The idealised English cottage scenes in Morning, Noon and Night were painted the same year that saw the end of the French Revolution (1789-99), not that long after the American Revolution (1763-83). Britain was at war with France (1793-1815); in…
poem
Brothers – A Poem
Susan C. Waters was not just a portrait artist, who also painted animals and still lifes, but a woman who supported herself and her husband with her paintings, and an animal activist and suffragette. More on the artist, and her…
Woman and Dog at Table – A Poem
I love dogs, and there was something about the expression in this dog’s face in Woman and Dog at Table that I recognised well. As for the painting, it, too, appears to be a real scene from artist Pierre Bonnard’s…
Woman Walking in an Exotic Forest – A Poem
In Woman Walking in an Exotic Forest, Henri Rousseau takes a woman, better suited for promenading in Parisian parks, and places her tropically, and absurdly, out of her element. “Gazing at the viewer with a look of vague surprise, the…
Orange – A Poem
Granddaughter of Isaac Newton, Amanda Almira Newton contributed nearly one-sixth of all the 7,600 archived botanical illustrations for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Her watercolour work for the Department from 1896-1928 documented an expanding industry at a time when photography…
Two Pears on a Tabletop – A Poem
Known for his “radiant sunlight” and “filmy atmosphere”, Sanford Robinson Gifford’s style as a master landscaper was well established by the 1860s. Around the time he was painting Two Pears, he was chosen as one of two artists (the other…
Green Plums – A Poem
Such is the photo-like quality of Green Plums, I didn’t realise until reading the National Gallery of Art’s discussion of Joseph Decker’s paintings in American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I (pages 123-125) that not all the plums are as…
Pub Bench – A Poem
The inspiration for this simple poem came not just from this John Frederick Peto painting, but from a photo I took a while ago (see below). It’s a warm night. I’m on holiday. I’m inside a city pub having a…
The Master Herbalist – A Poem
Well, this one was a wild ride, much like the famous Banquet for Rousseau itself. More of Rousseau’s works here. More on the outrageous party can be found here. Apollinaire’s full poetic tribute to Rousseau can be found here. A…
Conviviality Near the Inn – A Poem
The first time I looked at Conviviality Near the Inn, all I saw were the peasants, dancing and hawking wares. The second time I looked, the more to me it seemed the castle (or church) dominated half the painting, not…
Boy with a Basket of Fruit – A Poem
One of the joys of this food/art/poem project of mine is imagining life outside the painting, which leads me to research. Information on child labour in the US here. A little look at historic tin toys here. And it’s not…
Old Partner – A Poem
Why choose to paint a broken down old kettle? According to Artvee.com, John Frederick Peto was a trompe l’oeil specialist, and painted objects at their actual size. This old kettle painting is only 12.7 x 20.3 cm (5 x 8…
