Florentine Gothic painter Cimabue was born into the Byzantine tradition (gold backgrounds, iconography etc.). Art had favored narrative and symbolism over naturalism. It was a didactic tool for the Bible. The medieval period saw heavily-stylised almost-exclusively religious scenes; viewed largely by an illiterate population. It didn’t matter that it didn’t look “realistic” — as long as it was easy to interpret. Important characters needed to be readily identifiable across all art forms and symbols were the means of comprehension.
Cimabue marks a shift towards what will be termed the renaissance. Giotto was Cimabue’s apprentice and he would push these developments further.
Interesting things to note:
The throne is painted at an angle which gives some sense of depth. It is revolutionary compared to the more traditional Hodegetria. In the maestà, the Madonna has one foot on one step and the other on a lower step. The angle of uppermost step points her foot/shoe in a direction.
The golden aureate background is there — but it seems a bit awkward. It disjoints the illusion; the angel’s foot and the last leg of the throne can’t be seen.
As opposed to the Madonna pointing at Christ, there is some tenderness with the baby touching his mother’s hand.
Hamas’s top boss Ismail Haniyeh has been killed, in Iran, at his residence in Tehran.
Israel has not commented.
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I think it’s obviously Israel. If so, very impressive work. Mossad was created to hunt down Nazis after WW2.
This is a win for Israelis & a win for Palestinians. This maniac could have stopped the war by returning the hostages and surrendering. Instead, he watched millions pay the price of war ... while he spent his days in his home in Qatar & Iran calling for innocent people in Gaza to suffer.
In one week, Israel took out Hezbollah’s second in command and the leader of Hamas. And in the capital of Israel’s greatest enemy ... and only hours after the presidential inauguration.
This is an important message to Iran and all Israel’s enemies.
Mossad were probably waiting for him to leave Qatar before killing him as he was under their protection and this would have been seen as a declaration of war. Since Israel is already at war with Iran, killing him in Tehran was a much safer option.
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Iran has talked about “retaliation” over the assassination.
Yet Iran thinks absolutely nothing of its terrorist proxies killing Israelis as the first initiating stance — for the sake of it — to end Israel. And others abroad — e.g. “Met police and MI5 foil 15 plots by Iran against British or UK-based ‘enemies’”. No matter what happens, Israel has to fight. If you don’t fight & just sit around, things become doubly worse. People talk about the killing of I.H. as a “serious escalation” — but the murdering of teenagers at a music festival was not?
I personally think this will speed up the ceasefire deal for two reasons:
There is no ceasefire where Hamas stays in power.
As Hamas gets worn down, they have less negotiating power ... and have to make more capitulations in order to get what they want. It is logical for Netanyahu to be adding more demands to the ceasefire negotiations.
The 12 victims of the massacre at Migdal Shams. Most of them children or in their teens. They went to play football in the Druze village, and were killed by a hit from a Hezbollah missile.
May their memory be a blessing.
October-7 would have been much much worse — with attacks by Hezbollah and perhaps even Iran — if hundreds of IDF troops, police officers, and local security personnel (many of whom died that day) had not curtailed the scope of the attack — without any coordination from IDF central. If the terrorists had been able to penetrate Israel’s core, a Hezbollah attack would have probably begun. Israel is at war with Hamas — but implicitly with Hezbollah and Tehran.
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How to react
Israel needs to secure Southern Lebanon’s airspace to ensure the sovereignty over Israel’s north.
Over the past months of Hezbollah attacks, Israel has chosen not to deviate focus off Hamas or “escalate hostilities”. I think the focus needs to remain on finishing off Hamas’s military ability to ever attack Israel again. Then, a regional coalition — with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the Gulf States — to bring substantive reforms and de-radicalise the population towards a separation of territories and a two-state solution.
Although Israel has Washington’s support to “defend itself” ... at the same time, the US moans of “further escalation” of the conflict ... The message from Trump and Harris has been ceasefire.
For me, I don’t this strike, in-and-of-itself, is sufficient a casus belli.
Benny Gantz said that Israel should hit “Lebanon hard and also tearing Lebanon apart”. Perhaps ... but I don’t think so.
Gantz also criticised the government for what he referred to as the lack of a “full strategic plan of action” saying that Netanyahu “can’t continue playing for time”. But since it took the US a whole decade to locate and kill Bin Laden; it should not be a surprise that Israeli efforts to locate hostages held by Hamas have been limited. Hundreds of miles of tunnels and a civilian population supportive of its genocidal leadership have thwarted Israel’s objective. I think this criticism is wrong.
Today is the 133th anniversary of the day Vincent van Gogh committed suicide.
In the year 1890, a few days after painting “Wheatfield With Crows” (above), Vincent van Gogh decides to go walking into that same field. Behind a haystack, he decides to shoots himself in the chest. Incredibly, van Gogh manages to struggle to return to his room at a nearby inn ... telling no-one of what he had done.
Only when the innkeeper discovers Van Gogh’s condition, he calls for Dr Gachet — Vincent’s physician and friend (see Van Gogh’s Portrait). Dr Gachet realises the extremity of Van Gogh’s condition and sends word to Vincent’s brother, Theo. Theo arrives the very next afternoon, and rushes to Vincent’s bedside. Vincent lived for two days after the gunshot wound. His brother Theo was able to talk with him. It’s worth noting that both Theo and Gachet believed he shot himself.
“The sadness will last forever,” Vincent tells his brother as death nears.
Vincent finally dies at 1.30am on 29th July 1890.
In retrospect, I think we can feel the ominous desperation of Van Gogh’s mind in his “Wheatfield With Crows”. The crows flying up from the sombre field due to the reverberating gunshot of a pistol?
We can probably never truly understand the depths of his depression.
If only he knew, how much his paintings were to be loved and admired by so many people.
Love the action and drama. And there is an beautiful “lightness” to the crepuscular setting and colours which adds to the beauty & dramatic effect.
From Romano-greek mythology, the legendary hunter Actaeon intruded on the sacred grove inhabited by Diana — goddess of the hunt — and accidentally saw her naked. She then transformed him into a stag, and huntsman Actaeon is punished by being torn to pieces by his own hounds.
I love Diana. Her beautiful hair, the elegance of her wrists and arms as she readies herself for attack. The flowing dress, and the hint of a bosom as her hand moves to recover her privacy.
Love the figure of the dog chasing through Diana’s legs.
You can see the stag head.
Beautiful in its gilded frame.
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Diana and Actaeon
Beautiful.
Diana about to be startled; with nymphs changing, and one of them pulling on hanging robes to protect Diana.
Beautiful reflective puddles of water. Cute dog. Amazing columns with gargoyles, and Actaeon seeming rather innocent?
This painting is paired with the one below.
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Diana and Callisto
Tragedy & cruelty, but also sensuality.
Callisto was Diana’s favourite nymph. She was raped by the king of the Gods, Jupiter. Her pregnancy is discovered at the communal bath. For the transgression of chastity, she is banished. Diana painted powerful and condemnatory.
I notice half of the nymphs seem to be helping Callisto to gather her strength, and clothe her. Callisto’s face is occluded and she seems to have lost her balance.
The others are by the Goddess Diana, with one clutching arrows and hand resting on a bow.
It is a tremendous group portrait. It is beautiful as well as a “history painting” in devotion to a religious relic. There is a story of a cross being presented to Andrea Vendramin who — after it fell into the Venetian canals — jumped in to save it.
I love lynx-fur linings, hair, beards, genuflections, candles flickering in the wind...
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Portrait of a Lady (‘La Schiavona”)
An everlasting gaze?
We do not know who this woman is, but she has an engaging with a direct engagement to the viewer.
The profile relief on the parapet (which was a later addition) repeats her own features.
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Portrait of Gerolamo Barbarigo
This kind of portrait practice solidified Titian’s international reputation.
Gerolamo, the likely sitter, was grandson of Doge Marco Barbarigo. Aged 30, he was the magistrate responsible for navigation.
He is a nobleman and Titian paints him with a refined intelligence — without seeming contrived.
The blue quilted satin sleeve dominates the picture space, and projects off the canvas and into our space. This subverts the Venetian convention of a parapet giving the illusion of depth.
He appears to be glancing at us ... perhaps from beneath his nose. There is a softness to the beard.
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The Virgin suckling the Infant Christ
Beautiful. Really love it.
A devotional painting which focuses on the Mother’s humility, love and devotion. Also, the sanctity of her milk.
The Virgin gazes tenderly at her infant Christ sitting on her lap in a white cloth — his own face occluded. She seems to be moving him closer to herself. The Christ has cute brown hair, and rosy red cheeks.
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The Aldobrandini Madonna
One of the most touching Madonna and child paintings.
Typical Renaissance pyramid structure, and nicely balanced with symmetry in the composition, I think. And such an intensely strong arresting vibrant blue. The Virgin sits with elegance and grace. There is a decent perspective against an arcadian vista with an angel soaring high above. The Virgin is accompanied by John the Baptist while Christ is held in such loving tenderness and affection. Both John and Jesus are painted with such innocence and pulchritudinous. This lady’s hair is beautifully arranged with a sumptuous golden piece of cloth about her neck and shoulders.
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Portrait of a Young Man
Classic Titian: the profile intruding the parapet, the sitter’s pose and personality exhibited, the quilted fabrics and silks.
A pensive gaze, and an amazing jawline.
Here the black sleeve against a red section of the sitter holding a kidskin glove. The face seems to glow against the gloomy dark background.
I wonder what the classical sculptures in the background are intended to convey?
Fascinating. Christ being asked by the Pharisees whether they should pay tax to the Romans.
There is something disembodied in Christ’s eyesight and posture. He doesn’t seem to be addressing the man at all - but rather looking beyond him. It seems the raised arm and elbow might be rebuffing the Pharisees’s coin. Interesting finger, elongated a bit (deliberately?). Smooth, delicate and wrinkle-free. Christ has lovely neat hair, and a glowing complexion with beautiful garments. All set against some vague unrealistic environment of a wall and a sky with clouds.
The Pharisees’s arm is fascinating. That amazing nuance of his arm’s flesh becoming flaccid with old age; and the muscles protruding under the thin skin. His other hand grasping some other wallet or object. And a spectacled observer in the corner. Then there are the grey hairs of his scalped having been combed; and the blood vessels in his throat.
Beautiful contrast in colours, details and postures; and that pointed finger as a cautionary suggestion.
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Bacchus and Ariadne
Magnificent painting.
Greek mythology.
Princess Ariadne fallen in love with hero Theseus. She helps him to kill the Minotaur on Crete. Theseus then abandoned her while she slept. Distraught, Ariadne went wandering along the shore searching for her lover’s ship. She was surprised by Bacchus, the god of wine. He then fell in love with her and asked her to marry him. He offered her the sky as a wedding gift ... to which she would become a constellation.
In this painting, Bacchus seems transfixed (even pained and contorted) by love with, Ariadne at first sight ... Ariadne though lamenting her loss (shoreline in the distance). Bacchus was riding a chariot of leopards and seems to have been stumbling out. He is followed by a boisterous crowd, satyr, cute furry animals. Bacchus’s crimson silk so lustrous & magnificent. Ariadne taken aback and afraid (confused?). Her lapis-lazuli tunic so rich and mesmerising.
Their eyes utterly transfixed on each other. Their bodies in anatomical & musical harmony.
Titian use of colours is masterful. He combined the most vibrant pigments available to him at the time. The conjunction of strongly contrasting colours serves to intensify them.
The ultramarine blue in Titian’s sky was the most intense (and most expensive — sourced from Afghanistan) blue colour of the purest pigment. Titian’s masterpiece was featured on the BBC “A History Of Art In Three Colours” series from 2012. (Go to the 18:00 minute marker).
Finally. Biden has “stepped down” ... or taken down in a coup.
A sad end to one of the longest & most consequential careers in US politics.
Propped by his party recently for so long despite voters being well-aware of the fact that the Democrats knew Biden wasn’t mentally capable. They tried to push him through the finish line anyway.
Then, the disturbing and unsettling debate on June-27th against Donald Trump. The world was finally exposed to what insiders had known for months: Biden was in serious physical and mental decline ... Then, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump softened and buoyed the public’s perception of Trump (interesting that Trump took a more measured and “statesmanlike” approach than his erstwhile “conspiracy theory” rituals — I was expecting him to blame Biden for the assassination attempt), and made Trump seem stronger and more vigorous than Biden.
So finally, the “compassionate” Democrats knifed President Biden. One-by-one. Obama at first, followed by Pelosi ... which then created an “official” momentum to gut him. The omerta lifted.
He made the most important and consequential announcement of his Presidency ... in a letter posted on Twitter/X. He neither appeared on camera, nor did we hear his voice. We didn’t see him at all that Sunday.
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If the Democrats lose the election, it will be a complete bloodbath.
Matthew Hennessey (below) argues that “the Democrats underestimate the price they will pay for lying this way ... The damage has been done. It’ll be a long time undoing it.”
Jill (his wife) and the White House staff must take the blame for allowing this humiliation. Biden was allowed to dig his own grave further and further — in public. He recently called himself “‘first Black woman’ to serve in White House”. He should have been treated with a bit more respect ... and honesty.
Since at least the Afghanistan debacle, those of us paying attention have noticed that Biden’s age meant he couldn’t perform his duties like a normal president would. He made considerably fewer public appearances, appeared at few early morning or late-night events, took more time to recuperate from travel, conducted fewer interviews and press conferences, etc ... Normal presidents don’t skip Super Bowl interviews. Normal presidents don’t go nine months without a cabinet meeting. Normal presidents don’t spend almost every weekend at their beach house in Delaware, and normal presidents don’t have to use a teleprompter when making remarks to donors at closed-door fundraisers ... This is one of many reasons that, as the NR editors declare, Joe Biden should resign the presidency. He can’t do the job anymore. We have had a not-president for a while, and unless Biden resigns the office, we will have a not-president until January 20. He’s a PiNO — President in Name Only.
And, then Biden’s endorsement of Harris is her anointment in all but name in the perfunctory primary season. National Review again:
Harris has been a colossal disappointment to everyone who believed that the first woman vice president would be a heroic giant on the American political stage ... Beyond that, the laugh, her reliance on stock phrases like, “what can be, unburdened by what has been,” the constant vibe that she’s giving a book report on a book she didn’t read — there’s a nervousness or insecurity to Harris. She always seems like she’s bluffing.
In my opinion, the statesman who would add most stature to the Democrat ticket would be Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
I recently went to the National Gallery’s Caravaggio exhibition. It is about his final and dark masterpiece.
It was attributed to him in the 1970s by Roberto Longhi and brought to light.
We were all taken to a dark & intimate room to see the painting. I really enjoyed it.
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The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, 1610
The star of the show.
Ursula is a beautiful and isolated female figure in the painting surrounded by soldiers.
St Ursula is the medieval Christian legend of the princess martyred with her clutch of 11,000 virgins. On her return from pilgrimage in Rome, she met the Hun king who fell in love with Ursula’s beauty. On rejecting marriage, he killed her, and massacred her followers.
Caravaggio paints this gruesome story of through dramatic hand gestures and emotions. The furrowed & unkept soldier, with a gaping mouth, fired the guilty arrow. Beautiful crimson robes connects them both, like fire. The bystanders seem to notice — but only too late. Hands flailing hopelessly to stop it ... and then finally ... Ursula’s own hands framing the fatal wound while her own beautiful face downard in calm resignation. What is amazing is that the King’s killer seems to have some regret. It seems he didn’t “mean” to hurt her? Or perhaps it is her own reaction which has ignited his shock? Ursula seems glow and shine. Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro is sublime.
Displayed at the National Gallery alongside the painting is a letter about how Caravaggio — on the run for murder — finished this particular canvas in haste in Naples in May 1610. He delivered the painting still wet to Marcantonio Doria who had commissioned it.
Caravaggio died on July 18 1610, a mere weeks after finishing “Ursula”.
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Salome Receives the Head of John the Baptist
This is part of the NG’s own Caravaggio collection.
Salome is a famous legend (see Sebastiano del Piombo)
The decapitated head of John the Baptist is shown to Salome. Offered on a gilded plate. The outstretched hands of the soldier (with sword in other hand) as if to distance himself? His face is a bit uncomfortable ... is it regret, or merely distaste? St. John looks like he is still sleeping. The clever lighting (against a dark ground) creates a uniform skin colour to mask death. But it is also quite claustrophobic.
Salome seems to be blushing. But why? Remorse? A hint of irritation in her lips perhaps?
The old lady, hands crossed in prayer, is the complete opposite of Salome. Age, expression, line of sight ...
Sir Joshua Reynolds was a founding President of the Royal Academy in 1768 and one of the foremost portraiture artists of England in the 18th-century.
He was born in Plympton St Maurice, just outside Plymouth, on 16 July 1723. Happy birthday!! 🙌
Reynolds’s career spanned six decades and his acclaim and fame reached a degree rarely seen by any artist, especially in their lifetime. If you were a wealthy aristocrat looking for a portrait, Reynolds was your man.
He travelled widely and studied the Old Masters as the best way to emulate greatness.
In the RA Schools, he set out his influential art theories between 1769 and 1790 which were seen by many as changing the course of British art. In his “Discourses on Art”, Reynolds argued that painters should adopt classical and Renaissance works as their model, imbuing their works with symbolic references to classical myths. He also emphasised the importance of drawing on the works of Old Masters such as Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Dyck. This “Grand Manner” was the unification of painting and scholarship.
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Self-portrait
This self-portrait was done before Reynolds travelled to Rome to study and learn.
It shows a young man; eager and excited. Looking out into the distance (and future?), with brush and mahl stick in one hand, and other hand shielding his eyes.
Love his tousled hair too.
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Portrait of Omai
I was excited to see this painting.
It was a recent acquisition by the National Portrait Gallery and the Getty Museum.
Apparently, the price was £50m! This is a stunning painting, for sure — but that price probably reflects our cultural zeitgeist of “cancel culture” and framing British history as an unspeakable litany of horrors and evils. Galleries today are marked by some ahistorical puritanism in which history is understood through our present-day’s mortal buzzwords.
At any rate, it is a beautiful portrait. This Tahitian was called Omai and he joined Captain Cook on a return voyage in the 18th century. His face is quite beautiful. Clothes are gorgeous. The gestures are welcoming, and he peers at someone out-of-frame.
Omai met George III and Samuel Johnson, dined with the Royal Society. It’s probable Reynolds knew Mai personally.
Came across an addition to the Rembrandts the other day at the NG.
Painted in about 1655, it is a study of a Franciscan friar, of the Order of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Rembrandt is really gifted at capturing vulnerability and fragility. A frailty in the distant gaze and face, slight melancholy. Some facial disability, even blindness?
I have just been reading a fascinating deep-dive into the White House’s machinations – orchestrated on the nation – of obscuring and concealing the President’s obvious physical frailty and mental ailing.
It has become embarrassing – even painful to watch. The recent embarrassing Zelensky/Putin gaffe is just too much. Everyone is waiting for the next slip-up. As Michael Moore recently said, his remaining in office is tantamount to elderly abuse.
It is an awful thing to have to witness this. It’s like watching a friend or loved one struggle enormously in a job at the end of their careers and hang on for too long. This is far worse, and with enormous consequences. Biden is supposed to be reading briefs and papers, and analysing world changes. Travelling in his job is “tiring him”; a “simple cold” incapacities him thinking and speaking clearly at a debate; and that he needs “more sleep”. In effect, this is a declaration that this poor guy is simply not up to the rigors of the office. Instead, we have his obvious confusion. Long drawn silences. The distant-vacant stares. And the awkward smile from spectators and eye-rolls.
Biden’s handlers are disgraceful. Lies, and lies. The more we hear, the clearer it is that they have been deliberately gaslighting journalists who have been persistently asking questions about Biden’s health over the past few years. Even labelling it a Republican conspiracy. If they’d just come clean, they wouldn’t be in this mess now.
E.g. after the Trump-Biden debate, it seems the White House were forced to acknowledge a “neurologist” had visited the President …
Following Joe Biden’s disastrous performance against Donald Trump in their debate on June 27, White House reporters started poring through the visitors log at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. One name kept cropping up again and again: Dr Kevin Cannard. The neurologist and specialist in movement disorders works at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which serves the president. Eagled-eyed journalists spotted that he visited the White House no fewer than eight times between last July and this March. The revelation forced a statement from the White House which suggested Dr Cannard had only seen Biden for his three annual physicals and the other visits were related to military personnel.
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And why are people naturally suspicious?
Part of the reason why the White House’s excuses are wearing thin is that a sceptical public is aware of the long history of various White House administrations keeping the ailments suffered by past presidents secret. Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralysing stroke in 1919 and the severity of his illness was downplayed. For the final two years of his term, all communication with Wilson went through his wife Edith. It was also well known that Franklin D Roosevelt was paralysed from the waist down after contracting polio in 1921. But he carefully cloaked his disability in public using leg braces and gripping the lectern in order to stand for speeches. The press agreed not to photograph or film him in his wheelchair or being lifted out of cars. When the president’s health deteriorated following the Tehran Conference in November 1943, his doctor told the press that Roosevelt was in “robust health” and his stamina was “far above average”. In fact he was suffering from severe hypertension and congestive heart failure. He was advised to limit his work to four hours a day (which was a little tricky with the Second World War still raging) and his smoking. He died of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1945, shortly into his fourth term.
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Why should Biden step down?
As the article noted:
One undernoted issue is that the psychodrama is preventing other senior Democrats from taking the fight to Trump. Partly that’s because they don’t want to be seen as undermining Biden, and partly it’s because the White House won’t let them. “I worry that the core cadre of counsellors around the president continues to put roadblocks in the path of some of our most effective spokespeople,” says Brett Bruen, a former diplomat who worked in the Obama White House. “Part of it seems to stem from a worry that the contrast with the president’s energy and effectiveness on the campaign trail would be put in stark relief.”
People can complain about Trump’s arrant lies … but they won’t affect his support base. President Biden, on the other hand, will dissuade people from voting for him. In the end, it will give Trump the Presidency. It’s an outrageously stupid & dangerous gamble.
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