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Hieronymus Bosch: Ecce Homo (Städel)
This early work showing a key scene from Christ’s Passion is beautifully composed and rich in relevant detail. The Artist: Hieronymus Bosch (c 1450–1516) The Painting: Ecce Homo (catalogue raisonné no....
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The Story in Paintings: Apelles, the oldest Master of all
The arts have a tendency to become reflexive, expressing themselves about their art. Writers quite often write about writers, and many movies are about movies and their making (some of the best, too)....
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Into the Light: Colin Campbell Cooper, 1 the sky’s the limit
Colin Campbell Cooper (1856–1937) was the right painter in the right place at the right time. An Impressionist with extensive training and experience painting in Europe, he was working in New York at...
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Into the Light: Colin Campbell Cooper, 2 the colour of beauty
The previous article showed paintings from the early decades of the career of the American Impressionist and master of skyscrapers, Colin Campbell Cooper (1856–1937). In April 1912, he crossed the...
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Hieronymus Bosch: Saint Jerome at Prayer (Ghent)
This early painting of Bosch’s name saint is strikingly original, with details which are becoming increasingly sinister and idiosyncratic. The Artist: Hieronymus Bosch (c 1450–1516) The Painting: Saint...
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Into the Light: Henry Ossawa Tanner, to 1902
In his day, Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937) was a truly international artist. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and trained in Philadelphia, he worked for the most of his long career in France, where...
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Hieronymus Bosch: an Index to articles
Articles in celebration of Bosch’s 500th anniversary in August 2016: Paintings Hieronymus Bosch (c 1450–1516), The Adoration of the Magi (c 1470-80), oil and gold on oak panel, 71.1 x 56.7 cm, The...
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Into the Light: Henry Ossawa Tanner, from 1903
In the previous article, I showed a selection of paintings by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937) and traced his career to 1902. At that stage, he was established in Paris as a successful...
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Hieronymus Bosch: Saint John the Baptist (Madrid)
A very unusual and original portrait of John the Baptist in the wilderness, which was originally part of an altarpiece. This is the first painting in which Bosch’s idiosyncratic plants play a major...
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Hieronymus Bosch: Saint John on Patmos, Passion Scenes
A finely painted portrait of John of Patmos in a landscape, which was originally part of an altarpiece, with a reverse side showing scenes from the Passion of Christ. This is the earliest painting to...
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The Story in Paintings: Story circles
When I was writing yesterday’s article about Bosch’s Passion Scenes (c 1490-95), it struck me how unusual it was to see a painting by a master in which multiple scenes from a narrative were arranged in...
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Into the Light: Anna Hills and California light
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw the rise of landscape as a genre, painting en plein air rather than predominantly in the studio, and the arrival of many more professional women artists. Anna...
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Summerfest 2016: the Summer Artisanal Software Festival
Artisanal software is like artisanal bread: finely crafted to appeal to your taste, only the software lasts much longer! To quote Mark Bernstein of Eastgate Systems: These are tools with attitude and...
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Hieronymus Bosch: The Crowning with Thorns (London)
An unusual close-cropped devotional painting featuring Christ with four soldiers placing the crown of thorns on his head, forming a masterly study of faces and hands. The Artist: Hieronymus Bosch (c...
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Hieronymus Bosch: Calvary with Donor
A fairly standard devotional painting of Christ crucified, set in a sparse landscape. The Artist: Hieronymus Bosch (c 1450–1516) The Painting: Calvary with Donor (catalogue raisonné no. 15) Dates: c...
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Into the Light: Friedrich Eckenfelder on the farm
Relatively little has been written about painting in Germany during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Far from being stolid or backward, it saw as much change as that in France, and...
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Words or movies for telling stories
It’s never easy to know whether senior executives of multi-national corporations tell you what they really think, or whether they tell you what they want you to think. But whichever it is, it seems...
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A painter’s journey by train
It is hard now for us to imagine just how much changed with the advent of the railway. Transport had been slowly improving, and the Industrial Revolution had coped remarkably well with natural...
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Colour and computers for the non-pro: 2
In the first article in this series, I showed why colour management is important, how colour perception is complicated, and explained how OS X deals with colour. I ended by stating the problem which...
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Into the Light: Alfred Stevens, more than just a pretty face?
Hugely successful in his day, Alfred Stevens (1823–1906) is another nineteenth century painter who has quickly been forgotten. In his case, his commercial success was built largely on his lucrative...
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