Tag Archives: Rubens

Bowie – Tintoretto – Rubens

David Bowie loved museums throughout his life and would lend works from his own collection to them so it is quite appropriate that the European collector who purchased this Tintoretto announced that he was going to place it on a long-term loan to a Belgian museum.

Jacopo Robusti, called Jacopo Tintoretto and Studio Venice 1518 - 1594 The Angel foretelling Saint Catherine of Alexandria of her martyrdom oil on canvas with an arched top, relined as a rectangle 177.1 by 99.3cm.; 69¾ by 39¼in. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Tim Whitby/ Getty Images for Sotheby's)

Jacopo Robusti, called Jacopo Tintoretto and Studio
Venice 1518 – 1594
The Angel foretelling Saint Catherine of Alexandria of her martyrdom
oil on canvas with an arched top, relined as a rectangle
177.1 by 99.3cm.; 69¾ by 39¼in.
(Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Tim Whitby/ Getty Images for Sotheby’s)

This striking work by Tintoretto and his Studio had belonged to Bowie for nearly thirty years and soon St Catherine of Alexandria being warned by an angel of her martyrdom will be on display in the Rubenshuis in Antwerp from Spring 2017. As many of you know Rubens was greatly influenced by Tintoretto and Venetian art and so the painting will have a good home.

http://www.sothebys.com

http://www.rubenshuis.be

Rubens and His Legacy

Rubens and His Legacy: Van Dyck to Cézanne, Main Galleries, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1, until 10th April 2015    

Peter Paul Rubens The Triumph of Henri IV, 1630 Oil on panel, 49.5 x 83.5 cm Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.187) Photo c. 2013. Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Art Resource / Scala, Florence

Peter Paul Rubens
The Triumph of Henri IV, 1630
Oil on panel, 49.5 x 83.5 cm
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.187)
Photo c. 2013. Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Art Resource / Scala, Florence

For anyone intending to visit this glorious exhibition the keyword is legacy.

Jean-Antoine Watteau La Surprise: A Couple Embracing While a Figure Dressed as mezzetin Tunes a Guitar, 1718-19 Oil on panel, 36.3 x 28.2 cm Private Collection Photo: Private Collection

Jean-Antoine Watteau
La Surprise: A Couple Embracing While a Figure Dressed as mezzetin Tunes a Guitar, 1718-19
Oil on panel, 36.3 x 28.2 cm
Private Collection
Photo: Private Collection

Rubens was a highly accomplished artist whose works cover many themes – Poetry, Elegance, Power, Lust, Compassion and Violence and while this exhibition offers fine examples of the master’s hand on these subjects it concentrates on successive generations and schools of artists whose works were inspired and influenced by him. Thus you will encounter Turner and Constable, Watteau and Fragonard, Delacroix and Cézanne and many other artists along the way.

Peter Paul Rubens Pan and Syrinx, 1617 Oil on panel, 40 x 61 cm Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Gemaeldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel Photo: Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Gemaeldegalerie Alte Meister/Ute Brunzel

Peter Paul Rubens
Pan and Syrinx, 1617
Oil on panel, 40 x 61 cm
Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Gemaeldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel
Photo: Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Gemaeldegalerie Alte Meister/Ute Brunzel

As the exhibitions curator, Dr Nico Van Hout, says, “It is no coincidence that Delacroix, Vigée-Lebrun, Reynolds and Renoir devoted fascinating discourses, journal entries and letters on the virtuosity and confidence of Rubens’ brushwork, as many artists were trained by seriously studying his altarpieces, allegories, portraits and landscapes. Each artist focused on different aspects of his oeuvre and the works in this exhibition show the great variety of this impact: they include exact copies, creative copies, pastiches and quotations to works that only echo Rubens’ style. Only the best artists were able to translate Rubens’ visual language into a personal idiom and we are delighted to bring together such a rich selection of works to showcase the ongoing strength of Rubens’ legacy throughout the past three centuries.”

Paul Cezanne Three Bathers, c. 1875 Oil on canvas, 30.5 x 33 cm Private Collection Photo: Ali Elai, Camerarts

Paul Cezanne
Three Bathers, c. 1875
Oil on canvas, 30.5 x 33 cm
Private Collection
Photo: Ali Elai, Camerarts

One could suggest that perhaps a few more works by Rubens would have been better or wonder why some of the pictures were chosen as being influenced by him but in the end it does not really matter for the aim of showing how great the legacy of Rubens is addressed with verve and success.

Eugene Delacroix Crucifixion, 1846 Oil on panel, 37 x 25 cm Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam/Photographer: Studio Tromp, Rotterdam

Eugene Delacroix
Crucifixion, 1846
Oil on panel, 37 x 25 cm
Museum Boijmans van Beuningen
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam/Photographer: Studio Tromp, Rotterdam

www.royalacademy.org.uk

Peter Paul Rubens Tiger, Lion and Leopard Hunt, 1616 Oil on canvas, 256 x 324.5 cm Rennes, Musee des Beaux Arts Photo c. MBA, Rennes, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Adelaide Beaudoin

Peter Paul Rubens
Tiger, Lion and Leopard Hunt, 1616
Oil on canvas, 256 x 324.5 cm
Rennes, Musee des Beaux Arts
Photo c. MBA, Rennes, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Adelaide Beaudoin

The Wallace Collection

The Great Gallery Reopened!

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Do you know that feeling you can get when you see something that so impresses you that you actually have to go back to see it again? Well that is what happened with me and the re-opening of the Great Gallery at the Wallace Collection and believe me it is looking fantastic.

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The new ceiling which once again allows natural light in is a huge bonus, evoking Sir Richard Wallace’s days. He had the original gallery added between 1872-5 to house his collection which he was bringing over from Paris.

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The famous art historian Sir Kenneth Clark described it as “the greatest picture gallery in Europe” and it certainly deserves that appellation. The new hang emphasizes the creative dialogue between the major 17th century centres of artistic endeavor; Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and France. Among the familiar treasures on show are the widely known and loved works – Hals’ The Laughing Cavalier, Rubens’ The Rainbow Landscape, Poussin’s A Dance to the Music of Time and Velázquez’ The Lady with a Fan.

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The striking new crimson silk damask on the walls reflects the way 19th century collectors displayed their paintings while the new decorative wainscot panelling captures the spirit of the 18th century as arranged against it is some of the Collection’s superb Boulle furniture. Indeed the noted collector the Marquis de Marigny (Madame de Pompadour’s brother) said that the best way to display Boulle furniture was against white and gold panelling and he is certainly proved right in this gallery. By the 1770s it had become fashionable in France to place Boulle pieces in the same rooms as Old Masters.

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So following the two year refurbishment, thanks to the generous support of the Monuments Trust who made it possible, the 18th, 19th and 21st centuries have come together in a glorious symphony of art. I did wonder looking at the portrait of George IV what he would think were he able to visit the gallery and I could imagine that on leaving he would call his architects and ask them to create as great a room for him at Buckingham Palace!

http://www.wallacecollection.org

all images are copyright