MAY - A PAINTING FROM THE NATIONAL GALLERY

Some members enjoyed this challenge, others didn’t and some went completely off piste

and chose paintings not actually in the National Gallery! However, it was a very busy

meeting with 12 people discussing their chosen painting.

We started with Nancy and The

Paston Treasure commissioned by Sir

Robert Paston in the mid 1670s to

illustrate the valued possessions of

the family which had been collected

on their many journeys around the

world. Unfortunately, shortly after

the painting was completed the

treasures had to be sold as the

family finances failed.

Next Jean B told us of Pietro Longhi whose early

paintings were religious but gradually he started to paint

everyday happenings in Venice, his home town. This

painting chronicles Clara the rhinoceros brought to

Europe in 1741 by a Dutch sea captain and impresario

from Leyden., Douvemont van der Meer. This rhinoceros

was exhibited in Venice in 1751

Wendy’s choice was this famous painting

by John Constable was shown in the

Paris Salon of 1824 and won a gold

medal although when previously shown in

the Royal Academy in 1821 it failed to

impress!

The Paston Treasure c1665 - Unknown Dutch artist

The Haywain 1821 - Oil on canvas 130cm x 185cm John Constable 1776-1837

Exhibition of a Rhinoceros at Venice c1751

Oil on canvas 62 x 50cms

Aelbert Cuyp was one of the

leading Dutch landscape artists

during the Dutch Golden Age in the

17th century. Jan chose this

painting which is the artist’s

largest surviving landscape. The

light is reminiscent of Italian

painters although Cuyp never

travelled there and was probably

inspired by other Dutch artists who

had.

The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her

last berth to be broken up, 1838 is an

oil painting by the English artist J. M.

W. Turner and chosen by Joyce. It

was painted in 1838 and exhibited at

the Royal Academy in 1839. The

painting was thought to represent the

decline of Britain's naval power. The

'Temeraire' is shown travelling east,

away from the sunset, even though

Rotherhithe is west of Sheerness, but

Turner's main concern was to evoke a

sense of loss, rather than to give an

exact recording of the event.

Although Denise finds the subject

matter of this painting distasteful, she

enthused about the wonderful quality

of light and the individual dramas being

carried out by the onlookers. The two

young girls are obviously upset by what

is happening but the courting couple are

oblivious

River Landscape with Horseman and Peasants c1658-60 Oil on canvas 123 cm x 241cm

Aelbert Cuyp 1620-1691

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump 1768 Oil on canvas 183cm x 224cm

Joseph Wright of Derby 1734-1797

The Fighting Temeraire 1839 Oil on canvas 90.7cm x 121.6cm

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851

Jenny chose Johannes Vermeer who was a Dutch

painter specialising in domestic interiors of middle

class life. He produced relatively few paintings in his

lifetime and was not a wealthy man, leaving his wife

and children in debt at his death. He was recognised

during his lifetime but gave way to obscurity and not

rediscovered until the 19th century. Only 34

paintings are attributed to him, this being one of

them.

This Post Impressionist painting

by Seurat was chosen by Joyce

and depicts many of the new

techniques that painters of this

era were using, including

pointillism - the art of creating a

colour, not by mixing, but of

putting small dots of one colour

against those of another to create

a third.

This portrait of a Polish lady by Renoir was

Sheila’s choice. Misia Sert started her working

life teaching piano. She had a turbulent life and

married three times as well as having lovers. She

became a patron of the arts and hosted many

parties in Paris entertaining the great names of

the day. Coco Chanel became a very close friend.

Sert died in 1950 aged 78.

Bathers at Asnieres 1884 Georges Seurat 1859-1891 oil on canvas 201cm x 300cm

Misia Sert 1904 Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1841 - 1919

Oil on canvas 92.1 x 73 cm

A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal 1670-2 Johannes Vermeer 1632-1675 oil on canvas 51.5cm x 45.5cm

Diny had hoped to find a portrait of Anne of Cleves by Hans

Holbein but that is not in the National Gallery. So instead she

went for another Holbein portrait of a potential bride for

Henry VIII, that of Christina of Denmark.

Apparently neither Christina nor her aunt, with whom she lived,

approved of Henry and the way he treated his wives and his

proposal was refused on the grounds that Christina had only

one head!

Jenny O told us of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Virgin of

the Rocks” of which there are two versions. The

original was a triptych commissioned for the

oratory in San Francesco in 1480. The centre panel

is now held in the Louvre and the side panels in the

National Gallery along with the replacement centre

panel.

In addition to adding to Denise’s choice,

Glennis showed us this painting by Rousseau

which was the first of his jungle paintings

and, in his words, depicted a tiger hunting

explorers

Woman in Black (Christina of Denmark) 1538 Hans Holbein the Younger 1497-1543 Oil and tempera on oak 179.1cm×82.6 cm

Virgin of the Rocks c1491-9 and later Leonardo da Vinci 1452 - 1519 Oil on poplar 189.5 x 120 cm

Surprised 1891 Henri Rousseau 1844 - 1910 Oil on canvas 129.8 x 161.9 cm

JUNE - THE BARBIZON SCHOOL

Wendy started us off with a short explanation of the Barbizon School: in the early 19th

century painters in France were classically trained and very conservative in their choice

of subject. Painters wishing to paint from nature went to Italy. However, gradually

artists sought to paint from nature in their home country and began to search for

suitable locations within a short journey from Paris. One of these was a village called

Barbizon, situated in the Forest of Fontainebleau. Théodore Rousseau was particularly

impressed with the landscape and painted in all weathers and eventually settled there.

Quite a few of the artists were printers

and etchers and some decorated china

with small vignettes of landscapes.

Jules Dupré, Liz’s choice, was the son of

a porcelain manufacturer and he

decorated plates. He travelled to Paris

to study then moved to Limoges with his

father who was made director of the

porcelain factory there. Dupré also

spent some time in Southampton and

Plymouth and was very impressed by

John Constable. He painted many

seascapes both in England and France as

well as landscapes and trees. He was

awarded the Légion d’donneur in 1848.

Sunset in the Auvergne 1844 Théodore Rousseau (1812 - 1867)

Oil on mahogany (?) panel 20.5 x 23.9 cm National Gallery

The Old Oak 1870 Jules Dupré (1811-1889)

Oil on canvas 32.1 × 41.5 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Both Joyce and Denise chose to

talk about Constable who,

although not actually a member

of the Barbizon School, greatly

influenced the artists who

were. Denise used the painting

of Wivenhoe Park in Essex as

her daughter lives there and

the park is now the campus of

the University of Essex - it

doesn’t look like that now!

Joyce also talked about Eugene Boudin who was one of

the first French outdoor landscape painters. He painted

many seascapes and befriended Monet, then aged 18, and

persuaded him to give up drawing caricatures and paint

landscapes instead. Boudin was awarded the Légion

d’donneur in 1892 in recognition of his talents and

influence on his fellow artists.

Finally Jenny told us about

Jean-Francois Millet who

befriended many of the

Barbizon artists prior to it

being set up. Many of his

paintings are in the States,

others in France and

Holland. The painting

depicted below was the one

he felt was his most

important and the only one

for which he was awarded a

prize - second place medal

at the 1853 Paris Salon.

Wivenhoe Park, Essex 1816 John Constable 1776 - 1837 Oil on canvas 56.1 x 101.2 cm

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

The Jetty at High Tide, Trouville Eugene Boudin 1824-1898 Oil on panel 27 x 21.8 cms Association Peindre en Normandie, Caen

Harvesters Resting 1850-1853 Jean-Francois Millet 1814-1875 Oil on canvas 119 x 67 cms