http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html

This site has an unbelievable collection of GREAT quality scans of the most beautiful European art imaginable.

This site keeps me occupied for HOURS, just browsing artists I know and artists I never heard of.

Posted this before, but I think as much people should know about this site as possible.

To make it a game; post a picture of a painting or sculpture of your favourite artist and one of an artist you discovered through browsing the site!

Here, Portrait of a Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling by Hans Holbein The Younger, one of my favourite portrait painters.



The portrait of a lady with a squirrel, a speckle-breasted starling perched behind her - perhaps as a pun on her name or a coat-of-arms brought to life - is a wonderfully preserved example of Holbein's art at its most evocative. The picture may have been painted as one of a pair depicting husband and wife. A vague resemblance between this woman and Margaret Giggs, who appears in the sketch of the More family, has often led to her being identified as the adopted daughter of Thomas More. In fact, the shared features are limited mainly to the comparable fur cap, which Margaret wears in an individual study in the royal collection at Windsor. Apparently the headgear corresponded with contemporary English fashion. On stylistic grounds, the picture can be dated to Holbein's first visit to England.

In her warm fur cap the lady seems impassive, her eyes eluding the viewer's glance. Holbein's skill differentiates meticulously between the textures of the white fur, white shawl and the translucent white cambric buttoned at her throat and gathered in a ruffle at her wrist. The squirrel was added later over the sitter's clothes. Her hands, rearranged to support him, are a discordant note: they look masculine, modelled perhaps on those of an assistant in the studio. Yet the bright-eyed animal is essential to our reading of the portrait. His bushy tail, suggestively poised between the lady's gentle swelling breasts, hints at a sensuous nature beneath her reticently monochrome English costume.

This work demonstrates many of the features found in Holbein's work from his first English visit; the thoughtful, reserved expression of the sitter, less direct than in many later works, and the use of plant motifs to animate an otherwise flattened background. The lady's anonymity (she was most probably English and of the More circle, whose members were notably fond of animals) undoubtedly focuses attention on the meaning of the squirrel and starling's presence; these may have been intended as references to her name, or as living tokens of the family coat of arms. It is known that squirrels were often kept as pets at this time, while starlings are biddable companions. After the painting's recent cleaning, the squirrel's gleaming eye and soft fur have revealed Holbein to be as effective an animal painter as his German contemporary Hans Hoffman. Holbein's particular structural skill is evident in the way the squirrel's curling tail echoes the vine stem in the background, itself reminiscent of the Amerbach portrait.

cool... I will later

Thanks H!

And here a work by Rogier van der Weyden, of whom I had never heard before.

susannah said:

Welcome. Be sure to check out the SEARCH modus, where you can browse time-lines, schools (Dutch, Spanish), form (painting, sculpture, etc) and type (religious, historical, etc).

I, for instance, am a huge fan of portraits, esp early mediaeval ones, so I just click the timeline I want, and choose portraits, paintings and VOILA...

Really, hours and hours of amazing browsing pleasure.

I know what I am going to be doing for the rest of the day now. What a great site!

Also, as soon as you open a picture, the pop-up allows you to view it in detail, blowing up to a kewl 200% of the actual scan.

Really exceptionary paintings also have pictures of details, so you can view certain parts of your fave paintings even closer.

HamsterHuey said:

Wow, thats really cool I love art, but I must admit I havent seen enough European art simply because books are more complicated to find than this site!

HamsterHuey said:

For instance; Jan van Eyck's portrait of Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife. A painting from 1434(!) and one of my faves.



But look at this beautiful detail;



And I forgot to tell you that most pictures have a text explaining about the work!

Here the text to go along with the detail above;

Van Eyck's painting of the Arnolfini Marriage is famous for the circular mirror that hangs on the wall behind the couple.

The mirror is the focal point of the whole composition. It has often been noted that two tiny figures can be seen reflected in it, their image captured as they cross the threshold of the room. They are the painter himself and a young man, perhaps arriving to act as witnesses to the marriage. The essential point, however, is the fact that the convex mirror is able to absorb and reflect in a single image both the floor and the ceiling of the room, as well as the sky and the garden outside, both of which are otherwise barely visible through the side window. The mirror thus acts as a sort of hole in the texture of space. It sucks the entire visual world into itself, transforming it into a representation.

It is uncertain that the picture depicts an actual marriage ceremony. The Lain inscription on the back wall, 'Jan van Eyck was here/1434', has been interpreted as the artist's witness to their marriage, but may simply attest to his authorship of the painting,his creation of 'here'.
[Edited 9/26/06 7:40am]

susannah said:

That is what is so great about this site. It offers these great scans, but also SO much info; I am always flooded with info and amazement browsing this site...

Then I haven't talked about the TOURS (15 great tutorials) and the fact they have an online library of classical music to accompany you while browsing...

"We suggest you to enhance the experience of your visit by listening classical music. Please select a musical piece matching the particular image or the art history period you are studying and play it in the background.

We are offering a large selection of MIDI files quite enjoyable for keyboard music, and a limited choice of MP3-based listenings for vocal, chamber and orchestral music. In addition, we provide a list of on-line live broadcastings and Internet radios playing mostly classical music."

Again, I love this site...


PS;and the music cannot be immediately be saved, but MP3's pop up quite conveniently in my Temporary Internet Files, so I am now also transfering them to my own folder...


[Edited 9/26/06 7:50am]

it does look like an amazing site I will have a look in more detail tonight

thank you Herman

Natisse said:

What I can't wait for is the task I set the people who are as enthousiastic about this site as I am; one pic of the artist you love, one of a new artist.

This is so Thank you for sharing

HamsterHuey said:

Yes. I like that one And if you also notice, the little dog at the foot of the couple is not represented in the mirror reflection

Thx for sharing, I love it!

What's all this culture 'n stuff?

I better not be learning anything!

i LOVE that site. one of my professors recommended it to use while we're studying & now I'm on there all the time.



They don't have my favorite Gainsborough, but this one's very nice.

evenstar3 said:

I thought of you straight away when I saw that site.

Spookymuffin said:

evenstar3 said:

A load of the photos I took of the art I saw came out blurred because I wasn't supposed to be taking photos.

I'll try and salvage what's left to make a thread.

I love that site almost as much as i do you!

Spookymuffin said:

Psh, I'm starting to think your promises of Louvre photos are just taunts!

They don't let you take pictures? Not even with the flash off?

evenstar3 said:

Nope. I even argued back in French in a vain attempt to convince them I was an art lover, but nope. No photos, not even with your phone.

Spookymuffin said:

How evil! I suppose they have good reasons...saving the art and all that.

evenstar3 said:

Apparently it's cause people make copies of the art and sell it, meaning the louvre loses profit on sales of prints it makes.

I get in for free anyways.

Spookymuffin said:

Greedy bastards.

evenstar3 said:

yeah - fucking capitalist pigs!

Viva la revolución!

....too far?

Spookymuffin said:

NEVER!

:cheguevara: