Starting tomorrow, a golden Virgin and Child from Duccio di Buoninsegna’s workshop will be adorning the Getty Center paintings galleries (North Pavilion, Gallery 201). Paintings by Duccio are astoundingly rare—there are fewer than 15 in existence, the Maestà in Siena… More»
If you’re a parent, you might be wondering whether Pacific Standard Time is safe for tender eyes. It’s true that several PSTinLA shows tear into grown-up themes, from feminist protest to LGBTQ aesethetics, but there are also plenty of ways… More»
All of us who work at the Getty are pretty lucky; after all, we spend our days around great art and great people. For Thanksgiving, I asked several folks who’ve blogged on the Iris over the past year to name… More»
In March, one of the most elegant women at the Museum was forcibly escorted out of the galleries. I was there and saw the whole thing. Princess Leonilla, who’d been on constant view since the Getty Center opened in 1997,… More»
Accompanying you as you wander the gardens at the Getty Villa are 44 beings in bronze—animals, gods, satyrs, troubled philosophers, athletic youths crouched for action, wild-eyed old men with scraggly beards. These are replicas of ancient Roman sculptures commissioned by… More»
In ancient Rome, togas were no laughing matter. They were the fashion must-have for all male citizens, but men hated them: they were heavy, made your left arm as useful as a T. Rex’s, and required a team of highly… More»
In the 1960s and ‘70s, L.A.’s art scene arrived. How this came about, and what it was like to be part of the big shift, was the focus of a recent conversation with curators Barbara Haskell, Jane Livingston, and Helene… More»
Have you ever come across a piece of ancient art that looked suspiciously…modern? It’s hard to believe that Cycladic figures, with their sleek minimalist outlines, were made more than 4,000 years before sculptors Constantin Brancusi and Henry Moore came along…. More»
Allen Ruppersberg is known for creating artworks that masquerade as ordinary objects, such as a diner, a hotel, a novel—and now, a wall. The artist spent a Thursday in September at the Getty Research Institute creating L.A. in the 70s,… More»
Update! See our Flickr set from the meet-up here! We’re doing something different for our Question of the Week series on the Iris this month: an invitation of the week. Join us at the Getty Center on Saturday, October 29,… More»
Andrea del Sarto, Various studies, c.1520’s
Son of a tailor (sarto). Andrea became one of the best loved artists of Florence. Vasari had good things to say about him.
…Andrea del Sarto, in whose single person Nature and art showed all that painting can achieve by means of drawing, colouring and invention: and indeed if Andrea had possessed a little more boldness and daring of spirit, to match his very profound judgement and talent as a painter, he would, there is no doubt at all, have been without equal.
Browning wrote poems about him:
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what’s a heaven for?His drawings are natural, graceful and sensitive, an excellent draughtsman.
…and he was very much in love with his wife… (something we don’t often hear about Renaissance artists!)
Our curator Julian Brooks is in Florence now researching del Sarto for an exhibition in 2015.