The plot thickens. There's another Titian (Prado)! But the engraving by Wenceslaus Hollar (see also quoted thread) is still following van Dyck (note hands/fingers and full dress). van Dyck has fruit rather than John the Baptist's head, but the bare arms!
Is (or was) there yet another version?
😆 I thought it looked a bit faded. I used the wrong side of the page!
A Cautionary Tale Pt.2
British Museum
from The Italian Sketchbook
Anthony van Dyck
British Museum
One of the many accurate records in the sketchbook but, then again, has he taken issue with this head giving it a bit more of a tilt? as if the original couldn't possibly look down the back of the line.
Marcantonio
British Museum
Chaos.
A huge agglomeration of upset.
A bolus of everything - but
As if aborted.
And the total arsenal of entropy
Already at war within it.
at every point
Hot fought cold, moist dry, soft hard, and the weightless
Resisted weight.
A last still from the film mentioned in the quoted post in this thread. We see a hot air balloon in a blue sky with fluffy clouds and the words 'The End, Made on location England'.
A collage of two stills from the film mentioned in the quoted post above. A man looks down towards another man. They are both speaking.
- Do you just do your writing now, or are you still working?
- No, I just do the writing.
- What's that?
- It's the gas works!
Shelagh Delaney
🧐
The hand of Jesus appearing from under the hood is the same as the Vladimir Icon (left). The Berne Duccio (right) has the hand appearing from around the hood.
That's a great mental picture to have of Hermia. She's a very together person. She only has the one button that can be pushed. But I only know that because I have read on 😊.
Samson, Hercules, Hercules, Samson, David, David, Hercules, Samson.
A detailed comparison. In the drawing Judith does not hold the sword we see her holding in the painting.
Infirm of purpose! Why did you bring these daggers from the place?
Comparing the same. I've tried to indicate more differences above.
Or, how about a tableau on a carnival float. But van Dyck is having none of that. His rapid sketch animates the scene. Judith no longer holds a sword, why would she - although it is often the case in such scenes. The head is probably going in a bag, not a basket. They are fearful, not calculating.
from The Italian Sketchbook
Anthony van Dyck
British Museum
The obvious change is to the angle of Holofernes' head. We should see it more, van Dyck argues. Orazio Gentileschi painting is theatrical, the actors hold their pose Angus McBean style. Judith and her servant listen for a sound.
A three day special military operation.
No need to unload.
Nice pendulum but Mary comes from Albrecht Dürer (The Met), but not the angel.
Painting as described above.
Then years later (give or take) he is painting Margaret Lemon as Erminia (Tasso). She has journeyed dressed in armour in search of her man. She has stopped, removed her helmet and, ignoring Cupid who would have her move on, indicates her femininity to that dashing painter, who's no longer a prude.
I'll come up with a defense of van Dyck. He liked the arrangement of the figures and was thinking about using something like it in one of his paintings where there wouldn't be any breast fondling. No, that doesn't work.
Comparing the two men's heads, particularly the differences in the second man's head described above.
We can choose our own story, but van Dyck saw something he felt needed changing. In addition to those changes already mentioned, he tilts the second man's head in the opposite direction and opens his mouth. His look of suspicion, or is it longing, is gone.
The Italian Sketchbook
Anthony van Dyck
British Museum
On the subject of his prudishness there is this. van Dyck thought the painting was by Titian, so let's say it is. He's removed the hand from underneath the woman's breast and we cannot suggest she might be feigning illness as in the painting.
😆
A child crying having their haircut.
😊
Comparing the drawing and the painting of the two angels. Very similar apart from the things I have mentioned above.
A couple of things. Note the change to the tilt of the head and thereby the expression of the angel showing the nail. It's much more active than the head Guernicio has painted. van Dyck's angel is selling and wants her to buy. Also the second angel looks straight at this angel and not the nail 🤔.
Comparing Mary's hair between the drawing and the painting. In the painting some of Mary's hair falls down her breast. The drawing omits this.
I don't think of van Dyck as a prude, or devout, but I'm getting that sense when looking at these drawings. Alternatively, he knew he couldn't sell this kind of thing in Holland, so Mary's hair has to go. No to voluptuousness.
Comparing a detail from the drawing of the figure of Mary Magdalene with the painting. As described above.
The penitent Mary Magdalene being shown the instruments of the Passion. van Dyck changes her hands, tilt, and expression. No longer meditative, she sorrows. This is not a record of Guercino but a critique. van Dyck would have it different.
for his . . . not . . . he craved
. . . intern[a]lly . . . that th[e]y are figh[?] . . . i[m]perialis[m] . . .
. . . [N]etanyah[u] . . . a m[a]n charged with inte[rn]ational [w]ar crim[es] a[ft]er killi[ng] . . . Gaza . . . Iran'[s] [di]ctator . . . kills the . . . or a . . . t[h]e myth. Irania[n] . . . Age 23 . . .
A scrappy collage of faces , women and that of the Ayatollah Khomeini with scrappy writing on top which I am deciphering in the post.
[N]o[b]ody c[a]n . . . to . . . the [e]nd . . . the . . . [I]slam[ic r]ep[u]bli[c] m[or]e t[ha]n we d[o] . . . [a]tt[a]ckin[g] . . . country . . . way wil[l] . . . o[p]p[o]s[it]e [e]ffect. It will [en]trench . . . auth[ori]tar[ians] an[d] give life [t]o [t]he . . . has [s]ustained . . .
The Italian Sketchbook
Anthony van Dyck
British Museum
I haven't gone digging, just pottering around, but still, I have found no mention that van Dyck often changes what he draws. I've seen it said of Rubens so why not of van Dyck, he garners interest but not quite the same.
Guercino next.
A detail of Catherine compared. The differences as described above.
Catherine is drawn less delicately. She doesn't have a crown but still holds her crucifix. I wonder if he thought of an Annunciation part way through. He has changed her lean. The lean needed changing. This could be another critique but I also like the possibility he has seen and sketched an idea.
