A parrot, coral, snuffed-out candles, human skulls, worn-out boots, a bottle of poison and a syringe: all objects in still life paintings.
Category Archive: Life
The canon of Toledo confronts Don Quixote, and tries to reason with him. This only confirms the opinion that the knight is mad. Then a goatherd arrives on the scene.
Blurring for dramatic effect, and to mimic photographic depth of field effects, were used in the 19th century, but motion blur came later.
There were few good reasons to blur what should be sharp edges in paintings. Aerial perspective and Vermeer’s unusual optical effects explored in paintings.
In the early 1880s, several young British artists returned from training Paris, and in 1886 formed a new club as an alternative to the Royal Society.
Painted entirely in front of the motif, and in fine detail, Brett followed Ruskin’s rules for landscape paintings, but this was rejected by the Royal Academy.
Now deaf and suffering from tinnitus, Goya required a long period of recuperation from his illness. His paintings moved away from light rustic view, and became darker.
In myth and legend, apples have determined the future of civilisation twice. They’re also some of the most enduring objects to be seen in still life paintings.
Seeing that Don Quixote might discover their deception, the priest and the barber hurry him away in a cage on the back of an ox cart. He still thinks he’s enchanted by a spell.
More landscape views embedded in 19th and 20th century paintings, as a posthumous tribute to a colleague, or a context for a still life, perhaps.
The Eclectic Light Company 