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This week: more seventeenth-century (Baroque) art at the Wadsworth. For previous posts on the Wadsworth, click here.

Le Sueur, Young Man with a Sword, ca. 1645

Le Sueur (1616-1655), one of the founders of the French Academy, is best known for his religious paintings … but here he evokes portraits by Raphael and Titian, two masters of the Italian Renaissance. Their works usually included pops of vivid color: see, for example, Titian’s Man with a Red Cap. Le Sueur’s palette is almost monochrome, but that makes the sitter’s face stand out. And (a very personal reaction) I like this young man’s face. I also admire the expert way Le Sueur has depicted the shine and the crispness of the sitter’s sleeve.

If you’d like to spend more time with this painting, try analyzing it as I analyzed Holbein’s Sir Thomas More in How to Analyze and Appreciate Paintings. In it, I worked through a series of questions to help you systematically observe the details of a painting, state what effect they have, and set them in the context of the rest of the work. In the process, I made tentative statements of the theme and then a final statement of it; and finally, I evaluated the works in emotional, esthetic, philosophical, and art historical terms. A revised and expanded version (Getting More Enjoyment from Paintings You Love) is in the works, similar to last year’s Getting More Enjoyment from Sculptures You Love.

Heda, Still Life with Goblet, 1631

Heda was a master of still lifes such as this: luxurious food and tableware that sparkle with light and are crowded with textures you can almost feel.

When this work was created, in seventeenth-century Holland, still-life painting as a genre was at its pinnacle. Dutch merchants had built a trading empire that stretched round the world, and they reveled in the exotic goods their wealth could acquire. Building on two centuries’ study of artistic technique developed by Renaissance painters, Willem Kalf (1619-1693), Jan de Heem (1606-1664), Heda, and others produced superb still-lifes such as had never been seen in the history of Western art. For more on this genre, and why the French Academy considered it second-class art, see my essay “Still Lifes: History and Significance.”

Falcone, Cavalry Battle between Turks and Christians, ante 1656

Battle scenes had been a popular genre since the Italian Renaissance. By the mid-seventeenth century, though, artists such as Falcone (1617-1656) were painting not leaders of armies or the main battle, but events happening to particular anonymous soldiers. Here the largest, brightest figure is a Turkish rider who gallops away, looking back in terror at the melee of men and horses in the background.

This battle between Turks and Chrisitans was not as exotic or distant a scene as you might think, given today’s political map. During the seventeenth century, the Ottoman Empire controlled Europe almost as far west as Vienna.

Falcone worked in Naples, and as a result of abetting Masaniello’s revolt in 1647, went into exile in Rome and then Paris. He was finally granted permission to return to Naples, where he died during the plague of 1656.

Claude (Le Lorrain), Landscape with St. George and the Dragon, ca. 1643

Landscapes were looked down upon by the French Academy, so French painters who loved painting outdoor scenes invariably inserted a narrative, even if the figures were quite small. (See “Landscapes: History and Significance.”) Claude (ca. 1600-1682), born in the Duchy of Lorraine, followed this tradition even though he spent most of his career in Italy.

The composition is not symmetrical, but it’s beautifully balanced. Shift a tree, or the mountain, or St. George, or the terrified maiden, and the scene wouldn’t be as visually satisfying. But … while Claude’s landscapes are pleasant and well composed, I often feel like I’ve seen all of them several times – even when I’m seeing them for the first time. That’s the price Claude paid for being so influential: many, many later artists imitated his style. If I studied his immediate predecessors and his contemporaries to get a sense of what was innovative about his works, I might find him more interesting. … Maxfield Parrish was also widely imitated, but I know his context, so I can appreciate what he brought to the table. And, of course, I like the sense of life in Parrish’s paintings. Speaking of sense of life …

Ruisdael, View of the Dunes near Bloemandael with Bleaching Fields, ca. 1670-1675

Ruisdael (1628/9-1682), one of a family of Dutch painters, painted landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes. Not being under the dominion of the French Academy, he didn’t feel the need to insert Biblical stories or other narratives. The landscapes he depicts are flat, and they leave me flat: I can’t find a way to get emotionally involved with them. But they influenced nineteenth-century landscape painters such as Gainsborough, J.M.W. Turner, Constable, the Hudson River School, and van Gogh. See here.

The Wadsworth’s label points out that bleaching linen outdoors in the sun was an important part of textile manufacturing. Holland was one of Europe’s leading nations in this process.

More

• In Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, I demonstrate a method for looking at sculptures in detail, in depth, and on your own. Learn to enjoy your favorite sculptures more, and find new favorites. Available on Amazon print and Kindle formats.
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