Francisco Masriera Y Manovens Spanish artist 1842 - 1902 The son of the artist José Masriera, he was encouraged by his father to paint and as a young man he studied in Geneva, Paris and Rome. While in Rome, he began to paint the Orientalist subjects that were to make his reputation. These subjects of Moorish harem figures earned him international regard for their perfection of draftsmanship and their luminous and strong palette. In 1878 he was awarded a second class medal at the National Exhibition in Madrid for his painting The Slave and, in 1889, the same year A Harem Beauty was painted, Masriera won a third class medal at the Exposition Universelle, Paris.

Francisco Masriera Y Manovens

Spanish artist
1842 - 1902

The son of the artist José Masriera, he was encouraged by his father to paint and as a young man he studied in Geneva, Paris and Rome. While in Rome, he began to paint the Orientalist subjects that were to make his reputation.

These subjects of Moorish harem figures earned him international regard for their perfection of draftsmanship and their luminous and strong palette. In 1878 he was awarded a second class medal at the National Exhibition in Madrid for his painting The Slave and, in 1889, the same year

A Harem Beauty was painted, Masriera won a third class medal at the Exposition Universelle, Paris.

  • March 3
  • , 2012
John William Godward (British, 1861-1922), “Dolce Far Niente” Godward was a Victorian Neo-classicist, and therefore a follower in theory of Frederic Leighton. However, he is more closely allied stylistically to Sir Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, with whom he shared a penchant for the rendering of Classical architecture, in particular, static landscape features constructed from marble. The vast majority of Godward’s extant images feature women in Classical dress, posed against these landscape features, though there are some semi-nude and fully nude figures included in his oeuvre (a notable example being In The Tepidarium (1913), a title shared with a controversial Alma-Tadema painting of the same subject that resides in the Lady Lever Art Gallery). The titles reflect Godward’s source of inspiration: Classical civilisation, most notably that of Ancient Rome (again a subject binding Godward closely to Alma-Tadema artistically), though Ancient Greece sometimes features, thus providing artistic ties, albeit of a more limited extent, with Leighton.

John William Godward (British, 1861-1922), “Dolce Far Niente”

Godward was a Victorian Neo-classicist, and therefore a follower in theory of Frederic Leighton. However, he is more closely allied stylistically to Sir Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, with whom he shared a penchant for the rendering of Classical architecture, in particular, static landscape features constructed from marble.

The vast majority of Godward’s extant images feature women in Classical dress, posed against these landscape features, though there are some semi-nude and fully nude figures included in his oeuvre (a notable example being In The Tepidarium (1913), a title shared with a controversial Alma-Tadema painting of the same subject that resides in the Lady Lever Art Gallery). The titles reflect Godward’s source of inspiration: Classical civilisation, most notably that of Ancient Rome (again a subject binding Godward closely to Alma-Tadema artistically), though Ancient Greece sometimes features, thus providing artistic ties, albeit of a more limited extent, with Leighton.

  • December 19
  • , 2011
Egyptian Mummy Portrait: Head of a Woman 130 - 160 AD Painting Long before realistic portrait painting developed in Europe in the Renaissance, Roman-Egyptian artists did striking likenesses in wax on limewood. Dating from the later period of Roman rule in Egypt, shortly before the birth of Christ, the painted mummy portraits are among the most remarkable products of the ancient world, a fusion of the traditions of pharonic Egypt and the Classical world. They are historical and cultural objects of outstanding importance and beauty, superb works of art that represent some of the earliest known examples of life-like portraiture. Though the subjects of the portraits believed in the traditional Egyptian cults, which offered them a firm prospect of life after death, they also wished to be commemorated in the Roman manner, with their fashion of dress and adornment signaling their status in life. Despite their ancient history, these portraits speak to the modern eye with a beauty and intensity that would be lost to portraiture until the Renaissance.

Egyptian Mummy Portrait: Head of a Woman 130 - 160 AD Painting

Long before realistic portrait painting developed in Europe in the Renaissance, Roman-Egyptian artists did striking likenesses in wax on limewood.

Dating from the later period of Roman rule in Egypt, shortly before the birth of Christ, the painted mummy portraits are among the most remarkable products of the ancient world, a fusion of the traditions of pharonic Egypt and the Classical world.

They are historical and cultural objects of outstanding importance and beauty, superb works of art that represent some of the earliest known examples of life-like portraiture.

Though the subjects of the portraits believed in the traditional Egyptian cults, which offered them a firm prospect of life after death, they also wished to be commemorated in the Roman manner, with their fashion of dress and adornment signaling their status in life.

Despite their ancient history, these portraits speak to the modern eye with a beauty and intensity that would be lost to portraiture until the Renaissance.

  • November 11
  • , 2011