Portrait of Princess Belozersky, Élisabeth Vigée-LeBrun

In the collection of The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; full image here. There is also a zoomable version on the Google Art Project that goes a bit more high resolution.

Another beautiful portrait by the brilliant 18th century French painter Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun.

The description from the museum acknowledges that Vigée-LeBrun flattered her sitters (to my eye, often in a most delightful way), but I have to disagree with their assessment that her tendency for flattery is evident in this portrait.

Maybe they know something about the princess’s actual appearance form other portraits of which I’m unaware, but I see little evidence here of the painter’s usual tendency to maker her sitters look younger with exaggeratedly rosy cheeks, creamy complexions and super radiant vitality.

Perhaps it’s because the subject is actually young and doesn’t need to be age regressed with the virtual cosmetics of the painter’s brush, but I find this painting more straightforward and naturalistic than those of Vigée-LeBrun’s older subjects.

I love the painterly touches around the eyes, nose and lips, and the impasto highlights on the earring.

Still Life With Red, Black And Green Grapes On The Vine, Together With Oranges, A Partly-Peeled Lemon And A Melon On A Draped Table-Top, Jacob Marrel

Roughly 20 x 29 inches (51 x 74 cm), oil on panel. Link is to Sotheby’s auction (image file here). As this is the only image I can find, I assume the painting is in a private collection.

The title is a good example of how titles are assigned to so many paintings by contemporary cataloggers, and not by the artists themselves. There was apparently also confusion, deliberately created, by previous hands in an attempt to pass the work off at that of another 17th century Dutch still life painter, Jan Mortel, who was better known at the time and whose work therefore commanded higher prices.

Like many of his contemporaries, Marrel has filled his composition with fascinating detail, including insects that appear to be of specifically identifiable species.

I particularly like the delicately handled vines, some of which are barely visible as they wind into the background darkness. In that respect, it’s interesting to compare paintings like this with those of Jacob van Walscapelle (also here).

Sunset in the Woods, George Inness

The link is to a page on Wikimedia Commons from which you can access a high resolution file; the original is in the National Gallery of Art, DC, which also has a zoomable and downloadable high-res image.

There are paintings that seem to transcend art and move into the realm of ineffable mystery.

Of course, for American landscape master George Inness, transcendence, and the expression of the spiritual nature of the physical world, was his goal.

Don’t take the small image and detail crops I’ve provided above as your only experience of this image. Go to one of the links I’ve provided and fill your largest available screen; relax and enjoy the experience for a few minutes. (The original painting is four feet by six feet, or roughly 122 x 184 cm.)

Don’t look for detail, it’s the absence of detail that’s important here.

With his uncanny control of muted color, carefully finessed values, suggestive texture, and oh-so-subtle edges, Inness leads us into the woods, whispers to us of the sublime within the commonplace, and then steps out of the way to let our own perceptions carry us deeper.