I’ve been talking about what flowers to plant this spring with my green-thumbed son, Ben, and so flowers have been on my mind. We have roses on the side of our house – old varieties as far as I can tell. They were planted by the lady who lived here before us (or her husband) because her husband built the house in 1949 and they (and their family) were the only other people to live in the house. They are quite beautiful and range from large, soft petaled bi-color ones to tiny tea rose hybrids. I haven’t figured out what varieties they are though. Maybe I will post pictures when they bloom and see if some of my readers can help. But now I have flowers and roses on the brain, so to speak, so here is a beautiful painting of roses.

The artist is Danish painter Carl Frederic Aagaard. I can’t give you a link to a Wikipedia article about him because there isn’t one. But here is a brief biography gleaned from around the web: After the tough years for the Denmark following the English defeat of their navy in 1801 and the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, as well as the loss of Norway (which had been part of Danish territory) after the national bankruptcy in 1813; Danish culture rebounded and flourished, especially painting. Aagaard came into his own at the end of this period and thus was trained by some of the great Danish painters at the Danish National Academy. He first exhibited in 1857 and continued to have success as a painter thereafter.

Enjoy his roses, and please click on the picture to see it / download it full-sized.

Peace,
Bekka

Tags: .jpg, Aagaard, Carl Frederic Aagaard, color, daily public domain, DPD, flowers, free, garden, graphics, image, landscape, painting, PD, public domain, Public Domain Art list, roses, Spring, Summer, Victorian

Today’s DPD is a painting by Victorian American artist Edward Lamson Henry (1841-1919), best known for his nostalgic paintings of colonial and early 19th century American life. Though his paintings are of times either before he was born or when he was quite young, he achieved popularity in the last half of the 19th c. because he appealed to public’s desire for nostalgia. The quiet humor and meticulous detail of his paintings also helped establish him as one of the most popular, if not necessarily considered one of the ‘great’, American painters of the Victorian era. Read more about him in the Wikipedia article about him.

The painting of his I chose for today’s post is appropriately named for an October choice: “An October Day”.  It shows a rural scene amidst beautiful fall foliage, and is typical of his nostalgic style. As always, click the image to see it / download it full-sized. I got this picture from the Public Domain Art email list.

Peace,

Bekka

Tags: Autumn, color, daily public domain, DPD, Edward Lamson Henry, Fall, free, graphics, image, landscape, October, painting, PD, public domain, Public Domain Art list, rural

Today’s DPD is a painting by the German-American painter Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902). While it isn’t directly of an Autumn theme, the colors most certainly make it suitable for the season.

Albert Bierstadt was born in Germany in 1830, but his family moved to American in 1833, when he was 3 years old. He returned to Dusseldorf, Germany, to study painting from 1853-1857. He returned to America, and went on to become foremost Victorian painter of Western (North American) landscapes. He was a member of an informal group of painters known as the “Hudson River School”, who specialized in detailed paintings infused with glowing light, a style otherwise known as luminism. Bierstadt died in 1902 in New York City, after painting more than 500 paintings (and perhaps as many as 4000!). Many of the 500 definitively attributed to him have survived.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia article on Bierstadt, where I got this information and where you can get more information on him if you like.

This painting is called “Sundown at Yosemite”. You can clearly see why the style was termed luminism, as the painting positively glows. Click on it to see it / download it full-sized.

Peace,

Bekka

Tags: Albert Bierstadt, art, Autumn, color, cow, daily public domain, DPD, Fall, free, graphics, image, landscape, luminism, painting, PD, public domain, sundown, sunset, Victorian, Wikipedia, Yosemite

Here is a copy of the first successful permanent photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras, taken in 1826. It was created by Nicéphore Niépce, who captured the image on oil-treated bitumen. The exposure time was 8 HOURS. Because of the long exposure, the buildings are lit by the sun from both the right and the left, giving an odd mystical feeling to the image. As always, click an image to see and download it full size.

Wow! What a long way we have come, with digital cameras and all!

Bekka

Tags: 1826, bw, daily public domain, DPD, free, graphics, image, landscape, Le Gras, Niepce, PD, photograph, public domain