Mabel and I took a long enjoyable walk in the rain on Halloween morning. She wore her new green padded raincoat printed with cheerful birds, a recent birthday present from Grandma.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Rain Birds
Mabel and I took a long enjoyable walk in the rain on Halloween morning. She wore her new green padded raincoat printed with cheerful birds, a recent birthday present from Grandma.
Mabel's Pumpkins
I was lucky to see Mabel's jack-o-lantern while it was still in use on the dining room table with a candle inside and its smaller uncarved friend alongside.
Statue of Liberty
Mabel and I spent a rainy day together in San Francisco today. She told vivid happy stories about her trip to New York last weekend with Mamma and Grandma. The three of them went to a flagship Lego store in Manhattan. There Mabel obtained her first standard-issue Lego blocks. Up to now she has only had the bigger size blocks designed for small children, but now she is loving the intricacy of all these bright little pieces. Above is Mabel's Lego representation of the Statue of Liberty standing on its tall pedestal. She and Mamma and Grandma saw the real Statue of Liberty from the top deck of a ferry. The spectacle of the giant statue amazed Mabel, she told me. And you can go up inside it, and she will do that too some day.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Yellow Motherwell
Steven Volpe commended himself to my attention by arranging an entire room for clients in San Francisco around the large yellow Motherwell partially visible at far right above. More of his clean, controlled work below.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Frédéric Méchiche
A small skylit dining room by Frédéric Méchiche caught my attention this past summer and appeared here then. When I recently came across other rooms by the same French designer I remembered the name and was glad to see more work.
The series of posts I did last July about decorator bookshelves and other interior arrangements (not a frequent subject here) turned up other names in addition to that of Frédéric Méchiche. Perhaps I will follow up on some of those other intriguing ones, now that an interval has passed.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Martha & Mary
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| Martha & Mary Magdalene c. 1598 |
Once I begin to reproduce paintings by Caravaggio in this space, as yesterday, it is not likely that I will be able to stop with only one day's worth. The body of this artist's surviving work is not large, yet when I start digging for the newest available images, there are always a couple (like the first two in this post) that strike me with complete freshness, and make a high claim to their own importance, as if the paintings truly were new to the world.
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| Salome with the Head of John the Baptist c. 1609 |
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| David with the Head of Goliath c. 1600 |
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| Nativity c. 1609 |
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| Adoration of the Shepherds c. 1609 |
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| Madonna del Rosario c. 1607 |
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| Madonna del Palafrenieri c. 1606 |
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| Christ at the Column c. 1607 |
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| The Raising of Lazarus c. 1608 |
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| The Burial of St. Lucy c. 1608 |
Monday, October 27, 2014
Caravaggio Details
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| Detail of Boy with a Basket of Fruit, c. 1593 |
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| Detail of Bacchus, c. 1596 |
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| Detail of Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c. 1596 |
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| Detail of Judith Beheading Holofernes, c. 1598 |
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| Detail of The Supper at Emmaus, c. 1601 |
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| Detail of The Taking of Christ, c. 1602 |
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| Detail of Madonna del Palafrenieri, c. 1606 |
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| Detail of Madonna del Rosario, c. 1607 |
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| Detail of The Seven Acts of Mercy, c. 1607 |
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| Detai of St. Jerome, c. 1607 |
I found a series of cropped details lifted from paintings made by Caravaggio, whose mature working life lasted only about fifteen years before troubles and illnesses ended everything.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Angel Musicians
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| Angel Musicians Pisa c. 1350 |
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| Madonna & Child Antoniazzo Romano c. 1480 |
By accident I came across a group of artifacts from one among the large number of American tycoon-museums created during the glory days of this nation's international dominance. From about 1890 to about 1990 American collectors had far more money than anybody else. Old Master works of art from Europe could be and were hoovered up by the shipload and transported to the New World, there to be displayed in purpose-built museums with the tycoons' names over the doors.
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| Saint Cecilia Guido Reni 1606 |
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| Liberation of Saint Peter Hendrick van Steenwyck 1618 |
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| Flower Bouquet Jan Brueghel the Elder c. 1620 |
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| Saint Ignatius of Loyola Peter Paul Rubens c. 1620 |
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| Anne of Austria Peter Paul Rubens c. 1622 |
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| Louis XIII Peter Paul Rubens c. 1622 |
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| David & Goliath Peter Paul Rubens c. 1630 |
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| Portrait of a Young Man Jan Lievens c. 1640 |
What I picked for posting here was determined, as usual, by the irresponsible promptings of personal taste, and not by any wish for balance or a fairly distributed representation. That explains why fully half my choices are from the 17th century (the place where I intend to move permanently after I retire from my job at the library). Work from other centuries is equally worthwhile, no doubt, but less resonant.
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| Interior of Saint Peter's, Rome Giovanni Paolo Pannini 1735 |
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| Triumph of Virtue & Nobility over Ignorance Giovanni Battista Tiepolo c. 1740 |
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| Mouth of the Seine at Honfleur Claude Monet 1865 |
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| Bouquet of Lilacs Pierre August Renoir 1875 |
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| Mulberry Tree Vincent van Gogh 1889 |
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| Tahitians Paul Gauguin 1899 |