Simplon Pass, John Singer Sargent, oil on canvas, roughly 28 x 37 inches ( 72 x 93 cm), in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, DC, which has both a zoomable and downloadable version of the high resolution image. The more I study John Singer Sargent’s paintings the more I’m knocked out by his astonishing level of mastery of the brush. Look at the apparent simplicity of some of his marks — like those in the upper left middle ground (images above, second from bottom) — and how remarkable effective they are at suggesting verigated terrain. And look at the details of texture and color w ..read more

Marc Dalessio is a contemporary American painter whose work I have followed with interest for a number of years. I first wrote about him in 2009, and again in 2014. I’m long overdue to feature him again for perhaps a new group of readers. Dalessio travels the world, painting and teaching, and his work captures the character, light and color of the places he visits with a keen eye to reducing what he sees to the essentials. His work can currently be seen in a show at the Grenning Gallery in Sag Harbor, NY from now until May 5, 2024. Marc Dalessio is married to painter Tina Orsolic DaAlessio. F ..read more

The Princess looks into that which she should not have done., from Mother Hildegarde, part of The Wonder Clock, a collection of new fairy tales with pen and ink illustration by Howard Pyle. I don’t know the size of location of the original (though I can hope it’s in the collection of the Brandywine River Museum). Image sourced from this page on the Art & Artists blog. Pyle was famous for his illustrations of great American adventure stories by prominent authors, but he was an author himself. He wrote and illustrated a wonderful collection of 24 new (at the time) fairy tales, one for each ..read more

Day Dreams, George Clausen, oil on canvas; roughly 27 x 60 inches (70 x 152 cm). Link is to the image file page on Wikimedia Commons. Their source is a 2007 Sotheby’s auction, so I assume the original is currenty in a private collection. In this idyllic rural scene by the British painter George Clausen, we can see his admiration for the French painter Jules Bastien-Lepage who was roughly his contemporary. Both painters idealized the lives of farm workers; and both painted with a particularly subtle sensitivity to value relationships ..read more

Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema (née Epps) was a British painter active in the late 19th cenntury who was evidently fascinated with Dutch 17th century genre painting, notably the works of Vermeer and De Hooch. She apparently did not have formal training and likely received most of her instruction from her husband, noted Victorian painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema, who she met when she was 17, and he an established artist at 33. Laura acted as a stepmother to Lawrence’s daughters, including Anna Alama-Tadema, who became a skilled painter in watercolor ..read more

  The Omval, Rembrandt van Rijn, etching and drypoint, roughly 7 x 9 inches (19×23 cm); this printing is in the collection of the Metropolitan museum of Art, which has both a zoomable and downloadable version of the image. Rembrandt was, in my opinion, the greatest master of etching and drypoint in history. Though many of his etchings were of a religious nature, here he has fun with a naturalistic riverfront scene. The Omval is the name for a well-known spot along the Amstel River. A glorious tree dominates the scene; behind it we see sailboats and what appears to be a passenger ferry on ..read more

Things may be a bit wonky for a while — missing links & such — I’m working on it. -Charley ..read more

The Princess looks into that which she should not have done., from Mother Hildegarde, part of The Wonder Clock, a collection of new fairy tales with pen and ink illustration by Howard Pyle. I don’t know the size of location of the original (though I can hope it’s in the collection of the Brandywine River Museum). Image sourced from this page on the Art & Artists blog. Pyle was famous for his illustrations of great American adventure stories by prominent authors, but he was an author himself. He wrote and illustrated a wonderful collection of 24 new (at the time) fairy tales, one for each ..read more

Day Dreams, George Clausen, oil on canvas; roughly 27 x 60 inches (70 x 152 cm). Link is to the image file page on Wikimedia Commons. Their source is a 2007 Sotheby’s auction, so I assume the original is currenty in a private collection. In this idyllic rural scene by the British painter George Clausen, we can see his admiration for the French painter Jules Bastien-Lepage who was roughly his contemporary. Both painters idealized the lives of farm workers; and both painted with a particularly subtle sensitivity to value relationships ..read more

Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema (née Epps) was a British painter active in the late 19th cenntury who was evidently fascinated with Dutch 17th century genre painting, notably the works of Vermeer and De Hooch. She apparently did not have formal training and likely received most of her instruction from her husband, noted Victorian painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema, who she met when she was 17, and he an established artist at 33. Laura acted as a stepmother to Lawrence’s daughters, including Anna Alama-Tadema, who became a skilled painter in watercolor ..read more