12 results
The Rising Stars in the Mention of Some of the Arts Required in the Science of Timekeeping
The colophon of the present manuscript—on the recto of the second folio—offers a potentially misleading view of the subject of this 16th-century treatise by Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Ḫayr al-Ḥasanī. Al-Nujūm al-Šāriqāt fī dikr baʻḍ al-ṣanā'īʻ al-Muḥtāj ilayhā fī ʻIlm al-Mīqāt (The rising stars in the mention of some of the arts required in the science of timekeeping) does not deal with the measurement of time but with the art of painting. In particular, the treatise is devoted to the ...
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Library of Congress
A Ruthenian Lyrist
This signed oil sketch by the illustrator and painter Sigismund Ajdukiewicz (1861–1917) depicts a scene from Ruthenia, a region located south of the Carpathian Mountains in present-day Ukraine, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and ruled by Hungary until 1918. Ajdukiewicz, also known by his Polish name Zygmunt Ajdukiewicz and by its Austrian variant, Sigismund von Ajdukiewicz, was born in Witkowice (present-day Poland). As a young man he studied art at the Vienna Academy and in Munich. From 1885 until the end of his life, he lived and ...
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Austrian National Library
Painting of Napoleon
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.
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Library of Congress
Folk Dances of Japan
This hand-painted picture scroll contains illustrations of eight kinds of Japanese folk dances: Sumiyoshi Odori, a dance handed down at the Sumiyoshi Shrine in Osaka; Oise Odori, a dance from Ise Province, where the Ise Shrine is sacred to Amaterasu, the principal female deity of Shinto; Kake Odori, in which a group of people dance toward the edge of a village or town to exorcise its evil sprits; Kokiriko Odori, in which folk dancers clack bamboo sticks in each hand; Komachi Odori, in which a group of girls in beautiful ...
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National Diet Library
Daietsu
Daietsu is a story with a happy ending, in which an affectionate and dutiful son, Daietsu-no-suke, becomes a rich man blessed with many descendants by the grace of Kiyomizu Kannon (the goddess of mercy) and Daikokuten and Ebisu (the gods of wealth). The story dates from the 16th century, but this pair of picture scrolls appears to have been painted in the 18th century by Sumiyoshi Hiromori (1705–77), an artist of the Sumiyoshi school. The scrolls are gorgeously colored and richly adorned with gold leaf on a traditional high-quality ...
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National Diet Library
Moroccan State Trumpeters, 1864
This original gouache painting of 1864 is by the celebrated British artist, Sir John Gilbert (1817–97). It originally was thought to depict Moroccan state trumpeters, but many of Gilbert’s paintings are indistinct in terms of time and place and their exact subjects difficult to determine. Gilbert never traveled beyond Europe, but like many Victorian painters he was attracted to exoticism and to tales from Arabia, such as the story of Aladdin, and this piece reflects this interest in the exotic. One of the most prolific painters of his ...
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Brown University Library
North African Brigands and Arab, Circa 1845
This watercolor was painted by Frédéric Goupil-Fesquet (1817–78), a French artist of genre and history and a pioneer in photography. In 1839–40, he accompanied his uncle, the great French painter Horace Vernet (1789–1863), on a visit to North Africa and the Middle East. In 1843, Goupil-Fesquet published an account of their travels entitled Voyage d’Horace Vernet en Orient, which included 16 plates after Goupil-Fesquet. During the trip Goupil-Fesquet took some of the earliest known daguerreotype photographs of the region and its monuments. This watercolor, although it ...
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Brown University Library
Chinese General’s Wife
This work is one of a pair of original unsigned gouache watercolors, painted by an unknown hand and dating from the early 19th century, depicting a Chinese general and his wife. Shown here is the general’s wife, seated outside a row of tents. Near her is a staff with an oval shield bearing an animated and fearsome face. The same shield appears in her husband’s portrait, but with a different banner above it. The wife’s lady-in-waiting is kneeling at her right. Both women wear finely detailed costumes ...
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Brown University Library
Chinese General, Circa 1810
This work is one of a pair of original unsigned gouache watercolors, painted by an unknown hand and dating from the early 19th century, depicting a Chinese general and his wife. Shown here is the general, who is seated outside his tent. He is wearing an elaborate gown and holds a spear. The tent pole bears an oval shield with an animated and fearsome face above which a standard banner flutters in the breeze. To the left is a standard bearer standing with a command flag. The same shield appears ...
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Brown University Library
Abyssinian Plough
In 1868, The Illustrated London News commissioned the Scottish artist William Simpson (1823–99) to cover a military campaign launched by Britain against Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) to rescue several British officials and missionaries held by the Emperor Theodore (also called Tewodros II, ruled 1855–68). The commission was Simpson’s first major work for the Illustrated London News and the beginning of a long relationship with the paper that ended only with his death. Although Simpson’s primary task was to document the campaign, he was also interested in people ...
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Brown University Library
Near to Mai Wahiz, Tigre, Abyssinia
In 1868, The Illustrated London News commissioned the Scottish artist William Simpson (1823–99) to cover a military campaign launched by Britain against Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) to rescue several British officials and missionaries held by the Emperor Theodore (also called Tewodros II, ruled 1855–68). The commission was Simpson’s first major work for the Illustrated London News and the beginning of a long relationship with the paper that ended only with his death. Although Simpson’s primary task was to document the campaign, he was also interested in people ...
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Brown University Library
The Kosso Tree. Abyssinia
In 1868, The Illustrated London News commissioned the Scottish artist William Simpson (1823–99) to cover a military campaign launched by Britain against Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) to rescue several British officials and missionaries held by the Emperor Theodore (also called Tewodros II, ruled 1855–68). The commission was Simpson’s first major work for the Illustrated London News and the beginning of a long relationship with the paper that ended only with his death. Although Simpson’s primary task was to document the campaign, he was also interested in people ...
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Brown University Library