
Hidden delights: small animals in 17th C Dutch paintings
Elias van den broek, detail of Still Life with Roses (1670 - 1708)
Rijksmuseum (click to zoom right in on the museum's website)
The 17th century saw a keen interest in science and naturalism and empirical research of the natural…

Bread on the 17th century table
I love going back to my books on 17th C paintings time and time again: just looking at pictures provides such inspiration. I have a few books on paintings of food: while they show beautiful paintings they also provide great insight into the…

Old Masters: painting tricks
Rembrandt van Rijn
Portrait of a Woman, Possibly Maria Trip (1639)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam I often paint dark backgrounds. Learning about old techniques, I aspire to approximate those incredible backgrounds of 17th…

Jan van Eyck: giant of the Northern Early Renaissance
Portrait of a Man (assumed to be a self portrait), 1433. National Gallery London
Jan van Eyck was born in Maaseik, a town in east Belgium, around 1390. He painted for John III the Pitiless, then-ruler of Holland and Hainaut…

Strange things in old Dutch paintings
Osias Beert. Still life of porcelain vessels containing sweets, pewter plates bearing sweets and chestnuts, three pieces of glassware and a bread roll on a table draped with a mauve cloth. 1600-1619, private collection.
In…