#half length

[portrait-paintings]

The Painter Carlos Luis de Ribera

Artist: Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (Spanish, I1815 - 1894)

Date: 1839

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Carlos Luis de Ribera y Fieve

Carlos Luis de Ribera y Fievé (1814-1891) eldest son of the neoclassical painter, Juan Antonio de Ribera, was also a painter and a friend of Federico de Madrazo, who made this portrait while both lived in Paris. It is the result of an agreement that each would paint the image of the other, and then send the works to the annual painting exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid.

[royalty-nobility]

Alexandra Feodorovna

Artist: George Dawe (English, 1781-1829)

Date: 1820's

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: State Historical Museum, St Petersburgh, Russia

Alexandra Feodorovna

Alexandra Feodorovna (6 June [O.S. 25 May] 1872 – 17 July 1918), born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, was the last Empress of Russia as the consort of Tsar Nicholas II from their marriage on 26 November [O.S. 14 November] 1894 until his forced abdication on 15 March [O.S. 2 March] 1917. A granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Alexandra was one of the most famous royal carriers of hemophilia and passed the condition to her son, Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia.

[preraphaelitepaintings]

Flora

Artist: James Smetham (English, 1821-1889)

Date: 19th century

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Private Collection

[galleryofart]

Portrait of a Lady

Artist: Rogier van der Weyden (Netherlandish, 1399/1400 - 1464)

Date: c. 1460

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, United States

Description

This painting is an outstanding example of the abstract elegance characteristic of Rogier's late portraits. Although the identity of the sitter is unknown, her air of self–conscious dignity suggests that she is a member of the nobility. Her costume and severely plucked eyebrows and hairline are typical of those favored by highly placed ladies of the Burgundian court.

The stylish costume does not distract attention from the sitter. The dress, with its dark bands of fur, almost merges with the background. The spreading headdress frames and focuses attention upon her face. Light falls with exquisite beauty along the creases of the sheer veiling over her head, and gentle shadows mark her fine bone structure. In contrast to the spareness of execution in most of the painting, the gold filigree of her belt buckle is rendered with meticulous precision. The scarlet belt serves as a foil to set off her delicately clasped hands.

Rogier excelled as a portrait painter because he so vividly presented the character of the persons he portrayed. The downcast eyes, the firmly set lips, and the tense fingers reflect this woman's mental concentration. Rogier juxtaposed the strong sensation of the sitter's acute mental activity to his rigid control of the composition and the formality of her costume and pose, presenting the viewer with an image of passionate austerity.

[historypaintings]

Hayne Hudjihini, Eagle of Delight

Artist: Henry Inman (American, 1801–1846)

Date: 1832–1833

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Yor City, NY, United States

Description

Inman’s portraits of Native Americans were painted in preparation for hand-colored lithographs to be made for a publication by the Head of Indian Affairs, Thomas L. McKenney -- The History of the Indian Tribes of North America" (1836–44). These distinguished leaders had originally been painted from life by Charles Bird King, when invited to Washington in 1822. King’s portraits were destroyed in a fire at the Smithsonian Institution in 1865. This rare portrayal of a Native American woman, Hayne Hudjihini, Eagle of Delight - wife of Sumonyeacathee, Chief of the Otoe-Missouria people - emphasizes her distinctive beauty and bearing. She is adorned with earrings, necklaces, and a silver bracelet.

[artemlegere]

Portrait of Dante Alighieri

Artist: Florentine School

Date: c. 1540

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Private collection, southern Germany

Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri (c. May 1265 – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian poet, writer, and philosopher.His Divine Comedy, originally called Comedìa (modern Italian: Commedia) and later christened Divina by Giovanni Boccaccio, is widely considered one of the most important poems of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language.

Dante is known for establishing the use of the vernacular in literature at a time when most poetry was written in Latin, which was accessible only to educated readers. His De vulgari eloquentia (On Eloquence in the Vernacular) was one of the first scholarly defenses of the vernacular. His use of the Florentine dialect for works such as The New Life (1295) and Divine Comedy helped establish the modern-day standardized Italian language. His work set a precedent that important Italian writers such as Petrarch and Boccaccio would later follow.

Dante was instrumental in establishing the literature of Italy, and is considered to be among the country's national poets and the Western world's greatest literary icons. His depictions of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven provided inspiration for the larger body of Western art and literature. He influenced English writers such as Geoffrey Chaucer, John Milton, and Alfred Tennyson, among many others. In addition, the first use of the interlocking three-line rhyme scheme, or the terza rima, is attributed to him. He is described as the "father" of the Italian language, and in Italy he is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta ("the Supreme Poet"). Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio are also called the tre corone ("three crowns") of Italian literature.

[artandthebible]

The Virgin Mary At Prayer

Artist: Attributed to Francesco Capella (Italian, 1711-1784)

Date: 1700-1769

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Trust Collections, London, United Kingdom

[britishhistorycollection]

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, 1769 - 1852. Soldier and Statesman

Artist: Henry Perronet Briggs (English, 1791-1844)

Date: ca. 1837

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was a British Army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, twice serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was one of the British commanders who ended the Anglo-Mysore wars by defeating Tipu Sultan in 1799 and among those who ended the Napoleonic Wars in a Coalition victory when the Seventh Coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Wellesley was born into a Protestant Ascendancy family in Dublin, Kingdom of Ireland. He was commissioned as an ensign in the British Army in 1787, serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive lords lieutenant of Ireland. He was also elected as a member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons. Rising to the rank of colonel by 1796, Wellesley served in the Flanders campaign before being sent to India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, ending the conflict with a victory at Seringapatam in 1799. He was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore and, as a newly appointed major-general, won a decisive victory over the Maratha Confederacy at the Battle of Assaye in 1803.

Rising to prominence as a general officer during the Peninsular War, Wellesley was promoted to field marshal after leading British-led forces to victory against a French army at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon's first exile in 1814, he served as the British ambassador to France and was made Duke of Wellington. During the Hundred Days campaign in 1815, Wellington commanded another British-led army which, together with a Prussian army under Field Marshal Gebhard von Blücher, defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

After the end of his active military career, Wellington returned to politics. He was twice British prime minister as a Tory from 1828 to 1830 and for a little less than a month in 1834. Wellington oversaw the passage of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, and opposed the Reform Act 1832. He is the only Irishman to serve as British Prime Minister. He continued to be one of the leading figures in the House of Lords until his retirement and remained Commander-in-Chief of the Forces until his death in 1852.

[mobydyke]

one thing about me is that I'm looking stuff up. you mentioned something and I don't know it? I am pulling out my phone and googling that shit. an actor? theoretical physics? a world leader? a vocabulary word? I am on the wikipedia page as we speak

[portrait-paintings]

Woman with a Fan (Portrait of Maude Bouvier)

Artist: Albert Herter (American, 1871 - 1950)

Date: c. 1895

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA, United States

[royalty-nobility]

Portrait of Princess Marie Luise Alexandrine of Prussia, born Princess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1808-1877)

Artist: Franz Xaver Winterhalter (German, 1805-1873)

Date: 1873

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Private collection

Princess Marie of Saxe-Eisenach

Princess Marie Luise Alexandrina of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (3 February 1808 in Weimar – 18 January 1877 in Berlin) was a princess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, by birth, and, by marriage, a princess of Prussia. She was the daughter of Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia.

[preraphaelitepaintings]

Alice

Artist: George Frederic Watts (English, 1817-1904)

Date: 1883

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

[historypaintings]

Molière (1622-1673) in the Role of Caesar in "The Death of Pompey"

Artist: Nicolas Mignard (French, 1606–1668)

Date: 1656

Medium: Oil painting

Collection: Museum of Romantic Life, Paris, France

Molière

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world literature. His extant works include comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed at the Comédie-Française more often than those of any other playwright today. His influence is such that the French language is often referred to as the "language of Molière".

[artemlegere]

Ira Aldridge in the Role of Shakespeare's Othello

Artist: William Mulready (Irish, 1786–1863)

Date: ca. 1826

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Ira Aldridge in the Role of Shakespeare's Othello

The subject of this work shows a marked resemblance to the famous African-American actor Ira Aldridge (1807-1867), praised as one of the greatest tragic actors of his day, he won renown in Europe for his Shakespearean roles, including Lear, Macbeth and, most famously, Othello. On October 10, 1825, Aldridge made his European debut, making him the first African American actor to establish himself professionally in a foreign country (at London's Royal Coburg Theatre). The following year he played Othello. By the time of his death in 1867 he had won awards and medals all over Europe, having played in Berlin, Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt, Cologne, Bonn, Budapest and the major cities of Russia. An innovation Aldridge introduced early in his career was a direct address to the audience on the closing night of his engagement at a given theatre. Especially in the years leading up to the emancipation of enslaved people in British colonies (by act of 1833) he would speak of the injustice of enslavement and the passionate desire for freedom of those held in bondage.

[artandthebible]

Queen Esther

Artist: Hugues Merle (French, 1822–1881)

Date: 1875

Medium: Oil on Canvas on Masonite

Collection: Private Collection

Portrait of Biblical Queen Esther

Esther, originally Hadassah, is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical narrative, which is set in the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus falls in love with Esther and marries her. His grand vizier Haman is offended by Esther's cousin and guardian Mordecai because of his refusal to bow before him; bowing in front of another person was a prominent gesture of respect in Persian society, but deemed unacceptable by Mordecai, who believes that a Jew should only express submissiveness to God. Consequently, Haman plots to have all of Persia's Jews killed, and eventually convinces Ahasuerus to permit him to do so. However, Esther foils the plan by revealing and decrying Haman's plans to Ahasuerus, who then has Haman executed and grants permission to the Jews to take up arms against their enemies;Esther is hailed for her courage and for working to save the Jewish nation from eradication.

[britishhistorycollection]

Anne Boleyn

Artist: Unknown

Date: c. 16th century

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn (c. 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading for treason, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation.

Anne was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn (later Earl of Wiltshire), and his wife, Elizabeth Howard, and was educated in the Netherlands and France. Anne returned to England in early 1522, to marry her cousin James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond; the marriage plans were broken off, and instead, she secured a post at court as maid of honour to Henry VIII's wife, Catherine of Aragon. Early in 1523, Anne was secretly betrothed to Henry Percy, son of Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland, but the betrothal was broken off when the Earl refused to support it. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey refused the match in January 1524.

In February or March 1526, Henry VIII began his pursuit of Anne. She resisted his attempts to seduce her, refusing to become his mistress, as her sister Mary had previously been. Henry focused on annulling his marriage to Catherine, so he would be free to marry Anne. After Wolsey failed to obtain an annulment from Pope Clement VII, it became clear the marriage would not be annulled by the Catholic Church. As a result, Henry and his advisers, such as Thomas Cromwell, began breaking the Church's power in England and closing the monasteries. Henry and Anne formally married on 25 January 1533, after a secret wedding on 14 November 1532. On 23 May 1533, the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared Henry and Catherine's marriage null and void. Five days later, he declared Henry and Anne's marriage valid. Clement excommunicated Henry and Cranmer. As a result of the marriage and excommunications, the first break between the Church of England and the Catholic Church took place, and the King took control of the Church of England. Anne was crowned queen on 1 June 1533. On 7 September, she gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. Henry was disappointed to have a daughter, but hoped a son would follow and professed to love Elizabeth. Anne subsequently had three miscarriages and by March 1536, Henry was courting Jane Seymour.

Henry had Anne investigated for high treason in April 1536. On 2 May, she was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, where she was tried before a jury, including Henry Percy, her former betrothed, and her uncle Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. She was convicted on 15 May and beheaded four days later. Historians view the charges, which included adultery, incest with her brother George, and plotting to kill the King, as unconvincing.

After her daughter, Elizabeth, became queen in 1558, Anne became venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation, particularly through the works of George Wyatt.[13] She has inspired, or been mentioned in, many cultural works and retained her hold on the popular imagination. She has been called "the most influential and important queen consort England has ever had", as she provided the occasion for Henry to declare the English Church's independence from the Vatican.

This painting is probably based on a contemporary portrait which no longer survives. Boleyn was described as having a long neck, wide mouth and with 'eyes which were black and beautiful'. This portrait has recently undergone structural conservation following a successful fundraising campaign and the generous support of public donations.