Science and Charity

Pablo Picasso, Science and Charity. Oil on canvas

 

I can see a the female patient lying down in the bed. The nun while holding the child is giving the woman resting in the bed something to drink maybe something to relieve the pain. The doctor while using his pocket watch checks the patient's pulse.
It feels like when the doctor is checking the patient's pulse there is hope for the patient. It seems that the doctor is giving assurance toward the nun and child by remaining calm and confident. The nun and child do not seem to be worried as they believe the patient is getting better.
The painting itself in the earlier works in the watercolor draft  had the child arms trying to reach forward to the mother of the child, but was removed  in the final version. Picasso was about the age of sixteen when he did this painting and was a gold medal at the Exposicion de Bellas Artes in Malaga



The Battles of Hogen and Heiji

Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper

Hogen to the left and right is Heiji

The  two six-panel screen shows the two civil wars that occurred in the Hogen and Heiji eras that took place in 1156 and 1160. Involving only a handful of politically famous figures of the Heike and Genji clans; the war was only for a few days . The six panel shows how it  signaled the destruction of an old era ruling and the coming of a new era. The city of Kyoto is viewed from above in a wide landscape. The main battle in the war seems to be in the center in the panels and the other minor parts appear in the panel randomly. There appears to be no chronological sequence to the war. The obscure greens, browns, and blues of the landscape with the clouds of gold make colorful and decorative effects. Mountains, rivers, houses, and men and women appear from behind the golden clouds.

Johannes Vermeer The Concert

Johannes Vermeer, The Concert. Oil on canvas

The Concert represented a way of socializing. The people in the room are closely preoccupied with their music. Lying on the table is a lute, while a viola de gamba lies on the floor. Are the instruments soon to be taken up by the musicians, or someone else? I like how Vermeer's reflections of light is used to sparkle of the woman's pearls, the golden threads of the man's stash, the white silk skirt, and the Persian carpet mounded on the table. The theme in "The Concert" seems to be music and three musicians are portrayed in the painting: a female with a harpsichord, a man with a lute and a woman singing.

Dirck van Baburen, The Procuress. Oil on Canvas

 

The left drawing seems to be a rural landscape. The right drawing is by Dirck van Baburen, The Procuress, 1622, oil on canvas. I do not know why Vermeer put the painting of Baburen, The Procuress in his painting. Maybe it is because of Vermeer mother-in-law had owned the painting.

Johannes Vermeer, The Music Lesson. Oil on canvas

 

The Music Lesson seems similar to The Concert. The people belong naturally to he room and participate in the rhythm of the music. The difference between both paintings is the mood of The Concert is more relaxed than The Music Lesson. In The Music Lesson Vermeer attempts to stimulate several specific textures by varying the way he applied paint  like the tassels on the chair to try and enhance their three-dimensional effect. In The Concert the table covering has a relatively abstract character and colors of the dress are painted more sparingly.

The Beffi Triptych

The Beffi Triptych was painted in the early fifteenth century by an unknown artist who may have been a follower of Seinese Artist Taddeo di Bartolo. The triptych altarpiece is a narrative piece that shows scene from the life of Virgin Mary. At the left side of the altarpiece, it shows Christ's Nativity which takes place in the cave. Below that it shows preparing the first bath and the kneeling figure wearing the right and black socks is the unknown donor of the altarpiece. In the top left the angel tells the shepherds about the birth. At the center it shows Mary and child enthroned. To The right side displays the Death of the Virgin surrounded by the twelve apostles. Above is Christ holding Mary's soul and on top of that is Christ crowning Mary as Queen of Heaven. I like the bright and radiant color of the painting.

This is a photo of promoting Wreck it Ralph in UK coming to theaters in Feb. 8.