The 50 Paintings Project



Painting # 22

Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban

 by 

Jan Van Eyck

 

Painted by Jan (pronounced Yan) Van Eyke a Netherlandish Painter . 

This is a self portrait  and was painted on 21st October 1433 to be very precise .

So it is  almost 584 years old. 

Presently housed in the National Gallery London.

Look at the tiny cracks that have developed over time...

If you happen to visit the National Gallery in London do check out the frame of this painting which is just as special as the painting itself.

Its wood has survived over 500 years . 

There is an inscription on it which looks like the wood has been carved but actually its just paint. 

Jan Van Eyck was known for putting inscriptions in his paintings and frames which has many art historians busy trying to decipher the meaning.

On this frame on top you can see an inscription which was Van Eyke's personal Motto

AS                                I                          CAN

And at the bottom is an inscription in latin which says 

Jan Van Eyck ME FACIT

which means 

Jan Van Eyck MADE ME

Then there is the date in Arabic and that's how we know this painting was completed on 21st October 1433 .

See you next week :)

"The 50 Paintings" Project 

Painting # 21 

 The Storm  by   Pierre Auguste Cot

 La Tempête

Oil on Canvas painted by a French Painter Pierre Auguste Cot (whose name can be easily confused with Pierre Auguste Renoir) almost 137 years back.

At 92 "x 62 " it is a pretty big frame which hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York.

Right next to it is Cot's another work called "The Spring" ("Le Printemps") which was done 10 years before The Storm.

"The Storm" and "The Spring" displayed at the Met New York,  side by side  .

The success of "The Spring" which he painted for his patron John Wolfe,  motivated him to paint "The Storm" for John's cousin Catharine Wolfe.

.......And so John gave in to his sister and that's how you have two paintings hanging together in the New York Museum :)

Love :) Until next week ...

The 50 Paintings Project

Painting # 20

Mother Teresa by M. F. Husain

This painting of Mother Teresa was completed in 1997 by Maqbool Fida Husain .

It sold for 1 crore.

If you have seen the sculpture by Michaelangelo in St.Peters ,Vatican city -  titled "La Pieta" you will also feel that probably Husain drew his inspiration from there for this painting.

"La Pieta" ( "The Pity") shows Jesus in the lap of his mother Mary after the crucifixion.

 M F Husain studied at J J School of Art, Mumbai .

He joined the Progressive Artists Group with artists like F N Souza, Raza, Gaitonde...

He left India in 2006 amid controversies around

his paintings  and death threats. 

And died in 2011  in London at 95 years old ... with the hope of returning to India sometime.

See you next week .... :)