Attention to Detail

[stlukesguild]

The Devil is in the Details

Upon Julia’s Clothes

Whenas in silks my Julia goes,
Then, then (methinks) how sweetly flows
That liquefaction of her clothes.

Next, when I cast mine eyes, and see
That brave vibration each way free,
O how that glittering taketh me!

-Robert Herrick

-Charles Joseph Frédéric Soulacroix

The poet, Robert Herrick, was certainly not alone in recognizing the fascination… the seduction… to be found in the sensuous details of fashion… lace and tulle and velvet and satin.

Painters such as Rubens, Titian, Veronese, Velazquez, Rembrandt, Boucher, and Ingres understood that nudity depends on contrast for maximum impact. They recognized that an abundance of fur… often a surrogate for that which could not be represented… or a bracelet clasping a plump arm, would enhance the suggestion of bare flesh.

-Thomas Gainsborough

-Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

-Charles Joseph Frédéric Soulacroix

-Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

-Charles Joseph Frédéric Soulacroix

I’ve always found there to be a sort of irony involved with the tied-in-the-wool Modernists who could swear that the drips and splashes and swooping brushstrokes of an abstract painting were enough to enthrall the eye in and of themselves. And yet, at the same time they failed to appreciate the similar delicious play of texture… of dancing and swirling brushstrokes that might be found in paintings of the old masters… and even in those of many of the “academic” painters they so reviled.

-Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez

-Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes

-Thomas Gainsborough

-Henri Regnault

 

[snoball]

The fantastic detail is what I love about these, especially the Engres es, well with the exception of that one with the dislocated arm.

 

[stlukesguild]

-John Singer Sargent

-Rembrandt van Rijn

A Sweet Disorder

A SWEET disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:—
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distractión,—
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher,—
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbands to flow confusedly,—
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat,—
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility,—
Do more bewitch me, than when art
Is too precise in every part.

-Robert Herrick

-Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez

-Charles Joseph Frédéric Soulacroix

-Anton Raphael Mengs

-Gabriel Metsu

- François Boucher

 

[Artyczar]

So insane, really. It's like obsessive drawing.

 

[stlukesguild]

Well... they had several advantages. They started training as apprentices as pre-teens. They could focus full time on their art because that was their job. When painters, sculptors, print-makers, etc... became "artists" as opposed to craftsmen, they lost their assured income like a stone mason or blacksmith and instead became something closer to salesmen... competing to market their wares... and often surrendering part of their income to middle-men. Perhaps the biggest difference, however, is the fact that they did not face the disruptions or distractions of radio, television, and the internet.

 

[JohnEmmett]

Modernists … swear that the drips and splashes and swooping brushstrokes of an abstract painting were enough to enthrall the eye in and of themselves.

Abstraction is minimalist.

It's pure aesthetics.

 

[Artyczar]

Perhaps the biggest difference, however, is the fact that they did not face the disruptions or distractions of radio, television, and the internet.

That is so true. It's still quite amazing to look at, as you know.

 

[stlukesguild]

Abstraction is minimalist? Some is. Some isn't.

 

[JohnEmmett]

Abstraction is minimalist? Some is. Some isn't.

It's just aesthetics.

 

[stlukesguild]

Gorgeous details don't exist in paintings only:

-Michelangelo Buonarotti

-Gianlorenzo Bernini

- François Joseph Bosio

-G.M. Benzoni

-Lorenzo Bartolini

-Michelangelo Buonarotti

-Antonio Canova

-Antonio Canova

-Roman Sculpture, Louvre

-Lorenzo Bartolini

 

[musket]

It is astonishing, how much better Michelangelo was than even the best of the rest, though part of it has to do with the exquisite marble.

 

[Artyczar]

It is astonishing, how much better Michelangelo was than even the best of the rest, though part of it has to do with the exquisite marble.

Yes, I remember seeing the veins in those hands in real life and it truly was incredible. I stood there for a long time in awe.

 

[musket]

He must have had some secret method of getting such a high polish on marble. The flow of the carving itself aside, it just glows, which is what a high polish does.

I've worked marble a few times, and while I can't say it was perfect Carerra like his, it was very good stuff. I'm an expert polisher. I know how it works. I couldn't even get close.

 

[JohnEmmett]

-Emmett

-Emmett

-Emmett

-Emmett