Herman Nauwincx (landscape) & Willem Schelinks (figures) Mountain landscape ca. 1650-75 oil on panel Getty |
Collections of European paintings and drawings at most large museums came into existence over centuries from multitudes of sources. The collection at the Getty was assembled more recently and quickly, yet at the highest level of quality. The jeweler's glow seems to hover above this collection. Yet so much rigor in one place can also sometimes seem airless.
Jan van de Cappelle Shipping in a calm at Flushing with a States General yacht firing a salute 1649 oil on panel Getty |
Denys van Alsloot Forest landscape with a distant castle 1608 drawing Getty |
Anthony van Dyck Landscape ca. 1640 drawing Getty |
Pierre Henri de Valenciennes Classical landscape 1788 oil on panel Getty |
Claude Joseph Vernet Storm on a Mediterranean coast 1767 oil on canvas Getty |
Marco Ricci Landscape with classical ruins ca. 1725-30 oil on canvas Getty |
Johannes Janson Formal garden 1766 oil on canvas Getty |
Jean-Baptiste Oudry Gardens at Arcueil 1744 drawing Getty |
Jean Jacob de Boissieu Château Gaillard, Lyon 1796 drawing Getty |
Franz Innocenz Kobell Study of Coltsfoot leaves ca. 1797 drawing Getty |
Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot Rocks at Fontainebleau ca. 1830-35 drawing Getty |
Gustave Courbet Grotto of Sarrazine ca. 1864 oil on canvas Getty |
Edvard Munch Starry night 1893 oil on canvas Getty |
Of Stars / by Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673)
We find in the East Indies stars there be
Which we in our horizon did ne're see;
Yet we do take great pains in glasses clear,
To see what stars do in the sky appear;
But yet the more we search, the less we know,
Because we find our work doth endless grow.
For who doth know, but stars we see by night
Are suns which to some other worlds give light?
But could our outward senses pace the sky
As well as can imaginations high,
If we were there, as little may we know
As those which stay, and never up do go.
Then let not man in fruitless pains life spend:
The most we know is, nature death will send.