Hip hip hooray! Artists celebrating at Skagen by P.S. Krøyer

Photo: Hip hip hooray! Artists celebrating at Skagen (1888) oil on canvas painting by Peder Severin Krøyer, 134.5 × 165.5 cm (53 × 65.2 in), Gothenburg Museum of Art (Göteborgs konstmuseum), Sweden

The image above depicts the artists living and working in Skagen, Denmark, gathering in a garden for a celebration. The persons in the painting are (L-R) Martha Johansen, painter Viggo Johansen, Norwegian painter, writer and journalist Christian Krohg, Peder Severin Krøyer (P.S. Krøyer), Degn Brøndum (Anna Ancher's brother), Michael Ancher, Swedish painter Oscar Björck, Danish painter Thorvald Niss, teacher Helene Christensen, Danish painter Anna Ancher and Helga Ancher.

The Norwegian-Danish painter P.S. Krøyer (1851-1909) is one of the most celebrated of the Skagen Painters, a community of Danish and Nordic artists who had been working in Skagen, Denmark in the final decades of the 1800s.

Life and Passion of Christ by Gaudenzio Ferrari

Photo: Stories of The Life and Passion of Christ (1513) by Gaudenzio Ferrari, fresco at the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Italy

The picture depicts Ferrari's wall, narrating the Stories of the Life and Passion of Christ, in the Church of Our Lady of the Graces (Santa Maria delle Grazie), a Roman Catholic Church in Italy. The giant fresco admeasuring 82 square meters was completed by Gaudenzio Ferrari, the Italian painter and sculptor of the Renaissance, in 1513. Twenty equal frames narrate the main events in the gospels, in addition to the Crucifixion scene in the center that occupies four frames.

The Biblical scenes depicted in the fresco are briefly as below:

In Annunciation Gabriel announces to Virgin Mary that she would conceive the Son of God and become his mother. The angel also tells her to name him Jesus.

The Nativity of Jesus is the scene after the birth of Jesus, born in Bethlehem during the reign of Herod the Great, the king of Judea.

The Adoration of the Magi shows the visit of the Magi who spotted and followed a new star until they found baby Jesus. They saw him with mother Mary, knelt down before him and paid homage. They also presented him with expensive gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The Flight into Egypt displays Joseph fleeing to Egypt with Mary and infant Jesus after the Magi told them that King Herod planned to kill all the newborns.

The Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist is the forerunner to the public ministry of Jesus.

The Resurrection of Lazarus of Bethany (Saint Lazarus) is a miracle of Jesus, who resurrects Lazarus four days after his death.

The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, days before the Last Supper, marks the beginning of his Passion. People crowded around Jesus, believed in him and welcomed him as he entered Jerusalem.

The Last Supper was the last meal shared by Jesus with his Apostles before his crucifixion.

The Washing of the Feet, commemorated on Maundy Friday, shows the event in which Jesus washes the feet of his Apostles.

The Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane refers to the events in the life of Jesus between the Farewell Discourse at the Last Supper and his arrest by the temple guards.

The Arrest of Jesus by the Temple guards in the Garden of Gethsemane was shortly after the Last Supper, and immediately after the kiss of Judas.

The Trial of Jesus at Herod's Court refers to an episode in which Herod Antipas and his soldiers mock at Jesus, and sent him back to Pontius Pilate for the final trial.

The Trial of Jesus at Pilate's Court refers to the final trial of Jesus. Though Pontius Pilate publicly declared that Jesus was innocent, the crowd insisted on his punishment. Pilate then ordered crucifixion of Jesus.

The Flagellation of Christ is a scene in the cycles of the Passion and the Life of Christ.

Ecce Homo (Behold the man), the Latin words used by Pontius Pilate, when he presented Jesus, bound with ropes and crowned with thorns, to a hostile crowd.

Via Dolorosa (The Way of Grief) is a street in the Old City of Jerusalem, the path Jesus walked on his way to Crucifixion.

Preparation of the Cross: Christ falls down after which the cross is prepared to crucify him.

In Crucifixion of Jesus (depicted in the large central frame of the fresco), Jesus was stripped of his clothing and hung between two convicted thieves. The soldiers then cast lots for his clothes.

The Lamentation of Christ shows his friends mourning over his body after Jesus was crucified and his body was removed from the cross.

Christ's Descent into Limbo is the scene where Jesus experienced death and his soul joined the other souls in the realm of the dead, but he descended there as the Saviour of the souls imprisoned there.

The Resurrection of Jesus depicts his rising again from the dead. According to the New Testament, after crucifixion, he was buried in a tomb but God resurrected him from the dead.

Frederic Leighton: Flaming June

The oil-on-canvas painting, “Flaming June” of size 47x47 inch (1200 mm × 1200 mm), is created by the English artist Sir Frederic Leighton (3 December 1830 - 25 January 1896) in 1895. The art world considers this as Leighton's magnum opus.

Though art critics and historians credit the actresses Dorothy Dene and Marie Lloyd for having modeled for Flaming June, it was most likely the Dorothy Dene, whom Leighton met in her teens. On close examination, it seems some other female figures in his other works also resemble Dene.

According to art historians the Victorian artist was inspired immensely by Michelangelo’s monumental sculpture titled “Night”, which is located in the Medici Tombs in Florence, Italy. Even the pose and posture of the figure seems to have been adapted from the Night.

The painting has been thought as lost forever as it was not seen after 1930 until it was found again in 1962. It was auctioned thereafter, and soon after it was purchased by the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Ponce, Puerto Rico, where it continues to belong to. It is one of the sought after attractions of the museum in Puerto Rico.

The setting for the painting is Mediterranean, with the sun brightly reflecting from the waves of the seawater. It provides the realism of natural light for the figure of the sleeping woman. The transparent clothing in flaming, intense colors and the marble setting around are typical of Leighton's style. Thanks to the light from sunset reflecting, her cheeks appear to blush, even though she is depicted as sleeping.

Though Leighton painted several single female figures in the period just before, Flaming June is outstanding from all others as regards use of rioting colors to explore beauty, imagination, emotions, sleep and dreams. Perhaps this departure from his earlier styles makes Flaming June a timeless piece of art and the most recognizable work of Frederic Leighton.

Some art historians associate a symbolism of the highly poisonous oleander plant’s branch at the top with sleep, dreams and possibly death. It may be recalled that Leighton passed away in 1896, not too distant from the time of painting Flaming June (1895).

Flaming June is one of the most reproduced paintings. The dress and posture of the female figure has been imitated for modeling for magazine covers by famous models and actresses, and it has been endlessly copied on every possible surface of consumer interest.

Rembrandt: The abduction of Europa

Public Domain Image: The abduction of Europa, known by alternate title: De roof van Europa (Ovidius, Metamorphosen II, 833-875), oil on oak panel painting (1632) by the Dutch painter and etcher Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), dimensions 62.2 cm x 77 cm (24.49 in x 30.31 in) located at The J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles), one of the most visited museums in the United States.

Drawings by Amedeo Modigliani

Public Domain Image: Dancer, drawing by Amedeo Modigliani, private collection.

Public Domain Image: Naakt (Nude), drawing by Amedeo Modigliani, private collection.

Public Domain Image: Anna Akhmatova (1911), pencil on paper drawing by by Amedeo Modigliani, located at Apartment-Museum of Anna Akhmatova, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Anna Akhmatova, the pen name of the modernist Russian poetess Anna Andreyevna Gorenko (1889-1966), one of the most acclaimed female writers of Russia. Akhmatova's work ranges from short lyrical poems to intricate works such as Requiem (1935-40), her tragic masterpiece about the Stalinist terror. Her work was censored by Stalinist authorities. She is also noted for choosing to remain in Russia, acting as a witness to the atrocities around her.
In 1910, Anna Akhmatova married the poet and critic Nicolai Gumilev (1886-1921) and the couple spent the spring of 1910 on their honeymoon in Paris, where Anna met the Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920). She fell in love with Modigliani and spent the summer of 1911 with him in Paris. Her first book of lyrical poems, Evening (1912), reflects the influence of this love affair.

Life and works of Władysław Podkowiński

Public Domain Image: Self-portrait (1887), oil on canvas painting by Władysław Podkowiński, dimensions 55 cm x 45 cm (21.65 in x 17.72 in), located at Muzeum Śląskie, Katowice in Silesia in southern Poland.

Public Domain Image: Szał uniesień (Ecstasy), oil on canvas painting (1894) by Polish painter Władysław Podkowiński (1866-1895), dimensions 275 cm x 310 cm (108.27 in x 122.05 in) currently located at Sukiennice Museum (aka Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art at Sukiennice), a division of the National Museum, Kraków, Poland.

Szał uniesień (titled in English as‘Ecstasy’ or ‘Frenzy of Exultations’, also known as ‘La Folie’ or ‘Ekstase’) is the best known painting of Władysław Podkowiński, and which is considered the first work of symbolism in Polish art, which was exhibited in Zachęta in an atmosphere of scandal, and in 1894 it was featured in a Warsaw art exhibition. However, the art exhibition lasted only 36 days because Podkowinski brought a knife on the 37th day and destroyed his work. The painting was later restored after the death of Podkowiński.

Public Domain Image: Akt (Nude) painting (1892) by Władysław Podkowiński

Władysław Podkowinski (1866-1895) was a Polish painter and illustrator. Podkowiński began his artistic training at Wojciech Gerson's drawing school, the Warsaw Academy of Arts, at which he studied from 1880 to1884. After leaving the school, Podkowinski contributed his art to many of the leading art journals in Warsaw. In 1885 along with Josef Pankiewicz, he travelled to the St. Petersburg Fine Arts Academy where he studied from 1885 to 1886. After returning from St. Petersburg in 1886, Podkowiński started his career as an illustrator for Tygodnik Ilustrowany where he became one its most renowned artists.

Władysław Podkowiński’s earliest works comprising watercolor and oil paintings were created during this time, but Podkowiński still considered his art as a hobby, and not a professional endeavor. His early paintings were mainly influenced by Ignacy Aleksander Gierymski (1850-1901), another Polish painter of the late 19th century.

Władysław Podkowiński embraced painting as a profession in 1889, after a trip to Paris where he was profoundly influenced by French Impressionist painters, particularly Claude Monet. Podkowiński’s impressionist works were highly appreciated, and later he was credited for bringing the Impressionist movement to Poland, and many art historians and writers consider him as the founder of Polish Impressionism. But towards the end of his life, his personal life experiences, including an incurable disease of those times, inclined him to shift towards Symbolism. Władysław Podkowiński died of tuberculosis in Warsaw at the young age of 29, which cut short a very promising career, and of course, it was a great loss to the lovers of art.

Samuel Daniell: Khoisan busy barbecuing grasshoppers

Public Domain Image: Khoisan busy barbecuing grasshoppers (1805), aqua tint by English painter Samuel Daniell (1775-1811), scan from Suid-Afrikaanse Geskiedenis in Beeld (1989) by Anthony Preston, Bion Books, printed in South Africa.

The aqua tint shows a Khoisan (Khoesaan, Khoesan or Khoe-San) family with the man busy barbecuing grasshoppers while his wife is looking on. The name Khoisan is for two ethnic groups of Southern Africa, who share physical and linguistic characteristics distinct from the Bantu majority of the region. Culturally the Khoisan people are divided into the pastoral Khoi and the foraging San.

William Holmes Sullivan: Lady Godiva

Public Domain Image: Lady Godiva (1877), oil on cardboard painting by British painter William Holmes Sullivan, dimension 40 cm x 30 cm

John Collier: The Sleeping Beauty

Public Domain Photo: The Sleeping Beauty(1921), oil on canvas painting by the pre-Raphaelite English writer and painter John Maler Collier (1850-1934), dimension 91 cm x 112 cm.

Porcelain Vase at China Sex Museum in Tongli, China

Public Domain Photo: Porcelain Vase located at China Sex Museum, in Tongli (or Tong-Li), a town in Wujiang county on the outskirts of Suzhou, China.

Rembrandt: Simson, an der Hochzeitstafel das Rätsel aufgebend

Public Domain Image: Simson, an der Hochzeitstafel das Rätsel aufgebend (a 1638 painting depicting Samson's marriage feast in which he delivers the puzzle), oil on canvas painting by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669), dimensions 126.5 cm x 175.5 cm, located at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, Germany.

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When Samson (also spelled as Shimshon, Simson, Shamshoun or Sampson) grows up to adulthood, he leaves his hills people to see the cities of the Philistines, where he falls in love with a Philistine woman and he decides to marry her. On the way to her house to ask for the woman's hand in marriage, Samson is attacked by a lion but he easily grabs it and rips it apart as he is blessed with divine powers, and reaches the Philistine's house and wins her hand in marriage. On his way to the wedding, Samson notices that bees have nested in the carcass of the lion and have made honey. He drinks some honey and gives some to his parents. At the wedding feast, Samson offers the puzzle, "Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet", to his thirty Philistine groomsmen, and promises them thirty pieces of fine linen and garments, if they can solve it. The puzzle relates to his eating honey, on his second encounter with the lion (carcass). Failed and infuriated, the 30 Philistines tell Samson's wife to discover the answer and tell them, and threatens to burn her and her father's household if she does not do so. On the tearful imploring of his bride, Samson tells her the solution, which she reveals to the thirty groomsmen.

Charles Gleyre: Le Coucher de Sappho

PD Image: Sappho geht zu Bett (translated variously as Sappho goes to bed,
Le Coucher de Sappho or The setting of Sappho), 1867 oil on canvas painting by Swiss painter Marc Charles Gabriel Gleyre (generally known as Charles Gleyre, 1806-1874), dimensions 108 cm x 72 cm (42.52 in x 28.35 in).

Green Peafowl - Pavo muticus

PD Image: Green Peafowl (Pavo muticus), monograph (1872) of the Phasianidae or the family of the pheasants by Daniel Giraud Elliot (1835-1915).

PD Photo: Green Peafowl (Pavo muticus imperator or Pavo imperator imperator) male

PD Photo: Green Peafowl (Pavo muticus) in the Taipei Zoo, Taiwan

The Green Peafowl (Pavo muticus) belongs to Galliformes, an order of birds containing Turkeys, Grouses, Chickens, Quails and Pheasants. They are known by names such as gamefowl, gamebirds, landfowl, gallinaceous birds or galliforms, peacock, peahen, wildfowl or simply fowl. These birds are found in most of Southeast Asia, and it is the closest relative of the Indian Peafowl or Blue Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) found in the Indian subcontinent.

Males and females of Green Peafowl look almost similar, and it is quite difficult to distinguish their sexes during most part of the year when the males have no visible trains. However, the males of the subspecies imperator (P. m. imperator) and spicifer (P. m. spicifer) are overall bluish green.

Green Peafowl are one of the largest Galliforms in terms of overall length and wingspan but lighter than Wild Turkeys. The male Green Peafowl grows up to 3 meters/ 10 feet long, including its ‘train’ and weighs up to 5 kg/ 11 lbs. The female measures 1.1 meter/ 3.5 feet in length and weighs about 1.1 kg/ 2.4 lbs. Green Peafowl have large wingspans of about 1.2 meter/ 4 feet, and is a better flier capable of sustained flight, unlike Indian Peafowl.

The habitat of Green Peafowl is widely spread in Southeast Asia including India, Bangladesh, Burma (Myanmar), China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia (Java). They prefer forests (tropical and subtropical, evergreen and deciduous forests), and are found amongst bamboos, grasslands, savannas, scrubs and farmland edges. It nests on the ground laying 3 to 6 eggs.

Green Peafowl’s diet consists mainly of fruits, invertebrates, reptiles, frogs, and other small animals. Like the other members of its genus, the Green Peafowl can even hunt venomous snakes. Ticks and termites, flower petals, buds leaves and berries are their favorite foods. Their predators include large cats such as the Clouded Leopards, Leopards, Tigers, Jungle Cats and Fishing Cats. The Green Peafowl is an endangered species included in the IUCN Red List.

The Judgement of Paris, Capodimonte porcelain

PD Photo: The Judgement of Paris, Capodimonte porcelain, Capitoline Museums, Rome

Capodimonte porcelain is created by the Capodimonte porcelain manufactory, which was established in Naples in 1743, when the Spanish King Charles (VII of Napoli, V of Sicilia) and his wife Queen Maria Amalia of Saxony instituted the Royal Factory of Capodimonte. Capodimonte porcelain was an emulation of Meissen porcelain.

For the manufactory, the chemist Livio Ottavio Schepers improved the composition of the soft paste porcelain body. The sculptor Giuseppe Gricci and the decorator Casella contributed to the creation of important works of art. Capodimonte is famous for its molded figurines and its decorative modeled flowers on cups and vases. With this factory they gave birth to one of the most famous Italian forms of art.

'The rest of the model' by Antonio Cortina Farinós

PD Photo: El descanso de la modelo (The rest of the model), oil painting on canvas (1890) by Antonio Cortina Farinós (1841-1890), dimensions 56 cm x 42 cm, located at Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain.

Oil paintings by William Edward Frost

Image: L'Allegro (1848), oil on canvas painting by William Edward Frost, size 97 cm x 71 cm, currently located at Royal Collection of the United Kingdom, Windsor, United Kingdom.

Image: Venus and Cupid (Vénus et Cupidon) oil on canvas painting by William Edward Frost, dimensions 31.8 cm x 46.4 cm sold by Christie's London on February 20, 2003, now believed to be in The Forbes Collection of Victorian Pictures and Works of Art II.

English painter of the Victorian era William Edward Frost (1810-1877) had established a reputation as a portrait painter before he turned to historical and mythological subjects, including the sub-genre of fairy painting characteristic of Victorian art. In 1839 Frost won the Royal Academy's gold medal for his ‘Prometheus Bound’, and in 1843 he won a prize in the Westminster Hall competition for his ‘Una Alarmed by Fauns’. Frost was elected associate member of the Royal Academy in 1846, and he became a full member in 1870.

Leda and the Swan, 3rd century tile mosaic

Photo: Tile mosaic depicting ‘Leda and the Swan’ from the Sanctuary of Aphrodite, Palea Paphos, now in the Cyprus Museum, Nicosia, Cyprus. The mosaic is estimated to be of 3rd century AD, by an unknown artist.

The Cyprus Archaeological Museum, founded in 1882 during the British occupation of the island is the oldest and largest archaeological museum in Cyprus, housing artifacts discovered during excavations on the island. Located on Museum Street in central Nicosia, Cyprus Museum is home to the most extensive collection of Cypriot antiquities in the world, and it displays only artifacts discovered or excavated from the island.

Favorite of the Emir by Benjamin Constant

Image: Favorite of the Emir (1879) by French painter Jean Joseph Benjamin Constant (1845-1902), oil on canvas painting, 142.24 cm x 220.98 cm (56 in x 87 in), located at National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA.

The painting depicts the favorite woman of the Emir, a slave or Eunuch and another woman of the Emir’s harem. A harem refers to the sphere of women in a polygynous in households or palaces and their quarters which is enclosed and forbidden to men. The word originated in the Near East and came to the West via the Ottoman Empire, and the word has been recorded in the English language since 1634. A centuries-old theme in Western culture is the depiction of European women forcibly taken into Oriental harems.

The harem exerted a certain fascination on the European imagination, especially during the Age of Romanticism, due in part to the writings of the adventurer Richard Francis Burton. Many Westerners imagined a harem as a brothel consisting of many sensual young women lying around pools with oiled bodies, with the sole purpose of pleasing the powerful man to whom they had given themselves.

A harem need not necessarily consist of women with whom the head of the household has sexual relations (wives and concubines), but also their children and other females. It may include staff such as slave women and eunuchs. It is being more acknowledged today that the purpose of harems was for the royal upbringing of the future wives of nobles and royal men. Some women of Ottoman harem played very important political roles, and at times it was said that the empire was ruled from the harem.

It is claimed that harems existed in Persia under the Ancient Achaemenids and later Iranian dynasties -- the Sassanid Chosroes II reportedly had a harem of 3000 wives, as well as 12,000 other women -- and lasted well into the Qajar Dynasty. Ancient Egyptian pharaohs are said to have made a ‘constant demand’ of provincial governors for more beautiful servant girls. In Mexico, Aztec ruler Montezuma II, who met Cortes, kept 4,000 concubines; every member of the Aztec nobility was supposed to have had as many consorts as he could afford.

Harem is also the usual English translation of the Chinese language term hougong, meaning the palaces behind. Hougong are large palaces for the Chinese emperor's consorts, concubines, female attendants and eunuchs. The women who lived in an emperor's hougong sometimes numbered in the thousands.

The Forest Pool, painting by Elliot Daingerfield

Image: The Forest Pool (1915) by Elliot Daingerfield

The American painter Elliot Daingerfield (1859-1932) is considered one of the most prolific artists of North Carolina. Elliot was born in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, before he moved to New York to study art at the age of 21.

Elliot Daingerfield's works were inspired by the European Symbolist movement, and elements of influences Impressionism and Romanticism can also be observed in his works. Daingerfield's first exhibition was at the National Academy of Design in 1880. In 1971 the North Carolina Museum of Art displayed 200 of Daingerfield's paintings and now the museum displays his works ‘Grand Canyon’ and ‘Evening Glow’.

Image of the painting ‘Leda and the Swan’ by Elliot Daingerfield

Mademoiselle Rose by Eugene Delacroix

‘Mademoiselle Rose’, (1817-1824), oil on canvas painting by French Romantic artist Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix commonly known as Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863), dimensions 81 cm x 66 cm (31.89” x 25.98”) currently located at Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.