Nicolas Lancret - The Four Ages of Man: Maturity [c.1735]

Nicolas Lancret - The Four Ages of Man: Maturity [c.1735], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In the foreground stand two archers, one of whom shoots at an unseen target on top of the pole. Behind them are men and women engaged in amorous pursuits. Such encounters in wooded settings, as shown at left and in the background, had become a popular theme in art, inspired in particular by the paintings of Watteau and prints after them. 

[Oil on canvas, 34.3 x 45.2 cm]

Nicolas Lancret - The Four Ages of Man: Old Age [c.1735]

Nicolas Lancret - The Four Ages of Man: Old Age [c.1735], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

A young girl rejects the advances of an old man at the left. At the right two elderly women are seated, one spinning and the other asleep. The seated figures may have been inspired by the peasant scenes of the Le Nain brothers. 

Lancret (1690-1743) was one of the chief followers of Watteau in early 18th-century France, producing 'fetes galantes' (small groups of elegantly attired men and women) and conversation pieces in a style similar to that of Watteau. Like his English contemporary, Hogarth, Lancret profited from prints made after his paintings. Unlike Hogarth, whose work looked at the underside of life, Lancret painted aristocrats engaged in playful pursuits. 

[Oil on canvas, 34.6 x 45.4 cm]

Nicolas Lancret - The Four Ages of Man: Childhood [c.1735]

Nicolas Lancret - The Four Ages of Man: Childhood [c.1735], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Children play within a loggia, pulling along a girl on a toy cart, while a nurse who holds an infant looks on. This is the first of a series of four canvases by Lancret which represent the Four Ages of Man - Childhood, Youth, Maturity, and Old Age. The series, was engraved by Nicolas de Larmessin III; these engravings were announced as issued in July 1735, and it may be assumed that the pictures were painted not long before.

[Oil on canvas, 34.5 x 45.7 cm]

Nicolas Lancret - The Four Ages of Man: Youth [c.1735]

Nicolas Lancret - The Four Ages of Man: Youth [c.1735], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

A girl pulling on a stocking at the right is attended by a young man standing by her. The centre of attention in the room is another girl bedecked in flowers who admires herself in a mirror. 

[Oil on canvas, 34.3 x 45.3 cm]

Claude-Oscar Monet - La Pointe de la Heve, Sainte-Adresse [1864]

Claude-Oscar Monet - La Pointe de la Heve, Sainte-Adresse [1864], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting shows the beach at Sainte-Adresse near Monet's home town of Le Havre, then a fashionable tourist resort. It was probably intended as a study for a larger exhibition picture. The brushwork shows Monet's determination to record the particular characteristics of this simple image. From the delicate colours of the shingle beach to the ribbons of sunlight on the horizon, there is ample evidence of his rigorous observation, as well as his developing skill in finding equivalents in paint for changing effects of light and varying natural textures.

[Oil on canvas, 41 x 73 cm]

Canaletto - Eton College [c.1754]

Canaletto - Eton College [c.1754], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The school is here shown from the east; it is viewed from across the river Thames. The general position of the chapel appears as it would be seen from this direction, but many of the other details of the buildings are invented. The painting is dated on grounds of style. Canaletto was staying nearby at Windsor in 1747, but this seems to be a later work.

[Oil on canvas, 61.6 x 107.7 cm]

Claude-Joseph Vernet - A Shipwreck in Stormy Seas [1773]

Claude-Joseph Vernet - A Shipwreck in Stormy Seas [1773], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Vernet was renowned for pairs of paintings showing contrasting states of nature and his works were especially sought-after by British collectors in the 18th-century. This painting and its pendant, A Landscape at Sunset are now the only such pair to be found in a British public collection. The pair originally belonged to the celebrated Englishman Clive of India, who bought them from Vernet in 1773. They are acknowledged as being two of Vernet's greatest marine pictures.

[Oil on canvas, 114.5 x 163.5 cm]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - A Nymph by a Stream [c.1869-70]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - A Nymph by a Stream [c.1869-70], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The model for this painting was Lise Tréhot, who was Renoir's frequent model and companion during these years. She also posed for the presumed companion to this painting, 'Woman of Algiers' (Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art), in which she is depicted reclining on her back and clothed in a rich oriental costume. Here, Renoir associates the female nude seen in nature with the forces of nature itself, represented by the stream near which she lies. This was a traditional theme in French art, and in the mid-19th century it was also explored by such artists as Ingres and Courbet.

[Oil on canvas, 66.7 x 122.9 cm]

Claude-Joseph Vernet - A Landscape at Sunset [1773]

Claude-Joseph Vernet - A Landscape at Sunset [1773], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This composition shows a port bathed in glowing evening sunshine. The mood is one of serenity, yet the painting is full of details of activities and the effects of light are rendered with breathtaking delicacy. This painting and its pendant, A Shipwreck in Stormy Seas are now the only such pair to be found in a British public collection. 

[Oil on canvas, 114.5 x 163.5 cm]

Jean-Etienne Liotard - A Lady Pouring Chocolate (La Chocolatiere) [c.1744]

Jean-Etienne Liotard - A Lady Pouring Chocolate (La Chocolatiere) [c.1744] , a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

A young woman is making drinking chocolate for herself and an unseen companion. Chocolate was a luxury drink at this time. As the items on the tray show, it was drunk with milk and sugar. The object in the foreground is a footwarmer. Part of a Dutch 17th-century painting of a church interior is shown on the rear wall. In this painting Liotard has adopted a high viewpoint enabling him to show separately the objects on the table and how they, and the table itself, variously reflect light. The woman's contemplative look suggests that the painting is about reflection in two senses of the word. Liotard painted this picture around 1744 when in Vienna. He exhibited it in Paris in 1752 and sold it in London in 1773.

[Oil on canvas, 46 x 40 cm]

Lovis Corinth - The Family of the Painter Fritz Rumpf [1901]

Lovis Corinth - The Family of the Painter Fritz Rumpf [1901], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Lovis Corinth (Taplau, July 21, 1858 - Zandvoort, July 17, 1925) painted this portrait of his friend’s family shortly after his return to Berlin. There is no narrative linking the figures, who should be seen as separate individuals. They are held together by the picture’s colour composition and the play of light, which ultimately creates an unrealistic effect. Thus the shadowy profiles against the light on the left are contradicted by the brightly-lit mass of colour of the two younger children. These figures release a burst of colour that runs through the entire spectrum of reds and comes to rest in the orange-red of the blouse worn by the mother, which also halts the forward movement of the figures entering the scene from the left. The white of the large window with its rectangular panes is echoed in the shirt of a seated boy who is balanced by the puzzling, shadowy figure of a boy with a parrot in the lower right-hand corner. The brushwork, which no longer has anything to do with the actual depiction of objects, and the contrasts of light and shade that are here dissolved in colour, unite the figures in an on-going process that transcends any contingent spatial configurations and becomes a metaphor for the inner workings of the mind.

[Oil on canvas, 113 x 140 cm]

John Constable - Stratford Mill [1820]

John Constable - Stratford Mill [1820], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

First exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1820. Stratford Mill is one of six major exhibition paintings by Constable depicting scenes on the River Stour in Suffolk, a group which includes The Hay Wain. The watermill at the left, which was used for manufacturing paper, was demolished in the last century. After Constable's death, Stratford Mill acquired its more familiar title, The Young Waltonians, a reference to Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler.

Constable was born in East Bergholt, Suffolk. He was largely self-taught, and developed slowly. In 1799 he was a probationer, and in 1800 a student at the Royal Academy schools. He exhibited from 1802 at the Royal Academy in London, and later at the Paris Salon. He influenced the Barbizon School and the French Romantic movement.

[Oil on canvas, 127 x 182.9 cm]

Guido Reni - Susannah and the Elders [1620-25]

Guido Reni - Susannah and the Elders [1620-25], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This episode is taken from the Old Testament Apocrypha. As the virtuous and beautiful Susannah bathes in her garden, she is approached by two elders who, lusting after her, threaten to accuse her of adultery if she does not sleep with them. She refuses and is falsely accused by them, but her innocence is proved and prevents her from being stoned. Ludovico Carracci also painted a version of this subject. Since cleaning in 1984, it has been suggested that this work is wholly by Reni.

[Oil on canvas, 116.6 x 150.5 cm]

Ludovico Carracci - Susannah and the Elders [1616]

Ludovico Carracci - Susannah and the Elders [1616], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Ludovico was the cousin of Annibale Carracci and worked mostly in Bologna. This picture was painted for Cavaliere Tito Buosio of Reggio, and depicts an episode from the Old Testament. As Susannah bathes in her garden, she is approached by two elders who, lusting after her, threaten to accuse her of adultery if she does not sleep with them. She refuses and is falsely accused by them, but her innocence is proved and prevents her from being stoned. A complex picture, Carracci (1555-1619) illustrates the moral contrast implicit in the subject by showing the virtuous Susannah bathed in light and the corrupt elders shrouded in shadow.

[Oil on canvas, 146.6 x 116.5 cm]

Bronzino - The Panciatichi Holy Family [c.1540]

Bronzino - The Panciatichi Holy Family [c.1540], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

According to Giorgio Vasari (1568) and Raffaello Borghini (1584), the painting was commissioned to Bronzino by Bartolomeo Panciatichi, whose coat of arms dominates the fort in the background. It portrays, using the sculptural forms of Michelangelo's painting, the meeting of the Holy Family with John the Baptist on their return from Egypt, as indicated by the presence of the travel bundle on top of which Jesus is sleeping. It has been in the Uffizi Gallery since 1919.

[Oil on panel, 117 x 93 cm]

Francisco de Zurbarán - Saint Francis in Meditation [1639]

Francisco de Zurbarán - Saint Francis in Meditation [1639], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Saint Francis of Assisi was the 13th-century founder Franciscan order. He kneels in a landscape, clasping a skull, upon which he meditates. During the 17th century in Italy and Spain Saint Francis and other saints were often depicted meditating with a skull, a symbol of mortality. 

[Oil on canvas, 162 x 137 cm]

Adolph Menze - Flute Concert with Frederick the Great in Sanssouci [1850-52]

Flute Concert with Frederick the Great in Sanssouci [1850-52], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In the 1840s Menzel produced numerous illustrations for Franz Kugler’s ever popular History of Frederick the Great. Menzel’s intense work on the times and character of Friedrich II, who reigned from 1740 to 1786, was to bear fruit, even apart from the book illustrations which made Menzel famous. Along with the self-contained “society piece,” Die Tafelrunde, the Flute Concert may be regarded as one of the paintings where Menzel, in free and full possession of his powers as a painter, deepened and transformed his subjects in a subtly shifting mix of world history and parochial patriotism. 

The King of Prussia, a passionately keen flautist who also composed for the flute, is playing on the occasion of a visit from his sister, the Margravine of Bayreuth. Keeping time with his left foot, he is improvising at a high music stand which prevents any eye contact with the ensemble, so that the composition, arranged parallel to the picture plane, is divided by his figure into audience on the left and chamber ensemble on the right. Among the pronounced verticals of the composition, the extreme foreshortening of the flute is very noticeable. 

Menzel’s portrayal of the scene, with its attention to historical accuracy in both dress and furnishings, does not depict the instrument as simply another anecdotal detail, but rather concentrates on the musically flickering, warm candlelight of the theatrically illuminated concert room in Sanssouci, which seems to flow backwards with its own choreographed rhythm. Rather than an apotheosis of the cultivation of the arts at the court of Frederick the Great, Menzel has created an atmospheric portrayal of music-making.

[Oil on canvas, 142 x 205 cm]

Jean-Baptiste Greuze - Filial Piety [1763]

Jean-Baptiste Greuze - Filial Piety [1763], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Greuze (Toumus, France, August 21, 1725 - Paris, March 4, 1805) painted a whole series of now famous works on family morals, of which this is an excellent example. The painting is known by various names (Filial Piety, The Paralytic and his Family, The Benefits of a Good Education) and shows an aged, paralysed man surrounded and cared for by his good and loving family. Painted in 1763, the work brought renown to the author and was purchased by Catherine II through the mediation of Denis Diderot, a famous French philosopher of the age of the Enlightenment, who was much impressed with the artist's work. The artist constructed his painting like an Antique bas-relief, dividing it into clear, precise planes, in order to emphasize the significance of the story and the moral it contains. At the same time, he revealed a great gift for realistic depiction in his ability to capture expressive poses and gestures, for which he made many preliminary drawings and studies.

[Oil on canvas, 115 x 146 cm]

Caravaggio - Salome Receives the Head of Saint John the Baptist [1607-10]

Caravaggio - Salome Receives the Head of Saint John the Baptist [1607-10], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The subject is from the New Testament. Salome had danced so well for King Herod that he swore he would grant her any request. Her mother, Herodias, who sought revenge on John the Baptist, persuaded Salome to ask for his head. The old woman behind Salome may be Herodias. This is a late work by the artist, painted in the last three years of his life, perhaps in Naples where he resided from 1609 to 1610. No longer concerned with the incidentals of the narrative, Caravaggio focuses on the essential human tragedy of the story.

Born Michelangelo Merisi, Caravaggio (1571-1610) is the name of the artist's home town in Lombardy in northern Italy. In 1592 at the age of 21 he moved to Rome, Italy's artistic centre and an irresistible magnet for young artists keen to study its classical buildings and famous works of art. The first few years were a struggle. He specialised in still lifes of fruits and flowers, and later, half length figures which he sold on the street. In 1595, his luck changed. An eminent Cardinal, Francesco del Monte, recognised the young painter's talent and took Caravaggio into his household. Through the cardinal's circle of acquaintance, Caravaggio received his first public commissions which were so compelling and so innovative that he became a celebrity almost overnight.

[Oil on canvas, 91.5 x 106.7 cm]

Giampietrino - Salome [c.1510-30]

Giampietrino - Salome [c.1510-30], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The subject is taken from the New Testament, and shows Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist which she has been granted by Herod. The composition owes much to the inventions of Leonardo, and the strong chiaroscuro (the balance of light and shade) is also influenced by him. The flesh tones and the pinkish red of Salome's robe have faded considerably with time; the brown stripes of the tablecloth were once a rich green.

Little is known about Giampietrino and the very use of this name is conjectural, it having been applied to a group of paintings as a result of its appearance in Leonardo's Codex Atlanticus in a list of Leonardo's pupils. Although there may be some doubt about their attribution the paintings ascribed to this artist do form a stylistically coherent whole. 

[Oil on poplar, 68.6 x 57.2 cm]

Winslow Homer - Eagle Head, Manchester, Massachusetts (High Tide) [1870]

Winslow Homer - Eagle Head, Manchester, Massachusetts (High Tide) [1870], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Homer's image of three young women regrouping after a foray into the ocean was his most daring subject to date. By portraying two of the figures posed indecorously and unaware of being watched, he invites viewers to become voyeurs. The focal point is the woman wringing out her woollen bathing costume before doing the same with her hair. Critics who remarked on the painting when it was shown in 1870 were less disturbed by its disquieting mood than by the fact that, as one observed, "the figures were exceedingly red-legged and ungainly." When the painting was reproduced as a wood engraving in a family magazine a few months later, either Homer or the wood engraver covered the girls' exposed legs with long underpants and replaced the frightened dog with a bathing cap, tempering some of the story's candour.

[Oil on canvas, 66 x 96.5 cm]

William Beckworth McInnes - Bathers [1916]

William Beckworth McInnes - Bathers [1916], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

William Beckworth McInnes (St Kilda, Melbourne, May 18, 1889 - Melbourne, November 9, 1939) was an Australian portrait painter. McInnes had suffered from an imperfect heart all his life, his general health became affected and in July 1939 he resigned his position as master of the the National Gallery of Victoria School of Painting. He married Violet Muriel Musgrave in 1915, a capable flower painter, who survived him with four sons and two daughters.

Adolph Menzel -The Iron Rolling Mill (Modern Cyclopes) [1872-75]

Adolph Menzel -The Iron Rolling Mill (Modern Cyclopes) [1872-75], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The theme of physical labour had already made its entry into the pictorial world of the nineteenth century with Gustave Courbet’s Stonebreakers of 1851. Menzel made his first drawings of an industrial setting, the Heckmann Brassworks in Berlin, in 1869. The impulse for The Iron Rolling Mill most probably came from Menzel’s friend Paul Meyerheim, who was working on a series on the history of the railways for the industrialist Albert Borsig. 

In 1872 Menzel travelled to Königshütte in Upper Silesia in order to familiarize himself with factory conditions there, and spent weeks making hundreds of preparatory sketches. Drawing on the creative powers he had gained from his rich experience of painting large group scenes, here Menzel creates a composition positively filled with figures demonstrating the force of modern industrial work. In the steam-filled gloom, flickering lights and bizarre shadows merge to become a demonic drama depicting the struggle between men and machines. The animated, tonally dynamic central section of the picture is set against the calmer upper third of the composition with its diffuse daylight. 

The apparent chaos of the complicated iron rolling equipment emphasizes the dependence of the workers, who must submit to the unbending workings of the machinery. Yet Menzel’s main concern was not the socially critical aspect of this scene, but the artistic challenge of portraying the production process and the groups of people involved in it. He was interested in everyday life, not in representing the existential threat to humanity posed by the age of the machine. In The Iron Rolling Mill, Menzel’s artistic skills have reached their greatest heights.

[Oil on canvas, 158 x 254 cm])

Aelbert Cuyp - River Landscape with Horseman and Peasants [c.1658-60]

Aelbert Cuyp - River Landscape with Horseman and Peasants [c.1658-60], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting is one of the greatest 17th-century Dutch landscapes. It is the largest surviving landscape by Cuyp, and arguably the most beautiful. The entire scene is bathed in a gentle sunlight, harmonising all the elements, natural, animal and human. The quality of the light is Italianate. However, Cuyp never travelled to Italy, and he must have acquired this interest from Dutch contemporaries who did, such as Jan Both. This design is focused more directly on the landscape than in earlier paintings by Cuyp on the same scale, and the figures and animals are more minutely painted. The low sunlit mountains which dominate the peaceful scene are not a feature of the Dutch landscape, but based on mountains seen by Cuyp on his travels in the early 1650s. 

Cuyp was the son of the Dordrecht portrait and animal painter, Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp. Though based in Dordrecht throughout his life, Cuyp travelled widely in Holland, making drawings. In 1658 he married a wealthy widow and appears to have painted little thereafter.

[Oil on canvas, 123 x 241 cm]

Max Liebermann - The Flax Barn at Laren

Max Liebermann - The Flax Barn at Laren, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The Flax Barn at Laren is one of Liebermann’s main works among his large-scale paintings of groups of people and workers from the 1880s. At the time, Holland was an important destination for Liebermann and his contemporaries. They saw Rembrandt and Frans Hals as their artistic role models, and by working directly from observation of their subjects, they learned to leave their dark studios and to shake off the fetters of Munkácsy’s working methods. In addition, in Holland they found the ideal of a bourgeois society and a solid social structure put into practice. At the time, plein air painting was still confusingly modern, but The Flax Barn at Laren was all the more offensive for the scale of development of its subject matter. 

In a bright, low, yet extensive shed, all the figures are performing the same task, spinning flax. By the wall under the windows, there are children using flywheels to wind the flax onto spindles. Women and girls stand spaced throughout the room, each with a bundle of flax under her arm, spinning the thread with her hands. The scene is marked by its strong, even rhythm; in their structure the parallels of the floorboards and the beams strengthen the harmony of the work. The women stand in the space like “pillars.” The work depicts the calm of everyday life — and a sense of permanence in the monotony of constantly repeated movements. The colours are also without dramatic contrasts, reserved and cool. That peculiarly Dutch, pale, silvery-grey light, which Liebermann loved so much, permeates the scene. Above all it is the light here, in all its various reflections, that underlines the life and beauty of the scene — an everyday poem, calm and composed.

[Oil on canvas, 135 x 232 cm]

Claude-Oscar Monet - The Beach at Trouville [1870]

Claude-Oscar Monet - The Beach at Trouville [1870], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting is one of five beach scenes produced by Monet in the summer of 1870, which may have been preparatory sketches for a larger painting that Monet intended to submit to the Salon. The figure to the left is probably Monet's wife Camille, and the woman on the right may be the wife of Eugene Boudin, whose own beach scenes influenced the work of Monet. The painting is unusual in its composition (a close-up of symmetrically disposed figures) and in the bravura of its technique. The white dashes of paint indicating the dress of the left-hand figure are prominent. They contrast with the shadowed face, probably concealed by a veil, and the parasol shading the flowered hat. Grains of sand are present in the paint, confirming that it must have been at least partly executed outside on the beach.

[Oil on canvas, 38 x 46.5 cm]

Caravaggio - Medusa [1595-98]

Caravaggio - Medusa [1595-98], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In 1598 Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte gave this painting to the Grand Duke Ferdinando I. It was put in the Armory of the Uffizi without any attribution; in 1631 it was registered as a work by Caravaggio and was displayed as part of a suit of Persian Armor worn by a mannequin seated on a wooden horse. The Medusa is painted on canvas applied to a wooden shield. The subject is mythological referring to the shield from Athena which was cunningly used to exploit the the Medusa's power to petrify people. This iconography was often used by the Medici to represent their military power. Rather than use ancient sculpture for inspiration, the painter captures the expression on the Medusa's face, deformed as it is in horror at having been beheaded while even the mane of serpents writhes in all directions; it is the passing moment between life and death.

[Oil on canvas, diametre 55 cm]

John Constable - The Grove, or the Admiral’s House in Hampstead [1821-22]

John Constable - The Grove, or the Admiral’s House in Hampstead [1821-22], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

After 1819 Constable, one of the leading English landscape painters of his day, used to spend the summers in Hampstead. He later moved there altogether. In Hampstead he produced numerous landscape and cloud studies that are fascinating for their lively perception of atmospheric conditions and for their spontaneous, infinitely subtle painterly technique. The admiral’s house is romantically secluded among trees and shrubs, and touched by an uneasy light. The building itself combines the characteristic shape of English chimney stacks with an unusual flat roof that the admiral had had put on a few years previously. The house succumbs to the superior power of nature, as do the small accessory figures in the foreground. The force of the elements, the light, and even the damp breeze following a passing shower are palpable. The intensity of Constable’s observation of nature readily identifies him as a precursor of the plein air painters. In this work he goes beyond the mere depiction of light effects, bringing to life the movement and texture of the clouds, the wind, and the damp air.

[Oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm]

Peder Severin Kroyer - Marie in the Garden [1895]

Peder Severin Kroyer - Marie in the Garden [1895], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Peder Severin Krøyer (July 23, 1851 - November 21, 1909), known as P.S. Krøyer, Norwegian-Danish painter, was born in Stavanger, Norway to Ellen Cecilie Gjesdal. He is one of the best known and beloved, and undeniably the most colourful of the Skagen Painters, a community of Danish and Nordic artists who lived, gathered or worked in Skagen, Denmark, especially during the final decades of the 1800s. Krøyer was the unofficial ringleader of the group.

Krøyer died in 1909 at 58 years of age after several years of declining health from advanced syphilis. He had been in and out of hospitals, having suffered from bouts of mental illness. His eyesight failed him gradually over the last ten years of his life until he was totally blind. Ever the optimist, he painted almost to the end of his life in spite of all these health obstacles. He painted some of his last masterpieces while half blind. He would joke that the eyesight in the one working eye became better with the loss of the other eye.

[Oil on panel, 58.1 x 47.94 cm]

Johann Peter Hasenclever - The Reading Room [1843]

Johann Peter Hasenclever - The Reading Room [1843], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Since the early nineteenth century, public reading rooms had been important meeting places for conversation and the spread of enlightened thinking. In its content, The Reading Room follows on after other works by Hasenclever: The Politicians (1833–34), The Newspaper Readers (1835) and The Politician (1839). In all of these an important role is played by the press as a means of forming public opinion. In Germany in 1842, censorship grew and 1843 saw the banning in Düsseldorf of the newspaper Die Rheinische Zeitung, which had been edited by a friend of Hasenclever’s, the poet Ferdinand Freiligrath.

Johann Peter Hasenclever (Remscheld, May 18, 1810 - Dusseldorf, December 16, 1853) was a German artist. He was a famous painter for his masterful and mature compositions which sensitively depicted bourgeoisie life in the Biedermeier era. Hasenclever was active in the political movement of the pre-March or Vormärz era that culminated in the abortive revolution of 1848 and was an exponent of socially driven art.

[Oil on canvas, 100 x 71 cm]

Franz Krüger - Parade on the Opernplatz in Berlin [1824-30]

Franz Krüger - Parade on the Opernplatz in Berlin [1824-30], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Krüger (Grossbadegast, September 10, 1797 - Berlin, January 21, 1857) depicted a panoramic view of the Prussian “via triumphalis” with total topographic accuracy, showing a parade of the sixth Brandenburg Kürassierregiment (dragoons) led by the grand duke, later to be Tsar Nicholas I. He is seen at the head of his troops riding towards King Friedrich Wilhelm III, who salutes in his plumed hat, positioned on horseback opposite the Neue Wache (surveillance building). 

Contrary to the conventions governing the composition of works depicting historical events, the painter has positioned the monarch on the very edge of the scene. Neither the princely protagonists nor the parade itself are at the center of attention. Instead it is the representatives of bourgeois Berlin who occupy the pavement area in the foreground, as if showing themselves off on an open-air stage. He was much more concerned to represent the multiplicity and vitality of the social and intellectual life of Berlin. 

[Oil on canvas, 347 x 249 cm]

Gottlieb Schick - Portrait of Heinrike Dannecker [1802]

Gottlieb Schick - Portrait of Heinrike Dannecker [1802], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Heinrike Dannecker, the wife of the Stuttgart court sculptor Dannecker, is seated parallel to the picture plane with an expansive landscape in the background. The broad sweep of the sitter’s shape sets her apart from the infinitely vast, pale-blue cosmos. She turns towards the viewer in a wholly natural manner, and with her head raised, it is as though she welcomes this interruption in her thoughtful contemplation of nature and is inviting the intruder to share her pleasure. The flowers in her hand establish a link with nature. Yet this does not conceal the programmatic reference to contemporary events, with a clear allusion to the French tricolor in the colours of her clothes. Thus transient gesture, contemporary history, and the timelessness of the cosmos and nature come together and complement each other.

Christian Gottlieb Schick (August 15, 1776 - May 7, 1812) was a German Neoclassicist painter. In 1789 he started studying drawing at the Academy of Arts in Stuttgart as an apprentice of Philipp Friedrich von Hetsch. He was later taught by Johann Heinrich Dannecker and completed his training under Jacques-Louis David.

[Oil on canvas, 88 x 67 cm]

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout - Group Portrait [1657]

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout - Group Portrait [1657], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This group portrait shows the officials of the guild, which included men who made barrels for the wine imported into Amsterdam and those who sampled and bottled it. The painter's brother Jan is listed among the names which appear in the document on the table, but he has not been identified. In the background is a painting of Saint Matthias, patron saint of the coopers, and the tools carved into the frame are those used by the coopers in the making of the barrels. The name of the guild is written on the seal which hangs over the edge of the table. This type of group portrait, showing the officials of a guild, charitable organisation or civic body, was very popular in the Netherlands during the 17th century.

[Oil on canvas, 163 x 197 cm]

Pieter Claesz - Still Life with Clay Pipes [1636]

Pieter Claesz - Still Life with Clay Pipes [1636], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Pieter Claesz (Berchem, near Haarlam, c.1597 - Haarlam, January 1, 1660) was a Dutch Golden Age stll life painter. He and Willem Claeszoon Helda were the most important exponents of the "ontbijt" or breakfast piece. They painted with subdued, virtually monochromatic palettes, the subtle handling of light and texture being the prime means of expression. Claesz generally chose objects of a more homely kind than Heda, although his later work became more colourful and decorative. Claesz's still lifes often suggest allegorical purpose, with skulls serving as reminders of human mortality. The two men founded a distinguished tradition of still life painting in Haarlem.

[Oil on panel, 49 x 63.5 cm]

Attributed to Girolamo Macchietti - The Charity of St Nicholas of Bari [c.1555-60]

Attributed to Girolamo Macchietti - The Charity of St Nicholas of Bari [c.1555-60], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The story depicted in the panel is that of the 4th-century saint, Nicholas of Myra. Under cover of darkness, Saint Nicholas throws three golden balls through the window of the house of an impoverished nobleman. Golden balls were often used by artists to represent the purses of the gold mentioned in the saint’s legend. According to the legend, the nobleman had been faced with the prospect of selling his girls into prostitution. The saint’s act of charity saved them from this fate, providing dowries for the three daughters who were duly married. The story gradually evolved into the Christmas tradition of Santa Claus. 

The shape and sturdy structure of the panel suggest that the picture may have been a spalliera, a decorative painting set into a piece of furniture or incorporated into the panelled walls of a camera, a room that functioned as a bed-chamber and reception room. The subject matter is well suited to such a purpose, since the picture both depicts a bedchamber (rather better furnished than the nobleman's straitened circumstances might suggest) and evokes the theme of sleep, in an inventive variety of poses.

[Oil on wood, 75 x 112 cm]

Gregorio Preti - Christ Disputing with the Doctors [1660s]

Gregorio Preti - Christ Disputing with the Doctors [1660s], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The subject is taken from the New Testament. This recounts how the 12-year-old Christ stayed behind in Jerusalem unknown to his parents Mary and Joseph (seen in the centre background). When they returned to look for him they found Christ disputing with the doctors of the Temple who 'were astonished at his understanding and his answers'. The painting was once thought to be by Mattia Preti, who had a successful career in Rome, Naples and Malta, but it has recently been attributed to his older brother, Gregorio.

Gregorio Preti, although always in the shadow of his more talented younger brother Mattia (1613 - 1699), was a capable artist in his own right. He was born in Taverna, a small town in the Sila Piccola mountains of Calabria, and executed several altarpeices for churches there. As a youth he went to Rome (1630-53), where he shared a studio and collaborated with Mattia on various projects. 

[Oil on canvas, 120 x 161.9 cm]

Peter Paul Rubens - The Judgement of Paris [c.1632-35]

Peter Paul Rubens - The Judgement of Paris [c.1632-35], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Alterations to this work show that Rubens first painted an earlier moment in the story when Mercury ordered the goddesses to undress; the final stage shows Paris awarding the golden apple to Venus, who stands between Minerva and Juno; Mercury stands behind Paris; above is the Fury, Alecto.

Peter Paul Rubens was born in Siegen in Germany, but from the age of 10 he lived and went to school in Antwerp. His first job, at the age of 13, was as court page to a countess. It was a prestigious position for a young man, but Rubens found it stifling and began training as an artist. As soon as he had completed his training, he set out for Italy in order to see for himself the great Renaissance and classical works that he knew from copies. For eight years, he travelled and worked in Spain, copying and incorporating the techniques of Renaissance and classical art.

[Oil on oak, 144.8 x 193.7 cm]

Peter Paul Rubens - The Judgement of Paris [c.1597-99]

Peter Paul Rubens - The Judgement of Paris [c.1597-99], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Paris, seated with his back to the viewer, gives the prize of a golden apple to Venus, the central standing goddess, whom he judged to be the most beautiful of the three. To the left stands Juno who is angered by the choice, and to the right, turned away, Minerva, identifiable by the armour at her feet. Venus is accompanied by Cupid and crowned by a putto; another putto holds two doves. Paris is accompanied by Mercury at the left, and in the background two satyrs watch the contest. At the right a water god and a nymph recline on the ground. This work was probably painted shortly before Rubens's departure for Italy in 1600.

[Oil on oak, 133.9 x 174.5 cm]

Joseph Mallord William Turner - Calais Pier [1803]

Joseph Mallord William Turner - Calais Pier [1803], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The packet boat is arriving at Calais, full of passengers. The heavy swell and storm clouds dominate the scene. The sun breaks through to touch the sail. The shaft of light from the sun down to the sea forms the centre of the composition. Turner's picture is based on a real-life event. In 1802 he took his first trip abroad via Calais. On a sketch for this picture he noted that the seas had been so rough he was 'nearly swampt'. The picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1803. Like a number of Turner's pictures it was not well received, and was thought unfinished in the foreground.

[Oil on canvas, 172 x 240 cm]

Louis-Leopold Boilly - A Girl at a Window [after 1799]

Louis-Leopold Boilly - A Girl at a Window [after 1799], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Painted as a grisaille (a work of varying tones, but a single colour), this picture is intended as an imitation of a mounted engraving, although the subject does not duplicate any known print. It is probably a derivative by Boilly of his Salon picture of 1799. The composition derives from a type of genre scene popular in 17th-century Holland and which also became popular with collectors in France in the later 18th century. 

Boilly (1761-1845) was born near Lille; he first worked in Douai, then Arras, and finally in Paris, from 1785. He exhibited at the Paris Salon between 1791 and 1824. He painted genre scenes and small portraits.

[Oil on canvas, 55.2 x 45.7 cm]

Francois Flameng - Reception at Malmaison [1896]

Francois Flameng - Reception at Malmaison [1896], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Click artist label for further details.

[Oil on panel, 106 x 139 cm]

John Singleton Copley - Watson and the Shark [1778]

John Singleton Copley - Watson and the Shark [1778], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

For the notorious British merchant Brook Watson, Copley created a redemptive, retrospective narrative in crisp, legible detail for a grand venue, the Royal Academy of Arts, London. The picture tells a tale from Watson's youth: in 1749 the orphaned fourteen-year-old boy was crewing for a merchant marine in Havana Harbour, Cuba, when he was attacked by a shark while swimming. Watson was dragged under water three times and lost a leg before his fellow crewmen were able to save him by stabbing the shark with a boat hook. On public view in 1778, the painting promoted Copley, just three years after he left Boston. It also redeemed Watson, a controversial character reviled by some for dishonourable business practices and unethical political motives, by showing that he had been delivered from the jaws of death, a salvation accorded only those of high moral fibre and undeniable goodness.

[Oil on canvas, 182.1 x 229.7 cm]

Canaletto - A Regatta on the Grand Canal, Venice [c.1735]

Canaletto - A Regatta on the Grand Canal, Venice [c.1735], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The regatta was an annual carnival event in Venice from the 14th century onwards, and continues to this day. While regattas were sometimes held in honour of distinguished visitors, the regatta in the painting appears to be the annual carnival event. The pavilion at the left is a temporary structure from which the prizes were presented. It bears the arms of the Doge Alvise Pisani, who ruled from 1735 to 1741.

[Oil on canvas, 117.2 x 186.7 cm]

Jacob van Ruisdael - A Panoramic View of Amsterdam [c.1665-70]

Jacob van Ruisdael - A Panoramic View of Amsterdam [c.1665-70], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Ruisdael took this view from scaffolding surrounding the tower of Amsterdam's new Town Hall (now Royal Palace) on Dam Square. Sunlight picks out buildings fronting the Damrak and at right, the massive tower of the Oude Kerk. But more than documenting landmarks, the artist gives a vivid impression of the vast city that was then northern Europe's busiest port.

Jacob van Ruisdael was one of the most famous landscape painters of 17th-century Holland, and the foremost exponent of the classical phase of Dutch landscape painting. He was able to create a poetic and sometimes brooding or tragic mood in his landscapes. Ruisdael was born in Haarlem, the son of a little known painter, Isaack Jacobsz. van Ruisdael, who was also a dealer and frame-maker. Around 1650 he travelled to the hilly area around Bentheim across the German border. By 1657 Ruisdael had settled in Amsterdam and in his later years is said to have also practised as a physician there. He was buried in Haarlem.

[Oil on canvas, 41.3 x 40 cm]

Jacob Maris - A Girl Feeding a Bird in a Cage [c.1867]

Jacob Maris - A Girl Feeding a Bird in a Cage [c.1867], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting was probably painted when the artist was living in Paris. It is similar in style to his Girl Seated Outside a House of the same date, in which the model may be the same girl. This may be the picture that was exhibited at the French Gallery in London in 1868 as The Pet Bird by J.Maris.

[Oil on mahogany, 32.6 x 20.8 cm]

Jacob Maris - A Girl Seated Outside a House [1867]

Jacob Maris - A Girl Seated Outside a House [1867], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The church seen in the background is in Montigny-sur-Loing. The model for the girl may the same as in the artist's Girl Feeding a Bird in a Cage. This was painted when Maris was living in Paris. It entered the collection under the title Vespers, although the girl appears to be trimming her hat with flowers rather than praying.

[Oil on mahogany, 32.7 x 20.9 cm]

Salvator Rosa - Witches At Their Incantations [c.1646]

Salvator Rosa - Witches At Their Incantations [c.1646], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Scenes of the occult were rare, though not unknown, in 17th century Italy. During his years in Florence (1640-49) Rosa produced a number of scenes of witchcraft, of which this (signed) painting is the most ambitious surviving example. It may be the painting referred to in a letter by Rosa of 1666 as having been painted twenty years earlier and one of his finest, and it is probably contemporary with one of Rosa's poems entitled The Witch. Spells are cast in the centre, below a man hanged from a withered tree. The brightly illuminated foreground is contrasted with the nocturnal landscape behind.

Rosa (1615 – 1673) was one of the least conventional artists of 17th century Italy, and was adopted as a hero by painters of the Romantic movement in the later 18th and early 19th centuries. He was mainly a painter of landscapes, but the range of his subject matter was unusually wide and included portraits and allegories. He also depicted scenes of witchcraft, influenced by Northern prints.

[Oil on canvas, 72 x 132 cm]

Frans Francken II - Witches’ Kitchen [1606]

Frans Francken II - Witches’ Kitchen [1606], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Frans Francken was born in Antwerp in 1581. Francken came from a family of artists and served his apprenticeship in his father's workshop. Frans II (his father was also called Frans) probably continued his studies under his uncle. In 1605 he joined the St Luke's guild in his native town. Frans II painted altarpieces and panels on furniture. He also produced small paintings with historical, mythological and allegorical depictions. Frans Francken was especially skilled at painting small figures. These are often far more successful than the landscape backgrounds in his paintings. Whenever possible he collaborated with other artists who would paint the background for him.

[Oil on panel, 54.5 x 66.5 cm]

August Hagborg - Girls Gathering Oysters

August Hagborg - Girls Gathering Oysters, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

August Hagborg (Gothenburg, 1852 – Paris, 1921) was a Swedish artist.

[Oil on canvas, 54.5 x 73.5 cm]

Edouard Manet - The Execution of Maximilian [c.1867-68]

Edouard Manet - The Execution of Maximilian [c.1867-68], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian (1832-1867) was installed in Mexico as a puppet emperor by Napoleon III in 1863. He was dependent on the support of the occupying French army and when Napoleon withdrew his troops Maximilian was captured by Mexican forces loyal to their legitimate republican government. He was executed alongside two of his generals, Mejía and Miramón, on 19 June 1867. 

The left-hand section of the canvas showing General Mejía was probably cut off by Manet himself. After the artist's death the canvas was cut up into smaller fragments, some of which were sold separately. Edgar Degas eventually purchased all the surviving fragments and reassembled them on a single canvas. A sketch for a group of soldiers, now in the British Museum, was once thought to have been made in preparation for this work, but its attribution to Manet is no longer certain.

[Oil on canvas, 193 x 284 cm]