Merry Christmas!!!
Good to hear from you. I hope your health is better. I look forward to hearing from you more often.
Jadrianne... I hope all is well with you. I haven't heard from you in quite some time... or seen any posts. Of course I've been quite tied up as well... making the most of my summer in the studio. Drop me a line when you can. -Stlukesguild/David
Jadrianne; Long time no hear. How are you doing? Any good news (hopefully) on the health front?
jadrianne; I haven't heard from you in a while. I hope things are going well with your health. My work year is rapidly coming to a close with Summer Break just over 20 school days away. I can't wait to get into the studio every day as I'm hoping to make some serious efforts at getting my work shown this year.
Rubens at his best comes close (such as in his portraits of his first wife, his children, Susanna Fourment...) but his portraits are quite often the formal presentation of the individual... and quite often the individuals in question are the equivalent of the celebrity: the rich and powerful and good looking. he doesn't dig as deeply behind the mask as Rembrandt does... or as Goya, for that matter, in some of his royal portraits.
Rembrandt is indeed an amazing artist... and one nearly impossible to put your finger on. I can largely analyze a great deal of what is going on in other artists: Michelangelo, Rubens, Ingres, Vermeer... I understand the mechanics... but Rembrandt is something altogether different. Like Mozart he's deceptively simple... nothing apparently complex going on formally... but his work is incredibly profound... deeply emotional. Like Shakespeare he is unmatched in his ability to invent human characters that we, the audience, can relate to... who seem more real than most people we know in real life. Michelangelo is unquestionably the greater artist, but his figures are not individual human personalities as they are with Rembrandt... rather, they are superhuman beings... Gods... abstract expressions of emotions and longings.
Yes... it must be a few hours later in Romania than it is in the US. I'm just coming down from work and preparing to go out for dinner. Good night!
You know your art history better than most, it would seem.
Yes to Simonetta and the Doge. The last two are portraits by Petrus Christus of a Young Girl: http://www.answers.com/topic/christus-petrus and the lovely portrait, La Donna Velata, by Raphael: http://www.abcgallery.com/R/raphael/raphael55.html
