cup and flower

Cup of Water and Rose on a Silver Plate c. 1630
Francisco de Zurbaran (1598-1664)
Oil on canvas, 21,2 x 30,1 cm
National Gallery, London
image: Web Gallery of Art

I'm back! with a still-life. I did a lot of cataloging this week and built up a list of artists to share. Today's is Baroque Spanish painter, Francisco de Zurbaran. Zurbaran was not known for still-lifes and I was not originally intending on sharing one, but when I was looking for a work, I fell for this simple yet beautiful painting.

This same motif is in a few of Zurbaran's other paintings. "Here the objects may be intended to have a symbolic character: the water in the cup perhaps refers to the Virgin's purity and the flower recalls her title of 'Mystic Rose'." (nationalgallery caption). Most of Zurbaran's works were focused on religious themes.

Light-Dark

An experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, 1768
Joseph Wright of Derby (1737-1797)
Oil on canvas
183 x 244 cm.
National Gallery, London

We got a catalog in today about Darwin, natural science and the visual arts and I started looking for art with connections to science (and started up a bibliography of it for a display at the library :). After a bit of searching, I remembered this wonderful painting by Joseph Wright (and happily remembered his name, though not the title despite its straightforwardness).

While my mind made direct connections to science, science may only serve as a cursory subject base for the painting as a whole. Everyone is watching a man demonstrate the air pump, but Wright's focus is on emotion and mood and style (the pump had been invented in previous century). The nighttime setting enables Wright to use very strong chiaroscuro (light-dark) to create dramatic affect. The people crowded around the demonstration have a wide range of reactions to the spectacle, fascination, horror, boredom, contemplation, all stemming from the same centralized source. This is the most well-known painting of Wright's, inspiring discussion of morality, science and enlightenment. Note that if you link to the image on the nga website you can access some awesome zooming capabilities.

I shared something from the fantastic Transcriptions LFS Shorts collaborative project at the National Gallery, London in a previous post and discovered Transcriptions: Animation this time around (there are also a couple of short films connected to this painting). I can't embed the animation but I highly recommend linking over to the website to see The Poison Tree inspired by Wright's painting. I get very excited when I discover all the wonderful collaborations happening between museums and schools, museums are still often a fantastic world of untapped possibilities, so much innovation still awaits!

La Coiffure

Edgar Degas (183401917)
Combing the Hair ('La Coiffure') ca. 1896
Oil on canvas
114.3 x 146.7 cm.
National Gallery, London.

One of my favorite paintings in the National Gallery. I think the initial pull was the monochromatic color. Despite the limited color palette (though there exists a wonderful red palette), the painting stands out. The pedestrian subject matter creates a focus on the detail.

Degas is most well-known for his paintings of dancers, subject matter which has never particularly appealed to me. I prefer these simple interior scenes, reminding me of Vuillard (yet his interiors have a greater focus on pattern). I find it fascinating that the maid has the same color hair as the girl who's hair she combs. It creates an affinity between the women, one that most likely doesn't actually exist outside of the scene Degas presents to us.

The National Gallery is collaborating with the London Film School on a project (Transcriptions) in which the students choose a work in the gallery as inspiration for a short film piece. Here is Mistress inspired by La Coiffure.