Thomas Lawrence - Portrait of Mrs James Fraser of Castle Fraser [c.1817]

Thomas Lawrence - Portrait of Mrs James Fraser of Castle Fraser [c.1817], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Jane Fraser is seated, looking out directly at the spectator, who sees her from a viewpoint slightly below. Her dress is in the Empire style, its high waist defined by a gold sash just below her bosom. She wears a red velvet coat with ballooning, mutton-chop sleeves and a fur-trimmed collar turned down around her shoulders to reveal a yellow silk lining. She is posed on a balcony or terrace, with one fluted pillar behind her to our right. In the distance below, Scottish lochs and mountains are seen in the moonlight, silhouetted against a dark and turbulent sky.

[Philadelphia Museum of Art - Oil on canvas, 76.5 x 63.5 cm]

Thomas Sully - Portrait of Mary Anne Heide Norris [1830]

Thomas Sully - Portrait of Mary Anne Heide Norris [1830], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Thomas Sully painted this portrait of Mary Anne Heide Norris along with a pendant portrait of her husband, William, five years after their marriage. Mrs. Norris's idealised likeness demonstrates the artist's interest in varying textures, as seen in the contrasts among her satin dress, fur stole, and porcelain skin. Set in a landscape with a dramatic sky, Mrs. Norris is sheltered by a high wall that harmoniously echoes the curvature of her figure and clothing.

[Philadelphia Museum of Art - Oil on canvas, 77 x 64.1 cm]

Edgar Degas - Sulking [c.1870]

Edgar Degas - Sulking [c.1870], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Like several of Degas' genre pictures from the late 1860s and early 1870s, this painting seems to reflect a literary or theatrical source. None has been found, yet the drama that exists between the man and woman continues to invite speculation. Are they a husband and wife, a man and his lover, a father and his daughter, a banker and his client, a woman placing bets on horse races? The ambiguity of the relationship harbours an endless fascination. 

The picture's anecdotal character is reminiscent of Victorian painting, which Degas studied in the British section of the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris. When he was working on this canvas, Degas was closely allied with James Tissot, the most Anglophilic of French artists. Degas asked the writer Edmond Duranty and the young model Emma Dobigny, who had been a favorite of Corot, Puvis, and Tissot, to pose for him. The racing print behind them is Degas's careful copy of a colour lithograph by J. F. Herring.

[Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - Oil on canvas, 32.4 x 46.4 cm]

Jacob Duck - Street Scene with Knife Grinder and Elegant Couple [c.1630-40]

Jacob Duck - Street Scene with Knife Grinder and Elegant Couple [c.1630-40], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Jacob Duck (1600 – buried Utrecht, January 1667) was a Dutch painter and etcher. Duck is thought to have been born in Utrecht. From 1611, he was trained in Utrecht to become a goldsmith, in which craft he became a master in 1619. He was primarily active in Utrecht, but between 1636 and 1646 also in Haarlem, while between 1656 and 1660 he lived in The Hague. In 1661 he returned to Utrecht, where he died and was buried at the monastery of St. Mary Magdalene.

[Los Angeles County Museum of Art - Oil on oak panel, 45.72 x 69.85 cm]

Alejo Vera y Estaca - The Burial of San Lorenzo in the Roman Catacombs [1862]

Alejo Vera y Estaca - The Burial of San Lorenzo in the Roman Catacombs [1862], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Alejo Vera y Estaca (Viñuelas, Guadalajara, July 14, 1834 - Madrid, February 4, 1923) was a Spanish painter, one of the leading representatives of naturalism. He began his art studies at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid, thanks to a grant from the Provincial de Guadalajara, and continued his training in the studio of Federico de Madrazo. He then moved to Italy, where he was seduced by the ruins of Pompeii, as seen in his later works. 

[Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid - Oil on canvas, 223.6 x 232.5 cm]

Velázquez - The Forge of Vulcan [1630]

Velázquez - The Forge of Vulcan [1630], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The painting depicts the moment when the god Apollo visits Vulcan, who is found making weapons for war. The crown of laurel on his head allows the figure to be identified as Apollo. The god Apollo tells Vulcan that his wife, Venus, is having an affair with Mars, the god of war. For this reason, the other figures in the room are looking in surprise at the god who has just appeared before them, some of them even opening their mouths to indicate surprise.

[Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid - Oil on canvas, 223 x 290 cm]

Edgar Degas - Three Dancers Preparing for Class [after 1878]

Edgar Degas - Three Dancers Preparing for Class [after 1878], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The seated dancer in this pastel was derived from a study dated December 1878 of the fifteen-year-old Melina Darde. That drawing and those which explored the poses of the two dancers in the foreground belonged to a stock of figure drawings that Degas used for his larger compositions. There is another variant of this pastel also of the mid-1880s (Private collection).

[Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - Pastel on buff-coloured wove paper, 54.6 x 52.1 cm]