José Moreno Carbonero, Painter of History and Don Quixote

José Moreno Carbonero (1858-1942), Wikipedia entry here, was well known and respected in Spain during his career.  The Prado has some of his paintings in its collection.

He seems to be best known for his historical paintings, but Internet image searches turned up a number of works dealing with Don Quixote.  These subjects are featured below.

Moreno Carbonero's style varied somewhat according to subject matter.   The historical images have a near-Academic feeling, whereas his Quixote pictures have more of an illustration cast.  He also painted many portraits, but examples seen via the Internet varied considerably in technique.

Gallery

Entrada de Roger de Flor en Constantinopla - 1888
His major history scene.

Conversión del duque de Gandía - 1884
Another important work.

Prince Don Carlos of Viana - 1881

La fundación de Buenos Aires - 1910, reworked by 1924

El desembarco de Alhucemas - 1929
Spanish troops embarking for Morocco to end the Rif War.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - 1911

Don Quixote and the Windmills

Don Quixote and the Broken Tooth

Don Quixote Halting the Caravan - 1911
Several Quixote scenes were panoramic, rather than up-close.

Santa Maria Della Salute seen from the Academia, Venice
He painted several Venice cityscapes.

King Alfonso XIII - 1927
Much more sketchy than usual.  It seems to be unsigned, so it originally was probably a study.

Dance with Tamborine on Beach
Some paintings are rather splotchy.

Amsterdam's Scheepvaarthuis Ornamentation

Scheepvaarthuis, Wikipedia entry here, at last report was a hotel.  Before that, as the name implies, it was built to house shipping companies.  According to the entry, it was built in two stages -- 1913-16 and 1926-28.

The architect was Joan van de Mey (1878-1949), and much exterior sculpting was by Hildo Krop (1884-1970).

The building is considered an outstanding example of the Dutch modernist architecture of its time.  I have been aware of it since college days, and back in 2013 while my wife was away viewing windmills I spent a day photographing Amsterdam sights, including Scheepvaarthuis.

Some of those photos are presented below.  Click on them to enlarge.

Gallery

Sagrada Familia Interior

Barcelona's most famous building is the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) basilica designed by Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926).  Construction began in 1882 and will likely miss its 2026 completion target.  The Spanish Civil War and other delay events contributed to that timeline.

Today's post presents some photos of its interior I took early November 2021.  I was last there in the Fall of 2010 shortly before Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the building.  What I saw was a construction zone that shortly became the nearly completed interior.  As best I can tell, the interior is now essentially complete.

Gallery

View on entering from the eastern Nativity side.

Towards the Choir.

Looking down the Nave.

Towards the east entrance.

The ceiling.

Windows on the west side have a warm tint, whereas east side windows feature cooler blue and green.

The effect of sunlight through those windows.

Summary view of interior details.

Molti Ritratti: Napoleon III

Napoleon III, Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, 1808-1873, Emperor of France, nephew (or perhaps not) of Napoleon Bonaparte, was an interesting man worthy of this extensive Wikipedia entry.

He lived in the age of photography, so apparently didn't have many painted portraits made of himself if an Internet search is any guide.

Gallery

By Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873) - 1855
Winterhalter was a major society and royalty portrait artist.

By Franz Xaver Winterhalter
Undated on the Internet, but judging by Louis Napoleon's appearance, perhaps around the same time as the previous image.  Or maybe before he was proclaimed Emperor.

By Adolpe Yvon (1817-1893) Haussmann présente à l'Empereur le plan d'annexion des Communes - c.1860
Napoleon is shown shorter, heavier than in Winterhalter's full-length portrait of him.

By Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin (1809-1864) - Napoleon III en uniforme de général de Division - 1861
A stern, military expression on his face.  That said, unlike Napoleon I, he was no military genius.

By Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889) - c.1865
Supposedly the portrait Empress Eugénie thought portrayed him best.

By Adolphe Yvon - 1868
He must have enjoyed military uniforms and medals.

Photograph by Le Jeune (cropped) - 1869
Taken a year before his disastrous war with Prussia and the end of his reign.

Jean-Gabriel Domergue's Cuties

Jean-Gabriel Domergue (1889-1962, Wikipedia entry here) was a painter and illustrator whose work evolved to where he mostly painted stereotyped young women as a means of earning a living.  I wrote about him here and elsewhere.

Being a professional artist is usually precarious from an economic standpoint.  For that reason, I can't blame people like Domergue for latching onto a visual schtick that bring in the denarii.  But I don't have to like the schtick.

Below are examples from his later (post-1940) work.  Not all he did in those days looked quite like the images shown.  What interests me is how similar those faces are.  He apparently didn't have to do much research or thinking to create them.

Gallery

"Femme en noir á Venise" perhaps from around 1920.  This is an example of the kind of work Domergue did early in his career.

A portrait - Miss Frederica Montagu of Ince Blundell - 1938.  This has his stylizing beginning to appear.  Unfortunately, I could not locate a photo of his subject for comparison.

Now for a series of images with similar faces.

Eyes are set far apart.

Eyebrows are highly arched.

Noses are stubby.

Mouths are on the small size.

But lips are full.

Evening gowns are low-cut.

You can enlarge this image to better reveal Domergue's brushwork.