Author: A Scholarly Skater
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Art O’Murnaghan and the Book of Resurrection
As I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned several times before, I am a big fan of medieval illuminated manuscripts. I’ve always found it a bit sad that the tradition has very little place in the modern world, which is why I was quite intrigued to read about this manuscript in a book about Celtic art. I’ve…
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Meet Swedish Portraitist Anders Zorn
Isabella Stewart Gardner by Anders Zorn, 1894. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Next up in what is becoming a recurring series of featured artists is Anders Zorn. Zorn is very interesting, and not just because his name is so much fun to say. This Swedish artist was a favorite of the great early-twentieth century American…
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An Epiphany about Gargoyles
When I was in New York City for the Winter Antiques Show (subject of my most recent marathon post), I decided to engage in a little gargoyle hunt on my way to and from the Armory. I looked up at each building I passed in hopes of seeing little faces peering back at me from on…
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A Visitor’s Guide to the Winter Antiques Show
This is an exciting time of year. No, not because of my birthday, though it was that last week as well. The end of January and beginning of February mark the annual Winter Antiques Show, which this year ran from January 24th to February 2nd. For those of you who don’t know, the Winter Antiques…
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Snow in New York, the Contemporary Version
Since my post about Guy C. Wiggins, I have started discovering snowy New York cityscapes by other painters. Here are two contemporary artists who share Wiggins’s love of New York in the wintertime: Mark Daly (b. 1956) describes himself is an American Impressionist. He primarily paints landscapes set throughout the country and sometimes overseas as…
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Snow falls softly on the city: the paintings of Guy C. Wiggins
In late 2020, Questroyal Fine Art, one of the best galleries for American paintings, asked me to write a guest post for its blog. I chose to talk about the gallery’s recent acquisition – a New York City snow scene called Winter at 57th St and 5th Avenue by Guy C. Wiggins. I love Wiggins’s…
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Anna Hyatt Huntington’s Joan of Arc
The story of Anna Hyatt Huntington’s Joan of Arc, a monumental bronze equestrian sculpture in Riverside Park, New York City.
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An Old Dutch Skating Painting
A pair of paintings from the Rijksmuseum collection show the popularity of outdoor ice skating in the history of the Netherlands.
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A Selection of Watercolors by John Singer Sargent
In addition to his portraits, John Singer Sargent painted many, many watercolors. They often depicted landscapes and other scenes he had observed during his travels in Europe, America, and the Middle East.
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Thomas Sully, early American painter of the theatre
I read a really good article in last month’s The Magazine Antiques about nineteenth-century American painter Thomas Sully and his works inspired by his background in theatre. The article came from the catalog of an exhibition, Thomas Sully: Painted Performance, which was recently held at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The December issue of American Art…
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Dancers and Skaters by Renoir
A selection of beautiful paintings by Pierre Auguste Renoir – all depicting my two favorite things, ice skating and dancing.
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“Fasching” begins: an introduction to Viennese Ball Season
This post was inspired by several things: my interest in ballroom culture and history, my love of the Viennese Waltz, my desire to visit Vienna (so much that I asked for Vienna travel guides for Christmas last year), and a few recent conversations about masquerade balls. After doing some basic research on the subject, I…
