Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville - The Spy [1880]

Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville - The Spy [1880], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The Spy was exhibited at the Salon of 1881 where it was titled The Dispatch Bearer. As de Neuville (French, Saint-Omer, 1835 - Paris, 1885) explained in the exhibition catalogue, this painting depicts an incident from the Franco-Prussian War, 1870–71. A French soldier, disguised as a peasant, was caught during an attempt to pass through the German lines surrounding the French city of Metz. He knew that when the German officers finished their search and interrogation he would be shot. Metz capitulated after a fifty-four day siege, and after the war the city was ceded to the Germans. 

The present painting, extolling the courage and bravery of the captured Frenchman, is an example of the numerous paintings with patriotic and nationalistic themes that appeared in the Salons during the seventies and eighties. As one critic wrote, "This dark haired man with his fine proud features, and strong agile body, and solid lively elegance, this man carries in his face the authentic mark of the race. Who could fail to recognise in him a son of France?"

[Oil on canvas, 130.2 x 213.4 cm]

Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson - Madame Jacques-Louis-Étienne Reizet [1823]

Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson - Madame Jacques-Louis-Étienne Reizet [1823], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Returning to France after his years of study in Italy, Girodet (French, 1767 - 1824) broke with his master, Jacques-Louis David, to create a personal style that treated fanciful subjects with imaginative pictorial effects. In portraiture, however, Girodet remained true to the precepts he had learned in David's studio. 

Madame Reizet's husband was a prominent government official, and their son, Marie-Frédéric de Reiset, was curator of drawings and, later, of paintings at the Musée du Louvre. He ended his career as director of the French National Museums. Until recently, this canvas remained with the family. It is remarkably well preserved.

[Oil on canvas, 60.3 x 49.5 cm]

Abraham Solomon - Not Guilty [1859]

Abraham Solomon - Not Guilty [1859], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on canvas, 25 x 35 inches]

Abraham Solomon - Waiting for the Verdict [1859]

Abraham Solomon - Waiting for the Verdict [1859], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Abraham Solomon, the son of a hat manufacturer, was born in Bishopsgate, London, in August 1823. His father, Michael Solomon, was the first Jewish person to be admitted to the freedom of the city of London. Abraham Solomon continued to be a popular artist until his death from heart disease in 1862. His brother and sister were also artists. Rebecca Solomon exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1851 and 1875. She died in 1886 after been knocked down by a Hanson cab in the Euston Road. Simeon Solomon had considerable success as an artist until he was arrested and convicted of buggery in 1873. Excluded from society, he became an alcoholic and spent the last twenty-one years of his life in St. Giles Workhouse before his death from "bronchitis and alcoholism" in 1905.

[Oil on canvas, 25 x 35 inches]

Vincent van Gogh - The Yellow House [1888]

Vincent van Gogh - The Yellow House [1888], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In May 1888, Van Gogh rented four rooms on the right-hand side of a house on the Place Lamartine in Arles. His living quarters were the ones with the green shutters. His bedroom lay beyond. Vincent had finally found a place where he could not only paint but also welcome his friends. His goal was to establish a Studio of the South, where he and like-minded artists could work together.

Just as he did in Nuenen and Paris, Van Gogh here depicts his own surroundings. To the left we see the restaurant where he usually took his meals. His friend, the postman Joseph Roulin, lived to the right, behind the first railroad bridge.The view is also an exploration of colour contrast: “What a powerful sight, those yellow houses in the sun and then the unforgettable clarity of the blue [sky],” he wrote to Theo in the letter that accompanied a drawing he had made after the painting.[Oil on canvas, 72 x 91.5 cm]

Wilhelm Bendz - A Young Artist (Ditlev Blunck) Examining a Sketch in a Mirror [1826]

Wilhelm Bendz - A Young Artist (Ditlev Blunck) Examining a Sketch in a Mirror [1826], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

A young artist is taking a break from his work, holding up a study in front of a mirror to see how the composition would look in reverse. The picture gives an impression of how the painters of the time saw themselves: As serious, self-aware artists. The particular painter in this picture is standing in a crowded room surrounded by his tools and paraphernalia: a paintbox, palette, and easel as well as a skull and a sketchbook suggesting that careful studies precede the final painting. A zigzagging motion leads up through the lower half of the picture to the painting held in the artist’s hands. Only the back of the painting is shown directly, with the front seen only in the mirror. This alludes to the era’s view of art as a mirror held up to life.

Wilhelm Bendz (1804 - 1828) was keenly interested in the new role emerging for artists in the early 19th century; they were no longer regarded as specialist craftsmen, but as intellectual workers, as artists in the modern sense. In the 1820s, he painted a number of pictures of artists at work. The artist in this picture is Bendz’s fellow student Ditlev Blunck engaged in painting a portrait of Jørgen Sonne, a painter of battle scenes.

Anders Zorn - Portrait of Franz Heiss [1902]

Anders Zorn - Portrait of Franz Heiss [1902], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on canvas, 81 x 61.5 cm]