Where? Gallery 264 of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
When? 1658-1665 What do you see? A window with at least five men who seem to be enjoying themselves (it seems that there is a sixth man on the top right, but he is not clearly visible). These men are members of the chamber of rhetoric, which is a society of amateur poets and performers, and these societies existed in Belgium and The Netherlands since the 15th century. On the left, a man is enthusiastically singing from a paper entitled ‘lof liet’, which is Dutch for ‘song of praise’. The person standing behind him has created this song. Behind them stands a man who is drinking. The person sitting in the right window is critically listening to the song. He is firmly holding a jug that probably contains wine. He is wearing a hat with a pipe attached to it. Behind him is a so-called jester wearing a red cap. He is entertaining the crowd (which you cannot see, but who are also listening to this performance) and puts up his finger to capture their attention. On top of the window grows a vine with ripe grapes. Below the window hangs the emblem of this chamber of rhetoricians, which includes a glass of wine and two crossed pipes. Backstory: Jan Steen painted the rhetoricians more often during his career. In this painting, it is unclear whether Steen wanted to show his appreciation for the rhetoricians or whether he is somewhat sarcastic in the way he depicts them due to the many references to drinking. Steen created several other paintings featuring the rhetoricians. The painting Rhetoricians of Steen is currently in Museum Bredius in The Hague. The Feast of the Chamber of Rhetoricians near a Town-Gate is in a private collection. The Rhetoricians - In Liefde Vrij is in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels.
Symbolism: The people in this painting show different emotions. Some believe that this painting expresses the four temperaments:
Chamber of rhetoricians: This society was a popular one in Belgium and The Netherlands since the 15th century. They existed both in large cities and small towns and focused on poetry and drama. They were often depicted, by artists like Jan Steen, as people that primarily liked to drink large quantities of wine. However, in reality, these societies were a little bit more serious and also provided cultural experiences for the common people by organizing plays and poetry contests. Their performances focused on providing morals to the people and stimulating the audience intellectually. However, as indicated by the emblem in this painting, the chamber was also a social place where members drank wine and engaged in discussions. Who is Steen? Jan Havickszoon Steen was born in Leiden, The Netherlands, in 1626, and also died there in 1679. He lived at the same time as Rembrandt. Steen came from a family of brewers, which may explain the abundance of alcohol in some of his paintings (which also includes alcohol consumption by children, like in his painting The Merry Family in the Rijksmuseum). He is also known to drink quite a bit himself. Steen is considered a genre painter as he often depicted scenes from everyday life. However, he has also created some paintings with biblical, mythological, and historical themes. He often incorporated some humor in his paintings, is known for his colorful paintings, and his contemporaries appreciated his works. Steen created many paintings during his life, and over 300 of them have survived.
Fun fact: In the 17th century, people consumed a lot of alcohol as the water quality was poor and alcoholic beverages were much safer to drink. Alcohol was even served in both the Catholic and Protestant church. Drinking was an important part of the many guilds and societies in the Dutch Republic during this time. Festivals were organized by all the guilds and societies, and usually, the emphasis of these festivals was on excessive drinking and eating.
It seems that the members of the chamber of rhetoricians drank more than average and drinking was an important part of their meetings. Drinking was also one of the more common themes of their poems and plays, and when they performed for an audience, drinks were always nearby.
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Where? First floor, room 712 of the Denon wing in the Louvre
When? Between 1595 and 1598 Commissioned by? Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte What do you see? On the left is a gypsy woman. She is wearing a white shirt, a blanket fastened around her shoulder, and a wrap around her head. On the right is a young man from the upper class. The nobleman is dressed in an expensive brown and black jacket, a feathered hat, and a glove on his left hand (and in that same hand he is holding the glove of his other hand). He is also wearing a sword with a rounded knob (called a pommel) on the top, which seems to almost stick out of the painting. Caravaggio is depicting a scene that could have been observed at that time in the streets of Rome. The gypsy woman is reading the right-hand palm of the young man to tell him his about this future. The woman is looking directly at the young man, who is looking back and is distracted by her beauty. In the meantime, the woman is stealing an expensive ring from his finger. You cannot see the ring, but we know that this is what the girl is doing based on another version of this painting which is shown below. Backstory: Caravaggio probably used his roommate, Mario Minniti, a painter himself, as the model for the young man, and he probably asked a gypsy from the streets as the model for the woman. In 1665, the Italian Prince Camillo Doria Pamphili gave this painting to Louis XIV, and this is how it eventually got to the Louvre. This painting is the second version of this subject by Caravaggio. Around 1594, Caravaggio had painted the original version of this subject which is in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. Caravaggio painted more often multiple versions of a painting, such as, for example, with his Medusa paintings of which one is in the Uffizi Museum in Florence. In The Fortune Teller, Caravaggio differentiates himself from his contemporary and earlier Italian painters by not focusing on biblical or classical themes, but by creating a, so-called, genre painting. This is a painting based on scenes observed in everyday life. Genre paintings would become quite popular during the 17th century among painters like Vermeer and Rembrandt.
Differences between the two versions: The second version of this painting in the Louvre seems to be an improvement over the first version as Caravaggio made several changes that are not obvious at first sight.
What lessons can we learn? In this painting, Caravaggio expresses the bad reputation of the gypsies at that time as they were known to be untrustworthy and for stealing things from the richer people. He also expresses the lesson that female beauty easily deceives young men. Caravaggio was one of the first artists to depict the theme of the fortune teller, and this topic has been the subject of quite some future artworks. For example, Georges de La Tour painted around 1630 his version of The Fortune Teller in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Who is Caravaggio? Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) was born in Milan, but when he was five years old, his family moved to Caravaggio (which explains his surname). After some trouble with the police, he left for Rome in 1592. There, he developed a unique style which combined a realistic depiction of the physical and emotional state of his subjects with an innovative way to include light in his paintings. His work was the basis for the Baroque movement, and he has influenced many future, well-known painters, including Rubens and Rembrandt. Two other well-known works by Caravaggio that he created around the same time as the above painting are Bacchus (in the Uffizi Museum) and The Musicians (in the Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Fun fact: During the time that Caravaggio painted this work, he lived together with another painter, Mario Minniti. His roommate served as a model for quite some of Caravaggio’s paintings around that time, including the current painting, Bacchus, The Musicians, and The Lute Player.
In paintings after 1600, Minnite does not serve as a model anymore for Caravaggio as Minniti moved out to get married. This marriage got Caravaggio very angry. However, later on, their paths crossed again, and they allegedly were both involved in the killing of a man during a street fight in 1606. After this incident, both fled to Sicily to escape the police.
Where? First floor, room 712 of the Denon wing in the Louvre
When? 1601-1606 Commissioned by? Laerzio Cherubini for the Carmelite Church of Santa Maria della Scala in Rome What do you see? This enormous painting (369 x 245 cm) shows the Virgin Mary lying reclined wearing a simple red dress. Her head and arm are hanging, and her legs are swollen which are clear signs that Mary has passed away. The apostles and Mary Magdalene are surrounding Mary, and several of them hide their faces to show their grief. The grieving occurs in silence. Mary Magdalene is sitting in the foreground in front of Mary. The old man on the left is probably Saint Peter and kneeling next to him is probably St. John. It looks like Caravaggio has left open a spot in the circle of grievers (at the place of the copper basin) and invites the viewer to join them in grieving. Backstory: Caravaggio was an innovator and breaks with past depictions of the death of Mary. There is almost no symbolism used in this painting (except probably the faint halo above Mary’s head). The scene is very down-to-earth. Until this painting, works on the death of the Virgin Mary typically included some reference to Mary’s Assumption into Heaven, like some angels receiving her in Heaven. Composition: Caravaggio was a master of painting the effects of light and shadow, and he was at the basis of the development of the Baroque art movement. In this painting, the light enters the room from a window on the top left. The light shines unflatteringly on the bald heads of the apostles and Mary’s upper body. The painting is composed such that the viewer immediately pays attention to Mary. The diagonal shape of Mary’s body and the color of her dress with the light on it are ways in which Mary becomes the center of attention. The large red cloth on the top of the painting makes the scene more dramatic. It also forms a kind of arch and is used to let the viewer focus on Mary. Why the Death of a Virgin? According to the Catholic religion, the Virgin Mary falls asleep and is taken up into Heaven. This is also referred to as the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven, or simply the Assumption. The Assumption is a Catholic dogma declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950, but the dogma does not declare whether Mary died first. The day of the Assumption is typically celebrated in churches on August 15 and is a public holiday in many countries (including Italy). It has also been a popular topic for artists since the 18th century. Who is Caravaggio? Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) was trained by Simone Peterzano, who was in turn trained by Titian. He used a realistic painting style, paying both attention to the physical and emotional state of the subjects he painted. He combined this with a brilliant contrast between light and shadow in his paintings. Caravaggio was a master of shock in his work, but also had a tumultuous life and was accused of murder, assault, many fights, and has served in prison. His painting style has had a big influence on the development of Baroque painting (which includes drama and an intense contrast between light and dark). Caravaggio painted both religious works, such as this painting and The Entombment of Christ in the Vatican Museums, and mythological paintings such as Medusa in the Uffizi Museum.
Fun fact: When Caravaggio finished this painting for the Church of Santa Maria della Scala in Rome, it was very controversial. The Carmelites, a religious order within the Catholic Church, commissioned this painting and did not like it at all. It was thought that Caravaggio used a prostitute as the model for the Virgin Mary (which may have been the case indeed). Moreover, he did not include the religious symbols that were associated with the death of the Virgin Mary. Not only was there no reference to the assumption of Mary into heaven, but Mary was also depicted with bare feet, which was a very uncommon and disrespectful thing to do according to the beliefs at that time. So, the painting was rejected and instead a painting of Carlo Saraceni was used. Peter Paul Rubens, a contemporary of Caravaggio, however, later recognized the brilliance of this painting and contributed to the initial popularity of this work.
Interested in a copy for yourself? Poster or canvas
Written by Eelco Kappe
Where? Gallery 630 of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
When? 1616 Commissioned by? Unknown. Possibly a chamber of rhetoric or it was uncommissioned. What do you see? In the center, a woman dressed in a colorful and carnivalesque embroidered costume raises her right hand. She wears a wreath of laurel on her head and red beads around her neck and arms. Next to her are two comical characters. Six other characters surround the three central figures. Frans Hals painted these surrounding people very loosely. The people celebrate Shrovetide, a kind of Mardi Gras or carnival, in the days before Lent starts. To the left of the woman (from our point of view) is an older man grabbing her shoulder. He tries to say something to her. This man is called Peeckelhaering (which means pickled herring), and he can be recognized by two herrings hanging on a cord around his neck (see the two herrings next to the lower arm of the woman). Other items hanging on this cord are sausages, beans, a mussel, broken eggs, and a pig foot. In his right hand, he holds a foxtail. On the right is a man with a red cap looking at the woman in the center. He makes a sexual gesture with his hands. The table in the foreground contains various items, including a bowl with fish, an open can, half a loaf of bread, and deflated bagpipes. Backstory: This painting is also known as “Shrovetide Revellers.” Frans Hals probably depicts a play performed for Carnival. All actors in this play were men, and so the woman in the center is probably a man dressed up as a woman. She wears a wig and makeup. However, her hands are smaller than the hands of the men next to her. This feature either indicates that the man was built in a way that made it easy for him to dress up like a woman, or that she is a woman after all. Hals got inspiration for this painting from the works of Flemish artists like Rubens, Jordaens, and Jan Brueghel the Elder. He had seen their works earlier in 1616 during his 3-month visit to Antwerp. He took the modern Flemish ideas of a very busy composition and colorful figures and applied these to this painting. Hals painted the figures in the background using broad and loose brush strokes. Hals illustrates his trademark brushstrokes perfectly in the painting The Gypsy Girl in the Louvre, which he painted between 1626 and 1628. In 1907, Merrymakers at Shrovetide was bought for 89 thousand dollars by the American art collector Benjamin Altman. He left it for the Metropolitan Museum of Art after his death in 1913.
Symbolism: The two characters next to the woman in the center are two comical characters that played roles in the Baroque theater during that day. The man on the left (from our point of view) is Peeckelhaering. In his right hand, he has a foxtail, the symbol of a fool. A string with items hangs around his neck.
The man on the right is Hans Wurst. He makes an obscene gesture with his hands to the woman. Some of the items on the table are also sexual references. For example, the deflated bagpipes are another reference to the limited sexual potential of Peeckelhaering. What is Shrovetide? The Christian period of preparation for the six-week Lent. This period is strongly associated with Carnival. Shrovetide begins on the Septuagesima Sunday, the ninth Sunday before Easter. It lasts for 2.5 weeks and ends on Shrove Tuesday. The day after Shrove Tuesday is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Shrove Tuesday is a day with two different faces. Some people use this day to self-reflect and figure out what sins they regret and how they can grow spiritually. Other people celebrate this day wildly, as it is the last day on which they can indulge in food and drinks.
Who is Hals? Frans Hals the Elder was a Baroque painter. He was born in Antwerp, Belgium, by the end of 1582 (or early 1583). At a young age, his family moved to Haarlem, The Netherlands, where Frans would spend the rest of his life.
During the year that Hals painted Merrymakers at Shrovetide, he also became a member of a local chamber of rhetoric called ‘De Wyngaertrancken’ (the vine tendrils). He did not participate in the performances of this chamber of rhetoric as he was a “second member,” which means that he merely admired the performances of other members. It shows his interests in depicting these plays even though his real specialty were the portraits that he painted. Among his most famous portraits are the Portrait of Tieleman Roosterman in the Cleveland Museum of Art and The Laughing Cavalier in the Wallace Collection in London.
Fun fact: Hans Wurst, the man on the right of the woman (from our point of view), was a comical character in 17th-century performances. Hans Wurst means John Sausage, and he can be recognized by the sausage dangling from his cap. He waved this sausage in front of his fellow players to make fun of them. Hans Wurst makes an obscene gesture. He puts the thumb of his left hand in between the middle and ring finger of his right hand, which form a circle. This is a gesture suggesting to penetrate the woman.
Interestingly, this gesture was not visible in the painting when the Metropolitan Museum of Art received it in 1913. Only after they cleaned the painting, the gesture became visible. During this cleaning in 1951, the six figures in the background were also discovered. Interested in a copy for yourself? Poster
Where? Great Gallery on the first floor of the Wallace Collection
When? 1624 What do you see? A confident 26-year old officer portrayed in three-quarters view. He looks directly at the viewer while his left hand rests on his hip. He wears an expensive silk costume with rich and colorful embroidery. His coat is largely black with white, red, and yellow patterns. Unlike most of his other paintings, Hals put a lot of effort into the details of the costume. Moreover, he painted the elaborate white ruff around his neck and white lace on the sleeves in great detail. Around his waist, the sitter wears a black silk sash. He has a black hat with a broad brim with curly hair underneath. He has a goat patch and an expressive curly mustache. On the top right is an inscription reading “Æ’ TA SVA’ 26 A ͦ1624,” which is Latin for “aetatis suae 26, anno 1624.” This indicates that the sitter was 26 years old and that Hals painted this portrait in the year 1624. Backstory: There has been much speculation about the identity of the young man in this painting, but no consensus has been reached. Most people agree, based on his costume, that the man is probably an officer in one of the shooting guilds. One interesting theory is that the young man is Tieleman Roosterman, who is also the subject of the 1634 Portrait of Tieleman Roosterman by Hals in the Cleveland Museum of Art. In 1865, Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, paid £2,040 for this painting, which was the highest price paid for a work of Frans Hals at that time. However, for Seymour-Conway this was just pocket change as he earned about £250,000 per year. His son, Sir Richard Wallace – whose art collection forms the majority of the Wallace Collection – inherited the painting in 1870.
The Laughing Cavalier? The title of this painting is a bit of mystery. It was originally called Portrait of an Officer. In 1871, it was called The Cavalier at an exhibition in London. At an exhibition in 1888, it was listed under its present title, The Laughing Cavalier, but it is not clear why this title was chosen. While the officer has a confident expression, he is certainly not laughing. It is possible that before a cleaning of the painting in 1884 the officer appeared to be laughing more than after the cleaning. Moreover, there is no evidence that the sitter is a cavalier.
Who is Hals? Frans Hals the Elder (c. 1582 – 1666) was a Dutch Baroque painter from Haarlem, The Netherlands. When Hals painted The Laughing Cavalier, he was quite successful and a respected painter in his hometown. While Hals primarily painted portraits, he occasionally liked to paint some happy characters that he met in bars or on the street. This was a great way for him to practice painting the emotions of his sitters which he could then use for his commissioned portraits. Whereas many other painters have a problem painting a genuine smile on the face of their subjects, this was one of the specialties of Hals. Almost effortlessly, he could paint the smile of a young child or a drunk man, the unrestrained smile of a crazy person, or the mischievous smile of a musician. This last kind of smile is nicely illustrated in The Lute Player by Hals in Louvre. Lesser-known about Frans Hals is that he also painted a few religious paintings. During the 20th century portraits of the four evangelists have been discovered. One example of this series of four paintings is Saint John the Evangelist in the Getty Museum.
Fun fact: Frans Hals liked to enjoy a drink in the tavern. In 1718, one of Hals’ first biographers, Arnold Houbraken, wrote the following story about Hals. His students repeatedly picked him up from the bar late at night to prevent any harm from happening to him on his way home.
When Hals arrived home, no matter how drunk he was, he prayed and ended by saying “Dear Lord, bring me to Heaven at a young age.” His students were concerned whether he meant this or not and decided to test him out. They drilled four holes in the ceiling above Hals’ bed and put some ropes through the holes which they attached to the bed. The next evening, after Hals had been drinking again, they put him in bed. Hals said the same prayer. After his prayer, his students pulled the ropes and lifted his bed into the air. Hals, who noticed that he was being lifted, proclaimed: “Not so quick, dear Lord, not so quick, not so quick….” Hals fell asleep and the students loosened the ropes such that Hals would not notice anything the next morning. Hals, who was unaware of the prank his students pulled on him, did not use that prayer again. Except for Houbraken’s story, there is no further evidence that Hals was a drunk and most likely this story is just a legend.
Where? Room 11 of the Prado Museum
When? 1628-1629 Commissioned by? Velázquez created this painting for King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal and received 100 silver ducats for it. What do you see? The bare-chested man with the pale body is Bacchus. He sits on a wine barrel and is crowned with a wreath of vine leaves. At his feet are two jugs. Bacchus is surrounded by peasants wearing 17th-century Spanish clothes. To his right, he welcomes the kneeling soldier wearing a sword by putting a wreath of vine leaves on his head. Meanwhile, Bacchus looks in the other direction. Some of the other people have raised their glasses to welcome the new man. The man with the hat, directly to the right of Bacchus, is holding a big bowl of wine and stares directly at us while laughing. The men to his right, with the hand on his shoulder, is clearly drunk. The kneeling man in the brown cloak in the right foreground raises his glass in honor of Bacchus. The man on the complete right welcomes a passerby taking off his hat to greet the group of people. To the left of Bacchus is a nude satyr (a male companion of Bacchus with horse ears and a permanently erect penis) with a wreath of vine leaves. The satyr holds a full martini glass. The final person sits in the left foreground and also wears a wreath of vine leaves. He is painted in the shadow, probably to enhance the contrast with the pale Bacchus. Velázquez did not put much effort into the background of the painting, which may be because he originally painted this work inside, probably in a tavern. Backstory: This painting is known under various names, depending on what people think the focus of this painting is (and it is also not entirely clear what the motivation of Velázquez for this painting was). The most conventional name is ‘The Triumph of Bacchus’ which refers to Bacchus bringing the gift of wine to the common people to relieve them from their daily concerns. The painting is also known as ‘The Drunkards’ (or ‘Los Borrachos’ in Spanish) which refers to the intoxicated people in this painting. Velázquez created this painting during the time that Peter Paul Rubens, the most famous painter of that time, visited Madrid for nine months. During that time, Velázquez could observe the work and the technique of Rubens. Velázquez realized that he could not compete with Rubens by trying to copy his style and so he kept his own style to remain unique. This painting is also the first time that he included some nudity in his work, something that Rubens did more frequently, such as in Rubens’ Samson and Delilah in the National Gallery in London.
Who is Bacchus? Also known in Greek mythology as Dionysus, Bacchus is the god of wine, winemaking, fertility, and theatre. He is closest to the common people among the mythological gods and is, therefore, a popular subject among artists. He stands for freedom, drinking, and dancing, which has been attractive to many people over the centuries.
Many artists have used Bacchus as a subject of their art. For example, in 1595, Caravaggio painted Bacchus in the Uffizi Museum, and, in 1522-1523, Titian painted Bacchus and Ariadne in the National Gallery in London.
Who is Velázquez? Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was born in 1599 in Seville and died in 1660 in Madrid, Spain. He became the lead court painter for King Philip IV during his twenties. Besides many painting portraits of well-known people including the Spanish royal family, he created mainly historical paintings. His works did not become very popular outside Spain until the 19th century.
Velázquez has had a big influence on future painters such as Manet, Picasso, and Dali. Over his career, Velázquez constantly improved his painting style, which became more refined and realistic. This ultimately resulted in 1656 in the creation of his best work, Las Meninas, which is also on view in the Prado.
Fun fact: It is interesting to compare this painting to another masterpiece from the same time period. In 1632, Rembrandt painted The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp which is now in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, The Netherlands. Velázquez was about 29 years old when he painted The Triumph of Bacchus and Rembrandt was 26 years old when he painted about the anatomy lesson. The two had never met each other.
Both Velázquez and Rembrandt depicted nine different people and some nudity. The main difference is that the people in Rembrandt’s work are quite static while the people in Velázquez’s work are showing more emotion and feel more real. Both are considered masterpieces nowadays and you can decide for yourself which painting you prefer. |
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