Question of the Week: Demure or Coquettish? Revealing or Concealing?
Can an artist do justice to a beautiful woman? Bust of Madame Recamier, Joseph Chinard, about 1801–1802. Terracotta, 24 7/8 in. high. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 88.SC.42 This sensuous terracotta bust by...
View ArticleCellini Gets a Rival
Double Head, Francesco Primaticcio (Italian, 1504–1570), about 1543–56. Bronze, 15 13/16 in. high. The J. Paul Getty Museum A beautiful bronze Double Head, attributed to the Italian sculptor Francesco...
View ArticleA “French ‘Mona Lisa’” Comes to L.A.: Manet’s “Portrait of Madame Brunet”
Museum-quality paintings by Édouard Manet still remaining in private hands are exceptionally rare, and the Getty Museum is extremely fortunate in its most recent addition to the paintings collection:...
View ArticleA Love Story Told in Pictures
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, subjects of a new exhibition at the Getty Center, were madly in love with each other…and with the camera Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, 1854, Roger Fenton (British,...
View ArticlePower in a Mummy Portrait
Look closely at this beautiful mummy portrait on display at the Getty Villa and you’ll find powerful signs of wealth, status, and beauty Mummy Portrait of a Woman (detail), about A.D. 100–110,...
View ArticleA 17th-Century Face-Off
Why are crudely designed pinups included in an exhibition on the fine art of printmaking? Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre, 1661. Robert Nanteuil after Nicolas Mignard. Engraving. The Getty...
View ArticleA Double-Sided Drawing Brings a Baron to Life
Jean-Étienne Liotard used an unusual technique to illuminate an 18th-century portrait of the Baron de Lubières Portrait of Charles Benjamin de Langes de Montmirail, Baron de Lubières, about 1760,...
View ArticleAn Alternative Beauty Pageant
Tonight is the Miss Universe pageant, in which contestants vied for a title and a Trump Tower apartment by donning swimsuits, evening gowns, and out-there costumes. (Update—Mexico won.) But beauty...
View ArticleRobert Weingarten on His Photography
Robert Weingarten’s work spans the possibilities of photography—from traditional black-and-white prints to digital mashups composed entirely in Photoshop. In advance of his lecture at the Getty Center...
View ArticleIn Need of a Géricault “Fix”
Even though it’s been more than a decade, I remember it as though it were yesterday. Like so many art history students, I made my first pilgrimage to the Louvre—tantamount to mecca for an art nerd like...
View ArticleQuestion of the Week: Is It Better for a Leader to Be Loved, or Feared?
Question of the Week is a series inspired by our Masterpiece of the Week tours, offered daily at 4:00 p.m. Featuring an open and upbeat discussion among visitors and gallery teachers, the tours feature...
View ArticleQuestion of the Week: Does Art Have to Be Serious?
Nowadays, seeing a silly picture of a person is hardly unusual. Showing personality is a good thing. Social customs weren’t quite the same in 18th-century France, when Joseph Ducreux painted this...
View ArticleQuestion of the Week: Demure or Coquettish? Revealing or Concealing?
Can an artist do justice to a beautiful woman? This sensuous terracotta bust by Joseph Chinard captures the elegance and grace of legendary beauty Juliette Récamier, a socialite renowned for her wit...
View ArticleCellini Gets a Rival
A beautiful bronze Double Head, attributed to the Italian sculptor Francesco Primaticcio, has just joined the Museum’s collection. Though made by an Italian, it was commissioned by a Frenchman: Francis...
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