Jan Steen (c.1626 –1679) was a Dutch painter who was known for his animated and lively paintings. He was born into a well-off family, his father being a brewer. He trained with artists Nicolaes Knupfer and Adriaen van Ostade. He moved several times, living in Leiden, The Hague, Harlem and Delft.
Self Portrait by Jan Steen
He painted over hundreds of paintings ranging from portraits to landscapes to tableaus. He could not survive on the money he was making from his paintings alone so he ran a tavern and a brewery. His popular paintings often depicted humorous family scenes that were chaotic or scenes from daily life that filled the viewer with warmth. He also painted other themes such as religion or ones based off of proverbs which served to remind those of important lessons.
The Dancing Couple by Jan Steen – Jan Steen often inserted himself into these tavern scenes.The Effects of Intemperance by Jan Steen – Proverbial pieceThe wrath of Ahasuerus by Jan Steen – Religious art
I really like the details Steen put into his paintings. It makes me look at his work for a long time to uncover the small things he adds to make it more interesting. I can feel his sense of humour in these works. What I find the most interesting is that none of the colours in his paintings are super saturated or pop out. I know that the colour of the composition affects the mood however he does not use bright colours and yet we still feel a sense of joy looking at his comical paintings.
Hans Holbein (c. 1497-1543) was a German artist who was known for his portraiture and woodcut works. His father, whom he was named after, was a painter as well and taught him how to paint. He later moved to Basel, Switzerland, where he worked with a variety of mediums, from stained glass to prints to painting portraits of affluent merchants.
Hans Holbein the YoungerPortrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam by Hans Holbein
A few years later he came to England and during this time his work in portraiture became known. Holbein became the court painter for King Henry VIII, painting hundreds of portraits until his death in 1543 from the plague.
Portrait of Henry VIII of England by Hans Holbein
Anne de Clèves by Hans Holbein – In addition to being the court painter, Holbein was the fashion designer for the court.
My favourite works by Holbein were his illustrations for the allegory the “Dance of Death”, which are extremely expressive and have a sense of movement within them. Despite how morbid the theme is, I particularly liked the skeleton, which represented death. In every piece, it seemed as if it was joyfully inviting their next victim to ‘dance’, much to the latter’s horror.
The Abbot, from The Dance of Death by Hans Holbein – The “Dance of Death” depicts how all people, regardless of class or age were unable to escape death. This theme was popular during the time of the Plague especially since everyone was dying. The Noblewoman, from The Dance of Death by Hans Holbein
Wait- there’s a reason why the Ancient Egyptians coloured their art in a funky way?
In Ancient Egypt, art decorated Ancient Egyptians’ houses to tombs. Colours made from minerals and semi-precious stones were used to colour them. Their use of colour was highly symbolic. Every colour used in paintings served a meaning which told a story.
They used six main colours; the ancient names listed after the colour.
Red ( “desher”), green ( “wadj”), blue ( “irtyu”), yellow ( “khenet”), white (“hedj”) and black ( “kem”).
Painter’s Palette Inscribed with the Name of Amenhotep III
These colours represented people, characteristics, and things found in nature. A summary of the colours and their meanings and how they were used in art follows.
Red symbolized chaos, fire, and anger. This colour was associated with the god of storms and chaos, Set, who had red hair. He was also associated with the desert which was believed to be the entrance to the underworld- therefore making the colour red be associated with death as well. Additionally, red can represent victory as a result of Set defeating an evil being called Apep. Egyptian men were painted with red skin, which was standard protocol.
Set, the god of chaos and storms
Green symbolized growth and vegetation, life and resurrection (which could also be represented by black). Osiris, the Egyptian god of fertility, the underworld and the afterlife was often depicted with green skin.
Osiris, the god of fertility and the Underworld
Blue, commonly known as “Egyptian Blue” was very popular.. It was the colour of the heavens and the water. Blue was, of course, the colour of the Nile River which symbolized fertility, growth and birth. Amon, the god of Egypt, was often portrayed with a blue face to show that he had a role in the creation of the world. Some Pharaohs (Supreme leaders of the land) that were associated with Amon were shown to have blue faces or hair in art.
Amon (center), the god of Egypt
Yellow, the colour of the sun and gold, symbolized eternity, perfection and being indestructible. It was also used to colour the skin of women, who spent more time indoors. Egyptian gods were believed to have skin and bones of gold and were often portrayed having gold skin in sculptures and paintings
White symbolized purity, clarity and simplicity. During holy rituals, white clothing was worn. Sacred animals such as oxen and cows were white. White was also used to depict clothing and other objects which associate the colour to everyday life. However, white was usually used to bring attention to the important aspects of a painting.
Black symbolized darkness and the underworld. It also represented both life and death. Osiris, the god of the underworld was called “The Black One” so the colour black was associated with death as well. One may not expect it, but black also symbolized fertility and life, similar to the colour green. This is because the black silt of the Nile was used for agriculture and nourished the people. Black was used as the standard hair colour in paintings, and was used to represent the Nubians and Kushites, people from the south.
Red and white were paired as they were opposites. These colours were featured of the double crown of Egypt, which represented the two regions of Egypt coming together as one.
I wanted to have my yearbook spread reflect who I see myself as- strange but charming. To show this, I filled my page with every colour of the rainbow and added various things to make it feel busy and lively. The keywords I chose to put on my spread were: personable, sensitive, foolish, excitable and eccentric, which I feel describe me quite well. I used gouache and watered it down to paint the background, since I dislike colouring large areas with pencil crayons. I used pencil crayons to draw in the weird characters and fish, which I immensely enjoyed doing. These drawings gave off a kooky energy. I intentionally left some small white spaces while colouring to give the drawings a loose, messy feeling. Initially, I was going to print out a picture of myself but then I decided to challenge myself by drawing a self-portrait, using both gouache and pencil crayons. For the finishing touch, I stuck on colourful stickers to make the image feel less flat.
Overall, I would give myself a 8.5/10. I feel quite proud of this piece although there is definitely room for improvement. For one, I feel that my self-portrait does not completely look like me. Although I would like to see it look more realistic, I am still satisfied with how it turned out. I would also change the placement of the last two keywords on the rainbow as they are less visible on the green stripe compared to the yellow stripe. Lastly, I could have written the facts about me in bigger handwriting so that it would be easier to read for those who may have difficulty reading smaller text. Even though this project was not worth any marks, I had fun doing this activity!
Jean Fouquet (c.1420-c.1480) was a distinguished French painter of the 15th century. He painted for the French monarchy, and was given the title of Court Painter. He was well known for his portrait, panel painting and manuscript illumination works.
Portrait of Charles VII of France.
Fouquet is also thought to have been the person who produced the earliest portrait miniature, which was a form of portraiture that was inspired by the techniques used to create illuminated manuscripts.
The Right Hand of God Protecting the Faithful against the Demons. A page from one of the most famous manuscripts of the fifteenth century- The “Hours of Étienne Chevalier”
Jean Fouquet, self-portrait. In addition to being one of the earliest portrait miniature, it may have been one of the earliest formal self-portrait.
The first French artist to travel to Italy, Fouquet picked up Italian painting techniques, and brought them back with him to France. We can see in his works that there are elements of Flemish and Italian techniques in his French-style paintings.
I find Fouquet’s paintings pleasing to look at. He utilizes rich colours, especially primary colours. These make his paintings pop and make them feel lively, despite the somber looking subjects in his paintings. We can see this in paintings such as “Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels.” and “Etienne Chevalier with St. Stephen”.
Etienne Chevalier with St. StephenVirgin and Child Surrounded by Angels
