The first thing which you see as you go down the grand staircase is a set of two carved wooden footmen holding torches from the 1730s originating in Austria and Southern Germany. These were supposed to be kept on the doorway of formal stately homes and the quality of the carving shows through.
This is the Medici Venus, it's a plaster cast of the marble statue which is now in Florence. She is shown here emerging from the sea.
This is another plaster cast of another Venus, this time rising from a bath but modestly trying to cover herself with a towel.
This is a painting of the Virgin and the Child with Angels, by Quinten Metsys from around 1500 AD. What caught my eye was the absolute serene expression of the Madonna, her childlike face itself, full of innocence. And lovely hair as well :)
This is a Rubens, Cain slaying Abel. Cain and Abel were the two eldest sons of Adam and Eve, but when Cain’s sacrifice to God was rejected, he jealously killed Abel. The face of Abel, the muscles in the bodies, the framing of the composition etc. all caught my eye, but the notice showed why. Rubens was heavily influenced by Michelangelo and bingo, then I could see the commonality between the master and Rubens.
A three set panel from Rubens, around 1611 AD, meant for the Antwerp Cathedral. These were preparatory works prior to the main painting being done directly on the walls of the Cathedral. It shows Christ’s body being lowered from the cross in the centre panel, on the left we see a pregnant Mary meeting Elizabeth – the future mother of John the Baptist, while the right panel shows Mary and Joseph presenting Christ to the high priest Simenon.
This is a preparatory sketch done by Rubens around 1629 to show what will be the final ceiling panel of the Jesuit Church in Antwerp. The power of the painting is brilliant, just a few paint strokes and the movement, the feelings and emotions of David Slaying Goliath jump out. You could almost feel the tension in young David’s arm as he raises the sword to hack away at Goliath’s neck. The huge Goliath is face down and the perspective shows up brilliantly.
Vincent van Gogh, 1889, self portrait with a bandage covering his ear which he had mutilated after a violent argument with Paul Gauguin. Another one of the most famous paintings in the world.
Here was a small class being held. From the language and intonations, I think they are from Austria.
On the left is the other painting which is hung on the right of the van Gogh above. By Georges Seurat. A Bridge over the Seine. This is an example of the divisionist painting techniques made by using dots unlike the impressionists. Search me, I have no idea. On the right is a zoom of the painting below. Young Woman powdering herself. Again made out of dots. Can you see the dots making up the picture. The woman is his mistress. It looks good from a distance.
This is from Renoir painted around 1918, Woman tying her shoe. This is a lovely little simple picture of a woman with a full figure and rounded features. Very sensual outlook, in her boudoir, getting ready.
Another very famous painting, Female Nude, by Amedeo Modigliani in 1916. This was first exhibited in Paris and the damn policemen closed this down on the ground of obscenity. Damn silly, but the painting shows why people will get excited. I am not going to talk about the school or the influences as I know damn all about it, but the painting itself spoke to me. The girl is nothing special, I mean in terms of idealisations of female beauty. The body is slightly misshapen and elongated, the face is flat, the hips too wide, but when looked at it from an overall perspective, you can see “woman”, and then the eyes naturally go back to the face, and you see so many things in that face, cheek resting on the shoulder and then you stand there admiring the work. Guess what? Photobucket said that this nude painting violated their terms and conditions. Bunch of Palestinians.
Two lovely paintings from Paul Gauguin, around 1897. These were painted when he visited Tahiti. Nevermore on the left and the Dream on the right. The flesh tones were brilliant and you can almost feel the high humidity, the shades from the brilliant Tahiti sun and the long languorous lines of the ladies. The Dream on the right is perhaps his best work and is very complex in terms of concepts and ideas. I could hang a copy on my wall and almost smell the frangipani blossoms just outside the window of the rooms that he painted.
This is the “A Bar at the Folies-Bergere”, painted in 1881-82, by Manet. Very famous work showing a barmaid in one of Paris’s most famous theatre bars. The rest of the painting is complex and detailed enough, but it's the eyes of the barmaid which caught my eye. It was a combination of tiredness, wide eyed look, gazing into the distance while staring at something, a lovely thought perhaps thinking about her baby at home or what she could be doing while serving drinks? Lovely.
This is a Renoir, painted around 1888-1890, called as The Outskirts of Pont-Aven. It's a nice and bright painting, showing a bucolic scene in a village, with lovely sunlight, shadows, trees, quaint village scene. You can almost feel the sunlight in the warm painting.
There are more photographs in the full slideshow, but these are just some samples. Remember it's a small gallery and they can only show samples of the great painters. Also, as this gallery is not that well known so it is not that crowded, although I went on a weekday. Full slideshow here with bigger resolutions.
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