Favorite piece(s) of art (by a dead artist)

Scene from The Taming of the Shrew - Washington Allston
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In Act IV, Scene iii, Petruchio throws a tantrum when he sees the gown designed by the tailor for his wife Kate, who still needs further "taming." Petruchio says,
Thy gown? why, ay: come, tailor, let us see't.
O mercy, God! what masquing stuff is here?
What's this? a sleeve? 'tis like a demi-cannon:
What, up and down, carved like an apple-tart?
Here's snip and nip and cut and slish and slash,
Like to a censer in a barber's shop:
Why, what, i' devil's name, tailor, call'st thou this? . . .
Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail!
Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter-cricket thou!
Braved in mine own house with a skein of thread?
Away, thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant;
Or I shall so be-mete thee with thy yardv As thou shalt think on prating whilst thou livest!
I tell thee, I, that thou hast marr'd her gown.​
Kate turns her face from the scene as she comes to the realization that there is little she can do or say at this point and that she will have no new gown for her sister's wedding.














Antony and Cleopatra - Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
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Cleopatra is awaiting the arrival of Antony, whose triremes is seen off in the distance.

In Act II, Scene ii, Enobarbus describes Cleopatra's boat to Agrippa and Mecaenas.
The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,
Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver,
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
The water which they beat to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,
It beggar'd all description: she did lie
In her pavilion--cloth-of-gold of tissue--
O'er-picturing that Venus where we see
The fancy outwork nature: on each side her
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
With divers-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid did. . . .
Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides,
So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes,
And made their bends adornings: at the helm
A seeming mermaid steers: the silken tackle
Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands,
That yarely frame the office. From the barge
A strange invisible perfume hits the sense
Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast
Her people out upon her; and Antony,
Enthroned i' the market-place, did sit alone,
Whistling to the air; which, but for vacancy,
Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too,
And made a gap in nature.​
Agrippa's reply is simply, "Rare Egyptian!"
 
The Plays of William Shakespeare - Sir John Gilbert
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Miranda - Frederick Goodall
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"O, the cry did knock against my very heart. Poor souls, they perish'd" (The Tempest,Act I, Scene ii).






The Trial of Queen Katherine - George Henry Harlow
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This comes from Henry VIII, Act II, Scene iv, and the refutation of Cardinal Wolsey, charged with obtaining Henry's divorce from his Queen, Katherine, who says to Wolsey, "I utterly abhor, yea, from my soul / Refuse you for my judge, whom yet once more, / I hold my most malicious foe, and think not / At all a friend to truth."
 
O, Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore art Thou, Romeo? - William Hatherall
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The Shrew Katherina - Edward Robert Hughes
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This painting depicts Katherine in an uncharacteristically pensive mood, contemplating her empty plate and glass, hungry and no doubt mulling over what course of action she might take. She complains of her hunger to the servant Grumio and implores him to bring her some food:
The more my wrong, the more his spite appears:
What, did he marry me to famish me?
Beggars, that come unto my father's door,
Upon entreaty have a present aims;
If not, elsewhere they meet with charity:
But I, who never knew how to entreat,
Nor never needed that I should entreat,
Am starved for meat, giddy for lack of sleep,
With oath kept waking and with brawling fed:
And that which spites me more than all these wants,
He does it under name of perfect love;
As who should say, if I should sleep or eat,
'Twere deadly sickness or else present death.
I prithee go and get me some repast;
I care not what, so it be wholesome food. (IV, iii).​
She is the victim of Petruchio's plan to force her to submit by starving her and depriving her of sleep. He sets forth his scheme in Act IV, Scene i:
Thus have I politicly begun my reign,
And 'tis my hope to end successfully.
My falcon now is sharp and passing empty;
And till she stoop she must not be full-gorged,
For then she never looks upon her lure.
Another way I have to man my haggard,
To make her come and know her keeper's call,
That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites
That bate and beat and will not be obedient.
She eat no meat to-day, nor none shall eat;
Last night she slept not, nor to-night she shall not;
As with the meat, some undeserved fault
I'll find about the making of the bed;
And here I'll fling the pillow, there the bolster,
This way the coverlet, another way the sheets:
Ay, and amid this hurly I intend
That all is done in reverend care of her;
And in conclusion she shall watch all night:
And if she chance to nod I'll rail and brawl
And with the clamour keep her still awake.
This is a way to kill a wife with kindness;
And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour.
He that knows better how to tame a shrew,
Now let him speak: 'tis charity to show.​
 
The Play Scene in Hamlet - Charles Hunt
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The Victorians loved paintings of children as much as they did depictions of Shakespeare, and Hunt combined the two to produce this amusing and whimsical version of Act III, scene ii of Hamlet.

The older children playing Claudius and Gertrude seem to take the business much more seriously than the younger children playing the parts of the king and Lucianus in the play within the play. Ophelia, played by a perhaps reluctant boy, wears a garland of flowers, a property that will not be necessary until later in the play. Behind the chair stands an amused Horatio. Hamlet peeks from behind a fan, Hunt's subtle allusion to a bit of stage business used effectively in actual productions of the play by several actors, including Edwin Forrest. On the left are several children who provide the musical accompaniment and on the right is an "audience" of family members. The catch-all nature of the costumes and Gertrude's pasteboard crown suggest that this is truly a makeshift performance furnished from the old-clothes bin.










Fame Decorating Shakespeare's Tomb - Angelica Kauffmann
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The artist chooses to have Fame decorate a cenotaph; the artist seems to have thought that Shakespeare's actual grave in Stratford was not poetic enough for her illustration.







The Birth of Shakespeare - Angelica Kauffmann
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In this picture Fantasy and the muses of Tragedy and Comedy attend the infant Shakespeare. At the bottom of the picture lie a scepter, a crown, and the mask of tragedy, portents of the the illustrious future awaiting the child.
 
Olivia - Edward Blair Leighton
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"Have you any commission from your lord to negotiate with my face? You are now out of your text: but we will draw the curtain and show you the picture" (Twelfth Night Act I, Scene v).









Bianca - Frederic Leighton
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Olivia - Charles Robert Leslie
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In this engraving, Olivia veils herself to mourn her brother. Valentine in Act I, Scene i, of Twelfth Night, describes her custom to the Duke, who languishes in despair for the love of Olivia and has sent Valentine to plead his cause. But Valentine reports,
So please my lord, I might not be admitted;
But from her handmaid do return this answer:
The element itself, till seven years' heat,
Shall not behold her face at ample view;
But, like a cloistress, she will veiled walk
And water once a day her chamber round
With eye-offending brine: all this to season
A brother's dead love, which she would keep fresh
And lasting in her sad remembrance.



 
Queen Katherine and her Maid - Charles Robert Leslie
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In Act III, Scene i, of Henry VIII, a dejected and pensive Queen Katherine, who in the previous scene rejected the authority of the Cardinals Wolsey and Campeius to pass judgment on the legality of her marriage to the King, asks her maid to sing to her: "Take thy lute, wench: my soul grows sad with troubles; / Sing, and disperse 'em, if thou canst: leave working." Katherine's maid Patience sings this song:
Orpheus with his lute made trees,
And the mountain tops that freeze,
Bow themselves when he did sing:
To his music plants and flowers
Ever sprung; as sun and showers
There had made a lasting spring. Every thing that heard him play,
Even the billows of the sea,
Hung their heads, and then lay by.
In sweet music is such art,
Killing care and grief of heart
Fall asleep, or hearing, die.
After the song, the Cardinals enter once again to ask Katherine to see reason and to submit herself to the King's will.



















Katherine - Edwin Long
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This character is simply identified as 'Katherine' so it's most likely it's Kate of The Taming of the Shrew.





















Francis Feeble, Lady's Tailor - Henry Stacy Marks
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This engraving depicts one of those scenes we never see; in fact, this one is not even described for us. In Henry IV, Part 2 Act III, Scene ii, Falstaff is raising a troop and has allowed all the able-bodied men to buy their way out. He is left then with a pitiful assortment of men clearly too weak or too stupid to fight effectively. His recruits are Mouldy, Shadow, Wart, Feeble, and Bullcalf. Mouldy and Bullcalf are able to buy their way out for three pound, so Falstaff is left with only three misfits. Francis Feeble we learn is a lady's tailor and this picture shows him at his trade before he is drafted into the regiment. But Feeble has a stout heart and says, "a man can die but once: we owe God a death: I'll ne'er bear a base mind: an't be my destiny, so; an't be not, so: no man is too good to serve's prince; and let it go which way it will, he that dies this year is quit for the next."
 
A Monument Belonging to the Capulets - James North Cole
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The full title of Northcote's painting depicting the last scene of Romeo and Juliet when Juliet awakens and Friar Laurence "dare not stay" is A Monument Belonging to the Capulets, Romeo and Paris Dead; Juliet and Friar Lawrence.







The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania - Joseph Noel Patton
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The subject of the painting is Act II, Scene i of A Midsummer Night's Dream; Oberon demands the Indian Prince, who hides behind Titania; "I do but beg a little changeling boy," Oberon says, "To be my henchman." Apparently, Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) counted 165 fairies in this painting.



















The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania - Joseph Noel Patton
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Titania has awakened from her enchantment and her tryst with Bottom and again recognizes Oberon as her lord (Act IV, Scene i of A Midsummer Night's Dream. On either side of the fairies lie two of the lovers who have yet to awaken from their dreams. Like his painting The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania this picture is filled with fairies, elves, and tiny woodland creatures.
 
Viola and the Countess - Frederick Richard Pickersgill
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In Act III, Scene i, of Twelfth Night Viola, disguised as a young man Cesario, once again comes to the Countess Olivia to press the suit of his master, the Duke Orsino. But Olivia is smitten with Cesario and declares her love for the young "man":
Cesario, by the roses of the spring,
By maidhood, honour, truth and every thing,
I love thee so, that, maugre all thy pride,
Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide.
Do not extort thy reasons from this clause,
For that I woo, thou therefore hast no cause,
But rather reason thus with reason fetter,
Love sought is good, but given unsought better.​
Viola looks off, embarrassed, confused, and pondering the fine mess her disguise has created. She already know this, of course, for earlier when she had an inkling of Olivia's feelings she said, "Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness / Wherein the pregnant enemy does much." But true to the spirit of this comedy, she concludes, "O Time, thou must untangle this, not I; / It is too hard a knot for me t' untie" (II. ii).









Ophelia - Henrietta Rae
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The artist reverts to tradition with a composed, flower-bedecked innocent young girl in white. The painting includes Gertrude and Claudius, huddled together in distress, and their dismay competes with Ophelia for the viewer's interest.









Ophelia - James Sant
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This half-length "portrait" of Ophelia looks more like the picture of a child than of a woman capable of the attentions of the thirty-year-old Hamlet. Ophelia, wreathed in flowers and holding a pansy ("that's for thoughts"), is more puzzled--even vacant--than mad.










Titania - John Simmons
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Ophelia - Marcus Stone
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Stone's composed, serene Ophelia appears decorously garbed in white, idly fingering the flowers she has gathered; she seems to be kneeling, perhaps in prayer or quiet contemplation. Beside her we see the neck of a lute; does Stone imagine her using the instrument to accompany her singing in Act IV, scene v? The "keepsake" qualities of the painting--the pose and Ophelia's expression--are not convincing and there is nothing that really conveys her madness and her eminent self-destruction.
 
Miranda and Caliban - James Ward
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The Tempest, Act V, Scene i - Francis Wheatley
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This scene from Act V, Scene i of the play reveals Ferdinand and Miranda innocently playing chess. Prospero has put Ferdinand on notice and, the gentleman he proves to be, he honors his word and conducts his wooing through a game.



















Romeo and Juliet - Sir Frank Bernard Dicksee
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Midsummer Eve - Edward Robert Hughes
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Night with her Train of Stars - Edward Robert Hughes
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The painting's title is derived from W. E Henley's (1849-1903) poem 'Margaritae Sorori'

A late lark twitters from the quiet skies:
And from the west,
Where the sun, his day's work ended,
Lingers as in content,
There falls on the old, gray city
An influence luminous and serene,
A shining peace.
The smoke ascends
In a rosy-and-golden haze. The spires
Shine and are changed. In the valley
Shadows rise. The lark sings on. The sun,
Closing his benediction,
Sinks, and the darkening air
Thrills with a sense of the triumphing night
Night with her train of stars
And her great gift of sleep.
So be my passing!
My task accomplish'd and the long day done,
My wages taken, and in my heart
Some late lark singing,
Let me be gather'd to the quiet west,
The sundown splendid and serene,
Death.

















The Valkyrie's Vigil - Edward Robert Hughes
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This painting shows one of Odin’s war-maidens who, in Scandinavian mythology, hovered over battlefields selected those warriors who were to die and conducted them to Valhalla.




















The Funeral of a Viking - Sir Frank Bernard Dicksee
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A Viking killed in battle is laid out in his boat
which has been ceremonially set ablaze
and is being pushed out to sea with the tide.
Fire and water will combine to release the spirit,
allowing the heroic warrior to enter Valhalla,
the god Odin's glorious Hall of the Slain.

The vantage point that Dicksee has selected
invites the viewer to feel they are part of the crowd
gathered in the gloom for this ancient ceremony.

Viking subjects were unusual in Victorian art
although Norsk mythology was becoming popular.
 
The other night I was thinking about the classic Disney movies and how they were done before CGI. They were all drawn by hand, and they were all brilliant. I mean, each frame is a piece of art.


One of my favorite Disney movies has been Fantasia. (The 1940 version, not the 2000 version.)

I thought I'd post some of my favorite screen captures from the movie.

Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite

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Fantasia Concept Art
Dance of the Reed Flutes



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Arab Dance from The Nutcracker Suite by Pytor Ilych Tchaikovsky



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Cossack / Russian Dance



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Concept Art for Cossack / The Russian Dance








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Chinese Dance





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Concept Art for Chinese Dance