Something Beautiful

Mary and Child, with Donor and 3 Saints

One of the fantastic aspects of the National Gallery, London, site is that you can zoom in so close to the artworks. Take a look, for example, at this Mary and Child with Donor and 3 Saints, by Gerard David. I love the jewels and clothing. And I probably like the small dog lying on the floor best of all.

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.

Making a Deep Mental Path

I posted this passage from Henry David Thoreau almost exactly one year ago. I didn't pay sufficient attention at the time, to my detriment. Thoreau begins:

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.

And then continues:

To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives. (Henry David Thoreau)

Perhaps I'll put this to use concerning the two Biblical quotations in the post below this one. 

Struggling

I'm struggling today with a lot of hurt. So I'm looking around the Web for something that might comfort me. This comes to mind and I go look for it:

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

Continuing to try to find something that would make the aching stop, I find this:

For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Les Tres Riches Heures

Have you seen this? It's an astonishing collection of high-resolution images from the sumptuous Tres Riches Heures. Simply amazing!

Rucellai Madonna (Duccio)

Remember the Google Art Project that I mentioned a few days ago? Take a look at the Rucellai Madonna by Duccio. It physically resides at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. You can get real close to it, though, from your desk or armchair by trying out Google Art right now.

100 Beautiful Places

Here are 100 places that, in one person's view, are the most beautiful in the world. Some very beautiful photos here!

Google Art Project

Google has announced a major new initiative called Google Art Project. It provides at-home, sit-down access to some works at some 17 American and European museums.

What seems to be most amazing about it is the zoom feature, which permits the viewer to see far more detail than has generally been true at other sites. One newspaper has accurately described the level of detail as "pretty jaw-dropping."

It's a significant but limited project so far: 17 museums; more than 400 artists; more than 1,000 artworks. Here are the museums currently taking part, arranged according to continent and country:

* The Frick Collection, NYC (USA)
* The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
* MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC
* Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian, Washington DC

* Museum Kampa, Prague (Czech Republic)
* Palace of Versailles (France)

* Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin (Germany)
* Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (Germany)

* National Gallery, London (Great Britain)
* Tate Britain, London

* Uffizi Gallery, Florence (Italy)

* Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
* Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

* The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (Russia)
* State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

* Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid (Spain)
* Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

To be sure, the site has many limitations. It presents a very limited selection from each museum. Oddly, it doesn't seem all that user-friendly either. It's hard to believe but, as near as I can tell, there is no search feature!

That is, if you want to find out how many works by Paolo Veronese appear at the site, you have to leave Google Art Project and use the usual Google page. (Now really, how strange is that?) The best way I have found so far is to use (a) Google search; and then (b) Artcyclopedia. Thus, if you're looking for all works by Paolo Veronese at Google Art Project, you can end up at this page and pretty much know what's available.