#18th century painting

[acrosscenturiesandgenerations]

▪︎ Painting of a Seated Woman.

Place of origin: Iran

Date: late 18th century

Dynasty/Period: Qajar Period

Medium: Oil on canvas

[pagansphinx]

Joshua Reynolds (British, 1723-1792) • Venus Untying the Zone of Venus • Tate Britain (copies in Soane Museum and Hermitage Museum)

[papillon-de-mai]

Nicolas De Largilliere — Portrait Of Elegant Regence Period Entourage. circa 1720. detail

[frostedmagnolias]

Pleasure c.1754

Anton Raphael Mengs (German, Ústi nad Labem (Aussig) 1728–1779 Rome)

[collectionstilllife]

Anne Vallayer-Coster (French, 1744-1818) • Still-Life with Tuft of Marine Plants, Shells and Corals • 1769

[venustapolis]

Illustration from the Alchemical Text 'Clavis Artis' ('Zoroaster', 1738)

[matyas-ss]

Cats by Bamboo and Chrysanthemums, Shěn Quán [Shen Ch'üan, traditional: 沈銓, simplified: 沈铨] (c.1710). Minneapolis Institute of Art.

[somethingwithmoles]

Thomas Hudson, Portrait of a Man, 1750, oil on canvas, 127.3 x 102 cm, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London

Source: Wikimedia Commons

[icecreamwithjackdaniels]

Aert Schouman (Dutch, 1710–1792)

Three birds: two Inca pigeons and a collared cuckoo (1753)

Two birds: an apple finch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) and a keep (Fringilla montifringilla) (1752)

Two birds, including a red-green parrot

Two birds: a blue jay and a purple-breasted cotinga (1760)

[fangledeities]

Jessica Biel

The Vision of Saint Jerome (Het visioen van de Heilige Hieronymus), 1715. Pieter Snyers (Flemish, 1681-1752).

[love-for-carnation]

Still Life with Flowers Tobias Stranover (1684–1756, Transylvanian Saxon born)

[pagansphinx]

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun • (French, 1755-1842) • La Comtesse Skavronskaia • 1796 • The Louvre, Paris

[papillon-de-mai]

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun — Self Portrait in a Straw Hat. 1782. detail

[mask131]

Fantasy sights: of Derby

Another classical painter, to match the French Ingres - the British Joseph Wright of Derby, a great painter of the 18th century.

Let's begin with one of Derby's famous pieces, "The alchemist in search of the philosopher's stone", embodying the entire myths and legends surrounding the figure of the alchemist and the famed "stone". People might however be disappointed to learn that the actual and proper title to this piece is "The alchemist discovering phosporus", and that it is not as fantastical or imaginary as one would believe: it is actually an historical piece, depicting the German alchemist Hennig Brand discovering phosporus.

Next piece: The Lady in Milton's Comus. In my previous post I talked about the Orlando Furioso - here, is another forgotten name of my list, the play (well, a masque) Comus by Milton. Yes, the same Milton who created the Luciferian epic "Paradise Lost". Comus is the second most famous work of Milton right after Paradise Lost, and it has very Shakespearian tones, as a Lady and her two brothers, wandering through the woods, kept separated - the Lady becomes the prisoner of Comus, a perverse sorcerer and spirit of debauchery trying to rally the Lady to his sins, while her brothers are helped by an angelic spirit in their quest for their lost sister...

Speaking of Shakespeare, here is Derby's take on the Bard: Romeo and Juliet, the Tomb Scene.

This time a subject from the Odyssey: Penelope Unraveling her Web.

And finally, a subject taken from a Persian tale: Miravan breaking open the tomb of his ancestors.

[collectionstilllife]

Alexandre-François Desportes (French, 1661-1743) • Still Life with Ewer • 1734 • Musée du Louvre

[venustapolis]

From William Walton's 'Art and Architecture, an official illustrated publication of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition'