CK ART F200x

In my baroque blog, I would like to introduce you to Johannes Vermeer's  Girl Reading a Letter at the Open Window  (1657-1659), which is an 83x64.5 cm (32 3/4x 25 3/8 inches) oil on canvas painting that is displayed at Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery), Dresden, Germany. The painting depicts a young blonde woman standing in profile at an open window and reading a letter. The heavy red curtain is draped over the top of the window, which opens to the inside of the room and reflects the girl in the windowpane. Another heavy green satin drapery falls before the painted scene, a perfect example of trompe l'œil. "In real Dutch households, this kind of curtain was employed to protect precious paintings from dust or for covering nudes. The trompe l'œil curtain was also a favorite illusionist trick among painters of the Delft School." (Jason,2024)  The oriental rug, carelessly draped over the table, creates rich folds and upends the bowl of fruit th...

I chose Leonardo da Vinci's painting  Lady with an Ermine for this week's blog.  My fascination with this painting has remained strong since my childhood, and I consider it superior to the  Mona Lisa  in terms of Humanism as per definition.  Lady with an ermine  is a portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, the mistress of Ludovico Sforza, Il Moro, Duke of Milan. The oil painting was created by Leonardo da Vinci in 1489-1491 and had dimensions of 53.4x39.3 cm (21x15 1/2 inches). Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza to paint a portrait of Ludovico’s 17-year-old mistress. It is currently displayed at the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland. "It is an oil painting on a walnut wood panel featuring a young woman holding an ermine." ( Lady with an Ermine, n.d. ) The painting represents an excellent example of the Sfumato and chiaroscuro   technique with the light source coming from the right side of the painting and highlighting the model's cheekbone...

For this week's art blog, I chose the painting  The Seine at Le Grande Jatte  (1888) by Georges Seurat (1859-1891). The painting was created in France in 1888 using oil paint on a 65 x 82 cm canvas.  "It is currently housed at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium." ( The Seine at Le Grande Jatte, n.d. )  The Seine at Le Grande Jatte  is one of the most influential examples of the Pointillism style technique. It depicts a landscape along the Seine River on Le Grande Jatte Island. For those who are not familiar with the Pointillism style and technique, here is a little bit of background: Georges Seurat is considered the father of the Pointillism technique. The term Pointillism actually points out (pun intended) the most important element of this technique: the point. Pointillism is "... a highly systematic and scientific technique based on the hypothesis that closely positioned points of pure color mix together in the viewer's eye." ( Sunday on La Grande ...