Category: Eye Candy for Today

Still Life with Strawberries and Nuts, Raphaelle Peale Link is to a large image found on NPR, there is another, smaller and somewhat darker image on Wikipedia. The original is in the Art Institute of Chicago. Raphaelle Peale, one of Charles Wilson Peale’s artistic (and artistically named) sons, was America’s first dedicated still life painter,…

The Victorian Chair, Childe Hassam Link is to the Google Art Project; downloadable high-resolution file on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum (which also has a zoom feature, though the Google one is a bit smoother). What a wonderful portrait — sensitive and delicate from the intended viewing distance — but…

Still Life of Oysters, a Nautilus Cup, a Roemer, Lemon and Other Objects, Willem Claeszoon Heda On Sotheby’s (zoomable). Direct link to image file here. I love the subtle sheen of colors in the nautilus cup, and the way the glassware almost disappears into the dark background. Interesting to compare to this somewhat more elaborate…

Fair Critics, Charles Courtney Curran In the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Use zoom or download icons below the image. I just love paintings of artists’ studios, particularly those in which other paintings are depicted. I wish the Met’s site had more commentary about this one. Does “Fair Critics” refer to the critical judgement of those…

Basket of Fruit, Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio) Image on Wikimedia Commons, with an article about the painting on Wikipedia. The original is in the Biblioteca Pinacoteca Academia Ambrosiana, Milan (not much in the way of info or images). This striking still life by the 16th century Italian master is in contention for being the…