Ghost
Mrs John Frederick Lewis by Jacob Eichholtz, 1827 US, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts I can’t be the only one who noticed that her right (our left) sleeve is teal at the bottom near the wrist.

Mrs John Frederick Lewis by Jacob Eichholtz, 1827 US, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

I can’t be the only one who noticed that her right (our left) sleeve is teal at the bottom near the wrist.

Bella and Hanna, the Eldest Daughters of M L Nathanson by C W Eckersberg, 1820 Denmark (Copenhagen), Statens Museum for Kunst During the years around 1820, C.W. Eckersberg was busy painting portraits of the affluent citizens of Copenhagen. The artist’s greatest patron during his young years, the merchant Mendel Levin Nathanson, commissioned two large family portraits. The painting’s two young girlsIn one of the two works he painted Nathanson’s two oldest daughters, Bella and Hanna, in a sparingly furnished drawing room with simple panelling and furniture, including a table bearing a parrot’s cage. The two girls are shown in uncompromising poses – one strictly frontal, the other strictly from the side – and as they look very much alike, it seems likely that the painter wished to create a variation on a theme; variations like those created by the famous Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen around the same time.Symbolic readings of the paintingThe parrot opens up the scene to symbolic readings. Due to their ability to imitate human voices parrots were often seen as symbols of good breeding, a suitable allusion for a picture of two young middle-class woman. At the same time, however, the caged bird can also be regarded as a metaphor for the two unmarried women’s sheltered situation while waiting – perhaps longing? – to move out into real life. Parrots were featured in depictions of the Annunciation, since they’re foreign and exotic in most of Europe and Israel is an foreign place so parrots seemed fitting (even if they don’t actually live there). This led to an association with the Virgin Mary, seen with a parrot in works such as Jan van Eyck’s 1434 Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele. From this comes a broader association with mothers and motherhood. Something to think about.

Bella and Hanna, the Eldest Daughters of M L Nathanson by C W Eckersberg, 1820 Denmark (Copenhagen), Statens Museum for Kunst

During the years around 1820, C.W. Eckersberg was busy painting portraits of the affluent citizens of Copenhagen. The artist’s greatest patron during his young years, the merchant Mendel Levin Nathanson, commissioned two large family portraits.

The painting’s two young girls
In one of the two works he painted Nathanson’s two oldest daughters, Bella and Hanna, in a sparingly furnished drawing room with simple panelling and furniture, including a table bearing a parrot’s cage.

The two girls are shown in uncompromising poses – one strictly frontal, the other strictly from the side – and as they look very much alike, it seems likely that the painter wished to create a variation on a theme; variations like those created by the famous Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen around the same time.

Symbolic readings of the painting
The parrot opens up the scene to symbolic readings. Due to their ability to imitate human voices parrots were often seen as symbols of good breeding, a suitable allusion for a picture of two young middle-class woman. At the same time, however, the caged bird can also be regarded as a metaphor for the two unmarried women’s sheltered situation while waiting – perhaps longing? – to move out into real life.

Parrots were featured in depictions of the Annunciation, since they’re foreign and exotic in most of Europe and Israel is an foreign place so parrots seemed fitting (even if they don’t actually live there). This led to an association with the Virgin Mary, seen with a parrot in works such as Jan van Eyck’s 1434 Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele. From this comes a broader association with mothers and motherhood. Something to think about.

Mädchen vor dem Lottogewölbe by Peter Fendi, 1829 Vienna, the Belvedere The title means something like “girl in front of the lottery vault”.

Mädchen vor dem Lottogewölbe by Peter Fendi, 1829 Vienna, the Belvedere

The title means something like “girl in front of the lottery vault”.

Mrs Elizabeth Wurtz Elder and Her Three Children by Jacob Eichholtz, 1825 US (Philadelphia?), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts I can’t get over how cute that fur bonnet is.  I’m just going to pretend that it’s faux fur, even though it didn’t exist yet.

Mrs Elizabeth Wurtz Elder and Her Three Children by Jacob Eichholtz, 1825 US (Philadelphia?), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

I can’t get over how cute that fur bonnet is.  I’m just going to pretend that it’s faux fur, even though it didn’t exist yet.

Scene from Paul Pry by George Clint, ca 1827 UK, the Victoria & Albert Museum

Scene from Paul Pry by George Clint, ca 1827 UK, the Victoria & Albert Museum

Portrait of a British cavalry officer’s wife by Giuseppe Bezzuoli, 1826

Portrait of a British cavalry officer’s wife by Giuseppe Bezzuoli, 1826

Mrs A von Winiwarter With Her Son by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, 1829 Germany, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Click for a giant version.

Mrs A von Winiwarter With Her Son by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, 1829 Germany, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Click for a giant version.

Countess Széchenyi by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, 1828, Cleveland Museum of Art What a darling bird!  He would fit right in on Fat Birds (whose last post actually looks just like him at the time of my writing this).

Countess Széchenyi by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, 1828, Cleveland Museum of Art

What a darling bird!  He would fit right in on Fat Birds (whose last post actually looks just like him at the time of my writing this).

Portrait of Yekateriny Sergeievny Avdulinoj by Orest Kiprensky, 1822-23 Russia

Portrait of Yekateriny Sergeievny Avdulinoj by Orest Kiprensky, 1822-23 Russia

books0977: A lady in a white dress and shawl before a Viennese landscape (19th century). Workshop of Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (Austrian, Romantic, 1793–1865).  Oil on canvas. Waldmüller was a representative Biedermeier painter. The Biedermeier period in art was a transition between Neoclassicism and Romanticism as it was interpreted by the bourgeoisie. The rising middle class’s cultural interests in books, writing, dance, and poetry readings were subject matter for Biedermeier painting, which was either genre or historical and most often sentimentally treated.

books0977:

A lady in a white dress and shawl before a Viennese landscape (19th century). Workshop of Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (Austrian, Romantic, 1793–1865).  Oil on canvas.

Waldmüller was a representative Biedermeier painter. The Biedermeier period in art was a transition between Neoclassicism and Romanticism as it was interpreted by the bourgeoisie. The rising middle class’s cultural interests in books, writing, dance, and poetry readings were subject matter for Biedermeier painting, which was either genre or historical and most often sentimentally treated.

August evening dress, 1828 England, Ackermann’s Repository

August evening dress, 1828 England, Ackermann’s Repository

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