Something Beautiful

NGA's 25 most requested images

I love this page. It displays the thumbnails of the 25 most requested images at the website of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Just seeing so many great works on one page somehow has an effect on one's body. (Note that 25 more images are available on the very next page.)

Google Art Project (v. 2)

So, you've heard about the updated Google Art Project, right? This extraordinary undertaking appeared in version 1.0 in February 2011. Version 2.0, just made public, is a substantial expansion. Last year only 17 museums were represented. This year a grand total of 151 institutions and collections make appearances. More than 32,000 artworks are included! (Further background is available in this New York Times article.)

You can explore the art through several approaches:

- Artists 

- Artworks

- Collections

As one might expect with Google, there is also a Search feature.

 

Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder

The Hoogsteder site is another long-time personal favorite. I discovered it more than ten years ago and it still feels like a personal secret. The Hoogsteders bill themselves as "Specialists in Dutch and Flemish Old Master Paintings" and their site reflects that.

Current works on offer are listed under four headings:

Genre

Landscape

Portrait

Still Life

One of my favorite still-lifes is among these paintings -- Summer Flowers in a Vase, by Rachel Ruysch.

Prado gallery

The Prado Museum in Madrid holds one of the world's finest art collections. One good way of accessing its holdings is to use the the Museum's own Online gallery, currently offering 1,076 works of art. One way to explore the Online gallery is to check out this page and go from there.

The Gemäldegalerie (Berlin)

The Gemäldegalerie in Berlin is one of the world's great museums. You can get a feel for what it might be like to spend a day there by reading this long blog entry, complete with photos. The photos are not always great and a few of the comments are unfortunate. On the whole, though, this page will give you a real sense of being at the Museum and viewing the fabulous works mounted on its walls.

St. Francis, Bellini, Frick

Today's New York Times has a good article about a mini-exhibition featuring just one work: St. Francis in the Desert, c. 1480, by Giovanni Bellini. The exhibition is at the Frick museum in New York City.

The Frick website has additional information, including a video, about the exhibition. For those who might not make it to NYC, the most important feature is surely the Google Art image. (See also the Frick zoom image.)

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The above work is, to me, very reminiscent of the Preparation of Christ's Tomb, c. 1505, by Vittorio Carpaccio.

Another wonderful room

Should I call this a wonderful room -- or a room of wonders? It's another room at the Arts decoratifs website, this time filled with works of the Renaissance.

Les Arts decoratifs

A newly-discovered site to celebrate: Les Arts decoratifs. I'm still learning my way around this site, so I can't give quite the kind of guidance that I would like. To give you a taste, though, here's one superb example of the kinds of riches available here:

Middle Ages (panorama, full-screen).

And here are two more general pages that lead deeper into the site:

Interactive plan

Collections

Exhumation of St. Hubert (by van der Weyden)

There's something about this painting, the Exhumation of St. Hubert, by Rogier van der Weyden and workshop, at the National Gallery, London. You'll need to enlarge it to its maximum size in order to see the textures and objects up close, but it will be worth the minute it will take.

Serving the Guest

Serving the Guest is another of my long-time favorites. It's an appealing combination of recipes, lore and art.