@peterpaulrubens.bsky.social
All-around genius working for peace, beauty, and intelligent thought. IRL: professor of art history. Occasionally write things about Rubens. Also Dutch art, the Bruegel family, and Elizabethan visual culture. Reader of many novels. DC & Amsterdam.
Extraordinary sinking sun at the end of Jacob van Ruisdael's frigid day.
2/2 Windy day at the beach at Egmond aan Zee, 1675, by Jacob van Ruisdael. 200 years before Boudin's beach scenes and better sky!
The sky's the drama in this view of Haarlem from the dunes, with patches of sunlight playing over bleaching fields in foreground. By Jacob van Ruisdael, d. OTD 1682.
2/2 Nobody actually wants to be outside today, although a few still venture through the frigid air.
The 1660s. Winter. Bloody cold! And still that way this week, for some. Here by Jacob van Ruisdael, whose day is today.
Pretty sure this is the way to Narnia, as painted by Jacob van Ruisdael (d. OTD 1682).
2/2 Morning on the Dam, Amsterdam, w/ view down the Damrak. Elegant morning shoppers are out, some heading for fish market at right. By Jacob van Ruisdael.
Country house w/ party who are (I think) playing games in a rather wild garden. This one needs a novel for which it could be front cover. Maybe a murder mystery? By Jacob van Ruisdael, whose day is today.
2/2 Rainbow promises better times while ruined castle tells of past heroism behind Jacob van Ruisdael's Jewish cemetery, 1655 version.
Threatening clouds over fantasy view of Jewish cemetery at Oudekerk, 1653, into which Jacob van Ruisdael (d. OTD 1682) has inserted the ruins of far-away Egmond abbey. Eerie & wonderful painting.
2/2 Watermill in winter, stilled and silent under the frost. By Jacob van Ruisdael, 1660s.
The small drama of rushing water: two watermills with open sluice, 1653. Beautiful work by Jacob van Ruisdael, who died (alas!) on this day in 1682.
2/2 1Patch of sunshine playing across landscape under a sky filled with drama, 1660s. Not stopping the swimmers at right, though!
Road through wheat fields, but stealing show is that amazing Dutch sky. By Jacob van Ruisdael, who died OTD 1682.
2/2 Three ladies, out for a walk near the mill at Wijk. They are where the Ladies' Gate actually stood when Jacob van Ruisdael painted this. Clever!
Standing guard over the boundary between land and water, the great grain-grinding mill at Wijk bij Duurstede. Immortalized in 1670 by Jacob van Ruisdael, whose day is today.
Cityscape as landscape: panorama of Amsterdam, seen from roof of the new Town Hall. LOVE how sunlight picks out chimneys, Oude Kerk tower, houses along Damrak. Of course this is how Jacob van Ruisdael would paint Amsterdam, and it’s his day.
Died (alas!) on this day in 1682, in Amsterdam, the great landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael. Here, a landscape in winter, which seems still to be happening in some places!
Anne teaches Mary to read, by candlelight. Education of the Virgin, painted in 1650 by Georges de la Tour. Today has been his day.
2/2 Penitent Mary Magdalene. Reflecting. By Georges de la Tour, whose day has been today.
Late at night, thinking about death. Or deciding which book to read next. Mary Magdalene by Georges de la Tour, born OTD in 1593.
2/2 Spot the differences! Georges de la Tour made two versions of this scene, with two cheats playing different cards. A great story is worth retelling.
Cheating at cards. Another great scene of suspicion and duplicity (with some fine feathered hats) by Georges de la Tour, born OTD 1593.
2/2 On the side of the blind, a perfect mask of despair, from George de la Tour.
It’s the blind vs. the sighted in this terrible, unfunny Musicians’ Brawl. Because my times weren’t always pretty. By Georges de la Tour, born OTD 1593.
2/2 The blind hurdy-gurdy player, alone, 1628. Remarkably careful, complex arrangement of a simple figure by Georges de la Tour.
Peasants eating peas: so much more immediate & stark than Dutch peasant paintings. Very human. By Georges de la Tour, who was born on this day in 1593.
2/2 Paying taxes. For some reason happening at night. Maybe best not to ask. By Georges de la Tour, who was born on this day in 1593.
Mrs. Job: I am not at all happy w/ this situation. Job: have patience. Sometimes it's hard! Advice from Georges de la Tour, whose day is today.
4/4 A+ to Georges de la Tour for picking up distinctive hair-styling on fortune teller & her co-conspirators. Not to mention great characterization of older woman.