Month: April 2020

West Southwest: Bierstadt, O’Keeffe, and Baum – plus Colorado Wines.

Sunset in the Yosemite Valley by Albert Bierstadt, 1868 Haggin Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

Albert Bierstadt’s West

It was called Luminism, a term created by 20th century art historians to cover a style of American painting that started as part of the Hudson Valley School and flourished from 1850-1870. Many of the paintings are quite small and quiet in their pursuit of how to paint light. The idea was to focus on calm, to minimize the trace of brush strokes as a way of limiting the “personality” of the painter, and to capture the effects of light. While some think of this period as a type of American Impressionism, it had nothing to do with Impressionism but instead was influenced by Romanticism. It is that Romanticism that helps explain how Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), known as a luminist painter, could produce paintings that vary so much from the qualities listed above. The grandeur of the western American landscape, which is quite a bit different from the calm of the Hudson River Valley, played a key role in how his luminism took on a different aspect, one more full of drama and spectacle. It must be noted that Frederick Church, another famous luminist painter and a native of the Hudson Valley, also created large dramatic paintings of the American West. It would seem that the landscape took both of them over.

Albert Bierstadt was born in Germany, but grew up in the United States. At the age of twenty-three, he returned to Germany to study painting in Dusseldorf. Upon his return to the U.S. four years later, he searched for a niche within which to distinquish himself and found it when accompanying a party headed by Frederic Lander that was surveying the Oregon Trail in 1859. Bierstadt learned a lot about the Native American cultures in the area and held a great respect for the people and their culture. He painted Lander’s Peak (1863) which landed him into some notoriety because in the foreground of the painting was an encampment of Native people. Such a peaceful scene of Native people at the time was seen as inappropriate, as Native Americans were not seen as worthy subjects. Bierstadt still wanted to represent the reality of the West that he knew, so he began to use the buffalo as a symbolic substitute to represent the Native Americans and their way of life. In fact, he began to include many of the animals that populated the high mountains of the western U.S., becoming famous for his animal portraits, as well as for a series of butterfly paintings. A true artist, he once took aim with his rifle at a buffalo, but instead put the gun down and took up his paints instead.

Here we have Bierdtadt’s Yosemite Falls (c. 1865) now at the Worchester Art Museum. In this painting, we see his focus on the effects of the light as it penetrates the mist from the falls. The center of the painting that shows the falls and the mountains is shrouded somewhat in a fine haze. The more sharply defined foreground with the stream, trees, and grasses makes for a contrast, though as the trees recede toward the falls, they dim in the mist as well. Here the luminist desire to present light is magnificently shown in how the clouds, falling waters, and mist are handled. As always we still see that sense of drama that comes with so many of Bierstadt’s paintings.

A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie by Albert Bierstadt, 1866 Now at the Brooklyn Museum

This is another dramatic scene captured on a big canvas by Bierstadt. In thinking about his use of the drama of nature, I make a connection to a French painter known for academicism, i.e. paintings of large historical scenes. Jean-Léon Gérome (1824-1904) did not do landscapes, but he is known for rather theatrical, sometimes now called “cinematic” presentations, that propose a dramatic climax as the real subject of the painting. Both painters worked at the same time, so I wonder if something about that appeal to drama also was an influence on Bierstadt. Whatever the case, Albert Bierstadt is one of the great painters of the western landscape, helping to create the romantic allure that drove the idea of moving ever further west. For more on Bierstadt, I recommentd a series called Witness to a Changing West youtube.com

Georgia O’Keeffe’s Southwest

Winter Cottonwoods East V, 1954 Georgia O’Keeffe Oil on canvas 40 x 36 (101.6 x 91.40) Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Gift of The Burnett Foundation (1997.06.024) © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
Painting used here in accordance with Fair Use Policy for purposes of review, critique and discussion.

In my dining room over a rather rustic side table holding an assortment of colorful dishes and pottery, there is a framed poster of this wonderful O’Keeffe painting. I am always fascinated by the subtleties of the mist and fog shown in this piece. The limited palette of beiges, grays, and browns serves to illustrate just how much can be expressed with skillful use of the tones and shades of just a few colors. Those twisting branches show the age and character of the trees that have struggled through many winters, perhaps with a fallen branch or two as seen in the bottom right corner. Yet, they have survived to fill their branches every year with beautiful green leaves that rustle in the summer breeze and shimmer in the moonlight.

My Backyard by Georgia O’Keeffe 1943 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe NM. Painting used in accordance with Fair Use Policy for purposes of review, critique and discussion.

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) was not from the Southwest, but she found her spiritual home to be there. Knowing from the age of 10 or 12 (the stories vary) that she wanted to be a painter, her early academic training in which she learned to copy well the works of famous artists bored her. It made her not want to paint. Luckily for us, she found the work of Arthur Dow, who stated that the main thing in painting was to “fill a space in a beautiful way.” That re-started her on a path which included her initial work from the Southwest, her famous/infamous flower paintings, her New York skyscraper series, and then her later southwestern pieces. Her unique way of filling the space beautifully was by combining abstraction and realism, as can be seen in all the paintings here. The images are recognizable, yet they are uniquely expressive of the artist’s individual voice and world view.

O’Keeffe is famous for her flowers, here Jimson Weed (1936). Her husband, famed photographer and art dealer, Alfred Stieglitz, however, gave them a Freudian interpretation that set the world looking for sexual symbolism in all her work. To counter this, she started a series on the tall buildings of New York City. Stieglitz commented that many male artists had tried to treat New York’s skyscrapers without success, so what did she think she could do with it?

O’Keeffe admits that Stieglitz was difficult, but a wonderful difficult, and she was not to be kept down. Off she went to New Mexico. When asked in later years how she got her husband’s permission to go off like that. She smiled wryly and said, “I didn’t ask him anything; I just went.” Thus she went off and on to New Mexico for many years, staying in a small house at Ghost Ranch and finally buying the hacienda that became her home after Stieglitz died (1946). From those two locations we have the body of work that has become synonymous with O’Keeffe, her southwestern landscapes.

Ram’s Head, White Hollyhock by Georgia O’keeffe, 1935. Brooklyn Museum. Image used here in accordance with Fair Use Policy for purposes of review, critique and discussion. Click on picture to magnify.

In the painting above, we not only see that combination of the realism and abstraction in the rendering of the mountains and clouds, but there is a touch of the surreal in the presentation of the ram’s skull and the hollyhock. They seem like symbols of life and death in the desert. The fluidity seen in the representation of the storm clouds is echoed somewhat in the way the reddish mountains flow across the canvas. We know what they represent, but they are not precisely realistic. Yet the ram’s skull is finely drawn and painted, something that makes it even more of a standout against that fluid background than its position in mid-air.

Cerro Pedernal at Dawn by Georgia O’Keeffe, 1936. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM. Painting used in accordance with Fair Use Policy for purposes of review, critique and discussion. Clcik on picture to magnify.

Lastly, we have one of O’Keeffe’s many versions of a mountain known as the Pedernal. She said that God promised he’d give it to her if she painted it enough. Nice promise. Once again here we see that special combination of the real and the abstract. The scene is recognizable and the space relationship between the red hills, the green trees, and the distant tabletop mountain create the feeling of distance and dimension. Yet, the roll of the red hills and the different levels of the blue mountains are almost like waves in the ocean. They seem solid yet are susceptible to change. In other words, the hills have a life of their own, and O’Keeffe just kept a good record of it.

To hear O’Keeffe talk about her work, you can find a video series by clicking on this link youtube.com

The Tradition Continues

Downstream Flow – Glen Canyon by Michael Baum. Click on picture to magnify.

Bierstadt and O’Keeffe may be gone, but the tradition of painters who love to capture the marvelous landscape and unusual light of the Southwest lives on. Manitou Springs, Colorado, artist, Michael Baum, works in the fine tradition of western/southwestern painting. An avid hiker, camper, and explorer of the canyons, valleys, and streams of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, Baum is dedicated to capturing the essence of this colorful and varied area. In particular he focuses on trying to capture the extraordinary light that he finds in this region.

Here we see his attention to the way the sunlight hits the rockface of this canyon, lighting up the cliffs in the foreground while casting the deeper part of the canyon into shadows. He indicates the lowering slant of the sun with a trace of sunlight at the bottom of the cliffs on the left and ties the brightly lit cliffs on the right to the deeper canyon with a slight reflection of violet. The river is steady and calm and seems to flow toward the viewer, spreading out to become wide and welcoming. The canyon walls are steep and no real riverbanks show themselves, just some greenery that is clinging to the rock. Makes one think of where to camp for the night as the afternoon shadows begin to descend.

Morning in the Rockies by Michael Baum

Well, one can take many a fascinating journey when looking at one of Baum’s paintings. In fact, you can take a tour of the southwest in this webstory made from Baum’s paintings of the Southwest: ofartandwine.com/webstories

For more of his work and his personal journey as an artist go to “Michael Baum: Pursuing the Landscape” at vernellestudio.com and to michaelbaum.com. The good thing to know is that the physical heritage of the American West and Southwest have served and will continue to serve as inspiration for painters who pursue and capture its glory to share with the rest of us.

Paintings by Bierstadt are in Public Domain. O’Keeffe’s paintings are copywrited to her estate and used in accordance with Fair Use Policy. Baum’s painting is used with the artist’s permission.

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com or her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

“Colorado Wines – Not An Oxymoron”

Yes, I borrowed that title (or quoted it) from an article that appears in the Wine Spectator, winespectator.com. Admittedly, when one thinks of wines in the United States, the first go-to place is the West Coast: California, Oregon, Washington. You know, those lovely fertile valleys blessed with sea breezes, but no, we are talking about the Rocky Mountains! Yes, I have a big scoop for you. Not only is there a lovely wine-growing region in Colorado, but there are also some very fine wines that are being generated in two areas near the city of Grand Junction. The western slope of the Rockies at about 5,400 to 6,400 feet above sea level provides high altitude, hot days, low rainfall, and rich volcanic soil, which in Grand Valley (east of Grand Junction) means a superb Cabernet Franc and an equally delicious Merlot. A smaller area, a bit more mountainous, is West Elk, part of the North Fork Valley. It does well with white grapes and thin-skinned grapes. Gerwurtztraminer is one of the prime products, though Pinot Noir grapes grow well there, too.

Award Winning Wines from LeRoux Creek Vineyards Photo from lerouxcreekvineyards.com

So you are still skeptical? Well, no one knows wines like a Frenchman from Provence, and Yvon Gros, owner of Leroux Creek Vineyards is that Frenchman. Gros found the North Fork Valley near the town of Hotchkiss, Colorado, to be remarkably like Provence. Gros and his wife, Joanna, first came to the area in 1999. They started a bed and breakfast then went into growing grapes and making wine. That effort has turned into the Leroux Creek Inn and Vineyards, a place that has not only lovely accommodations, but also good wines and excellent dining opportunities. Monsieur Gros generously offers a few good recipes on the Leroux Creek website, one of which he demonstrates in a video: http://lerouxcreekvineyards.com/from-the-kitchen-paella/. Being from Provence, he naturally found a way to make a rosé, as rosé is the wine of Provence. Described as having “lovely flavors and aromas of cherry and strawberry,” Rosé de Leroux pairs well with “tapas, grilled chicken and salad.” lerouxcreekvineyards.com

Another place of interest in the North Fork Valley is Jack Rabbit Hill Farms. Here the speciality seems to be Riesling. Uniquely, they are also a USDA certified organic and biodynamic winery. Their motto is “Old School, New World.” Check out their story and their wines here jackrabbithill.com. However, I dare not leave out the Grand Valley area, which is the larger of the two primary growing areas. There you find the possibility of doing a real wine tour through a number of vineyards with wine tasting opportunities. The Grand Valley Winery Association offers its Barrel Into Spring event, currently scheduled for May 16-17, which will present barrel tastings and gourmet food pairings. The best way to get an idea of how to navigate Grand Valley is to look at the information on the Visit Grand Junction website. I provide a link here that goes directly to the wineries and tasting section of their website, visitgrandjunction.com.

The Wines of Colorado says it all. Photo from winesofcolorado.com

For those of us and any of you who travel to Colorado but do not make it to the Western Slope of the Rockies, just drive down I-25 from Denver about 60 miles to Colorado Springs, then take HWY 24 10 miles west up into the hills to Cascade. There you will find The Wines of Colorado, which has wines from 95 Colorado wineries, the largest selection of Colorado wines in the state. They provide a great menu, currently available for take-out, but served normally in their creekside restaurant. All the details can be found at winesofcolorado.com.

The western United States has lots to offer, like great art showing majestic mountains, colorful cliffs and canyons, and stunning vistas. Add to that some locally produced wine for, dare I say, a Rocky Mountain high (but only in moderation), and you might just move to Colorado.

Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and   CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.

©marjorie vernelle 2020

Coming soon on Of Art and Wine: Painted Animals and Wine + Chile (and not just the country).

Detail of Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci, 1490. Portrait of a Collie by Sue Johnson.

People love their pets and that is something that dates far back in history to those first animals that humans domesticated. From animals that feature in the portraits of the famous and animal portraits used to express human folly to portraits of pets and the famous Trail of the Painted Ponies Exhibition in Santa Fe, NM, pets have a fascinating artistic history. And since we talk of Santa Fe, how about exploring wine and chile (a more interesting combination than you might think).

Wayne Thiebaud’s San Francisco and Napa Valley Wines.

San Francisco: 24th Street Intersection, Wayne Thiebaud, 1977. Watercolor on paper

Yes, I know. San Franciscans insist that this is not a real intersection, but as Wayne Thiebaud says of his work, he makes “conscious decisions to include or exclude details, put in personal experiences and perceptual nuances to give the paintings more of a multi-dimension…” artnet.com. Here one has to say that the “perceptual nuances” carry the day. Being able to look downhill onto the top of a building as your brakes burn while your car slides down this precipice is a distinctly San Francisco experience, as well demonstrated by Thiebaud here. My personal experience involved the hill at Taylor and California, a hill so steep that the accompanying sidewalk has steps to help pedestrians climb. I remember anxious moments when my car had to stop for the red light before I crested the hill. There I would sit with both the brakes and the handbrake engaged to help fight gravity. A grand view of the sky was all that was before me while I endured an interminable wait for the green light.

But back to Thiebaud’s painting, where we can see the combination of all of his fine skills, as well as his perceptions and experiences. Thiebaud started as a youngster with stage design and poster art, even doing a summer apprenticeship at Disney Studios. Born in 1920, by the time he was ready to start a career, the Great Depression had been going on for quite a while, so his original love for fine art turned to the practicality of commercial art. It wasn’t until after World War II and when he was in his 30s that he decided to go into fine art, earning both a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from what are now California State Universities at San Jose and Sacramento respectively. That commercial art background, however, can be seen in the finely drawn buildings and in the design of the painting above. Thiebaud expresses great respect for commercial artists, saying, “Those wonderful people showed me what to do – sign painters, women’s fashion illustrators. There’s lots of craft in it and that is admirable.” (quote from theartstory.org)

Thiebaud gives the viewer much more than a look at the dizzying heights. His use of a sharp diagonal from left to right, with that “catch your breath” flat intersection before you continue on downhill, slips the eye quickly across the whole painting. As you look straight ahead, your upcoming descent is cut off from view by the sharp gash 24th street makes through the descent of the hillside, which echoes that of the street (Mariposa?) that crosses in front of you. Looking straight ahead is what you must do to keep any sense of balance when viewing this painting. If you let that sharp diagonal catch you, you begin to slide right off the edge of the picture plane. No wonder Vertigo was partially filmed in San Francisco.

Thiebaud does give us a bit of a break by his use of rather calming colors. The streets are in pale green-gray or blue-gray, and the sky is an overcast beige with a hint of pearly gray. Nothing to further excite the nerves there. The yellow double lines on the street indicate that there was some order intended in the construction of these streets. The power lines add another touch of humans imposing themselves on nature, as do the buildings. Yet, the whole thing is precarious as only a few grasses, four trees and these concrete streets hold that hillside in place. The slightest rumble in the earth (this is San Francisco, after all) could bring the whole thing crashing down. However, in the meantime, some semblance of order is maintained by the grid of the streets, which serves as a trailblazing marker telling drivers, “Yes, you can do this.”

The Ripley Street Ridge (1976) is another of Thiebaud’s vertiginous San Francisco landscapes. In someways, the fact that he represents this day of sunshine on pastel colored houses backed by a bright blue, fogless sky seems more like a reminiscence of his childhood in Los Angeles. Yet we have that San Francisco touch of the hillside that disappears into thin air. The street is populated by shadows, each outline indicating the distinct personality of the dwelling involved.

Wayne Thiebaud spent time in New York in the mid-to-late 1950s where he came to know Wilhem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Franz Kline, and Jasper Johns. It was there where he began the works that he is most famous for, paintings of cakes, pies, and other sweet treats. However, his work can’t really be classified as part of the Pop Art that came in the 1960s. That has to do with his fine selection of details to leave in and ones to leave out and the creation of that feeling of multi-dimension. “This results in a kind of abstraction and thus avoids the pitfalls of mere decoration.” (Thiebaud quote from artnet.com)

In recent years, Thiebaud has done a wonderful series of California paintings that include rivers, mountains and cities. In terms of the diversity in his painting, which also includes figures and portraits, Thiebaud says, “I don’t make a lot of distinctions between things like landscape and figure painting because to me the problems are the same – lighting, color, structure and so on – certainly traditional and ordinary problems.”theartstory.org

My first love, as a former San Franciscan, will always be his wonderful paintings of The City. No one captures its unusual topography and that particularly San Franciscan idea of living on the edge better that Thiebaud. One painting that can give a full appreciation of this wild and unusual mix is Civic Center (1986). Tall buildings, tall hills, the “Crookedest Street” and everything vertical, welcome to San Francisco!

Civic Center by Wayne Thiebaud, 1986. Oil on Canvas

There are some wonderful articles on Thiebaud’s new series of paintings like “City, River and Mountain: Wayne Thiebaud’s California” editions.lib.umn.edu For a discussion of his other work, as well as the San Francisco paintings, here is a video done by Smithsonian Magazine youtube.com To see Thiebaud talk about another artist’s work, see this video of the artist talking about The Horse Fair by Rosa Bonheur (1855), which he did as part of The Artist Project. youtube.com

Images’ copyright Wayne Thiebaud and used here according to Fair Use Policy only for purposes of critique, review and discussion.

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.comor her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

Napa Valley Wine, Real and Virtual!

Napa Valley Vineyards Photo by David Mark on Pixabay David Mark from Pixabay“> pixabay.com

Ah yes, nothing is better than a beautiful day of sunkissed pleasure, orderly rows of lush green vines, low hillsides in the distance and various charming structures, some modern, some in California nouveau-Provençal style, but all holding wonderful tasting possibilities. Just a short drive north of San Francisco to pick up Highwy 29, and you are ready to take the drive through one of the world’s best known wine growing regions, the Napa Valley.

Having lived for almost 20 years in the Bay Area, for me the Napa Valley was particularly special, so this wine post is more personal that usual. My focus is on those places that I found to be very special, though in all fairness I am putting in a link to a great Napa Valley wine tour map which also has listings for wine tastings at various locations visitnapavalley.com

Domaine Carneros in the Los Carneros region of the Napa Valley Photo from domainecarneros.com

The Los Carneros region spans both the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Though grapes for wine have been grown in the area since the 1830s, the famous Petaluma Gap in the mountains leaves this area subject to the cool, wet winds from the Pacific Ocean. In the early 20th century, Prohibition and an infestation of phylloxera, an aphid that feasts on the roots of grape vines, caused it to come late to the boon in Napa Valley wines. However, the area has played a good game of catch up since the 1970s. The famous French champagne company, Taittinger, created the masterpiece we see here in 1987 when it purchased its first acreage in the valley. It focused on Brut and Blanc de Blancs sparkling wines using the méthode traditionelle, with their La Rêve Blanc de Blancs being their dream (la rêve) of a premium sparkling wine. However, they also specialize in making Pinot Noir, that most drinkable of reds. Visit their website for more information domainecarneros.com.

The entrance to Domaine-Chandon near Yountville in the Napa Valley. domainechandon.com

I am sure you have guessed by reading some of the posts in this blog that I love sparkling wines, and yes, we here in the U.S. can call ours champagne because we did not sign a treaty allowing only the French Champagne region to use that title (bad on us/good on us). Among Napa Valley champagne producers, my heart belongs to Domaine Chandon. Partially this is because many years ago (that’s all I shall say about that), my landscape paintings were shown in their very lovely Etoile Restuarant, where the walls between the vast windows that looked out onto the vineyards held my landscape views of the valley countryside.

California/Provence by Marjorie Vernelle See vernellestudio.com

Domaine Chandon was started in 1973 by Moet et Chandon, another famous maker of champagne from France. They created not only excellent sparkling wines in Brut and Rosé styles, to which they give the name étoile or “star” but also still wines, including Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The last two come from the Los Carneros vineyards.

Sterling Vineyards sits high on a hill, but with a funicular car to take you up the hillside.

Those wonderful hills along the eastern side of the Napa Valley hold treasures. One of them is Sterling Vineyards. High on a hill with a commanding view of the whole valley, it sits in pristine white, like a modern version of a medieval mountaintop monastery. Like many of those old monasteries, it makes wonderful wine. While they make white wines, it is their reds that take center stage. From Merlots to Cabernets to Sangiovese, Sterling reds are just that -sterling – and of course, the view isn’t half bad either.

Entrance to the Auberge du Soleil Photo from https://aubergeresorts.com

The Auberge du Soleil has to be my number one pick for the finest view of the valley from the best hilltop location. The drive down the Silverado trail is quite fun in itself as it offers a different route through the valley than does HWY 29. Yes, it is a resort, and it must certainly be high on the list of A-list visitors, as from the terrace where one can have fine wine and delightful appetizers, one sees helicopters flying these special guests in and out. No, I never stayed there, but it was a favorite place to take visiting guests or simply to visit with a friend at the end of a Napa Valley day. Just take a look at the view from the terrace.

Auberge du Soleil (The Inn of the Sun) Napa Valley. https://aubergeresorts.com/aubergedusoleil/

Of course, one could always also spend time in the lovely town of St. Helena, which over the years has become more and more like a California version of Provence, with lovely shops and such a cozy feeling. Not far away is Calistoga, a town with a really western feel and wonderful hot springs and mud baths. It is not a bad jumping off point for a wine touring mini-vacation. You can take glider plane rides across the valley, easily drive to wineries for tastings, and come back for a mudbath and massage.

Now for the moment, we have to do this wine tour virtually, but you will see that the wineries are offering virtual wine tastings, so check that out when you visit their websites. In the meantime, another way to enjoy good wine is to join a wine club. Take a look here on the right under Pages at Cellars Wine Club, or click here to go directly to their website cellarswineclub.com. You get free shipping, a wide variety of selections and a “no bad bottle” return policy. Note: I am an associate of Cellars Wine Club and may earn from qualifying purchases.

Thus ends my trip down memory lane shared with you in wholehearted affection and love of good wine and beautiful vineyards. Next we will be off to the West and Southwest, the land of fabulous skies, blue-violet mountains, and gorgeous paintings.

Of Art and Wine affiliates with Bluehost.com and  CellarsWineClub.com and may earn from qualifying purchases.

©marjorie vernelle 2020

Coming next on OfArtandWine.com: West Southwest – Bierstadt, O’Keeffe, and More, plus Colorado Wine.

Downstream Flow Glen Canyon by Michael Baum See michaelbaum.com

Please don’t think that Southwestern painting stopped with O’Keeffe. Just look at this beauty by Manitou Springs, Colorado, artist, Michael Baum. He is just continuing the tradition.

Carel Fabritius’ Beloved Goldfinch and Netherlands Wine.

The artist’s signature and date say it all. The painting now resides in the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague, Netherlands

The silent little bird, chained to his perch, may have been a witness to what happened that day, October 12, 1654. I imagine that the artist, Carel Fabritius, had the subject of this painting somewhere in his studio. His studio, a rambling old building in an area of warehouses, was a place where the rent was cheap and the space ample – every artist’s dream. The only great misfortune was that it was right beside the Delft Gunpowder Depot, where on that day in 1654, someone’s careless match blew up not only the depot but a full one quarter of the city of Delft. Fabritius, his goldfinch, and most of his artistic production didn’t have a chance. Recent examination of the painting of the little bird, The Goldfinch, would seem to indicate that the painting was in the studio that day, as it contains tiny bits of debris traceable to the explosion. Luckily for future generations it survived, as it not only is one of the few works left by this young master painter, but it may also be a link in a chain that would connect Rembrandt to Vermeer.

Here we have the young artist in 1645 at the age of 23. Carel Pietersz Fabritius (1622-1654) was born in a small village in northern Holland in the Dutch Republic. Son of a painter, he started his career in the arts as a carpenter. However, by 1640 he had moved to Amsterdam and joined the studio of Rembrandt, where he became one of the best painters in that master’s studio and the only one who went on to develop his own style. It is that style which has researchers wondering about his influence on another great painter from the period, Johannes Vermeer.

The subject is an interesting one to explore, starting with those paintings we have by Fabritius that show the influence of Rembrandt. Rembrandt was known for dark backgrounds, and rich colors, as well as dramatic compositions. We can see Fabritius adhering to that formula in his portrait above, with a rather murky background, the dramatic flash of red clothing, and a bit of a scowl on his face. Rembrandt used heavy impasto treatments, especially on garments. His use of impasto was revolutionary at the time and that influence on Fabritius can also be seen, though used differently.

Here we see the richly textured sleeve of the man in Rembrandt’s The Jewish Bride, c. 1665. Rembrandt used a special mix of minerals and lead white to build up the surfaces in his paintings, giving a 3D effect and allowing light and shadow extra play in his paintings. art-critique.com. Compare this to Fabritius’ light touch in the close-up below.

Close up of The Goldfinch with brushstrokes that indicate the fluff of the feathers with a slight use of impasto to provide texture. The rugged quality of the wall also shows Fabritius’ use of impasto, lightly applied.

In 1648 Fabritius left Rembrandt’s studio to go his own way. That led him to move to Delft in 1650 where he became a member of what is known as the Delft School, which included Vermeer. It has long been speculated that Vermeer may have been a student of Fabritius, though it has not conclusively been proven. What is known is that in the early 1650s Vermeer turned toward his famous domestic scenes. They are famous for their stillness, and for capturing a moment in time focused on the beauty of the ordinary, often with light backgrounds and the use of impasto, like here in the crusts of bread on the table in The Milkmaid c. 1654.

The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer, c. 1654.

We can see here in this Fabritius’ Portrait of Abraham de Potter done in 1649 that he had not only left Rembrandt’s studio but also his use of dark backgrounds and dramatic poses. Fabritius moved toward lighter backgrounds and quieter, less dramatic, more contemplative poses for his subjects. This subject’s thoughts are quite likely far away. He is as calm in his portrait pose as the maiden pouring milk in Vermeer’s painting. Just another thing to do that day.

The most interesting thing in all these suppostions about Fabritius and Vermeer is that the newly renovated Mauritshuis Museum has chosen to pay special attention to two of these artists’ works. Before the renovation they each hung on walls full of other paintings, and while one could get up close to study them, there was always the distraction of some other old master hung nearby. Now The Goldfinch is on a wall by itself, and Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring has also been separated from the madding crowd of old masters.

The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius, 1654 and The Girlwith the Pearl Earring, Johannes Vermeer, 1665

Here we see them side-by-side. Fabritius has his uncluttered light background. Vermeer has gone both Rembrandt, and Fabritius one step further by having a black background. In each the limited backgrounds serve to focus the viewer on the subject of the piece. What links these two paintings is their simplicity, along with their real subject: silence. The goldfinch may have just chirped a lovely tune; the girl may have just spoken. However, in this moment there is just the silence. It is that silence that seems to me to be the real subject of the painting. If that is so, then even though they are of material beings, these paintings deal with the immaterial. Silence is the most immaterial of all things, as you cannot touch it, smell it, taste it or see it. You can’t even hear it, for it makes no noise.

So while we may never know what the link is between Fabritius and Vermeer exactly, we are left with the supposition that Fabritius, being Rembrandt’s best student, took from him important technical learning like the use of impasto, before he went on to create his own style of quieter, more contemplative paintings like The Goldfinch. Fabritius and Vermeer were both in the same group of painters in Delft and likely to have known one another well. Vermeer’s turn to his now famous quiet domestic scenes happened after Fabritius’ arrival in Delft, with one of his first, The Milkmaid, painted in 1654 showing signs of that 3D impasto that Rembrandt was so famous for (see those bread crumbs). The connections are more than possible but the evidence? Well, perhaps we will never know because the evidence disappeared along with Fabritius and his work when the Gunpowder Depot exploded.

Close up of the bread crumbs in Vermeer’s the Milkmaid (1654)

Paintings used here are in public domain.

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com or her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

What? Netherlands Wine!

Vineyards in Limburg in the southern part of the Netherlands. Photo from Dutch Wines holland.com

The country known as the Netherlands is a country that has always known struggle. Its lands have been reclaimed from the sea and have sometimes had to be sacrificed again when the Dutch people have opened their sluices to fend off invading armies (like that of Louis XIV in the Franco-Dutch War 1672-1678). Simon Schama, the historian, wrote a wonderful book about the formation of what is sometimes called The Dutch Republic. In The Embarrassment of Riches, he details how this consortium of seven different states formed itself through its 80-some years of battles with Spanish overloads and its many years of battles with the sea to become a trading superpower in the 17th century. So much was it the envy of the rest of Europe that countries with more high and mighty attitudes about themselves called this small gathering of countries the “Low Countries.” Yes, they were low-lying countries easily invaded by the sea, but one can sense the pejorative snear. Even the current name of the Netherlands indicates a certain distance, as though this nation which is right on the doorstep of Germany and France is somehow far away in some nether world.

With conditions like that, it is easy to see how the people of this republic would become hearty and perservering, qualities much valued by its Protestant religious base. Though they dressed in black and white as befitted their religious persuasion, they did not, however, eschew the fineries of life and that included wine. Their involvement with wine goes right back to the middle ages. In their trading heyday, they brought vines to what is now South Africa in a successful attempt to find good soil for growing grapes. At home, their own cold climate was a disaster for grapes like Merlot, and making Cabernet Sauvignon was impossible. However, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc grapes grow nicely in the cold and thus was born the Netherlands wines. They continue to experiment with different varieties and have some 180 commercial vineyards, mostly in the far southern area of Limburg and in the sandy soil of Gelderland.

An Antique Dutch hand-blown, onion wine bottle from th 1700s Photo from Worthpoint

While beer has always been a drink more easily associated with the Dutch, in the 17th century, it was not uncommon for the women in the household to go to the wine cellars to select just the right wine for special occasions like weddings. One sees famous paintings by the likes of Vermeer in which men and women share a glass of wine in the intimate settings inside a house. (See “Seduction and Vermeer’s The Glass of Wine,” ofartandwine.com). One of his famous pieces seems in fact to be a warning about consuming too much, as we see below in this picture of a servant girl who has perhaps drowned her sorrows in wine. (The empty wine glass is barely visible, but it is there along with the white wine jug.)

A Maid Asleep by Johannes Vermeer, 1656-1657. Metropolitan Museum N.Y. metmuseum.org

So what is the future for these unlikely wines?

Wines were prominent in the famous Dutch banquet paintings done by such greats as Pieter Claesz (see OfArtandWine.com). Like today’s Dutch they favored Rieslings and Chardonnay, most of which were imported. For more on this period of Dutch involvement with wine, I suggest a spirited article from the National Gallery of Art called “Dutch Burghers and Their Wine: Nary a Sour Grape.” nga.gov. Now the Dutch can produce their own and currently produce rosé wines as well. As lovers of wine, though they can import, it is all the more valient that they have decided to grow their own.

Cathy Huyghe in her article for Forbes Magazine, “Wine from the Netherlands? Believe it – This New Book Explains Why,” talks of the struggles in the development of Dutch wines including experimentation with the taste of the wine. She admits that she never brings bottles of wine home in her suitcase but has recently found several types in Amsterdam that she, yes, carried home in her suitcase.

This is a picture of The Dutch Wine Museum. I take this as a good indication about the seriousness with which the Dutch take their wine. Over the coming years, I am sure they will be adding many bottles of their own production.

For those of us who will not be traveling soon to Europe to taste the various wines available there, another solution is possible: join a wine club. You can look at the details of one here in the pages, just click the link ofartandwine.com to find out about Cellars Wine Club.

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©marjorie vernelle 2020

Wayne Thiebaud’s San Francisco and Napa Valley Wines.

Well, there it is, the monster of San Francisco hills, the Ripley Street Ridge. Here it is captured by the artist who immortalized any number of San Francisco landscapes, Wayne Thiebaud. Thiebaud was not adverse to landscapes that were not in the city, as his paintings of California’s fields, streams and mountains show. With a visit to the nearby Napa Valley, one has a perfect pairing of art and wine.

Ripley Street Ridge, 1977, private collection, copyright Wayne Thiebaud. To be used for purposes of review and critique in accordance with Fair Use Policy.