Something Beautiful

Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne (complete)

We have the privilege of seeing the entirety of the Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne online. I absolutely love this Book of Hours, which was made c. 1505 by an unknown artist.

Anne de Bretagne was born in 1477 and died in 1513 at the age of 35.  She was a queen of France and one of the best-known women of her age.  She is buried with other French royalty in St. Denis Basilica.  

Before looking at her Grandes Heures, we should note that another illuminated manuscript that bears her name, the Prayer Book of Anne de Bretagne, is also available online.  It was illuminated by Jean Poyer, is owned by the Morgan Library, New York City, and is quite wonderful. 

And now onward to the Grandes Heures.  This manuscript is viewable at the Gallica site of the Bibliotheque National de France.   Its pages fall into three main categories: 

1:  Some have full-page illuminations.   These are usually show events in the life of Christ or have portraits of a saint.   Two examples are the Adoration of the Magi and St. Matthew the Evanglist. 

2:  Some pages present the text of a prayer surrounded on all four sides with a decorated margin.  One example is at f. 25r.   

3:  The great majority of pages offer just some prayers and an illustration on the outer margin of a flowering plant.  Some excellent examples appear at ff. 29r, 60r and  221v.  

To begin looking through the magic pages of these Grandes Heures, just pick one of the pages listed below.  You'll be presented with a 'mosaic' page of thumbnails. Choose a thumbnail and you'll be amazed at the level of detail that will become possible.

page 1
page 2
page 3
page 4
page 5

page 6
page 7
page 8
page 9
page 10
page 11

 

Mandragore (BnF images)

I'm not sure yet but it looks like the Mandragore site might be pretty amazing.  It is one of several places where the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (National Library of France) is storing its images online.   I believe that it houses the images of a good many illuminated manuscripts. 

 

Grisaille

Before the Internet and all its wonderful artwork came along, I had never heard of grisaille.   Grisaille is the use of monochromatic painting in shades of gray. It often gives the impression of a sculpture. Once exposed to it, I quickly learned to love works done in grisaille, and hope that you do (or will) too.  

This Annunciation diptych, done by Jan van Eyk c. 1435, is probably my favorite work in grisaille. 

François Boucher

As mentioned recently, I do love a painting with great details of clothing, lace and jewelry. François Boucher had a particular talent for those:

Madame de Pompadour, 1758, attrib. François Boucher, National Galleries of Scotland.

Madame Bergeret, c. 1766, by François Boucher, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

St. Jerome in the scriptorium

I love art works that show someone reading or writing.  St. Jerome, one of my favorite saints, is often shown at work in his study.   Just now I stumbled across St. Jerome in the Scriptorium, a work that strikes me as quite wonderful.  It was done c. 1485 by the Master of Parral, an artist previously unknown to me.  It resides at the Museo Lázaro Galdiano, in Madrid, Spain.

 

You can also see this work at the Google Art Project.

 

Dresses and Lace

As a rule, I'm not much on clothes and gewgaws. There's something that just sends me around the bend, though, about a painting with excellent detail in clothing or ewelry. Here are two fine examples by the French painter Jean-August-Dominique Ingres.

Comtesse de Haussonville, 1845, by Ingres

Princess de Brolie, 1851, by Ingres, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

America's Art Treasures

During this time of government shutdown, and as we appear to be on the brink of a potentially catastrophic default, it seems like a good time to look at some of the artistic bounty held by U.S. government entities.  We are wealthy indeed as you can see at Google Art Project:

The White House (139 items)
National Gallery of Art (181 items)
National Portrait Gallery (192 items)

Smithsonian American Art Museum (149 items)
Freer-Sackler Smithsonian Museum of Asian Art (207 items)
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum (1,568 items!)

Still Life (Google Art Project)

If you plug the simple phrase "still life" into the Search feature at Google Art Project, a total of 843 art works will be returned!    Not surprisingly, a great many will be lovely.  Works include the classical and the modern, and were done by the famous and the obscure.  A true treasure house.  

There are so many wonderful works in this large selection that it would be impossible to choose a 'best' or 'most beautiful.'  It would be hard, in fact, even to choose a  top 'personal favorite.'   If I really, really had to choose just one, though, it would probably be Flower Still Life, done in 1614 by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder. 

View from Artist's Studio

I'm not sure that this watercolor is exactly beautiful but it's certainly lovely.  It's called View from the Artist's Studio and was painted by Jakob Alt in 1836.   It's at the Albertina in Vienna.   (Be sure to get up really close in order to appreciate it.)