Showing posts with label statues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label statues. Show all posts

Monday, June 15, 2026

Contrapposto

Guido Reni and workshop
Christ carrying the Cross
ca. 1625
oil on panel
Musée des Augustins de Toulouse

Paul Jourdy
Woman Undressing
before 1856
oil on canvas
Musée Ingres Bourdelle, Montauban

Roman Empire
Venus
(formerly called the Borghese Hera)
2nd century AD
marble 
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen

Charles Meynier
Classical Statue of Mercury in a Landscape
ca. 1793
oil on canvas
Musée de la Révolution Française, Vizille

Édouard Dantan
Casting from Life
1887
oil on canvas
Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Sweden

Élie Delaunay
David Triumphant
1874
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes

Martin Desjardins
Hercules Crowned
1671
marble relief
(accepted by the Académie as reception piece)
Musée du Louvre

Daniel Dupré
Académie
1771
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Cesare da Sesto
St Sebastian and other Figure Studies
ca. 1508-1512
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Ancient Etruscan Culture
Boy with Bird
250 BC
bronze statuette
Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel

Einar Forseth
Study of Model
1928
drawing
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Johann Ulrich Mayr
Classical Torso and Head
1655
drawing, with added watercolor
Kupferstichkabinette,
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden

Denman Waldo Ross
Standing Model
1895
drawing
Harvard Art Museums

Józef Rajnfeld
Académie
ca. 1930
drawing
National Museum, Warsaw

Nicolas Hogenberg
Roman Soldier
1524
etching
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Ancient Greek Culture
Hercules
2nd-1st century BC
limestone
(excavated on Cyprus)
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

The same winter the Athenians, according to their ancient custom, solemnized a public funeral of the first slain in this war in this manner.  Having set up a tent, they put into it the bones of the dead three days before the funeral; and everyone bringeth whatsoever he thinks good to his own.  When the day comes of carrying them to their burial, certain cypress coffins are carried along in carts, for every tribe one, in which are the bones of the men of every tribe by themselves.  There is likewise borne an empty hearse covered over for such as appear not nor were found amongst the rest when they were taken up.  The funeral is accompanied by any that will, whether citizen or stranger; and the women of their kindred are also by at the burial lamenting and mourning.  Then they put them into a public monument which standeth in the fairest suburbs of the city, in which place they have ever interred all that died in the wars except those that were slain in the field of Marathon, who, because their virtue was thought extraordinary, were therefore buried thereright.  And when the earth is thrown over them, someone thought to exceed the rest in wisdom and dignity, chosen by the city, maketh an oration wherein he giveth them such praises as are fit; which done, the company depart.  And this is the form of that burial; and for the whole time of the war, whensoever there was occasion, they observed the same. 

– from The Peloponnesian War as written by Thucydides (5th century BC) and translated by Thomas Hobbes (1628) and edited by David Grene (1959)

Saturday, December 27, 2025

Hand-Colored Lantern Slides

Anonymous Photographer
Keyhole Gate
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden, Seal Harbor, Maine
ca. 1925
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC


Anonymous Photographer
Chinese Statues flanking Path
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden, Seal Harbor, Maine
ca. 1925
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Anonymous Photographer
Arcady - Montecito, California
ca. 1925
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Anonymous Photographer
Mongazon - Bar Harbor, Maine
ca. 1925
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Anonymous Photographer
Moon Gate, Wetmore Estate, Newport, Rhode Island
ca. 1920
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Anonymous Photographer
Castle Hill - Cobham, Virginia
ca. 1920
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Anonymous Photographer
Windward - Dayton, Ohio
ca. 1930
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Anonymous Photographer
Compton Wynyates, Tysoe, Warwickshire
ca. 1925
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Anonymous Photographer
Bonaire - West Orange, New Jersey
ca. 1930
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Anonymous Photographer
Gifford Garden - Summit, New Jersey
ca. 1939
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Anonymous Photographer
Unidentified Rock Garden
ca. 1920
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Anonymous Photographer
Unidentified Herbaceous Borders
ca. 1915
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Unidentified Herbaceous Border
ca. 1910
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Unidentified Garden in Florida
ca. 1910
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Casa del Conde de Regla Garden, Mexico City
1937
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Bullfight, Mexico City
1937
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Anonymous Photographer
Group in Camp
ca, 1890
hand-colored lantern slide
National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC

Testament

Loveliest of what I leave behind is the sunlight,
and loveliest after that the shining stars, and the moon's face,
but also cucumbers that are ripe, and pears, and apples.

– Praxilla (mid-fifth century BC), translated by Richmond Lattimore (1960) 

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Edward van Altena

Edward van Altena
Esher Place, Surrey
(with garden design by Edwin Lutyens)
1929
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC


Edward van Altena
Esher Place, Surrey
(with garden design by Edwin Lutyens
1929
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Brockhurst, East Grinstead, Sussex
1929
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia
ca. 1930
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
The Sunken Garden at Penshurst Place, Tonbridge, Kent
1929
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Garden Stair at Penshurst Place, Tonbridge, Kent
1929
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Ladd Garden, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
ca. 1920
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
The Lime Walk, Hampton Court, Richmond
1929
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Albury Park, Guildford, Surrey
1929
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Canons Ashby, Woodford Halse, Northamptonshire
1929
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Parterre at Cliveden, Maidenhead, Berkshire
1929
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Packwood House, Lapworth, Warwickshire
(view of the house through The Multitude - a family of yews)
1929
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Packwood House, Lapworth, Warwickshire
1929
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Knole, Sevenoaks, Kent
1929
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Farmhill, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
ca. 1920
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

Edward van Altena
Glass Head, Manchester, Massachusetts
ca. 1925
hand-colored lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens, Washington DC

from Hymn to Demeter

    There Ceres, distant from the powers divine,
Sits deeply-musing in her hallow'd shrine.
The eager wish to view her daughter's face,
Again to fold her with a fond embrace,
Consumes her beauteous form – alternate roll
The tides of grief and vengeance in her soul.
She to the earth her genial power denies:
The corn unfruitful in its bosom lies:
The oxen draw the crooked plough in vain;
No waving verdure decks the blasted plain:
Pale famine spreads around – each mortal beast
Is sunk in woe, and by despair possest.
One common fate had now involv'd them all,
And the blest gods who in th' aerial hall
Of high Olympus reign, by man ador'd, 
Their votaries' vows, and offerings had deplor'd:
But Jove revolving on the ills design'd
By Ceres; – to appease her wrathful mind,
Sends the bright goddess of the splendid bow,
Whose gold-bespangled wings with lustre glow –
Thro' yielding air with matchless speed she flew;
Eleusis' temple rose before her view.
There, while rich incense wafted fragrance round,
Clad in her sable veil the queen she found,
And thus began: The ruler of the sky
Calls thee to meet th' assembled gods on high –
Oh haste! with them celestial pleasures prove;
Nor fruitless be the words that come from Jove!

    Iris in vain her soothing words addrest;
The goddess yields not to her kind request:
In vain, at his command who sways the skies,
Th' immortals sue – she hears and she denies:
Their proffer'd honors, and their gifts disdains,
And in her breast relentless vengeance reigns.
Firmly resolv'd where high Olympus towers,
She ne'er would mingle with th' ethereal powers,
Nor fruitful earth's productive force renew,
Till her lov'd daughter met her longing view.

Homeric Hymns (8th-6th century BC), translated by Richard Hole (1781) 

Sunday, August 3, 2025

Fratelli Alinari

Fratelli Alinari
Giardino di Boboli, Florence
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC


Fratelli Alinari
Giardino di Boboli, Florence
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Giardino di Boboli, Florence
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Giardino di Boboli, Florence
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Villa Lante, Florence
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Villa Lante, Florence
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Villa Falconieri, Frascati
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Villa Torlonia, Frascati
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Borghese Gardens, Rome
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Villa Doria-Pamphilij, Rome
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Villa d'Este, Tivoli
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Villa d'Este, Tivoli
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Villa d'Este, Tivoli
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Villa d'Este, Tivoli
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Fratelli Alinari
Villa d'Este, Tivoli
ca. 1914
lantern slide
Archives of American Gardens,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

from The Art of Poetry

A mark of success in this painful discrimination
Is to find that the way you have used a familiar word
Has made it glitter like new. When what you are saying
Is so obscure as to need a novel expression,
It will be time enough for brilliant verbal inventions
 – And I do not suppose that that will be very often.
But new-made words can flower, if they come from good roots
And are not allowed to run wild. For why should the reader
Allow to Sterne what he will refuse to Joyce?
And why should I not add something, however little,
To the language which Chaucer and Shakespeare made more pointed
By noticing something no one had noticed before?
It has always been right and it will always be right
To use the word that bears the stamp of the time.
As woodlands lose their leaf at the fall of the year,
The old words go in turn, while the young
Flower and grow strong. For we are promised to death,
And all our things. It may come, sometimes, in a gale
Which bursts inland to give the sea a rest
And a fen that bore nothing except the plashing of oars
May survive to grow good corn for a neighbouring town.
Elsewhere the crops may go and the river pass
To produce more crops after that: for nothing will stand,
Certainly not the repute and pleasure of words.
Many words will come back which seemed to be lost
And many now much in use will be lost again
For nothing but use determines the fate of words.

– Horace (65-8 BC), translated by C.H. Sisson (1974)