Edgar Degas The Dance Lesson

The Dance Lesson Print

Edgar Degas The Dance Lesson (1879)

Edgar Degas was a French artist famous for his paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings. He is especially identified with the subject of dance; more than half of his works depict dancers. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist. The Dance Lesson (sometimes known as The Dancing Lesson) is an 1879 oil-on-panel painting by the French artist Edgar Degas. It is currently kept at National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.. There is at least one other work by Degas by this title, also made in about 1879, which is a pastel.

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Albrecht Durer Portrait Of A Young Venetian Woman

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Albrecht Durer Portrait Of A Young Venetian Woman

Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman is a small bust length oil on elm panel painting by the German artist Albrecht Duerer from 1505. It was executed, along with a number of other high society portraits, during his second visit to Italy.The woman wears a patterned gown with tied-on sleeves that show the chemise beneath. Her hair frames her face in soft waves, and back hair is confined in a small draped cap. The work’s harmony and grace is achieved through its mixtures of tones, from her pale, elegant skin and reddish blond hair and to her black-and pearl necklace and highly-fashionable patterned dress; all of which are highlighted against a flat black background. It is similar in pose and colour tone to his c 1507 A German Woman from Venice, while at least two studies of Venetian women are known, both of which are very daring. One shows the model with a plunging neckline, the other with bare shoulders.

During his visit to Italy Duerer became fascinated by and befriended Giovanni Bellini, an established master when Duerer was still a relative unknown outside of Germany. The Franconian artist’s influence can be seen in this work’s soft modeling, dramatic lighting and vivid colours and tones.

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John William Waterhouse The Lady Of Shalott

The Lady Of Shalott Print

John William Waterhouse The Lady Of Shalott (1888)

The Lady of Shalott is an 1888 oil-on-canvas painting by the English Pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse. The work is a representation of a scene from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s 1832 poem of the same name, in which the poet describes the plight of a young woman, loosely based on the figure of Elaine of Astolat from medieval Arthurian legend, who yearned with an unrequited love for the knight Sir Lancelot, isolated under an undisclosed curse in a tower near King Arthur’s Camelot. Tennyson also reworked the story in Elaine, part of his Arthurian epic Idylls of the King, published in 1859, though in this version the Lady is rowed by a retainer in her final voyage. Waterhouse painted three different versions of this character, in 1888, 1894 and 1915.

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