Random inspiration

Standing beside Barbara of Brandenburg is a dwarf, the only person to gaze unswervingly out of the painting and thus make contact with the viewer. In those time it was very common to keep dwarfs as jesters or companions.

Cecco di Pietro lived at Pisa in the 14th century, and painted in the Camposanto in 1370, in company with five other artists.

Gauguin met Charles Laval (1862-1894) at Pont-Aven in the summer of 1886 and the younger artist became his pupil. The two were to journey to Panama and Martinique together the following year. Gauguin’s role as mentor is alluded to in the way in which Laval gazes fixedly at the ceramic pot which was made by Gauguin in the winter of 1886-87, when he worked in Paris with the ceramicist Chaplet.

The still-life with its piled up fruits, treated with tight diagonal brushstrokes and laid out on a white cloth, is reminiscent of C�zanne’s painting Still-Life with Compotier which Gauguin owned at this date. At the same time, the oddly truncated head in the foreground is a homage to Degas, who had exhibited with Gauguin at the final Impressionist exhibition that year.

The painter based his depiction of the Paradise on the opening page of the Bible translated by Luther and decorated with woodcuts by Lucas Cranach. Several of the small scenes, such as the creation of Eve and the expulsion from Paradise, were also taken from Cranach’s Bible illustrations. The little roundel stands out for the description of the landscape. Herri met de Bles worked as a true miniaturist by including flowers, plants and animals in the microcosm of this painting.

On the obverse of the medal the portrait of Ippolita Gonzaga is shown. Ippolita was the daughter of the governor of Milan, Ferrante Gonzaga. The inscription reveals that this was made when she was 17 years old. Her dress and elaborate hairstyle evoke ancient Roman styles.

Inscription on the obverse (in margin): HIPPOLYTA GONZAGA FERDINANDI FIL[IA] AN[NO] XVII [trans.: Ippolita Gonzaga, daughter of Ferdinando [at the age of] XVII].

The reverse showing Aurora in a Chariot Riding across the Heavens, is handled with considerable skill in its modelling and suggestion of space.

Inscription on the reverse (in margin): VIRTVTIS FORMAEQ[ue] PRAEVIA [trans.: The harbinger of virtue and beauty].

Angrand was one of Seurat’s first followers. He moved on from vigorous and spontaneous brushwork to a dense fabric of points.

During his long visit in Augsburg in 1548, Titan had time to become acquainted with Emperor Charles V, leading to a deeper sympathy with him as a man as well as to a better understanding of his aspirations as a ruler. Contemporary observers were highly impressed by the intimacy that a mere painter should have enjoyed with the most powerful man on earth. Titian’s seventeenth-century biographer Carlo Ridolfi recounts an anecdote concerning their relationship, which clearly grew out of accurate reports in circulation at the time.

“It is told of Titian that while he was painting the portrait, he dropped a brush, which the emperor picked up, and bowing low, Titian declared: ‘Sire, one of your servants does not deserve such an honour.’ To this Charles replied: ‘Titian deserves to be served by Caesar.’”

This story, which was repeatedly cited by romantics in later centuries, was clearly modelled on Pliny’s account of the special favours accorded to the painter Apelles by Alexander the Great.

Archibald Knox was one of the most talented and original designers of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The jardini�re is a particularly fine example of Knox’s ceramic garden pottery. It is distinguished by both its highly original form decorated with the Celtic knot pattern, so closely identified with Knox’s work, and by its deep copper-red lustre glaze, one of the most striking found on any Knox ceramic object. It is rare to have a Knox-designed ceramic piece, as his work for this medium is much less commonly found than his metalwork designs.

The works of Archibald Knox were inspired by Celtic ornamental details, which became English Art Nouveau trademarks. He designed elegant vases, candelabra, chalices, boxes and baskets, as well as clocks made in silver and pewter. They were shaped into innovative forms, with functional lines and harmonious contours, and some were enhanced by enamels or blue-green polished stones or semi-precious stone cabochons.

The central figure in Rauch’s ensemble in the Arolsen church was carried out in Carrara marble, and many replicas were made. For example, the sculptor presented a statuette version to the royal couple as a silver wedding present. Another version, with a lotus blossom in the lowered left hand as a symbol of eternity, was produced by Rauch in 1855 for the tomb of his deceased brother, but finished up cast in bronze for his own tomb in the Dorotheeenstadt cemetery in Berlin.

This view of Venice shows the Grand Canal with the churches of Santa Lucia and the Scalzi.

Geertgen tot Sint Jans, a servant of the wealthy Commandery of the Knights of St John in Haarlem, was among the most talented late fifteenth-century Dutch painters. Several of his smaller pictures, made probably for the brothers’ devotional use, explore the range of human emotions. His Man of Sorrows can easily be held in one’s hand.

The composition of the Venus is derived from the celebrated Tauride Venus of Greek antiquity, known from a 2nd-century AD Roman Imperial copy in the Hermitage, St Petersburg. Whilst ideal works such as the present Venus are relatively rare in MacDonald’s oeuvre, given his popularity as a portraitist, his serene Neoclassicism lends itself perfectly to the genre.

The statue is signed and dated: L. MACDONALD. FECIT / ROMA. 1857.

The predella of the main altarpiece of the church of San Giovanni di Monte in Bologna consisted of three pieces, the Prayer in the Garden, and the Road to Calvary at the sides and a Pietà in the middle.

The painting invokes a motif of Rogier van der Weyden and is an example of melting together the Flemish and Italian (Mantegna, Tura, Giovanni Bellini) approches to express religious feelings.

Giambattista Marino (1569-1625) was an Italian poet, founder of the school of Marinism (later Secentismo), which dominated 17th-century Italian poetry. Marino’s own work, praised throughout Europe, far surpassed that of his imitators, who carried his complicated word play and elaborate conceits and metaphors to such extremes that Marinism became a pejorative term. His work was translated all over Europe.

Bellori mentions Caravaggo’s portrait of Marino and emphasizes that it earned both painter and poet great fame, in particular in the literary academies. The impressive, half-length portrait shows the poet aged around 30, with delicate, still youthful features. He is seen at a slight angle and looks out at the viewer almost a little shyly with wide eyes.

Hylas in Greek mythology is a handsome youth, the companion and servant of Hercules during the expedition of the Argonauts. After they made landfall one evening he was sent with a pitcher to find fresh water and came upon a spring where Naiads, the nymphs of fountains and streams, were bathing. Captivated by his beauty the nymphs dragged him down into the water, and that was the last anyone saw him.

Recently a chased morion and shield, now kept in Dresden, have been attributed to Cellini and his assistants. Both the tall crested helmet and the oval shield are ceremonial objects embellished with decorative scenes. Apart from being influenced by French examples, these pieces reveal stylistic features typical of Cellini.

The tondo on the helmet depicts the Conversion of St Paul.

This scene shows bearers of coins and plate, trophies of royal armour. Richly worked royal weapons and body armour are energetically hoisted on poles by the bearers. The use of contrasting red-green colouring gives the scene a penetrating glow.