Die ganz große Familie - Moritz, Landgraf von Hessen-Kassel and "crew" by August Erich, circa 1618-1630

 

Landgraf Moritz von Hessen-Kassel mit seiner Familie. Apparently worked on for twelve years, the painting measures 230.5 cm x 422 cm (90.7 inches x 13.8 feet).

Landgraf Moritz - also called Moritz der Gelehrte (the Learned) - was a great supporter of the arts. He built the first permanent theatre in Germany in 1605 while he, himself, was a serious musician and composer. But his conversion to Calvinism caused a far reaching conflict in the region, and his unwise handling of his state's finances finally resulted in his abdication in 1627, five years before his death. This vast painting celebrates the family he made with his second wife, Juliane, who he married in 1603. There were six children born to his first wife, Agnes of Solms-Laubach, but only one was still alive by the time this family portrait was begun. The last of the children born during that first marriage, Wilhelm, who succeeded his father, is not included in this group.

The huge group portrait is not a great work of art - the drawing is crude and, typical of the period, the figures are awkward and stiff - but the wealth of detail is remarkable. It isn't merely the precise rendering of the elaborate clothing, but also the personal touches. The two dogs; the chairs the three smallest children sit on; the two sisters holding hands; and all the toys enjoyed by the smaller children. Rattles, a doll, a tiny crossbow, flowers, a drum, a hobbyhorse. These things, almost in spite of the artist's relative lack of skill, bring a real sense of life to this monumental record of diese ganz große Familie.

Moritz Landgraf von Hessen-Kassel (25 May 1572 - 15 March 1632).

Juliane, Landgräfin von Hessen-Kassel, née Countess of Nassau-Siegen (3 September 1587 - 15 February 1643).

I'm not quite sufficiently crazy as to attempt an identification of each child. Though it might seem not impossible to guess, comparing birth dates with their apparent relative ages, it should be noted that several of the children had not been born when the painting was begun, and at least three had died before it was finished; the fourteen children portrayed here were not all living at the same time.

Philipp (26 September 1604 - killed in battle, 17 June 1626).
Agnes (14 May 1606 - 28 May1650), married John Casimir, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau.
Herman (15 August 1607 - 25 March 1658), inherited Rotenburg.
Juliane (7 October 1608 - 11 December 1628).
Sabine (5 July 1610 - 21 May 1620).
Magdalene (25 August 1611 - 12 February 1671), married Erich Adolf, Count of Salm-Reifferscheid.
Maurice (13 June 1614 - 16 February 1633).
Sophie (12 September 1615 - 22 November 1670), married Philip I, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe.
Frederick (9 May 1617 - killed in battle, 24 September 1655), inherited Eschwege.
Christian (5 February 1622 - 14 November 1640).
Ernest (17 December 1623 - 12 May 1693), inherited Rheinfels.
Christine (9 July 1625 - 25 July 1626).
Philipp (28 September 1626 - 8 July 1629).
Elisabeth (23 October 1628 - 10 February 1633).

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August Erich (26 July 1591, Eisenach - 12 May 1670, Eisenach), German artist and councilman of the city of Eisenach. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any other information about this artist.

Ladies on sofas - six paintings... also, three dogs

 

Little White Dog, by Henri Lebasque, 1905.

The Pink Dress, by William Nicholson, 1934.

Madame Simone (the stage and pen name of Simone Le Bargy née Pauline Benda), by Henry Caro-Delvaille, 1908.

The Countess of Crawford and Balcarres, by Sir William Orpen, 1914.

 Elizabeth, Lady Webster, later Lady Holland, with her spaniel Pierrot, by Louis Gauffier, circa 1795.

Pierrot!

Woman Seated on a Sofa in an Interior, by Frederick Carl Frieseke, 1914.

But was he... Fred? - photographs by Horst

 

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Some of the titles of the photographs in this series refer to the subject as merely a "handsome blond man," while others are specifically titled "portrait of Fred." They are also variously dated, from a firm 1932 to a vague "circa 1940." Why so much confusion when, clearly, all seven were taken during the same session? Even the top auction houses disagree about the titles and date. So, I guess we'll just have to say that they're lovely photographs of a lovely young man, whenever it was that the camera was blessed with his presence, and leave it at that.

"The way she shimmers" - a portrait of Elizabeth Farren by Sir Thomas Lawrence, circa 1790

 

I've always loved this painting, the way she shimmers. The whole painting does, really. Her satin cloak, certainly, but also throughout the landscape, brilliant silver tracing and breaking through. All of it matched by - or is it merely reflecting? - the energy and wit of the young woman's bright, smiling glance.

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Elizabeth Farren (circa 1759, Cork, Ireland - 23 April 1829, Knowsley Hall, England), Irish actress. She was the daughter of a surgeon, later an actor, whose drinking habits brought on his early death, after which his widow returned to her native Liverpool, going on the stage to support the family. At a very early age, Farren began taking on juvenile parts, acting with her mother and sisters; her sister Margaret Farren also became a well-known actress. She made her first appearance in London at the Haymarket in 1777, playing Miss Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer. The following year, she made her debut at Drury Lane. She performed primarily at that theater or at the Haymarket for the rest of her stage career, with occasional performances in the provinces and at Covent Garden. She would go on to have over one hundred characters in her repertoire. These included Shakespeare's Hermione, Portia, Olivia, and Juliet but, apparently, the comedic roles such as Lady Betty Modish, Lady Townly, Lady Fanciful, and Lady Teazle were her favorites. In an age when actresses were thought no better than prostitutes - indeed, not a few took to that profession as a sideline, though more politely called "courtesans" - Farren made an impressive career change when, in 1797, she married, as his second wife, Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby. Her husband reportedly treated her with great respect. The couple had a daughter, Lady Mary Margaret Stanley, who would marry Thomas Egerton, 2nd Earl of Wilton. Elizabeth Farren, Countess of Derby, died in her seventieth year at the ancestral home of the Stanley family - the Earls of Derby - Knowsley Hall, her husband following five years later. 

Farren's retirement from the stage had been much regretted. Horace Walpole spoke of her as the most perfect actress he had ever seen, and the great Mrs. Siddons, on the day of Farren's marriage, lamented the loss of "our comic muse."

Glorious clutter - still-lifes by Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten

 

Roestraten's still-lifes fall within the Dutch pronkstilleven - "ostentatious still-life" - tradition, in which luxurious objects are arranged in an often seemingly random, frequently overladen, composition, with the intention of demonstrating the artist's skill in representing a rich variety of surface textures. 

Since the titles of these paintings are almost without exception merely descriptive - Still-life with Candlestick, Chinese Porcelain Cups and a Bowl, Silver Lidded Jar, Musical Instruments, etc., etc. - I haven't bothered to label them. Likewise, I didn't even begin to attempt the doubtless futile task of ascribing a date to each piece. But they can be dated between 1666, when the artist arrived in London, and his death in 1700.

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Details.

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Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten (21 April 1630, Haarlem - 10 July 1700, London), Dutch painter best known for still-lifes, he also painted genre scenes and portraits. Beginning in his hometown of Haarlem, he was a student of Frans Hals for at least five years, from 1649. He moved to Amsterdam two years later, and in 1654 he married a daughter of Frans Hals, Adriaentje, who was six year his senior. He and his wife lived in Amsterdam before moving to London in 1666. That same year he suffered a hip injury during the Great Fire of London, which caused him to walk with a limp for the rest of his life. Van Roestraten was likely introduced to king Charles II by Sir Peter Lely on the condition that he paint no portraits, thus avoiding competition for the court painter. He focused, then, on still-life painting and was quite successful. He lived on the south side of King's Street, putting him in close proximity to the Palace of Whitehall and to the studios of other artists, including Peter Lely and John Michael Wright. When his first wife died he remarried a younger wife by the name of Clara, but died soon afterwards, at the age of seventy. He is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.