Konstantin Korovin - Vichy

Konstantin Korovin - Vichy, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

When painting images at night, Korovin explored the tonal contrasts of the dark night sky and bright street-lighting. At times he painted flames flickering in lanterns, with dashes of paint evoking a synchronous dance of light and shadow along the street. At other times he painted the softer, atmospheric qualities of the late evening hours, thereby creating a scene of dark blues and greens where the eye must strain to discern the landscape beyond the foreground. In the present Vichy scene, the artist masterfully combines these techniques, creating an image that is at once peaceful and dynamic, inviting and alive. This painting was sold by Sotheby's on November 5, 2008 for $302,500.

[Oil on canvas, 69 x 97 cm]

Henri Rousseau - View of the Fortifications to the left of the Gate of Vanes [1909]

Henri Rousseau - View of the Fortifications to the left of the Gate of Vanes [1909], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (Laval, Mayenne, May 21, 1844 – Paris, September 2, 1910) was a French post-impressionist painter in the naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier (the customs officer), a humorous description of his occupation as a tax collector. Ridiculed during his life, he came to be recognized as a self-taught genius whose works are of high artistic quality.

[Oil on canvas, 31 x 41 cm]

Iturrino Francisco González - Nudes in the Garden

Iturrino Francisco González - Nudes in the Garden, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Iturrino Francisco González (Santander, September 9, 1864 - Cagnes-sur-Mer, June 20, 1924) was a Spanish painter and etcher, who along with Juan de Echevarria was the greatest exponent of Fauvism in Spain . He is best known for his vivid female nudes and for his friendship with Henri Matisse .

[Oil on canvas, 124.2 x 144 cm]

Henri Lebasque - Nu Assis

Nu Assis - Henri Lebasque, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on canvas, 65.5 x 55 cm]

Edward Cucuel - An Outing By Boat [1917]

Edward Cucuel - An Outing By Boat [1917], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting was sold by Sotheby's on November 14, 2007 for GB £58,100.

[Oil on canvas, 74 x 90 cm]

William Fettes Douglas - Self-Portrait [c.1845]

William Fettes Douglas - Self-Portrait [c.1845], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting is probably the ‘Portrait of a Gentleman’ that was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1845. It is an early self-portrait, painted two years before Fettes Douglas (1822 - 1891) abandoned a career in banking for the arts. Dark and contemplative, the artist is seated holding a large book – anticipating his future as an extremely cultured man: he became an authority on aspects of Italian art, a curator at the Scottish National Gallery, and President of the RSA. Perhaps most noted for his still lifes, he took meticulous care in depicting books, antiques and curios of which he had a fine and extensive collection. However, in later years he became more inspired by landscape and produced numerous watercolours, with the National Galleries of Scotland now holding a large collection.

[Oil on canvas, 66 x 53 cm]

Studio of Francois Boucher - The Billet-Doux [1754]

Studio of Francois Boucher - The Billet-Doux [1754], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The picture is a studio replica of a design often repeated, with minor variations. It shows the arrival or despatch of a love letter (billet doux) carried by a dove. The principal figure, barefoot on the right, has a basket of flowers, symbols of Venus, the goddess of love. This picture, which is dated 1754, can be seen as a demonstration of the popularity of the original, following its exhibition in the Salon of 1753. The original is probably an upright picture (National Gallery of Art, Washington), dated 1750 and painted for Madame de Pompadour.

[Oil on canvas, 95.3 x 127 cm]

Edouard Gaertner - The Friedrichsgracht, Berlin [1830s]

Edouard Gaertner - The Friedrichsgracht, Berlin [1830s], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Eduard Gaertner is best known for his panoramic views of Berlin, which are painted in a naturalistic style fusing accuracy with a sensitive rendering of light and atmosphere. After training at the Berlin Academy he was apprenticed to the court theatre painter Karl Wilhelm Gropius, and from 1825-28 he worked under Bertin in Paris. Back in Berlin, his watercolours and oils depicting the everyday life of the city gained him the patronage of the King of Prussia Wilhelm III and of the Czar Nicholas I in Moscow and St Petersburg.

The Friedrichsgracht was a canal that ran though the centre of Berlin. While it still survives in present day Berlin, much of the area has been rebuilt since the Second World War. The striking composition, dominated by the geometrical precision of the zinc roof in the foreground, is typical of Gaertner's work.

[Oil on paper laid down on millboard, 25.5 x 44.6 cm]

James Jebusa Shannon - Jungle Tales (Contes de la Jungle) [1895]

James Jebusa Shannon - Jungle Tales (Contes de la Jungle) [1895], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

James Jebusa Shannon (Auburn, New York, 1862 - 1923) was an Anglo-American artist. When he was sixteen, he went to England, where he studied at South Kensington, and after three years won the gold medal for figure painting. He soon became one of the leading portrait painters in London. He was one of the first members of the New English Art Club, a founder member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and in 1897 was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and RA in 1909.

[Oil on canvas, 87 x 113.7 cm]

Stanley Cursiter - The Seamstress

Stanley Cursiter - The Seamstress, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Stanley Cursiter (1887 – 1976) was Keeper of the National Galleries of Scotland from 1924 and Director from 1930 to 1948. An artist as well as an administrator, Cursiter experimented with semi-abstract forms in his early work but later adopted a more conventional style. He did much to promote Scottish art, researching, writing and consolidating the National Galleries' Scottish collections.

Helene Schjerfbeck - Dancing Shoes [1882]

Helene Schjerfbeck - Dancing Shoes [1882], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Helene Schjerfbeck - Smiling Girl [1921]

Helene Schjerfbeck - Smiling Girl [1921], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Helene Schjerfbeck (Helsinki, July 10, 1862 - Saltsjobaden, Sweden, January 23, 1946) was a Finnish painter. In 1879, at the age of 17, Schjerfbeck began to be recognized for her art. She won third prize in a competition organised by the Finnish Art Society. Her art career started to blossom when some of her work was displayed in an annual Finnish Art Society exhibition in 1880. In the 1890s Schjerfbeck started teaching regularly at the Art Society drawing school. She produced still lifes and landscapes, as well as portraits, such as that of her mother, local school girls and women workers, and also self-portraits. Comparisons have been made with artists such as James McNeill Whistler and Edvard Munch, but as of 1905, her paintings take on a characteristic that can be attributed to her alone.

[Oil and mixed media on paper, 32 x 27.5 cm]

Frederick McCubbin - At Colombo [1907]

Frederick McCubbin - At Colombo [1907], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Frederick McCubbin (Melbourne, February 25, 1855 – December 20, 1917) was an Australian painter who was prominent in the Heidelberg Scholl, one of the more important periods in Australia's visual arts history. By the early 1880s, McCubbin's work began to attract considerable attention and won a number of prizes from the National Gallery, including a first prize in 1883 in their annual student exhibition. By the mid-1880s he began to concentrate more on painting the Australian bush, the works for which he became notable. He died in 1917 from a heart attack.

[Oil on artist's board, 24 x 34 cm]

Augustus John - Lyric Fantasy [c.1913-14]

Augustus John - Lyric Fantasy [c.1913-14], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This is one of four murals commissioned in 1909 to decorate the hall of the house in Chelsea of Hugh Lane, a private dealer in old master paintings. John designed the composition using his own family and friends as models, including at the right his wife Ida, who had recently died. It was painted from a full size drawing. John then painted out a figure at the centre, and suggested alterations to compensate. Hugh Lane died in 1915, and his paintings were never finished. Lyric Fantasy was not displayed, nor given its title, until 1940. John devoted his early career to these decorative murals, which he based on drawings and colour sketches.

[Oil and pencil on canvas, 2380 x 4720 mm]

Luigi Premazzi - Southern Market Place [1861]

Luigi Premazzi - Southern Market Place [1861], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Watercolour, 23.2 x 32.7 cm]

Richard Karlovich Zommer - Sohbet [1910]

Richard Karlovich Zommer - Sohbet [1910], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In this work Richard Karlovich Zommer (1866 - 1939) has depicted a central aspect of oriental life, as figures gather together in the local coffeehouse to escape the heat of the day. As the men congregate in groups of two and three, it is clear that the establishment is a central meeting point in the community, where people come to relax, chat and debate. The figures are all dressed in bright, vibrant colours, enhanced by the glare of the fierce sun. The coffeehouse’s patrons shelter under the canopy or the shade of the tree, whilst they drink, eat and smoke shisha from their hookah pipes. Zommer has used a frieze-like composition, with the figures dispersed across the width of the foreground, which focuses the viewers’ attention on the individualism of the characters. By capturing the intense heat and the relaxed convivial atmosphere of the scene, Zommer’s lifelong fascination with the culture and customs of the orient is clearly demonstrated in Sohbet.

[Oil on canvas, 49 x 75 cm]

Mihaly Munkacsy - The Story of a Battle [c.1875]

Mihaly Munkacsy - The Story of a Battle [c.1875], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Seated in an inn, a pale young man wearing remnants of a military uniform describes to his companions a battle, which occurred in 1848 during the Hungarian uprising against Austrian-Hapsburg domination. An international figure, Munkacsy (Hungarian, 1844 - 1900) trained in Budapest, Vienna, Munich, and Paris. While attending the 1867 Exposition Universelle, he met the French realist Gustave Courbet and several members of the Barbizon school. Many of his later years were spent in the village of Barbizon, where he produced scenes of contemporary life set in his native Hungary or in France. Striving for realism, Munkacsy frequently used photographs in composing his scenes.

[Oil on canvas, 104.5 x 140 cm]

Eugène Delacroix - Henri IV Conferring the Regency upon Marie de' Medici [before 1834]

Eugène Delacroix - Henri IV Conferring the Regency upon Marie de' Medici [before 1834], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (Charenton, April 26, 1798 – Paris, August 13, 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school. Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement.

[Oil on canvas, 88.26 x 115.89 cm]

Follower of Hieronymus Janssens - Ladies and Gentlemen Playing La Main Chaude [c.1655-65]

Follower of Hieronymus Janssens - Ladies and Gentlemen Playing La Main Chaude [c.1655-65] , a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The game which the figures are playing involves one person hiding his face on the lap of another, and then guessing who has hit his hand which is behind his back. This painting was formerly attributed to Janssens, but is now considered to be the work of a follower. It can probably be dated by the clothes to about 1655-65.

[Oil on oak, 26.8 x 39 cm]

Thomas Benjamin Kennington - Lady Reading by a Window

Thomas Benjamin Kennington - Lady Reading by a Window, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Thomas Benjamin Kennington (Great Grimsby, April 7, 1856 – London, December 10, 1916) was an English painter. He studied at Liverpool School of Art, at the R.C.A. and at the Academie Julian in Paris. He was an original member and first Secretary of the New English Art Club, 1886 and one of the founders of the Imperial Arts League. He exhibited at the Royal Academy 1880–1916, and in Paris. 

[Oil on canvas, 36 x 28 cm]

Theodore Rousseau - A Swamp in the Landes [after 1844]

Theodore Rousseau - A Swamp in the Landes [after 1844], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Rousseau (French, 1812 – 1867) worked on the Normandy coast early in his career but also studied the sea on a visit to the Landes region in southwestern France in 1844. Here, he depicts a luminous view looking out across expansive marshes with sails visible on the horizon. Technical analysis of a cross section of this painting has demonstrated that Rousseau was using the recently discovered pigment emerald green.

[Oil on panel, 41.7 x 56.7 cm]

Jan van de Cappelle - A Small Vessel in Light Airs, and Another Ashore [c1650-60]

Jan van de Cappelle - A Small Vessel in Light Airs, and Another Ashore [c1650-60], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

On the left is a smalschip (a small sprit-rigged transport vessel), with sails set; a kaag (a clinker-built vessel with a straight raking stem) is beached on the right. The painting is a fairly early work, probably dating from the 1650s.

Van de Cappelle was one of the leading marine painters of 17th-century Holland. He was born in Amsterdam, the son of a wealthy dyer. His output consists mainly of estuary, river and calm water scenes; he also produced about forty winter landscapes. He is said to have been self-taught, and was influenced by the work of Simon de Vlieger who spent his last years at Weesp, near Amsterdam. 

In 1653 van de Cappelle acquired Amsterdam citizenship and he bought a house there in 1661. From 1663 he may have devoted his energies largely to commerce. Van de Cappelle amassed a large art collection, including sixteen paintings by Jan Porcellis, a pioneering seascape painter of the early 17th century, and nine by de Vlieger, as well as many of his drawings; Rembrandt and Avercamp were also represented in his Collection by large numbers of drawings.

[Oil on canvas, 34.8 x 48.1 cm]

Francesco Guardi - Venice: The Grand Canal with Palazzo Pesaro [c.1775-60]

Francesco Guardi - Venice: The Grand Canal with Palazzo Pesaro [c.1775-60], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The 17th-century Palazzo Pesaro, designed by Longhena, is depicted in the centre. On the right a funeral boat can be seen before the façade of the church of St. Stae (Sant'Eustachio). The Palazzo Corner della Regina is at the extreme left. The composition is based on an etching by Michiel Marieschi in 'Magnificentiores Selectioresque Urbis Venetiarum Prospectus', 1741. It is tentatively suggested that the painting dates from around 1755-60.

[Oil on canvas, 92.7 x 130.9 cm]

Jean-Léon Gérôme - The End of the Sitting [1886]

Jean-Léon Gérôme - The End of the Sitting [1886], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Jean-Léon Gérôme was one of the most famous French painters of his day. In the course of his long career, he was the subject of controversy and bitter criticism, in particular for defending the conventions of the waning genre of Academic painting, under attack by Realists and Impressionists.

Gérôme's fascination with the act of sculpting, with the sculptor's mastery of material and the ability to give it form, drew him to the myth of Pygmalion bringing life to Galatea. This was the image he used when portraying himself as a sculptor in The End of the Sitting, creating an interplay between the redundant presence of the living model and the statue that is taking shape. His works closely combine references from classical mythology with the contingent reality of his studio.

[Oil on canvas, 16.14 x 18.9 inches]

Frederic Edwin Church - Aurora Borealis [1865]

Frederic Edwin Church - Aurora Borealis [1865], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The ship and sled team in this image belonged to Frederic Church's (Hartford, Connecticut, 1826 - New York, 1900) friend, polar explorer Dr. Isaac Hayes. Hayes had led an Arctic expedition in 1860, and gave his sketches from the trip to the artist as inspiration for this painting. Hayes returned from his voyage to find the country in the thick of the Civil War, and in a rousing speech vowed that "God willing, I trust yet to carry the flag of the great Republic, with not a single star erased from its glorious Union, to the extreme northern limits of the earth." Viewers understood Church's painting of the Aurora Borealis (also known as the northern lights) as a portent of disaster, a divine omen relating to the conflict.

[Oil on canvas, 142.3 x 212.2 cm]

Fra Angelico - The Last Judgment

Fra Angelico - The Last Judgment, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Fra Angelico (Tuscany, 1395 - Rome, February 18, 1455) was a highly praised early Renaissance painter in his own lifetime. He initially received training as an illuminator. The painter Lorenzo Monaco may have contributed to his art training and his works show a notable influence of the Sienese school. His first paintings were an altarpiece and a painted screen for the Carthusian monastery of Florence. Between 1418 and 1436 he executed several frescoes for the church of the convent of Fiesole, where he also lived. He later went to Florence, where he completed one of his most famous works, the altarpiece for San Marco. He was later called to Rome by Pope Eugenius IV to paint the frescoes of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at St Peter's. Fra Angelico created artworks which show the transition from conservative Gothic to the more progressive style of the Renaissance. He held a pre-eminent position among his contemporaries.

[Oil on poplar]

Hippolyte or Paul Flandrin - Male Nude, Seen from Behind

Hippolyte or Paul Flandrin - Male Nude, Seen from Behind, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on paper laid down on canvas, 64.5 x 34 cm]

Master of Flémalle - Portrait of a Fat Man [c.1425]

Master of Flémalle - Portrait of a Fat Man [c.1425], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The subject’s chubby unshaven face, double chin, ruffled hair and the pronounced wrinkles on his forehand indicate a probable thirst for power and an earthly presence. This portrait is astonishingly lifelike, especially considering that, when viewed more closely, there is a lack of intellectual alertness in the subjects physiognomy.

People have always wondered about the identity of the subject of this portrait. It is most probable that he is Robert de Masmines, who served the Burgundian dukes John the Fearless (1404-19) and Philip the Good (1419-67) as councillor and military commander. Knighted in 1420 at the siege of Melun, de Masmines was admitted to the Order of the Golden Fleece in January 1430. He was killed in that same year in the Battle of Bouvines, fought by Philip the Good against the Liégeois.

[Oil on oak, 28.5 x 17.7 cm]

José Gutiérrez Solana - Las Americas Flea Market

José Gutiérrez Solana - Las Americas Flea Market, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on canvas, 138 x 114.4 cm]

José Gutiérrez Solana - On the Game

José Gutiérrez Solana - On the Game, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

José Gutiérrez Solana (Madrid, 1886 - Madrid, June 26, 1947) was a painter and writer who was a key figure in the Spanish cultural revival of the early 20th century. Gutiérrez Solana attended art school in Madrid from 1900 to 1904. As a young man, he spent his days in the slums and suburbs of Madrid and in the Cantabrian harbours, studying the most wretched aspects of Spanish life. 

Influenced by the Spanish masters, Gutiérrez Solana painted a tragic view of urban life, scenes of grief and horror rendered in sombre earth tones and blood reds. He applied thick layers of paint, charging his subjects, which often included bulls, urban landscapes, taverns, and prostitutes, with a garish energy. He first exhibited his work in 1907 and won medals for his paintings in 1922, 1929, and 1942. A man respected within his country, Gutiérrez Solana led an isolated life in Madrid, despite his honours.

[Oil on canvas, 99 x 121 cm]

William Merritt Chase - Study of Flesh Colour and Gold [1888]

William Merritt Chase - Study of Flesh Colour and Gold [1888] , a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Here Chase applied the pastel relatively densely and with exceptional vigor, maneuvering the coloured crayon as one would a brush loaded with oil paint. In keeping with the contemporary vogue for Japonisme, Chase (like Whistler) adopted Japanese props. He tilted the picture plane and cropped the composition, devices common to Japanese prints. Like Kitagawa Utamaro, whose eighteenth-century prints were coveted by avant-garde artists at the time, Chase focused on the figure’s bare back. But he heightened the effect, to the point of its being somewhat startling, by placing the model in the extreme forefront of the composition, adding a modern sensibility to a traditional Japanese subject.

[Pastel on paper, 45.7 x 33 cm]

Joseph Mallord William Turner - Rain, Steam, and Speed - The Great Western Railway [1844]

Joseph Mallord William Turner - Rain, Steam, and Speed - The Great Western Railway [1844], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The scene is fairly certainly identifiable as Maidenhead railway bridge, across the Thames between Taplow and Maidenhead. The bridge, which was begun on Brunel's design in 1837 and finished in 1839, has two main arches of brick, very wide and flat. The view is to the east, towards London. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1844.

Turner is perhaps the best-loved English Romantic artist. He became known as 'the painter of light', because of his increasing interest in brilliant colours as the main constituent in his landscapes and seascapes. His works include water colours, oils and engravings.

[Oil on canvas, 91 x 121.8 cm]

Julio Romero de Torres - Venus of Poetry

Julio Romero de Torres - Venus of Poetry, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Julio Romero de Torres (Córdoba, November 9, 1874 - Córdoba, May 10, 1930) was a Spanish painter. He spent most of his life living in Córdoba and Madrid and both places had influences on his paintings. He combined many different styles when he painted because he had many different influences including realism, which was a popular style at that time and impressionism, which he picked up from living in Córdoba and from his father. 

[Oil on canvas]

Jan Mandijn - Burlesque Feast [c.1550]

Jan Mandijn - Burlesque Feast [c.1550], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Jan Mandijn (Haarlem, c.1500 – Antwerpen, c.1560) , was a Dutch Renaissance painter. According to Van Mander in 1604, he was the teacher of Gillis Mostaert, and he could paint funny scenes like Hieronymus Bosch.

[Oil on oak panel, 98.5 x 147 cm]

William Merritt Chase - Ring Toss [1896]

William Merritt Chase - Ring Toss [1896], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Following a spring 1896 visit with his wife and two eldest daughters to Madrid, where he copied Velázquez's Las Meninas (1656) at the Prado, Chase (American, 1849–1916) returned to Shinnecock, Long Island, in June to teach. It was possibly in response to Velázquez's magnum opus that he painted Ring Toss, portraying three of his daughters in his studio engaged in the popular parlour game. Nine-year-old Alice (Cosy) toes a chalked line on the polished hardwood floor; Koto Albertine crouches to retrieve a ring from under a rolling easel; and the youngest child, probably Dorothy, waits her turn. The informal composition, compressed space, sketch like rendering, and dispersed focus reveal Chase's appreciation of candid and trifling narrative and of the suitability of these stylistic devices to "rendering the passing incident of child life," according to a newspaper critic of the time.

[Oil on canvas, 102.6 x 89.2 cm]

Frederick Child Hassam - Promenade, Winter in New York [1895]

Promenade, Winter in New York [1895], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting was sold by Sotheby's on May 23, 2007 for US $432,000.

[Oil on canvas, 25.4 x 35.6 cm]

Charles-Melhior Descourtis - The Lover Caught Unawares [c.1790]

Charles-Melhior Descourtis - The Lover Caught Unawares [c.1790], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Charles-Melhior Descourtis (French, 1753 - 1820) was a pupil of Jean-François Janinet and, like him, specialised in the production of colour prints using aquatint and wash. From the later 1790s he engraved numerous works after Jean-Frédéric Schall, notably the series of illustrations to Bernardin de Saint-Pierre’s novel Paul et Virginie (1788).

[Coloured aquatint, 46.2 x 37 cm]

John George Brown - The Music Lesson [1870]

John George Brown - The Music Lesson [1870], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

A specialist in depicting children, Brown (American, 1831 – 1913) occasionally told tales of young womanhood. Here, a well-furnished middle-class parlour provides the setting for a courtship story in which a man instructs a woman in playing the flute. At a time of concern that marriage was losing popularity, birthrates were dropping, and women's increasing independence could upset the balance between the sexes, Brown celebrated romance and marriage by referring to music. Music making was an approved activity for courting couples, and music was a universal language for expressing feelings. Underscoring the message of a potential marriage are the planter filled with ivy, which could signify women who cling to men for support; the harp, a common symbol of love; the haloed female figure in the print on the wall; and the couple's complementary attire and shared concentration.

[Oil on canvas, 61 x 50.8 cm]

Claude-Joseph Vernet - A Sporting Contest on the Tiber in Rome [1750]

Claude-Joseph Vernet - A Sporting Contest on the Tiber in Rome [1750], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The Bridge and Castle of Sant' Angelo in Rome are in the background. The jousting contest has not been identified with any particular occasion. Portraits of Vernet and his wife are said to be included in the picture, presumably the elegantly dressed couple on the right in the foreground. In 1745 Vernet had married Carlotta Cecilia Virginia Joachina (born 1728), daughter of Mark Parker, an Irish Catholic living in Rome. Commissioned by the Marquis de Villette in 1749, and one of several pictures by Vernet which he owned. The painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1750.

[Oil on canvas, 99.1 x 135.9 cm]

William Sergeant Kendall - Psyche [1909]

William Sergeant Kendall - Psyche [1909], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

William Sergeant Kendall (Spuyten, New York, 1869 - Hot Springs, Virginia, 1938) was an American painter, most famous for his paintings of children, his subjects often being his three young daughters with his wife. His life seems inconsistent with his art as his family life was full of turmoil, due to his romantic connection with his under-aged pupil, Christine Herter, whom he married following the dissolution of his first marriage in 1921.

[Oil on canvas, 94.6 x 73.6 cm]

Charles Courtney Curran - Betty Newell [1922]

Charles Courtney Curran - Betty Newell [1922], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Charles Courtney Curran (Hartford, Kentucky, 1861 - 1942) was an American painter. He is best known for his canvases depicting beautiful women in pleasant settings. He studied one year at the Cincinnati School of Design, and began a brilliant career after moving to New York City in 1882 where he enrolled in the National Academy of Design. 

[Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 76.2 cm]

John Everett Millais - The North-West Passage [1874]

John Everett Millais - The North-West Passage [1874], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The north-west passage was the unnavigable sea route round North America which was thought to provide a passage to the East. In time, it became synonymous with failure, adversity and death, with men and ships battling against hopeless odds in a frozen wilderness. Millais (1829 – 1896) painted this picture in 1874 when another English expedition was setting off. Previous representations had explored the desolate beauty of the terrain with details such as wrecked ships to underline the futility of man’s ambition. Millais encapsulates the risks of such a voyage primarily through the old seaman, with his grim, distant look and clenched fist.

[Oil on canvas, 1765 x 2222 mm]

Albert Marie Lebourg - View of Pont-du-Chateau [1885-86]

Albert Marie Lebourg - View of Pont-du-Chateau [1885-86], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Albert Marie Lebourg (Montfort-sur-Risle, February 1, 1849 – Rouen, January 6, 1928) was a French painter. After studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts Rome, he taught drawing at Algiers from 1872-77 where he met the colourist Lyon Seignemartin Jean (1848-1875). Palsy stopped Lebourge painting in 1925. He was a member of the Academy of Sciences, Literature and Arts of Rouen. He is buried in the monumental cemetery of Rouen.

[Oil on canvas, 31 x 58 cm]

Willem Koekkoek - View of Oudewater [c.1867]

Willem Koekkoek - View of Oudewater [c.1867], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The small town of Oudewater is on the River Ijssel between Gouda and Utrecht. The clock tower to the left of centre in the distance is that of the Grote Kerk (church of St Michael). Much of the rest of the scene is probably intended to be picturesque rather than topographically accurate. This picture has been dated by comparison with other works by the artist. Koekkoek was active in Amsterdam; some of his paintings are accurate representations of that city. He was a member of a family of painters who specialised in landscapes and topographical pictures based on 17th-century models.

[Oil on canvas, 64.8 x 84.4 cm]

Henry Alexander - In the Laboratory [c.1885-87]

Henry Alexander - In the Laboratory [c.1885-87], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Henry Alexander (San Francisco, 1860 - New York City, May 15, 1894) was an American painter. He left San Francisco for New York City on April 15, 1887, in order to be at the centre of the art world, but he suffered from money troubles and alcoholism. He had a studio at 51 West Tenth Street. The other artists in the building avoided him, because he was always trying to borrow money. On May 15, 1894, his money troubles led him to commit suicide by swallowing oxalic acid in the Oriental Hotel at Broadway and Thirty-Ninth Street.

[Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 76.2 cm]

Mary Cassatt - The Boating Party [1893-94]

Mary Cassatt - The Boating Party [1893-94], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This bold composition reveals the influence of the flat, patterned surfaces, simplified colour blocks, and unusual angles of Japanese prints, which enjoyed a huge vogue in Paris in the late 1800s. The dark figure of the man compresses the picture onto the flat plane of the canvas, and the horizon is pushed to the top, flattening space in the distance. Our high vantage gives us an oblique, bird's-eye view into the boat. Its form is divided into decorative shapes by the intersection of its horizontal supports.

After 1893, Cassatt began to spend many summers on the Mediterranean coast at Antibes. Under its intense sun, she began to experiment with harder, more decorative colour. Here, citron and blue carve strong arcs that divide the picture into assertive, almost abstract, shapes. This picture, with its bold geometry and decorative patterning of the surface, positions Mary Cassatt with such post-impressionist painters as Gaugin and van Gogh.

This painting, one of her most ambitious, was the centrepiece of Cassatt's first solo exhibition in the United States, in 1895. Her contacts with wealthy friends in the United States did much to bring avant-garde French painting into America.

[Oil on canvas, 90 x 117.3 cm]

Odilon Redon - Flower Clouds [c.1903]

Odilon Redon - Flower Clouds [c.1903], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In Flower Clouds, a small skiff carries two hastily sketched passengers over a calm sea or lake. The figures seem to surrender themselves to fate, huddling together away from the rudder, relinquishing control of the vessel as they observe the spectacular effects of the setting sun against the sky. Vivid reflections of the "flower clouds" in the water below create a visual echo, blurring the boundary between illusionistic representation and abstract patterning. Redon used similar strategies in the decorative panels, screens, and tapestries that he started making at around this same time.

[Pastel, 44.5 x 54.2 cm]

Vincent van Gogh - Fishing Boats on the Beach at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Vincent van Gogh - Fishing Boats on the Beach at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on canvas, 65 x 81.5 cm]

Rembrandt - Adam and Eve [1638]

Rembrandt - Adam and Eve [1638], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Etching, 16.3 x 11.5 cm]

Hans Thoma - Adam and Eve [1897]

Hans Thoma - Adam and Eve [1897], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Hans Thoma (Bernau, October 2, 1839 - Karlsruhe, November 7, 1924) was a German painter. In spite of his studies under various masters, his art has little in common with modern ideas, and is formed partly by his early impressions of the simple idyllic life of his native district, partly by his sympathy with the early German masters, particularly with Altdorfer and Cranach. In his love of the details of nature, in his precise (though by no means faultless) drawing of outline, and in his predilection for local colouring, he has distinct affinities with the Pre-Raphaelites.

[Oil on canvas, 110 x 78.5 cm]