Charles Sheeler - American Landscape [1930]

Charles Sheeler - American Landscape [1930], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on canvas, 61 x 78.8 cm]

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot - The Seine Landscape Near Chatou [1855]

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot - The Seine Landscape Near Chatou [1855], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In contrast to the powerful realism of light that characterised the first half of his oeuvre, after 1850 much of Corot’s work was devoted to dream-like depictions of atmospheric evenings with water reflecting mild light and subtle transitions from silver-grey to green. Even when particular places are portrayed, Chatou is not far from the painter’s parental home in Ville-d’Avray, Corot still interpreted these, as he himself said, “as much with my heart as with my eyes.”

[Oil on canvas, 37 x 64 cm]

Claude Monet - The Seine at Rouen [1872]

Claude Monet - The Seine at Rouen [1872], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Here, Monet was concerned less to have his sailboats stand out sharply against the water's smooth surface, than, as they emerge from the leaves of the background trees, to fit them into the general structure of verticals and horizontals. Despite the widespread view that the Impressionists and their leader, Monet, gave little thought to the structure of their landscapes, while concentrating on fleeting impressions, This painting is notable for its truly "constructive" composition. The shadowed foreground supports the overall impression of a joyful sunny day, with its casual play of light and shadow; the sun's rays, penetrating the foliage, trace intricate designs on the shore that simultaneously echo and contrast with the reflections on the water.

[Oil on canvas, 54 x 65.5 cm]

Pietro Paolini - Allegory of the Five Senses [c.1630]

Pietro Paolini - Allegory of the Five Seasons [c.1630], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

At first glance, this is simply a scene in a darkened inn frequented by the poor and down-and-out. Embedding a classical allegory (a symbolic image) in such a subject makes it especially intriguing. Each person acts out one of the five senses: sound is represented by the woman with a lute, at center; taste, by the man emptying a flask of wine; smell, by the young man with a melon; sight, by the man on the right holding a pair of spectacles; and touch, by the two people who are fighting. Paolini's allegory dates from his early years in Rome, where he studied the paintings of Caravaggio (1571-1610), known for their realism and strong chiaroscuro (modeling in light and shade).

[Oil on canvas, 125.1 x 173 cm]

William Merritt Chase - Alice in the Shinnecock Studio [c.1900]

William Merritt Chase - Alice in the Shinnecock Studio [c.1900], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

William Merritt Chase (1849 – 1916) was an American painter. In 1878 he began his long career as an influential teacher at the Art Students League of New York and later established his own summer school of landscape painting in the Shinnecock Hills on Long Island. Proficient in many media, Chase is best known for his spirited portraits and still lifes in oil. 

[Oil on canvas, 96.84 x 108.59 cm]

George Wesley Bellows - A Morning Snow, Hudson River [1910]

George Wesley Bellows - A Morning Snow, Hudson River [1910], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Assured, slashing strokes of a heavily loaded brush capture the effects of morning light reflected from freshly fallen snow. This view of the Hudson River and New Jersey from Manhattan's Upper West Side - showing a man shovelling snow, people going to work, boats plying the river, and smoke and steam interrupting the still, crisp atmosphere transmits a sense of the city's awakening energies. The content signals the artist's affinity for the art of the New York Realists, especially Robert Henri, yet more than many of his contemporaries. Bellows constructed his composition to exploit its abstract potential: the elevated vantage point flattens the pictorial space, which is then ordered by a subtle system of horizontal and vertical elements.

[Oil on canvas, 114.62 cm x 160.66 cm]

Jan van Huchtenburgh - A Battle [c.1680]

Jan van Huchtenburgh - A Battle [c.1680], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This is probably not intended to represent a specific battle but belongs to a category of paintings based on the French campaigns in the Netherlands in the 1670s. It has been attributed to van Huchtenburgh on the basis of a stylistic comparison with signed works, for example the Cavalry Attack (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum).

Huchtenburg was born in Haarlem, and probably trained by Thomas Wijck. From 1667 he worked in the Gobelins factory under van der Meulen. Later he was active in Haarlem, Amsterdam (where he died) and also The Hague. He was a painter of battle scenes.

[Oil on canvas, stuck onto an oak panel, 42.8 x 58.3 cm]