hunting scenes
How Russian artist Makovsky painted a portrait of the US president and opened the “Russian style” to Americans
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Western world discovered the Russian style. Sundresses, kokoshniks, furs and precious fabrics, boyars and feasts – this is exactly such Russia that the great Russian artist Konstantin Makovsky showed the Americans on his canvases. The success of the “Russian Rubens” in America was so great that Konstantin Egorovich in 1901 decided to visit the New World. During this trip, the craftsmen were invited to paint a portrait of US President Theodore Roosevelt.
The conventional wisdom that talent should be hungry was clearly not related to Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky. At the end of the 19th century, he was probably one of the most successful and sought-after masters in Russia. Continue reading
What is the secret of the appeal of romances: The history of the genre from Spanish to cruel
Touching songs performed by Larisa Ogudalova, a dowager, are just one of the signs of the romance, if we take into account its entire history. But once upon a time it began with other songs – both in terms of theme and method of performance. True, the main secret of the romance, which makes it so attractive for centuries, remains, perhaps, unchanged.
His predecessor has a rather distant relation to the usual idea of romance – and the point is not only that the evolution of this vocal and musical genre has been going on for many centuries. In an attempt to clarify the history of the romance, musicologists turned to Spain in the XIV – XV centuries, when songs in the local dialect began to be heard both at the royal court and at festivities – in contrast to church psalms performed in Latin. It is believed that the kingdom of Aragon became the birthplace of the romance, from where these songs spread through Spain through the efforts of the troubadours. Continue reading
“Love Letter” by Jan Vermeer
At the first glance at Jan Vermeer’s famous painting “Love Letter”, the name seems far-fetched, because the letter itself is hardly noticeable. But the lute in the hands of a woman plays a much more significant symbolic role. What does the letter contain? And what does the lute matter in the picture?
Genre painting
The paintings, which allow the observer to look at the everyday life of the depicted people, were especially popular in the XVII and XVIII centuries. They are called genre paintings, and Dutch genre art occupies an undeniable place at this stage in the history of art. A particularly popular topic was symbolism. Pictures depicting love letters can be attributed to a separate category of genre painting. Artists such as Jan Vermeer, Gabriel Metsu and Samuel van Hoogstrate have contributed to the world of art with canvases of this plot. Continue reading
