{"id":35263,"date":"2022-07-28T12:24:28","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T11:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fineart-restoration.co.uk\/?p=35263"},"modified":"2023-04-25T16:35:04","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T15:35:04","slug":"one-hundred-and-one-art-history-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fineart-restoration.co.uk\/news\/one-hundred-and-one-art-history-facts\/","title":{"rendered":"One hundred and one art history facts"},"content":{"rendered":"
Our team loves to discuss art history and the many tales and insights that go along with the discoveries made in our conservation studio. Here are 101 of our favourite art history facts that we think every art lover should know covering paintings<\/a>, furniture<\/a>, ceramics<\/a> and more!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1. Claude Monet <\/b>was a popular caricaturist working under the name \u2018Oscar Monet\u2019 before becoming the renowned impressionist painter we know him as today. His original caricatures sold for just 10-20 francs each. In 2019 one of his early sketches was sold in New York for $37,575.<\/span><\/p>\n 2. William Hogarth<\/b> had a pug called Trump, who famously features in several of his paintings. Louis-Fran\u00e7ois Roubiliac created a sculpture of Trump in terracotta to accompany a bust of Hogarth in 1741.<\/span><\/p>\n 3. Rembrandt van Rijn <\/b>signed his paintings in many different ways. His early work is often initiated with a Latin monogram: RHL (Rembrandus Hermanni Leydensis). He also used RHL-van-Rijn before settling on a simple signature of just \u2018Rembrandt\u2019. Although his artwork is now some of the most famous and highly priced in the art world, he died in poverty in 1669.<\/span><\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> We associate <\/span>Hans Holbein The Younger<\/b> with Tudor era portraits but he also had an interest in metalwork. Later in his career, Holbein designed jewellery and trinket cups for Anne Boleyn and armour for King Henry VIII, featuring elaborate engravings.<\/span><\/p>\n 5.<\/strong> Renaissance master<\/span> Paolo Veronese<\/b> completed the largest oil painting on canvas of the 16th century. \u2018The Feast in the House of Levi\u2019 is 5.6 x 13.1 metres and can be viewed in the Gallerie dell\u2019Accademia in Venice. This painting was originally supposed to depict The Last Supper but Veronese went overboard and included many types of people and animals – much to the disapproval of the Catholic church.<\/span><\/p>\n 6.<\/strong> Some art historians believe that Dutch master <\/span>Johannes Vermeer<\/b> used a camera obscura to create his paintings. This was an invention which could project a scene onto a wall in a dimly lit room. This theory came about as scans show that Vermeer didn\u2019t use initial outlines for his paintings and yet was able to achieve a near-perfect perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n 7. Vincent Van Gogh<\/b> fell in love with his cousin Kee Vos Stricker. On one occasion he asked to marry her, putting his hand over a candle to show his love for her and saying <\/span>he would not remove it until they could marry, however, Kee\u2019s father blew out the candle and banned Van Gogh from their house.<\/span><\/p>\n 8.<\/strong> The device that allowed for the tonal quality of a<\/span> mezzotint print<\/b> came to England with Prince Rupert of the Rhine who popularised under the reign of King Charles II. Prince Rupert\u2019s \u2018The Great Executioner\u2019 is still seen as one of the greatest mezzotints to have ever been produced.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 9.<\/strong> The Kiss by <\/span>Rodin<\/b> is a very well-known sculpture. However, few people know that it was originally titled \u201cFrancesca da Rimini\u201d after the character in Dante\u2019s Inferno. Francesca falls in love with her husband\u2019s brother Paolo, the sculpture shows them about to kiss. Rodin has chosen not to allow their lips to touch, hinting at the doom which is about to come their way.<\/span><\/p>\n 10. Lawrence Alma-Tadema<\/b> is known for his lavish depictions of ancient history and the decadence of the Roman empire. Due to his skill at painting beautiful marble surfaces, he was often called the \u2018marbellous painter’. Alma-Tadema\u2019s art often features interior scenes, recreated as accurately as possible through his study of objects at the British Museum.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 11. Louis Wain\u2019s<\/b> anthropomorphised cats were popular in Victorian England. This work was inspired by a cat called Peter who had belonged to his late wife. Wain\u2019s struggle with mental illness meant that he was later sent to Bethlem Royal Hospital (known as Bedlam) where his drawings became increasingly more abstract and psychedelic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 12.<\/strong> In the 17th and 18th century the highest form of oil painting was known as history painting<\/strong> which required the most amount of imagination, as it depicted scenes from mythology and literature. This was popular throughout continental Europe, but in England <\/span>portraiture<\/b> was the most commercial genre. To elevate their art, portrait painters would infuse history into their works, turning their sitters into gods, goddesses and mythological characters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 13. Fauvism<\/b> is an early 20th century art movement that emphasised bright colour and brushstrokes over the realism in conventional impressionist work. Henri Matisse is the most famous artist from this movement, although it only lasted for around six years before other artforms began to dominate the market.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 14.<\/strong> The Pre-Raphaelites<\/b> take their name from the idea of the renaissance artist Raphael being the height of artistic achievement, as taught to them at the Royal Academy. They saw Raphael\u2019s work as becoming \u2018grandiose\u2019 with \u2018disregard of the simplicity of truth\u2019 whilst their group aim was to focus on the purity of the natural world and individual morality.<\/span><\/p>\n 15.<\/strong> Marcus Aurelius on horseback is one of the only surviving <\/span>Roman bronze statues<\/b>. This is due to iconoclasm that happened in Europe during the medieval period, destroying any hints of \u201cpagan\u201d civilisation. All bronze images from the pre-Christian Roman empire were sought out to be destroyed. The only reason this statue survived is that it was mistaken to represent the Christian emperor Constantine.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 16.<\/strong> When it comes to religious art<\/strong>, symbols are very important. You can often spot <\/span>which saint is which by knowing what to look for. The apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all have specific figures which will help you to know who you\u2019re looking at. Matthew has a winged angel, Mark a winged Lion, Luke a winged bull and John an eagle.<\/span><\/p>\n 17.<\/strong> <\/span>George Romney<\/b> is known for his many portraits of Emma Hamilton, the mistress of Lord Nelson. During his career he painted her over 60 times, sometimes in the guise of goddesses and historical figures.<\/span><\/p>\n 18. Chippendale furniture<\/b> is one of the most sought after varieties in this antique market. However, not all pieces are British. Thomas Chippendale produced a famous book of designs in the mid 18th century, allowing recognisably \u2018Chippendale\u2019 furniture to be created around the world with examples found in the United States, Ireland, Portugal, Denmark and Germany.<\/span><\/p>\n 19. Andy Warhol<\/b>\u2019s 1962 Campbell\u2019s Soup collection comes in a set of 32 silkscreened canvases, each representing the 32 separate soup varieties that the company sold at the time. Warhol never gave instructions on how to exhibit them, so the Museum of Modern Art in New York hung them chronologically, in the manufacturing order in which the soup flavours were introduced to the American public.<\/span><\/p>\n 20. <\/b>Olympic events are now associated with sporting achievements, but the founder of the modern games began with the aim of artistic talent as being just as great as that of athletes. Between 1912 and 1948 numerous medals were awarded for sport inspired architecture, sculpture, musical talent, paintings, and works of literature. The <\/span>Olympic art events <\/b>ended in 1954 because artists were considered to be too professional, while the athletes were required to be amateurs. Since 1956, the Olympic cultural programme has taken their place instead.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 21. The Piet\u00e0<\/b> is the only piece of work that Michelangelo ever signed. He later saw this as an embarrassing display of his own pride and never signed an artwork again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 22. Vermeer<\/b>\u2019s masterpiece <\/span>Girl with a Pearl Earring<\/b> is not a portrait. She is a character known in art as a \u2018Tronie\u2019 – a figure typically found in Flemish Baroque art that is used to convey an emotion or allegory. Tronies are typically found in generic paintings of elderly people to examine themes of old age, or figures laughing and pulling dramatic expressions.<\/span><\/p>\n 23.<\/strong> My Wife\u2019s Lovers is an 1891 oil painting on canvas by Austrian artist <\/span>Carl Kahler<\/b>. It depicts 42 Turkish Angora cats owned by millionaire Kate Birdsall Johnson. 42 might sound like a lot, but Mrs Johnson was reported to have at least 350 cats in her Californian summer house.<\/span><\/p>\n 24.<\/strong> Many artists have produced <\/span>wine labels<\/b>, which are highly prized by collectors. Famous names to put their art to the bottle include Picasso, Braque, Henry Moore, Mir\u00f3, Kandinsky, Warhol, Keith Haring, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Anish Kapoor. Ch\u00e2teau Mouton Rothschild is the label to look out for in these artistic collaborations, as even Dal\u00ed created an emblem for their 1958 vintage.<\/span><\/p>\n 25. The <\/span>oldest known animal painting in the world was discovered in a cave in Indonesia. The painting of a wild pig is at least 45,500 years old and was created using red ochre pigment. It has been remarkably well preserved, allowing archaeologists to determine the painting\u2019s age from analysing a calcite deposit. The <\/span>oldest painting in the world is the Red Neanderthal Hand Stencil in Maltravieso Cave, Spain from 64,000 years ago.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 26.<\/strong> Following the <\/span>COVID-19<\/b> pandemic, art exhibits opened with inspiration from the everyday staples of the nationwide lockdowns. Two galleries opened up in London selling their own versions of \u2018essential items\u2019 sold at regular grocery prices.<\/span><\/p>\n 27.<\/strong> The <\/span>colours used in paintings<\/b> are not always down to artistic choice. Many patrons commissioned how much of each shade could be used, as some pigments such as <\/span>ultramarine <\/b>were extremely expensive. It is often used on the robes of the Virgin Mary, showing the level of devotion and expense the patron gave towards the creation of the artwork. Ultramarine was one of the most expensive pigments until 1826 when a much cheaper synthetic variety was invented.<\/span><\/p>\n 28.<\/strong> There are five versions of <\/span>The Scream<\/b> by<\/span> Edvard Munch<\/b>. The earliest versions were created with tempera and crayon, these are now in the Oslo National Gallery and the Munch Museum. The third pastel version from 1895 is privately owned, after selling for $120 million at auction. A fourth version from 1895 is a lithograph print. Munch created the final version in 1910, due to the popularity of the prior incarnations. This may be the most famous version of The Scream, as it was stolen in 2004, though luckily was restored back onto public display in the Munch museum after its recovery in 2006.<\/span><\/p>\n 29.<\/strong> It was once concluded that the average lifespan of <\/span>a sofa<\/b> is 2,958 days, this adds up to around 8 years. However, antique settees from centuries past continue to prove this theory wrong, thanks to careful and expert conservation techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n 30. Maiolica<\/b> is a popular style of tin-glazed pottery, with items dating as far back as the Italian Renaissance. As well as in Italy, this form of pottery developed in France as \u2018faience\u2019, in Spain and Mexico as \u2018talavera\u2019 and in England and The Netherlands as \u2018delftware\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 31. Louise \u00c9lisabeth Vig\u00e9e Le Brun<\/b> painted more than 30 portraits of Marie Antoinette over a six year period before fleeing during the French Revolution. Although she later returned to France, she became more successful throughout the rest of Europe. Vig\u00e9e Le Brun\u2019s lifetime of work includes 660 portraits and 200 landscapes.<\/span><\/p>\n 32.<\/strong> The Venetian old master <\/span>Titian<\/b> is recorded to have lived to over 100 years old, living from 1474 to 1576. In his life he is known to have created 400 paintings, of which 300 survive. His final painting was a very dark version of the \u2018Piet\u00e0\u2019 which he intended to have decorated his own tomb. His most expensive painting depicts the myth of Diana and Actaeon; it was bought for \u00a350 million by the National Galleries of London and Scotland in 2009.<\/span><\/p>\n 33.<\/strong> A banana duct-taped to a wall that sold for $120,000 at Art Basel in Miami was eaten by <\/span>performance artist<\/b> David Datuna. The original artwork by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan was entitled Comedian. The subsequent performance of it being eaten was called Hungry Artist.<\/span><\/p>\n 34.<\/strong> The term <\/span>Art Deco <\/b>can be traced back to 1925, following the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. Spanning from Les Invalides to the Grand Palais on both sides of the river Seine, over 15,000 people and companies exhibited with a total of sixteen million visitors over seven months. Within the exhibition there was a focus on \u2018Style Moderne\u2019 which was a particular focus for the Arts D\u00e9coratifs area, popularly becoming shortened to Art Deco.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 35. Posters<\/b> as we know them today are thought to have been created in the 1870s by Parisian artist Jules Cheret, who introduced a new printing technique that produced bright and rich layered images. By 1890, the streets of Paris were plastered with these lithographs, advertising all manner of goods and entertainment.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 36.<\/strong> One of the unusual techniques<\/span> Salvador Dal\u00ed <\/b>used to gain inspiration for his paintings was to capture his own dreams. To remember what he had seen, he would go to sleep with a heavy key in his hand. As he fell into a deep sleep the key would drop from his hand into a plate. This would wake him up and he would quickly record what he had experienced.<\/span><\/p>\n 37. Eye miniatures<\/b> were a Georgian trend to commission a painting of the eye of a family member, child, friend or loved one. The Prince of Wales (later George IV) wore a miniature of his lover\u2019s eye under his lapel to preserve anonymity and decorum.<\/span><\/p>\n 38.<\/strong> The sleek and iconic designs of <\/span>mid-century modern furniture<\/b> exist due to an economic upturn in the United States following World War II. Designs needed to be easily manufactured and marketed to the masses, as well as being affordable and functional. Designs were made from non-traditional materials including plastic, vinyl, plywood, plexiglass, and acrylics. Today mid-century modern furniture is praised for durability and simplicity in an appealing retro design.<\/span><\/p>\n 39. Jacques-Louis David\u2019s<\/b> The Death of Marat depicts the demise of a revolutionary leader and friend of the artist. David was part of the national convention and had previously voted for the death of Louis XVI. His depiction of Marat composes him in the same style and lighting expected of a religious martyr.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 40. Clarice Cliff <\/b>was a leading Art Deco ceramic designer. Today the auction prices for Clarice Cliff pieces can vary depending on their rarity, ranging from \u00a3100 to almost \u00a340,000. Cliff\u2019s mass-produced crocus pattern or transfer-printed items may not be of high value, but rare patterns and more experimental techniques (such as an appliqu\u00e9 range from 1930-31) can fetch high sums at auction.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 41. The Fayum mummy portraits<\/b> date back to between the 1st and 3rd centuries. Dozens of these portraits exist thanks to a consistently hot and dry Egyptian climate, with bright colours surviving due to their tempera or wax base.<\/span><\/p>\n 42. The Charging Bull<\/b> bronze statue by <\/span>Arturo Di Modica<\/b> was created following the 1987 Black Monday stock market crash. In December 1989, Di Modica arrived on Wall Street and left the bull outside the New York Stock Exchange without a permit. It was removed by the police, but due its popularity was later installed nearby at Bowling Green where it has remained to this day.<\/span><\/p>\n 43.<\/strong> Renaissance artist <\/span>Elisabetta Sirani<\/b> died aged 27 but during her short life accomplished over 200 paintings, 15 etchings, and hundreds more drawings. Sirani painted so many artworks in a short time that many doubted that she painted them all herself. To refute this she invited her accusers in 1664 to watch her paint a portrait in one sitting.<\/span><\/p>\n 44.<\/strong> In 2018 a lost portrait of<\/span> Charles Dickens<\/b> was discovered in a trinket box during an auction in South Africa. The miniature by Margaret Gillies had not been seen for 175 years.<\/span><\/p>\n 45. Paul C\u00e9zanne<\/b> was a perfectionist when it came to his art. The French impressionist painter would get so stressed with his work that he was often known to rip up canvases and destroy them. When painting outdoors, some of these paintings would end up being thrown into bushes by the frustrated artist. He was once spotted trying to retrieve a painting back from a large tree after he had calmed down.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 46.<\/strong> Regency portraitist<\/span> Sir Thomas Lawrence <\/b>was a child prodigy, from the age of ten he was supporting his family with pastel portraits before moving to London to establish himself as an oil painter. Lawrence became one of the most fashionable portrait painters in Europe, but died with many works left unfinished as they took a notoriously long time to complete.<\/span><\/p>\n 47.<\/strong> Paintings on <\/span>wooden panel<\/b> have a surface that is often a build-up of gesso. Each layer is applied and then sanded down when dry, this is completed over a few days or weeks. Some artworks on panel have as many as 15 layers of gesso beneath their surface.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 48. Frida Kahlo’s<\/b> reputation as an artist had grown to such extent after her death that Mexico declared her works part of the national cultural heritage. This prohibited their export from the country, making their appearance at auctions and retrospective exhibitions very rare.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 49. Marietta Robusti <\/b>was also known as Tintoretta as she was the favourite daughter of renaissance master <\/span>Tintoretto<\/b>. She worked in her father\u2019s studio and his decline in work after her death is attributed to his grief in losing her. Later artists of the romanticism movement often drew inspiration from a scene of Tintoretto painting his dead daughter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 50. Mirrors<\/b> became popular during the 16th century, the most fashionable designs were from Murano on the coast of Venice \u2013 an epicentre of glass manufacturing that thrived with the patronage of wealthy merchants and Mediterranean trade. Early renaissance mirrors used a tin-mercury amalgam to achieve their reflective quality, this was adhered by fire-gilding one side on a flat piece of glass.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 51. Peter Paul Rubens <\/b>often preferred wooden panels rather than canvas as a more robust base for this artwork, creating complicated surfaces out of as many as 17 pieces of wood.<\/span><\/p>\n 52. Hieronymus Bosch\u2019s <\/b>Garden of Earthly Delights was sometimes referred to as \u2018the strawberry painting\u2019 throughout history due to the predominance of the fruit in the composition.<\/span><\/p>\n 53.<\/strong> Bauhaus artist <\/span>Paul Klee<\/b> experimented with many different mediums, including oil with watercolour, oil with tempura, watercolor with pen and India ink, impasto and spray paint. His surfaces also varied using mixed media such as gauze, cardboard, fabric, newsprint and foils.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 54. Water-soluble ink<\/b> is a Chinese invention that can be dated back to 2500 BC. The first ink used in calligraphy was composed of black soot mixed with a sticky binding agent, this often included fish bones that had been turned into glue. To mask the fishy odour, perfume was also added to the mixture.<\/span><\/p>\n 55. Gustav Klimt<\/b> never painted a self-portrait, stating “I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women. There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day after day from morning to night. Whoever wants to know something about me\u2026 ought to look carefully at my pictures.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 56. Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix <\/b>depicts Parisians rebelling during the French Revolution of 1830. In 1832, the French government, then loyal to the King, quickly purchased the painting in order to remove it from view. It was not until 1848 that it was reinstated to public display in The Louvre, where it remains to this day.<\/span><\/p>\n 57.<\/strong> The pigments or dyes in <\/span>Japanese woodblock prints<\/b> can begin to fade in low levels of light. When <\/span>Hokusai\u2019s<\/b> The Great Wave off Kanagawa and Red Fuji were displayed at the British Museum, research suggested that if these prints were displayed for just three months at 50 LUX, they would have to be stored in the dark for at least a year before being exposed again. When they were displayed, it was only for 20% of the time to only a dim amount of light.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 58.<\/strong> In 1976, <\/span>Georgia O\u2019Keeffe<\/b> refused to lend her work to a major exhibition called \u2018Women Artists: 1550 to 1950\u2019. Her reasoning was that she was not one of the best female artists, but \u201cone of the best painters\u201d of her time. Despite numerous shows which focused on female artists in the 1970s, no woman was featured in a leading textbook entitled Jason\u2019s History Of Art until 1987.<\/span><\/p>\n 59.<\/strong> The painted ceiling of the <\/span>Sistine Chapel<\/b> took<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n