Something Beautiful

Holbein the Younger

Google Art Project currently has 20 or so paintings by Hans Holbein the Younger on display. Very handsome works.   Many of these works are quite wonderful but you might need to zoom in to see just how much.   Try the portrait of Jane Seymour, Queen of England and one of Henry VIII's ill-fated wives.  Jane was not a terribly attractive woman but the painting, seen up-close, is simply marvelous.   

Extraordinary resolution!

The Google Art Project offers terrific resolution on most of the thousands of works now displayed at its site.   There are 164 works, though, that are rendered in 'gigapixels,' the Project's highest level of resolution.   Feast your eyes!  

Dresden in 1748 (Canaletto)

Canaletto is quite an astonishing painter who has left us a marvelous record of the cityscapes of Europe.   Here is Dresden in 1748.  

The still-impressive Google Art Project has 143 works by Canaletto!  Truly a feast for the eyes.  

Apparition of Christ

This Apparition of Christ is quite a remarkable work. By a Russian artist previously unfamiliar to me, Alexsander Andreyevich Ivanov.

Samplers

Having looked last week at quilts, it seems only logical to take a look at samplers this week.   Google Art Project has a total of 230 examples of this quintessentially female art form.   The great majority of those come from the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum.  

Quilt

It's not exactly beautiful but it seems to me quite lovely: George Washington's Cherry Tree Quilt, made by an unknown woman (I expect), before 1852.  The border is especially attractive. 

Eleanora of Toledo, by Bronzino

Feast your eyes on a close-up of the gown in this portrait of Eleanora of Toledo, 1543, by Agnolo Bronzino. 

There's another, slightly later portrait by the same artist -- with equally delectable close-ups -- titled Eleanora of Toledo and Son at the Detroit Museum of the Arts, c. 1550.  

 

Silver

Midori's comment of last week has encouraged me to post other Google Art searches that I like.   You could try "silver," for example, and you would be rewarded with this pretty incredible page of images.   

Mixed Flowers (R. O'Conor)

So first I put the single word pink into the Search window at Google Art Project.   From the many results  thus delivered to me, my eye was drawn to Mixed Flowers on Pink Cloth, c. 1916, by Roderic O'Conor.   This painting is one of many interesting works at Te Papa, a museum in New Zealand.  

Assumption of the Virgin (Patinir)

This Assumption of the Virgin, c. 1500, by Joachim Patinir, is at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It won't strike everyone as beautiful, but it has considerable appeal for me. First, I love the legend about how all the apostles were able to gather at Mary's bedside as soon as it became known that she was dying. Next, the figures of Christ and God the Father at the top, preparing to welcome Mary, are very nicely done. Finally, the roundels of the Nativity and the Resurrection, in the two upper corners, are remarkable for their detail.