paintings
The dramatic fate of Princess Tenisheva
June 1 (old style – May 20) marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of an outstanding woman whose contribution to the development of Russian culture can hardly be overestimated. Princess Maria Tenisheva was a collector, philanthropist, public figure and enamel artist. Turgenev regretted not having time to write a story about her, she posed for Repin, Serov, Korovin and Vrubel. Contemporaries called her “the heroine of our time” and “the pride of all of Russia,” and today, her name is hardly known to the majority and undeservedly forgotten. Continue reading
10 paintings by great artists
Before the invention of photography, People kept the memory of various historical events in the paintings. Such paintings often romanticized the struggle or presented various scenes in a distorted form to convey the horror experienced by our ancestors. Here are examples of the darkest and most disturbing paintings, which depict historical atrocities and disasters over the past 450 years. They perfectly reflect the horrors that happened many years ago.
1. Beating of infants (c. 1565-1567). Peter Brueghel the Elder
Bruegel, a Flemish Renaissance artist, based the plot of his painting on biblical history. The Jewish king Herod the Great, learning about the birth of a baby who will become the new king of ancient Israel and Judea, ordered to kill all the boys under the age of 2 years. Continue reading
VARIETIES OF GENRE STILL LIFE
Still life (with FR. nature morte-dead, inanimate nature) – artistic depiction of various household items.
In the XV-XVI centuries still life was considered as part of a historical or genre composition. Early still lifes often performed a utilitarian function, for example, as a decoration of Cabinet doors or to mask a wall niche.
As an independent genre of painting still life was formed in the XVII century in the works of Dutch and Flemish artists.
The term nature morte (dead nature) appeared in the XVIII century and reflected a dismissive attitude to the still life by the academic community, which preferred the “high” genres, the area of which was “living nature” (historical, battle, allegorical, religious, mythological). Until the end of the XIX century still life was considered as a “lower” genre.
The heyday of still life painting is associated with the invention in the XIX century of the method of production of tube paints and the appearance of plein-air painting. Continue reading
