Tag Archives: Fine Art Friday

October 2, 2026 · 6:00 am

#FineArtFriday: Midsummer Dance by Anders Zorn 1897

Anders Zorn: Midsommardans.

Artist: Anders Zorn (1860–1920)

Title: English: Midsummer Dance (Svenska: Midsommardans)

Date: 1897

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimensions: height: 140 cm (55.1 in); width: 98 cm (38.5 in)

What I love about this painting:

I enjoy paintings of ordinary people celebrating life, and in the northern countries, the return of sunlight and the longest day of the year is something to celebrate. The artist conveys the feeling of movement beautifully, depicting both the motion and emotion of the dancers.

I enjoy seeing the traditional dress, costumes women only wore for special events such as Midsummer’s celebration. Even in 1897, these costumes were relics of the past, cherished symbols of their nationality but rarely worn.

The maypole stands to the right of the scene. In the background, the older people watch from the sidelines, remembering the days when they danced.

Everyone is having fun, even the onlookers. I suspect the cleanup was a chore the next day, as next days always are, but it looks like it was a party to remember.

About this painting, via Wikimedia Commons:
English: In his autobiographical notes, Anders Zorn writes about how the idea for the painting was born:

“This work was painted in June and part of July after sunset and I am pleased to have done it. I had just given Morkarlby a new maypole. It was painted red every Midsummer and I realized and still realize that it is my solemn duty to be present and to lead the dressing of said pole. My farmhand, dear Verner, was in charge of raising the maypole on the stroke of midnight on Midsummer night. Once it was up, a reel was played and people danced hand-in-hand around the maypole and the yards in an endless snake of youngsters. Then there was dancing in one of the yards until sunrise. This is what my painting portrays.”

Zorn does not put the maypole at the center of his Midsummer Dance. His message is all about the experience of the dance, the scents of a summer night and the light. He completed this painting in 1897. [1]

File:Midsummer Dance (Anders Zorn) – Nationalmuseum – 18607.tif – Wikipedia

About Midsummer, via Wikipedia:

Midsummer or Midsommar (Swedish: [ˈmɪ̌ˌsɔmːar] or [ˈmǐːdˌsɔmːar]) is a celebration of the season of summer, taking place on or near the date of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the longest day of the year. The name midsummer mainly refers to summer solstice festivals of European origin. These cultures traditionally regard it as the middle of summer, with the season beginning on May Day. Although the summer solstice falls on 20, 21 or 22 June in the Northern Hemisphere, it was traditionally reckoned to fall on 23–24 June in much of Europe. These dates were Christianized as Saint John’s Eve and Saint John’s Day. It is usually celebrated with outdoor gatherings that include bonfires, maypole dancing and feasting. [2]

About the Artist, via Wikipedia:

Zorn was born in Mora, Sweden, between the lakes of Siljan and Orsasjön. He studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm from 1875 to 1880, and then spent time travelling in Europe, painting watercolors and society portraits in London, Paris and Madrid.

He returned to Sweden in 1885, and on 16 October, he married Emma Zorn (née Lamm) (1860 – 1942). After spending their honeymoon abroad, in eastern Europe and Turkey, they returned to Sweden in 1886, spending time with Emma’s family at Dalarö, before settling near Mora, where their house, which is now the home of the Zorn Collections, is located. [3]

To read more about the life of this artist, go to: Anders Zorn – Wikipedia

Credits and Attributions:

IMAGE: Wikipedia contributors, “Midsummer Dance,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Midsummer_Dance&oldid=1361282744 (accessed October 1, 2026).

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Midsummer,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Midsummer&oldid=1374492604 (accessed October 1, 2026).

[2] Wikimedia Commons Contributors, File:Midsummer Dance (Anders Zorn) – Nationalmuseum – 18607.tif – Wikipedia (Accessed October 1, 2026).

[3] Wikipedia contributors, “Anders Zorn,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anders_Zorn&oldid=1366818498 (accessed October 1, 2026).

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September 25, 2026 · 6:00 am

#FineArtFriday: a second look at “An Autumn Walk in the English Garden of Munich” by Anders Andersen-Lundby 1887

Artist: Anders Andersen-Lundby (1841–1923)

Title: English: An autumn walk in the English Garden of Munich. German: Herbstspaziergang im englischen Garten in München.

Date: 1887

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimensions: height: 77 cm (30.3 in); width: 106 cm (41.7 in)

Inscriptions: Signature and date: 1887

What I love about this painting:

Once again, I was scouring Wikimedia Commons and kept returning to a painting I previously featured. I first saw it in October of 2025 and loved it.

Anders Anderson-Lundby shows us the perfect autumn day for a stroll. Truthfully, the day looks so pleasant that I’d like to be walking there. The leaves are nearly off the trees, and those that remain are golden and brown. Those who walk in these woods seem happy, content to be outdoors while the weather remains decent.

An unusually dry and overcast autumn has arrived here in the Pacific Northwest, a slightly less warm continuation of the dry, overcast summer we just experienced. Did I mention that it has been dry and overcast for what feels like years? For the last few months, the sun waited to break through until late in the afternoon. When it did, it dispelled the gloom in a short burst of “This is what you could have all the time if you lived in Honolulu.”

But today, we have rain and wind. Will it be enough to break the drought? A month of it would help, but that is unlikely in this year of the Super El Nino. The east coast suffers unusually wet weather while our forests get ever dryer, ever more likely to go up in flames.

Regardless of the rain we have today, the deciduous groves in my part of the world will soon look like the foliage in this painting. Even now, the native big-leaf maples are shading toward yellow and brown. Their leaves have begun falling and soon their branches will be bare.

However, color abounds in suburban neighborhoods across my county. The Japanese maples and other non-native trees brightening gardens and public through-ways have turned a bright red. Soon our native vine maples and that (now undomesticated) decorative-plant-gone-native, staghorn sumac, will also be dressed in scarlet.

About the Artist, via Wikipedia:

Anders Andersen-Lundby (December 16, 1841 – January 4, 1923) was a Danish landscape painter. He was most associated with winter landscapes.

(He) was born in Lundby, Denmark. He grew up in Lundby near Aalborg. In 1861, when he was twenty, Andersen-Lundby traveled to Copenhagen, and there he exhibited his works for the first time in 1864. By 1870, he gained popularity especially with his winter landscapes from both Denmark and southern Germany, most often with fallen snow or thaw.

In 1876, he moved to Munich with his family where he exhibited his paintings. He frequently visited Denmark and participated in exhibitions there. He exhibited at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition 1864–1913. [1]

To view more of Anders Anderson-Lundby’s work, go to Anders Andersen-Lundby – Wikipedia.

Credits and Attributions:

IMAGE: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Anders Andersen-Lundby – Herbstspaziergang im Englischen Garten (1887).jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Anders_Andersen-Lundby_-_Herbstspaziergang_im_Englischen_Garten_(1887).jpg&oldid=1068508759 (accessed September 24, 2026).

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Anders Andersen-Lundby,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anders_Andersen-Lundby&oldid=1191864454 (accessed September 24, 2026).

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September 18, 2026 · 6:00 am

#FineArtFriday: a second look at “Autumn Landscape (September)” by Lucas van Valckenborch, 1585

GG_5684.tif

Artist: Lucas van Valckenborch  (1535–1597)

Title: Autumn Landscape (September)

Date: 1585

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimensions: 116 x 198 cm Rahmenmaße: 131,5 x 214 x 6,5 cm

Collection: Kunsthistorisches Museum

What I love about this painting:

No matter how hard I scoured Wikimedia commons for the perfect September piece, I kept coming back to this image. It was first featured here in September of 2023, and I still  love everything about it.

We see an entire view of ordinary autumn life in the 16th century, but better than that, Lucas van Valckenborch shows us the passage of time. He depicts the chronology of how people lived and celebrated each week of the changing season by showing us September in the Netherlands.

The way he shows us this chronology is ingenious and is a signature of his work. The early weeks of September are shown in the left foreground, with laborers bringing in the harvest. Others are working to dry and preserve foods. The colors he uses are vivid, the last shades of summer.

In the bottom to middle right, he shows us mid-September with people relaxing, feasting, bowling, and dancing. The harvest is in, and people have a little time to enjoy the last days of good weather. The colors he uses are more muted, with shades of brown dominating. The leaves are brown and falling. Yet, there is a vibrancy about it, a sense of life. People celebrate a successful harvest one last time before winter’s cold grip closes in.

In late September, people fish, and the market becomes the center of village life. People are less active, but the market draws customers. The end of September presages colder weather and hints at the beginning of winter. This is shown in cool shades of gray, as if in a black-and-white photograph.

He is known for using this trick of color to denote receding distances. But he deliberately places figures performing specific activities within those colors, showing us how people lived and the passage of their days as well as distance.

The first days of September are bright, days of plenty. Yes, we’re working hard, but we’ll be grateful for the bounty when winter comes.

We look forward to the middle of September, because once the rush of harvest is over we will party like it’s 1585.

In the distance, we know the cold dark days loom, but we are prepared. Our cellars will be full and we will hunt and fish while we can.

Lucas van Valckenborch’s body of work shows us that he was a brilliant storyteller as well as an artist. Many paintings of that time show us the poverty, but here we see the prosperity of a village during the early renaissance. It wasn’t all doom and gloom after all.

About the Artist and his work, via Wikipedia:

Lucas van Valckenborch or Lucas van Valckenborch the Elder (c. 1535 in Leuven – 2 February 1597 in Frankfurt am Main) was a Flemish painter, mainly known for his landscapes. He also made contributions to portrait painting, and allegorical and market scenes. Court painter to Archduke Matthias, the governor of the Spanish Netherlands in Brussels, he later migrated to Austria and then Germany where he joined members of his extended family of artists who had moved there for religious reasons.

In their mixture of fantasy and accurate topographical details, van Valckenborch’s landscape paintings offer a view of the world and man’s relationship to it. This is particularly clear in his rocky landscapes in which the diminutive people on the winding path are reduced by the monumental cliffs. An example is the Rocky Landscape with Travelers on a Path (c. 1570, Sotheby’s 6 July 2016, London lot 3) where the distant goatherd and the silhouettes of his charges seem ant-like in comparison to the vast distance, and the vertiginous perspective of the scene. This dramatic visual depiction is clearly intended as a commentary on man’s place within the universe.

He also painted, between 1584 and 1587, a series of large pictures depicting the labours of the months, probably on commission for Archduke Matthias. These compositions, of which seven survive (five of which are in the Kunsthistorische Museum), present the various months of the year by showing the changing landscape and the traditional activities of humans during each month. It is not clear whether the five missing paintings were never painted or are lost.[4] Due to their realistic setting these compositions carry a documentary interest. The work of Pieter Bruegel the elder, who had painted a series of 6 on the times of the year, was influential on van Valckenborch. Lucas van Valckenborch moved away from the tradition of painting the landscape in three cascading distances that were rendered in three different colours: brown, green and blue for each receding plane. Rather he often left out the green tone for the middle distance. He also innovated the thematic scenes by developing them into genre scenes with a stronger narrative depth. [1]

Credits and Attributions:

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Lucas van Valckenborch,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lucas_van_Valckenborch&oldid=1173224796 (accessed September 14, 2023).

IMAGE: Autumn Landscape (September) by Lucas van Valckenborch. Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Lucas van Valckenborch – Autumn landscape (September).jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Lucas_van_Valckenborch_-_Autumn_landscape_(September).jpg&oldid=618977280 (accessed September 14, 2023).

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August 28, 2026 · 6:00 am

#FineArtFriday: The Narrows from Staten Island by Jasper Francis Cropsey 1868

Artist: Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823–1900)

Title: The Narrows from Staten Island

Genre: landscape painting

Date: 1868

Medium: oil on canvas

Collection: Amon Carter Museum of American Art 

Why this painting makes me happy:

It’s a glorious summer’s day beneath a wide blue sky. A few wisps of the morning’s mist are drifting away, gradually giving way to the midday sun. The Narrows (a tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City) is alive with small sailboats. People are out enjoying the summer weather and soaking up the sun. Even the cattle seem to be enjoying themselves.

This is a painting that invites you to set aside your cares and enjoy the moment.

About the Artist:

Jasper Francis Cropsey (February 18, 1823 – June 22, 1900) was an American architect and artist. He is best known for his Hudson River School landscape paintings.

Cropsey trained as an architect under the tuition of Joseph Trench in the early 1840s, a period in which he was also trained in watercolor painting, instructed by Edward Maury, and took some life drawing courses at the National Academy of Design. He set up his own architecture office in 1843, but began exhibiting his watercolors at the National Academy of Design in 1844. A year later he was elected an associate member and turned exclusively to landscape painting; shortly after he was featured in an exhibition entitled “Italian Compositions”.[1]

To learn more about Jasper Francis Cropsey, go to Jasper Francis Cropsey – Wikipedia.

Credits and Attributions:

IMAGE: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Jasper Francis Cropsey The Narrows from Staten Island Amon Carter Museum.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Jasper_Francis_Cropsey_The_Narrows_from_Staten_Island_Amon_Carter_Museum.jpg&oldid=1123783444 (accessed August 26, 2026).

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Jasper Francis Cropsey,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jasper_Francis_Cropsey&oldid=1364518894 (accessed August 26, 2026).

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August 21, 2026 · 6:00 am

#FineArtFriday: Indian Canoe by Albert Bierstadt ca. 1886

Artist: Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902)

Title: Indian Canoe

Date: circa 1886

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimensions: height: 69.2 cm (27.2 in); width: 90.8 cm (35.7 in)

Collection: Blanton Museum of Art

What I love about this painting:

I love the quiet beauty of this faithful and respectful representation of a Native American paddling a canoe. It shows a scene from the times just before the native peoples were taken from their lands and forced onto reservations.

A time when the land was theirs, and future troubles seemed far away. Bierstadt was criticized in his time for portraying the native peoples with dignity and respect. It was a different time, and as most people now believe, that criticism was only a hint of the terrible prejudices that destroyed an entire culture’s way of life.

The landscape itself is reminiscent of the coastal landscape of the Pacific Northwest and is beautifully done. I especially like the way Bierstadt portrays the late afternoon sun as it slides into dusk. The evening mist rises, lending a mystic quality to the scene.

This is a moment of quiet serenity, and I am fortunate to be able to share it with you!

About the author, via Wikipedia:

Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was not the first artist to record the sites, but he was the foremost painter of them for the remainder of the 19th century.

Despite his popular success, Bierstadt was criticized by some contemporaries for the romanticism evident in his choice of subjects and for his use of light, which they found excessive. Some critics objected to Bierstadt’s paintings of Native Americans, believing that including Indigenous Americans “marred” the “impression of solitary grandeur.”

Bierstadt was born in Prussia, but his family moved to the United States when he was one year old. He returned to study painting for several years in Düsseldorf. He became part of the second generation of the Hudson River School in New York, an informal group of like-minded painters who started painting along the Hudson River. Their style was based on carefully detailed paintings with romantic, almost glowing lighting, sometimes called luminism. Bierstadt was an important interpreter of the western landscape, and he is also grouped with the Rocky Mountain School. [1]

Credits and Attributions:

IMAGE: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Albert Bierstadt – Indian Canoe.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Albert_Bierstadt_-_Indian_Canoe.jpg&oldid=1059522793 (accessed August 20, 2026).

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Albert Bierstadt,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Albert_Bierstadt&oldid=1365544126 (accessed August 20, 2026).

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August 14, 2026 · 6:00 am

#FineArtFriday: Landscape Study from Mora by Anders Zorn 1886

Artist: Anders Zorn (1860–1920)

Title: English – Landscape Study from Mora (Swedish: Landskap studie av Mora)

Genre: landscape painting

Date: 1886

Medium: watercolor paint

Dimensions: height: 30.3 cm (11.9 in)

Collection: Nationalmuseum  (Stockholm)

Inscriptions: Signature and date bottom right: Zorn … 86

What I love about this painting:

This is a beautifully depicted scene of calmness, of serenity. Summer has arrived, and the forest pond is thriving. All around, the birds and insects go about their business, enjoying nature’s bounty while it lasts.

Here on the shore, we sit and contemplate nothing. Our minds are momentarily free of the noise of modern life. We savor the sense of freedom, knowing we will return to our cities and obligations when our brief sojourn in nature’s embrace is over.

But that will be later. For the moment, we will rest in mind, body, and spirit.

About the Artist, via Wikipedia:

Zorn was born in Mora, Sweden, between the lakes of Siljan and Orsasjön. He studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm from 1875 to 1880, and then spent time travelling in Europe, painting watercolours and society portraits in London, Paris and Madrid.

He returned to Sweden in 1885, and on 16 October, he married Emma Zorn (née Lamm) (1860 – 1942). After spending their honeymoon abroad, in eastern Europe and Turkey, they returned to Sweden in 1886, spending time with Emma’s family at Dalarö, before settling near Mora, where their house, which is now the home of the Zorn Collections, is located. [1]

To read more about the life of this artist, go to: Anders Zorn – Wikipedia

Credits and Attributions:

IMAGE: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Anders Zorn Landschaftsstudie aus Mora 1886.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Anders_Zorn_Landschaftsstudie_aus_Mora_1886.jpg&oldid=1053810633 (accessed August 13, 2026).

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Anders Zorn,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anders_Zorn&oldid=1366818498 (accessed August 13, 2026).

 

 

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July 31, 2026 · 6:00 am

#FineArtFriday: a second look at “Sommarnöje (Summer Fun)” by Anders Zorn 1886

Sommarnöje_(1886),_akvarell_av_Anders_ZornArtist: Anders Zorn  (1860–1920)

Title: (Swedish: Sommarnöje)  (English: Summer Fun)

Genre: marine art

Date: 1886

Medium: watercolor paint on paper

Dimensions: height: 76 cm (29.9 in)

Collection: Private collection

Place of creation: Dalarö, Sweden

Inscriptions: Signature and date bottom left: Zorn -86

What I love about this painting:

I first featured this painting in February of 2024. I really like this image.

The way the lake is shown took me back to my childhood. I grew up in a house that faced directly onto a large lake, with a wide beach for swimming, a wooden dock, and few neighbors. It was a peaceful place in summer, although it could be dreary in winter.

The southern Puget Sound area usually experiences more overcast days in June than most people like. Many days, the waters and the sky look exactly as Anders Zorn has depicted them here.

Zorn’s brushwork is so meticulous, it is nearly photographic. He captures the feeling of the day, of the breeze, slightly sharp but not too cold, and the anticipation of going out on the water.

I like the story Anders Zorn is painting for us. I like that the male subject is maneuvering the small boat closer to the pier so she can jump in.

She is adventurous woman. Her skits are gathered and she’s prepared to make that leap.

About this painting, via Wikipedia:

Zorn painted Sommarnöje in Dalarö in the early summer of 1886, after the couple had returned from honeymoon but before they settled in Mora. He made a smaller sketch first, which measures 30.2 by 18.8 centimeters (11.9 in × 7.4 in), now held by the Zorn Museum in Mora.

The completed watercolor captures a fleeting moment and shows influence from the works of the French Impressionists that Zorn had seen while in Paris, but with a distinctively austere Scandinavian palette.

The painting depicts the artist’s wife Emma Zorn standing in a white dress and hat, waiting on the edge of a wooden pier beside the water, as their friend Carl Gustav Dahlström approaches in a rowing boat.

The reflective glassy surface of the water is rippling in a breeze, under cloudy grey skies. The figures, pier, boat and sea are finely rendered, almost as if the work was made in oil paint, showing Zorn’s skill as a watercolorist. Less attention is paid to the other side of the lake, sketched roughly in the background. It is signed and dated in the lower left corner, “Zorn 86”.

It was acquired by Edvard Levisson of Gothenburg, and then descended through the Schollin-Borg family. The painting was sold at the Stockholms Auktionsverk in June 2010 for SEK 26 million, setting a record for a Swedish painting.

About the Artist, via Wikipedia:

Zorn was born in Mora, Sweden, between the lakes of Siljan and Orsasjön. He studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm from 1875 to 1880, and then spent time travelling in Europe, painting watercolours and society portraits in London, Paris and Madrid.

He returned to Sweden in 1885, and on 16 October, he married Emma Zorn (née Lamm) (1860 – 1942). After spending their honeymoon abroad, in eastern Europe and Turkey, they returned to Sweden in 1886, spending time with Emma’s family at Dalarö, before settling near Mora, where their house, which is now the home of the Zorn Collections, is located.

Credits and Attributions:

IMAGE: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Sommarnöje (1886), akvarell av Anders Zorn.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sommarn%C3%B6je_(1886),_akvarell_av_Anders_Zorn.jpg&oldid=842907051 (accessed February 29, 2024).

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Sommarnöje,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sommarn%C3%B6je&oldid=1149795747 (accessed February 29, 2024).

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July 24, 2026 · 9:14 am

#FineArtFriday: A second look at “California Spring” by Albert Bierstadt 1875

Albert_Bierstadt_California_SpringArtist: Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902)

Title: California Spring

Genre: landscape art

Date: 1875

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimensions: height: 187.3 cm (73.7 in); width: 264.2 cm (104 in)

Current location: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

I very nearly forgot to post an art piece today, which is why it’s late. Albert Bierstadt is one of my favorite 19th century artists. He was known for presenting nature in an epic, majestic manner. This painting demonstrates his skill at depicting the grandeur and power of storms and the wildness of the lands of the American West. In many of his other works, he also showed the native people as they were, depicting them as having dignity and purpose in their lives.

What I love about this painting:

I love this composition, the way everything is deliberately placed. Cattle graze on a hilltop beneath a grove of trees, uncaring of the rainstorm sweeping across the valley below, far off in the distance. The immensity of the sky is the focus of this scene, with the sun emerging from the clouds, a brief promise of warmer days. Spring has arrived on this hilltop.

Albert Bierstadt paints us an idyllic scene of seasonal weather and the harmony of nature. The grass is green, the cattle are happy, and while rain may come, summer is around the corner.

About the artist, via Wikipedia:

Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was not the first artist to record the sites, but he was the foremost painter of them for the remainder of the 19th century.

Bierstadt was born in Prussia, but his family moved to the United States when he was one year old. He returned to study painting for several years in Düsseldorf. He became part of the second generation of the Hudson River School in New York, an informal group of like-minded painters who started painting along the Hudson River. Their style was based on carefully detailed paintings with romantic, almost glowing lighting, sometimes called luminism. Bierstadt was an important interpreter of the western landscape, and he is also grouped with the Rocky Mountain School. [1]

Credits and Attributions:

Image: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Albert Bierstadt California Spring.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Albert_Bierstadt_California_Spring.jpg&oldid=701053175 (accessed February 9, 2023).

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Albert Bierstadt,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Albert_Bierstadt&oldid=1137881139 (accessed February 9, 2023).

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July 17, 2026 · 6:00 am

#FineArtFriday: Resting in Maremma by Giovanni Fattori ca. 1875

Artist: Giovanni Fattori (1825–1908)

Title: Resting in Maremma (Italian: Riposo in Maremma)

Description: Resting in Maremma (c.1875), by Giovanni Fattori

Date: circa 1875

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimension: height: 35 cm (13.7 in); width: 72.5 cm (28.5 in)

Collection: Private collection

Inscriptions: Signature bottom right: Gio. Fattori

What I like about this painting:

This is the first work I’ve seen by Giovanni Fattori. I really like the way it shows the laborers resting after loading the hay wagon. This is an excellent historical depiction of an ox-drawn hay wagon. One can see how the oxen are hitched, and the shape of the wagon.

I especially like the flat, dry land and the view of the sea beyond.

About this painting, via Wikipedia:

Following the death of his wife in March 1867, he spent the summer of 1867 in Castiglioncello with the critic Diego Martelli, the theoretician of the Macchiaioli. Working together with the painter Giuseppe Abbati on the same themes, he painted a number of landscapes en plein air and studies of rustic life and peasants working in market gardens. In these paintings, he put particular emphasis on a bold design within geometrical simplicity, and on an intense luminosity. One of his paintings from this period is Pause in the Maremma with Farmers and Ox-cart (1873–75).

About the Artist: via Wikipedia:

Giovanni Fattori (6 September 1825 – 30 August 1908) was an Italian artist, one of the leaders of the group known as the Macchiaioli. He was initially a painter of historical themes and military subjects. In his middle years, inspired by the Barbizon school, he became one of the leading Italian plein-airists, painting landscapes, rural scenes, and scenes of military life. After 1884, he devoted much energy to etching. [1]

For more about this artist, go to Giovanni Fattori – Wikipedia

Credits and Attributions:

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Giovanni Fattori,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giovanni_Fattori&oldid=1347862097 (accessed July 17, 2026).

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July 10, 2026 · 6:00 am

#FineArtFriday: a close look at “Worn Out” by H. A. Brendekilde 1889

Artist: H. A. Brendekilde (1857–1942)

Title: (English: Worn out) (Danish: Udslidt)

Date: 1889

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimensions: height: 207 cm (81.4 in); width: 270 cm (106.2 in)

Inscriptions: Signature and date bottom right: H.A. Brendekilde 89

Collection: Funen’s Art Museum

About this painting:

Hans Andersen Brendekilde (7 April 1857 – 30 March 1942) was a Danish painter.

H.A. Brendekilde was a forerunner of the social realist style, embraced by Diego Rivera.

This is one of my favorite paintings because the artist shows us the story of a poor farmer or farm laborer.

Brejdekilde’s early work often depicted the daily lives of the rural working class. Later, he painted portraits on commission and also painted children and countryside landscapes. He is also famous for his garden which contained more than 3000 species of flowers.

Via Wikipedia:  “His painting of flowers and animals are mentioned among the best pictures illustrating the material and spiritual correlation between vegetation, animals and the Danes.” 

“Worn Out” (1889) is one of his most famous paintings. It shows an elderly man lying fallen on his back in a vast, barren field. This is a strong social statement, showing that the lowest working class had no option to retire with even a tiny pension. Laborers worked until the day they died.

Brendekilde’s genius shows in the way he depicts the central subject. The rocky field nearly blends with the sky. Dirt and rocks dominate this painting. Dirt on their clothes, small rocks embedded in the soil, larger rocks gathered into piles to be carted from the field … this man’s life was the soil, hard and rocky though it was. Yet he clung to it, working to clear the rocks until he could go no further.

I love the detail in this painting, the way he shows the broad flat lands of Denmark. It’s easy to see how their day began: the man and woman spent the morning picking rocks from a field and making small piles of them, preparatory to plowing the field.

Then, something happened. Was it a heart attack? A stroke? One of the man’s clogs has fallen off his foot, lost when he stumbled and fell. The stones he was picking up and carrying in his apron have tumbled to the ground beside him.

Farming is working in the dirt, and that is made clear in this painting. If you have ever planted a garden in an area where a glacier once stood, you know that new rocks tend to work themselves to the surface every year.

The woman wears a dress that has been patched many times. The loose, dry soil on her garments show she too has been picking rocks all morning.

Is the woman his daughter? Or perhaps his wife? Even if only a friend, she is terribly concerned for him.

They are nearing the end of their winter stores, and the first new vegetables have yet to be planted. Has he worked himself to death? Will he recover?

As most artists do, H. A. Brendekilde tells us a story in this stark painting. He leaves us the option to imagine what happens next.

Credits and Attributions:

Credits and Attributions:

IMAGE: Worn Out by H. A. Brendekilde File:H. A. Brendekilde – Udslidt (1889).jpg – Wikipedia accessed July 7, 2026.

Information sourced from: Wikipedia contributors, “H. A. Brendekilde,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=H._A._Brendekilde&oldid=1343079043 (accessed July 8, 2026).

 

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