Friday, January 22, 2010

Lucretia

"According to the Roman historian Livy, Lucretia, the wife of a Roman nobleman, was known for her virtue and loyalty. She was raped by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the ruling tyrant. The next day Lucretia revealed the crime to her husband and father and, in their presence, took her own life, choosing death over dishonor. Rembrandt used the story of Lucretia as the subject for two of his most moving paintings in which he represented two moments in the tragedy of Lucretia's suicide. The first version, painted in 1664 and in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, depicts Lucretia just before she takes her life. This second version, painted in 1666, portrays Lucretia moments after she had plunged the knife into her heart." (From the Minneapolis Institute of Arts website). This version is part of the collection in the museum here in river city.  Students often exercise their talents by painting in the museum.

What would Rembrandt think?


10 comments:

  1. belle photo de cet artiste au travail, j'aime bien. En réponse à ta question, sur la première photo le chanteur joue sur un violon électrique.
    beautiful photo for this artist at work, I like. In answer to your question on the first picture the singer played on electric violin.

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  2. Wow, a Rembrandt!!!!!! I see that people can copy paintings in your museum. I saw "copistes" in the Musée des Beuax Arts in Nîmes. I had never seen any before.

    The "transcanal" is just used to cross the "canal". It is part of Palavas folklore :-)

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  3. Awesome photo, Great Kate! Love how you captured the artist hard at work! Rembrandt would be proud I guess. Bon weekend!

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  4. I'd like to think he would be flattered. But, Rembrandt was a bit of a rascal so who knows.

    I like this photo. I love seeing artists working inside museums.

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  5. What a lovely shot, Kate. I love that artists copy other artists as a way of learning.

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  6. Excellent post and perfect image. I really like this art streak...

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  7. Rembrandt would have been either honored or annoyed that somebody was copying his work, I suspect. I'm a bit surprised that people, student or not, are allowed to set up inside the museum and paint from the masterpieces.

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  8. I enjoy this photo art creating art. I especially enjoy studying paintings in the museums for both compositional features and lighting. We photographers can learn a lot from painters.

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  9. How tragic was her life, women this era lived the most subordinated life... glad today at least although not that fair . some are gender sensitive enough.

    Great post.

    www.anythingdavao.blogspot.com

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