after: ʻSELF-PORTRAIT AT THE AGE OF 63ʼ ,Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn - 1669, National Gallery, London, England.
Painters look at otherʼs painterʼs works. A classic example is the way that Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) continued where Caravaggio had left off. Both are painters of light and dark. Their paintings are organised through this device. The painter asks the viewer to follow the light. Strangely enough unlike his peers, Rembrandt stayed at home and didnʼt travel on the fashionable tours to study Greek, Roman and Italian masters. He studied them at the art auctions that were held in Amsterdam or by seeing engravings made after them.
see original
after: ʻCAFÉ FOLIES BERGÈREʼ, Edouard Manet - 1882, Courtauld Institute in London, England. Edouard Manet (1832-1883) first rose to prominence with a painting called ʻDejeuner sur IʼHerbeʼ at the Salon des Refuses in Paris in the 1860ʼs. His radical style of impressionism, where colour and light supersede form, acted as a diversion from the growing popularity of photography and was diametrically opposed to the more academic painting styles of artists such as Ingres. In his last masterpiece, Manet makes the viewer a participant in the bar scene. Optical contradictions in scale are further enhanced by the reflections of the seated couples and trapeze artists in the mirror behind the centrally positioned barmaid.
see original
A special thanks to James Colman for his support, original ideas and help.