Rembrandt as literary critic
Howard Wallace has been delving ‘artfully’ into the biblical stories that fascinated Rembrandt. Howard writes: The National Gallery of Victoria’s collection of two paintings by Rembrandt does not give a …
The Golden Dagger of Ahasuerus
In today’s post, Howard Wallace examines the significance of the golden dagger in the biblical story of Esther. Howard writes: Arent De Gelder (1645-1727), a one-time student of Rembrandt, has …
The Star of Bethlehem
Shortly after sunset tonight (21 December) if the sky is clear enough, it will be possible to view the conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The fusion of two …
Painting the Inside of the Church
As we once again have the opportunity to attend religious services during the festive season, Howard Wallace muses on: ‘What drives an artist to paint the interior of a church?’. …
Still relevant
How long do we look at a work of art in a gallery? Numerous studies have shown that it is usually under 30 seconds – with the average being under …
Head Hunting
Yesterday’s article on Judith and Holofernes by Susanne Pearce generated considerable interest in my inbox. Most readers agreed with Susanne that Artemisia Gentileschi’s ‘active portrayals’ of Judith dealing with the …
Judith and Holofernes
Susanne Pearce has been thinking about the depictions of the story ‘Judith and Holofernes’. Susanne writes: ‘Her sandal ravished his eyes, her beauty captivated his mind, and the sword severed …
Job (2)
Thank you very much to Howard Wallace for sharing his thoughts and insights about Job as depicted by William Blake. Howard writes: ‘Being a biblical scholar it prompted me to …
Job
With the current COVID-19, economic and cultural chaos it is not surprising that the suffering of Job comes to mind. For those unfamiliar with the story, Job is a prosperous, …
A different Madonna
Every day at 5pm my smartphone ‘pings’ and the DailyArt app sends me an image of an artwork – ‘my daily dose of art’. A couple of weeks ago, the …