Andries Stilte as a Standard Bearer, Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck, oil on canvas, 41 x 31 in. (104 x 79 cm), in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, DC, which has both a zoomable and downloadable version of the image.

I hadn’t heard of 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Verspronk until I came across this painting while browsing the National Gallery site.

The portrait grabbed my attention with its striking persence and dimenaionality, the latter largely accompished by the extended elbow and the overall value structure, which thrusts the figure forward into the light out of the dark background..

Meticulous attention is paind to the uniform, a symbol of the subject’s rank and position in the malitia. Though some of the elements, like the feathers, are handled quite economically.

Cattleya Orchid and Three Hummingbirds, Martin Johnson Heade, oil on wood, 14 x 18 in. (35 x 46 cm), in the collection of the National Gallery of art, DC. which has a large downloadable image.

Though he also painted wonderful landscapes, Martin Heade’s standout subjects are his portrayals of exotic flowers and birds. Here, he sets a striking pink orchid against a mist enshrouded forest, and includes three rare hummingbirds and a nest with eggs.

Autumn – On the Hudson River, Jasper Francis Cropsey, oil on canvas, 60 x 108 in. (152 x 275 cm), in the collection of the National Gallery of Aart, DC, which has both a zoomable image and a downloadable high res file available.

Cropsey was a 19th century American architecht and first generation Hudson River painter known for his colorful and dramatic views of mountains and valleys, particularly when arrayed in bright fall foliage.

This painting is considered his landmark work, painted in the studio from memory, notes and sketches. It’s common to talk of landscape paintings as haveing a morefgound, middleground and background, but Cropsey’s composition appears to have six or seven levels of distance, reinforced by his deft handling of atmospheric parspective.

I love the little details that lend the image scale; the family picnicing on the hillside in the foreground (images above, second down), the horse and rider on tha path between the trees in the middleground, a bit to the right of center (images above, third down) and the cows drinking from a stream at the lower right (images abvoe, bottom).

Ponte Sant’Angelo, Rome, Edward Seago; 20 x 30 in. (51 x 77), link is to Bonham’s auction from 2019. I assume it’s currently in a private collection.

Edward Seago, a British painter active in the early to mid 20th century, is one of my favorite landscape painters. I particularly love his brushy, painterly application of paint, as is evident in this view of the famous bridge in Rome.

Emilio Ocón y Rivas was a 19th century Spanish artist specializing marine subjects, perhaps unsurprisingly as he lived in Malaga, the bustling port city on Spain’s Medterranean coast. He is considered responsible for founding the School of Marine Artists there.

He had a particular touch for atmosphere and his paintings show the moods of the sea, sunny and tranquil, stormy and dark.

Cautionary note to contemporary painters: Ocón died of lever disease brought on by the ingestion of paint – due to his habit of bringing his brushes to a point in his mouth.