Private Art Tours

30/10/2022

"Young Woman standing at a Virginal" by Vermeer, hanging in the National Gallery, London is a festive late work of circa 1670-72 with great luminosity, executed with precision. It shows a young woman standing upright in profile, playing a virginal with both hands. The raised lid of the harpsichord shows a landscape, which was recently recognised as a work by the Delft painter Groenewegen.

For more information on paintings by Vermeer or another painter, book a (digital) tour on Zoom now with Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

28/10/2022

'View of Delft' by Vermeer can be viewed in the Mauritshuis, The Hague, the Netherlands.
Moored at the shipyard at the far right are two herring ships, specifically designed and crafted for the profitable North Sea herring fishery. Here, the main masts of the herring ships have been lowered and hoisted away for repair. In those days a single herring was a big and nourishing fish, as long as a forearm.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

21/10/2022

"The Music Lesson" by Vermeer, part of the Royal Collection Trust and is usually on view at Buckingham Palace (England).
The scene is situated in a large room, apparently shown in perfect perspective. A room of this size did not exist in Vermeer’s home. The harpsichord has a Latin inscription: "Musica Laetitiae Comes Medicina Dolor[um]" - Music, Companion of Joy, Balm for Sorrow.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

18/10/2022

Vincent van Gogh painted this masterwork, "Almond Blossoms" to celebrate the birth of (his brother) Theo’s and Jo’s first born son. After a week of drying the canvas, it was rolled up with the paint on the outside, and transported by train to Theo in Paris for their master bedroom. The painting forms a celebration of new life and new hope.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. There are several classes waiting for you, want to learn something else? Please let me know!
https://johannesvermeer.info/liveartclasses

15/10/2022

Rembrandt, painted his version of Samson and Delilah as a grisaille* painting. Delilah has just found out that Samson's strength is located in his long flowing hair. She lets him sleep off his drunken stupor in her lap, and a soldier stealthily approaches from the back with scissors. The man will steal his powers. This stunning work is in the RIJKS, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Formerly attributed to Lievens, it is now accepted as a Rembrandt.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

*Grisaille a method of painting in grey monochrome, typically to imitate sculpture

10/10/2022

08/10/2022

This is one of his best paintings called "Courtyard scene" by Pieter de H***h, a Delft master. It offers a lot: a paved courtyard, an old wall and a hallway with a view off the street. Above the arch a real natural stone text referring to the bible; this detail is historically accurate.
It can be viewed in the National Gallery in London, England.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

04/10/2022

Most artists chose pretty colorful flowers of many kinds, but Vincent selected a common agricultural product. The sunflower and proclaimed it ready to shine on its own. Very few other Impressionists chose to go this way. Once again we see how Vincent’s mind worked in wonderful in different ways. This version of "Sunflowers" by van Gogh can be viewed in the Kunstmuseum Bern, in Bern, Germany.

This Sunflower version is in Bern, Switserland. We can visit this museum’s treasures digitally, through a private Zoom appointment.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. There are several classes waiting for you, want to learn something else? Please let me know!
https://johannesvermeer.info/liveartclasses

01/10/2022

William Holman Hunt crafted "The Light of the World" between 1851-6. This Pre-Raphaelite painter shows Christ passing through a narrow opening searching to save a human soul. Seeking super-truthfulness, Hunt painted much of this outside in the moonlight. In the art movement called Pre-Raphelites, they strove for simplicity and purity instead of the slick beauty of the Italian Renaissance, circa 1450-1500. Exhibited in the Manchester Art Gallery, in Manchester, England.

27/09/2022

In Vermeer's 'The Art of Painting' the black and white tiled marble floor in The Art of Painting is a complete invention by Vermeer. Delft houses in those days were never that richly decorated with marble. Vermeer took the visual idea from the Delft city hall.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

The painting can be admired in person at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna in Austria.

24/09/2022

"Mango Trees" painted by Paul Gaugain in Martinique, the overseas French territory. To be able to pluck mangoes from a tree is a snapshot of paradise. Gauguin changed reality, however. A dripping mango would never be allowed to drip onto a white dress!
Gauguin went to a government official and talked him into providing passage on a ship, paid for by the French state, in order to further the cause of French trade and glory.
It is now in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. There are several classes waiting for you, want to learn something else? Please let me know!
https://johannesvermeer.info/liveartclasses

20/09/2022

In this painting 'Officer and Laughing Girl' by Vermeer, it is as if he mounted the lens of a Camera Obscura box too close to the officer and presents him looming very large. By contrast the woman further away in the room seems relatively too small. The painting can be seen in the The Frick Collection in New York City.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

17/09/2022

This Bartholomeus van der Helst (c. 1642) portrait of a young Gerard Andriesz Bicker is an all time favorite in the RIJKS (Rijksmuseum) in Amsterdam. There are very interesting details, I could share about three generations of Bickers, the first two hard working tycoons, and this one being the pampered one.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

13/09/2022

What has the maid been doing (in the red circle)?
We see "The little street" by Johannes Vermeer.
Hint: Look on the ground on the left of the maid.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

10/09/2022

Vincent van Gogh, Self portrait with felt hat, detail, 1887. Vincent van Gogh learned to embrace the colourful style of the Impressionists and immediately lifted it to another level by allowing wild stripes emanating from the upper nose and by allowing blue and green paint as part of the composition. Such explosion of weirdness must have utterly shocked the normal Parisian art lovers, used to official Salon art.
It is now in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We can visit this museum’s treasures digitally, through a private Zoom appointment.
Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

06/09/2022

Most of Vermeer's paintings are on canvas and recently these canvas weave patterns were studied by x-ray.
This painting, "Girl with Red hat" was exceptionally painted on oak. Vermeer put this oak panel down flat on a table and on the hat section, poured extremely diluted red paint out on the surface. It has dried up in many semi-transparent layer upon layer. The effect; when we stand in front of it, is shimmering and magical.
The painting can be viewed in the National Gallery in Washington D.C. in the United States of America.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

03/09/2022

"Vincent’s Bedroom" made by Vincent van Gogh in 1888, in Arles, France.
He painted pink colored floor tiles. According to colour theory, the yellow bed should have a purple background. What we see is blue. However, when we remove the frame and see paint edged not exposed to light, the purple is there! The painting can be seen in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

30/08/2022

In "Woman at her Toilet", by Jan Havicksz. Steen, made between 1655 - 1660, you see a woman on her bed, with orange stockings.
Is she putting them on or taking them off?
Hint: Note the area just below her knees.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

27/08/2022

A portrait, perhaps a self-portrait, circa 1905, of Richard Taylor. An art teacher at the Birmingham Municipal school of Arts and Crafts. He painted on very thin Hessian weave. Exhibited in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (UK). This detail shows the extraordinary thin weave and the rich paint full of chalky substance. In a sense we are looking through a translucent cloth.
Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

24/08/2022

Ford Madox Brown worked on this painting called "Work" for 12 years, intermittently, finishing it in 1865. It shows all classes in society, from the sweaty workmen to two leaders of society leisurely watching workmen and street girls from the side. The painting can be viewed at the Manchester Art Gallery in Manchester, England.. This painting requires about half an hour of focused study, and its surface is sharp and clear.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

22/08/2022

Dutch Victorian painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema worked in London, as member of the Royal Academy. He produced scenes of daily life from the Roman Imperial history that reflected aspirations the British Empire. Here a n**e girl scrapes off oil from her skin "In the Tepidarium" part of the Roman bath house. Collection in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, near Liverpool, England. Bought with money from the Lever soap firm. Painted 1881.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

20/08/2022

This is a painting by John William waterhouse depicting "Lamia" (1909). In mythology, she was a man-eating monster. The painter shows her as the ultimate seducer of men. Remember this is the Victorian time of intense prudishness. Painting a scene from mythology allowed the painter and the viewer leeway. Exhibited in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, near Liverpool, England. Bought with money from the Lever soap firm.

Want to learn more? Contact me for a (digital) tour! Book an in-person tour, or a private lecture on Zoom. Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

18/08/2022

"Young Woman standing at a Virginal" by Vermeer, hanging in the National Gallery, London is a festive late work of circa 1670-72 with great luminosity, executed with precision. It shows a young woman standing upright in profile, playing a virginal with both hands. The raised lid of the harpsichord shows a landscape, which was recently recognised as a work by the Delft painter Groenewegen.

For more information on paintings by Vermeer or another painter, book a (digital) tour now with Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]

16/08/2022

"The Potato Eaters", a painting by Vincent Van Gogh exists in two versions, a study in the Kröller-Müller Museum the final one in the Amsterdam Museum.
The farmers depicted had never been painted before, and found the chance to pose very exciting. Van Gogh was the only painter to depict residents of Nuenen in the south of the Netherlands.
The painting was made in shades of a dry potato to connect the farmers to one of the items they farmed.
Book a digital or in person tour now with Kees Kaldenbach - [email protected]