Cornelis van Haarlem - The Fall of Man [1592]

Cornelis van Haarlem - The Fall of Man [1592], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Having created Adam and Eve, God gave them Paradise in which to live. It was a delightful garden full of plants and animals. Adam and Eve could eat from any tree in the garden. Only the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was forbidden. In the foreground, on the left, God (in the form of a cloud) indicates the tree concerned. The serpent, the most cunning animal in Paradise, persuaded Eve to bite the fruit. Eve, in turn, seduced Adam to try a piece. This was the first sin man ever committed against God. When God found out what they had done he expelled Adam and Eve from Paradise. Cornelis van Haarlem painted the Fall of Man in a larger than life format in 1592. His patron was the city of Haarlem.

Before the Fall humans and animals lived together peacefully in Paradise. Van Haarlem surrounded Adam and Eve with no less than 21 animals, from a tiny butterfly to a large lion. Some animals are also significant as symbols. They refer to the various human temperaments. The ape next to Adam refers to the 'sanguine' (hot-blooded, lustful) temperament, which it was thought to be particularly typical of men. The cat, lovingly cradled by the ape, symbolises the choleric (cruel, nasty) temperament, to which women have tended ever since the Eve. Other animals have double meanings too: the owl in the tree represents foolishness (animals that could not see in daylight were thought to be stupid). The fluttering butterfly next to Adam suggests his frivolity.

[Oil on canvas, 273 x 220 cm]

Felix Vallotton - Portrait of Georges Haasen [1913]

Felix Vallotton - Portrait of Georges Haasen [1913], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

This portrait was painted in early March 1913, when the artist came to the Russian capital at the businessman's invitation. Vallotton's registry list under number 910: "A portrait of Monsieur Haasen, seated, full-face, the right arm resting on a table covered by a cloth with a floral pattern. In the background an apartment with drapes of various shades, in St. Petersburg." Vallotton's dispassion in the role of "formal portraitist" of Georges Haasen is almost camera-like. The painter seems to be exclusively striving after outward resemblance, not permitting his attitude towards his model to show through in a single brushstroke. It is not without reason that the details of the background in Haasen's portrait are, from the point of view of painting, far more interesting than the human figure.

Heinrich von Angeli - Portrait of Grand Duchess Maria Fiodorovna [1874]

Heinrich von Angeli - Portrait of Grand Duchess Maria Fiodorovna [1874], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Heinrich von Angeli (Sopron, July 8, 1840 – Vienna, October 21, 1925) was an was an Austrian painter famous for his portraiture.

[Oil on canvas, 126 x 89 cm]

Robert Campin - A Woman [c.1435]

Robert Campin - A Woman [c.1435], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

This portrait and the portrait of A Man, presumably of a husband and wife, are a pair and were perhaps originally joined together as a diptych. The backs are marbled, which suggests that they were not intended to be hung against a wall. The sitters may have been prosperous townspeople from Tournai, where Campin worked. They both wear fur-lined gowns; the man has a red head-dress made from a piece of red fabric wound round his head and the woman's head-dress consists of several thicknesses of white cloth held together with pins. 

The heads of Campin's sitters occupy almost the entire surface of the painting. All the details of face and hat are evenly lit and clearly visible. Subtle variations of colour suggest the man's reddened skin and wrinkles. The graduated tones of the irises of his eyes give the impression of light glowing within. The woman's eyes sparkle: Campin has put catchlights in the whites so that they as well as the pupils shine.

[Oil with egg tempera on oak, 40.6 x 28.1 cm]

Robert Campin - A Man [c.1435]

Robert Campin - A Man [c.1435], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Campin (c.1378-79 – 1444) is usually now assumed to be identical with the Master of Flémalle. He was, with van Eyck, the founder of the realistic style of oil painting in the Netherlands in the early 15th century. Campin was active at Tournai from 1406. In the early 15th century the Netherlands belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy. The realistic detail of Campin's work is accompanied by a weightiness in the figures which is associated with Burgundian sculpture. It is paralleled in Italy in the work of Florentine early Renaissance artists. This quality is also evident in his portraits.

[Oil with egg tempera on oak, 40.7 x 28.1 cm]

Joseph Bail - Young Cook In The Kitchen [1893]

Joseph Bail - Young Cook In The Kitchen [1893], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Joseph Bail (Limonest, France, January 22, 1862 - 1921) became best known for paintings of maids and cooks and with them. His playful images of cooks and their young assistants, along with an interest in light effects, established Bail as an artist who not only looked to the past but who used the modern movement of Realism to execute paintings that showed modern-day preoccupations with daily life that was becoming more and more rare in late nineteenth century France.  

[Oil on canvas, 71 x 100 cm]

Lawrence Gipe - Manchester [2009]

Lawrence Gipe - Manchester [2009], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Lawrence Gipe was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1962 and lives in Santa Barbara, California. He began his career in Los Angeles with a series of exhibitions addressing the themes of industrialization and progress. These shows, filled with large-scaled paintings of factories and steaming locomotives, led to solo exhibitions in New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago as well as Munich, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, and Berlin.

Appropriating imagery from photo journals and magazines from the 1930s to the 1970’s, his paintings translate small black and white images into large, visually seductive colour works. Radically severed from their original contexts, the intention is for these re-interpretations to actively force the spectator to reconstruct the images' ideological significance.

[Oil on canvas, 54 x 72 inches]

Claude Monet - Rue de la Bavole, Honfleur [c.1864]

Claude Monet - Rue de la Bavole, Honfleur [c.1864], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Dating from the beginning of Monet's career, this view of a street in the old port of Honfleur is a relatively traditional subject painted with great simplicity and directness. Monet's palette of pure, contrasting colours is a radical departure from the traditional practice of building up an overall tonality through delicate gradations of colour.

[Oil on canvas, 55.9 x 61.0 cm]

The Le Nain Brothers - The Adoration Of The Shepherds [c.1640]

The Le Nain Brothers - The Adoration Of The Shepherds [c.1640], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

In front of classical ruins (symbolic of the old order, now superseded by Christianity) the shepherds, represented by the bare-footed old peasant kneeling prominently to the left with the ox and two boys behind, adore the Christ Child. The treatment of the Virgin and Saint Joseph, and of the ass silhouetted against the wall to the right, may have been influenced by the work of Orazio Gentileschi, a follower of Caravaggio who had worked in Paris. The mood in the painting is one of unusual calm and stillness, focused upon the Christ Child lying on the straw. Like a number of other paintings by the Le Nain brothers this one is painted over another composition. The head of the Virgin Mary in the earlier composition can be made out between those of Joseph and the boy shepherd.

The three Le Nain brothers, Antoine (c.1600 - 1648), Louis (c.1603 - 1648) and Mathieu (c.1607 - 1677), are now best known for their scenes of peasant life, and small-scale portraits. They worked in collaboration and it is not possible to distinguish their individual hands.

[Oil on canvas, 109.2 x 138.7 cm]

Joseph Wright of Derby - An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump [1768]

Joseph Wright of Derby - An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump [1768], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

A travelling scientist is shown demonstrating the formation of a vacuum by withdrawing air from a flask containing a white cockatoo, though common birds like sparrows would normally have been used. Air pumps were developed in the 17th century and were relatively familiar by Wright's day. The artist's subject is not scientific invention, but a human drama in a night-time setting. The bird will die if the demonstrator continues to deprive it of oxygen, and Wright leaves us in doubt as to whether or not the cockatoo will be reprieved. The painting reveals a wide range of individual reactions, from the frightened children, through the reflective philosopher, the excited interest of the youth on the left, to the indifferent young lovers concerned only with each other. The figures are dramatically lit by a single candle, while in the window the moon appears. On the table in front of the candle is a glass containing a skull.

Joseph Wright was born in Derby, the son of a local lawyer. Among his patrons were Wedgwood and Arkwright. Although some of his paintings have been associated with the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, Wright's principal interest was in the dramatic rendering of light and shade offered by such subjects.

[Oil on canvas, 183 x 244 cm]

William Henry Lippincott - Farm Interior, Breton Children Feeding Rabbits [1878]

William Henry Lippincott - Farm Interior, Breton Children Feeding Rabbits [1878], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

In the nineteenth century, artists from New York and Paris often made painting trips to Brittany, on the north-west coast of France. William Henry Lippincott (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1849 - New York City, 1920) painted this interior three years after a summer spent in Breton villages. He included a sentimental reminder of his stay there, depicting the massive chimney piece from the Château de Lezaven, where he shared a studio with other American artists working in Pont-Aven.

[Oil on canvas, 54.6 x 65.4 cm]

Lovis Corinth - Susanna And The Elders [1890]

Lovis Corinth - Susanna And The Elders [1890], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Jean-Léon Gérôme - Harem Women Feeding Pigeons In A Courtyard

Jean-Léon Gérôme - Harem Women Feeding Pigeons In A Courtyard, originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Émile Friant - All Saints Day [1888]

Emile Friant - All Saints Day, originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Émile Friant was born April 16, 1863 in Dieuze, a small city in eastern France near Nancy. His father worked at a locksmith’s shop while his mother was from a peasant family and from fourteen years of age had work as a dressmaker - certainly modest beginnings for an artist who would attain such prestige. He was just fifteen years of age when he first exhibited at the Salon des Amis des Arts in Nancy and was referred to as “le petit Friant,” or the “little Friant”. That the organization permitted the entrance of a fifteen year old, exhibiting alongside established artists, attests to his immense talent. This exhibit created a demand for his work and he had continued success for the next year, until the city of Nancy granted him a scholarship which allowed him to relocate to Paris. He was sixteen and a half years of age, leaving his home and embarking on a journey alone. In the autumn of 1879, he settled in an apartment on the rue Notre Dame des Champs and entered the atelier of Alexandre Cabanel, a well-established academic painter. 

The life and work of Emile Friant presents an artist who was equally influenced by Paris as well as by his home city of Nancy. But he remained attached to a more academic style of naturalism which appealed to a public both in France and abroad as he demonstrated that the training he received in Nancy could be used to maintain a substantial career. He died in 1932.

[Oil on canvas, 254 × 334 cm]

George Hitchcock - The Flight Into Egypt [1892]

George Hitchcock - The Flight Into Egypt [1892], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

George Hitchcock (Providence, Rhode Island, 1850 - Marken Island, Netherlands, 1913) graduated from the University of Manitoba, and from Harvard Law School in 1874. He then turned his attention to art and became a pupil of Gustave Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre in Paris.

[Oil on canvas, 112.8 x 165.8 cm]

Richard Parkes Bonington - The Doges Palace, Venice [1826]

Richard Parkes Bonington - The Doges Palace, Venice [1826], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

At the age of 22, Bonington (British, October 25, 1802 - September 23, 1828) achieved overnight success at the official (state sponsored) Paris exhibition known as Salon. Two years later, in 1826, he journeyed to Venice, a city that had long attracted landscape artists. At first, constant rain greatly depressed Bonington, but suddenly the weather changed and Venice was at its glorious best. Bonington frequently painted outdoors, capturing immediate impressions of Venetian architecture and sunlight. He made this particular study from a boat anchored in the lagoon near the Doge’s Palace. The thick swirls of paint, with colours mixed together while still wet, indicates how rapidly the artist worked.

Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev - Church Parade Of The Finnish Life Guard Regiment [1906]

Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev - Church Parade Of The Finnish Life Guard Regiment [1906], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev (March 7, 1878 - May 28, 1927) was a Russian painter and stage designer. Kustodiev was born in Astrakhan into the family of a professor of philosophy, history of literature, and logic at the local theological seminary. His father died young, and all financial and material burdens fell on his mother's shoulders. In 1923, Kustodiev joined the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia. He continued to paint, make engravings, illustrate books, and design for the theater up until his death in Leningrad.

[Oil on canvas, 80.5 x 169 cm]

H Bolton Jones - Brittany Landscape [1877]

H Bolton Jones - Brittany Landscape [1877], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

H. Bolton Jones (Baltimore, Maryland, 1848 - New York City, 1927) rose to prominence as a landscape painter in the late nineteenth century. He began his career with study at the Maryland Institute (now the Maryland Institute College of Art). He subsequently moved to New York City, where he was exposed to the work of many of the prominent Hudson River School painters.

[Oil on canvas, 41.3 x 55.9 cm]

Jean-Baptiste van Moer - Painter's Studio [1854]

Jean-Baptiste van Moer - Painter's Studio [1854], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Jean-Baptiste van Moer (Brussels, 1819 – Brussels, 1884) was a Belgian painter.

[Oil on canvas, 80 x 102 cm]

Jules Joseph Lefebvre - Mary Magdalene In A Grotto [1876]

Jules Joseph Lefebvre - Mary Magdalene In A Grotto [1876], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Jules Joseph Lefebvre (Touman-en Brie, March 14, 1836 – Paris, February 24, 1911) was a French figure painter. Many of his paintings are single figures of beautiful women. He is chiefly important as an excellent and sympathetic teacher who numbered many Americans among his 1500 or more pupils. Among his many decorations were a first-class medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1878 and the medal of honour in 1886.

[Oil on canvas, 71.5 x 113.5 cm]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Misia Sert [1904]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Misia Sert [1904], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Misia Sert, née Godebska (1872 - 1950), was a notable figure in the circle of avant-garde artists in Paris at the turn of the century. She had been married to Thadée Natanson and in 1903 she began living with Alfred Edwards. Later she married the Spanish painter José Maria Sert, and it is as Misia Sert that she is chiefly remembered.

[Oil on canvas, 92.1 x 73 cm]

John Singer Sargent - The Oyster Gatherers Of Cancale [1878]

John Singer Sargent - The Oyster Gatherers Of Cancale [1878], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Although Sargent is considered an American artist, he was trained in Paris and launched his career there. Initially he divided his exhibition work between genre scenes and portraiture, and though he painted genre subjects throughout his career, Sargent ultimately emerged as one of the most sought-after portraitists of his day. His early career, when he painted The Oyster Gatherers of Cancale, was filled with rigorous experimentation as he searched for the most effective ways to present his technical accomplishments. With this work, Sargent made his genre-painting debut in Paris.

Morton Kaish - The Garden, Glenveagh [1978]

Morton Kaish - The Garden, Glenveagh [1978], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Born in New Jersey in 1927, Morton Kaish received his BFA degree at Syracuse University and continued his studies at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, Paris, Instituto d’Arte in Florence, and the Academia delle Bella Arti, Rome. In 1989, Syracuse University awarded him its Distinguished Alumni Award for Achievement in the Fine Arts. His work is included in a number of public, private, university, and corporate collections. Among them are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Art, the British Museum, and other major museums.

[Oil and acrylic on canvas, 101.6 x 152.0 cm]

Rostislav Ivanovich Felizin - Young Lady With Older Gentleman At A Table

Rostislav Ivanovich Felizin - Young Lady With Older Gentleman At A Table, originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Rostislav Ivanovich Felizin (1830 – 1904) was a Russian painter.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot - Avignon From The West [1836]

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot - Avignon From The West [1836], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Corot visited Avignon on a number of occasions, but this study probably belongs to a group made on a visit in the summer of 1836 which recapture the clarity and luminosity of his Italian views of 1825-28. It depicts the town from Villeneuve-lès-Avignon on the other side of the Rhône. The buildings dominating the town are the papal palace and (left of centre) the cathedral, Notre-Dame des Doms.

[Oil on canvas, 34 x 73.2 cm]

Mariano Fortuny y Marsal - Arab Fantasia [1867]

Mariano Fortuny y Marsal - Arab Fantasia [1867], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

This composition by Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (Spanish, 1838 - 1874) is a departure from the usual representation of the subject, in that the Arab warriors are performing their wild, ritualistic exercise on foot rather than on horseback. In this picture the scene transpires before an indistinct cavernous background. With its overhead lighting and sharp contrast between the brilliant colours of the costumes of the performers and spectators and the darkness of the background, this painting is most dramatic.

[Oil on canvas, 52 x 76 cm]

Jan van Eyck - The Arnolfini Portrait [1434]

Jan van Eyck - The Arnolfini Portrait [1434], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

This work is a portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, but is not intended as a record of their wedding. His wife is not pregnant, as is often thought, but holding up her full-skirted dress in the contemporary fashion. Arnolfini was a member of a merchant family from Lucca living in Bruges. The couple are shown in a well-appointed interior. The ornate Latin signature translates as 'Jan van Eyck was here 1434'. The similarity to modern graffiti is not accidental. Van Eyck often inscribed his pictures in a witty way. The mirror reflects two figures in the doorway. One may be the painter himself. Arnolfini raises his right hand as he faces them, perhaps as a greeting. Van Eyck was intensely interested in the effects of light: oil paint allowed him to depict it with great subtlety in this picture, notably on the gleaming brass chandelier.

Jan van Eyck is credited with originating a style of painting characterised by minutely realistic depictions of surface effects and natural light. This was made possible by using an oil medium, which allowed the building up of paint in translucent layers, or glazes. Little is known of van Eyck's origins, but he probably came from Maaseik, near Maastricht, and was of the gentry class. He is first heard of in 1422 working in The Hague for John of Bavaria, ruler of Holland. From 1425 he was at Bruges and Lille as painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. In 1428 van Eyck was sent to Portugal to paint Philip the Good's future wife, Isabella of Portugal. Van Eyck appears to have painted many religious commissions and portraits of Burgundian courtiers, local nobles, churchmen and merchants. A small group of his paintings survive with dates from 1432 onwards. 

[Oil on oak, 82.2 x 60 cm]

John Sloan - The Picnic Grounds [1906–07]

John Sloan - The Picnic Grounds [1906–07], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

The Picnic Grounds epitomises the urban comedy of manners on which Sloan's reputation rests. The setting is a public park in Bayonne, New Jersey, which Sloan (American, 1871–1951) and his wife visited on Decoration Day (now known as Memorial Day) 1906. Sloan noted in his diary: "Then we went to the Newark bay side and watched picnic grounds, dancing pavilion, young girls of the healthy lusty type with white caps jauntily perched on their heads." Working, as usual, from memory, Sloan enlists an informal composition, jagged forms, and vigorous brushwork to express the youngsters' liveliness. The girls' shirtwaist dresses, garish makeup, and unrestrained gaiety identify them as working class, and their cricket caps hint that their flirtation is merely a game. The candid painting represents a radical departure in style, setting, and spirit from earlier courtship scenes.

[Oil on canvas, 61 x 91.4 cm]

Pieter Codde & Frans Hals - The Meagre Company [1633]

Pieter Codde & Frans Hals - The Meagre Company [1633], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

The Amsterdam artist, Pieter Codde (1599/1600 – 1678), was mainly known as a portrait painter, although his indoor scenes were also popular. His family portraits exude the same carefree atmosphere as his brothel scenes. In 1636 Codde was commissioned by an Amsterdam militia company to finish a work which his famous colleague Frans Hals did not want to complete. In the Meagre Company, as the milita piece is called, the styles of both painters can be recognised. Pieter Codde has tried to blend his style with that of Hals; however his own style remains recognisably smoother. Pieter Codde was buried on 12 October 1678 in Amsterdam. 

Finishing a canvas of this magnitude was no easy task for Codde, who usually worked in small formats with great precision. The left side, up to the figure in light clothes in the centre, is by Frans Hals. He also painted most of the hands and faces. The rest is by Pieter Codde. Although he tried to adapt to Hals' style, Codde's half is clearly less powerful, it is smoother and more precise and therefore less profound. The rendering of the various textures provides an excellent illustration. While Hals' brushstrokes are clearly defined, Codde's brushwork is hardly visible. This is clear from a comparison of the black in the clothes of two officers, one by Codde and one by Hals. 

[Oil on canvas, 209 x 429 cm]

Edward Cucuel - Woman Reclining By A Lake

Edward Cucuel - Woman Reclining By A Lake, originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Edward Cucuel (San Francisco, California, 1875 – Pasadena, California, 1954) was an Impressionist painter of genre and figures in landscapes, often using his family members for models rather than professionals. A specialty was using a vibrant palette and rich impasto to depict women in sun-dappled landscape settings. At the age of fourteen, he enrolled at the School of Design in San Francisco, and three years later, in 1892, he went to Paris and studied at the Academie Julian.

Edmund Tarbell - The Three Sisters, A Study In June Sunlight [1890]

Edmund Tarbell - The Three Sisters, A Study In June Sunlight [1890], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

The subtitle of this first important Impressionist work by Edmund Tarbell (American, 1862-1938) is a clear indication of his interest in the new French style just recently introduced in America.

The painting’s dappled light, brilliant palette, and short, textured brush strokes caused a sensation when it was exhibited in Tarbell’s hometown of Boston. The transient light and undiluted colour create a warm atmosphere in which the figures are more solidly drawn. Posing his wife, her sisters, and his baby daughter in a lovely garden setting, Tarbell did not attempt probing portraits but instead sought to portray an affluent and tranquil way of life. The inclusion of the American colonial chair implies their New England heritage that underlies this seemingly French aesthetic.

Bernardo Strozzi - Adoration Of The Shepherds [c.1615]

Bernardo Strozzi - Adoration Of The Shepherds [c.1615], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

The Evangelist Luke recorded that the birth of Christ was announced first to shepherds, who then went to Bethlehem to find the baby, but his Gospel does not state that they worshipped Jesus. This interpretation was introduced by St. Francis of Assisi, who stressed that the glad news was first revealed to the shepherds to signify the importance of the poor in God's plan; it remained important to the teachings of the Franciscan religious order, founded by St. Francis. Bernardo Strozzi (Italian, 1584 - 1644), a member of a reform branch of the Franciscans, suggests these shepherds' poverty through their appearance and their humble gift. This combination of a naturalistic treatment of the subject with an artistic mixing of bright colors is characteristic of painting in Genoa at this time. The clarity of the composition is in keeping with the Church's Counter-Reformation demands that artists should be more concerned with conveying an effective message than displaying their own artistry.

[Oil on canvas, 97.8 x 139.4 cm]

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri - Christ And The Woman Of Samaria [c.1620]

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri - Christ And The Woman Of Samaria [c.1620], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 9, 1666), best known as Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter. Guercino is Italian for squinter, a nickname that was given to him because he was cross-eyed. He is especially noted for his many superb drawings. He was remarkable for the extreme rapidity of his execution; he completed no fewer than 106 large altar-pieces for churches, and his other paintings amount to about 144. In 1626 he began his frescoes in the Duomo of Piacenza. Guercino continued to paint and teach up to the time of his death in 1666, amassing a notable fortune.

[Oil on canvas, 99 cm x 137.8 cm]

Arthur Turnbull Hill - After A Storm, Amagansett [1912]

Arthur Turnbull Hill - After A Storm, Amagansett [1912], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Arthur Turnbull Hill painted several images of Amagansett, Long Island, a popular subject for nineteenth-century American landscape painters. He used bright, translucent colours in this painting to evoke the fresh atmosphere that follows a thunderstorm. The dramatic clouds of the receding storm fill most of the canvas, dwarfing the tiny figures on the beach.


[Oil on canvas, 76 x 101.6 cm]

Paul Cornoyer - Dewey's Arch [c.1900]

Paul Cornoyer - Dewey's Arch [c.1900], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Paul Cornoyer (St. Louis, Missouri, 1864 – East Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1923) was an American painter, best known for his Impressionist and sometimes pointillist style. He studied the St. Louis School of Fine Arts in 1881. His first works were in a Barbizon mode, and his first exhibit was in 1887. In 1889, he went to Paris for further training, studying at the Academie Julien, and returned to St. Louis in 1894. By the early 1890s, his work was more lyrical and tonal, and he applied this style to subjects such as cityscapes and landscapes. He taught at Mechanics Institute of New York and in 1917 he moved to Massachusetts, where he continued to teach and paint.

[Oil on canvas, 30.48 x 40.64 cm]

Joachim Beuckelaer - A Brothel [1562]

Joachim Beuckelaer - A Brothel [1562], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Animated scenes of carousing in village inns and brothels were enjoyed as amusing evidence of the instincts of peasants. The motifs, including a drunk balancing unsteadily on his head, suggest that the scene is to be read in a moralizing way: excess leads to foolishness. It is intriguing then that Joachim Beukelaer (Flemish, c.1533 - 1574) inserted his signature and the date October 26, 1562, among the chalk marks on the mantelpiece, tallies of drinks consumed. Beuckelaer was one of the great contributors to this new interest in rural life.

[Oil on panel, 26.6 x 35.5 cm]

After The Brunswick Monogrammist - Itinerant Entertainers In A Brothel [1550s]

After The Brunswick Monogrammist - Itinerant Entertainers In A Brothel [1550s], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

The composition, with variations, is known in several versions, two of which accord with the style of the Brunswick Monogrammist. It is improbable that any of the known versions is the original of the design. The costume dates from the 1550s.

The artist is named after a monogrammed painting of The Feeding of the Poor in the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum in Brunswick. The monogram has not been convincingly deciphered but the picture, executed in about 1540, may be associated with several others of religious and secular subjects. The painter has often been identified as Jan van Amstel, active in Antwerp by 1527 and dead by 1543.

[Oil on oak, 45.5 x 60.7 cm]

Balthasar Denner - Portrait of an Old Woman

Balthasar Denner - Portrait of an Old Woman, originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Alongside the court art of 18th-century Germany there existed another, incomparably more modest, trend linked with the middle levels of society, the burghers. Denner is a good representative of this trend, in his works paying particular attention to the details of a sitter's appearance. Denner worked mainly in Hamburg, and other German towns, and achieved wide fame thanks to his portraits, always painted with great care. Especially valuable are his likenesses of old people, where he meticulously depicted each wrinkle and even each pore on the face of his model. This image of a modest elderly woman with a kind, peaceful gaze is found in a large number of replicas.

[Oil on copperplate, 37.5 x 31.5 cm]

Balthasar Denner - Portrait of an Old Man

Balthasar Denner - Portrait of an Old Man, originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Balthasar Denner (Altona, November 15, 1685 – Rostock, April 14, 1749) was a German painter. 

[Pastel on parchment, 39 x 34 cm]

Jean-Leon Gérôme - The Duel After The Masquerade [1857-59]

Jean-Leon Gerome - The Duel After The Masquerade [1857-59], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

In this painting, showing the outcome of a duel after a costume ball, Gérôme (French, 1824 - 1904) replicates, with slight variations, a composition he had executed for the Duc d'Aumale in 1857. It is dawn on a wintry day in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, and Pierrot succumbs in the arms of the Duc de Guise. A Venetian doge examines Pierrot's wound while Domino clasps his head in despair. To the right, the victorious American Indian departs, accompanied by Harlequin.

[Oil on canvas, 39.1 x 56.3 cm]

Carravagio - The Lute Player [c.1596]

Carravagio - The Lute Player [c.1596], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

This is an early work by Caravaggio, who sought above all to convey the reality and solidity of the surrounding world. We can already see the elements of the artist's style which were to have such a widespread influence on other artists. The figure of a young boy dressed in a white shirt stands out clearly against the dark background. The sharp side-lighting and the falling shadows give the objects an almost tangible volume and weight. Caravaggio was interested in the uniqueness of the surrounding world, and there are markedly individual features not only in the youth's face but also in the objects which make up the still life: the damaged pear, the crack in the lute, the crumpled pages of the music. The melody written on those pages is that of a then fashionable song by Jacques Arcadelt.

[Oil on canvas, 94 x 119 cm]

Adriaan de Lelie - The Art Gallery of Jan Gildemeester [c.1794-95]

Adriaan de Lelie - The Art Gallery of Jan Gildemeester [c.1794-95], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

In a room richly hung with paintings, a group of people are depicted in a relaxed manner. Some are standing, talking in an animated fashion, while others admire the works of art. Pictured here is the Amsterdam merchant and art collector, Jan Gildemeester, together with his friends and acquaintances. At the same time, it provides a sublime view of part of Gildemeester's extensive art collection in one of the rooms of his house: the art gallery. The artist who managed to combine all these things was Adriaan de Lelie. Painted in 1795, this interesting and wonderfully executed piece is De Lelie's finest work.

This painting is what is known as a 'conversation piece', depicting a group relaxing at a person's house. In his home on Amsterdam's Herengracht, Jan Gildemeester proudly shows his friends and acquaintances his art collection. He is pictured here standing in the foreground wearing a red jacket. In some respects it is not surprising that Gildemeester, a wealthy art-lover, had a collection. This was part of the way of life for rich, Dutch bourgeoisie. However, it is unusual that he is portrayed surrounded by his collection and friends, and that a large part of the art gallery is also recognisable.

The paintings are hung in rows beside each other and one above the other as was common practice in those days. In order to view a painting close up, binoculars were used or a ladder, as the man on the right demonstrates. He is looking at a painting by the great Antwerp painter Peter Paul Rubens. Seventeenth and eighteenth-century masters were represented in the collection, although Gildemeester also bought work by contemporaries. Gildemeester owned five other paintings by Adriaan de Lelie - who also painted this picture. De Lelie has depicted himself as one of the art-lovers in the painting. He is the man kneeling on the right.

[Oil on panel, 63.7 x 85.7 cm]

William Merritt Chase - The Bayberry Bush [c.1895]

William Merritt Chase - The Bayberry Bush [c.1895], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Myrica Pensylvanica Loisel which is commonly known as the bayberry plant, is a deciduous shrub widely found throughout the eastern and southern parts of the USA. Bayberry belongs to the Myricaceae family and is closely related to the wax myrtle Myrica cerifera Loisel, a larger evergreen shrub or tree also known as southern bayberry. Both species have therapeutic properties and have been in popular use for long. Both plants also produce small bluish white berries. The wax extracted from these berries is used to make the sweet smelling bayberry candles, particularly popular at Christmas time.

A warm concoction made from the root bark of both the species is used as a tonic and has stimulant and astringent properties. It is said to be especially good in the treatment of diarrhoea. Because of its irritating action on the stomach, bayberry bark acts as an emetic when used in large doses. During head colds, the medication is used to increase secretion of nasal mucus and when applied in the form of poultices, it is reputed to be useful in the treatment of chronic indolent ulcers.

Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky - Sunday Reading in Rural Schools

Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky - Sunday Reading in Rural Schools, originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Nikolay Bogdanov-Belskiy (1868 – 1945) was born in the village Sopotovo in the Smolensk province of Russia. He studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture between 1884-1889. he became a member of the Itinerants group in 1896. He was granted the title of the academician of The Saint Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts in 1903 and became an active member of The Saint Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts in 1916. He moved to Latvia in 1921.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze - Widow and Her Priest

Jean-Baptiste Greuze - Widow and Her Priest, originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze (Toumus, August 21, 1725 – Paris, March 4, 1805) was a French painter. He died in the Louvre in great poverty. He had been in receipt of considerable wealth, which he had dissipated by extravagance and bad management (as well as embezzlement by his wife), so that during his closing years he was forced even to solicit commissions which his enfeebled powers no longer enabled him to carry out with success. 

[Oil on canvas, 128 x 160.5 cm]

Diego Velázquez - The Toilet of Venus (The Rokeby Venus) [1647-51]

Diego Velázquez - The Toilet of Venus (The Rokeby Venus) [1647-51], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

This is the only surviving example of a female nude by Velázquez. The subject was rare in Spain because it met with the disapproval of the Church. Venus, the goddess of Love, was the most beautiful of the goddesses, and was regarded as a personification of female beauty. She is shown here with her son Cupid, who holds up a mirror for her to look both at herself and at the viewer. The Rokeby Venus is first recorded in June 1651 in the collection of the Marqués del Carpio, son of the First Minister of Spain. It was probably made for the Marqués and was presumably displayed privately, thus avoiding the censure of the Spanish Inquisition. In the Carpio collection, Velázquez's painting was paired with a 16th-century Venetian picture of a naked nymph in a landscape seen from the front. The painting is known as The Rokeby Venus because it was in the Morritt Collection at Rokeby Hall in Yorkshire before its acquisition by the National Gallery, London.

[Oil on canvas, 122.5 x 177 cm]