Having developed a love of art during his school years, Jeremy Casson attended one of the UK’s top art conservation courses, developing a passion for restoring fine art. In the course of a distinguished career, Mr Casson has worked for several renowned public institutions prior to launching and running his own art conservation practice.
From Botticelli to Edvard Munch, this article will provide an overview of some of the most renowned artists of all time.
Sandro Botticelli
Commissioned by Lorenzo de Medici, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus was the first known full-length, non-religious nude since ancient times. It is believed that Boccelli’s Goddess of Love was modelled after Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci, who, according to accounts from the time, was not only Botticelli’s lover but also his younger brother’s, too.
The painting caused a furore in its day, sparking the ire of the Dominican monk, Savonarola, who led a crackdown on the secular tastes of Florentines. Savonarola’s campaign included the notorious ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ in 1497, when artwork, books, cosmetics and other items deemed to be ‘profane’ were all burned in a huge bonfire.
The Venus itself was saved at the 11th hour, albeit leaving Botticelli so traumatised by the incident that he gave up painting for some time.
Leonard da Vinci
The original Renaissance Man, Leonardo da Vinci has been revered in the art world for centuries, having created a wealth of fine art. In addition to masterpieces such as The Lady with an Ermine, The Last Supper and, of course, The Mona Lisa, Da Vinci also created technical drawings far beyond his time, including sketches of tanks, aircraft and automobiles that did not come into being until some five centuries later.
Painted sometime between 1503 and 1517, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is an alluring portrait whose subject remains a mystery to this day, with some historians theorising that she was the wife of a Florentine merchant and others contending that the painting is a portrait of Da Vinci’s mother.
One thing is certain: the sitter’s enigmatic smile has perplexed observers for centuries, with her look of preternatural calm comporting with the idealised landscape behind her – it almost seems to dissolve into the distance, thanks to the artist’s mastery of atmospheric perspective.
Vincent van Gough
Van Gough painted his most well-known painting, The Starry Night, after committing himself to an asylum in Saint-Rémy in 1889. The landscape seems to reflect his turbulent state of mind, with the night sky coming alive with orbs and swirls frenetically applied and the brush marks crystalising his awe of nature as well as his tumultuous mental state.
Although Van Gough was famous for his cognitive instability, having cut off his ear following an argument with the contemporary painter Gauguin, his paintings rank as some of the most beloved of all time, with his technique of painting with flurries of brushstrokes and bright colours inspiring subsequent generations of artists.
Edward Munch
Best known for his masterpiece The Scream, which has earned the moniker ‘the Mona Lisa of anxiety’, Edvard Munch created several versions of this iconic representation of modern angst. In 2012, a pastel version fetched a colossal $120 million at auction, establishing a benchmark that has been exceeded several times since.
Edvard Munch is also renowned for his self-portraits, as well as his contempt for many of his contemporaries. Many letters and notebooks penned by the author have been discovered over the years, providing insights into his relationships with other people, secret thoughts and peculiarities. Art historians believe that much of the his work has been destroyed over the years, with the artist at times failing to take care of his paintings and sometimes even leaving them outdoors.
A committed vegetarian, Edvard Munch was known for his love of animals, particularly dogs, having once claimed that ‘an old, wise man’s soul’ had taken up residence in his canine companion.