thesufferingartistDec 19, 20202 minMurder and St NicholasOur last two seasonal art posts have been about the Nativity, now we’re turning to St Nicholas. This is stained glass from the south...
thesufferingartistDec 12, 20202 minRembrandt and Joseph's DreamThis week I tried to choose a nativity-related piece that isn’t well known. It’s a Rembrandt called Joseph’s Dream or sometimes Dream of...
thesufferingartistDec 3, 20202 minThe Cestello AnnunciationThe Annunciation has to be one of the most frequently recurring subjects in European art, which made it horribly difficult to settle on...
thesufferingartistNov 24, 20202 minThe Alexander MosaicThis will be our first post about a mosaic. I had a mild falling out with mosaics in the second grade when I made a 12x12 of an erupting...
thesufferingartistNov 24, 20202 minThree DavidsWe haven’t compared pieces lately so this week we’ll contrast three sculptures that draw on the Biblical story of David’s fight with the...
thesufferingartistNov 24, 20202 minViolent Triumph or Just Triumph?If you find the gore of this piece shocking, so did the patron who commissioned it. After one look he almost didn’t make his promised...
thesufferingartistNov 24, 20202 minAdd Melodrama to your Halloween SeasonThis is Henry Fuseli’s 1781 piece called The Nightmare. Obviously I posted this because it’s a great seasonal fit with Halloween but it’s...
thesufferingartistNov 24, 20202 minModern Surrealism in the 16th CenturyI’ll wager that the name Hieronymus Bosch is not on the tip of anybody’s tongue. But, then again, maybe it is. He may have painted in the...
thesufferingartistNov 24, 20202 minFlorence, Cellini, and Medici Perseus with the Head of Medusa is a bronze sculpture completed in 1554 for the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence, Italy. The sculptor...
thesufferingartistSep 29, 20202 minLament for a Stolen RembrandtThis is Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633), the only seascape Rembrandt ever painted. The story he drew on appears in the New Testament...
thesufferingartistSep 29, 20202 minThe Rock-Hewn Churches of EthiopiaWe’ve never done a post on architecture. But as far as I’m concerned, this is sculpture rather than architecture. That’s because The...
thesufferingartistSep 10, 20202 minAbout that Wheat field Wheatfield with Crows was once thought to be Vincent van Gogh’s very last work. I’ve even heard it described as his ‘suicide note.’...
thesufferingartistSep 4, 20202 minBruegel the Peasant PainterPieter Bruegel has long been labeled ‘the peasant painter,’ and not because of his personal socioeconomic status. It’s because peasant...
thesufferingartistSep 4, 20203 minThe Ghent AltarpieceJan (& Hubert) van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece (1432) is also known as The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. It’s a cinematic series of hinged...
thesufferingartistAug 21, 20202 minBernini's FirstI hope Michelangelo won’t be jealous at this but Gian Lorenzo Bernini deserves to be considered one of history’s best sculptors. This is...
thesufferingartistAug 21, 20202 minLady Godiva and Her Naked RideI’ve wanted to use the word ribald in one of these art posts for a while now so here’s a moderately ribald painting about the English...
thesufferingartistAug 7, 20202 minDegas, The InteriorI don’t know how you feel about impressionism but Edgar Degas was one of its leading lights and he didn’t care for the term very much....
thesufferingartistAug 7, 20202 minBacchus and AriadneIf you remember mythology from school, you may recall the name Bacchus, god of wine. He’s one of two central characters in this painting...
thesufferingartistJul 25, 20202 minCaravaggio's Conversion of St PaulThere aren’t too many artists more interesting than Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. He was named for Michael the Archangel but his...
thesufferingartistJul 17, 20202 minThe School of AthensThe School of Athens (1511) may be the most famous fresco in the world after the Sistine Chapel ceiling. That’s fitting since they were...