March Madness

The Basketball Hall of Fame is in Springfield, Massachusetts, just a long pass across the state line from Connecticut.  Springfield was chosen for the Hall of Fame because James Naismith, a professor at Springfield College, purportedly invented the sport in 1891.  He was searching for a sport that could be played indoors in the winter.

Dr. Naismith is here today because the tournaments that conclude the men's and women's college basketball seasons are getting ready to begin.  The University of Connecticut men's team won the national championship last year.  They had a tough season this year but have been playing better recently.  The UConn women's team is predicted to go pretty far this year, but Baylor, Stanford and Notre Dame are also very good.  It will be fun to watch.

The Wadsworths

To finish this series from the Wadsworth Atheneum, please meet Daniel Wadsworth and his wife.

Close-Up VI: Copley

This is one of my favorite close-ups.  It is a detail from a large portrait by John Singleton Copley of a woman believed to be Mrs. Seymour Fort.  It was painted in the period 1776 - 1780.  Unlike many formal portraits in this period, this Copley painting is absolutely dripping with personality.  Doesn't she look like the kind old lady who lives down the street?

Close-Up V: Renoir

Or, more accurately, Mrs. Renoir.

This 1910 painting in the Wadsworth Atheneum is by Pierre-August Renoir.  Mrs. Renoir was the painter's longtime mistress, muse and model.  By the time this portrait was painted, they were both older and had married, and had eased into a familar domesticity.  (I know this because the nearby sign told me.)  The painting is so blurred, I wonder if Renoir's sight was failing . . .

Close-Up IV: Cole Landscape

With all this detail creating a grouping of people, it is just a small part of the landscape painting by Thomas Cole.  This is St. John in the Wilderness, 1827.

Close-Up III: Thomas Cole

This is less a post about technique than about appreciation.  Just look at the beautiful carving of this marvelous bust of the artist Thomas Cole by the Boston sculptor Horatio Greenough.  

Close-Up II: Frans Hals

Here is another close-up from the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.  Look at how the hair and beard are painted with quick, short brushstrokes.  And the hooded, tired eyes are produced by just take a few strokes.

Frans Hals was one of the greatest portrait painters of the 17th century.  This is a portrait from 1644 of Joseph Coymans, a wealthy Dutch merchant.