Exit Through The Giftshop - Postcards at an exhibition....

More purchases from museum and exhibition gift shops...

1) FUNERAL DE SAN ANTONIO ABAD (1426-1430) - Fra Angelico

 

I bought this at the Prado in Madrid which holds a number of Fra Angelico paintings, this a small predella from an alterpiece dedicated to the saint dying in the painting. 

The picture is so small I wonder how it took four years to complete!  What I like about it is the formality of the composition and the hushed sadness in the huddled monks.  In close-up the monks wail and whisper among themselves at their Abbot's passing while behind them the monastery stands tall, it's white walls nicely complemented by the blue sky and solitary tree. 

2) THE CONVERSION OF ST PAUL (1600-1601) - Michelangelo Caravaggio

I bought this in at Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome where the painting hangs in the Cerasi Chapel. named after Tiberio Cerasi, the pope's treasurer-general who had commisoned this and THE CRUCIFIXION OF ST. PETER which hangs opposite it; Cerasi died before the works were completed.

As usual, Caravaggio lights his subject from a single source which illuminates the stricken figure of St Paul who saw a blinding light on the road of Damascus which made him fall from his horse; he then heard the voice of Christ telling him to stop persecuting his followers and to become one himself.  Paul stretches his arms out in the direction of the light while his servant tries to calm the horse from which Paul has fallen.  The horse's massive looming flank and raised hoof are dynamically captured as your eyes follow the arrangement of limbs around the painting.

3) LADY HAMILTON AS A BACCHANTE (1792) - Élizabeth Vigée Le Brun

This was bought at the Grand-Palais in Paris which, astonishingly, held the first ever retrospective of Élizabeth Vigée Le Brun in 2015, 163 years after her death.  Le Brun had been Marie-Antoinette's favourite portrait painter so when the French Revolution flared up, Le Brun escaped France with her young daughter rather than face certain death. She travelled to Italy, Austria and Russia, her association with the French aristocracy gaining her wealthy clients.  In Naples, visiting Queen Maria Carolina - Marie-Antoinette's sister - she met the Queen's friend Emma Hart, mistress of the British Envoy Sir William Hamilton.

Élizabeth attended one of Emma's 'attitudes' evenings where she would pose in tableaux of classical paintings.  This resulted in her posing for a number of portraits, all of a classical nature in which Le Brun captured Emma's legendary beauty.  This portrait was painted in 1792, a year after Emma's marriage to Sir William Hamilton, and shows Emma as a wild Bacchante dancing in front of a smoking Vesuvius which Lady Hamilton could see from her villa.  Demure yet abandoned, Emma dances with her tambourine, her hair tumbling and her Empire line dress clinging to her.  While Le Brun appreciated Emma's beauty she disliked her personally.  It was in the following year that Emma met Nelson and the rest, as they say, is history...

4) LES VESSENOTS EN AUVERS (1890) - Vincent Van Gogh

 

This comes from the excellent Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid which boasts two standing collections under one roof - Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza's on one side of the building and his son's on the other!  From Gothic through to Modern, it's collection includes practically all of art's greatest names including, of course, Van Gogh.

 

This landscape was one of the seventy paintings Van Gogh completed in the two months before his death as he painted the countryside around Auvers.  Les Vessenots was the village where Van Gogh's friend Dr Gachet lived.  The lush green of the grassy hills and wind-swept trees surround the humble cottages in the distance; but the sickly yellow flowers that floods most of the painting gives it an jaundiced, disturbing air.

5) MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (c. 1610-1615) - Unknown

This comes from the impressive Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.  The painting was painted by an unknown artist over 20 years after Mary's execution.  It is belived to be based on a cameo that had been painted while she was imprisoned in England.

 

This was painted when her son had become James I of England and it is suspected that these portraits were painted to reclaim her reputation, which might explain why the crucifix and rosary she wears give her such a pious look.  Mary's sombre dark dress is offset by the lace that she wears as well as the vibrant red table-cloth, patterned carpet and the swag curtain behind her.

Exit Through The Giftshop - Postcards at an exhibition....

Now I have sorted out my scanner (bloody Windows 10!) here are some more postcards from exhibitions and galleries...

1) SOFA and CHAIRS (1898 - 1904) - Antoni Gaudi with Aleix Clapés

This came from the Gaudí museum at his home in Parc Guell, and features one of his furniture designs for the Ibarz-Marco family.  Now I love a couch and this one screamed "sit on me"!  Great art nouveau fin de siécle furniture and loving the big and boldly distinctive floral design.

2) HIPPOPOTAMUS (1981 - 1885 bc) - unknown

I spent ages walking around the Egyptian rooms in the NY Metropolitan Museum trying to find this chap as he featured heavily in the gift shop in many different shapes and sizes but eventually found him in a glass case along with other finds from the tomb of Senbi.  He is tiny so can be easily overlooked - I think he's gorgeous and would have him away if I could.  He dates from Ancient Egypt's 12th Dynasty.

3) MEDUSA (1595-8) - Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio

This is a detail of Caravaggio's magnificent depiction of Medusa's decapitated head frozen forever on Perseus' shield.  If you ever want to find it in the Uffizi in Florence just head for the exit and it is one of the last paintings you will see - just look for the permanent huddle of viewers around it.  A visceral, fascinating image to contemplate.

4) The WINGED VICTORY OF SAMOTHRACE (circa 190 bc) - unknown

How can something so solid and imposing also be so suggestive of movement and grace?  The white marble figure of Nike is awesome in all it's shattered majesty and a must-see when visiting the Louvre in Paris.

5) The BREWHOUSE, COOKHAM (1957) - Stanley Spencer

Bought at the charming Stanley Spencer Gallery in his hometown of Cookham in Berkshire, this is a wonderfully detailed painting of the late 15th Century listed building in the village.  You can fair hear the hum of bees and the clatter of plates coming through the open doorway as you marvel at Spencer's intricate handling of the foliage that softens the bricks and mortar of the house 

Exit Through The Giftshop - Postcards at an exhibition....

More postcards from exhibitions and galleries...

1) ELS COLOMINS (1957) - Pablo Picasso

A wonderfully exuberant and vibrant painting of the view from Picasso's Calais window, I bought this at the Museu Picasso in Barcelona.  I love his punky white pigeons, the propped-up palette, the azure sea and magnificent tree in front of his studio window.

2) LE COURONNEMENT D'EPINES (1602-3) - Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio

Well I never knew Caravaggio was a Michelangelo too!  I bought this at the Musée Jacquemart-André when they held an exhibition named FROM GIOTTO TO CARAVAGGIO.  Caravaggio lights the scene with his usual shaft of light from one side to illuminate his fleshy, all-too-human Christ, held by two soldiers, as a third forces the crown of thorns onto his head with a stick. I like how Caravaggio has both Christ and the soldier holding him staring into the face of the soldier forcing the crown on as well as the emphasis on the hands of all involved.

3) LA NASCITA DI VENERE (1484) - Sandro Botticelli

Botticelli's iconic Birth of Venus isn't exactly one of my favourite paintings ever but when you go to the Uffizi Gallery shop you have to buy a copy of it - they call the police if you don't!  For such an image of idealised beauty Botticelli's Venus is all over the shop physically but I prefer to dwell on the figure in the billowing drapery who hurries to cover Venus' modesty.

4) WOODEN CRUCIFIX (circa 1412) - Fillipo Brunelleschi

This wonderfully realised crucifix is in the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence and is one of the many remarkable works of art displayed there.  According to the biographer/artist Vasari, Brunelleschi was compelled to make this crucifix after criticizing the one that Donatello had just unveiled in Santa Croce.  Donatello's is certainly more realistic than Brunelleschi's idealised, stark figure but if you wish to decide for yourself, head to the Capella Gondi at Novella.

5) ANNE BOLEYN (circa 1533) - unknown

 Um.  The shame.  I have never actually visited this portrait at the National Portrait Gallery!  And me a big Boleyn fan.  I am telling myself that this is for the best as I would probably try to stick it in my bag!  An iconic portrait of an iconic woman, this has been the first stop for any costume designer and/or casting director in the countless retellings of Anne's sorry tale.  I do love the stark quality of the portrait, Anne's jet black veil and gown accentuated by the brown furry sleeves and heavily-worked gold and pearls of the dress's neckline - and of course the directness of Anne's coolly knowing gaze, it almost feels like she is saying down the years, "Me?  Guilty??"