Stanislas-Victor-Edmond Lépine - Nuns and Schoolgirls in the Tuileries Gardens, Paris [1871-83]

Stanislas-Victor-Edmond Lépine - Nuns and Schoolgirls in the Tuileries Gardens, Paris [1871-83], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

In the foreground a nun and a schoolgirl swing a skipping rope for a group of girls, whilst others in the background come to join them. Through the trees can be seen the shell of the Tuileries palace as it appeared after being burnt down during the Commune or siege in 1871. The ruins were eventually demolished between December 4, 1882 and September 30, 1883. Lépine (1835 – 1892) is said to have been a pupil of Corot. He painted mostly landscapes. He exhibited in the Paris Salon from 1859.

[Oil on wood, 15.7 x 23.7 cm]

Lorenzo Lotto - Portrait of Giovanni della Volta with his Wife and Children [1538-47]

Lorenzo Lotto - Portrait of Giovanni della Volta with his Wife and Children [1538-47], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

This is probably a portrait of the Venetian merchant, Giovanni della Volta and his family described in Lotto's account book between 1538 and 1547. No other portrait of a man, woman and two children by Lotto is known. The action is focused on the bowl of cherries on the table. The mother offers cherries to her daughter, while the father offers them to his son, who seems to dance before him in the foreground. The table with its elaborately patterned Turkish carpet is central to the painting. This is of a type frequently represented by Lotto (hence known as a 'Lotto carpet') and has yellow arabesques on a red field, and a Kufic border.

[Oil on canvas, 104.5 x 138 cm]

Greta Gerell - Self-Portrait in Paris [1930]

Greta Gerell - Self-Portrait in Paris [1930], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Greta Gerell (1898 – 1982) was a Swedish painter.

[Oil on canvas, 62 x 50 cm]

Lord Frederic Leighton - An Artist Sketching in the Cloister of Saint Gregorio, Venice

Lord Frederic Leighton - An Artist Sketching in the Cloister of Saint Gregorio, Venice, originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Frederic, Baron Leighton of Stretton was a great admirer of Italian Renaissance painting and showed, for his time, an advanced appreciation of the early Italian painters. He drew heavily on 15th and 16th century sources in working on Cimabue's celebrated Madonna. The vivid landscape oil sketches which Leighton made during much of his career, but rarely exhibited, are less well known than his large-scale figure paintings.

Lucien Simon - Bretons [c.1907]

Lucien Simon - Bretons [c.1907], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Lucien Simon (1861 – 1945) was a French painter and teacher born in Paris. In 1891 he married the Jeanne Dauchez, the sister of Andre Dauchez (1870–1948) and became infatuated with the scenery and peasant life of her native Brittany.

[Oil on canvas, 35 x 47 cm]

Olivier van Deuren - A Young Astronomer [c.1685]

Olivier van Deuren - A Young Astronomer [c.1685], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

The young astronomer holds a celestial globe with constellations shown in the form of animals. Among those visible are some of the northern and zodiacal constellations: at the top, Draco; on the left, Ursa Major and, below it, Leo; on the right, beneath the encircling brass ring, Bubuleus. The stand for the globe is on the right, and a quadrant is in the foreground. 

Olivier van Deuren (1666 - 1714) was born in Rotterdam, where he lived and worked. He served as an officer in the painters' guild on a number of occasions. Very few works by him are known today.

[Oil on oak, 15.3 x 12.7 cm]

Gerard Dou - An Astronomer [c.1628]

Gerard Dou - An Astronomer [c.1628], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Gerrit Dou (April 7, 1613 – February 9, 1675) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for his "niche" paintings and candlelit night-scenes with strong chiaroscuro. At a comparatively early point in his career he had formed a manner of his own distinct from, and indeed in some respects antagonistic to, that of his masters. Gifted with unusual clearness of vision and precision of manipulation, he cultivated a minute and elaborate style of treatment; and probably few painters ever spent more time and pains on all the details of their pictures down to the most trivial. He is said to have spent five days painting a hand; and his work was so fine that he found it necessary to manufacture his own brushes.

[Oil on panel, 38.5 x 31 cm]