Everybody Loves Art History (Part II)

Part II!

You'd be surprised where Art History can pop up when you least expect it. These are just a couple instances that I have found, though I can credit my delightful colleague Kimi for finding the Harry Potter connection and my lovely other colleague Alicia for deciphering the Holbein the Younger. Enjoy. :)

I've mentioned this happy find before, back in my entry on Caravaggio. I will admit without shame, as a former babysitter, I have seen most of (and actually enjoyed!) the Barbie movies. In Barbie Rapunzel, when the guests of the ball are entering the castle, they walk down a hallway hung with paintings and large scale drawings. I have yet to identify the rest, but the painting with the arrows directed at it caught my eye immediately as a Renaissance/Baroque Art Historian.

Caravaggio. Boy with a basket of fruit. 1593. Oil on canvas. 70 cm x 67 cm. Galleria Borghese, Rome.

Knowing Caravaggio's rather contentious, feisty nature, I have a feeling he'd be flipping in his grave to know one of his paintings is in a Barbie movie. I think this was a rather interesting choice on the part of the Barbie folks too...It's hyper realistic (there are scars and fungal spots on the fruit) and we have to admit, a little seductive with the boy's bare shoulder and sensual gaze.

The next piece is my pride and joy, mostly because it's the most recent connection I've found. As you can probably tell from the image, these paintings are to be found in Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.

A two for one screenshot!

The painting on the left was what caught my eye in the first place...mostly, because it's by my favorite artist, Diego Velázquez.

Diego Velázquez. Equestrian portrait of Philip IV. 1635. Oil on canvas. 301 x 314 cm. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

I love that in a lot of Velázquez's paintings, you can see lines where he added on additional canvas to expand his images or a "fifth hoof" on the horses because Velázquez would paint too fast and have to go back and fix them. You can see examples of both of those things here! (Expanded vertical margin is on the right...Fifth hoof is on the rear, farthest from you)

The painting on the right in the screenshot was a bit of a stumper...but thankfully, I have a friend that specializes in Northern Renaissance paintings!! (Thanks, Alicia!)

Hans Holbein the Younger. Portrait of Sir Richard Southwell. 1536. Oil and tempera on oak. 47.5 x 38 cm. Uffizi, Florence.

The B&theB screenshot lacks the text behind Southwell's head and is a cropped version of the actual painting, but I am convinced it's this one!

The next example was found thanks to my friend Kimi. Thanks, Kimi!

Lewis Chessmen (Uig chessmen). 12th century. Walrus ivory. British Museum and Museum of Scotland.

These walrus ivory chessmen were found on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, in 1831. There are 78 original pieces, 67 of which belong to the British Museum and the other 11 belong to the Museum of Scotland. The chessmen were likely of Norwegian origin, as Scotland was ruled by Norway during this time in the 12th century. You can read more about them on Wikipedia. :)

And here, you can see that Harry Potter borrowed the Lewis Chessmen for their own chess game, Wizard's chess! Wizard's chess involves animated chess pieces that move on vocal command of those playing the game.

See the resemblance :)?

I love finding these art "easter eggs" in pop culture!

Fifth of 365

Shout out to my friend Ben and everyone in my 17th Century "Problems outside of Italy" class from Fall Semester! This guy is for you.

And so, we move on to the 5th and final artist most relevant to my holiday. This will still be followed by another post for today-today, but this gets us on track for one post a day from now on. :) So far, we've seen the eccentric dreamweaver (Dalí), the coloristic master (Titian), the scientific sculptor (Ganson), and the well-rounded painter-diplomat (Rubens). What good boys. Time for a little mischief.

Fifth. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - The Italian Bad-Boy

This artist, most simply and commonly known as Caravaggio, is likely another artist most have heard of...but know little about. And on that note, little is known about him in general! He did not sketch or keep a journal of his style, methods, or work. He did not utilize models or Antique statuary for reference, which was the tradition of the age. He did not take on students, though many young artists (known as the "Caravaggisti") took on his style. He was he antithesis of what a successful artist in the seventeenth-century should be.

And yet, he was successful, particularly for his naturalistic religious works. He is best known for his use of chiaroscuro, or strong contrasts between light and shadow ("Make your darks darker, and your lights lighter"). He worked to emphasize physical and psychological realities. Despite his focus on the blatant naturalism, and sometimes even grotesque details, of life, there is mystery in his work. Why all of the deep shadows? Who is the reoccurring figure in his pieces (i.e. You can see the same "boy" in Boy with a basket of fruit, 1593-1594, The Musicians, 1595-1596, and arguably, Bacchus, 1595)? Why are the fruit in his works most frequently depicted as rotting?

Sadly, it is Caravaggio's "bad boy" image that seems to be more common knowledge than his oeuvre (work). He carried a sword with him when he went out and is known for picking fights and being aggressive in nature. There are pages upon pages of police reports and trial hearings as a result. He was forced into exile for killing a man in 1606 (perhaps unintentionally). He died in exile of a fever in 1610, all alone.

But what he should be known for is his distinct cultivation of chiaroscuro as it pertains to the development of the Baroque style. Baroque artists may not have adopted the psychological realism also characteristic of Caravaggio's work, but they are absolutely indebted into his development of chiaroscuro. This style even touched the light, vivacious work of Rubens (one of my arguments for my paper!).

3 Facts!

- When Caravaggio died, he was on his way back to Rome to receive pardon from the Pope for his transgressions. It is said that he was even robbed of his boat and worldly possessions right before he took fever and died. Human remains found in a church in Port Ercole in Tuscany in 2010 are thought most definitively to belong to Caravaggio (DNA and carbon dating confirms).

- Caravaggio was more-or-less immediately forgotten after his death, only to be rediscovered in the 20th century as a master of the Baroque era. Only about 80 of his works survive.

- *Best fact ever* - In the Barbie Rapunzel movie (Yes, I'm serious), when the shot is walking down the hall into the main ballroom towards the climatic end, Caravaggio's Boy with a basket of fruit is on the left wall on the very end at the hall. Yes. Barbie's Prince has a Caravaggio in his palace. And Caravaggio is probably flipping in his grave.

"All works, no matter what or by whom painted, are nothing but bagatelles and childish trifles... unless they are made and painted from life, and there can be nothing... better than to follow nature." - Caravaggio