Written in the Stars: Titian’s Tale of Bacchus and Ariadne
What do you know of Bacchus and Ariadne’s love-struck tale? Lucky for us, Titian, an Italian artist, sets (or paints) the scene!
Leo’s Contemporaries
Last time we wound our way from considering the Prado and Spain in the general, to zeroing in on a contemporary replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. In our last post we shamelessly lingered on poor Leonardo’s sex life (with the weak… Read More
The Prado’s Gioconda
The other day I touched on Spain’s Span Across Europe in the general. It’s true that Spain’s reach was just so broad that it’s hard to know what to focus on at the Prado (the royal collection reflecting the… Read More
Spain’s Span Across Europe
The Prado, like the Louvre, takes a bit of context. It is a Royal Collection, and the royalty in Spain was; Well, full of stories, to say the least. The Spanish had an enormous empire, but two provinces… Read More
Buon Natale da Firenze!
The Madonna Enthroned with baby Jesus in her lap and various saints in attendance is by far the most common religious subject in art history. To take a break from the Louvre’s Christmas paintings, and to veer from… Read More
3 Kings Day THATLou!
Today is the eve of Epiphany, 6 January! A day of merrymaking, the 12th Day of Christmas has more than 12 drummers drumming (which apparently refers to the 12 points of doctrine in the Apostle’s creed, within the… Read More
THATLou Christmas Countdown
This Annunciation is by Carlo Braccesco, a Renaissance painter from Liguria active from 1478 to 1501. Doesn’t it look like Mary’s dodging a pigeon? The Annunciation is one of the most popular subjects in religious art. The story comes… Read More
Leonardo’s Lover
So who painted this now famous Prado-owned La Gioconda? Fueled with personalities and possibly sordid details, it’s a fun question to examine. Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) is too large a topic to address for one post…. Read More
Pitting the Beauty against the Beast
What more appropriate to the Beauty & Bestiary theme (or the Ladies au Louvre theme) than to linger on Three Graces (of which the Louvre has many – from Lucas Cranach’s to the Borghese 3 Graces) Bestiaries are… Read More
