Autumn Landscape. Frederiksborg Castle in the Middle Distance; Christen Købke

Link is to zoomable image on Google Art Project; downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen.

Danish painter Christen Købke invites you to step into his late fall landscape to view the castle beyond the trees.

I find particular fascination beyond the castle in his handling of the clouds — rich with painterly finesse and subtle variations in color as they emerge from his wintry sky.

Still Life with a Carafe, Flowers and Fruit; Henri Fantin-Latour

Link is to zoomable version on Google Art Project; downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo.

Somewhat larger than most of Fantin-Latour’s still lifes, this is a prime example of his beautiful approach.

Most striking here, I think, is his masterful use of value. The background is uncharacteristically dark compared to most of his similar compositions, and he has let the vase and carafe subtly emerge from the darkness, in sharp contrast to the white flowers.

The peaches and melon make up the middle range, with delightfully painterly handling on the former and fascinatingly textural representation of the discolored skin of the latter.

I think this is the fifth Eye Candy post I’ve done of Fantin-Latour’s still life paintings, and I have yet to do a post on the artist himself. I’m sure I’ll get around to it some time this decade.

The Porta Portello, Padua; Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal)

Another architectural tour-de-force by the 18th century Italian master Canaletto – times two. The painting above in the top six images is in the National Gallery of Art, DC.

In the bottom four images is another version, with the same perspective but with different figures and harsher light, that is in the Museo Thussen – Bornemisza in Madrid.

There’s some question about the dating of the paintings; both could have been painted around the time of his documented trip to the city of Padua around 1740 or 1741, but some put the second painting almost twenty years later — perhaps as a “greatest hits” request from a patron. The Porta Portello is the main entrance to Padua for those traveling, like Canaletto, from Venice.

Even more visually entrancing than either painting is a preliminary ink and wash drawing that was a subject of a previous Lines and Colors post. It has been reliably dated around the time of the first painting, but presumably could have been used for both.

In both paintings, I love the contrast between Canaletto’s masterful painting of the architectural elements and his abbreviated shorthand notation for figures and things like grass texture and the surface of water. (Gotta love those little water squiggles!)