#genre painting

Impressionism

Fanny Brate: An Everyday Painter You Need to Know

Fanny Brate was born in Stockholm in 1861. Showing great potential from a young age, she started taking drawing and painting classes when she was...

Gokce Dyson 23 July 2025

Artist Stories

Osman Hamdi: The First and Last Ottoman Orientalist

The first and last Orientalist painter of the Ottoman Empire is Osman Hamdi Bey. Born in modern-day Turkey, educated in Paris, and highly regarded as...

Irina Diana Calu 15 July 2025

Baroque

Dark Shadows of Seville in Murillo’s Paintings

Apart from fulfilling commissions for churches and noblemen’s mansions, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo painted genre scenes depicting poor children in...

Soledad Castillo Jara 26 June 2025

Joaquín Sorolla, Playing at the Beach, 1915, private collection. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Detail. Artist Stories

Joaquín Sorolla: The Luminosity of the Mediterranean

If you love summer light, long vacation days, walking on the beach, and lying on the sand with a good book in your hand, these paintings by Joaquín...

Andra Patricia Ritisan 24 June 2025

Baroque

5 Best Works by Diego Velázquez

Diego Velázquez is the most important figure of the Spanish Baroque period and one of Europe’s most significant old masters. He was born in...

Anna Ingram 6 June 2025

* Johannes Vermeer, Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid (c. 1670–71), National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, Ireland. Artist Stories

5 Things You Should Know About Johannes Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter who lived and worked during the Dutch Golden Age. Along with Rembrandt and Frans Hals, he is considered one of...

Anastasia Manioudaki 19 May 2025

Realism

European Realism in 10 Paintings

Realism with a capital “R” was an art movement in the middle years of the 19th century. It was not just about representing real life—the...

Catriona Miller 13 May 2025

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Music Lesson by Johannes Vermeer

Music was a big part of daily life in Holland in Johannes Vermeer’s time. As a testament to that, 14 Vermeer paintings include a musical...

Tom Anderson 13 April 2025

Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid, ca. 1660, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer

Among many representations of domestic scenes of respectable Dutch middle-class households, there is one that never ceases to impress and capture the...

Giordana Goretti 13 April 2025

Painting

Johannes Vermeer in 10 Paintings

Johannes Vermeer was one of the masters of the Dutch Golden Age. He was born in Delft, Netherlands, in 1632 and died there at age 43, apparently...

Tom Anderson 6 February 2025

Baroque

Pure Happiness, Fun, and Joy in Jan Steen’s Paintings

I am a true happiness digger and I’m looking for happiness also in art. If you are a frequent reader here, you may have seen our other articles...

Rute Ferreira 20 January 2025

European Art

Hendrick Avercamp: Chronicler of the Little Ice Age

A dog tears at the carcass of a long-dead horse. Nearby, a man brandishes what looks like a golf club, and a dandy grins alongside a woman in a...

Guest Author 26 December 2024