Check out flickr to see a vast array of photos taken of various Bourgeois spider sculptures.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Caravaggio - Medusa, 1597
"In Greek mythology, Perseus used the severed snake-haired head of the Gorgon Medusa as a shield with which to turn his enemies to stone. By the 16th century Medusa was said to symbolize the triumph of reason over the senses; and this may have been why Caravaggio's patron Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte commissioned him to paint Medusa as the figure on a ceremonial shield presented in 1601 to Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany - Del Monte was the Medici agent in Rome, and the Grand Duke was currently re-organising his personal armoury. The poet Giambattista Marino claimed that it symbolized the Duke's courage in defeating his enemies. In 1568 Leonardo da Vinci's biographer Vasari had written of a medusa-shield by Leonardo in the Grand Duke's collection. Leonardo's shield has since vanished, but if it existed in 1597 Del Monte would have known it, and in giving this commission to Caravaggio he was setting his protegé against the man recognised even then as the greatest of all painters." - quote source
"In Greek mythology, Perseus used the severed snake-haired head of the Gorgon Medusa as a shield with which to turn his enemies to stone. By the 16th century Medusa was said to symbolize the triumph of reason over the senses; and this may have been why Caravaggio's patron Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte commissioned him to paint Medusa as the figure on a ceremonial shield presented in 1601 to Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany - Del Monte was the Medici agent in Rome, and the Grand Duke was currently re-organising his personal armoury. The poet Giambattista Marino claimed that it symbolized the Duke's courage in defeating his enemies. In 1568 Leonardo da Vinci's biographer Vasari had written of a medusa-shield by Leonardo in the Grand Duke's collection. Leonardo's shield has since vanished, but if it existed in 1597 Del Monte would have known it, and in giving this commission to Caravaggio he was setting his protegé against the man recognised even then as the greatest of all painters." - quote source
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Gerard Willemenot
There is a small collection of artwork from Willemenot at the Michelle Boulet Gallery.
And a few more works at the Graal Gallery.
There is a small collection of artwork from Willemenot at the Michelle Boulet Gallery.
And a few more works at the Graal Gallery.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Virgil Solis - OVID'S METAMORPHOSIS, 1581
"Virgil Solis or Virgilius Solis (Nuremberg 1514 — 1 August 1562), a member of a prolific family of artists, was a German draughtsman and printmaker in engraving, etching and woodcut who worked in Nuremberg. His prints were sold separately or formed the illustrations of books; many prints signed by him are probably by assistants. After his death his widow married his assistant and continued the workshop into the early seventeenth century.
His woodcuts illustrating Ovid were especially influential, though partly borrowing from earlier illustrations by the French artist Bernard Salomon. They were reprinted and copied in many different editions, in Latin and translations into various languages; the Ovid from which the illustration at left has been taken was printed at Frankfort in 1581. Jost Amman was an assistant of his before starting his own workshop." - quote from wikipedia.
The entire 183 illustrations from this edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses can be viewed in this online collection.
This collection was suggested to me by Fufu Frauenwahl, be sure to visit his amazing art site here.
"Virgil Solis or Virgilius Solis (Nuremberg 1514 — 1 August 1562), a member of a prolific family of artists, was a German draughtsman and printmaker in engraving, etching and woodcut who worked in Nuremberg. His prints were sold separately or formed the illustrations of books; many prints signed by him are probably by assistants. After his death his widow married his assistant and continued the workshop into the early seventeenth century.
His woodcuts illustrating Ovid were especially influential, though partly borrowing from earlier illustrations by the French artist Bernard Salomon. They were reprinted and copied in many different editions, in Latin and translations into various languages; the Ovid from which the illustration at left has been taken was printed at Frankfort in 1581. Jost Amman was an assistant of his before starting his own workshop." - quote from wikipedia.
The entire 183 illustrations from this edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses can be viewed in this online collection.
This collection was suggested to me by Fufu Frauenwahl, be sure to visit his amazing art site here.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
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