Syrian landscapes
Most of the landscape compositions by Syrian artists are devoted to old Damascus and the village of Maaloula, located in a picturesque mountain area near Damascus. She became a source of inspiration and a place of pilgrimage for Syrian landscape painters. The multi-tiered architecture of rural houses, clinging to the slopes of the mountains and picturesquely piled on top of each other, the romantic landscapes of the surroundings, the fertile valley spreading below, as if embodying the Syrian ideal dream of the beauty of the earth. Continue reading
Masterpieces of Venetian painting
It is enough to recall the names of Giorgione and Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto, and it becomes clear what a bright and beautiful page in the art of the Renaissance was the painting of Venice. In a politically fragmented Italy, each city was an independent state, and its artistic culture had a special character, its own unique features. Historical destinies, social structure, natural conditions, way of life, everyday and cultural traditions determined the originality of the art of a particular center. Continue reading
What begins painting?
Teaching painting begins with the education of the ability to see. But isn’t everyone seeing the same? Naturally, people without visual defects, in the physical sense, see the same. However, you can watch and not see.
N. P. Krymov tells how M. A. Vrubel was returning from a walk in Abramtsevo. It was dusk, the moon was rising. And he came across an old mossy birch stump. Vrubel’s companions passed by, and on the very next day he began and ended his famous “Pan” soon. Continue reading
“Saint Sebastian” Titian
The painting “Saint Sebastian” by Titian is considered to be the pearl of the State Hermitage. Why does this work affect viewers so much? Who is depicted on it?
In the early Middle Ages, a legend arose about the native of the Roman city of Narbonne, Sebastian. Having been educated in Milan, he went in search of happiness to Rome. Thanks to his courage and honesty, the young man attracted the attention of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Deserving his favor, Sebastian received an appointment to the honorary position of chief of the first cohort of the Imperial Guard, but did not justify the confidence. For his hidden commitment to Christians, he was twice sentenced to death. Continue reading
“Portrait of Peter I” by Mikhail Lomonosov
In one of the Hermitage halls, mosaic works created by the great Russian scientist and his students are exhibited. Among these works, the portrait of Peter I stands out – a convincing confirmation of Lomonosov’s outstanding artistic talent. He began working as a mosaic technologist after his acquaintance in 1746-1750 with the mosaic works brought from Italy called “The Weeping Apostle Peter” and “The Portrait of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna”. They were recruited in Rome in the Vatican mosaic workshop. Continue reading
