In 2009, when I posted my painting ‘Yellow Canoe’oil on wood, 12 x 24 inon the now dormant blog artandperception.com, someone told me about Peter Doig‘s canoe paintings.Peter Doig, 100 Years ago, (Carrera) 2001
My painting was based on a montage of three photos: a Northwest Pacific canoe, New Mexico clouds, the clouds and their shadows reflected on the backdrop of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
My painting expresses energy and Doig’s painting expresses the unease of drifting.
Quoting Nicholas Serota (former director of the Tate) : Doig’s paintings have a kind of mythic quality that’s both ancient and very, very modern. They seem to capture a contemporary sense of anxiety and melancholy and uncertainty. Lately, he’s gone more toward the sort of darkness we associate with Goya.
A seagull at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore took a break from hunting for mussels and fish. Esch Beach, oil on wood, 10 x 8 in
A hawk flying over the dunes. Glenhaven loop, oil on wood, 12 x 12 in
Living near the the Sleeping Bear Dunes, away from the bustle of towns, much of the life around me is contributed by birds.
Paintings of Bindo Altoviti (1491 to 1557) by three different Renaissance artists illustrate what hands can tell about character.
Educated at the papal court and later, as a major papal banker, Bindo Altoviti knew Renaissance artists. Three of them – Raphael, Francesco Salviati and Jacopino del Conte – painted him at different times. Looking at these paintings, our eyes move from Bindo’s face, particularly his eyes, to his hands:
21 yrs old, painted by Raphael45 yrs old, pained by Francesco Salviati59 yrs old, painted by Jacopino del Conte,
A pictorial procession from a, reportedly, idealistic young aristocrat with his right hand resting on his heart, to a middle-aged power broker of turbulent Renaissance politics with both hands clasped together almost hidden at the bottom of the painting, to, lastly, an elderly patron of the arts with both hands freely extended, one holding a glove and the other pointing to a work of art.
It appears that these paintings of his hands express different facets of Bindo Altoviti’s character.
Renaissance artists were employed by the church and the rich. Bindo Altoviti had the artists create frescos for his palazzo in Rome, and his suburban villa. He was not only their patron but also their friend. For example, when Michelangelo had to flee from Florence, he gave him sanctuary in Rome.
An earlier post “Different hands, different spirits” has now been extended, by adding the full portraits of the sitters to allow viewing the interplay of eyes with hands there too.
