Sunday, January 31, 2021

10 Works, Today, January 31st. is artist Henry Howard's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #031

Henry Howard (1769–1847)
Pandora, whom the assembled Gods/ endowed with all their gifts..., c. 1834
Oil on mahogany panel
H 82 x W 249 cm
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London

The full title for this work by Howard is, in fact, 'Pandora, whom the assembled Gods/ endowed with all their gifts/ Formed by Vulcan, who is contemplating/ his work, she is dressed by the Graces/ and presented by Minerva with a veil/ and Cestus; – near her stands Pitho/ (the Goddess of Persuasion) – on the left/ are Phoebus, Diana, Mars, Venus, &/ Cupid; – on the right, Juno, Cybele/ and Bacchus; – in the midst Jupiter,/ attended by Victory and Nemesis, holds/ the fatal Vase, fraught with so much/ mischief to Mankind. More on this painting

In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name is Anesidora, "she who sends up gifts", up implying "from below" within the earth. More on Pandora

Henry Howard (1769–1847)
Epimetheus Receiving Pandora, c. 1834
Oil on mahogany panel
H 76.5 x W 166.6 cm
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London

Zeus sent Pandora to Epimetheus, who forgot the warning of his brother Prometheus and made Pandora his wife.

The painting was inspired by a scene from John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost; referring to the story of Pandora and her famous vase, from which came all the cares and miseries of life. The quotation attached to the painting’s title comes from Book IV, Line 714, in which the un-fallen Eve is considered ‘more lovely’ than her mythological counterpart, Pandora, ‘whom the Gods Endowed with all their gifts’. More on this painting

Henry Howard (1769–1847)
The Opening of Pandora's Vase, c. 1834
Oil on mahogany panel
H 76.6 x W 166.5 cm
Sir John Soane’s Museum

Pandora crouches to duck the torrent of woe, evil and pain which streams from the jar, as Epimetheus tries in vain to reseal its lid. This is the story as told by Hesiod in his Works and Days.

At some time between about 1834 and 1860, the story of Pandora with her jar of evils became confounded with that of Psyche, who had a box which she could not open. The result was the tale still told about Pandora and her box of evils. More on this painting

Henry Howard RA (31 January 1769 – 5 October 1847) was an early 19th-century British portrait and history painter.

Henry Howard (1769–1847)
Hygeia
Oil on canvas
H 121.7 x W 96.5 cm
Thirlestane Castle, Lauder, United Kingdom

In Greek as well as Roman mythology, Hygieia was one of the Asclepiadae; the sons and daughters of the god of medicine, Asclepius, and his wife Epione. Hygieia was the goddess/personification of health, cleanliness and hygiene.

Hygieia also played an important part in her father's cult. While her father was more directly associated with healing, she was associated with the prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health. Her name is the source of the word "hygiene". More on Hygeia

He was born in London and after being educated at a school in Hounslow, he started studying with the painter Philip Reinagle in 1786. In 1788 he began attending the Royal Academy Schools and was awarded a silver medal for drawing from life and a gold medal for historical painting for his Caractacus Recognising the Dead Body of his Son.

Henry Howard (1769–1847)
The Apotheosis of Princess Charlotte Augusta (1796–1817), Princess of Wales, c. Date
1818
Oil on canvas
H 91.5 x W 71 cm
National Trust, Petworth House

Princess Charlotte was the only child of George IV (1762-1830) and Caroline of Brunswick (1768-1821), married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1816. She died in childbirth the following year and the national grief caused by her death may have encouraged Howard to paint this subject. The princess is here shown holding her still-born baby, rising to the sky, attended by two angels. 

The princess, holding her still-born baby, rises to the sky attended by two angels. Below is a lady with upraised hands and another is prostrate. More on this painting

In March 1791, Howard traveled to Italy, France, and Switzerland. In Rome, he met and studied sculpture with John Flaxman and John Deare. In 1792 he painted a Dream of Cain. While abroad he applied to the Royal Academy for a grant after the bankruptcy of his father. Two years later, he returned to Britain by way of Vienna and Dresden. He began instructing Reinagle's daughter Jane in drawing and married her in 1803. Together they had four daughters and three sons. From 1806 they lived at 50 Newman Street, Westminster, until his death.

Henry Howard 1769–1847
The Florentine Girl (‘The Artist’s Daughter’), c. 1827
Oil paint on canvas
965 × 610 mm
Tate

Henry Howard 1769–1847
Hylas is abducted by Nymphs
Oil on canvas
112.4 by 143.5 cm.; 44 1/4 by 56 1/2 in 
Private collection

Hylas was the son of King Theiodamas of the Dryopians. After Hercules killed Hylas's father, Hylas became a companion of Hercules. They both became Argonauts, accompanying Jason in his quest on his ship Argo in seeking the Golden Fleece. During the journey, Hylas was sent to find fresh water. He found a pond occupied by Naiads, and they lured Hylas into the water and he disappeared. More on Hylas and the nymphs

In the 1790s Howard painted and drew a variety of subjects from literature, portraits, and drawings of sculpture. In 1795 and 1796, he submitted five such pictures to the Royal Academy, including a sketch from Milton's Paradise Lost. He illustrated Sharpe's British Essayists and Du Roveray's edition of Alexander Pope's translation of Homer. He also contributed designs for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. Between 1799 and 1802, he made a series of drawings of sculpture. One series was published by the Dilettanti Society and one was made for the collector Charles Townley, the sculptor John Flaxman, and the Society of Engravers.

Henry Howard  (1769–1847)
Venus Carrying off Ascanius
Oil on canvas
Height: 69.8 cm (27.4 in); Width: 91.1 cm (35.8 in)
National Galleries of Scotland

Ascanius was a legendary king of Alba Longa and is the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas and Creusa, daughter of Priam. He has a divine lineage, being the son of Aeneas, who is the son of the goddess Venus and the hero Anchises, a relative of the king Priam; thus Ascanius has divine ascendents by both parents, being descendants of god Jupiter and Dardanus. He is also an ancestor of Romulus, Remus and the Gens Julia. Together with his father, he is a major character in Virgil's Aeneid, and he is depicted as one of the founders of the Roman race. More on Ascanius

Howard was elected an associate member of the Royal Academy and exhibited there until his death in 1847; he was elected a full member in 1808. In 1811 he became secretary of the Academy and in 1833 he was appointed professor of painting at the Schools (his lectures were published by his son, Frank in 1848). Howard's diploma work was The Four Angels Loosed from the Great River Euphrates. He painted a series of works from Milton's Comus and several subjects from the plays of William Shakespeare. In 1809 he exhibited Christ Blessing Young Children, which later became the altarpiece of St. Luke's, in Berwick St Soho, London (demolished 1936). One of Howard's most important patrons was Lord Egremont, a significant collector.

Henry Howard (1769–1847)
Sabrina, c. c.1821
Oil on canvas
H 114.3 x W 143.5 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum

According to a legend recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century, Habren was the daughter of a king named Locrinus (also known as Locrin or Locrine in English) by his mistress, the Germanic princess Estrildis. Locrinus ruled England after the death of his father, Brutus of Troy, the legendary second founder of Britain. Locrinus cast aside his wife, Guendolen, and their son Maddan and acknowledged Sabrina and her mother, but the enraged Guendolen raised an army against him and defeated Locrinus in battle. Guendolen then ordered that Sabrina and her mother be drowned in the river. The river was named after Sabrina so Locrine's betrayal of Guendolen would never be forgotten.[4] According to legend, Sabrina lives in the river, which reflects her mood. She rides in a chariot and dolphins and salmon swim alongside her.[5] The later story suggests that the legend of Sabrina could have become intermingled with old stories of a river goddess or nymph. More on Sabrina

While his history paintings were in a neo-classical academic style following Flaxman and others, his portraits continued the general tradition of English 18th-century portraiture and many of his portraits are in the National Gallery. His history paintings are hard to find on public display but his ceiling for the dining-room of the Sir John Soane's Museum, an Aurora adapted from Guido Reni (1837), can be seen obliquely.

Circle Henry Howard
Macbeth and Banquo with the three witches
Oil on canvas
47 3/8 x 58½ in
Private collection

In addition to his portraiture and historical painting, Howard worked on many decorative works. In 1805, a Mr. Hibbert commissioned him to paint a Cupid and Psyche frieze in 1814, along with several other artists. He painted large transparencies, apparently to be lighted from behind, for the "Grand Revolving Temple of Concord" built in Green Park for the visit of several sovereigns to celebrate (prematurely) the defeat of Napoleon. This was, according to some accounts, destroyed by, and according to others only saved by the cavalry from, "the multitudes of idle and dissolute spectators of all sorts". He also worked on a Solar System for the ceiling of Stafford House in 1835, then housing a superb art collection open to the public, as well as several other ceiling projects.

Howard died in Oxford on 5 October 1847 of "paralysis". More on Henry Howard

Saturday, January 30, 2021

17 Works, Today, January 30th. is artist Amrita Sher-Gil's day, her story, illustrated with footnotes #030

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Self Portrait (5), c. 1932
Oil on Canvas
43cm x 54.5cm
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi

Among the series of self-portraits that Amrita Sher-Gil had done during her student days in Paris in the early '30s of the Twentieth century, this one is the fifth. She has often portrayed herself in the act of painting and this work is one such.

Amrita Sher-Gil (30 January 1913 – 5 December 1941) was a Hungarian-Indian painter. She has been called "one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century" and a "pioneer" in modern Indian art. Drawn to painting from an early age, Sher-Gil started getting formal lessons in the art, at the age of eight. She first gained recognition at the age of 19, for her oil painting titled Young Girls (1932). (See below)

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Young Girls, c. 1932
Oil on canvas
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi

Amrita with models for Young Girls Amrita, Indira, Denise Proutaux 1932, 11 Rue Bassano, Paris, France

This painting done in 1932 won Amrita Sher-Gil an associate membership at the Grand Salon in 1933. 

Young Girls, 1932, by Amrita Sher-Gil. Amrita’s sister Indira sits on the left clothed in chic European garb, while the partially undressed figure in the foreground is a French friend, Denise Proutaux. This painting was awarded a Gold Medal at the Grand Salon in 1933. Now in the collection of National Gallery of Modern Art, New DelhiMore on this painting

Sher-Gil traveled throughout her life to various countries including Turkey, France, and India, deriving heavily from precolonial Indian art styles and its current culture. Sher-Gil is considered an important painter of 20th-century India, whose legacy stands on a level with that of the pioneers from the Bengal Renaissance. She was also an avid reader and a pianist. Sher-Gil's paintings are among the most expensive by Indian women painters today, although few acknowledged her work when she was alive.

Amrita Sher-Gil  (1913–1941)
Hungarian gypsy girl, c. 1932
Oil on canvas
Height: 54 cm (21.2 in); Width: 82 cm (32.2 in) .
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi‎ 

Amrita Sher-Gil was born on 30 January 1913 in Budapest, Hungary. She spent most of early childhood in Budapest. She was the niece of Indologist Ervin Baktay. Baktay guided her by critiquing her work and gave her an academic foundation to grow on. When she was a young girl she would paint the servants in her house, and get them to model for her. The memories of these models would eventually lead to her return to India.

Amrita Sher-Gil  (1913–1941)
Self-portrait, c. 1931
Oil on canvas
25 5/8 x 21¼ in. (65.1 x 54 cm.)
Private Collection. 

Her family faced financial problems in Hungary. In 1921, her family moved to Summer Hill, Shimla, India. Though she was already painting since the age of five, she formally started learning painting at age eight. Sher-Gil started getting formal lessons in the art by Major Whitmarsh, who was later replaced by Beven Pateman. In Shimla, Sher-Gil lived a relatively privileged lifestyle. As a child, she was expelled from her convent school for declaring herself an atheist.

In 1923, Marie came to know an Italian sculptor, who was living at Shimla at the time. In 1924, when he returned to Italy, she too moved there too. He got her enrolled at Santa Annunziata, an art school at Florence. Though Amrita didn't stay at this school for long and returned to India in 1924, it was here that she was exposed to works of Italian masters.

Amrita Sher-Gil  (1913–1941) 
Portrait of a Young Man, Boris Taslitzky, c. 1930
Oil on canvas
Height: 76 cm (29.9 in); Width: 63.3 cm (24.9 in)
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi‎

At sixteen, Sher-Gil sailed to Europe with her mother to train as a painter at Paris. She drew inspiration from European painters such as Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, while working under the influence of her teacher Lucien Simon and the company of artist friends and lovers like Tazlitsky (See above). While in Paris, she is said to have painted with a conviction and maturity rarely seen in a 16-year old.

Amrita Sher-Gil  (1913–1941)
Adam and Eve
Pencil and watercolour on paper
20.3 x 13.3 cm
Private collection

Sher-Gil's early paintings display a significant influence of the Western modes of painting, more specifically, the post-impressionism style. She practiced a lot in the Bohemian circles of Paris in the early 1930s. Her 1932 oil painting, Young Girls (See above), came as a breakthrough for her; the work won her accolades, including a gold medal and election as an Associate of the Grand Salon in Paris in 1933. She was the youngest ever member, and the only Asian to have received this recognition. 

Amrita Sher-Gil  (1913–1941)
Sleep, c. 1932
Oil on canvas
112.5 × 79 cm
National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi

Amrita Sher-Gil
Self Portrait as Tahitian, c.  1934
Oil on canvas
Collection of Navina and Vivan Sundaram

Sher-Gil encountered the paintings of Paul Gauguin during a visit to the National Gallery in London. Gauguin used expressive colour and stylised figures to represent life on Tahiti, and his work influenced Sher-Gil’s own depictions of the non-western body. In Self Portrait as Tahitian she self-consciously plays on her status as the exotic ‘other’ in metropolitan Paris. More on this painting

Her work during this time include a number of self-portraits, as well as life in Paris, nude studies (See above), still life studies, and portraits of friends and fellow students. 

The National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi describes her self-portraits she made while in Paris as "capturing the artist in her many moods – somber, pensive, and joyous – while revealing a narcissistic streak in her personality."

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
 Malcolm Muggeridge
Oil on Canvas
59cm x 80.5cm
National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi

In 1933, Sher-Gil "began to be haunted by an intense longing to return to India feeling in some strange way that there lay her destiny as a painter." Sher-Gill returned to India at the end of 1934. In May 1935, Sher-Gil met the English journalist Malcolm Muggeridge (See above), then working as assistant editor and leader writer for The Calcutta Statesman. Shimla and Muggeridge had a short intense affair during which she painted a casual portrait of her new lover, the painting now with the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi (See above).

By September 1935 Amrita saw Muggeridge off as he traveled back to England for new employment. She left herself for travel in 1936, at the behest of an art collector and critic, Karl Khandalavala, who encouraged her to pursue her passion for discovering her Indian roots. In India, she began a quest for the rediscovery of the traditions of Indian art which was to continue till her death. She was greatly impressed and influenced by the Mughal and Pahari schools of painting and the cave paintings at Ajanta.

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Bride's Toilet, c. 1937
Oil on canvas
H: 146 x W: 88.8 cm
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi

These women look awfully glum about the ensuing wedding festivities….probably because this is an arranged marriage and neither the bride, nor the groom in the corresponding painting, Brahmacharis want to be together. More on this painting

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Brahmacharis/ Celibate, c. 1937
Oil on canvas
 144x86.5 cm
I have no further description, at this time

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
South Indian Villagers Going to Market, c. 1937
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this time

Later in 1937, she toured South India and produced her South Indian trilogy of paintings Bride's Toilet (See above), Brahmacharis (See above), and South Indian Villagers Going to Market (See above), following her visit to the Ajanta Caves, when she made a conscious attempt to return to classical Indian art. These paintings reveal her passionate sense of color and an equally passionate empathy for her Indian subjects, who are often depicted in their poverty and despair. By now the transformation in her work was complete and she had found her 'artistic mission' which was, according to her, to express the life of Indian people through her canvas.

Amrita Sher-Gil  (1913–1941)
Group of Three Girls, c.1935
Oil on canvas
Height: 99.5 cm (39.1 in); Width: 73.5 cm (28.9 in) 
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi‎ 

Group of Three Girls, by Amrita Sher-Gil, won her a gold medal from the Bombay Art Society.

Sher-Gil wrote to a friend thus: "I can only paint in India. Europe belongs to Picasso, Matisse, Braque.... India belongs only to me". Her stay in India marks the beginning of a new phase in her artistic development, one that was distinct from the European phase of the interwar years when her work showed an engagement with the works of Hungarian painters, especially the Nagybanya school of painting.

Sher-Gil married her Hungarian first cousin, Dr. Viktor Egan when she was 25. Thus began her second phase of painting which equals in its impact on Indian art.

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Village Scene, c. 1938
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this time

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Siesta
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this time

It was during her stay at Saraya that Sher-Gil painted the Village Scene (See above), In the Ladies' Enclosure, and Siesta (See above), all of which portray the leisurely rhythms of life in rural India. Siesta (See above) and In the Ladies' Enclosure reflect her experimentation with the miniature school of painting while Village Scene reflects influences of the Pahari school of painting. Although acclaimed by art critics Karl Khandalavala in Bombay and Charles Fabri in Lahore as the greatest painter of the century, Sher-Gil's paintings found few buyers. 

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Marie Louise Chassany, Painter, c. 1932
Oil on canvas
66.5cm x 92cm
I have no further description, at this time

In 1932, Amrita Sher-Gil painted this portrait of Marie Louise Chassany, who was a fellow student at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and also an intimate friend (See above).

In September 1941, Egan and Sher-Gil moved to Lahore, then in undivided India and a major cultural and artistic centre. She lived and painted at 23 Ganga Ram Mansions, The Mall, Lahore where her studio was on the top floor of the townhouse she inhabited. Sher-Gil was known for her many affairs with both men and women, and she also painted many of the latter. Her work Two Women is thought to be a painting of herself and her lover Marie Louise. Some of her later works include Tahitian (See above), Red Brick House (1938), Hill Scene (1938), and The Bride (See above) among others. Her last work was left unfinished just prior to her death in December 1941.

In 1941, at age 28, just days before the opening of her first major solo show in Lahore, Sher-Gil became seriously ill and slipped into a coma. She later died around midnight on 5 December 1941, leaving behind a large volume of work. The reason for her death has never been ascertained. A failed abortion and subsequent peritonitis have been suggested as possible causes for her death. Her mother accused her doctor husband Egan of having murdered her. The day after her death, Britain declared war on Hungary and Egan was interned as an enemy alien. Sher-Gil was cremated on 7 December 1941 in Lahore. More on Amrita Sher-Gil




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Friday, January 29, 2021

14 Works, Today, January 29th. is artist John Callcott Horsley's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #029

John Calcott Horsley, R.A. (1817-1903)
Detail; Showing a Preference
Oil on canvas
36 x 28 in. (91.5 x 71.1 cm.)
Private collection

John Callcott Horsley RA (29 January 1817 – 18 October 1903)
was an English academic painter of genre and historical scenes, illustrator, and designer of the first Christmas card. He was a member of the artist's colony in Cranbrook.

John Callcott Horsley  (1817–1903)
The Pride of the Village, c. 1839
Height: 62.2 cm (24.4 in); Width: 76.2 cm (30 in)
National Gallery, London

When this picture was first exhibited at the Royal Academy it was accompanied by a quotation from Washington Irving's short story 'The Pride of the Village', which was written in 1819:

'A tear trembles in her soft blue eyes. Was she thinking of her faithless lover? Or were her thoughts wandering to that distant churchyard into whose bosom she might soon be gathered?.'

Irving's story told of an only daughter who was 'the pride of the village'. One year she was the May Queen and caught the attention of a young army officer. When his love proved to be false, the girl pined away in her parents' cottage. More on this painting

Horsley was mentored by William Mulready and Augustus Wall Callcot who sent him at age thirteen to study at Dr Henry Sass's academy. Following preparatory school Horsley studied painting at the Royal Academy schools. In 1836 he exhibited The Pride of the Village (Vernon Gallery) at the Royal Academy.

John Callcott Horsley  (1817–1903)
L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, c. 1850
Oil on canvas 
Height: 153 cm (60.2 in); Width: 112.1 cm (44.1 in)
Royal Collection

The subject illustrates the first part of John Milton’s pastoral poem Il Penseroso (The Melancholy Man) published in 1645. The man walks hand in hand with Melancholy, dressed in black and accompanied by Peace and Quiet. At the same time he is looking over his shoulder at nymphs, representing mirth and joyfulness which had been celebrated in Milton’s companion poem, L’Allegro (The Happy Man). The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1851. Signed and dated: I C Horsley. 1850 (initials in monogram). Inscribed on the back with the title, the name of the artist and the date, 1850. More on this painting

Horsley's paintings were largely of historical subjects set in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, influenced by the Dutch masters Pieter de Hooch and Vermeer. Examples are "Malvolio", "L'Allegro and il Penseroso" (painted for the Prince Consort), "Le Jour des Morts" and "A Scene from Don Quixote".

John Callcott Horsley  (1817–1903)
The Rival Performers, c. 1839
Oil on panel
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Oil painting entitled 'The Rival Performers' depicting a young couple seated in a window of a wood panelled room. The boy is holding an oboe, poised to play, whilst the girl clasps his wrist, looking up at a canary on a perch in front of them (Upper right). There is a lute leaning against the wall beneath the bird, and a small pair of scissors and a flower on the floor by the feet of the seated girl. More on this painting

John Callcott Horsley  (1817–1903)
The Contrast: Youth and Age, c. 1839
Oil on panel
H 45.7 x W 40.6 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

As a young artist Horsley was patronised by the collector John Sheepshanks, who bought two of Horsley's paintings: The Rival Performers (1839) and Youth and Age (1839).

John Callcott Horsley  (1817–1903)
St Augustine Preaching, c. 1847
Lithograph with bluish-brown tint-stone on chine collé
Height: 444 millimetres, Width: 569 millimetres
British Museum

St Augustine, as a monk, standing at left with arms outstretched and a cross in his left hand; three monks standing behind him, holding up an icon; the king and queen seated on a bench at right, he looking thoughtful, his hand on a large axe, she touching his arm and pointing to Augustine, other Britons reacting with concern huddled behind them, one, in the foreground at right, holding a staff topped with a crescent behind his back; on cliffs with sea beyond at left, megalithic trilithon behind at right; after the cartoon by Horsley submitted to the Westminster Hall exhibition of 1843. 1847. More on this painting

John Callcott Horsley  (1817–1903)
Religion
Lithograph with bluish-brown tint-stone on chine collé
Private collection

In 1843 his cartoon (preliminary drawing) of "St Augustine Preaching" won a prize in the competition to provide interior decorations for Palace of Westminster. This led to his being selected in 1844 he was as one of the six painters commissioned to execute frescoes there. He painted Religion (1845) in the House of Lords, Henry V assuming the Crown, and Satan touched by Ithuriel's Spear while whispering evil dreams to Eve. In 1864 he became a Royal Academician (RA). 

Walter Charles Horsley (1855–1934)
Carnival Time
Oil on canvas
92 x 71cm (36 1/4 x 27 15/16in).
Private collection

Horsley was rector and treasurer of the Royal Academy from 1875 to 1890 and 1882 to 1897 respectively. He earned the nickname 'Clothes-Horsley' for his opposition to the use of nude life models. When, during the 1880s, the example of the French Salon began to affect the Academy exhibitors, and paintings of the nude became the fashion, he protested against the innovation.

Walter Charles Horsley (1855–1934)
The French in Cairo, c.1884
Oil on canvas
H 135.2 x W 195 cm
Museums Sheffield

John Callcott Horsley (1817–1903)
The first Christmas card, commissioned by Henry Cole
Collection Dr. Alan Huggins

Horsley designed the first ever Christmas card, commissioned by Henry Cole. It caused some controversy because it depicted a small child drinking wine. He also designed the Horsley envelope, a pre-paid envelope that was the precursor to the postage stamp.

John Callcott Horsley (1817–1903)
St Valentine's Morning, c. 1863
Oil on canvas
H 59.5 x W 71.5 cm
Wolverhampton Art Gallery

In 1856 Horsley was photographed at "The Photographed Institute" by Robert Howlett, as part of a series of portraits of "fine artists". The picture was among a group exhibited at the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester in 1857.

Walter Charles Horsley (1855–1934)
The Water Seller (A Cairo Street)
Oil on canvas
H 102 x W 69 cm
National Trust, Cragside

John Callcott Horsley (1817–1903)
Queen Victoria with the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal and Other Members of the Royal Family, c. 1864
Oil on canvas
H 335 x W 157 cm
Royal Society of Arts

Together with a companion portrait of the Prince himself (by C. W. Cope, RA), this was hung in the Great Room. Both pictures remained there until the alterations to the Society's House in 1922–1923 when they were removed to their present positions on the main staircase. In Horsley's painting the Queen and her children are shown as they would have been in 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition, which Prince Albert so largely inspired and guided. More on this painting

Charles West Cope (1811–1890)
Albert, Prince Consort, President of the Society of Arts (1843–1861), with the Charter of the Great Exhibition of 1851, c. 1863
Oil on canvas
H 335 x W 157 cm
Royal Society of Arts

Portrait of Albert, Prince Consort, President of the Society, 1843 to 1861, holding the Charter of the Great Exhibition 1851. This portrait and the companion painting of Queen Victoria with the
 Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal and other members of the Royal Family (by John Calcott Horsley RA) are currently on display on the main stairwell to the Society’s Great Room. These two paintings and a bust of Prince Albert form the memorial to the Prince Consort. More on this painting

Horsley was a member of the London-based Etching Club contributing illustrations to editions of "The Deserted Village" (Oliver Goldsmith and "Songs of Shakespeare". He also illustrated a number of other books including "Little Princes" by Eliza Slater (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1890). More on John Callcott Horsley




Please visit my other blogs: Art CollectorMythologyMarine ArtPortrait of a Lady, The OrientalistArt of the Nude and The Canals of VeniceMiddle East Artists365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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Thursday, January 28, 2021

14 Works, Today, January 28th. is artist Pompeo Borra's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #028

Pompeo Borra (Italian, 1898–1973)
Sulla spiaggia/ On the beach, c. 1959
Oil on canvas
75 x 102 cm 
Private collection

Pompeo Borra (1898 – 1973) 
began his artistic career attending the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. In 1916 he took part, as a volunteer, in the First World War. At the end of the conflict he returned to his vocation for painting. In 1924 he took part in the XIV International Art Exhibition of the city of Venice.

Pompeo Borra (Italian, 1898–1973)
Fanciulla/ Girl , c. 1926
Oil on canvas
50 x 40 cm. (19.7 x 15.7 in.)
Private collection

Pompeo Borra (Italian, 1898–1973)
Female figure on a dormeuse, c. 1930
Oil on canvas
Height: 57 cm (22.4 in); Width: 71 cm (27.9 in)
Civic Museum of Modena

Pompeo Borra (Italian, 1898–1973)
The rest, c. 1933
Oil on canvas
Height: 57 cm (22.4 in); Width: 71 cm (27.9 in)
 VAF Foundation

In the same years he met the group of founding artists of the Novecento movement, art based on the rhetoric of the Fascism of Mussolini, and began to take part in the exhibitions.

Pompeo Borra (Italian, 1898–1973)
Profughi/ Refugees,  c. 1946
Oil on canvas
40x50 cm 
Private collection

Pompeo Borra (Italian, 1898–1973)
Fuggiaschi, Fugitives
Oil on canvas
60 x 70 cm. (23.6 x 27.6 in.)
Private collection

His paintings aroused the interest of Franz Roh, the famous theorist of magical Realism and of New German objectivity, who invited him to the Italian art exhibition at the Kunstverein in Leipzig in 1928.

Pompeo Borra (Italian, 1898–1973)
L'INCONTRO/ THE MEETING, c. 1950
Oil on canvas
cm 57x71 
Private collection

Pompeo Borra (Italian, 1898–1973)
Vivificazione/  Vividness, c. 1968
Oil on canvas
100 x 90 cm. (39.4 x 35.4 in.)
Private collection

His painting of severe purism, placed between Magical Realism and Metaphysical Painting, proposes square images and compact volumes that evoke fourteenth-century painting, blocked and silent situations inhabited by everyday objects and dreamy and immobile characters, mostly female. 

 

 

 

 

Pompeo Borra
Woman In Red, c. 1973
33.2 x 23.8 x 0.2 cm
Pompeo Borra
Woman In Brown, 1973
33.5 x 24 x
Pompeo Borra
Woman In Black, 1973
33.2 x 23.7 x 0.2 cm
Pompeo Borra
Woman In Turquoise, 1975
33.4 x 24 x 0.2 cm

In this decade he collaborated with the Galleria del Milione, often going to Paris where he became friends with Léonce Rosenberg, director of the gallery L'effort moderne. His chromatic choices evolve towards transparent and brighter shades, even crossing an abstract season.

In the years 1949-1950, he took part in the establishment of the important Verzocchi collection, on the subject of work, sending, with a self-portrait, Compagni di lavoro; the Collection is today kept in the Pinacoteca Civica of Forlì.

Pompeo Borra (Italian, 1898–1973)
La madre/ Mother, c. 1968
Oil on canvas
80 x 60 cm. (31.5 x 23.6 in.)
Private collection

In the fifties / sixties painting Pompeo Borra abandons the solid and monumental volumes of the previous works, creating works in which he anticipates themes that have come back to life after his death and had a greater critical response in the 1980s with the term "postmodern". The two-dimensionality, the intense color scheme and the extreme synthesis of the figures, always immersed in an atmosphere of metaphysical suspension, will be the connotative stylistic features of his later works.

Pompeo Borra (Italian, 1898–1973)
Face, c. 1972
Oil on canvas
Height: 31.8 cm (12.5 in); Width: 21.8 cm (8.5 in)
Art collections of Cariplo Foundation

His works are preserved in important museums, institutions and private collections, including: Center Pompidou, Paris; GAM, Milan; Civic Museum of Art, Modena; MART, Rovereto; Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan; Civic art collections, Museo del Novecento, Milan; "Mario Rimoldi" Museum of Modern Art Cortina d'Ampezzo. More on Pompeo Borra




Please visit my other blogs: Art CollectorMythologyMarine ArtPortrait of a Lady, The OrientalistArt of the Nude and The Canals of VeniceMiddle East Artists365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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06 Works, October 27h. is Sigrid Hjertén's day, her story, illustrated with footnotes #259

Sigrid Hjertén The blue boat, c. 1934 Oil on canvas, Private collection Estimated for kr600,000 SEK - kr800,000 SEK in April 2012 Sigrid Hje...