View in the Bentheim Forest, George Andries Roth

Link is to original in the Rijksmusem, which has both zoomable and downloadable versions (with free Rijksstudio account); additional downloadable version on Wikimedia Commons.

In this wonderful 19th century landscape, a shaft of late afternoon light slices through a break in a German forest, illuminating some objects, casting others into deep shadow, and gently warming trees in the distance.

I love the contrast between the dramatic lighting on the foreground tree and the more subtle modulation of value in the groups of trees behind it. There is also a visually fascinating layering of planes of dark and light as your eye moves back into the depth of the landscape.

The workers, horses and their activity give the scene focus and scale. My eye comes in on the foreground tree, shifts down to the middle left foreground, travels back along the path of light through the figures, up through the shaft of the lighter background, curves back through the sky and drops down into the foreground tree — ready to make the pleasurable passage again.

The Broken Vessel (La Cruche cassée), Jean-Baptiste Greuze

Link is to downloadble large file on Wikimedia Commons, original is in the Louvre.

Though the actual meaning is open to interpretation, the general assumption is that the allegorical subject suggested by the gathered flower petals and broken vase is one of lost innocence and defloration.

Greuze has emphasized the young woman’s youth with the soft edges and delicate handling of her face and hands, contrasted with the more bold and painterly rendering of the vase, dress and flowers.

Somewhat lost here in the delicacy of the presentation is the strongly geometric draftsmanship evident in Greuze’s drawings and many of his portraits.