Saturday, September 30, 2017

Hylas

Roman mosaic
Hylas and the Nymphs
2nd century BC
Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome

Roman mosaic
Hylas and the Nymphs
AD 200-300-
Musée Gallo-Romain de Saint-Romain-en-Gal, Vienne, France

Roman mosaic
Hylas and the Nymphs
AD 300-350
Palazzo Massimo alle Terme. Rome

copy of a drawing by Giulio Romano
Hylas and the Nymphs
16th century
 drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Pietro Santi Bartoli after Giulio Romano
Capture of Hylas by the Nymphs
ca. 1655-1700
etching
British Museum

HYLAS AND THE WATER NYMPHS

    And straight he was aware
Of water in a hollow place, low down,
Where the thick sward shone with blue celandine,
And bright green maiden-hair, still dry in dew,
And parsley rich. And at that hour it chanced
The nymphs unseen were dancing in the fount –
The sleepless nymphs, reverenced of housing men,
Winning Eunica; Malis, apple-cheeked;
And, like a night-bedewed rose, Nichea.
Down stepped the boy,  in haste to give his urn
Its fill, and pushed it in the fount; when, lo!
Fair hands were on him – fair, and very fast;
For all the gentle souls that haunted there
Were drawn in love's sweet yearning tow'rds the boy;
And so he dropped within the darksome well –
Dropped like a star, that, on a summer eve,
Slides in ethereal beauty to the sea.

– from an Idyll of Theocritus, translated by Leigh Hunt (1844)

Francesco Furini
Hylas and the Nymphs
1630
oil on canvas
Palazzo Pitti, Florence

Baldassare Franceschini
Hylas with water-vessel
before 1689
oil on canvas
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Solomon Gessner
Hylas and the Nymphs
1771
etching
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Anonymous French painter
Hylas and Nymph
19th century
oil on canvas
private collection

John Gibson
Hylas surprised by the Naiades
1827-36
marble
Tate Britain

"This life-size statue group in white marble presents a scene from Greek mythology in which the boy Hylas, the companion of Hercules, goes to collect water from a stream, and is lured into the depths by water nymphs who are entranced by his beauty.  The nymphs (Naiades) simultaneously gaze admiringly and move to physically detain the boy.  . . . "

"Gibson began his career as a cabinet-maker in Liverpool before moving to London in 1817.  Following the advice of John Flaxman, London's leading neoclassical sculptor, he traveled to Rome, arriving in October of that year.  Having received training from the Italian master Antonio Canova and the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (who also made a relief of this subject), Gibson produced  works based on the close study of Greek and Roman antiquity.  He was commissioned to produce this work in May 1826 but it took many years to complete.  The delay was caused by Gibson's patron, the statesman William Haldimand, who decided to withdraw his interest.  In 1832 the Liverpool Echo reported to its readers that the work was almost complete.  It was finally exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1837, and was given to the nation as part of the Vernon Gift in 1847." 

– curator's notes from Tate Britain

William Callio Roffe after John Gibson
Hylas and the Nymphs
(
John Gibson's marble sculpture) 
1854
stipple-engraving
British Museum

Bertel Thorvaldsen
Hylas and the Nymphs
before 1844
marble relief
Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen

John Sartain after Henry Howard
Hylas and the Nymphs
before 1897
engraving
New York Public Library

Henry Alfred Pegram
Hylas and Water Nymph
(statue for fountain)

1922
bronze
Regent's Park, London

Adolfo De Carolis
Hylas and the Nymphs
1916
chiaroscuro woodcut
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Friday, September 29, 2017

The Mermaid !!!

George Cruikshank
The Mermaid !
Now Exhibiting at the Turf Coffee House

1822
hand-colored etching
British Museum

"A mummified creature poised erect on the curve of a fish's body, just above the tail, stands in a glass case, directed to the left.  The grotesque and hideous head of simian type is bent back and gazes upwards; arms, hands, shoulders, and pendent breasts are quasi-human, the body that of a fish of the salmon type with fins curiously arranged in pairs."

Issac Robert Cruikshank
The Mermaid (two views)
1822
etching
British Museum

"This object, bought by a sea-captain in Batavia for 5,000 dollars, was believed to be concocted of 'the blue faced monkey' and the prepared skin and fins of a salmon." The Times, 16 Nov. 1822

"It was the subject of an application to the Chancellor to prevent its removal, ownership being in dispute between the sea-captain and the owner of seven-eighths of his brig, which the former had sold, buying the creature with the proceeds."

 curator's notes from the British Museum

James Barry
The Angelic Guards
ca. 1802
etching
British Museum

"Angels seated at the edge of a cliff with clouds below to right and all around, the foremost with one foot on a rock, a key at his feet, holding his spear in both hands, others pointing outwards to right with spears.  Figures surrounding the angels include, in a row above them, left to right  Charles I, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Cassiodorus and another monk, Francis I and Agrippa; top row, left to right  Sir Joshua Reynolds, Giles Hussey, vestal and angel, Annibale Carracci, Domenichino, and an unidentified youth."

 curator's notes from the British Museum

Max Klinger
Secession (cover illustration)
 1893
etching, mezzotint
British Museum

Pietro Santi Bartoli
Tomb of Paolo Veronese (died 1588)
ca. 1650-1700
etching
British Museum

Giovanni Battista Mercati
Roundel with Roman Emperor hunting Bear
from a relief on the Arch of Constantine
 1642
etching dedicated to Francesco Borromini, Roman architect
British Museum

Giovanni Battista Mercati
Executioner presenting the Head of John the Baptist to Salome
1626
etching dedicated to Nicolao Alemanno, Prefect of the Vatican Library
British Museum

Giovanni Battista Mercati
St Bibiana refusing to sacrifice to pagan deities
1626
etching dedicated to Marcello Sacchetti, Roman art patron
British Museum

Giovanni Battista Mercati
Roundel with St Catherine of Alexandria seated in Glory
ca. 1620-40
etching
British Museum

Wenceslaus Hollar
View of Whitehall and Lambeth
1640s
etching
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Wenceslaus Hollar
Spring
1643
etching
Royal Collection, Windsor

Claude Mellan
Sheet of 20 portraits of Mercedarian martyrs
(religious order dedicated to ransoming Christian captives from the Moors)
ca. 1624-36
etching
British Museum

The individual portraits with names and dates of martyrdom have been cut out of a larger engraving and pasted individually onto a separate sheet. The originally engraving printed at Rome under the sponsorship of the Mercedarians contained double this number of portraits. The British Museum preserves copies of the others also, pasted onto a partner sheet.

Jean Mignon
Transformation of Actaeon
ca. 1540-50
etching
Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf

Battista Franco
Bacchantes with Apollo and Daphne
ca. 1530-61
etching
British Museum

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Studies by Degas (with Letters)

Edgar Degas
Study for painting - Young Spartans
ca. 1860-62
drawing
British Museum

Edgar Degas
Study for painting - Peasant girls bathing in the sea towards evening
ca. 1875-76
drawing
British Museum

TO HENRI ROUART
                                                                   Paris, Tuesday 26 Oct. [early 1880s]
 
     Thank you for your pencilled letter, my dear Rouart.  The sirocco, it appears, dries up the ink as it does oil colours and the vitality of the painter.  Ah! how I regret not having been able to go down there with you to see those dear friends.  And then, to tell you at once, it is comparatively rare, I am in the mood to love grand nature a little.  You would have had as companion a changed being and one strong enough to vibrate like anyone else.  The result might have been some fine drawings or pastels done by a frenzied Grevin* beside himself.  And the sublime would doubtless have been just as good for me as for any sage. 
   
     We can hardly see at all here.  The afternoons in particular it is night.  I should like to finish Ephrussi's picture and even though the canvas and the drawings are up to date it is scarcely progressing at all.  And yet there is some good money at the end of it, which is eagerly awaited. 
   
     Bring me back some fine outline drawings as you can do them.  Did you take pastels with you? Water colour is thin . . . and yet Delacroix!
   
     At Burty's there is a tiger by him in pastel which under glass looks like water colour.  It is pastel put on very lightly on a slightly glossed paper.  It is very vibrant, it is a lovely method.
   
     I am going to write to Cherfils, I neglect him too much.  And yet one does not often meet such affectionate and intelligent beings as he is. 
   
     The Cassatts have returned from Marly.  Mlle. Cassatt is settling in a ground floor studio which does not seem too healthy to me.  What she did in the country looks very well in the studio light.  It is much stronger and nobler than what she had last year.  I shall be seeing you soon, with your articles before us in the rue Lisbonne we can talk more freely.  I am writing for fear of your malediction.
   
     I am just off to the Boulevard Voltaire to dine with your brother.  Mud, mud, mud, umbrellas.  In the evening hours it is nevertheless very beautiful! 

 "Alfred Grevin, 1832-1892, founder of the wax works exhibition in Paris, was also a celebrated draftsman and caricaturist, who created a specialised genre  the humorous caricature without pretention to ethics or philosophy.  A much esteemed designer of theatrical costumes he contributed to no less than 65 plays, operas, operettes and ballets  that was probably a link between him and Degas.  In 1881, the year of this letter, he did 400 drawings for a book by Pierre Véron, called La Chaire Des Dames in the series Paris Vicieux.  It is, perhaps, to this that Degas here refers." 
                                                                  
Edgar Degas
Sur la scène (On stage)
ca. 1876-77
soft-ground etching, drypoint
British Museum

Edgar Degas
Sur la scène (On stage)
c1876-77
soft-ground etching, drypoint
British Museum

Edgar Degas
Chanteuse au café-concert
1876-77
lithograph
British Museum

Edgar Degas
Heads of a man and a woman
ca. 1877-80
monotype
British Museum

TO BERTRAND [co-director of the Paris Opera]
                                                                                          5 Jan. 1886
Sir,
     I had heard in Paris of your nomination and it is in Naples where I have been for several days that I have the pleasure of reading it in good print.

     Both you and Monsieur Gailhard have been so charming to me, you have favoured me so exceptionally, that I feel myself a little attached to your fortunes and that I am getting to be, as they say, one of the household.  And I have seen in this house so much activity and lavishness expended in spite of all conceivable difficulties, that in wishing you a Happy New Year, benefits and good health included, I am merely doing my duty.  The title Chevalier will also suit you very well, Monsieur, and I shall hasten to the Opera as soon as I return to shake hands with you very respectfully. 

   Please give Monsieur Gailhard all my best wishes and friendly regards.

                                                                                          E. Degas
Naples 

Edgar Degas
Landscape with house, figures and fountain
ca. 1878
monotype
British Museum

Edgar Degas
Les Blanchisseuses (The Laundresses)
1879-80
etching, aquatint
British Museum

Edgar Degas
Study of Jockey
before 1880
drawing
British Museum

Edgar Degas
Le Sommeil (Sleep)
ca. 1883-85
monotype
British Museum

TO M. LE COMTE LEPIC*
supplier of good dogs, at Berck
                                                                                                            [Undated]
Dear Monsieur,
   
     I have been twice too satisfied with your deliveries not to turn to you once again.  Could you not either from your kennels and apartments, or from your friends and acquaintances, find me a small griffon, thoroughbred or not (dog or bitch), and send it to me to Paris if an opportunity arises or by carrier.  As regards the price I shall not consider that further than you did.  However if you should wish to draw on me for a sum exceeding 50 centimes, I should be most grateful if you would warn me some months in advance as is always the custom in these parts. 

     Please accept, Monsieur le Comte, my sincere regards.
                                                                                                              E. Degas

     I think it in good taste to warn you that the person who desires the dog is Mlle. Cassatt, that she approached me, who am known for the quality of my dogs and for my affection for them as for my old friends etc. etc.  I also think that it is useless to give you any information about the asker, whom you know for a good painter, at this moment engrossed in the study of the reflection and shadow of chairs or dresses, for which she has the greatest affection and understanding, not that she resigns herself to the use of only green and red for this effect which I consider the only salvation, etc. etc. etc. 

     This distinguished person whose friendship I honour, as you would in my place, asked me to recommend to you the youth of the subject.  It is a young dog that she needs, so that he may love her.

     By sending with the dog, if you do send the dog, you would give an appreciable pleasure to your requester, by sending with this dog some news of your health and of your noble pursuits. 

– Count Lepic besides being a great dog breeder was also a painter and engraver. He had taught Degas how to do monotoypes, some of which are signed by both Lepic and Degas. Degas represented Lepic several times: in the famous painting of the Place de la Concorde, where he walks behind his two little daughters, then in the picture where he sits behind Marcellin Desboutin (now in the Louvre), and in pastel. 

Edgar Degas
Le Cap Hornu près St. Valery-sur-Somme
ca. 1890-93
color monotype
British Museum

Edgar Degas
A Lake in the Pyrenees
ca. 1890-93
color monotype
British Museum

Edgar Degas
Femme nue debout à sa toilette (Nude woman with towel, standing)
ca. 1891-92
lithograph
British Museum

Edgar Degas
Four Dancers
1899
oil on canvas
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
                                                                       
TO BARTHOLOMÉ                                                                                   

                                                                                  Naples, 17 Jan. 1886
 
      .         .         .

They are not forgetting me in Paris, you are not the only one to write me, my good friend.  But no one writes better or more affectionately than you do, not even the women.  Young Jacques has had himself introduced to Mme Howland and his load of gossip will succeed there.  Nihil humanum must be unbearable to bear.  I am speaking of other times, for with the exception of the heart it seems to me that everything within me is growing old in proportion.  And even this heart of mine has something artificial.  The dancers have sewn it into a bag of pink satin, pink satin slightly faded, like their dancing shoes.

     .          .          .

– all quoted passages are from Degas Letters, edited by Marcel Guérin, translated by Marguerite Kay (Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, 1947)

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Third Quarter of the 19th century

Waller Hugh Paton
Railway Bridge over River Cart, Paisley
1857
oil on canvas
Yale Center for British Art

James Tissot
The Circle of the Rue Royale
1868
oil on canvas
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Alexander Schramm
The Gilbert Family
1864
oil on canvas, mounted on panel
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Armand Guillaumin
View of the Seine, Paris
1871
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Chorus:
If only our fate were ours to choose        you would see me on
quiet waters        where the airs are gentle        a full sail but a
light wind        no more than a breath        easy voyage        that is
best        no blast no smashed rigging no flogging downwind into
cliffs        under surge        nothing recovered        no vanishing in
mid ocean

give me a quiet voyage        neither under cliffs nor too far out
on the black water where the depth opens        the middle course
is the safe one        the only life        easily on        to a calm end
surrounded by gains

– from Seneca's Oedipus, translated by Ted Hughes (1969)

Eugène Boudin
Beach at Trouville
1865
oil on cardboard
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Eugène Boudin
Beach at Trouville
1867
oil on canvas
National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo

Eugène Boudin
Lady in White on the Beach at Trouville
1869
oil on panel
Musée d'art moderne André Malraux, Le Havre
 
Alfred Sisley
Snow at Louveciennes
1874
oil on canvas
Phillips Collection, Washington DC

Winslow Homer
In the Mountains
ca. 1877
oil on canvas
Brooklyn Museum

Chorus:
foolish Icarus        he thought he could fly
it was a dream
tried to crawl across the stars
loaded with his crazy dream        his crazy paraphernalia
the wings the wax and the feathers
up and up and up
saw eagles beneath him       saw his enormous shadow on the clouds beneath him
met the sun face to face
fell

his father Daedalus was wiser        he flew lower
he kept under clouds        in the shadow of the clouds
the same crazy equipment        but the dream different
till Icarus dropped past him        out of the belly of a cloud
past him
down
through emptiness
a cry        dwindling
a splash

tiny in the middle of the vast sea

– from Seneca's Oedipus, translated by Ted Hughes (1969)

Jean-François Millet
Cliffs of Gréville
1871
pastel
Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki, Japan

Gustave Caillebotte
The Orange Trees
1878
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Wilhelm Trübner
On the Sofa
1878
oil on canvas
Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Antonio Mancini
Il Saltimbanco 
1879 
oil on canvas 
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Arnold Böcklin
Spring Evening
1879
oil on panel
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

WHEN PATROCLUS KILLED SARPEDON

It is true that men are clever.
But the least of gods is cleverer than their best.
     And it was here, before God's hands
(Moons poised either side of the world's agate)
You overreached yourself, Patroclus.
     Yes, my darling,
Not only God was out that day but Lord Apollo.
'You know how he loves the Trojans, so,
No Matter how, how much, how often, or how easily you win, 
Once you have forced them back, you stop.'
     Remember it Patroclus? Or was it years ago
Achilles cautioned you outside the tent?
Remembering or not you stripped Sarpedon's gear
That glittered like the sea's far edge at dawn,
Ordered your borrowed Myrmidons to drag him off
And went for Troy alone.
     And God turned to Apollo, saying:
'Mousegod, take my Sarpedon out of range
And clarify his wounds with mountain water,
Moisten his body with tinctures of white myrrh
And the sleeping iodine, and when the chrysms dry,
Fold him in minivers that never wear
And lints that never fade,
And call my two blind footmen, Sleep and Death,
And let them carry him to Lycia by Taurus,
Where his tribe, playing stone chimes and tambourines,
Will consecrate his royal death as fits a man
Before whose memory even the stones shall fade.'
     And Apollo took Sarpedon out of range,
And clarified his wounds with mountain water.
Moistened his body with tinctures of white myrrh
And the sleeping iodine, and when the chrysms dried
The Mousegod folded him in minivers that never wear
And lint that never fades,
And fetched the two blind footmen, Sleep and Death,
And saw they carried him, as fits a man
Before whose memory even the stones shall fade,
To Lycia by Taurus.

– from the Iliad of Homer, book 16, translated by Christopher Logue (1963)