Masters Masters

of the of the PaintingPainting

II

The The MasterpieMasterpie

cesces

A Winter Scene

with Skaters

near a Castle

Venus and Mars

The Adoration of the Kings

The Concert

The House of Cards

The Hay Wain

Miss La La at the Cirque

Fernando

The Arnolfini Marriage

The Sunflowers

The Ambassadors

Masters Masters of the of the

PaintingPainting II

about about The The

ArtistsArtists

Hendrick Avercamp painted:

A Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle

between 1608-1609

Profoundly deaf, and unable to speak, Avercamp was know as “the mute Kampen”.

He specialized in finely details winter scenes, filled with movement and dotted with lots of tiny figures.

Although he painted old cold, snowy scenes, he usually used a palette of warm colors, such pink and brown in his pictures.

Sandro Botticellipainted:

Venus and Mars in 1485

Botticelli worked many in Florence, painting religious pictures for his patrons, the powerful Medici family.

He decorated the walls of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican in Rome (The fanous ceiling of wich was painting twenty years later by Michelangelo.

Jan Brueghelpainted:

The Adoration of the Kings

in 1698

Jan Brueghel was the youngest son in a family of famous painters, led by his father Pieter Brueghel.

Jan Brueghel usually painted flower pictures, landscapes and small, finely details painting of people.

He gave the pictures such a polished finish that he earned the nickname of :velvet Brueghel”

Hendrick Ter Brugghenpainted:

The Concertin 1626

Ter Brugghen lived in Italy for ten years and became an admirer of the work of the master painter, Caravaggio.

He liked the way in which Caravaggio used dark shadows and bright highlights to create mood in his paintings.

Ter Brugghen barrowed this technique for his gentle, atmospheric pictures.

Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin

painted:The House of Cards

in 1735

Like the Dutch painter de Hooch, Chardin liked to capture the lives ordinary people in his paintings.

His pictures were bought by royalty and members of the upper classes who enjoyed them for their simplicity and calmness

John Constablepainted:

The Hay Wainin 1821

The son of a mill-owner, Constable grew up in Soffolk.

As an adult he lived in London, but frequently returned to his home country to paint the countryside he had known as a child.

Edgar Degaspainted:

Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando

in 1879

Degas was born in Paris, the son of a rich banker.

Although he is known as an Impressionist, Degas’s work was in very ways diferente from the rest of the group.

Degas particularly loved theatrical and sporting subjects, specially scenes of ballet dancers and racehorses.

Jan Van Eyckpainted:

The Arnolfini Marriagein 1434

Van Eyck was admired in his time for his delicate oil painting technique and his amazing realistic scenes.

In 1422 he was made court painter to Count John of Holland and went on to finish the great altarpiece at the Ghent Cathedral, Belgium, which had been started by his brother Hubert

Vincent Van Goghpainted:

The Sunflowersin 1888

Van Gogh is now considered to be one of the world’s best painters, despite having very little training as an artist and only selling one picture during his lifetime.

He suffered several periods of madness and famously, cut off part of his ear during one of them.

He went on develop his own very individual style known as Post-Impressionist.

Van Gogh worked energetically, using paint straight form the tube and laying it on thick brushstrokes.

He painted a number of similar paintings to decorate a room in his house which was often used by Paul Gauguin

Hans Holbeinpainted:

The Ambassadorsin 1533

During the 16th century, Europe became bitterly divided by a religious revolution know as the Reformation.

Like many artist, Holbein was unable to make a living in Germany and so moved to London.

A few years later he became court artist to King Henry VIII

Masters Masters

of the of the PaintingPainting

II

about about

The The PaintingsPaintings

The buildings in A Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle are painted from the imagination but the skaters and toboganners are based on watercolor drawings made form life.

Returning to his studio, Avercamp would use his sketches to create his carefully composed painting, grouping the figures, holding hands and dancing, to make patterns within the picture.

In Venus and Mars , Venus, the goddess of love, sits watching her sleeping lover, Mars. The god or war.

Even the sound of trumpet in his ear will not wake him and the satyrs are able to playfully steal his lance.

This beautifully detailed picture was probably used as a bedroom decoration, either for the wall or as part of a piece of furniture.

The Adoration of the Kings shows the three kings bringing gifts to the baby Jesus,

To the right stands King Balthazar carrying a golden ship.

Brueghel chose to set the painting in his own time and places the rickety old stable in a busy town, surrounded by people and animals going their daily business.

The mood of The Concert is a one of warmth, closeness and just a little mystery.

Three musicians face each other in a ring, lit by a low candle. This gives the faces a golden glow but at the same time cast strange, dancing shadows in the wall behind.

The young boy focuses on his book, beating out the rhythm of the music with his hands, lost in his own world, The other two musician seem to be aware of us looking at them.

The candlelight catches their eyes as they glance out toward us but they keep their back turned, shutting us out of the circle.

The House of Cards is a natural scene, in which the boy seems unaware of the painter’s presence and gives his full concentration to the game.

In this painting Chardin used think brushstrokes in Layers. Up close, these seem blurred and careless. From a distance, however, they take shape and give the picture a warm, still quality.

Constables’ landscapes often take the harmony between humans and nature as their subjects.

The Haywain is a peaceful scene, which shows an empty hay wagon (haywain) in the River Stour, next to the house known as Willy Lott’s Cottage.

Constable’s great skill lies in the way he captures the tiny movements of nature- the tops of the trees shimmering in the breeze and the shadows of the clouds dancing across the meadow.

Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando captures the famous Parisian acrobat as she dangles by a rope clenched between her teeth. Degas catches this breathtaking moment by painting it form the pint of view of a member of the audience.

The strange diagonals of the arms, legs and rafters, and the strong, yellow lighting all add to the drama and suspense of the scene.

The Arnolfini Marriage is a full-length portrait, showing a rich Italian merchant and his wife.

Although she looks as if she is pregnant, in fact she is wearing a very long dress-in fashion at the time- and is holding it up in front of her.

The beads on the wall and the fur on Mr Arnolfini’s coat show that van Eyck was particularly interested in capturing all the textures and details of a scene.

A close look at the concave mirror reveals two other people in the room, One of them is probably the painter himself, and this ties in with his signature on the back wall which, when translated, reads, “Jan van Eyck was here 1434’

In Sunflowers van Gogh used the technique of paint straight from the tube to gives texture to the seed-heads and to make the petals radiant a vibrant warmth.

Van Gogh loved sunflowers for the simple shape and brilliant colors.

The Ambassadors is a portrait of two French diplomats who visit Henry VIII’s court in 1533.The clothes and the surrounding objects show that these man are highly educated, powerful and very wealthy.

Each object has been selected to give the painting meaning, The instruments on the upper shelf are for examination of stars and measuring dates and time. They contrast with the objects on the lower shelf which relate to human life on earth.

Looking closely at the floor we will see a strange object, it is a skull that has been stretched. This technique is call anamorphosis.