It’s not hard to imagine having a good old knees up with Judith Leyster, even 405 years after her birth. After all, the people in her paintings still look like they’re having a good time – laughing, singing, playing cards and, above all, smiling. But smiling, in Leyster’s paintings, doesn’t always signify good clean fun. Take, … Continue reading
Good old Alois Senefelder. It might be easy to overlook him in the grand sweep of art history. After all, he wasn’t exactly an artist himself, but if it weren’t for him, we might never have seen any of the following works: All of the images above are lithographs — prints made using limestone. Senefelder … Continue reading
Where’s the Party? While Panini (1692-1765) lived and worked in Rome, his party is nowhere you could get to with a plane ticket – or even a ride in a time machine. Panini loved creating new, fantasy landscapes filled with monuments of the Classical – that is, ancient Greek and Roman – past. But he … Continue reading
Happy Birthday – Where’s the party? The Palace of Versailles. Vigée Le Brun lived in and visited many different places over the course of her long career including the Netherlands, Austria, Russia, Italy and England. But her early association with Marie Antoinette shaped the rest of her career – in fact, it was because of … Continue reading
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) is a key figure in the history of Western art. But among the important things he did for art, there is a smattering of the fabricated, mysterious and bizarre that you may not have heard. So let’s celebrate Alberti’s 609th birthday today by taking a look at a couple of his … Continue reading
When I tell people that I insure art for a living, I like to pretend that my life is like The Thomas Crown Affair on loop. Of course it isn’t. For one thing, Crown’s spunky can-do love interest is an investigator. I, on the other hand, am an underwriter. This means that I look at … Continue reading
Gilbert Stuart was irritable, depressive, vain and difficult. And he painted some amazing portraits. So amazing, in fact, that if you’re reading this blog you’ve definitely seen and are almost certainly deeply familiar with his most famous portrait. That’s right, the portrait of George Washington on the one-dollar bill is the work of this crabby … Continue reading
Born: 7 November, 1598 in Fuente de Cantos Died: 27 August, 1664 Movement: Spanish Baroque Patrons: Philip IV of Spain, Diego Velazquez Where is his birthday party? In Seville near Alcazar, the royal palace. Gift idea? How about a bowl of oranges, three lemons, a glass of water and a rose? Beware though — these … Continue reading
Before the Art 