PICTORIAL ALBUM
Paintings from nine countries and five historical periods
Varied Artistic Roots, A Common Cultural Heritage
Pictorial album
Paintings from nine countries and five historical periods
Original works and childrens’ reproductions
Prehistoric and Ancient ages
Prehistoric and Ancient ages United Kingdom
The Uffington White Horse unknown artist
It is thought to date back to the Bronze Age (3000 years ago)
Archaeologists believe it was created by digging trenches into the hillside and filling them with chalk
Prehistoric and Ancient ages United Kingdom
The Uffington White Horse unknown artist
Replica chalked by Lena, aged 4
Prehistoric and Ancient ages France
Lascaux Cave unknown artist
Paleolithic Age, 18.000 – 17.000 BC
Some animals are painted on the ceiling and overlap each other from one wall to the other. There are also many geometric figures. The cave contains cattle and horses with deer and ibex.
Prehistoric and Ancient ages France
Lascaux Cave unknown artist
Luca Miguel, 8 years old
A drawing representing a running horse and bulls. Pencil brushed
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Greece
Dolphin fresco from Queen’s apartments at Minoa’s palace in Knossos
Knossos is the largest Bronze Age archeological site on Crete. The great palace was built between 1700 and 1400 BC with periodic rebuilding after destruction. Frescoes decorated the walls of the palace. These sophisticated, colorful paintings portray a society which was either conspicuously non-militaristic or did not choose to portray military themes anywhere in their art. The Minoans closely associated nature with the divine. Many of the frescoes of Knossos feature the plants and animals associated with Crete and gods. The Queen’s private reception room in the east wing of the palace, the east wall preserves the dolphin fresco, combining dolphins, fish and sea urchins. This is one of Knossos’ most representative frescoes.
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Greece
Dolphin fresco from Queen’s apartments at Minoa’s palace in Knossos
George (6 years old), Valeria (5 years old), Joanna (5 years old), Theodosis (5 years old), Spyros (5 years old), Dimities (4 years old), Denis (4 years old), Christos (4 years old)
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Hungary
Divinity with a sickle
This is one of the five little statues found in Szegvár. He was named after the sickle on his right shoulder. The statue was made during the neolit period, about 5.000 – 4.400 BC. Maybe it is the prefiguration of the gent divinity in the greek mithology.
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Hungary
Divinity with a sickle
Renáta Solowa, 12
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Ireland
The Book of Kells
The Book of Kells (Irish: Leabhar Cheanannais) (Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS A. I. (58), sometimes known as the Book of Columba) is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created by Celtic monks ca. 800 or slightly earlier. The text of the Gospels is largely drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes several passages drawn from the earlier versions of the Bible known as the Vetus Latina. It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination. It is also widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure.
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Ireland
The Book of Kells
David Macilwraith, 6th
“I used bright colours because this reminds me of a stained glass window. The picture was originally drawn by Irish monks. The picture is entitled »Christ Enthroned«. I really liked this because of the beautiful celtic patterns and colours”
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Italy
This is the most ancient example of visual art in Sicily: it has been discovered in 1943, when the caves on Mount Pellegrino, by the sea of Palermo, were used as weapons deposit. Mount Pellegrino (=Pilgrim’s Mountain) has always been considerated as a Sacred Mountain since prehistory. It’s not very sure what this scene is about. Maybe our ancestors wanted to represent a ritual dance made to celebrate hunting or a religious sacrifice. People and animals are scratched in the rocks using sharp stones.
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Italy
Bruno Buscetta (aged 8)
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Poland
Facial urn for cremation ashes unknown artist
Urn dating from about the third century BC was made of ceramic clay. It was decorated in embossing, knurling, scrolling, engraving and slipware techniques. These urns in the shape of faces, were used in funerary rituals in Pomerania and they are an important part of the Polish prehistoric culture.
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Poland
Facial urn for cremation ashes unknown artist
Oskar Gniewkowski, aged 10
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Spain
Cuevas de Altamira (Altamira Caves), Cantabria, Spain
Upper Palaeolithic, the painting date from 15,000 to 12,000 BC
The Altamira Caves have become a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985, and one of the “Twelve Treasures of Spain” since 2005. They are also well known as “The Sistine Chapel” of cave painting. They belong to the French- Cantabrian school and their main features are: the realism, the use of polychrome – with the use of ochre, yellow and reddish pigments, and the figure outline with vegetal coal – and the movement and volume of the figures, taking advantage of the natural relief of the cave walls. The meaning of this painting could have been a ceremonial one, as to encourage hunting.
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Spain
Cuevas de Altamira (Altamira Caves), Cantabria, Spain
Sheyka Rodríguez, 1º A, 7 years old
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Turkey
Hititli Okcu ve Savas Arabası unknown artist
1300 BC
Late Hittite sculpture on orthostat, Carchemish, Gaziantep. Anatolian Civilizations Museum at Ankara. Two Hittite warriors, an archer and a charioteer on the chariot. The man under the horse is an enemy of Hittites, Vae Victo ! ... The oldest testimony of chariot warfare in the Ancient Near East is the Old Hittite Anitta text (18th century BC), mentioning 40 teams of horses at the siege of Salatiwara. The Hittites were renowned charioteers. They developed a new chariot design, which had lighter wheels, with less spokes. The Battle of Kadesh in 1299 BC is likely to have been the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving some five thousand chariots.
Prehistoric and Ancient ages Turkey
Hititli Okcu ve Savas Arabası unknown artist
Aysenur DUZGUN, 14
Middle
ages
Middle ages United Kingdom
The Wilton Diptych unknown artist
1395-1399, painted on oak wood panels using egg tempera (pigment and egg)
The Wilton Diptych is about 700 years old and is on show in the National Gallery, London (who was given the piece of art in 1929). It was painted around 1395-1399 and is very precious. It was painted as an altarpiece for King Richard II. It is called the Wilton Diptych because it came from Wilton House in Wiltshire, the seat of the Earls of Pembroke. Nobody knows who painted the Wilton Diptych but they think it was either a French or English man. The picture is framed in two separate frames. The panels of the Wilton Diptych were made in North Europe. In the left picture, the Saint on the left is called St Edward the Confessor and the Saint in the middle is St Edmund – they were both Kings of England. The last Saint is Saint John the Baptist who baptised Jesus and just below them there is King Richard II bowing to the Angels. In the picture on the right, in the middle are the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus in her hands. All around Mary there are angels. One of the Angels is holding a flag. The original painting was painted on oak wood panels. The paint was made by mixing pigment with egg, described as egg tempera.
Middle ages United Kingdom
The Wilton Diptych unknown artist
Replica painting by Rebecca, aged 8
Middle ages France
Life and miracles of Saint Amand
Mid XIIth century
Valenciennes, Local library
Frontispiece representing the name Amandus in carpet of entrelacement. Saint Amand or Amandus for letter „A”.
Middle ages France
Life and miracles of Saint Amand
Arthur, Béatrice, Hugo, Kimberley, Quiterie, 8 years old
Pencil and markers
Middle ages Greece
“Apostle”, detail from the “Metamorphosis”
11th century mosaic from the Nea Moni of Chios
The mosaics of the Nea Moni of Chios are one of the three prominent works of art in Greece during the Middle Ages. The other two are in the Hossios Loukas Monastery and the Monastery of Dafni. In the 11th and 12th centuries all three were decorated with superb marble works as well as mosaics on a gold background, all characteristic of the “second golden age of Byzantine art”. Since 1900, the three monasteries have been acclaimed World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The Nea Moni of Chios mosaics stand out as exemplary Constantinople artworks, composed by artists who carried their own technique.
Middle ages Greece
“Apostle”, detail from the “Metamorphosis”
Joanna, Spyros and Valeria (5 years old).
Middle ages Hungary
Scythian deer
There lived nomad people in Europe and Asia, between the Carpathian Mountains and the Altaj Mountains, from the 7th to the 2nd century BC. They were called scythian people in Europe. The greek culture made impression on their art. The golden deer was found in Tápiószentmárton.
Middle ages Hungary
Scythian deer
Julia Gadolet, 10
Middle ages Ireland
The Lindisfarne Gospels
The Lindisfarne Gospels are among the most celebrated illuminated books in the world created and amended over 5 Centuries form the 8th to the 13th Centuries. According to an inscription added in the 10th century at the end of the original text, the manuscript was made in honour of God and of St. Cuthbert by Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne, who died in 721. The book's original leather binding was provided by Ethelwald, He had been associated with Cuthbert in his lifetime. An outer covering of gold, silver and gemstones was added by Billfrith the Anchorite, probably about the middle of the 8th century. Made up of more than 250 leaves of high quality vellum, (i.e. calf skin), the manuscript contains the texts of the Four Gospels, in Latin, with appropriate introductory material, including a set of Canon Tables. The rich decoration of the book is carried out in a wide range of colours drawn from animal, vegetable and mineral sources, some of which were imported over vast distances.
Middle ages Ireland
The Lindisfarne Gospels
Jack Kidder, 4th Class, 10 years old
“I drew this picture using pencil and ink. I really like the intricate designs of the Gospels of Lindesfarne especially the scrolls and spirals. I coloured in each part carefully using bright colours.”
Middle ages Italy
Byzantine mosaics
This mosaic represent Our Lady called Odigitria, that is: ”the one who indicates the way”. It’s one sample of the Byzantine influence in Sicily, even during the Normans’ domination (1061-1194). You can admire it in Cappella Palatina (Palatine Chapel) in Normans’ Palace in Palermo. The entire chapel, built during the kingdom of Roger II in, is covered in Byzanthine mosaics, while the wooden ceiling is Arabian in decoration and contains the 99 Allah’s names written in Arabic. It’s one of the best example of integration in the artistic field in Sicily. A mosaic is made of thousand of little pieces of different material that fill the outline of the picture: in this case, it’s made of glass and gold. The golden background was meant to put the charachters in a timeless landscape, like in heaven. Our Lady has got a blue dress and a red-brownish mantle: blue is a symbol of divinity and majesty, while red-brownish represents the human element. With her right hand, she indicates the direction to follow: Jesus Child has got a roll with the Holy Scriptures in his left hand and with his right hand He is blessing the people.
Middle ages Italy
Class 5th E: Elisa Mirabile, Alice Scaffidi, Giorgio Fiorentino, Laura Amico, Rebecca Aisosa Idemudie (aged 10)
We made this mosaic using different kinds of pasta.
Middle ages Poland
Triptych from Trzebunia unknown artist
This painting dates from the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century. It uses tempera technique on lime wood. This is an example of panel painting. The two remaining side wings of this gothic altar present images of the saints, who are not identified clearly. The name of the painting comes from the town of Trzebunia, in which the wings were found in the 19th century. This painting is considered as the one of the oldest examples of panel painting in southern Poland. Triptych is a valuable contribution to the Polish Gothic art.
Middle ages Poland
Triptych from Trzebunia unknown artist
Martyna Łapkowska, aged 8
Middle ages Spain
Medieval calendary: the work of months in the Romanesque. Situation: San Isidoro Basilic, león, Spain
The picture say us like is everyday life and the political of the 12th century Royal. In some arches of the Royal Pantheon of San Isidoro will represent twelve months of the Leonese agricultural calendar, resulting in an excellent sample of everyday life of the time. (Genuarius) appears in January for Janus, closes the previous year and opens the new symbolized both by doors. February (Februarius), an old heated on the fire. March (Marcius), a character pruning the vines. April (Apriilis), a character by planting two trees. (Magius), a character may ride a horse to go to war. June (Iunius), labrador is taking barley. July (Iulii), labrador reaps wheat. . September (Setenber), vintage. October (October), giving Acorns to pigs. November (Novenber), the slaughter of the pig. December (Decenber), a character sat at the table next to the fire.
Middle ages Spain
Medieval calendary: the work of months in the Romanesque. Situation: San Isidoro Basilic, león, Spain
A group of children, 5 years old
Middle ages Turkey
Karatay Medresesi Çinileri unknown artist
Ceramic Underglaze, 1720
Karatay Medrese is a medrese, meaning a school with a frequently but not absolutely religious focus, built in Konya, Turkey, in 1251 by the Emir of the city Celaleddin Karatay, serving the Seljuk sultan. You can see a tile figure from Karatay Medrese. A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops. Alternatively, tile can sometimes refer to similar units made from lightweight materials such as perlite, wood, and mineral wool, typically used for wall and ceiling applications.
Middle ages Turkey
Karatay Medresesi Çinileri unknown artist
Arzu AKIN, 13
Modern times
Modern times United Kingdom
John Ruskin: Old Bridge over a Mountain Torrent (Pre-Raphaelite)
Watercolour over pencil on paper, laid on card, 1844-1849
John Ruskin (8th February 1819 – 20th January 1900) was born in London. He was one of the greatest figures of the Victorian age. He was an English art critic and social thinker, also is remembered as a poet and artist. His essays on art and architecture were extremely influential in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. He was at the forefront of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. In this undated pencil and watercolour sketch, Ruskin has used loose pencil shading under the watercolour to add shading and depth.
Modern times United Kingdom
John Ruskin: Old Bridge over a Mountain Torrent (Pre-Raphaelite)
Replica painting by Catriona, aged 11
Modern times France
François Clouet 1515-1572: Portrait of Diane de Clermont – 1542
Son of the painter Jean Clouet, both masters of the formal portrait
In the sixteenth century, the portrait was a propaganda tool of self-image. The artist made a preparatory drawing on white paper using only black chalk and a special kind of red chalk called sanguine in order to mimic the true color of the skin. The portrait was then painted based on the preparatory drawing. The Conde Museum localized in Chantilly holds the largest collection of such drawings from the two king François 1er portraitists. From 1547 to 1570, these works were used for the education of the children of the Queen of France Claude de France.
Modern times France
François Clouet 1515-1572: Portrait of Diane de Clermont – 1542
Paul Canu, 6 years old
Drawn with lead pencil, colour with felt-tip
Modern times Greece
Nikolaos Kalergis: “Angel”
1732, in egg tempera Dimensions: 153x93. Panel gate from the church of Virgin of Tsouroufli
Nikolaos Kalergis was a student of the Cretan painters and also susceptible to western influences. He is one of the most prominent figures in the Ionian School. The “Angel” is a technically impeccable representation, beaming with glorious colours and gilded bas-reliefs. The deep blue front of the gate, the dark green belt and the white lights in the wings of the angel are in perfect tandem with the warm colours. The rich decoration of the clothing and the grace in the angel’s body pasture reveal the influence of the Italian baroque.
Modern times Greece
Nikolaos Kalergis: “Angel”
Georges (6 years old), Spyros (5 years old), Joanna (5 years old), Theodosis (5 years old), Valeria (5 years old), Dimitris (4 years old), Christos (4 years old), Denis (4 years old) and Spyros (4 years old)
Modern times Hungary
Ádám Mányoki: Still life with peaches
Ádám Mányoki (1673 – 1757) worked a lot in the court of Ferenc Rákóczi II., he made two portraits of him, then he worked in Poland and Germany, in the court. Mainly he painted portraits. This landscape is from 1721, oil on canvas, held in the Hungarian National Gallery.
Modern times Hungary
Ádám Mányoki: Still life with peaches
Csenge Héder, 14
Free improvisation on the motives of the still life
Modern times Ireland
George Petrie (Celtic Revival Artist): “Cuchulain”
After the golden era of Irish monastic art was ended by the advent of the Vikings, Celtic culture gradually degraded, surviving only in parts of Scotland and Ireland until the nineteenth century, when there was an upsurge in the discovery, practice and understanding of Celtic art. This mini-renaissance spanned literature and antiquities as well as fine arts (painting, sculpture), applied arts and crafts.
Modern times Ireland
George Petrie (Celtic Revival Artist): “Cuchulain”
Michael Murphy, 3rd class, 9 years old
“The thing that inspired me to draw this picture is that I love art and History. I love art because when I draw it’s like I express my thoughts through art. And I love history because I love learning about historical characters and how some stories join together. I did this art work with pencil and then coloured it in. I used little drawings on top and bottom to illustrate the story of Cuchulain.”
Modern times Italy
Oil on panel, Galleria Regionale Palazzo Abbatellis Palermo
This picture is called The Announced (Lady) because it represents Virgin Mary just when the Angel Gabriel gave her the announce that she was pregnant of the Child of God. She has got a blue mantle and is reading a book, maybe a book of prayers of the Scriptures. Antonello (whose real name was Antonio di Giovanni de Antonio, 1430-1479) was born in Messina, but he travelled a lot and was inspired by Flemish painters. His portraits are well-known for the misterious vitality and the depth of the look. It seems that the model for this portrait was his young and beautiful neighbour: she was very religious and escaped from her family to become a nun, and then she became a saint, Saint Eustochia, celebrated on 20th January.
Modern times Italy
Marco Barna and Federica Segreto (aged 9)
We made it in Andy Wharol’s style!
Modern times Poland
Daniel Shultz the Younger: Portrait of Jan Kazimierz
An oil on canvas painted in about 1653 in the Baroque period. This painting shows perfect artistic skill, deep color, ability of using light and shade, perfect representation of appearance and psychological deepness of the painted person. This is a representative portrait of the Polish king Jan Kazimierz in the standing position. This picture, and the whole work by Daniel Shultz, was of great importance in the history of the painting and the Polish State. Daniel Shultz the Younger (1615- 1683), a citizen of Gdansk, is a highly valued Polish portrait painter. He also created animal compositions, etchings and engravings. He painted portraits of the three Polish kings: Jan Kazimierz, Michal Korybut Wisniowiecki and Jan Sobieski III.
Modern times Poland
Daniel Shultz the Younger: Portrait of Jan Kazimierz
Julia Lipińska, aged 9
Modern times Spain
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez: The Meninas
Oil, 1656 (Prado Museum)
Portrait of the infant Margarita, daughter of Philip IV (1605-1665), surrounded with his service, in a room of the Fortress of Madrid. The Velázquez's most famous picture encloses a complex composition constructed from an admirable skill for the use of the perspective and of the introduction of the light.
Modern times Spain
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez: The Meninas
Angie Eliane, 8 years old
Modern times Turkey
Levni: Sultana Hediye Sunulması
Gouache on Paper, 1720
We see the presentation of the grand vizier's.gifts for the sultan and his family. The.gifts, which were transported as far as the imperial pavilion by halberdiers and servants, were surrendered one by one to Beşir Agha, chief of the Black Eunuchs, who brought them before the sultan. The sultan, seated right of center, is accompanied by his three sons, his sword-bearer and equerry, and a contingent of pages. Beşir Agha, at the head of three halberdiers, has reached the sultan's throne. Two sackers are taking a break in the lower right corner and seem to be commenting on the proceedings.
Modern times Turkey
Levni: Sultana Hediye Sunulması
Emine OKTAY, 15
19th century
19th century United Kingdom
William Morris: Morris Rose
Block printed onto paper, 1891
Born in Walthamstow, Essex, on March 24, 1834, William Morris was the eldest son of a bill and discount broker with wealth and status approaching those of a private banker. Nature and reading were the passions of William's childhood, and the novels of Walter Scott inspired him with an abiding love of the Middle Ages. Morris was educated at Marlborough and Exeter College, Oxford. His greatest achievement as a designer was in the field of textiles and wallpapers. The designs for these were influenced by his knowledge of the medieval works held at the South Kensington Museum and his own observation of natural forms. His wallpaper designs are still being produced today, and he has a reputation as one of the greatest names in design. In a Museum dedicated to his work in Walthamstow, London there is a selection of tiles, windows, embroidery, water colour paintings and drawings produced by the Morris Company. Block-printing was done on long, padded tables which ran the length of the workshop. First, the printer would place the printing block on the dye pad and then press the block onto the cloth. The block was pressed down to produce an impression. The dye pads were carried on trolleys which the printer could pull along as he worked along the length of the cloth. After the first set of impressions were dry, a second set of blocks were printed on the cloth and the process repeated. Small pins projected from the blocks were carved from pearwood which were later replaced by blocks with metal inserts padded with felt to hold the dye. The process of printing wallpaper was similar to that of block printing. The paper was printed with wooden printing blocks, pressed down with the aid of a foot operated weight and the process repeated.
19th century United Kingdom
William Morris: Morris Rose
Replica printing by Stephanie, aged 10
19th century France
Claude Monet: “Nymphéas”
Claude Monet (1840-1926) was a founder of French impressionist painting. He was fond of painting controlled nature: his own gardens in Giverny, with its flowers, pond, and bridge. One of his most famous paintings was called “Nymphéas” (Water Lillies), which he repeated many times in various conditions, he wanted these paintings to be hung in a circular room to watch them just like a day going through or like the four seasons of the year.
19th century France
Claude Monet: “Nymphéas”
Louise HAUTIER, 9 years old
The reproduction was painted in three steps: - First, the water with different kinds of blue and some touch of purple - Second, the water lilies with different kinds of green - Finally, the flowers when everything was dry
19th century Greece
Litany (Religious Procession) of Panaghia Anafonitria of Skoulikado
A composition consisting of multiple figures and representing the ceremonial practice in the church and the streets of the village (Skoulikado). The Litany holds a space on the borderline between the religious and the secular painting of the "Ionian School". The Venetian model is followed but the style of the composition is adjusted to the techniques and the local mentality. A work by the Zakynthian Master of iconography Nicolaos Visconti dated 1828.
19th century Greece
Litany (Religious Procession) of Panaghia Anafonitria of Skoulikado
Georges (6 years old), Spiros (5 years old), Valeria (5 years old), Theodosis (5 years old), Joanna (5 years old), Dimities (4 years old), Christ (4 years old), Spiros (4 years old)
19th century Hungary
Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka: The lonely cedar
Csontváry (1853 – 1919) learned medicine, then leaving his job learned to paint. He travelled a lot, he painted his great opuses on the East. He was favoured abroad, but not in Hungary. The lonely cedar is from 1907.
19th century Hungary
Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka: The lonely cedar
Class 8b, age 14
19th century Ireland
Jack B Yates: “Drift”
Yeats’s forms were defined by brushstrokes rather than by line, his colours grew richer and more luminous and this picture displays a moody, intimate and highly personal romanticism.
19th century Ireland
Jack B Yates: “Drift”
Gordon O Meara, 6th class, 11 years old
“I used this technique because the picture looked blurred and that gave me the idea of blurring my picture. I used watery paint to give this effect. I really liked the colours in the Original so I used lots of colour sin my work too.”
19th century Italy
Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Palermo oil on canvas, 1906
This picture shows an urban landscape in Autumn, just after the rain, with the street still wet. Many people go walking along the street, also a woman with a little girl on the right and just behind the tree you can see a baby pram with a nanny. The city is Palermo at the end of the 19th century, but the painter didn’t show us monuments or usual scenes. Michele Cattì (Palermo 1855-1914) was a disciple of the great landscape painter Francesco Lo Jacono. He was influenced by the European impressionist movement.
19th century Italy
Chiara Mattaliano (aged 8)
Watercolors
19th century Poland
Jan Matejko: Stańczyk
An oil painted canvas from 1862. It shows Stańczyk - the most famous Polish court jester worried about the fate of his homeland. The painting’s surface was built up slowly by putting on thin layers of paint and glaze. The painting is of a very high technical skill, with great care taken in the details and realism. This masterpiece and all the works by Matejko were permeated with patriotism, which played a special role in strengthening Poles national awareness. Jan Matejko (1838-1893) was a Polish portraitist and the most famous painter known for historical painting and patriotism. He was a founder member of the National School of Painting, a teacher and he was also heavily involved in the restoration of Krakow’s old architecture. This is where he lived and worked. Matejko painted over three hundred oils as well as a few hundred drawings and sketches.
19th century Poland
Jan Matejko: Stańczyk
Małgorzata Maina, aged 12
19th century Spain
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes: The Executions of May 3
Oil, 1814, Prado Museum
This work reproduces a real scene happened in Madrid. The executions produced by Napoleon's Bonaparte invading French troops. It is a work of photographic character. The expressiveness of the faces reaches a great magnitude and force, expressing the irrationality of the war.
19th century Spain
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes: The Executions of May 3
Adrián Guillén, 11 years old
19th century Turkey
Osman Hamdi Bey: Kaplumbaga Terbiyecisi
Oil on canvas, 1906
"The Tortoise Trainer", recently broke a record in Turkey by being sold for the amount of 3,5 million Dollars in December 2004. The painting expresses a sarcastic innuendo on the painter's own view of his style of work compared to those of his collaborators and apprentices, and is also a reference to the historical fact of tortoises having been employed for illuminative and decorative purposes, by placing candles on the shell, in evening outings during the Tulip Era in the early 18th century. The painting was acquired by the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation and is currently on display at the Pera Museum in İstanbul, which was established by this foundation.
19th century Turkey
Osman Hamdi Bey: Kaplumbaga Terbiyecisi
Hilal SAKAR, 14
20th and 21st century
20th and 21st century United Kingdom
Laurence Stephen Lowry: Northern River Scene
Oil on board, 1959
LS Lowry was a 20th-century English artist most famous for his paintings of life in the bleak industrial areas of northern England. Inspired by the sight of workers leaving a local mill, he began to explore in his work the industrial areas around him, declaring later that: “all my material was on my doorstep”. The housewives, children and workers in his paintings became increasingly central to his painting in later years. His highly individual style came from his use of muted colors and his pictures containing lots of small figures or "matchstick men". His painting style was very much his own, and he struggled much of his career against perceptions that he was a self-taught, part-time, naive artist. Characteristic of Lowry’s works are their very pale backgrounds, which help to emphasise the importance of the architecture, and the very limited use of only five colours: flake white, ivory black, ochre, prussian blue and vermilion, all of which were applied directly from the tube. Careful composition was also central to the success of many of his greatest industrial paintings, where the canvas was filled to overflowing and where every section bursts with life and activity.
20th and 21st century United Kingdom
Laurence Stephen Lowry: Northern River Scene
Replica painting by Josh, aged 9
20th and 21st century France
Robert Delaunay (1885-1941): The dance of circles (La danse des ronds)
He begins to paint a series of studies of the city of Paris as an autodidact. From 1911, he will leave Cubism. It is the start of many contacts with Germany that will last his entire life. What Robert Delaunay calls himself his Constructivist Period starts in 1912 (The Windows, the Discs, the Circular Forms). The 1920's are marked by a 'back to order'. In the early part of the 1930's his art takes a new turn: presenting the discs theme with a renewed joy and energy, he creates Color Rhythms, Rhythm without end. He dies at the age of 56.
20th and 21st century France
Robert Delaunay (1885-1941): The dance of circles (La danse des ronds)
The pupils of MS/GS class (5 / 6 years old) Teacher: I. Mabru
Used technique: coloured inks, glue, paint brush and roller
20th and 21st century Greece
Alexis Akrithakis: Fifteen stories
Alexis Akrithakis was born in Athens in 1939 and died in 1994. His early work was enthusiastically received by the art world in Greece and abroad. He was characterized as the successor of Amadeo Clemente Modigliani in the second half of the 20th century. He worked on canvas with a variety of materials (pencil, ink, watercolours, tempera and oil) and he did installations too with metal, wood, etc. Akrithakis developed his own style, away from the classic aesthetic imperatives of traditional painting, a style defined by spontaneity and surprise.
20th and 21st century Greece
Alexis Akrithakis: Fifteen stories
George (6 years old), Theodosis (5 years old), Spyros (5 years old), Joanna (5 years old) and Christos (4 years old)
20th and 21st century Hungary
János Aknay: An angel was born
Aknay was born in 1949, he lives in Szentendre. His art takes part in the constructive surrealism. He uses houses, angelsm puppets, crosses, windows and runes as motives. This painting is from 1994.
20th and 21st century Hungary
János Aknay: An angel was born
Annamari Kovács, 12
20th and 21st century Ireland
Robert Ballagh: My studio (1969)
The Irish painter and designer Robert Ballagh was born in Dublin in 1943. A graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology in architecture, he worked as an engineering draughtsman, a musician and a postman before taking up fine art painting full-time at the age of 24. Pop-art is a major influence on Ballagh's style of painting. As in the case of many artists, Ballagh was obliged to combine fine art with more commercial design activities. Using his graphic design skills, he produced over 70 stamps for An Post, as well as a series of Irish banknotes ("Series C") for the government just prior to the introduction of the euro.
20th and 21st century Ireland
Robert Ballagh: My studio (1969)
Connor Downing, 5th class, 11 years old
“I used strong colours such as red, blue and yellow because they are the coulours of the pop art style and the secondary colours I used are brown, orange and black. I used a pencil to draw my version of the picture and the n traced over it in pen and rubbed out any unnecessary pencil lines. I used a motorcycle in my picture to udate it to my bedroom in 2011. I used crayons because I wanted rich colours. This is how Robert Ballagh inspired me.”
20th and 21st century Italy
Palazzo Steri, Palermo oil on canvas (300x300), 1974
La Vucciria was one of the best known markets in Palermo since XVI century. Every morning, this place used to be very crowdy, full of colours and sounds everywhere. Can you hear the jingles of the sellers? Can you smell the fruits, the fish, the cheese? Lots of food of every kind is shown to attract the potential buyer. The butcher is very important in this picture, because the name of the market is after the French word boucherie. In Sicilian vucciria means great noise because it’s associated to this market. This picture is a sort of still living, but always in movement. Unfortunately nowadays this market is not as alive as in the past anymore, but it keeps all its fascination still. Renato Guttuso (Bagheria, 1911 – Roma, 1987) was an important painter and also a politician. This is his most known work, in which he uses realism to represent the violence of life.
20th and 21st century Italy
Vincenzo Sigillò (aged 9)
Crayons and feltpen
20th and 21st century Poland
Władysław Strzemiński: Woman in the Window
From a series Afterimages of the Light
The image was painted in oils in 1948, in the style of constructivism. The images from the series Afterimages of Light are called Solaristic - they record optical impressions caused by looking at the sun. This series, as with the whole of Strzeminski’s works, had a great influence on the development and shaping of Polish abstract act.
Władysław Strzemiński (1893-1952) A Polish painter, art theoretician, functional prints designer, pioneer of the Polish Constructivist avant-garde movement of the 1920s and 1930s, creator of the theory of Unism. He is author of the artist’s book titled “A Theory of Vision”. He collaborated with the groups named Blok (1924-1926) and Praesens (1926-1929). Strzemiński was a participant in all domestic and international manifestos of the Polish Constructivist avant-garde.
20th and 21st century Poland
Władysław Strzemiński: Woman in the Window
Michał Gajdziński, aged 11
20th and 21st century Spain
Joan Miró: “Woman, bird and star”
Oil on canvas, 1970
Sobrerrealismo typical magical painting abstract. This work represents a figure attached to the bird, in symbiosis of geometric shapes of different colors and shapes. It symbolizes the conflict of the woman-bird. This link suggests that all women have the dreamy, volatile into the celestial spaces. Joan Miró, great painter of the twentieth century, is one of the leading representatives of surrealism. Its source of inspiration in childhood, which is a conscious exercise of recuperating the children and release from social convention. The technique used by children in this picture has been used collage materials: clay, different types of paper and paint, among others.
20th and 21st century Spain
Joan Miró: “Woman, bird and star”
Eduardo, Marina Y Javier, 8 years old
20th and 21st century Turkey
İbrahim CALLI: Manolyalar
Oil on canvas, 1930
We can see a small table is covered with carpet on it and magnolias placed an antique vase. Light and dark green of leaves and white flowers graying contrast with covering a significant part of the table dark-light browns and this emphasizes the logic of abstract form in the picture.
20th and 21st century Turkey
İbrahim CALLI: Manolyalar
İrem ERBEN, 13