Happy Hogmanay!
The Scots gave us "Hogmanay" (their name for the celebration of New Year's Eve) and Robert Burns, whose version of a Scottish folk song, "Auld Lang Syne," is popular from…
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December 31, 2015
It’s Later Than You Think (Favorites from Washington’s National Gallery, 10)
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, museums were built to impress: when you walked into the grand entrance, there would be a moment when you stopped in your…
December 30, 2015
Cut-throat Politics in the Palm of Your Hand (Favorites at Washington’s National Gallery, 9)
One of the genres of that reappeared during the Renaissance was portraiture: hundreds of meticulously executed paintings have survived. Sculptured portraits are far fewer, and sculptured portraits with added color are even…
December 28, 2015
Teenage Mutant Ninja Awesome (Favorites from Washington’s National Gallery, 8)
Years ago when I first started to work on Innovators in Painting (it was called the Crash Cruise Course then), I found it difficult to appreciate Raphael. He didn't have Leonardo's…
December 24, 2015
Adorable Nativities (Favorites from Washington’s National Gallery, 7)
After I've spent time looking at medieval art, this Italian Adoration of the Magi of the mid-15th century always makes me smile. Peacocks! Arches! Parades! Linear perspective! Lavish costumes and almost-naked men! There's…
December 23, 2015
Madonna and Children (Favorites from Washington’s National Gallery, 6)
Since it's the week of Christmas, here's two more of my favorite works from the National Gallery that happen to be on religious subjects. This one was done about 120…
December 22, 2015
Fossilized Beauty and Breaking Free (Favorites at Washington’s National Gallery, 5)
I'm a fan of all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo), but this work at the National Gallery also made it to my favorites list. This is…
December 21, 2015
“La! But someone has to strike a pose / And bear the weight of well-tailored clothes…” (Washington, National Gallery 4)
This is the fourth in a series of favorite paintings from the National Gallery in Washington: my favorite Frans Hals, ever. The sitter is confident, charming, debonair: he could give…
December 17, 2015
Skater (Favorites at Washington’s National Gallery, 3)
This is the third in a series of posts on favorite paintings from the National Gallery in Washington. It's certainly not the colors that are the appeal here: it's the confidence…
December 16, 2015
Hoping for the end of change? (Favorites in the National Gallery at Washington, 2)
This is the second in a series of posts on my favorite paintings in the National Gallery in Washington. I don't feel strongly about many works by Gericault, which is odd…
December 15, 2015