типичные черты караваджизма, переплетаются с характерными только для Веласкеса чертами.
В последнее десятилетие жизни художник написал три самых известных картины: «Венера с зеркалом», «Менины», «Пряхи». «Менины» – это, по своей сути, групповой портрет. Художник, а это автопортрет самого Веласкеса, у мольберта пишет короля и королеву, отражение которых зрители видят в зеркале. На переднем плане изображена инфанта Маргарита в окружении фрейлин, карлицы, придворных и собаки. В дверях художник поместил фигуру канцлера. Композиция картины объединяет черты группового портрета и жанровой картины. Влияние Веласкеса на искусство последующих веков велико. Он вдохновлял художников от романтиков до постимпрессионистов.
VI. Summarize the text.
VII. Topics for discussion.
1. Velazquez's realism.
2. Velazquez's artistic heritage.
Unit XIV The 'Little Masters'
The open market system, under which Dutch pictures were sold, produced artists skilful in painting a particular type of subject. They specialized in landscapes, riverscapes, seascapes, city-scapes, travelscapes; skating scenes, moonlight scenes, shipping and naval battles; interiors, exteriors; gardens, polite conversations, parlour intrigue, housekeeping, tavern brawls; hunting scenes, churches, still lifes and portraits, single, double, or group.
At least forty of the
An early leader of Dutch landscape painting, Jan van Goyen (1596-1656), was one of the Dutch masters to place human figures to a position in which they could no longer determine the mood of a scene but merely establish the scale. Van Goyen was fascinated by water. But the celestial architecture of shifting clouds was even more important than water in his landscapes. In
A
One of the greatest Dutch landscapes is the
Albert Cuyp (1620-91), influenced by Dutch painters who had travelled in Italy, preserves a similar feeling for space in his
The art of Pieter De Hooch (1629-after 1684) glorifies the harmony of the perfect bourgeois household, with everything in its proper place and respect for cleanliness and order raised almost to a religious level. The
The opposite of De Hooch's religious order is the disorder of Jan Steen (1625/26-79), who revived the humour of the Late Gothic
Dutch still lifes were often intended to appeal to the eye and the palate at once. Some are crowded with an unappetizing profusion of fruit or game, but the most tasteful and tasty are those restricted to the makings of between-meals snacks (they are traditionally referred to as 'breakfast pieces'). White wine, a bit of seafood or ham, lemon, pepper, and salt are the subjects, along with polished silver, crystal goblets and a rumpled tablecloth. The spectator is tantalized not only by the delicacy with which the carefully selected objects arc painted, but also by the expensive carelessness with which a lemon has been left partly peeled and a silver cup overturned.
Willem Heda (1599-1680/82) was the master of still life. In his
Make sure you know how to pronounce the following words:
Hobbema; Hals; Cuyp; Ruisdael; Haarlem; genre; burlesque; fluctuate; eloquence; palate; horizon; tantalise; monochrome
I. Read the text. Make sure you understand it. Mark the following statements true or false.
1. Jan van Goyen placed figures to a dominant position.
2. Heda's still-lifes are referred to as «breakfast pieces».
3. De Hooch represented genre scenes of the lower classes life.
4. Jacob van Ruisdael was the best Dutch landscape painter.
5. To this day a «Jan Steen household» is the Dutch expression for the harmony of the perfect bourgeois household.
6. One of the greatest Dutch landscapes is the
II. How well have you read? Can you answer the following questions?
1. What system produced the «little masters»? In what did they specialize? Were all the «little masters» of high quality?
2. What was Jan van Goyen famous for? What did he like to paint? What is Van Goyen's masterpiece? What is depicted in this picture?
3. What did Jacob van Ruisdael paint in 1670? What is this landscape noted for? How is the immensity of the space increased?
4. What did Albert Cuyp paint in 1650? How did he intensify the space?
5. What is represented in the
6. What kind of picture is the
7. What do Dutch still lifes depict? Who was one of the chief practitioners of Dutch still lifes? What did he demonstrate in his paintings? What did he establish?
III. I. Give Russian equivalents of the following phrases: