ArtExpertOnLine

   Here we have one of my favorite Leonaro Da Vinci paintings.   It is titled, Lady With An Ermine and was painted about 1490 when Da Vinci was 38 years old.  It is an oil on walnut and is the property of the National Museum Czartoryski in Krakow, Poland.    This is a beautiful, realistic image that is very striking.  Da Vinci decided against a background (as he used in Mona Lisa )  in favor of creating great contrast between the flesh tones and rich blacks.  So it is only the woman's dress and the ermine that suggest who she was and what her interests were.     Many years ago when I saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre I was amazed at the beauty of her hand, and here again, he has rendered the hand with great skill and tenderness.  But my attention is drawn to the ermine.  How did he do this?  It is amazing.  The animal seems to be looking the same direction as the lady, so soft and such a tender relationship between the two.  This animal is as alive as the woman holding her.   

   Today's image is an oil painting by American Impressionist, Childe Hassam (pronounced child, hass'm) titled Autumn Boulevard, Paris.  It is in a private collection.    It was painted sometime between 1886-89 when Hassam spent 3 years in Paris studying European painting.  There is no evidence Hassam ever met Monet, Renoir or others as the French group of impressionists had pretty much dissolved as a group by 1886, the time of their last and final exhibit.  But obviously, Hassam captured the spirit of the movement and brought it home to New York.    This beautiful image is an unusual composition.  Here the center of attention bounces from the horse and carriage to the woman waiting at the curb.  The line of the curb draws the two together, plus the evenly spaced row of trees acting as a rhythm pattern moving the eye across the canvas.   The color harmony is blue/green to orange/red, another complementary arrangement.  Notice how the woman's white apron pops her into our

  Here is Pierrre Auguste Renoir's beautiful painting Children's Afternoon at Wargemont from 1884.  The original painting is in the collection of the Alte Nationalgaerie in Berlin, Germany.     Renoir was at the height of his career when he created this work in 1884.  Here we see three girls in an interior space.  The flowers and view out the window indicate it is summer, maybe late spring.  The room's decor and the girl's dress suggest a prosperous French family.  The oldest girl is hand sewing, the middle, reading and the youngest loves her doll and oldest sister.     If you have read my previous blogs, you may have an idea why I selected this painting for review.  Obviously it is a beautiful image, and I can imagine seeing the original is spectacular for Renoir knew how to use color to its best advantage - pure, clean and bright.  The composition is particularly interesting.  Similar to the Kirchner and the Vermeer Renoir has provided a base of orange/yellow. An

    1896 is the year Alphonse Mucha created a series of four lithographs titled: Four Seasons  The one for today is Winter .   It is the height of the design movement titled Art Nouveau, and Mucha is a master of the style.  Here we see a lovely woman out in the snow draped in a form fitting soft green fabric.  She has cupped a bird in her palms, lovingly bringing it to her mouth, where we can assume she is warming it with her breath. Such a beautiful image, and such a warm, wonderful sentiment.    So let us examine the composition.  Here again the work is based on a complimentary color harmony: soft pink/reds, and soft blue/greens.  She is standing in the midst of a snarly tree done in light grey and white which contrasts with the softness and sensuous quality of the draped fabric. Warming the format in the far background, is a pink swirl of color framing the upper portion. The figure pops because of the contrast of color and because Mucha has completely outlined her with a reaso