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Sept. 26: a former Fragonard
Years ago this engaging little “portrait of a miniaturist” in the Legion of Honor in San Francisco was attributed to Fragonard. Then it was demoted to “unknown.” “Unknown” is rather a comedown from “Fragonard”, but the piece is just what it was before: briskly and confidently painted (how decisive the hair is–and check out the…
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Sept. 19. Goya’s little spritz
When I’m at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco I always stop to admire Goya’s portrait of Don Ramon de Posada & Soto (1801). It’s painted in thin, flat washes, here and there showing hints of the red ground–a very spare rendition. But when you come to the medal on his chest, the handling…
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Sept. 12: Turner, the equivocal realist
The recent San Francisco show of the great Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) was the first time I had seen so many of his works together. I expected them to be fine, and many of them were; what surprised me was the soft and not always satisfactory dividing line between his reality-based semi abstractions on…