Alte Pinakothek

Again - if you don't like art history... look away!! This is gonna be long... But I have to do this, because I love it.  Sunday was so much fun for me.  I think I owe my husband a big thank you for hanging in there...  we spent the morning at the Alte Pinakothek, and the afternoon at the Pinakothek Moderne.  Both of which were really well worth a stop for any art lover or art history student.  Especially the Alte Pinakothek.  They had some really rare pieces' some very notable ones, which I remember studying in school' as well as a fabulous Rubens collection.  Not my favorite artist, but an impressive collection, nonetheless.

First painting we see as we walk into the Early Netherlandish galleries is this Hieronymus Bosch.  Whoa - what a way to start the day!  I love Bosch, probably because my father had a book on his work, which I loved to look at when I was a kid.  And with only 25 authenticated paintings of his surviving, seeing one, especially an obscure one, is  a thrill!  The subject matter is pretty gory and graphic, if not downright creepy, but it certainly conveys the orthodox and somewhat folkloric aspect of Christianity during the dark ages.  This is a fragment of what was likely a triptych, and the attribution is questioned.

Remember you can click on these to see them in more detail.

Bosch didn't "mince words" as you would say, in his depictions of damnation and the retribution for sin...

This van der Weyden is one of the highlights of the Pinakothek collection.  It depicts the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Presentation in the Temple.  The color absolutely glowed, and the fineness of detail was remarkable.

Luna thought so, too.  This shot, however, reminds me of a Rockwell...

Albrecht Dürer's self-portrait.  Their collection of early German art was, not surprisingly, most impressive.  Much of it wasn't even on display.  Dürer, shown below, is one of the only really notable painters from this period.  He was also from Nürnberg.  It is notable, first as such an early example of portraiture, period.  Second because he assumes such a frontal position, and appears almost Christ-like or Iconographic.  Dürer was Germany's Renaissance Man, much like da Vinci, and was obsessed with studying human proportion, which was probably more his focus.

A couple of ladies I just liked...

I really enjoyed the painting below, as it is perfect for showing the progression of painting "style" in many ways. The composition, being off-center, and with a pillar in the foreground, front and center - are definitely a departure from what would have been considered normal at the time.  The use of light, with the Christ-child himself, seemingly the source; and the light positioned in the foreground, illuminating the rest of the party from below, seem quite unusual as well.

Loved this de' Barbari - a good example of early still-life, interestingly combined with trompe l'oeil techniques.  If you look at this one close up, the objects hanging on the wall should almost pop off the canvas at you.

A Botticelli, known for his lovely Madonnas, unusual to the artist for it's frank brutality.  The vibrancy of these colors just does not come through in the photos...

And... tada!  A Leonardo da Vinci...  an early example, from prior to his "mastery" period, but nonetheless exquisite.

Raphaels... two of several which were there.

Detail showing the delicacy in hair, transparent fabric, and gold-leaf halo.  Amazing.

Fra Angelico... kind of speaks for itself.

Lost, bored, tired?  Maybe... dancing? 

Titian - a rather strikingly brutal Christ Crowned with Thorns

Apparently still life painting has now arrived in it's full glory...  this one was like 20 feet wide!  OK, maybe 15.

van Dyck

And now, the Rubens Hall.  Which was quite literally the largest, and grandest space in the building.  Almost all of the pieces in this room were Rubens, too. 

I included this picture for context, to show you just how big this one is, and just how big this gallery is.  I think my book described this painting as "the most overwhelming depiction of the end of the world since Michelangelo," and the Sistine Chapel...

Definitely remember studying this one... The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus. These gals don't look like their protesting too much.  Famous for his use of the picture plane and his composition.

Another one I remember... The Death of Seneca. 

And how "Rubens" is this???

The Fall of the Damned Into Hell also Rubens.  Oh, the drama...  His use of shifting light was genius.

My book describes the twisted bodies as "corpulent."  Apt.  But I thought it was "Rubenesque?"

Rembrandt, himself.

Rembrandt was extremely prolific in his production of self-portraits.  This one from age 23.

Loved this one for its almost absence of color, and its use of line.  Definitely not your Grnadmother's still-life... Think they would notice if it ended up over my couch?

Dutch genre painting begins...

Rembrandt - Christ Risen

The Deposition - Rembrandt.  Isaiah 53:2 "neither form nor beauty" is left in the corpse.  Compare this to Rubens idealized visions of Christ!  The figure in blue is a self-portrait of the artist.

The Sacrifice of Isaac - Rembrandt.  Talk about drama!  The painting is presumably that of his student, worked over by the artist.

Tiepolo's The Adoration of the Magi -  another giant masterpiece.  My book says "regarded as the greatest achievement of 18th century Italian painting..."  You can really see how his mastery of composition stages the scene here! Tiepolo also worked in the Residenz in Würzburg (If you've been there, the turbaned King in the foreground may remind you of the frescoes in the Treppenhaus there.)

The lovely lady seen below is none other than Mme de Pompadour.  Mistress to King Louis XV, and Lady in Waiting to the Queen.  The portrait is by Boucher - a favorite of the Versailles court.

Francesco Gardi - Regatta on the Canale della Giudecca.  Gardi started out working in the manner of Canaletto''s vedute (real cityscapes) which were very popular with upper-class English on the "Grand Tour" of the continent.  But Gardi preferred freedom of handling over topographical accuracy.  His contemporaries criticized the license he took with his style, and he was forgotten soon after his death.  But in the early 20th century, following the success of Impressionism, he again won the appreciation he deserved.

The detail of his brush-strokes make that story clear.

El Greco - Christ Stripped of His Garments

And to finish our morning with the Old Masters, here is a rather superfluous piece, but a great example of the little side road French painting went down in the 18th century.  Jean Honore' Fragonards Girl With Lap-Dog shocked even hardened contemporaries, and during the Revolution, Fragonard, and his works were banned.

Another example of the excesses during this frivolous age, Reclining Girl by Boucher.  The girl depicted here is probably Louise O'Murphy at 15, who worked for the artist as a model.  After Louis the XV saw a miniature of her, he took her as his mistress.  She bore a child and was subsequently married to a noble.

We decided to skip the "Neues" which must have housed the Pinakothek 19th century and Impressionist collections  (overexposed in my opinion, :) ) and opted instead for the Moderne in the afternoon.  The picture below shows the Moderne on the left, and the Alte on the right.  It shows the profile of the Alte, the building stretched on to show it's full width from a right angle to this view.  Point being, this picture doesn't accurately depict how huge the Alte is!