Went to the Rubens at the RA. A big show with quite a lot of padding ( sketches for this and that painting, altarpiece etc.) not all of it riveting. I enjoyed the portraits including the selfie by the lady painter in a straw hat. The taller paintings were spoilt by the lighting which meant that if you were reasonably close, the upper part was obscured by reflected light otherwise you had to recede to the opposite side of the room, so it was a double take. There was a portion of a Gainsborough that I found utterly delightful, it was a lad holding the reins of a rearing horse, just lower right of centre of a painting where the main interest was a large cart to the left and somewhat dark and impenetrable. The show certainly displayed the wide range of Rubens' subject matter from fleshy ladies to incredibly precise depictions of wild animals. I was puzzled by an odd tail-like object in the bottom left corner of the star exhibit " The Garden of Love" which looked at first sight as thought it could be an appendage of a ( fleshy) cupid but eventually revealed itself as a portion of his bow with, Freud alert, a broken string ?! Immediately you enter on the left is a Constable and a Rubens, both landscapes and both containing impossible rainbows. For supposedly visual artists neither seems to be aware that a rainbow only appears to you the viewer and that it will always be centred directly ahead of you with the sun directly behind you so you cannot have half a rainbow off to the side (Constable) or a rainbow directly ahead ( correct) with the shadows of the trees indicating the sun off to the left ( not correct). Artistic licence ? , well, maybe. That said this was a really rewarding visit especially as we found a lovely book illustrating most of Eric Ravilious' work in the bookshop. Size, about 11" tall, 10" wide; 216 pp; Author, Alan Powers; cost £35.
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Last edited by Guest; 25-02-15, 14:41. -
I'm sure this is what really makes an exhibtion of this kind valuable - to me 'Rubens' means the buxom, semi-clad ladies, and not much else
This is an 'interactive' image of the Prado's Garden of Love allowing you to zoom in on any section.
It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world. -
Not more Rubens but plenty more ladies in their dishabillé....
We're just back from "A Victorian Obsession" subtitled "The Pérez Simón Collection at Leighton House Museum". Lots of obsessing about models, mediaeval stories, mediterranean land/seascapes, romantic misery and etc. etc. from Leighton, Waterhouse, Burne-Jones, and the band of Pre-Raphaelite Brothers and their contemporaries. Pretty good and in the case of the star exhibit in its own room "The Roses of Heliogabalus" by Alma-Tedema, fantastic ! and we had smellovision to enhance the experience. Drifting back through the studio I noticed a picture by the good Lord himself (Leighton, I mean) of "Corinna of Tanagra" which would have meant nothing except that it is the title of one of the stories in the book "Marriage" by Strindberg which is currently my bedtime reading. So I've just googled "Corinna.." and found an extract from a book about her which includes the sentence " [her work, she was a Greek poetess], because it seeks only to please undemanding listeners, is often deemed naive or shallow". Well, isn't this just the accusation levelled at the Brothers themselves ? in spite of the amazing historically informed detail that they get into paintings with Egyptian, Roman, and Middle Earth/English topics.
Here is the extract:
p.s. according to the text in the room, Heliogabalus didn't "lose his head"... all these years, that Edith has a lot to answer for !
p.p.s. if there's a current gallery thread I failed to find it. Is there? Could there be?Comment
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Forgot to mention this was one of the paintings
just what we need to counter those dishy female quartets (tried the image button, no luck, help?)Comment
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What is the "RA"? Do you know ifthis will still be there in the summer when my Expeditionary Force arrives?Comment
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The Royal Academy, rfg - but I think it finishes on 10th April:Originally posted by richardfinegold View Post
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]Comment
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They'll be into the Summer Exhibition by then, I think, an exhibition that's open to submission from anybody from the greatest artists down to the rankest amateur. I've seen some pretty awful stuff, and some pretty wonderful things. It's also an annual fixture in the London Season, along with Wimbledon & various other social eventsOriginally posted by richardfinegold View Post
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