After a wonderful 3 weeks in Germany the time came to return to Dubai.
Since there are only 2 direct flights by Emirates to Germany; Düsseldorf and Munich and because of its proximity to Black Forest we decided to return via Munich.
This was just an overnight stay and we didn’t have much expectation of being able to do much, but to my surprise we packed in quite a bit.
The Altes or Old Pinakothek museum was one of the highlights of Munich for me and I was determined to go there. And am I glad!
Altes Pinakothek (Old Pinacotheca) was ordered in 1826 by Ludwig I of Bavaria. It was intended to house the collection of major artwork owned by the Wittelsbach family, including large pieces such as Rubens’ “Last Judgment”, one of the most massive canvases ever painted.
I would like to share some of the pictures with you.
In no way do they do justice to the gorgeous gorgeous colours, composition and expression conveyed by the Masters but at least its a small way to remember that I stood in a roomful of Rubens and Rembrandt.
In Rubens’ 300-square-foot Great Last Judgment (Das Grosse Jüngste Gericht), Christ raises the righteous up to heaven (left side) and damns the sinners to hell (on the right). This painting was commissioned by Duke Wolfgang Wilhelm of Pfalz-Neuburg for the high altar of the Jesuit church in Neuburg an der Donau.
The size of the canvas can be seen in the first picture.
It was very difficult for me to get the painting properly with my tiny cyber-shot.
This is just to keep as a memory.
Christ and Mary Magdalene by Rubens. On his way to Golgotha Jesus spares a few moments for Mary Magdalene, the mysterious woman who was possibly more important to him than the gospels would have us believe.
The man with the cross is Simon of Cyrene, a passer-by whom the Romans forced to carry Jesus’ cross.
‘The Battle of the Amazons’ shows Rubens borrowing details of horses and figures in battle from Leonardo da Vinci.
Rubens conveys the plunging and biting horses in bold and lively manner giving the viewer a feeling of color and movement. Rubens was a proponent of an extravagant Baroque style that emphasised movement, colour, and sensuality.
helena Fourment was the second wife of the painter. he married her some years after the death of his first wife Isabella Brant in 1630, when she was 16 and he 53. The couple had five children together. Despite the extreme age difference, it was by all accounts a very happy marriage.
I cant find any reference to this painting on the net, unfortunately.
Castor and Pollux (Polydeuces), the sons of Leda and Zeus, abducted Hilaera and Phoebe, daughters of Leucippus King of Argos, shortly before their weddings. – Rubens has created a masterpiece in which four figures and two horses are in motion, all within a square, full picture plane and to still preserve a certain amount of naturalness. A refined choreography underlies the grouping.
This painting has many of Rubens’ most typical elements—fleshy, emotional, rippling motion; bright colors; and a classical subject. The chaos of flailing limbs and rearing horses is all held together in a subtle X-shaped composition. Like the weaving counterpoint in a Baroque fugue, Rubens balances opposites.
A mythological painting in his baroque style by Rubens.
satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus that roamed the woods and mountains.Satyrs acquired their goat-like aspect through later conflation with the Roman Faunus, a carefree nature spirit of similar temperament. Satyrs are described as roguish but faint-hearted folk — subversive and dangerous, yet shy and cowardly. Satyrs and nymphs were the subjects of many paintings by Masters such as Rubens.
an Bruegel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens. Madonna in a Garland of Flowers. c.1616-1618. (The garland was painted by Jan Bruegel the Elder) Oil on wood.
The Madonna of the Carnation, a.k.a. Madonna with vase or Madonna with child, is an oil painting by Leonardo da Vinci created around 1478-1480 (Renaissance).
The central (and centered) motif is young Virgin Mary with her naked Baby Jesus on her lap. Mary is seated and wears precious clothes and jewellery. With her left hand, she is holding a carnation (interpreted as a healing symbol). The faces are put into light while all other objects are darker, f.e. the carnation is covered by a shadow. The child is looking up, the mother is looking down — there is no eye contact. The setting of the portrait is a room with two windows on each side of the figures.
Madonna della tenda by Raphael. The stretched green curtain (tenda) in the back of Mother, Child Jesus and John, gave the painting its name and covers much of the background of the painting.
The Virgin is seated with her face in profile, holding with her right arm the infant Jesus who is lying on her lap. Jesus seems to be listening to John whose face – expressing respect – is next to that of Jesus. The Virgin wears a veil over her forehead upon which a red cloth is twisted.
The Tempi Madonna is an oil painting by the Italian High Renaissance painter Raphael. Painted for the Tempi family, it was bought by Ludwig I of Bavaria in 1829.
Glorified for his depictions of the Madonna, Raphael rendered the Virgin Mother as pure and ideal while also projecting naturalism that surpassed all those before him. Madonna and Child is exemplary of the artist’s ability to achieve perfect harmony through compositional devices; the Madonna adopts a pyramidal posture, dividing the canvas into three equal segments along the diagonal planes, while the contorted posture of the writhing child Christ complements the stable, serene nature of his mother
Raphael’s Holy Family at the Canigiani House takes Leonardo da Vinci’s pyramid form .The pyramid in which the figures are ideally enclosed is still drawn from models provided by Leonardo, but the relationships between the figures, developed through the glances they exchange and through the serene feelings they communicate, carry the composition onto a calmly descriptive plane. The tone of the painting is thus quite different from the tense and restless art of Da Vinci.
Father Joseph forms the peak, with his staff as the strong central axis. Mary and Jesus (on the right) form a pyramid-within-the-pyramid, as do Elizabeth and baby John the Baptist on the left. They all exchange meaningful contact, safe within the bounds of the stable family structure.
The name of the painting was gained from the Florentine family who owned it.
Fra Filippo Lippi, (born c. 1406) sometimes called Lippo Lippi, one of the most renowned painters of the Italian quattrocento, was born in Florence.In 1421 he entered the Carmelite Order as a monk and remained for eleven years in S. Maria del Carmine in Florence.He approaches religious art from its human side, and is not pietistic though true to a phase of Catholic devotion.
In this picture, The Resurrection of Christ Rembrandt paints the moment the guards flee from the angel descending from heaven.
This work is one of the 5 passion paintings by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn [Dutch Golden Age painter and etcher, 1606 – 1669) for the stadtholder Frederik Hendrik. The Raising of the Cross, the Descent from the Cross, the Entombment, the Resurrection, the Ascension.
The Descent from the Cross or Deposition of Christ, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospels’ accounts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after his crucifixion (John 19:38-42)
It is Part of Rembrandt’s Passion Cycle for Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange
In One of Rembrandt’s famous paintings is the Raising of the Cross, which he completed for Prince Frederick Henry of Orange, Christ sits front and centre, nailed to the cross, as soldiers lift his cross to stand upright. But notice in the painting that there is a man at the feet of Jesus wearing a blue painter’s beret.That is Rembrandt himself.Rembrandt wants to convey that he is a sinner and it was his sins, like the rest of mankind, which sent Christ to the cross.
study the play of hands in this canvas painting. The helpless hands behind Isaac’s back render him a passive sacrificial offering. While one of the hands of the angel of the Lord ,dramatically arrests the violent act at the critical moment, and the other knocks the knife from Abraham’s hand.And Why does Abraham cover the face of his child?
Is it to spare him the sight of his father cutting his throat or because he is unable to look his son in the eye asks Dr. Bryna Jocheved Levy. She further says Abraham’s face displays everything we would expect: confusion, shock, and total lack of comprehension. Having girded himself for this death march, he is taken aback when called to a sudden halt. How did Abraham reconcile this withdrawal of the divine command with the original directive? If it was not to be consummated, what then was the purpose of this difficult and perplexing ordeal?
Rembrandt imbues this vision of Christ as an apparition emerging from darkness very gently. The resurrected Christ, draped in the shroud is a remarkable combination of realism and imagination. And once again with dark colouring!
A normal family scene, except for the expressions so beautifully painted by Rembrandt.
This painting of The Resurrection of Christ by German painter, Hans Pleydenwurff from 15th century shows a different Jesus to the blonde haired, blue eyed Jesus that we are used to seeing now. In this Christ has middle eastern features and coloring.
The mocking of Christ by Jan Sanders van Hemessen. He was a Flemish Northern Renaissance painter who was part of the mannerist movement.Hemessen specialized in scenes of human character flaws such as vanity and greed.
His pictures are often religious
The Land of Cockaigne (1567), is an illustration of the medieval mythical land of plenty called Cockaigne by Bruegel the Elder.He was a Flemish Renaissance painter and printmaker known for his landscapes and peasant scenes during the sixteenth century. He is sometimes referred to as “Peasant Bruegel” to distinguish him from other members of the Brueghel dynasty.
The “little” Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.'” (Genesis 11:4).
the beautiful Marquise de Pompadour captured forever on canvas by the brush of François Boucher (1703–1770)
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin favored simple yet beautifully textured still lifes, and sensitively handled domestic interiors and genre paintings. Simple, even stark, paintings of common household items,In this picture the bent back of the housemaid peeling turnips, shows the drudgery of her life.The style is rococo.
Deploration or lamentation over Christ by two different painters.
In Botticelli’s painting, Mary Magdalene in red holding Christ’s head with utmost tenderness and devotion. The suffering by the ladies very apparent in their postures and expressions.
In Raphael’s painting its the much loved Pieta.
