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studiesinconnoisseurship · 10 months

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Salvator Mundi - master of the dead eyes

Salvator Mundi, various attributions (Louvre Abu Dhabi)

The Salvator Mundi painting, widely touted as a Leonardo, seems to have disappeared into the limbo of the Saudi Royal family’s treasury where it will doubtless lie, like an ingot of gold in a vault, unseen by most and unappreciated by its owner except as proof of the great wealth required to secure it. Frequent mention, however, is still made of this picture, and while that continues, so does the undesirable confusion that is spread by any demonstrable misattribution. This Brief Study is intended to provide that demonstration.

From left: Head of the Young John the Baptist (Drawing from a private collection, featured in an auction catalogue from 1934 as ‘School of Leonardo’) ; Salvator Mundi ; Head of a Woman (Musee du Louvre?)

Drawings, as always, are helpful. Here are two, to set beside the Salvator Mundi: on the left of it a drawing of a young John the Baptist, on the right a drawing of a young woman, possibly at the Louvre. It is enough to compare, and find similar, the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the treatment of hair. If likeness means anything, it ought to obtain in a juxtaposition such as this. As soon as it becomes clear that these two images are products of the same hand, it becomes clear also that the artist who made the drawing cannot be Leonardo, who never drew like this, and therefore Leonardo cannot be responsible for the painting either.

Of course the Salvator Mundi is Leonardesque. It is by an inferior artist (perhaps Salai, as once suggested by Suida) who has latched onto the ‘sfumato’, or smoky mysteriousness, that is displayed – for some tastes, to excess – in the late Leonardo Saint John the Baptist at the Louvre and copied by this artist in a painting at the Walters Museum. This mysteriousness, the smoky atmosphere implied in the etymology of the Italian word, is indulged in by this artist as if it was all that mattered in Leonardo’s art. The result is that Christ stares out at us, like a ghost from another world, with those strange, ‘dead’ eyes.

Left: St John the Baptist by the follower of Leonardo – Walters Museum, Baltimore ; right: Leonardo’s original – Musée du Louvre

Comparing the earlier drawing with the two paintings of John the Baptist

Comparing the earlier drawing with the two Baptist images either side, one by the copyist, the other by Leonardo, reveals as much as the difference in colour, the ‘Salvator’ eyes, nose and mouth.

Both attributed to the School of Leonardo, Left: ‘Head of a Youth’ – Ambrosiana, Milan ; Right: Portrait of a Lady – Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina)

Another drawing , of an androgynous-looking youth at the Ambrosiana, shows the same rather long eyes whose lids are more prominent than anything between them . This might almost be a study for the no less ghostly Portrait of a Lady at Columbia Museum of Art in South Carolina. The same artist’s draughtsmanship (or lack of it) is seen in a drawing (Mona Vanna) and a painting both featuring a naked Mona Lisa. A weak sense of form is disguised by a quantity of perfunctory smudging of charcoal or graphite. His admiration for Leonardo is matched by his failure to understand how necessary a proper grounding in observational drawing was to Leonardo’s painted work. A similar failure attended the followers of Turner.

Left: Mona Vanna, attributed to Leonardo ; Right: Female Figure, attributed to Salai

If we return to the Salvator Mundi, we can observe the unconvincing treatment of drapery folds and the way in which ornamented braidwork is not adequately integrated with the rest of Christ’s robe, but lies across it in two, rather than three, dimensions. When our eye moves to the orb, it is equally dissatisfied by the lazy depiction of it, with no attempt at highlight. The orb is as dead as the eyes.

The draperies, braidwork and orb from Salvator Mundi tell us this is not Leonardo’s work

Colour is always a significant indicator in paintings. In this case we have a near-Prussian blue with chestnut browns trailing off into a deeper brown penumbra. This is the palette of the Lansdowne Madonna (‘Madonna of the Yardwinder’), a more impressive work than the Salvator Mundi but displaying a similar tendency to wrap figures in a haze of sfumato.

Left: The Lansdowne Madonna – Private Collection – features the same colour palette and ‘sfumato’ as the Salvator Mundi

Clearly I do not hold this artist in much esteem. Plutocrats are welcome to spend a fortune on his work, but the rest of us should keep our eyes peeled for quality and not allow our vision to be blurred by the ‘Leonardo mystique’ and the floaters of dubious attributions. What this case highlights, not for the first time, is the regrettable necessity for connoisseurs to apply themselves to mediocrities. In an ideal world they would not need to, but they often have to because one person – an originator whom others follow – has ascribed a work by an inferior artist to a vastly superior one. These words, inferior, superior, imply what is at stake: a difference of quality. The exercise I have conducted here will have some value if it succeeds in demonstrating that difference. A painter who has little sense of form cannot disguise the fact, try as he may, with ‘mystery’ that has no depth or substance; it is hollow and spectral, like the dead eyes. If we cannot definitely name him, let us nickname him the Master of the Dead Eyes.

#leonardo #leonardo da vinci #salvator mundi #connoisseurship #studies in connoisseurship #art history #attribution #painting #louvre

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qrv938m3o · 1 year

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rkdlrhe5a · 1 year

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yakourinka · 2 months

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the way ranni says "disturbed by thee" always impresses it's like distÜRBd

#real ü connoisseurship

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blackcatcigarlounge · 3 months

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The best cigars are like wine – they only get better with time. For many cigar enthusiasts, aging cigars is an art. While cigar aging may seem complex and time-consuming, it is well worth the effort. Aging cigars is a process that enhances the flavors, aroma, and overall smoking experience of an individual in a cigar bar in Florida.

#Casual Smoking #Cigar Connoisseurship #Quality Tobacco

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lantern-hill · 1 year

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"In an era of “girls-supporting-girls” and “let-people-enjoy-things”, having distinct tastes or opinions is tantamount to social suicide. There is no room for good-spirited teasing or critique or gossip or even interpersonal dislike. As much as I despise the phrase, these things are human nature. We possess the human range of emotions, which includes being annoyed or petty or mean-spirited—to pretend anyone is above it is not only moralistic but biologically false. When we don’t like someone or something, we scavenge to find a political or moral reason to critique them, instead of owning up to our honest truth: sometimes, you just find someone annoying.

Our crisis of niceness is both insufferable and detrimental to our artistic output; the films, art, and music we make are expected to promote pleasantness and punish everything else. We don’t see culture as a vehicle for artistic expression, but instead for moral expression, and as such our capacity for connoisseurship is at an all-time low. A film can be visually uninspired, a song can be derivative, a book can be poorly written, but as long as it espouses some rhetoric of universal justice it will be lauded as “important”. This is boring. It is uninspiring. If you even critique the mechanisms of the culture industry and its monopolized outputs (Marvel Movies, Taylor Swift, etc), you are deemed at best a hater and at worst a misogynist/racist/classist/homophobe depending on the day and the detractor.

It is a vague and meaningless form of pleasantry and niceness that does little more than create social codes of conduct concerning our language and discourse. It is Redbubble “Treat People With Kindness” stickers on MacBook Airs, it is a mass produced t-shirt with a slogan like You Matter <3 sold as mental health awareness. It feels suffocating, a cloying Yankee Candle atmosphere that gives nothing of substance yet demands a smile and a quiet wave.

We have confused pleasantness with kindness. Pleasantness is plasticine and sanitized, florescent lights over pastel bulletin boards. Kindness is human, old hardwood floors and fresh fruit.

Kindness is bringing your neighbors a bowl of chili, or sitting quietly with the people you love to reflect in the morning. Both actions somehow sparked mass outrage online and the individuals who shared their moments of quiet kindness were either called privileged or evil or any of the -ists that internet commentors love to toss around… classist, ableist, et cetera. The people who attempted to bring some joy into their own lives and the lives of others were called ugly and annoying in hundreds and thousands of replies within the same cultural space that insists that it is materially violent to say that you don’t like K-Pop or Taika Waititi."

-meditations on meanness - charlie

#commonplace book #org

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wingodex · 2 years

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i love art connoisseurship in the sense that i find it deeply fascinating as a concept and the discourse surrounding it is interesting, but i do mean it when i say that art connoisseurs are just the worst people imaginable, and theyre the reason everyone hates connoisseurship. like maybe if you didnt quote hamlet randomly or mention that the word "mentor" comes from the character in the odyssey while talking about identifying art forgeries just to show off how smart and cultured you are, then maybe people wouldn't hate your guts. you ever think about that bernard?

#wings.txt #sidenote: why are they all named bernard? like i mean that #read an interesting article about how the language of connoisseurship contributes to people not trusting it #and while there is some truth in that #i think that's vastly over simplifying it

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determinate-negation · 2 months

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The industry bows to the vote it has itself rigged. The incidental costs to the firm which cannot turn a profit from its contract with a declining star are legitimate costs for the system as a whole. By artfully sanctioning the demand for trash, the system inaugurates total harmony. Connoisseurship and expertise are proscribed as the arrogance of those who think themselves' superior, whereas culture distributes its privileges democratically to all. Under the ideological truce between them, the conformism of the consumers, like the shamelessness of the producers they sustain, can have a good conscience. Both content themselves with the reproduction of sameness.

Unending sameness also governs the relationship to the past. What is new in the phase of mass culture compared to that of late liberalism is the exclusion of the new. The machine is rotating on the spot. While it already determines consumption, it rejects anything untried as a risk. In film, any manuscript which is not reassuringly based on a best-seller is viewed with mistrust. That is why there is incessant talk of ideas, novelty and surprises, ofwhat is both totally familiar and has never existed before. Tempo and dynamism are paramount. Nothing is allowed to stay as it was, everything must be endlessly in motion. For only the universal victory of the rhythm of mechanical production and reproduction promises that nothing will change, and nothing unsuitable will emerge. To add anything to the proven cultural inventory would be too speculative. The frozen genres– sketch, short story, problem film, hit song– represent the average of late liberal taste threateningly imposed as a norm. The most powerful of the culture agencies, who work harmoniously with others of their kind as only managers do, whether they come from the ready-to-wear trade or college, have long since reorganized and rationalized the objective mind. It is as if some omnipresent agency* had reviewed the material and issued an authoritative catalog tersely listing the products available. The ideal forms are inscribed in the cultural heavens where they were already num bered by Plato-indeed, were only numbers, incapable of increase or change.

Adorno and Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment

#just some classics #mine #frankfurt school

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loveemagicpeace · 2 years

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Sun signs and what they represent 🧚🏼‍♀️💘🪷

🐚Pisces-is a night mutable water sign.The symbol for Pisces is the fish and its glyph represents two fish swimmingin different directions yet connected by a cord. Pisces represent art, subconscious, dreams.. Almost every time I think of pisces, I think of art. Because they are the most artistic sign in the zodiac. Pisces is the time of death and the time before birth. Pisces rules the feet, the lymphatic system, and the third eye. Pisces is also the most spiritual and dreamy sign. Pisces often struggle with emotions, the energy they feel from others. Therefore, it is characteristic for them to isolate themselves from people. They have to find the physical realm. Pisces are friendly, dreamy, fantasy, but they can also be manipulative. Pisces have a problem with dealing with emotions and energy, which they pick up from others, so they often fall into depression. Kurt Cobain who had many pisces placements was every nice, emotional and artisitc but he was dealing with a lot of emotional stuff , depression and he no longer felt good inside. However, pisces are often inclined to escape and taking drugs or drinking alcohol.

🦂Scoprio-is a night fixed water sign. A deep and complex sign,both its symbol and its glyph represent the scorpion, its stinger suggesting the potentially stinging nature of Scorpio. Scorpio represents transformation, depth, emotions, intensity, passion. Also represent phoenix, a symbol of rebirth. Scorpio is seen as magnetic, powerful, private and sometimes intimidating to others. Scorpio is a sign that wants to see through the soul of a person, wants to see and understand the dark sides of a person. Scorpio will always want to see the ugly side of a person. Scorpio is a sign that is quite individual and likes to focus on a single person. What is also known about Scorpio is that it gives each person a different kind of love. Scorpio is a sign that has difficulty trusting and has trust issues, as it often feels that people will betray it. Therefore, Scorpios usually have a small circle of people and only those they really trust. Scorpio can also be possessive, jealous and wants to have you all to himself. When a Scorpio loves, he loves with all his heart. Scorpio will give you his soul and heart. Scoprio will sacrifice a lot for the people he loves. But if you betray his love, he will never forgive you. Scorpio is also a sign that takes a long time to let go of a person and get over them.

💗Libra- Is a day cardinal air sign. The symbol of Libra is the scales and its glyph reflects both balance and the setting sun. Libra rules over harmony, balance, decisions, love and beauty. Libra is the diplomat and mediator of the zodiac. Libra comes across as fair, peace-loving, and creative. However, libra it is sign that does not like to decide on just one side, but likes to remain neutral. That's why decisions make them difficult. But they like appearance and beauty, which means that in love, libra will always look for someone who looks nice and it will be important to libra that this person is looking good. Libra is also a sign that will always fight for justice. No matter what, they will always be on the side of justice and prove it. Libras adore high art, intellectualism, and connoisseurship.

❤️‍🔥Sagittarius- is a day mutable fire. The glyph for Sagittarius is an arrow pointing the stars and reflects the symbol of the archer, who is half-human and half-horse. Both the glyph and symbol reflect the forward-thinking visionary energy of the sign. Sagittarians are focused on travel, wisdom, exploration, optimism, meaning. Sagittarius is a sign that is very lucky and looks at life with optimism and knowledge. They also represent languages and learning. Sagittarians can be good teachers and throughout life they want to give people a better perspective. Sagittarius is the seeker of truth and with this we can also see that they are very direct and honest people. They will always tell you what they think. Sagittatius are also very spontaneous and their plans change a lot. But there are also people who are always up for action and fun. They like to take risks because they think you only live once. What I like about them is that they are eternal optimists, and they will always put you in a good mood. But they are also reckless and crazy. They are also very strong-minded & unique. They will always have unique energy no matter what.

🤎Taurus- is a night fixed earth sign. The glyph for Taurus represents the head and horns of the bull. Taurus represents the stage of life that realizes the connection with the physical world. Taurus represents stubbornness, determination, money, food and music. Taurus is sensual, practical, and loyal. What they are best known for is that they are very patient people. They have really good nerves and can go through a lot of trouble and not break down. Taurus is a sign that is also determined, when it decides something, it sticks to it until the end. But it is also a sign that is very grateful. I would say that taurus is one of the most grateful sign. They really show their appreciation in a nice way. And they always buy the nicest gifts.

🫧Capricorn- is a night cardinal earth sign. The symbol for Capricorn is the sea goat, and the glyph represents the hoof of the goat with the tail of a fish-this softer side of Capricorn. This means that Capricorns look cold and solid on the outside but it is soft on the inside. Capricorns are focused on climbing the ladder of achievement. Capricorn stare for achievement, reputation and respect. Capricorn is seen as responsible and determined but also, at times, controlling and fearful. Capricorns are a sign that likes to work hard to achieve something. Capricorns are also honest and responsible and will always accept responsibility for what they do. They will never blame others. But they are also a sign that can have great power over the public and have great authority. They are a sign that is diligent and hardworking.

🔥Aries- is a day cardinal fire sign. The Aries symbol is the ram, and its glyph represents the horns of the ram. Aries is a sign that focuses on itself. Very confident, independent and self-centered. Aries are also a sign that will always think of themselves first and if that suits them. Inwardly, they have a healthy self-interest and are very courageous. Aries is a sign that is very brave and risks a lot of things. Aries like to live on the edge of life and their motto is "try, even if it doesn't work out, at least you tried". Aries is competitive and will always go all the way to the end. And also a sign that dares a lot. Aries are not afraid of challenges but accept them with open arms. What is characteristic of aries is that they have anger issue. Their anger is quick and direct.

🌼Cancer-is a night cardinal water sign. The sign is represented by the crab and its glyph is the two pincers of the crab in protective mode. Cancers are primarily introverted and protective. Cancers like their private space and they like people with whom they feel at home. Cancer is the nurturer of the zodiac and very tradition- and family-oriented. Cancer love to spend time with family. They love their family very much and are very attached to it. Another thing is that Cancers are often attached to their mothers. Also cancer can be extremely sensitive. Because they take many things to heart. Cancer is also moody a lot of times. Which means that if they doesn't like something, it will immediately show on their face. Cancers prefer to be with people they know rather than people they don't, so they don't like meeting new people as much.

🧼Virgo- is a night mutable earth sign. This sign is represented by the maiden or virgin, meaning in this case, "one who is whole unto her-self." Its glyph resembles the letter M,for "maiden," carrying a shaft of wheat to represent the harvest. Virgos are a sign that is obsessed with perfection and details. Virgos see every little thing and immediately notice changes. They are obsessed with perfection, which means that everything they do have to look perfect, which can also take a lot of time. Their perfectionist tendencies can lead to analysis paralysis. Virgos are also often self-critical and have excessive expectations of themselves. Virgos are also a judgmental sign which means that things they don't like or don't think are examples they will judge and be overly critical of them. Virgo energy embodies the principle of service, as they love to feel useful in the world. Virgos like cleanliness and order and don't like when everything is untidy. They like to follow a plan and their routine.

🦁Leo-is a day fixed fire sign. The lion is the symbol of this regal sign and its glyph represents the lion's head and mane. Leo is a sign that is very proud and knows what it wants. Leo is a sign, they love attention and they like to show off to others. They are known for not being embarrassed to show who they are and how they look like. They also proudly present the people they love in front of others. Leos are born to lead and also to shine and charm. They crave attention and tend to be melodramatic and superior when in shadow. Leos can be dramatic many times. Usually every thing that happens is presented in a dramatic way. They like to be dramatic and like having fun. That's why leos are often good actors. But they know how to stare at their ego many times and do not want to admit their mistakes. This is a very complex thing for the leos. They are magnetic and affectionate and light up the lives of those around them because they carry the Sun's radiance within.

👄Gemini- is a day mutable air sign. This sign symbolizes the twins and is represented by a glyph of twins that are both separate and connected. Geminis are known for their duality. With them, there is never just one side, but always two. That's why they carry two personalities. They show one to those they know very well and are close to them, and one to those that are not that close to them. Geminis are also known for talking a lot and usually very quickly. However, it is typical for them to touch on a certain topic, but not for long. They like to change the subject. Their inner life is curious, observant, often scattered. Geminis are seen as social and verbally expressive but sometimes manipulative and duplicitous.

🧃Aquarius- is a day fixed air sign. the symbol for Aquarius is the water bearer, what the glyph actually represents is waves of energy-the symbol is pouring spirit or energy down from the heavens. Aquarians are often seen as strange, unusual. Many times they stand out from society because of the way they think and act in general. Aquarius is also known for being rebellious, which means that it will always resist society and things that are too much in the foreground. They prefer things that are not so exposed. They are also unpredictable, inventive. You never know what to expect from them. But they are also a sign that represents freedom. Which means that it is very important for an Aquarius to have their freedom. Aquarius is a sign that likes equality, so it does not differentiate between people. But he is usually attracted to those who are inaccessible. They can also be emotionally distant and cold. Aquarians are not so focused on emotions but on other things. Usually they also put friends in the foreground. Because they often feel alienated from those around them, they are sometimes tempted to betray their convictions to fit in.

-Rebekah🦋🌊🧚🏻

#astrology #energy #zodiac signs #planets #my notes #astrology observations #sun sign #scoprio #libra #sagittarius #pisces #aries #virgo #cancer #capricorn #taurus #gemini #aquarius #leo

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luxe-pauvre · 6 months

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In your book, Jude, you asked, How could I become a better smeller? I like how you shifted away from questions of connoisseurship. You didn’t want to cultivate better aesthetic taste than other people. You just wanted to take in more of the world. Fredric Jameson once said, paraphrasing Adorno, that when you’re doing aesthetics as a Marxist, you can’t get away from the fact that art is a luxury item. It shouldn’t be, but that’s the guilt of the art object for certain critics. There’s an anecdote I’ve heard about Herbert Marcuse being interviewed at his home in La Jolla, California. The interviewer says something challenging, like, “Herbert Marcuse, you’re a Marxist thinker, but I’m looking at all this luxury. We’re lounging around your swimming pool. What do you say to that?” And Marcuse supposedly replies, “Nothing is too good for the people.” That’s a great response to the guilt thing.

Sianne Ngai, How to Choose Your Perfume: A Conversation with Sianne Ngai and Anna Kornbluh

#Sianne Ngai #How to Choose Your Perfume: A Conversation with Sianne Ngai and Anna Kornbluh

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studiesinconnoisseurship · 10 months

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Rogier and Campin: Mistaken Identities

Connoisseurship, by its nature, will often involve mistaken identity, work by one artist being taken for that of another. This Study looks at a case that can be illustrated by work attributable to two famous fifteenth centruy artists, Rogier van der Weyden and Robert Campin, within one collection, that of the London National Gallery, and the relation of these pictures to others elsewhere.

When juxtaposed, it is easy to see the similarities between faces in Rogier's Altarpiece at Beaune and portraits in the National Gallery, attributed to Campin. Such a degree of likeness makes it hard to see how there could be disagreement that they were all painted by the same hand. Stylistically, everything corresponds, even the craquelure

In the above juxtaposition, the left-hand face of each pair is a face out of the Beaune Altarpiece, the Last Judgment, still at Beaune in Burgundy, that everyone seems agreed is the work of Rogier van der Weyden. The right-hand face of each pair is of the Man and Woman, respectively, portrayed in two separate panels at the London National Gallery where they are ascribed, not to Rogier, but to Robert Campin. The two artists were famous in their day for the outstanding quality of their work, and they both presided over large workshops.

The Altarpiece at the Hotel-Dieu, Beaune. Open, it shows The Last Judgement

Closed, the polyptych shows the donors kneeling before statues of saints

Here is another Portrait of a Man that can also be seen at the National Gallery. It is the portrait of a known person, Alexander Mornauer.

Portrait of Alexander Mornauer, attributed to "the Master of the Mornauer portrait", National Gallery, London

The Mornauer portrait before cleaning, showing a 'Holbein blue background, and reworking of the hat

He was given a plain blue ‘Holbein’ background that has been removed, as being a later addition, to reveal one that is of much more interesting texture and of a sort of puce colour. The painter of this picture is simply called ‘The Master of the Mornauer Portrait’, thought to be from ‘South Germany’.

If we now place this Mornauer portrait between two other images, the Portrait of a Stout Man from the Thyssen Collection in Madrid (ascribed to Robert Campin) and the two onlookers beside the Bad Thief to the Left of Christ from the panel at Frankfurt (Staedel Institut), generally considered a work by Campin, do we not see similarities, in this second case, nearly as compelling as the very different similarities in the first?

Left to Right: The Mornauer Portrait; Portrait of a Stout Man, attrib. Campin, Museo Thyssen, Madrid; detail and full image of The Bad Thief to the Left of Christ, attrib. Campin, Staedel Museum, Frankfurt

The Mornauer portrait clearly predates both the Thyssen Head of a Man and the Frankfurt Crucifixion, which one takes to be late work by the artist; that said, we can see an earlier manifestation of the same extraordinarily bold facial modelling, the same eyes and eyebrows, the same fine brushwork in the brown hair and the hairs of fur, and, in the detail of the two onlookers to the Crucifixion, very similar and distinctive hands displaying all their veins and joint-creases.

Much work remains to be done on the oeuvres of two men who were clearly the stars of the generation after the Van Eycks, but what these comparisons already suggest is that their styles are very distinct from each other. It appears that two portraits have got linked with Robert Campin when they are much more likely to be by Rogier van der Weyden, and a fine work by Campin in the same Gallery has gone unrecognised, relegated to ‘South Germany’. There is evidence here of the muddle that surrounds these two names.

I do not believe that we have many works anywhere by Robert Campin, but what there is strikes me as of remarkably high quality. His hyper-realism may not appeal to all tastes today, but it belongs to its time and makes a superlative link between Jan van Eyck and Dürer in the tradition that leads on to Holbein, and eventually Ingres. Of work by Rogier van der Weyden we have more, including two masterpieces, the Beaune Altarpiece and the Madrid Deposition, but his work likewise has to be distinguished from that of numerous artists of his time, mostly of lesser talent, who spent their careers in workshops such as those headed by himself and Campin.

Left to RIght: The Mornauer Portrait; Portrait of a Man, attributed to the same artist, Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin; in BW; Reflectogram of the Mornauer Portrait, revealing the same style of folds in the clothing and vein details in the hands

I wish to draw attention at this point to two drawings. The first is a portrait of a man of middle age with black curly hair, wearing a hat and holding his hands together with the two thumbs abutted. This remarkable image is held at the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin and attributed to the same hand as the Mornauer. The penmanship in the modelling of the man’s shirt is superlative and the vividness of his presence is all the greater for the addition of watercolour to his face, neck and hands.

The connection, as I see it, with Campin is made by a very helpful infrared reflectogram of the Mornauer portrait in a publication (2010) by the National Gallery, entitled A Closer Look: Deceptions and Discoveries. The underdrawing of that painting is so close to the treatment of the folds in the sleeves of the shirt in the drawing that I think it very likely that they are by the same artist. Note the veins in the hands of both painting and drawing; Dürer could not have observed them better.

Left: 'Le Christ Bénissant', attrib. Toussaint Dubreuil, the Louvre; Right from Top: Detail from Campin's Throne of Mercy; Detail from Campin's Bad Thief; Detail from Campin's Madonna by a Firescreen, National Gallery, London

The second drawing - an image at the Louvre entitled Christ Blessing - I also think is by Campin, though probably from a different period of his career. Here the penmanship is bolder and looser than in the drawing just mentioned, but the dense cross-hatching and other mark-making is very similar. Below are some juxtapositions that help to link this drawing with the Mornauer portrait and other Campins in the treatment of facial features, hands and hair-curls.

Left to Right: Faces of Mornauer; Christ; the Stout Man

Hair and fingers from the Bad Thief (left) and Christ Bénissant (right)

Hand details: VIrgin and Child, Campin (top); Saint Veronica, Campin (left) both Staedl Museum, Frankfurt; The Mornauer (middle); The Bad Thief (bottom)

That two paintings by Rogier van der Weyden can be taken for work by Campin when the two artists are so completely different is concerning. The focus of the present Study has been limited to three paintings in the London National Gallery, the stylistic connection of two of them, the paired portraits of A Man and A Woman, with Rogier’s Beaune Altarpiece, and a third, the Mornauer Portrait, with Crucifixion and other panels at Frankfurt. On the evidence even of these few works we can see Campin as a master capable of projecting a very powerful image with hyper-realistic attention to texture and fine detail. The Rogier portraits are realistic too, but less forceful and arguably more sympathetic depictions of individuals with faces easily associated as those of husband and wife.

Clearly there is scope for a wider discussion of the oeuvres of these two very important painters. I hope a future Study can attempt to address that much more complex issue

#campin #rogier #rogier van der weyden #beaune #Dutch Painter #painting #connoisseur #connoisseurship #studies in connoisseurship #art history

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dearorpheus · 1 year

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“The aesthetic necrophilia of nineteenth-century painting finds its apotheosis in the subject of the anatomy class, a theme vying in popularity with the battlefield and distinguished by some of the same hierarchic categories (the great commander/the great surgeon, the massed ranks of soldiers/the packed theatre of anatomy, the killed/the cadaver). The sacrificial body is posed naked on a table, and the table intuitively evokes the bed (there are also sheets, and the white sheet, like the bridal gown, possesses its own ambiguities). Onto the as-yet unviolated corpse (conventionally female) the collective gaze of the students (conventionally male) is drawn with that ferocity or detached connoisseurship redolent of an aroused sexuality. For their delectation the surgeon flourishes the scalpel with which he will conduct operations as the general in the field wields maps or staffs. The cadaver of the female, formerly inviolable, formerly independent and, while provocative, untouchable in the public sphere, is now the property (and since he may dispose her limbs, the sexual property) of him who now assumes the right to intrude into her flesh (bloodless flesh, since the anatomical subject is never fresh but kept sufficiently long to eliminate the potential shock of bleeding) by that surgical technique known now as then as invasive. In the anatomy class the sexual character of the corpse is revealed as nowhere else as a provocative surface. What permeates her stillness is the prospect of infinite permission, something strangely akin to the absolute permission granted only through the intimacy of the greatest loves... a permission subject to revocation in the living, and decay in the dead.”

— Howard Barker in the afterword for Eroticism and Death in Theatre and Performance

#corpse bride #my upload

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mythologer · 2 years

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REST AFTER DEBAUCHERY

Attributed to Francesco da Sangallo. Reclining Pan (aka the Barberini Pan). c. 1535. White reused classical marble with colored marble details. 134 cm long. Saint Louis Art Museum.

This handsome sculpture was acquired by the Barberini family in the early 17th century. At that time, the family collection was overseen by Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the nephew of Pope Urban VIII. The sculpture stayed in the collection until 1947, when the cash-strapped heirs of the Pope and Cardinal sold it to the Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) via a middleman. I'm not sure how the sale was allowed, but the museum website obliquely mentions that the sale was facilitated due to legislation enacted under Benito Mussolini.

The work depicts the lustful Arcadian god of forests, fields, and glades lying on his back in a splay-legged fashion holding a reed pipe (syrinx) in his right hand while his right arm is coddling a wineskin that once served as a fountain. His left arm is draped over his head, and his left hand is fondling a goat skin he is wearing around his neck. A salamander scurries amongst clusters of grapes at his feet (hooves). It appears he may be recovering from Bacchanalian debauchery or the unsuccessful pursuit of Syrinx as a love interest.

The sculpture was thought to be a work of antiquity until the 19th century, when it was determined to be a 16th-century work in the Florentine tradition. The initial knee-jerk attribution reaction was to claim it was by the hand of Michelangelo. When it entered the SLAM collection, it was attributed to Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli, a pupil of Michelangelo. Dr. Judith Mann, the curator of SLAM's European art, now gives it to Francesco da Sangallo, an assistant to Michelangelo. Dr. Fernando Loffredo contests this attribution to Sangallo, arguing it should be given to Giacomo da Cassignola. The art of connoisseurship has not provided a slam-dunk candidate in this case (pun intended).

There are two major reasons why the work was considered to be ancient for centuries: (1) it was repurposed from ancient marble recycled from a 2nd-century frieze (portions of an ancient relief are still visible on the backside of the sculpture - see the comments), and (2) it purposely imitated antique forms. Using Italian art history terms, the artist created an "all'antica" statue using "marmi antichi."

Unlike some examples of actual antique sculptures whose subjects are also reclining in a splay-legged fashion (e.g., the famous and heavily-restored Barberini Faun in Munich and a bronze Drunken Satyr in Naples), this work provides its subject with a modicum of privacy. Rather than displaying his genitalia in full view, Pan's manhood is covered by a flimsy drapery (see the comments).

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