The Immortality of Early Modern Art

Random Art Facts
Maybe I am going a little off topic here, but I love early modern art....and I am intent on proving to you why you should love it too.
Early Modern = (1450-1800)

Almost all of these types of paintings have hidden symbols which when you recognize uncovers a different story.

Those paintings also capture a moment in time. Like a camera taking a picture of a child, that child may never be ten again and that time of childhood bliss may never be captured again. This moment by a camera or a painting has become something of fragile immortal purity.

Here's some examples:

This woman on the left was Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly in 1526. She was to be never in such extravagance again in her life. 

This is a picture of the peak of her wealth. In the 16th century wealth is wearing gold, a valuable metal, and fur. She was the mistress of the King Francois and was using her high status to elevate her family's position at court.

But then the king died, and the new King Henri and his mistress, Diane, came along. She was 'humiliated in ever way' by Diane and dismissed from the graciousness of the king's court. She was to die unknown and forgotten.

• Vermeer's work on the right is a classic example of symbols in early modern art.

This woman is standing on 'earth' and looking at a crystal ball symbolizing heaven. Underneath her is the apple of original sin and near it a snake. A snake is commonly a symbol of Satan. Thus this serpent Satan is struck down by the cornerstone of the church, Christ. Most Catholics in the Netherlands at the time when Vermeer lived had to pray in their home. Or those Catholics had to face the wrath of the then Protestant Netherlands.

Sources:

'Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly' in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 7

   http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35398/35398-h/35398-h.htm. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I have looked on the Met Museum website and they have fantastic paintings in the public domain so I have drawn my examples from there.

Check out

Renaissance Art (Beginner's Guides) by 

Tom Nichols 

Click on the the picture and surf the world of renaissance.

It's Late Portrait Lives Wednesday! Starring Marie Antoinette: Part 1

Marie Antoinette is the most famous person of the French Revolution. As many people know she didn't survive it.  She was to the French people of her time the image and icon of unfair extravagance as some poor french people starved. The media showed her as a sickly evil harpy in newspaper pamphlets, a queen who would stoop so low as to having lesbian relationships with her ladies-in-waiting, when the truth was nothing of the kind. The truth was that the press can cause horrible things to happen to innocent people, even Marie Antoinette, a high-status French Queen who was imprisoned by her people and executed by the guillotine.

aged just a few months old

aged  about 5

aged 7

aged about 12

aged about 14

aged about 17 by Drouais

Marie, Queen of France without a crown at aged about 18

mid twenties by Gautier-Dagoty 

I thought I could do this in one post but I can't 

so stay tuned for the last part tomorrow!

I know you can't wait and are disappointed.

But here a short video about her that will make up:

and Check out

To the Scaffold: The Life of Marie Antoinette

Click on the image or go to the Scaffold!

Portrait Lives: Rembrandt

The original Dutch master, Rembrandt brought art to a new level that characterized the 17th century. He had a style of his own, shown by many as the greatest artist of his own century.
Naturally he influenced many other artists, and accumulated a well sized amount of self-portraits.  Here are his self portraits for his portrait lives:

abt. 22

kinda hot at abt. 24

abt. 30

How did he get so young? at abt. 33

abt.53

abt. 42

abt. 46

abt. 63

Circles are his friends, his early sixties

He died on October 6, 1669 at 63. Sadly he had seen the death of his son and mistress shortly before.

Sources:

http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/index.htm

For more learning about Rembrandt, look at this book; 

5 Stars! Highly Recommended!

Rembrandt's Eyes by Simon Sihama

Click on the Image. Come on, do it.

Oh, and also I have became an Amazon Affiliate. 

I can't run on Cheetos. I have to run on money. This does not mean I eat money.

Portrait Lives: Madame de Pompadour

Madame was a different kind a mistress of the king. She was a woman of humble origins, but by King Louis XV she was made something else; ennobled by the name Marquise de Pompadour and his mistress. She influenced the king immensely, and influenced the politics of 18th century France. Many artists were encouraged by her, in fact the king is reported saying "I don't have enough room in my Castle for everybody."
For 20 years she was influencing France when she died of tuberculous at 43. She did many things in her life; she was credited with the loss of Canada by the French.

They are no pictures I can find of her in her early life so I will start in her mid twenties.

As Diana, abt 25 by Nattier

abt. 31 by de la Tour

abr. 34 by Charles Andre van Loo

abt.35 by Boucher

abt.37 by Boucher

Writing with a Dog at abt. 43 by Drouais

Sources:
www.madamedepompadour.com: a great source for information about her, this is where the Louis XV's quote is from
The Houghton-Mufflin Dictionary of Biography, 2003: Pompadour, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de,

Portrait Lives #3: Charles II

Charles was a very interesting monarch, enjoying a life full of adventures. He was born in 1630, and lived an early life of royalty. Then after his father, Charles I was executed by Parliament and kings were banned, he was on the run. He ran to other countries as well as traveling throughout England in a series of disguises because there was a 1,000 pound prince price on his head.
Kings were eventually restored in England as you might know. Charles II was crowned king at 30 years old in May 1660. He allowed women to act, resisted against Titus Oates (the best name ever) who thought Catholics were plotting conspiracies in England. He was actually was presented with the first pineapple in England, which I suppose he ate gleefully. He had tons of mistresses, one he liked to call 'Fubbs'.

2. Charles with a gun aged abt. 8 by van Dyck 

1. On the far left, Charles II is gold, aged 6 by
Anthony van Dyck

3. Charles with a sword aged about 14
by William Dobson

4. Hot Charles aged about 23
by Phillipe de Champaigne

5. Rich Charles aged about 31
by John Michael Wright

7. Charles chillin' aged 45 by Peter Lely 

6. Charles has fashion and shoes
aged about 40 by Peter Lely 

8. Old but still masuline Charles, aged 50 by Peter Lely

9. Dusty Charles aged 53 by Willem Wissing

He died at about 55 years old on 1685. The Earl of Rochester jokingly said that the King's epitaph should read:

Here lies our sovereign lord, the king,
Whose word no man relies on,
Who never said a foolish thing,
And never did a wise one. 

Sources:
Quote from Hoyt's New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotation by Kate Louise Roberts, page 685: http://books.google.com/books?id=vusHEymIuvwC&dq=We+have+a+pretty+witty+king,+Whose+word+no+man+relies+on%3B+He+never+said+a+foolish+thing,+Nor+ever+did+a+wise+one&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Charles II: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CharlesII, a really good site that is kinda of like Wikipedia but more flexible.
May 28th: http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/may/29.htm
Fun Trivia: Charles II: http://www.funtrivia.com/en/people/charles-ii-8764.html
Charles II: http://instruct.uwo.ca/english/234e/site/bckgrnds/biogrphs/charlesii.html
Horrible Histories

Check out 

King Charles II by Antionia Fraser

Click the picture, what's the worst that could happen?

Mary Hamilton, Criminal, Mistress, and Seducer

Mary Hamilton awaiting execution by
Pavel Svedomskiy

Mary was a beautiful young woman, who became the mistress of Peter the Great. She took much pride in Peter, an emperor's attention. Except when Peter turned his love to someone else, she wanted for somebody to replace it. She seduced his servant, Ivan Orlov. She became pregnant by him and went on to drown the boy soon after his birth. Maybe love made her crazy, but in that case it also made her commit infanticide.

Ivan took a different mistress. Mary gave him some expensive jewels to win him back...which Mary stole from the empress.
It was soon found out that she had stolen from the empress and killed her child, and she wouldn't get away easy.

Mary was sentenced to death.

Emperor Peter

Her execution was like a play, in that the emperor was a conductor. Peter told her to wear a white gown there he embraced Mary before she walked up the steps of the scaffold and when she was to be beheaded he had told her to pray.
When she had died, Peter lifted her decapitated head and kissed it.  He preceded tell the audience about the head's anatomy, even pointing out the veins and muscles. He couldn't be any calmer.

Sources:
Red Pages of Tsardom by Edgar Wallace: http://freeread.com.au/@RGLibrary/EdgarWallace/NonFiction/RedPagesFromTsardom.html; it is a very interesting source.
Murder Pedia; Mary Hamiliton: http://murderpedia.org/female.H/h/hamilton-mary.htm; they also have other murderers on there. 

Check out 

Peter the Great: His Life and World

and don't murder anyone because that would be bad and clicking on this link wouldn't be.