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.

Agony

Agony in the Garden
El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) Spanish, 1541-1614.
Oil on canvas, about 1590–95
Toledo Museum of Art

One of the highlights of the TMA collection, this painting exemplifies what we know of El Greco. I don't have dimensions but it is a sizeable work, easily commanding it's space in the gallery. The Mannerist style and rich color of an El Greco makes it difficult to walk past one his works without stopping. I would love to talk more about Mannerism (as it never gets much attention) but alas, I must get back to work. Note the elongation of the figures, the compression of the space and follow the Mannerist link :).

"His emotionally charged religious images confirm his status as one of the most intensely original artistic visionaries of any era." (TMA description).

Lavabo

Antonio López García
Sink and Mirror, 1967
Oil on canvas
image: MFA Boston
Exhibition this summer at MFA Boston


My new favorite painter/draughtsman. This man is incredible, his hyper realist work is impeccably empathetic and gorgeous If you can make me swoon over a sink, you simply rock. You can check out many of his works on various sites on the web. Haunting and ethereal, familiar and distant, the study and care that López García puts into bringing his surrounding world to canvas is brilliant.

A Spanish realist painter, López García, is a rock star artist in Spain. His work has not been very widespread in the U.S. (no good excuse will suffice for this) which serves only as a detriment to our artistic senses. Historically, I was never a fan of realist painting, but it turns out I was looking at the wrong artists! You'll see more of it over time, as López García has reminded me of other realist painters that I've discovered over the last few years that have encouraged me to take a second look.

Slate Slide Essay and more images and even more images

The artist in work

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velazquez
The Family of Felipe IV or Las Meninas, 1656
oil, 318 cm x 276 cm
Museo Nacional del Prado

image courtesy of wikimedia commons

Velazquez moved beyond the singular portrait. The painting can be seen as snapshot of a scene in which the artist works with the young Infanta Margarita (center) and her attendants. He stands to the left side of the canvas looking directly at the viewer. The reflection in the mirror on the back wall portrays the king (Philip the IV of Spain) and queen who are, possibly, along with us viewing this very scene. There is a play between reality and illusion in the painting which is one of the many reasons for our fascination with it over so much time.

Velazquez was court painter to King Philip, and while this image relates directly to that post we are unsure as to the true subject of the painting.

I got myself in a little too deep with this choice, so I apologize if I leave you hanging a bit. Due to the importance and popularity of the painting you can find information about it most anywhere and I recommend doing so if your interest is peaked. While this is not, in essence, a self-portrait in the manner of other ones you will see this week, and elsewhere, it is an excellent example of the context in which many artists place themselves, in both their work and society.

Detail of self-portrait
courtesy of wikimedia commons

If you have been following any of the links I include you will notice that I often use wikipedia. While I probably don't need to justify this, in the climate of research and librarianship, i feel i should acknowledge it. For a beginning touch upon a subject I (and I am sure many of you) find it extremely useful. It is usually one of the richest overviews (oftentimes much more than an overview) that you can find without more extensive searching (or access to a particular database or book) and I have found the included images extremely helpful. I recently read a very interesting article about using wikipedia as a springboard for teaching research skills. (Bennington, Adam. "Dissecting the Web through Wikipedia" American Libraries (August 2008) Analyzing the content, following the references, and then discussing the positives and negatives of the wiki article. Anyhoo, there you have it. Enjoy!