Category: Gallery and Museum Art
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Gherardo Cibo’s 16th century watercolor illustrations of medicinal herbs
De Materia Medica is a Greek manual on herbal medicine written by Pedanius Dioscorides in the first century. It was re-issued in the 16th century in an expanded version with annotations by Italian physician Pietro Andrea Mattioli. This version featured illustrations by the artist Gherardo Cibo, who was noted for his interest in botany and…
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Eye Candy for Today: Samuel Palmer’s waterfalls
Pistil Mawddach, North Wales; watercolor and gouache, Yale Center for British Art; The Waterfalls, Pistil Mawddach, North Wales, oil, Tate, Britain; Samuel Palmer Though both are striking, I find 19th century artist Samuel Palmer’s watercolor and gouache study of this dramatic landscape even more compelling than his finished oil. The watercolor is 17×21 inches (44x53cm),…
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David Bottini
Landscape painter David Bottini uses the signature “Gabriel” on his paintings as a tribute to his grandfather, who inspired in him the love of the natural world that he brings to his intricate and richly colored landscapes. Bottini appears to relish the complexity of forest interior scenes, with myriad leaves and branches revealed in dappled…
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Eye Candy for Today: Carl Blechen Italian landscape
Gorge near Amalfi, Carl Blechen Link is to zoomable version on Google Art Project; downloadable version on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Early 19th century German painter Carl Blechen created series of studio works based on a sketching trip he had taken to Italy a few years prior. Here, he gives…
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William Henry Hunt
Though he also painted landscapes, portraits and figures, and worked at times in oil, 19th century English artist William Henry Hunt was known primarily for his striking watercolor still life paintings. His subjects were often fruits like grapes, apples and peaches, which he rendered with extraordinary finesse using a technique known as “wet white” —…
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Georges Clairin
19th century French painter and illustrator Georges Jules Victor Clairin painted exotic subjects, both in the Orientalist manner — painting subjects studied on repeated visits to Egypt, Morocco and other areas of North Africa — and luminaries of the French stage, including Sarah Bernhardt, with whom he was friends for most of his career. Clairin…