Saturday, June 30, 2018

Paintings on Ivory (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm)

Carl Gustaf Klingstedt
Miniature painting of Satyr, Maenad and two Fauns
1713
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Carl Plötz after Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein-Stub
Cabinet miniature of Ossian and the Son of Alphin
listening to the Spirit of Malvin

ca. 1816
gouache on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Directly above, one of the innumerable illustrations made across Europe in the late 18th and early 19th century for the cycle of epic poems supposedly written in Gaelic in the 3rd century by a bard known as Ossian.  These were first published in an English "translation" by the Scottish poet James Macpherson (1736-1796), and were in fact composed by him, as many contemporary critics suspected from the outset.  The controversy over the authenticity of the Ossian poems raged on in print over the course of several decades, until the fashion for romantic antiquarianism itself began to expire. 

Son of noble Fingal, Ossian,
Prince of men! what tears run down 
the cheeks of age? what shades thy
mighty soul?

Memory, son of Alphin, memory
wounds the aged. Of former times
are my thoughts; my thoughts are of the 
noble Fingal. The race of the king return
into my mind, and wound me with
remembrance. 

Robert Thorburn
Miniature portrait of Mrs Georgina Maria Grenfell
before 1885
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Giovanni Domenico Bossi
Miniature portrait of Colonel Georg Skjöldebrand
and his sister Maria Elisabeth

before 1816
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Giovanni Domenico Bossi
Miniature portrait of Lieutenant-General Carl von Cardell
1797
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Giovanni Domenico Bossi
Miniature portrait of Frederica Charlotta Stenbock
1799
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Giovanni Domenico Bossi
Miniature portrait of Count Carl Henrik Posse
1799
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Thomas Frye
Miniature portrait of unknown man
before 1762
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

John Engleheart
Miniature portrait of unknown woman
in Renaissance costume

before 1828
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

John Bogle
Miniature portrait of unknown man
1775
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

"The miniature was one of the first portrait forms to be coveted by the bourgeoisie for the expression of its new cult of individualism.  In dealing with this new clientele, the portrait painter faced a double task:  he must imitate the style of the court painters, and bring down his prices. "Portrait painting in France at the time of Louis XV and Louis XVI is characterized by a tendency to falsify, to idealize each face, even that of the shopkeeper, in order to have him resemble the exemplary human type: the prince."  Easily adapted to its new clientele, the miniature became one of the most successful minor arts.  A miniaturist could support himself by turning out thirty to fifty portraits a year and selling them at moderate prices.  But even though it was popular among the middle classes for a time, it still retained its aristocratic elements, and eventually, as the middle classes became more secure, it died out.  By 1850, when the bourgeoisie had become firmly established, the miniature portrait had all but disappeared, and photography deprived the last of the miniaturists of their livelihood."

– Gisèle Freund, from Photography & Society (1970)

Henri Benner
Miniature portrait of Charlotte Margarete von Liewen
1821
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Frederick Cruikshank
Miniature portrait of Elizabeth Evans
1826
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Ozias Humphry
Miniature portrait of British officer in India
1786
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Nathaniel Hone
Miniature Self-portrait
1763
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Miniature Portraits on Ivory (Enlightenment and After)

Niclas Lafrensen
Miniature portrait of Carl Erik Wadenstierna
before 1787
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

attributed to Lié Louis Périn-Salbreux
Miniature portrait of artist Alexander Roslin
ca. 1780
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Samuel Shelley
Miniature portrait of unknown child
1782
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

William Grimaldi
Miniature portrait of Sir Harbord Harbord, 
1st Baron Suffield
ca. 1780-90
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Enlightenment

I wish we could take a statistic with more grace, beloved
I wish it would circle out in our minds to the very brim,
And we could be illumined by data one by one, as by candles,
As by the cheerful faces of cherubim.

But see, we respond only to archangelic doctrine,
Look up and glow at the actual pronouncement of grace,
Swallow at once all the high powered radiance,
And let the commandments shine upon the face.

This is a tremendous lot of revelation we gather,
Beloved, and beam at it in the proper spirit,
Nevertheless, I wish we had one or two facts to go by,
And a less arc-lighted kingdom to inherit.

– Josephine Miles (1939)

Jacques-Antoine-Marie Lemoine
Miniature portrait of the artist's wife, 
Agathe-Françoise Bonvallet
1793
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm


Jacob Axel Gillberg
Miniature portrait of unknown man
ca. 1795
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Charles-Joseph de La Celle
Miniature portrait of Sophie Piper
1799
gouache on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Pierre-Louis Bouvier
Miniature Self-portrait
1791
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

from The French Revolution as it appeared to Enthusiasts at its Commencement

Oh! pleasant exercise of hope and joy!
For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood
Upon our side, we who were strong in love!
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven! – Oh! times,
In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways
Of custom, law, and statute, took at once
The attraction of a country in romance!
When Reason seemed the most to assert her rights,
When most intent on making of herself
A prime Enchantress – to assist the work
Which then was going forward in her name!

– William Wordsworth, published in The Prelude (1809)

Andreas Thornborg
Miniature of Juliane Marie of Braunschweiz-Wolfenbüttel
Queen of Denmark and Norway
ca. 1780
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Anonymous artist
Miniature portrait of artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze
ca. 1785
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

François Dumont
Cabinet miniature of chemist Antoine François,
Comte de Fourcroy
before 1809
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Nicolas-Jean Otthenin
Miniature portrait of Marie-Victoire Jaquotot
before 1817
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Giovanni Domenico Bossi
Miniature portrait of unknown man
1799
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Richard Cosway
Eye Miniature
1787
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Friday, June 29, 2018

Portraits by Women Painters (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm)

Jeanne-Marie de Surigny
Miniature portrait of Marie-Suzanne Doucet de Surigny
ca. 1790
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Jeanne-Marie de Surigny
Miniature of Étienne-Cyprien Renouard de Bussièrre de Roche
ca. 1790
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Rosalba Carriera
Miniature portrait of unknown man
before 1757
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard
Miniature portrait of Madame Lefranc
painting the portrait of her husband Charles Lefranc
1779
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

"Between 1780 and 1810 many French women painters reached impressive heights of artistic achievement and professional success.  Despite a cap on the number of women admitted to France's prestigious Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, and restrictions that barred women from the life-drawing classes attended by young men aspiring to paint historical narratives, women ranked among the most sought-after artists in Paris in the 1780s.  Three of the Académie's four female members – Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (1749-1803), Anne Vallayer-Coster (1744-1818), and Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842) – regularly exhibited at the biennial Salons."

"Royal women were the most important patrons for many women artists.  Vallayer-Coster, who joined the Académie in 1770, painted portraits and scenes from everyday life, but was chiefly admired for her still lifes of flowers, seashells, and fruit.  However, it was her figural painting that won her the patronage of Queen Marie Antoinette and Mesdames Adélaïde and Victoire, the powerful daughters of King Louis XV.  These same patrons supported Labille-Guiard and Vigée-Lebrun, who were both admitted on May 31, 1783.  Marie Antoinette played an important role in the admission of  Vigée-Lebrun, one of her favorite portraitists, and in 1787 Labille-Guiard was named First Painter to Mesdames." 

– from an essay by Laura Auricchio on the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History from the Metropolitan Museum, New York 

Anne Vallayer-Coster
Portrait of a violinist
1773
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Ulrica Pasch
Portrait of Adolf Ludvig Stierneld
1780
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
 
Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
Portrait of unknown young woman as the goddess Flora
1811
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Marie-Gabrielle Capet
Miniature portrait of Stéphanie-Félicité Ducrest de St Aubin
before 1818
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Fanny Charrin
Miniature portrait of unknown woman
ca. 1820-30
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Sophie-Clémence Delacazette
Miniature portrait of unknown woman
ca. 1830
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Christina Robertson
Miniature portrait of actress Helen Fraser
before 1854
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Pauline Augustin
Miniature portrait of unknown man
before 1865
watercolor on ivory
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Amalia Lindegren
Portrait of unknown woman
1859
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Hildegard Thorell
Portrait of Hildegard and Alfhild Tamm
1882
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Choice Pastels in Stockholm

Maurice Quentin de La Tour
Portrait of Marie Sophie de Courcillon, Duchesse de Pecquigny, Princesse de Rohan
ca. 1740
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Maurice Quentin de La Tour
Portrait study of Voltaire
ca. 1740
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Louis Vigée
Portrait of unknown woman in pilgrim costume
1745
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

"Pastel differs from natural chalks of different colors, which have long been used in drawing.  It is made by mixing powdered pigments with a binder (usually gum arabic), shaping the mixture into sticks, and leaving it to dry.  These crayons or sticks of pigment are very crumbly and their colored powder adheres only loosely to paper, which was often roughened in advance to create a surface for the material to cling to.  Works in pastel are thus fragile, as movement can loosen the powder."

"Although the earliest works of art to make use of pastel were produced in Renaissance Italy, pastel painting proper dates from the seventeenth century.  . . .  By the eighteenth century, color, not line, became dominant as pastels moved aesthetically closer to painting.  . . .  The first artist to be truly internationally renowned for and defined by her pastels was Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757), a Venetian portraitist [below].  . . .  Almost 2,500 artists and amateurs were said to be working in pastel in mid-century Paris."

Rosalba Carriera
Young woman with flowers in her hair
before 1757
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Rosalba Carriera
Young woman with a wreath of laurels
before 1757
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Gustaf Lundberg
Portrait of Count Carl Gustaf Tessin
1761
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Gustaf Lundberg
Portrait of unknown young woman
before 1786
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

"Pastels have always been praised for the freshness of their colors, at once both brilliant and subtle.  Although we now recognize their fragility, in the eighteenth century pastels were often thought more durable than oils, as these vibrant colors were less susceptible to damage by light (oils often faded or yellowed with age).  Pastel, too, afforded the artist a richer interplay between medium and support than oils did.  Pastel paintings were commonly executed on blue paper mounted on canvas, not only because this was the thickest paper available in the eighteenth century, but also because of the chromatic advantages it offered as the pigments of the pastel picked up and interacted with the blue background."

Gustaf Lundberg
Portrait study of unknown woman
before 1786
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Gustaf Lundberg
Portrait of Mrs Petronella Schützer née Psilanderhjelm
before 1786
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Marie-Suzanne Giroust (Madame Roslin)
Portrait of Marie-Joseph Peyre
1771
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Carl Gustav Pilo
Portrait of Mrs Ann Katarina Hedenberg née Levin
1793
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

"Unlike oils, which can be mixed on a palette from nine or ten basic pigments, each tone requires a different stick of pastel, with artists making use of hundreds of crayons."

– passages quoted from an essay by Francesca Whitlum-Cooper on the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History from the Metropolitan Museum, New York 

Peder Severin Krøyer
Summer evening on the beach at Skagen
1884
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Anders Zorn
Portrait of the artist's wife reading
1889
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
The Rope Dancer
before 1901
pastel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm