The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: How does The Dog (Goya) explain its Background?

In 1819, Goya purchased a house named Quinta del Sordo (Villa of the Deaf Man) on the banks of the Manzanares near Madrid. It was a small two-story house which was named after a previous occupant who had been deaf, though Goya also happened to be functionally deaf, as a result of an illness he had contracted (probably lead poisoning) in 1792. Between 1819 and 1823, when he moved to Bordeaux, Goya produced a series of 14 works, which he painted with oils directly onto the walls of the house.At the age of 73, and having survived two life-threatening illnesses, Goya was likely to have been concerned with his own mortality, and was increasingly embittered by the conflicts that had engulfed Spain in the decade preceding his move to the Quinta del Sordo, and the developing civil strife—indeed, Goya was completing the plates that formed his series The Disasters of War during this period. Although he initially decorated the rooms of the house with more inspiring images, in time he overpainted all of them with the intense, haunting pictures known today as the Black Paintings. Uncommissioned and never meant for public display, these pictures reflect his darkening mood with their depictions of intense scenes of malevolence, conflict, and despair.If Goya gave titles to the works he produced at the Quinta del Sordo he never revealed what they were; the names by which they are now known were assigned by others after his death, and this painting is often identified by variations on the common title: A Dog, Head of a Dog, The Buried Dog, The Half-Drowned Dog, The Half-Submerged Dog; more colloquially as "Goya's Dog"; or by the Spanish names El Perro or Perro Semihundido.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: In The Dog (Goya), how is the Background discussed?

In 1819, Goya purchased a house named Quinta del Sordo (Villa of the Deaf Man) on the banks of the Manzanares near Madrid. It was a small two-story house which was named after a previous occupant who had been deaf, though Goya also happened to be functionally deaf, as a result of an illness he had contracted (probably lead poisoning) in 1792. Between 1819 and 1823, when he moved to Bordeaux, Goya produced a series of 14 works, which he painted with oils directly onto the walls of the house.At the age of 73, and having survived two life-threatening illnesses, Goya was likely to have been concerned with his own mortality, and was increasingly embittered by the conflicts that had engulfed Spain in the decade preceding his move to the Quinta del Sordo, and the developing civil strife—indeed, Goya was completing the plates that formed his series The Disasters of War during this period. Although he initially decorated the rooms of the house with more inspiring images, in time he overpainted all of them with the intense, haunting pictures known today as the Black Paintings. Uncommissioned and never meant for public display, these pictures reflect his darkening mood with their depictions of intense scenes of malevolence, conflict, and despair.If Goya gave titles to the works he produced at the Quinta del Sordo he never revealed what they were; the names by which they are now known were assigned by others after his death, and this painting is often identified by variations on the common title: A Dog, Head of a Dog, The Buried Dog, The Half-Drowned Dog, The Half-Submerged Dog; more colloquially as "Goya's Dog"; or by the Spanish names El Perro or Perro Semihundido.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: Focus on The Dog (Goya) and explain the Painting.

The painting is divided into two unequal sections: an upper, dirty ochre "sky" and a smaller sloping curved dark brown section which fades to black as it slopes up to the right. Over the top of this lower section the dog's head can be seen, its snout lifted, its ears pulled back and its eyes looking up and towards the right. A faint dark shape looms over the dog; this is sometimes considered to be damage or an intentional inclusion, but is generally seen as an artifact from the earlier painting that decorated the wall before Goya overpainted it with The Dog.The enigmatic depiction of the dog has led to myriad interpretations of Goya's intentions. The painting is often seen a symbolic depiction of man's futile struggle against malevolent forces; the black sloping mass which envelopes the dog is imagined to be quicksand, earth or some other material in which the dog has become buried. Having struggled unsuccessfully to free itself, it can now do nothing but look skywards hoping for a divine intervention that will never come. The vast swath of "sky" which makes up the bulk of the picture intensifies the feeling of the dog's isolation and the hopelessness of its situation. Others see the dog as cautiously raising its head above the black mass, afraid of something outside the painting's field of view, or perhaps an image of abandonment, loneliness, and neglect. According to Robert Hughes, "We do not know what it means, but its pathos moves us on a level below narrative."

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: Explain the Painting of this artwork, The Dog (Goya).

The painting is divided into two unequal sections: an upper, dirty ochre "sky" and a smaller sloping curved dark brown section which fades to black as it slopes up to the right. Over the top of this lower section the dog's head can be seen, its snout lifted, its ears pulled back and its eyes looking up and towards the right. A faint dark shape looms over the dog; this is sometimes considered to be damage or an intentional inclusion, but is generally seen as an artifact from the earlier painting that decorated the wall before Goya overpainted it with The Dog.The enigmatic depiction of the dog has led to myriad interpretations of Goya's intentions. The painting is often seen a symbolic depiction of man's futile struggle against malevolent forces; the black sloping mass which envelopes the dog is imagined to be quicksand, earth or some other material in which the dog has become buried. Having struggled unsuccessfully to free itself, it can now do nothing but look skywards hoping for a divine intervention that will never come. The vast swath of "sky" which makes up the bulk of the picture intensifies the feeling of the dog's isolation and the hopelessness of its situation. Others see the dog as cautiously raising its head above the black mass, afraid of something outside the painting's field of view, or perhaps an image of abandonment, loneliness, and neglect. According to Robert Hughes, "We do not know what it means, but its pathos moves us on a level below narrative."

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: How does The Dog (Goya) explain its Painting?

The painting is divided into two unequal sections: an upper, dirty ochre "sky" and a smaller sloping curved dark brown section which fades to black as it slopes up to the right. Over the top of this lower section the dog's head can be seen, its snout lifted, its ears pulled back and its eyes looking up and towards the right. A faint dark shape looms over the dog; this is sometimes considered to be damage or an intentional inclusion, but is generally seen as an artifact from the earlier painting that decorated the wall before Goya overpainted it with The Dog.The enigmatic depiction of the dog has led to myriad interpretations of Goya's intentions. The painting is often seen a symbolic depiction of man's futile struggle against malevolent forces; the black sloping mass which envelopes the dog is imagined to be quicksand, earth or some other material in which the dog has become buried. Having struggled unsuccessfully to free itself, it can now do nothing but look skywards hoping for a divine intervention that will never come. The vast swath of "sky" which makes up the bulk of the picture intensifies the feeling of the dog's isolation and the hopelessness of its situation. Others see the dog as cautiously raising its head above the black mass, afraid of something outside the painting's field of view, or perhaps an image of abandonment, loneliness, and neglect. According to Robert Hughes, "We do not know what it means, but its pathos moves us on a level below narrative."

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: In The Dog (Goya), how is the Painting discussed?

The painting is divided into two unequal sections: an upper, dirty ochre "sky" and a smaller sloping curved dark brown section which fades to black as it slopes up to the right. Over the top of this lower section the dog's head can be seen, its snout lifted, its ears pulled back and its eyes looking up and towards the right. A faint dark shape looms over the dog; this is sometimes considered to be damage or an intentional inclusion, but is generally seen as an artifact from the earlier painting that decorated the wall before Goya overpainted it with The Dog.The enigmatic depiction of the dog has led to myriad interpretations of Goya's intentions. The painting is often seen a symbolic depiction of man's futile struggle against malevolent forces; the black sloping mass which envelopes the dog is imagined to be quicksand, earth or some other material in which the dog has become buried. Having struggled unsuccessfully to free itself, it can now do nothing but look skywards hoping for a divine intervention that will never come. The vast swath of "sky" which makes up the bulk of the picture intensifies the feeling of the dog's isolation and the hopelessness of its situation. Others see the dog as cautiously raising its head above the black mass, afraid of something outside the painting's field of view, or perhaps an image of abandonment, loneliness, and neglect. According to Robert Hughes, "We do not know what it means, but its pathos moves us on a level below narrative."

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: Focus on The Dog (Goya) and explain the Influence.

Goya's influence is apparent in the dog in Pierre Bonnard's 1910 The Red-Checkered Tablecloth, although the mood of Bonnard's cheerfully unambiguous painting is directly opposite to Goya's portentously obscure piece.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: Explain the Influence of this artwork, The Dog (Goya).

Goya's influence is apparent in the dog in Pierre Bonnard's 1910 The Red-Checkered Tablecloth, although the mood of Bonnard's cheerfully unambiguous painting is directly opposite to Goya's portentously obscure piece.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: How does The Dog (Goya) explain its Influence?

Goya's influence is apparent in the dog in Pierre Bonnard's 1910 The Red-Checkered Tablecloth, although the mood of Bonnard's cheerfully unambiguous painting is directly opposite to Goya's portentously obscure piece.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: In The Dog (Goya), how is the Influence discussed?

Goya's influence is apparent in the dog in Pierre Bonnard's 1910 The Red-Checkered Tablecloth, although the mood of Bonnard's cheerfully unambiguous painting is directly opposite to Goya's portentously obscure piece.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: Focus on The Dog (Goya) and explain the Transfer from the Quinta del Sordo.

Although Goya did not intend the Black Paintings to be seen by the public, they are today seen as among his most important works. When Goya went into self-imposed exile in France in 1823, he passed the Quinta del Sordo to his grandson, Mariano. After various changes of ownership, the house came into the possession of the French banker Baron Émile d'Erlanger in 1874. After 70 years on the walls of the Quinta del Sordo, the murals were deteriorating badly and, in order to preserve them, the new owner of the house had them transferred to canvas under the direction of Salvador Martínez Cubells, the curator of the Museo del Prado.After showing them at the Exposition Universelle of 1878 in Paris, d'Erlanger eventually donated them to the Spanish state. The effects of time on the murals, coupled with the inevitable damage caused by the delicate operation of mounting the crumbling plaster on canvas, meant that most of the murals required restoration work and some detail may have been lost. The Dog appears not to have suffered too badly, though the faint dark shape in the upper right of the picture is sometimes considered to be damage. The Dog was on the second floor of the Quinta del Sordo, and in disputes over the provenance of the Black Paintings exchanges have focused on whether the villa possessed a second floor at the time of Goya's residence.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: Explain the Transfer from the Quinta del Sordo of this artwork, The Dog (Goya).

Although Goya did not intend the Black Paintings to be seen by the public, they are today seen as among his most important works. When Goya went into self-imposed exile in France in 1823, he passed the Quinta del Sordo to his grandson, Mariano. After various changes of ownership, the house came into the possession of the French banker Baron Émile d'Erlanger in 1874. After 70 years on the walls of the Quinta del Sordo, the murals were deteriorating badly and, in order to preserve them, the new owner of the house had them transferred to canvas under the direction of Salvador Martínez Cubells, the curator of the Museo del Prado.After showing them at the Exposition Universelle of 1878 in Paris, d'Erlanger eventually donated them to the Spanish state. The effects of time on the murals, coupled with the inevitable damage caused by the delicate operation of mounting the crumbling plaster on canvas, meant that most of the murals required restoration work and some detail may have been lost. The Dog appears not to have suffered too badly, though the faint dark shape in the upper right of the picture is sometimes considered to be damage. The Dog was on the second floor of the Quinta del Sordo, and in disputes over the provenance of the Black Paintings exchanges have focused on whether the villa possessed a second floor at the time of Goya's residence.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: How does The Dog (Goya) explain its Transfer from the Quinta del Sordo?

Although Goya did not intend the Black Paintings to be seen by the public, they are today seen as among his most important works. When Goya went into self-imposed exile in France in 1823, he passed the Quinta del Sordo to his grandson, Mariano. After various changes of ownership, the house came into the possession of the French banker Baron Émile d'Erlanger in 1874. After 70 years on the walls of the Quinta del Sordo, the murals were deteriorating badly and, in order to preserve them, the new owner of the house had them transferred to canvas under the direction of Salvador Martínez Cubells, the curator of the Museo del Prado.After showing them at the Exposition Universelle of 1878 in Paris, d'Erlanger eventually donated them to the Spanish state. The effects of time on the murals, coupled with the inevitable damage caused by the delicate operation of mounting the crumbling plaster on canvas, meant that most of the murals required restoration work and some detail may have been lost. The Dog appears not to have suffered too badly, though the faint dark shape in the upper right of the picture is sometimes considered to be damage. The Dog was on the second floor of the Quinta del Sordo, and in disputes over the provenance of the Black Paintings exchanges have focused on whether the villa possessed a second floor at the time of Goya's residence.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: In The Dog (Goya), how is the Transfer from the Quinta del Sordo discussed?

Although Goya did not intend the Black Paintings to be seen by the public, they are today seen as among his most important works. When Goya went into self-imposed exile in France in 1823, he passed the Quinta del Sordo to his grandson, Mariano. After various changes of ownership, the house came into the possession of the French banker Baron Émile d'Erlanger in 1874. After 70 years on the walls of the Quinta del Sordo, the murals were deteriorating badly and, in order to preserve them, the new owner of the house had them transferred to canvas under the direction of Salvador Martínez Cubells, the curator of the Museo del Prado.After showing them at the Exposition Universelle of 1878 in Paris, d'Erlanger eventually donated them to the Spanish state. The effects of time on the murals, coupled with the inevitable damage caused by the delicate operation of mounting the crumbling plaster on canvas, meant that most of the murals required restoration work and some detail may have been lost. The Dog appears not to have suffered too badly, though the faint dark shape in the upper right of the picture is sometimes considered to be damage. The Dog was on the second floor of the Quinta del Sordo, and in disputes over the provenance of the Black Paintings exchanges have focused on whether the villa possessed a second floor at the time of Goya's residence.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: Focus on The Dog (Goya) and explain the Reception.

Goya was long dead by the time the paintings were first exhibited publicly. Spanish painter Antonio Saura thought The Dog "the world's most beautiful picture", and his contemporary, Rafael Canogar referred to it as a "visual poem" and cited it as the first Symbolist painting of the Western world. Picasso was a great admirer of the Black Paintings (though he did not single out The Dog in particular), and Joan Miró requested to see two paintings on his final visit to the Prado: The Dog and Velázquez's Las Meninas, which he held in equal regard. Manuela Mena, curator at the Prado, said that "there is not a single contemporary painter in the world who does not pray in front of The Dog".The opening line of Facing Goya, an opera by Michael Nyman and Victoria Hardie, is "Dogs drowning in sand," in direct reference to this painting.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: Explain the Reception of this artwork, The Dog (Goya).

Goya was long dead by the time the paintings were first exhibited publicly. Spanish painter Antonio Saura thought The Dog "the world's most beautiful picture", and his contemporary, Rafael Canogar referred to it as a "visual poem" and cited it as the first Symbolist painting of the Western world. Picasso was a great admirer of the Black Paintings (though he did not single out The Dog in particular), and Joan Miró requested to see two paintings on his final visit to the Prado: The Dog and Velázquez's Las Meninas, which he held in equal regard. Manuela Mena, curator at the Prado, said that "there is not a single contemporary painter in the world who does not pray in front of The Dog".The opening line of Facing Goya, an opera by Michael Nyman and Victoria Hardie, is "Dogs drowning in sand," in direct reference to this painting.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: How does The Dog (Goya) explain its Reception?

Goya was long dead by the time the paintings were first exhibited publicly. Spanish painter Antonio Saura thought The Dog "the world's most beautiful picture", and his contemporary, Rafael Canogar referred to it as a "visual poem" and cited it as the first Symbolist painting of the Western world. Picasso was a great admirer of the Black Paintings (though he did not single out The Dog in particular), and Joan Miró requested to see two paintings on his final visit to the Prado: The Dog and Velázquez's Las Meninas, which he held in equal regard. Manuela Mena, curator at the Prado, said that "there is not a single contemporary painter in the world who does not pray in front of The Dog".The opening line of Facing Goya, an opera by Michael Nyman and Victoria Hardie, is "Dogs drowning in sand," in direct reference to this painting.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


The Dog (Goya)

Prompt: In The Dog (Goya), how is the Reception discussed?

Goya was long dead by the time the paintings were first exhibited publicly. Spanish painter Antonio Saura thought The Dog "the world's most beautiful picture", and his contemporary, Rafael Canogar referred to it as a "visual poem" and cited it as the first Symbolist painting of the Western world. Picasso was a great admirer of the Black Paintings (though he did not single out The Dog in particular), and Joan Miró requested to see two paintings on his final visit to the Prado: The Dog and Velázquez's Las Meninas, which he held in equal regard. Manuela Mena, curator at the Prado, said that "there is not a single contemporary painter in the world who does not pray in front of The Dog".The opening line of Facing Goya, an opera by Michael Nyman and Victoria Hardie, is "Dogs drowning in sand," in direct reference to this painting.

Category:Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: Focus on Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and explain the abstract.

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus is a painting in oil on canvas measuring 73.5 by 112 centimetres (28.9 in × 44.1 in) now in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels. It was long thought to be by the leading painter of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Pieter Bruegel the Elder. However, following technical examinations in 1996 of the painting hanging in the Brussels museum, that attribution is regarded as very doubtful, and the painting, perhaps painted in the 1560s, is now usually seen as a good early copy by an unknown artist of Bruegel's lost original, perhaps from about 1558.  According to the museum: "It is doubtful the execution is by Bruegel the Elder, but the composition can be said with certainty to be his", although recent technical research has re-opened the question.Largely derived from Ovid, the painting is described in W. H. Auden's famous poem "Musée des Beaux-Arts", named after the museum in Brussels which holds the painting, and became the subject of a poem of the same name by William Carlos Williams, as well as "Lines on Bruegel's 'Icarus'" by Michael Hamburger.Though the world landscape, a type of work with the title subject represented by small figures in the distance, was an established type in Early Netherlandish painting, pioneered by Joachim Patinir, to have a much larger unrelated "genre" figure in the foreground is original and represents something of a blow against the emerging hierarchy of genres.  Other landscapes by Bruegel, for example The Hunters in the Snow (1565) and others in that series of paintings showing the seasons, show genre figures in a raised foreground, but not so large relative to the size of the image, nor with a subject from a "higher" class of painting in the background.However, paintings from the same period by the Antwerp artist Pieter Aertsen had large kitchen or market genre scenes, with large figures in the foreground, and in the distant background a glimpse of a scene from the Life of Christ.  Giving more prominence to "low" subject-matter than "high" in the same work is a feature of some Northern Mannerist art, often called "Mannerist inversion".  The traditional moral of the Icarus story, warning against excessive ambition, is reinforced by (literally) fore-grounding humbler figures who appear content to fill useful agricultural roles in life.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: Explain the abstract of this artwork, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus is a painting in oil on canvas measuring 73.5 by 112 centimetres (28.9 in × 44.1 in) now in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels. It was long thought to be by the leading painter of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Pieter Bruegel the Elder. However, following technical examinations in 1996 of the painting hanging in the Brussels museum, that attribution is regarded as very doubtful, and the painting, perhaps painted in the 1560s, is now usually seen as a good early copy by an unknown artist of Bruegel's lost original, perhaps from about 1558.  According to the museum: "It is doubtful the execution is by Bruegel the Elder, but the composition can be said with certainty to be his", although recent technical research has re-opened the question.Largely derived from Ovid, the painting is described in W. H. Auden's famous poem "Musée des Beaux-Arts", named after the museum in Brussels which holds the painting, and became the subject of a poem of the same name by William Carlos Williams, as well as "Lines on Bruegel's 'Icarus'" by Michael Hamburger.Though the world landscape, a type of work with the title subject represented by small figures in the distance, was an established type in Early Netherlandish painting, pioneered by Joachim Patinir, to have a much larger unrelated "genre" figure in the foreground is original and represents something of a blow against the emerging hierarchy of genres.  Other landscapes by Bruegel, for example The Hunters in the Snow (1565) and others in that series of paintings showing the seasons, show genre figures in a raised foreground, but not so large relative to the size of the image, nor with a subject from a "higher" class of painting in the background.However, paintings from the same period by the Antwerp artist Pieter Aertsen had large kitchen or market genre scenes, with large figures in the foreground, and in the distant background a glimpse of a scene from the Life of Christ.  Giving more prominence to "low" subject-matter than "high" in the same work is a feature of some Northern Mannerist art, often called "Mannerist inversion".  The traditional moral of the Icarus story, warning against excessive ambition, is reinforced by (literally) fore-grounding humbler figures who appear content to fill useful agricultural roles in life.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: How does Landscape with the Fall of Icarus explain its abstract?

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus is a painting in oil on canvas measuring 73.5 by 112 centimetres (28.9 in × 44.1 in) now in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels. It was long thought to be by the leading painter of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Pieter Bruegel the Elder. However, following technical examinations in 1996 of the painting hanging in the Brussels museum, that attribution is regarded as very doubtful, and the painting, perhaps painted in the 1560s, is now usually seen as a good early copy by an unknown artist of Bruegel's lost original, perhaps from about 1558.  According to the museum: "It is doubtful the execution is by Bruegel the Elder, but the composition can be said with certainty to be his", although recent technical research has re-opened the question.Largely derived from Ovid, the painting is described in W. H. Auden's famous poem "Musée des Beaux-Arts", named after the museum in Brussels which holds the painting, and became the subject of a poem of the same name by William Carlos Williams, as well as "Lines on Bruegel's 'Icarus'" by Michael Hamburger.Though the world landscape, a type of work with the title subject represented by small figures in the distance, was an established type in Early Netherlandish painting, pioneered by Joachim Patinir, to have a much larger unrelated "genre" figure in the foreground is original and represents something of a blow against the emerging hierarchy of genres.  Other landscapes by Bruegel, for example The Hunters in the Snow (1565) and others in that series of paintings showing the seasons, show genre figures in a raised foreground, but not so large relative to the size of the image, nor with a subject from a "higher" class of painting in the background.However, paintings from the same period by the Antwerp artist Pieter Aertsen had large kitchen or market genre scenes, with large figures in the foreground, and in the distant background a glimpse of a scene from the Life of Christ.  Giving more prominence to "low" subject-matter than "high" in the same work is a feature of some Northern Mannerist art, often called "Mannerist inversion".  The traditional moral of the Icarus story, warning against excessive ambition, is reinforced by (literally) fore-grounding humbler figures who appear content to fill useful agricultural roles in life.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: In Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, how is the abstract discussed?

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus is a painting in oil on canvas measuring 73.5 by 112 centimetres (28.9 in × 44.1 in) now in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels. It was long thought to be by the leading painter of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Pieter Bruegel the Elder. However, following technical examinations in 1996 of the painting hanging in the Brussels museum, that attribution is regarded as very doubtful, and the painting, perhaps painted in the 1560s, is now usually seen as a good early copy by an unknown artist of Bruegel's lost original, perhaps from about 1558.  According to the museum: "It is doubtful the execution is by Bruegel the Elder, but the composition can be said with certainty to be his", although recent technical research has re-opened the question.Largely derived from Ovid, the painting is described in W. H. Auden's famous poem "Musée des Beaux-Arts", named after the museum in Brussels which holds the painting, and became the subject of a poem of the same name by William Carlos Williams, as well as "Lines on Bruegel's 'Icarus'" by Michael Hamburger.Though the world landscape, a type of work with the title subject represented by small figures in the distance, was an established type in Early Netherlandish painting, pioneered by Joachim Patinir, to have a much larger unrelated "genre" figure in the foreground is original and represents something of a blow against the emerging hierarchy of genres.  Other landscapes by Bruegel, for example The Hunters in the Snow (1565) and others in that series of paintings showing the seasons, show genre figures in a raised foreground, but not so large relative to the size of the image, nor with a subject from a "higher" class of painting in the background.However, paintings from the same period by the Antwerp artist Pieter Aertsen had large kitchen or market genre scenes, with large figures in the foreground, and in the distant background a glimpse of a scene from the Life of Christ.  Giving more prominence to "low" subject-matter than "high" in the same work is a feature of some Northern Mannerist art, often called "Mannerist inversion".  The traditional moral of the Icarus story, warning against excessive ambition, is reinforced by (literally) fore-grounding humbler figures who appear content to fill useful agricultural roles in life.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: Focus on Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and explain the Description.

In Greek mythology, Icarus succeeded in flying, with wings made by his father Daedalus, using feathers secured with beeswax.  Ignoring his father's warnings, Icarus chose to fly too close to the sun, melting the wax, and fell into the sea and drowned. His legs can be seen in the water just below the ship. The sun, already half-set on the horizon, is a long way away; the flight did not reach anywhere near it. Daedalus does not appear in this version of the painting, though he does, still flying, in the van Buuren one (see left).The ploughman, shepherd and angler are mentioned in Ovid's account of the legend; they are: "astonished and think to see gods approaching them through the aether", which is not entirely the impression given in the painting. The shepherd gazing into the air, away from the ship, may be explained by another version of the composition (see below); in the original work there was probably also a figure of Daedalus in the sky to the left, at which he stares.  There is also a Flemish proverb (of the sort imaged in other works by Bruegel): "And the farmer continued to plough..." (En de boer ... hij ploegde voort") pointing out the ignorance of people to fellow men's suffering. The painting may, as Auden's poem suggests, depict humankind's indifference to suffering by highlighting the ordinary events which continue to occur, despite the unobserved death of Icarus.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: Explain the Description of this artwork, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.

In Greek mythology, Icarus succeeded in flying, with wings made by his father Daedalus, using feathers secured with beeswax.  Ignoring his father's warnings, Icarus chose to fly too close to the sun, melting the wax, and fell into the sea and drowned. His legs can be seen in the water just below the ship. The sun, already half-set on the horizon, is a long way away; the flight did not reach anywhere near it. Daedalus does not appear in this version of the painting, though he does, still flying, in the van Buuren one (see left).The ploughman, shepherd and angler are mentioned in Ovid's account of the legend; they are: "astonished and think to see gods approaching them through the aether", which is not entirely the impression given in the painting. The shepherd gazing into the air, away from the ship, may be explained by another version of the composition (see below); in the original work there was probably also a figure of Daedalus in the sky to the left, at which he stares.  There is also a Flemish proverb (of the sort imaged in other works by Bruegel): "And the farmer continued to plough..." (En de boer ... hij ploegde voort") pointing out the ignorance of people to fellow men's suffering. The painting may, as Auden's poem suggests, depict humankind's indifference to suffering by highlighting the ordinary events which continue to occur, despite the unobserved death of Icarus.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: How does Landscape with the Fall of Icarus explain its Description?

In Greek mythology, Icarus succeeded in flying, with wings made by his father Daedalus, using feathers secured with beeswax.  Ignoring his father's warnings, Icarus chose to fly too close to the sun, melting the wax, and fell into the sea and drowned. His legs can be seen in the water just below the ship. The sun, already half-set on the horizon, is a long way away; the flight did not reach anywhere near it. Daedalus does not appear in this version of the painting, though he does, still flying, in the van Buuren one (see left).The ploughman, shepherd and angler are mentioned in Ovid's account of the legend; they are: "astonished and think to see gods approaching them through the aether", which is not entirely the impression given in the painting. The shepherd gazing into the air, away from the ship, may be explained by another version of the composition (see below); in the original work there was probably also a figure of Daedalus in the sky to the left, at which he stares.  There is also a Flemish proverb (of the sort imaged in other works by Bruegel): "And the farmer continued to plough..." (En de boer ... hij ploegde voort") pointing out the ignorance of people to fellow men's suffering. The painting may, as Auden's poem suggests, depict humankind's indifference to suffering by highlighting the ordinary events which continue to occur, despite the unobserved death of Icarus.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: In Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, how is the Description discussed?

In Greek mythology, Icarus succeeded in flying, with wings made by his father Daedalus, using feathers secured with beeswax.  Ignoring his father's warnings, Icarus chose to fly too close to the sun, melting the wax, and fell into the sea and drowned. His legs can be seen in the water just below the ship. The sun, already half-set on the horizon, is a long way away; the flight did not reach anywhere near it. Daedalus does not appear in this version of the painting, though he does, still flying, in the van Buuren one (see left).The ploughman, shepherd and angler are mentioned in Ovid's account of the legend; they are: "astonished and think to see gods approaching them through the aether", which is not entirely the impression given in the painting. The shepherd gazing into the air, away from the ship, may be explained by another version of the composition (see below); in the original work there was probably also a figure of Daedalus in the sky to the left, at which he stares.  There is also a Flemish proverb (of the sort imaged in other works by Bruegel): "And the farmer continued to plough..." (En de boer ... hij ploegde voort") pointing out the ignorance of people to fellow men's suffering. The painting may, as Auden's poem suggests, depict humankind's indifference to suffering by highlighting the ordinary events which continue to occur, despite the unobserved death of Icarus.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: Focus on Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and explain the Attribution.

The painting is probably a version of a lost original by Bruegel. A date of c. 1558 has been suggested for the lost original, based on Bruegel's other works; the copy probably comes from the 1560s or soon after.  It is in oils whereas Bruegel's other paintings on canvas are in tempera.The work was unknown until it was bought by the museum in 1912; subsequently another version on panel, generally considered inferior, turned up, which was acquired in 1953 by Daniel van Buuren for his private house, today a museum in Brussels.  In this, which excludes the far left and right sides of the composition, Icarus is in the water but Daedelus is still in the air, and the shepherd's gaze is directed at him, explaining one aspect of the composition of the other version.  The original would have been Bruegel's only known painting of a mythological subject. The perspective of the ship and figures is not entirely consistent, although this may enhance the power of the composition.  Bruegel also produced a design for an engraving with the ship and the two falling figures.Since its acquisition by the Museum in 1912, its authenticity has been challenged by several specialists, mainly for two reasons: (i) the relatively weak quality of the painting compared to other Bruegels, although this question is complicated by later overpainting; (ii) it is an oil painting on canvas, an exception in the work of Peter Bruegel the Elder who made all his oil paintings on panel.In 1963, Philippe Roberts-Jones, curator at the museum, and the Bruegel specialist Georges Marlier, hypothesized that an original panel painting had been later moved onto canvas, as was once common.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: Explain the Attribution of this artwork, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.

The painting is probably a version of a lost original by Bruegel. A date of c. 1558 has been suggested for the lost original, based on Bruegel's other works; the copy probably comes from the 1560s or soon after.  It is in oils whereas Bruegel's other paintings on canvas are in tempera.The work was unknown until it was bought by the museum in 1912; subsequently another version on panel, generally considered inferior, turned up, which was acquired in 1953 by Daniel van Buuren for his private house, today a museum in Brussels.  In this, which excludes the far left and right sides of the composition, Icarus is in the water but Daedelus is still in the air, and the shepherd's gaze is directed at him, explaining one aspect of the composition of the other version.  The original would have been Bruegel's only known painting of a mythological subject. The perspective of the ship and figures is not entirely consistent, although this may enhance the power of the composition.  Bruegel also produced a design for an engraving with the ship and the two falling figures.Since its acquisition by the Museum in 1912, its authenticity has been challenged by several specialists, mainly for two reasons: (i) the relatively weak quality of the painting compared to other Bruegels, although this question is complicated by later overpainting; (ii) it is an oil painting on canvas, an exception in the work of Peter Bruegel the Elder who made all his oil paintings on panel.In 1963, Philippe Roberts-Jones, curator at the museum, and the Bruegel specialist Georges Marlier, hypothesized that an original panel painting had been later moved onto canvas, as was once common.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: How does Landscape with the Fall of Icarus explain its Attribution?

The painting is probably a version of a lost original by Bruegel. A date of c. 1558 has been suggested for the lost original, based on Bruegel's other works; the copy probably comes from the 1560s or soon after.  It is in oils whereas Bruegel's other paintings on canvas are in tempera.The work was unknown until it was bought by the museum in 1912; subsequently another version on panel, generally considered inferior, turned up, which was acquired in 1953 by Daniel van Buuren for his private house, today a museum in Brussels.  In this, which excludes the far left and right sides of the composition, Icarus is in the water but Daedelus is still in the air, and the shepherd's gaze is directed at him, explaining one aspect of the composition of the other version.  The original would have been Bruegel's only known painting of a mythological subject. The perspective of the ship and figures is not entirely consistent, although this may enhance the power of the composition.  Bruegel also produced a design for an engraving with the ship and the two falling figures.Since its acquisition by the Museum in 1912, its authenticity has been challenged by several specialists, mainly for two reasons: (i) the relatively weak quality of the painting compared to other Bruegels, although this question is complicated by later overpainting; (ii) it is an oil painting on canvas, an exception in the work of Peter Bruegel the Elder who made all his oil paintings on panel.In 1963, Philippe Roberts-Jones, curator at the museum, and the Bruegel specialist Georges Marlier, hypothesized that an original panel painting had been later moved onto canvas, as was once common.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: In Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, how is the Attribution discussed?

The painting is probably a version of a lost original by Bruegel. A date of c. 1558 has been suggested for the lost original, based on Bruegel's other works; the copy probably comes from the 1560s or soon after.  It is in oils whereas Bruegel's other paintings on canvas are in tempera.The work was unknown until it was bought by the museum in 1912; subsequently another version on panel, generally considered inferior, turned up, which was acquired in 1953 by Daniel van Buuren for his private house, today a museum in Brussels.  In this, which excludes the far left and right sides of the composition, Icarus is in the water but Daedelus is still in the air, and the shepherd's gaze is directed at him, explaining one aspect of the composition of the other version.  The original would have been Bruegel's only known painting of a mythological subject. The perspective of the ship and figures is not entirely consistent, although this may enhance the power of the composition.  Bruegel also produced a design for an engraving with the ship and the two falling figures.Since its acquisition by the Museum in 1912, its authenticity has been challenged by several specialists, mainly for two reasons: (i) the relatively weak quality of the painting compared to other Bruegels, although this question is complicated by later overpainting; (ii) it is an oil painting on canvas, an exception in the work of Peter Bruegel the Elder who made all his oil paintings on panel.In 1963, Philippe Roberts-Jones, curator at the museum, and the Bruegel specialist Georges Marlier, hypothesized that an original panel painting had been later moved onto canvas, as was once common.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: In the context of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, explain the Scientific tests and the Attribution.

In 1998, a mixed team of scientists from the Belgian Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage and the University of Utrecht attempted to solve the authenticity problem by a radiocarbon dating of the canvas that was supposed to be the original support. As mentioned here above, the conclusion of this dating was that P. Bruegel the Elder cannot have painted on this canvas. Later, in 2006, Prof. J. Reisse (Université libre de Bruxelles) challenged this dating on technical grounds.A sample of blue paint taken from the right edge in 1973 was re-examined by performing analysis such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled to the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), which in connection with optical microscopy revealed the following structure and composition. From bottom to top:Canvas (from transposition);Oily lead white (adhesive);Thick oily layer with azurite (repaint);Chalk ground;Oily lead white with scarce particles of charcoal;Oily blue with azurite;with layers 4 to 6 being original.The presence of chalk ground under the original blue proves that this is a panel painting transposed on a canvas.The original blue layer is lead white with azurite containing a few grains of ochre and charcoal. These structure and composition match perfectly those found on other certified panels of Peter Bruegel. Moreover, it is noticeable that the wood charcoal particles are very peculiar, being very long and acicular, exactly the same as those found only in The Census from the same Museum.Recently, a study of the underdrawing using infrared reflectography has been published. Reflectography is based on the fact that the infrared light penetrates all colors except black. As a result, the drawing, mostly black, can be made visible. The interpretation of these reflectograms is of course more subjective, but in a global way, the drawing from the Fall of Icarus is not really different from other certified works from Peter Bruegel the Elder. This drawing is generally limited to a layout of the elements, probably  because the thin, weakly covering paint on white ground would hide imperfectly a detailed graphism.A re-interpretation of the reflectograms in agreement with the other analysis suggested the conclusion that the work in the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels is a panel painting transferred to canvas. The paint layer and maybe also the underdrawing have been severely damaged by this intervention as well as by two more relinings, responsible for the heavy overpainting. In the paint sample remains a fragment with structure and composition matching perfectly the technique of the large panels attributed to Peter Bruegel the Elder. It is therefore unlikely that this version of the Fall of Icarus might be from the hand of a copyist, except perhaps from P. Bruegel the Younger. Conversely, the Van Buuren copy with a different technique cannot be attributed to either Peter Bruegel.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: Explain the Scientific tests about the Attribution of this artwork, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.

In 1998, a mixed team of scientists from the Belgian Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage and the University of Utrecht attempted to solve the authenticity problem by a radiocarbon dating of the canvas that was supposed to be the original support. As mentioned here above, the conclusion of this dating was that P. Bruegel the Elder cannot have painted on this canvas. Later, in 2006, Prof. J. Reisse (Université libre de Bruxelles) challenged this dating on technical grounds.A sample of blue paint taken from the right edge in 1973 was re-examined by performing analysis such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled to the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), which in connection with optical microscopy revealed the following structure and composition. From bottom to top:Canvas (from transposition);Oily lead white (adhesive);Thick oily layer with azurite (repaint);Chalk ground;Oily lead white with scarce particles of charcoal;Oily blue with azurite;with layers 4 to 6 being original.The presence of chalk ground under the original blue proves that this is a panel painting transposed on a canvas.The original blue layer is lead white with azurite containing a few grains of ochre and charcoal. These structure and composition match perfectly those found on other certified panels of Peter Bruegel. Moreover, it is noticeable that the wood charcoal particles are very peculiar, being very long and acicular, exactly the same as those found only in The Census from the same Museum.Recently, a study of the underdrawing using infrared reflectography has been published. Reflectography is based on the fact that the infrared light penetrates all colors except black. As a result, the drawing, mostly black, can be made visible. The interpretation of these reflectograms is of course more subjective, but in a global way, the drawing from the Fall of Icarus is not really different from other certified works from Peter Bruegel the Elder. This drawing is generally limited to a layout of the elements, probably  because the thin, weakly covering paint on white ground would hide imperfectly a detailed graphism.A re-interpretation of the reflectograms in agreement with the other analysis suggested the conclusion that the work in the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels is a panel painting transferred to canvas. The paint layer and maybe also the underdrawing have been severely damaged by this intervention as well as by two more relinings, responsible for the heavy overpainting. In the paint sample remains a fragment with structure and composition matching perfectly the technique of the large panels attributed to Peter Bruegel the Elder. It is therefore unlikely that this version of the Fall of Icarus might be from the hand of a copyist, except perhaps from P. Bruegel the Younger. Conversely, the Van Buuren copy with a different technique cannot be attributed to either Peter Bruegel.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: In Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, how is the Scientific tests of the Attribution explained?

In 1998, a mixed team of scientists from the Belgian Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage and the University of Utrecht attempted to solve the authenticity problem by a radiocarbon dating of the canvas that was supposed to be the original support. As mentioned here above, the conclusion of this dating was that P. Bruegel the Elder cannot have painted on this canvas. Later, in 2006, Prof. J. Reisse (Université libre de Bruxelles) challenged this dating on technical grounds.A sample of blue paint taken from the right edge in 1973 was re-examined by performing analysis such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled to the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), which in connection with optical microscopy revealed the following structure and composition. From bottom to top:Canvas (from transposition);Oily lead white (adhesive);Thick oily layer with azurite (repaint);Chalk ground;Oily lead white with scarce particles of charcoal;Oily blue with azurite;with layers 4 to 6 being original.The presence of chalk ground under the original blue proves that this is a panel painting transposed on a canvas.The original blue layer is lead white with azurite containing a few grains of ochre and charcoal. These structure and composition match perfectly those found on other certified panels of Peter Bruegel. Moreover, it is noticeable that the wood charcoal particles are very peculiar, being very long and acicular, exactly the same as those found only in The Census from the same Museum.Recently, a study of the underdrawing using infrared reflectography has been published. Reflectography is based on the fact that the infrared light penetrates all colors except black. As a result, the drawing, mostly black, can be made visible. The interpretation of these reflectograms is of course more subjective, but in a global way, the drawing from the Fall of Icarus is not really different from other certified works from Peter Bruegel the Elder. This drawing is generally limited to a layout of the elements, probably  because the thin, weakly covering paint on white ground would hide imperfectly a detailed graphism.A re-interpretation of the reflectograms in agreement with the other analysis suggested the conclusion that the work in the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels is a panel painting transferred to canvas. The paint layer and maybe also the underdrawing have been severely damaged by this intervention as well as by two more relinings, responsible for the heavy overpainting. In the paint sample remains a fragment with structure and composition matching perfectly the technique of the large panels attributed to Peter Bruegel the Elder. It is therefore unlikely that this version of the Fall of Icarus might be from the hand of a copyist, except perhaps from P. Bruegel the Younger. Conversely, the Van Buuren copy with a different technique cannot be attributed to either Peter Bruegel.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: Describe the characteristics of the Scientific tests in Landscape with the Fall of Icarus's Attribution.

In 1998, a mixed team of scientists from the Belgian Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage and the University of Utrecht attempted to solve the authenticity problem by a radiocarbon dating of the canvas that was supposed to be the original support. As mentioned here above, the conclusion of this dating was that P. Bruegel the Elder cannot have painted on this canvas. Later, in 2006, Prof. J. Reisse (Université libre de Bruxelles) challenged this dating on technical grounds.A sample of blue paint taken from the right edge in 1973 was re-examined by performing analysis such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled to the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), which in connection with optical microscopy revealed the following structure and composition. From bottom to top:Canvas (from transposition);Oily lead white (adhesive);Thick oily layer with azurite (repaint);Chalk ground;Oily lead white with scarce particles of charcoal;Oily blue with azurite;with layers 4 to 6 being original.The presence of chalk ground under the original blue proves that this is a panel painting transposed on a canvas.The original blue layer is lead white with azurite containing a few grains of ochre and charcoal. These structure and composition match perfectly those found on other certified panels of Peter Bruegel. Moreover, it is noticeable that the wood charcoal particles are very peculiar, being very long and acicular, exactly the same as those found only in The Census from the same Museum.Recently, a study of the underdrawing using infrared reflectography has been published. Reflectography is based on the fact that the infrared light penetrates all colors except black. As a result, the drawing, mostly black, can be made visible. The interpretation of these reflectograms is of course more subjective, but in a global way, the drawing from the Fall of Icarus is not really different from other certified works from Peter Bruegel the Elder. This drawing is generally limited to a layout of the elements, probably  because the thin, weakly covering paint on white ground would hide imperfectly a detailed graphism.A re-interpretation of the reflectograms in agreement with the other analysis suggested the conclusion that the work in the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels is a panel painting transferred to canvas. The paint layer and maybe also the underdrawing have been severely damaged by this intervention as well as by two more relinings, responsible for the heavy overpainting. In the paint sample remains a fragment with structure and composition matching perfectly the technique of the large panels attributed to Peter Bruegel the Elder. It is therefore unlikely that this version of the Fall of Icarus might be from the hand of a copyist, except perhaps from P. Bruegel the Younger. Conversely, the Van Buuren copy with a different technique cannot be attributed to either Peter Bruegel.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: Focus on Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and explain the Mentions in other media.

The painting is shown in Nicolas Roeg's film The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), where a character opens a book of paintings to an image of it. On the facing page a description points out that the scene remains calm, the event of the fall hardly noticed. The painting also figures into the Walter Tevis novel on which the film is based. The characters of Newton and Bryce discuss the painting near the end of chapter four, part two. Tevis also mentions the painting in his 1980 novel Mockingbird. In chapter five of the first section narrated by the character Mary Lou, the robot Spofforth brings the painting to her.Eric Steele, whose film The Bridge (2006) documents the suicides of two-dozen people who jumped off the world's most popular suicide site – the Golden Gate Bridge – throughout 2004, has compared images captured in his documentary to those of Bruegel's Landscape With the Fall of Icarus, because the fatal leaps go almost unnoticed by passersby.Composer Brian Ferneyhough's 1988 chamber work La Chute d'Icare was inspired by the painting:What this piece attempts to suggest is ... less a reflection on the heroic-tragic dimension of the underlying myth than a transcription of the strange sensation of "already having been" which is brilliantly evoked by Breughel in the view of a world serenely pursuing its own concerns, completelyoblivious to the almost invisible tiny pair of legs waving pathetically out of the water, the only record of the apocalyptic event being a pair of feathers floating disconsolately down in the wake of their erstwhile owner. The painting features prominently in Frank Ceruzzi's dystopian play Round Went the Wheel (2019), where children take control of the world and use the painting and the Icarus myth as a way to teach the adult population about hubris and the dangers of technology.The painting was included in the 1980 television series 100 Great Paintings.The painting is mentioned by W. H. Auden in his 1938 poem, "Musée des Beaux Arts", in which Icarus's fall is perceived by the ploughman as "not an important failure".The painting is also the subject of the Titus Andronicus song "Upon Viewing Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus":In the painting from the original song, in the corner, you see this tiny guy falling into the ocean. It's been interpreted as: It's a big world, and people go about their business, and little tragedies are happening all the time, and what are you going to do? — Patrick Stickles, Titus AndronicusThe painting appears in a background of the music video for the song Blood Sweat & Tears by South Korean group BTS. The video opens in a museum with another Bruegel painting, "The Fall of the Rebel Angels" featured prominently.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: Explain the Mentions in other media of this artwork, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.

The painting is shown in Nicolas Roeg's film The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), where a character opens a book of paintings to an image of it. On the facing page a description points out that the scene remains calm, the event of the fall hardly noticed. The painting also figures into the Walter Tevis novel on which the film is based. The characters of Newton and Bryce discuss the painting near the end of chapter four, part two. Tevis also mentions the painting in his 1980 novel Mockingbird. In chapter five of the first section narrated by the character Mary Lou, the robot Spofforth brings the painting to her.Eric Steele, whose film The Bridge (2006) documents the suicides of two-dozen people who jumped off the world's most popular suicide site – the Golden Gate Bridge – throughout 2004, has compared images captured in his documentary to those of Bruegel's Landscape With the Fall of Icarus, because the fatal leaps go almost unnoticed by passersby.Composer Brian Ferneyhough's 1988 chamber work La Chute d'Icare was inspired by the painting:What this piece attempts to suggest is ... less a reflection on the heroic-tragic dimension of the underlying myth than a transcription of the strange sensation of "already having been" which is brilliantly evoked by Breughel in the view of a world serenely pursuing its own concerns, completelyoblivious to the almost invisible tiny pair of legs waving pathetically out of the water, the only record of the apocalyptic event being a pair of feathers floating disconsolately down in the wake of their erstwhile owner. The painting features prominently in Frank Ceruzzi's dystopian play Round Went the Wheel (2019), where children take control of the world and use the painting and the Icarus myth as a way to teach the adult population about hubris and the dangers of technology.The painting was included in the 1980 television series 100 Great Paintings.The painting is mentioned by W. H. Auden in his 1938 poem, "Musée des Beaux Arts", in which Icarus's fall is perceived by the ploughman as "not an important failure".The painting is also the subject of the Titus Andronicus song "Upon Viewing Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus":In the painting from the original song, in the corner, you see this tiny guy falling into the ocean. It's been interpreted as: It's a big world, and people go about their business, and little tragedies are happening all the time, and what are you going to do? — Patrick Stickles, Titus AndronicusThe painting appears in a background of the music video for the song Blood Sweat & Tears by South Korean group BTS. The video opens in a museum with another Bruegel painting, "The Fall of the Rebel Angels" featured prominently.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: How does Landscape with the Fall of Icarus explain its Mentions in other media?

The painting is shown in Nicolas Roeg's film The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), where a character opens a book of paintings to an image of it. On the facing page a description points out that the scene remains calm, the event of the fall hardly noticed. The painting also figures into the Walter Tevis novel on which the film is based. The characters of Newton and Bryce discuss the painting near the end of chapter four, part two. Tevis also mentions the painting in his 1980 novel Mockingbird. In chapter five of the first section narrated by the character Mary Lou, the robot Spofforth brings the painting to her.Eric Steele, whose film The Bridge (2006) documents the suicides of two-dozen people who jumped off the world's most popular suicide site – the Golden Gate Bridge – throughout 2004, has compared images captured in his documentary to those of Bruegel's Landscape With the Fall of Icarus, because the fatal leaps go almost unnoticed by passersby.Composer Brian Ferneyhough's 1988 chamber work La Chute d'Icare was inspired by the painting:What this piece attempts to suggest is ... less a reflection on the heroic-tragic dimension of the underlying myth than a transcription of the strange sensation of "already having been" which is brilliantly evoked by Breughel in the view of a world serenely pursuing its own concerns, completelyoblivious to the almost invisible tiny pair of legs waving pathetically out of the water, the only record of the apocalyptic event being a pair of feathers floating disconsolately down in the wake of their erstwhile owner. The painting features prominently in Frank Ceruzzi's dystopian play Round Went the Wheel (2019), where children take control of the world and use the painting and the Icarus myth as a way to teach the adult population about hubris and the dangers of technology.The painting was included in the 1980 television series 100 Great Paintings.The painting is mentioned by W. H. Auden in his 1938 poem, "Musée des Beaux Arts", in which Icarus's fall is perceived by the ploughman as "not an important failure".The painting is also the subject of the Titus Andronicus song "Upon Viewing Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus":In the painting from the original song, in the corner, you see this tiny guy falling into the ocean. It's been interpreted as: It's a big world, and people go about their business, and little tragedies are happening all the time, and what are you going to do? — Patrick Stickles, Titus AndronicusThe painting appears in a background of the music video for the song Blood Sweat & Tears by South Korean group BTS. The video opens in a museum with another Bruegel painting, "The Fall of the Rebel Angels" featured prominently.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Prompt: In Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, how is the Mentions in other media discussed?

The painting is shown in Nicolas Roeg's film The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), where a character opens a book of paintings to an image of it. On the facing page a description points out that the scene remains calm, the event of the fall hardly noticed. The painting also figures into the Walter Tevis novel on which the film is based. The characters of Newton and Bryce discuss the painting near the end of chapter four, part two. Tevis also mentions the painting in his 1980 novel Mockingbird. In chapter five of the first section narrated by the character Mary Lou, the robot Spofforth brings the painting to her.Eric Steele, whose film The Bridge (2006) documents the suicides of two-dozen people who jumped off the world's most popular suicide site – the Golden Gate Bridge – throughout 2004, has compared images captured in his documentary to those of Bruegel's Landscape With the Fall of Icarus, because the fatal leaps go almost unnoticed by passersby.Composer Brian Ferneyhough's 1988 chamber work La Chute d'Icare was inspired by the painting:What this piece attempts to suggest is ... less a reflection on the heroic-tragic dimension of the underlying myth than a transcription of the strange sensation of "already having been" which is brilliantly evoked by Breughel in the view of a world serenely pursuing its own concerns, completelyoblivious to the almost invisible tiny pair of legs waving pathetically out of the water, the only record of the apocalyptic event being a pair of feathers floating disconsolately down in the wake of their erstwhile owner. The painting features prominently in Frank Ceruzzi's dystopian play Round Went the Wheel (2019), where children take control of the world and use the painting and the Icarus myth as a way to teach the adult population about hubris and the dangers of technology.The painting was included in the 1980 television series 100 Great Paintings.The painting is mentioned by W. H. Auden in his 1938 poem, "Musée des Beaux Arts", in which Icarus's fall is perceived by the ploughman as "not an important failure".The painting is also the subject of the Titus Andronicus song "Upon Viewing Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus":In the painting from the original song, in the corner, you see this tiny guy falling into the ocean. It's been interpreted as: It's a big world, and people go about their business, and little tragedies are happening all the time, and what are you going to do? — Patrick Stickles, Titus AndronicusThe painting appears in a background of the music video for the song Blood Sweat & Tears by South Korean group BTS. The video opens in a museum with another Bruegel painting, "The Fall of the Rebel Angels" featured prominently.

Category:Paintings in the Musée Oldmasters

File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg

''Landscape with The Fall of Icarus'', ca. 1590–95, oil  on wood ({{convert

cm}}), Circle of P. Bruegel the Elder, [[Museum van Buuren

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (poem)

Coltrane Gilman and Michael Gnat* in front of Bruegel's painting. ''Round Went the Wheel'' by Frank Ceruzzi; directed by Janet Bentley. Broadway Bound Festival 2019. Photo: Emily Hewitt. (*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.)

File:Der Sturz des Ikarus (Ausschnitt).jpg

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Category:Paintings based on Metamorphoses


The Founding Ceremony of the Nation

Prompt: Focus on The Founding Ceremony of the Nation and explain the abstract.

The Founding Ceremony of the Nation (or The Founding of the Nation) is a 1953 oil painting by Chinese artist Dong Xiwen. It depicts Mao Zedong and other Communist Party officials proclaiming the People's Republic of China at Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949. A prominent example of socialist realism, it is one of the most celebrated works of official Chinese art. The painting was repeatedly revised, and a replica painting made to accommodate further changes, as some of the leaders it depicted fell from power and later were rehabilitated.After the Chinese Communist Revolution, the Party sought to memorialize their achievements through artworks. Dong was commissioned to create a visual representation of the October 1 ceremony, which he had attended. He viewed it as essential that the painting show both the people and their leaders. After working for three months, he completed an oil painting in a folk art style, drawing upon Chinese art history for the contemporary subject. The success of the painting was assured when Mao viewed it and liked it, and it was reproduced in large numbers for display in the home.The 1954 purge of Gao Gang from the government resulted in Dong being ordered to remove him from the painting. Gao's departure was not the last; Dong was forced to remove then-Chinese president Liu Shaoqi in 1967. The winds of political fortune continued to shift during the Cultural Revolution, and a reproduction was painted by other artists in 1972, to accommodate another deletion. The replica was modified in 1979 to include the purged individuals, who had been rehabilitated. Both canvases are in the National Museum of China in Beijing.

Postage stamps and postal history of China#People's Republic of China

Category:Cultural depictions of Zhou Enlai

Visitors take photographs of ''The Founding Ceremony of the Nation'', National Museum of China, in 2018.

Dong borrowed techniques from the [[Mogao Caves

File:Dunhuang General Zhang Yichao army detail.jpg

Chinese art#Communist and socialist art (1950–1980s)

Proclamation of the People's Republic of China

File:Founding of the Nation 1955 revision.jpeg

Category:Cultural depictions of Mao Zedong

Category:Collection of the National Museum of China

''The Founding Ceremony of the Nation'' on exhibit along with artifacts of the October 1, 1949, ceremony. National Museum of China. Seen in 2018.


The Founding Ceremony of the Nation

Prompt: Explain the abstract of this artwork, The Founding Ceremony of the Nation.

The Founding Ceremony of the Nation (or The Founding of the Nation) is a 1953 oil painting by Chinese artist Dong Xiwen. It depicts Mao Zedong and other Communist Party officials proclaiming the People's Republic of China at Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949. A prominent example of socialist realism, it is one of the most celebrated works of official Chinese art. The painting was repeatedly revised, and a replica painting made to accommodate further changes, as some of the leaders it depicted fell from power and later were rehabilitated.After the Chinese Communist Revolution, the Party sought to memorialize their achievements through artworks. Dong was commissioned to create a visual representation of the October 1 ceremony, which he had attended. He viewed it as essential that the painting show both the people and their leaders. After working for three months, he completed an oil painting in a folk art style, drawing upon Chinese art history for the contemporary subject. The success of the painting was assured when Mao viewed it and liked it, and it was reproduced in large numbers for display in the home.The 1954 purge of Gao Gang from the government resulted in Dong being ordered to remove him from the painting. Gao's departure was not the last; Dong was forced to remove then-Chinese president Liu Shaoqi in 1967. The winds of political fortune continued to shift during the Cultural Revolution, and a reproduction was painted by other artists in 1972, to accommodate another deletion. The replica was modified in 1979 to include the purged individuals, who had been rehabilitated. Both canvases are in the National Museum of China in Beijing.

Postage stamps and postal history of China#People's Republic of China

Category:Cultural depictions of Zhou Enlai

Visitors take photographs of ''The Founding Ceremony of the Nation'', National Museum of China, in 2018.

Dong borrowed techniques from the [[Mogao Caves

File:Dunhuang General Zhang Yichao army detail.jpg

Chinese art#Communist and socialist art (1950–1980s)

Proclamation of the People's Republic of China

File:Founding of the Nation 1955 revision.jpeg

Category:Cultural depictions of Mao Zedong

Category:Collection of the National Museum of China

''The Founding Ceremony of the Nation'' on exhibit along with artifacts of the October 1, 1949, ceremony. National Museum of China. Seen in 2018.


The Founding Ceremony of the Nation

Prompt: How does The Founding Ceremony of the Nation explain its abstract?

The Founding Ceremony of the Nation (or The Founding of the Nation) is a 1953 oil painting by Chinese artist Dong Xiwen. It depicts Mao Zedong and other Communist Party officials proclaiming the People's Republic of China at Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949. A prominent example of socialist realism, it is one of the most celebrated works of official Chinese art. The painting was repeatedly revised, and a replica painting made to accommodate further changes, as some of the leaders it depicted fell from power and later were rehabilitated.After the Chinese Communist Revolution, the Party sought to memorialize their achievements through artworks. Dong was commissioned to create a visual representation of the October 1 ceremony, which he had attended. He viewed it as essential that the painting show both the people and their leaders. After working for three months, he completed an oil painting in a folk art style, drawing upon Chinese art history for the contemporary subject. The success of the painting was assured when Mao viewed it and liked it, and it was reproduced in large numbers for display in the home.The 1954 purge of Gao Gang from the government resulted in Dong being ordered to remove him from the painting. Gao's departure was not the last; Dong was forced to remove then-Chinese president Liu Shaoqi in 1967. The winds of political fortune continued to shift during the Cultural Revolution, and a reproduction was painted by other artists in 1972, to accommodate another deletion. The replica was modified in 1979 to include the purged individuals, who had been rehabilitated. Both canvases are in the National Museum of China in Beijing.

Postage stamps and postal history of China#People's Republic of China

Category:Cultural depictions of Zhou Enlai

Visitors take photographs of ''The Founding Ceremony of the Nation'', National Museum of China, in 2018.

Dong borrowed techniques from the [[Mogao Caves

File:Dunhuang General Zhang Yichao army detail.jpg

Chinese art#Communist and socialist art (1950–1980s)

Proclamation of the People's Republic of China

File:Founding of the Nation 1955 revision.jpeg

Category:Cultural depictions of Mao Zedong

Category:Collection of the National Museum of China

''The Founding Ceremony of the Nation'' on exhibit along with artifacts of the October 1, 1949, ceremony. National Museum of China. Seen in 2018.


The Founding Ceremony of the Nation

Prompt: In The Founding Ceremony of the Nation, how is the abstract discussed?

The Founding Ceremony of the Nation (or The Founding of the Nation) is a 1953 oil painting by Chinese artist Dong Xiwen. It depicts Mao Zedong and other Communist Party officials proclaiming the People's Republic of China at Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949. A prominent example of socialist realism, it is one of the most celebrated works of official Chinese art. The painting was repeatedly revised, and a replica painting made to accommodate further changes, as some of the leaders it depicted fell from power and later were rehabilitated.After the Chinese Communist Revolution, the Party sought to memorialize their achievements through artworks. Dong was commissioned to create a visual representation of the October 1 ceremony, which he had attended. He viewed it as essential that the painting show both the people and their leaders. After working for three months, he completed an oil painting in a folk art style, drawing upon Chinese art history for the contemporary subject. The success of the painting was assured when Mao viewed it and liked it, and it was reproduced in large numbers for display in the home.The 1954 purge of Gao Gang from the government resulted in Dong being ordered to remove him from the painting. Gao's departure was not the last; Dong was forced to remove then-Chinese president Liu Shaoqi in 1967. The winds of political fortune continued to shift during the Cultural Revolution, and a reproduction was painted by other artists in 1972, to accommodate another deletion. The replica was modified in 1979 to include the purged individuals, who had been rehabilitated. Both canvases are in the National Museum of China in Beijing.

Postage stamps and postal history of China#People's Republic of China

Category:Cultural depictions of Zhou Enlai

Visitors take photographs of ''The Founding Ceremony of the Nation'', National Museum of China, in 2018.

Dong borrowed techniques from the [[Mogao Caves

File:Dunhuang General Zhang Yichao army detail.jpg

Chinese art#Communist and socialist art (1950–1980s)

Proclamation of the People's Republic of China

File:Founding of the Nation 1955 revision.jpeg

Category:Cultural depictions of Mao Zedong

Category:Collection of the National Museum of China

''The Founding Ceremony of the Nation'' on exhibit along with artifacts of the October 1, 1949, ceremony. National Museum of China. Seen in 2018.


The Founding Ceremony of the Nation

Prompt: Focus on The Founding Ceremony of the Nation and explain the Background.

Following the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, Communists quickly took control of art in China. The socialist realism that was characteristic of Soviet art came to be highly influential in the People's Republic. The new government proposed a series of paintings, preferably in oil, to memorialize the history of the Party, and its triumph in 1949. To this end, in December 1950, arts official Wang Yeqiu proposed to Deputy Minister of Culture Zhou Yang that there be an art exhibition the following year to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Party in China. Wang had toured the Soviet Union and observed its art, with which he was greatly impressed, and he proposed that sculptures and paintings be exhibited depicting the Party's history, for eventual inclusion in the planned Museum of the Chinese Revolution. Even before gaining full control of the country, the Party had used art as propaganda, a technique especially effective as much of the Chinese population was then illiterate. Wang's proposal was preliminarily approved in March 1951, and a committee, including the art critic and official Jiang Feng, was appointed to seek suitable artists.  Although, nearly 100 paintings were produced for the 1951 exhibition, not enough were found to be suitable, and it was cancelled.The use of oil paintings to memorialize events and make a political statement was not new; 19th-century examples include John Trumbull's paintings for the United States Capitol (1817–1821) and Jacques-Louis David's The Coronation of Napoleon (1807). Oil painting allowed for a blending of tones to produce a wide range of realistic, attractive colors, in a way not possible with traditional Chinese ink and brush painting.  Wang admired how, in Moscow museums, Lenin's career was chronicled and made accessible to the masses through artifacts accompanied by oil paintings showing crucial moments in the Communist leader's career. He and higher-level officials decided to use a similar technique as they planned the Museum of the Chinese Revolution. Thus, they sought to chronicle the Party's history and showcase its accomplishments. Paintings were commissioned, even though the museum did not yet exist and would not open until 1961.  Chinese leaders were eager to be presented in paintings, wanting to be immortalized as central characters in the nation's historical drama.None of the works initially obtained for the museum depicted the crowning moment of the revolution, the ceremony at Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949, when Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic. Officials deemed such a work essential. Dong Xiwen, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, was accomplished and politically reliable, and had been present at the October 1 ceremony: he was an obvious candidate.  Although Dong later complained that never in his career had he had full freedom of choice as to his paintings' subjects, The Founding of the Nation would make him famous.

Postage stamps and postal history of China#People's Republic of China

Category:Cultural depictions of Zhou Enlai

Visitors take photographs of ''The Founding Ceremony of the Nation'', National Museum of China, in 2018.

Dong borrowed techniques from the [[Mogao Caves

File:Dunhuang General Zhang Yichao army detail.jpg

proclaiming the People's Republic of China

Chinese art#Communist and socialist art (1950–1980s)

Proclamation of the People's Republic of China

File:Founding of the Nation 1955 revision.jpeg

Category:Cultural depictions of Mao Zedong

Category:Collection of the National Museum of China

''The Founding Ceremony of the Nation'' on exhibit along with artifacts of the October 1, 1949, ceremony. National Museum of China. Seen in 2018.


The Founding Ceremony of the Nation

Prompt: Explain the Background of this artwork, The Founding Ceremony of the Nation.

Following the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, Communists quickly took control of art in China. The socialist realism that was characteristic of Soviet art came to be highly influential in the People's Republic. The new government proposed a series of paintings, preferably in oil, to memorialize the history of the Party, and its triumph in 1949. To this end, in December 1950, arts official Wang Yeqiu proposed to Deputy Minister of Culture Zhou Yang that there be an art exhibition the following year to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Party in China. Wang had toured the Soviet Union and observed its art, with which he was greatly impressed, and he proposed that sculptures and paintings be exhibited depicting the Party's history, for eventual inclusion in the planned Museum of the Chinese Revolution. Even before gaining full control of the country, the Party had used art as propaganda, a technique especially effective as much of the Chinese population was then illiterate. Wang's proposal was preliminarily approved in March 1951, and a committee, including the art critic and official Jiang Feng, was appointed to seek suitable artists.  Although, nearly 100 paintings were produced for the 1951 exhibition, not enough were found to be suitable, and it was cancelled.The use of oil paintings to memorialize events and make a political statement was not new; 19th-century examples include John Trumbull's paintings for the United States Capitol (1817–1821) and Jacques-Louis David's The Coronation of Napoleon (1807). Oil painting allowed for a blending of tones to produce a wide range of realistic, attractive colors, in a way not possible with traditional Chinese ink and brush painting.  Wang admired how, in Moscow museums, Lenin's career was chronicled and made accessible to the masses through artifacts accompanied by oil paintings showing crucial moments in the Communist leader's career. He and higher-level officials decided to use a similar technique as they planned the Museum of the Chinese Revolution. Thus, they sought to chronicle the Party's history and showcase its accomplishments. Paintings were commissioned, even though the museum did not yet exist and would not open until 1961.  Chinese leaders were eager to be presented in paintings, wanting to be immortalized as central characters in the nation's historical drama.None of the works initially obtained for the museum depicted the crowning moment of the revolution, the ceremony at Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949, when Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic. Officials deemed such a work essential. Dong Xiwen, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, was accomplished and politically reliable, and had been present at the October 1 ceremony: he was an obvious candidate.  Although Dong later complained that never in his career had he had full freedom of choice as to his paintings' subjects, The Founding of the Nation would make him famous.

Postage stamps and postal history of China#People's Republic of China

Category:Cultural depictions of Zhou Enlai

Visitors take photographs of ''The Founding Ceremony of the Nation'', National Museum of China, in 2018.

Dong borrowed techniques from the [[Mogao Caves

File:Dunhuang General Zhang Yichao army detail.jpg

proclaiming the People's Republic of China

Chinese art#Communist and socialist art (1950–1980s)

Proclamation of the People's Republic of China

File:Founding of the Nation 1955 revision.jpeg

Category:Cultural depictions of Mao Zedong

Category:Collection of the National Museum of China

''The Founding Ceremony of the Nation'' on exhibit along with artifacts of the October 1, 1949, ceremony. National Museum of China. Seen in 2018.