What his hands tell us about Bindo Altoviti

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 Raphael
45 yrs old, pained by Francesco Salviati
59 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.

Diving to the bottom of Lake Michigan

Usually I don’t show a painting in progress to my artist friends.  I wait until it is more finished before I invite constructive comments. But yesterday, I showed this painting to an art buddy who commented that it is finished. That took me by surprise because I have many ideas of how to continue working  on what I merely considered an ‘underpainting’ of a girl diving to the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Girl diving to the bottom of Lake Michigan, montage of 5 frames of a video taken by the girl’s brother. aluminum panel, ,24 x 48 in, oil

Earlier, during our lunch, some of the artists had discussed the difficulty to know  when a work is finished. The danger being that one could overdo it, thereby destroying it. With that in mind, rather than continuing working on my painting,  I decided to do the same motif over but then experiment with further ideas. 

Do you know when your work is finished – painting, writing, sculpting, designing your garden, inventing a new cooking recipe…?

Ceramic figures, copies of Etruscan, Chinese, New Mexican and pre-Columbian statues

My first four ceramic figures were done in the a workshop at the Oliver Art Center  in Frankfurt, MI, led by Steve Kline. New to this art form, I am indebted to the guidance of Steve – sensitive to when I needed help or was capable of proceeding on my own. 

The Etruscan boy was copied from a photo of a votive bronze statuette,  third century B.C. in the Museo Etrusco Guarnacci in  Volterra.  Wondering what this lumbering little guy was up to. 

Etruscan boy, 10 x 3 inEtruscan Boy, 10 x 3 in

The female Chinese dancer, earthen ware, stems from the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – A.D. 9). The statue was excavated in 1989-1990 in the tomb of the prince of Chu, Tuolanshan, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. My copy was done from a postcard bought at the MET, NYC.  I am intrigued but the dancer’s wide swaying stance. 

Female Dancer, 9 x 8 in

Saint Anthony was modeled using a photo of a  wood statue in the Museum of International Folk Art, New Mexico. From en.wikipedia: He is especially invoked and venerated all over the world as the patron saint for the recovery of lost items and is credited with many miracles involving lost people, lost things and even lost spiritual goods. I view my little statue as finding lost souls. 

Saint Anthony, 9 x 4 in

 

My ceramic copy of a Pre Columbian acrobat figure dating around 600AD – an inspiration for striving for agility.

Meso-American acrobat on exhibition at oliverart.org, height 11 in

 

My copy of a Pre Columbian Warrior Amulet

26 cm high

Methods

My copy of the Etruscan boy was thinly glazed with Amaco Celadon Rainforest.

My copy of the Female Dancer was glazed first with Amaco Celadon Tangelo followed by Amaco Celadon Green to highlight the shadows of her robe,

My copy of Saint Anthony was first painted with Amaco Celadon Cobalt Blue which then was brushed off the face and hands. Face and hands were subsequently painted with Amaco Celadon Tangelo and folds of the robe were overpainted with Amaco Celadon Rainforest. The latter glazes were mostly obscured by the more powerful Celadon Cobalt – fortuitous as the shape of the figure is better seen with a coherent glaze.

My copy of the Meso-American Acrobat was glazed with three Amaco Celadon glazes: Mulberry, Snow and Sky.  My artist friend Dewey Blocksma  mounted the acrobat on a walnut base. 

My copy of a Pre Columbian Warrior Amulet was glazed with Amaco Celadon Snapdragon and Obsidian.

 

 

 

Winter Storm at Lake Michigan

Winter Storm at Empire Beach #1
Winter Storm at Empire Beach #2 — Oil on wood panels, 20 x 20 in

I am not just a regional painter but also a seasonal painter, that is, I paint wintry motif during the cold months and summery motifs during the warm months.  #1 and #2 were painted in the winters of 2020 and 2021, respectively.  

The motifs for the two paintings come from a video that Karl took at the Empire village beach. We extracted six frames for a potential six-painting-series. I may paint more next winter.  Initially, I was not sure that I liked the subdued winter colors since I usually paint with brighter colors. But now we love looking at these two paintings on our wall.

My paintings are captured by Vada Color. The high resolution files are used to make giclee prints on either paper or canvas of paintings that are not for sale. Maybe, some day, I will publish my paintings  as book . 

 

Resurfacing

oil on wood panel 16 x 24 in

Below is an old seascape painting of Lake Michigan with a view of South Manitou that I had been wondering what to do with.

The solution came to me when my friend Cindy  took a snapshot of me at another beach of Lake Michigan. I extracted the figure from Cindy’s snapshot and ‘overlaid’ it with a photo of my old seascape painting using an adobe photoshop algorithm.

Surrealistically rising out of water with my taupe pants making less of a statement than my orange jacket.