Jan Steen (1668)

Famous painting by Jan Steen.

Prosperous bourgeois home turned upside down when people in charge completely abandon their duties.

A hanging basket, with monkeys.

 

A faithless husband, a slumbering mother, thieving children.

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The Courtyard of an Inn with a Game of Shuffleboard by Adriaen van Ostade (1677)

What a joy.

Charming, and radical for its day.

Jan Steen treated peasant-life like a raucous & theatrical comedy; Van Ostade depicted them with a sense of warmth & empathy.

Thus, ordinary peasant life depicted beautifully in Dutch art.

Hardworking man relaxing with his pipe lost in his thoughts

Kids playing next to him.

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A Village Scene by Jan Victors (1654)

A charming depiction of street life.

I have come across Jan Victors at the National Gallery in A Village Scene with a Cobbler (which is so beautiful) that I was pleased to come across his work again.

I love the camaraderie, the earnest facial expressions (Rembrandt?), and the joie-de-vivre sense of a summer’s evening. 

Wonderful find.

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The Intruder: A Lady at her Toilet, Surprised by Her Lover by Pieter de Hooch (1665)

Wow.

De Hooch’s treatment of light is just incredible. 

I love the way his luminous daylight pours into the room reflecting the textures of the silk garments and the polished wood.

In 1661, De Hooch had moved to Amsterdam, and his handling of light underwent a profound transformation, becoming noticeably darker & heavier, and more subdued. I really love his earlier domestic scenes of mothers peeling apples, or maids sweeping yards ...

In the 17th-century, a “toilette” referred to the practice of a lady getting dressed, styling her hair, and applying perfume etc... So, when her lover “intrudes” on her at her toilette, he is catching her in a highly private & vulnerable moment. He removes his hat politely.

The vibrant textures draw us in.

Deep blue skirt wrapped in a rich red fur-trimmed jacket.

His vibrant yellow doublet exquisitely rendered.

An intricately embroidered sash that glows.

 

Beautiful depth and layers via the doorkijkje.

Is the dog the moral admonition? 

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The Physician’s Visit by Jan Steen (c. 1660)

Another Jan Steen.

This painting is not about “illness” - the lady is lovesick, and, quite possibly, pregnant. As per ArtUK:

The girl in this painting is not ill but lovesick. To underline the point, there is a picture of ‘Venus and Adonis’ on the wall and the boy in the foreground is Cupid in seventeenth-century costume, putting an arrow in his bow. The doctor takes the woman’s pulse and looks knowingly at the maid, who is holding a urine bottle. Erotic melancholy was allegedly detected by feeling the pulse, whilst visual examination of the urine was claimed to reveal the same disorder, or pregnancy.

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Leftovers

My Upcoming Art Exhibitions List for the Summer and Autumn ✎

Hi everyone,

I have been away from blogging for some time. I’ve been focusing on going to the gym and my fitness, and have been doing some travelling lately. I want to get back into blogging about art.

I have just secured some tickets - for this year - which I am so v. excited about. 😁

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1) The Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum

This is one of the most famous and magnificent panoramic masterpieces of medieval art that survives today. This embroidered piece of linen cloth is as important as it is beautiful. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!! (Please see this BBC YouTube documentary)

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2) Frida: The Making of an Icon at Tate Modern

A major retrospective on Frida Kahlo the artist and the icon. I am very excited about this because she is not an artist I know a lot about. So, I am excited to see an intellectual and aesthetic exploration of this iconic artist.

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3) Francisco de Zurbaran at the National Gallery

For me, when it comes to Spanish Baroque, I venerate Bartolome Esteban Murillo and, of course, the great Velazquez. Yet, Zurbaran’s famous Saint Francis in Meditation is one of the National Gallery’s most iconic paintings and typifies this artist’s quiet, powerful & intense chiaroscuro & style.

I am so very excited to get a deep dive into an artist who, for me, has been rather marginal in Spanish Baroque.

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4) Early Netherlandish Drawings at British Museum

I love the Dutch Golden Age and the Northern Renaissance. So this exhibition at the British Musuem is so up my alley. It is a VERY rare survey of highly detailed 15th and 16th century Northern Renaissance drafts, including the greats: Rogier van der Weyden, Pieter Bruegel the Elder etc...

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5) Tracey Emin retrospective at the Tate Modern

Merh.

I think Emin is an underwhelming and tedious artist. I expect to be bored, but I feel I owe to myself to make an effort when presented with a major retrospective of a so-called serious artist.

“Radical Harmony: Neo-Impressionists” exhibition at the National Gallery - Part 2: Landscape and Portraits ✎

Note: This post is a continuation of part 1 of the “Radical Harmony: Neo-Impressionists” exhibition write-up of the National Gallery.

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Gallery 4: Seurat’s Chahut

Helene Kröller-Muller purchased this iconic painting is 1922.

It is considered one of his masterpieces as it perfectly marries his scientific theory with the vibrant, gritty working-class nightlife of Montmartre.

Le Chahut by Georges Seurat (1889-1890)

It is beautifully stylised - dazzling and energetic, but it’s also slightly underwhelming.

The figures don’t actually look at each other; they stare out into the void with manufactured smiles.

Seurat’s work is entirely scientific and geometric - I much prefer the quiet sunlit home of a Dutch master. But hey-ho, it is important and I get it.

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Gallery 5: The “stillness and quiet calm” of Neo-Impressionism

The exhibition finally highlights painting in which the figures often appear isolated, focusing on introspection rather than interaction - esp. in depictions of domestic life by Signac and Rysselberghe.

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The Dining Room (or “Breakfast”), Opus 152 by Paul Signac (1886-1887)

While the earlier impressionist works were about capturing fleeting, joyful, and spontaneous moments of life, neo-impressionism often resulted in something much colder and more “calculated”. Made more discomforting by the rigid geometries. 

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“Sunday” by Paul Signac (1888-1890)

So many turned backs.

It’s striking that the husband has his back completely turned to his wife and she seems to refuses to engage.

Cat seems to be on edge too.

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In July - before noon or The orchard by Théo van Rysselberghe (1890)

Pure vibrating tranquility. Everyone is blended softly into the landscape.

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Woman reading in the sun (Jeanne Biart) by Henry van de Velde (1892)

The Belgian artist’s sister.

In his late twenties, van de Velde had grown frustrated with the slow, calculated, and mathematical dots of traditional pointillism. Heavily influenced by the recent discovery of Vincent van Gogh’s work, he adopted a frantic technique with a anxiety to it.

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Woman Reading by Henry van de Velde (1891)

The woman in the painting is not treated as a living, breathing human being with a distinct personality. 

Instead, van de Velde strips away any sense of intimacy, warmth or psychological depth.

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Gallery 6: Radical Landscape

Finally, the exhibition looks at how neo-impressionists used landscape painting to experiment with radical techniques that bridged observation and abstraction, ultimately influencing modern art.

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Coastal Scene by Théo van Rysselberghe (1892)

Mediterranean coast in southern France.

Wonderful luminous quality of light reflecting off the water.

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Beach at Vignasse by Henri-Edmond Cross (1891-1892)

Henri-Edmond Cross was a master of capturing the intense, shimmering and vibrating sunlight of the coast.

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Sun at noon (or Landscape with Haystacks) by Johan Thorn Prikker (1904)

Prikker shares a lot of artistic DNA with Vincent van Gogh’s iconic landscapes from the late 1880s and 1890.

Prikker paints the light expanding outward in concentric rings and energetic dashes, making the midday heat feel practically alive.

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Landscape with Haystack by Jan Vijlbrief (1894)

Stricter colour theories of optical mixing over the flowing expressive dashes of Prikker’s Sun at noon.

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Twilight by Henry van de Velde (1889)

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Shell Gatherer on the Beach by Jan Toorop (1891)

Jan Toorop had a wonderful ability to capture the atmosphere of the coast without letting the painting technique overpower the actual scene.

This and Looking at Sea (1887) show a fantastic approach to painting light and water that avoids feeling overly calculated.

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Sea by Jan Toorop (1887)

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The Channel at Gravelines, Evening by Georges Seurat (1890)

It truly is breathtaking! A poetic silence to this piece.

This painting is part of a famous trio. As below, The Channel at Gravelines, in the Direction of the Sea (1890) and The Channel of Gravelines, Grand Fort-Philippe (1890) were painted during the exact same summer trip to the French coast as this Evening painting.

Seurat actually painted a border directly onto the canvas using complementary colours.

The prominent anchor in the fore with an extreme colour contrast.

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The Channel at Gravelines, in the Direction of the Sea by Georges Seurat (1890)

The dots are so fine and delicate that they practically dissolve into pure sea air.

The Evening painting was about stillness in dark silhouettes, but this painting is entirely about the blazing, shimmering light of the coast.

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The Channel of Gravelines, Grand Fort-Philippe by Georges Seurat (1890)

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“Les Balises, Saint-Briac” by Paul Signac (1890)

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