Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Family Reunion (1893)

Marcel Andre Baschet: Family Reunion at the Home of Madame Adolphe Brisson

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Carved rock crystal ewer (1893)

Blaise Alexandre Desgoffe: Carved rock crystal ewer 
and precious objects on red velvet

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Mordecai (1892)

Jean-Jules Antoine Lecomte du Noüy: Mordecai, second in power to the King

The present work depicts Mordecai, from the Book of Esther. Mordecai was the adoptive father of Esther, the beautiful Jewess who became queen to the king Ahasuerus. Mordecai held an office in the king's court. After Esther was chosen as queen, he exposed a plot to assassinate the king. Later, Haman the Agagite was appointed to the highest position in the kingdom, but Mordecai refused to bow to him. Haman became so infuriated that he devised a plan to destroy not only Mordecai, but all of the Judeans in the empire. The king was unaware of the nationality of his beloved queen and gave Haman the authority to execute his plan. Haman had letters sent to every governor of every province that on a certain day they would coordinate the total annihilation of every Judean man, woman and child. Mordecai learned of this evil plan and notified Esther of Haman’s plot. Esther revealed the plot to the king and Haman was hanged and the plot stopped.

The subject is unusual for Lecomte du Noüy, who is primarily known for his Orientalist subjects. Although he exhibited religious and historical paintings at the Salon beginning in 1863, after 1872 when Lecomte du Noüy made an extended trip to Greece, Egypt, Turkey and Asia Minor, Orientalist themes dominated his oeuvre. Even among his religious compositions, Jewish themes were rare. He did complete an image of Judith (1875), depicting the profile of a woman in exotic dress and the traditional head-dress worn by married women from Bethlehem, as well as a composition Rabbis Commenting on the Bible on Saturday (1882). Additionally, Lecomte du Noüy’s first wife was the grand-daughter of Adolphe Crémieux, the former French Minister of Justice who withdrew from political office to become president of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in the 1860s. Lecomte du Noüy painted a portrait of Crémieux (1878), now at the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme in Paris. [Schiller and Bodo]

Monday, November 13, 2017

Thursday, November 9, 2017

François-Alfred Delobbe (1982)

 François-Alfred Delobbe: Sisterly Love
  
François-Alfred Delobbe: The Offering

Monday, November 6, 2017

The Bathers (1892)

Etienne Dinet: The Bathers

Etienne Dinet (March 28, 1861 - Paris, December 24, 1929) was a French orientalist painter. Compared to modernist painters such as Henri Matisse, who also visited northern Africa in the first decade of the 20th century, Dinet's paintings are extremely conservative. They are highly mimetic, indeed ethnographic, in their treatment of their subject. Dinet's understanding of Arab culture and language set him apart from other orientalist artists. Surprisingly, he was able to find nude models in rural Algeria. [Gandalf’s Gallery]

Thursday, November 2, 2017

William Bouguereau (1891)

It is clear that in these two paintings Bouguereau not only used the same model, but she is also wearing the same outfit!

 William Bouguereau: The Earrings

William Bouguereau: Work Interrupted