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miapaintings.bsky.social
MIA: Paintings (Bot)
@miapaintings.bsky.social
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Sharing artworks from the Minneapolis Institute of Art's Paintings department. Not associated with the Minneapolis Art Institute.
Automated thanks to @andreitr.bsky.social and @botfrens.bsky.social
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Portrait of a Young Man (Sir John Van Brugh?) https://collections.artsmia.org/art/2763/
Queen Anne Room
December 12, 2025 at 9:24 AM
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A Sea-Nymph https://collections.artsmia.org/art/99878/
mermaid with flowing red hair rising above the waves; she is holding a fish in each hand Edward Burne-Jones became a founding member of William Morris’s decorative art firm in 1861, where he produced countless designs and illustrations for books, tapestries, ceramic tiles, mosaics and stained glass. In 1862, he traveled to Italy where he was introduced to Botticelli, whose formal patterning profoundly influenced his subsequent development as a painter. His typical subject matter derived from medieval and classical legends charged with symbolism. In fact, he was pre-eminent in the Aesthetic movement in England and the Symbolist movement in Europe. A defining characteristic of Burne-Jones as an artist was his willful blurring of the boundaries between his painting and his decorative work, something quite evident in the conception of Sea-Nymph. Sea-Nymph was conceived as a pendant to another painting, Wood-Nymph, both of which were purchased from the artist shortly after they were painted. They were separated in 1908 and the Wood-Nymph was eventually bequeathed in 1944 to the South African Museum in Cape Town.
December 11, 2025 at 6:57 PM
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Virgin and Child https://collections.artsmia.org/art/131375/
monochrome image of an alter (or tomb?) that features a framed, 3/4 portrait of the virgin and child; many putti with wings surround the portrait, one putto sits along bottom of architectural feature and points toward drapery at bottom center This may look like an old print of the Virgin and Child, but it’s a painting meant to fool you slightly. We might do a double take thinking it’s an old print stuck on a wall and slightly curling at the edges. English uses a borrowed French term for this type of picture: "Trompe l’oeil"—literally, trick the eye.
December 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
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Portrait of Our Nurse, Margaret Burgess https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1369/
Portrait. 1929 frame Conservation of the artist's 1929 frame was made possible by a generous contribution from Paula Vesely through the Art Champions program.
December 11, 2025 at 12:51 PM
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The Cat's Paw https://collections.artsmia.org/art/3077/
In Jean de La Fontaine's seventeenth-century fable, which this painting illustrates, a cunning monkey persuades a cat to retrieve roasting chestnuts from a fire. The term "cat's paw," meaning a person unwittingly duped by another, derives from this tale. Numerous engraved and painted precedents for the brutality of Landseer's interpretation existed in the work of seventeenth-century Dutch and British illustrators of La Fontaine. The fabulist's symbolic use of animals to describe the tribulations of human existence became popular among nineteenth-century romantic painters and satirists.
December 11, 2025 at 9:14 AM
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Portrait of Putnam D. McMillan https://collections.artsmia.org/art/8756/
Portrait President of the Society of Fine Arts from 1948-1954, Putnam Dana McMillan credited his sister Emily, who had studied in Paris, with developing his interest in art. On retirement he traveled to New York with the intention of forming a collection of late 19th and early 20th century paintings under the guidance of Richard S. Davis, then chief curator. When he died in 1961 he bequeathed nearly twenty-four masterpieces which form the core of the museum's 20th century collection.
December 10, 2025 at 6:21 PM
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Off the Coast (Lake Superior) https://collections.artsmia.org/art/106831/
sailing vessel with drawn sails; trolling in calm water towards viewer; at L, rock face shoreline crested with pine trees; gold frame Alexis Jean Fournier was born in St. Paul. As a young artist working in Minneapolis, he at first painted signs and stage sets—which perhaps gave him a taste for the arresting and dramatic. He painted Off the Coast after visiting the North Shore of Lake Superior. At that time, boats were the sole means of access, and steamships plied the waters with passengers and supplies destined for the small communities along the lake. The burgeoning timber industry had not yet devastated the vast pine stands near the shore. Re-creating the drama of his visit, Fournier depicted massive cliffs receding into a towering cloud bank as a steamship belching black smoke advances toward the viewer.
December 10, 2025 at 4:05 PM
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Portrait of Eliza Ann and Adelia Dusenberry https://collections.artsmia.org/art/98954/
two seated women in foreground looking forward; both have dark brown hair parted at the center and ringlets; both are wearing matching blue dresses; bowl of shells at center; body of water with sailboats and hills in the background The Dusenberry sisters sit on either side of a commode, or chest of drawers, with a romanticized landscape in the background. The basket of collected shells references a popular pastime among refined young women of the 1800s. Eliza Ann, a year older than her sister Adelia, holds a piece of white coral, considered a protection for children or a symbol of youth and health. Orlando Hand Bears was a native of Sag Harbor, New York. His clients were mostly prosperous merchants and ship captains associated with the whaling industry of eastern Long Island. While double portraits are quite common in his work, the abundant accessories and elaborate detail in this one are exceptional.
December 10, 2025 at 11:37 AM
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Portrait of Faustina Bordoni https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1572/
Portrait of a woman Faustina Bordoni
December 10, 2025 at 9:00 AM
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Portrait Group of the Drummond Family, Peter Auriol Drummond (1754-1799), Mary Bridget Milnes Drummond (1755-1835), and George William Drummond (1761-1807) https://collections.artsmia.org/art/10538/
Portrait. Peter Auriol Drummond, colonel in the Yorkshire militia is holding the hand of his bride, Mary Bridget Milnes, wearing the flowing robes and high powdered headdress popular in the 18th century. George William Drummond the sixth son of Robert Hay Drummond is seated at the left, and they are all looking at a portrait of their father Robert Hay Drummond, Archbishop of York, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1764.
December 9, 2025 at 4:23 PM
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View of Rome from Monte Pincio https://collections.artsmia.org/art/6275/
Corot is universally regarded as the most influential artist of the Barbizon school, and this oil sketch is a beautiful example of his genius as a landscape painter. Seven of the Corot paintings in the museum’s collection were gifts from the Hill family - View of St. Peter’s, Rome now makes eight.
December 9, 2025 at 3:09 PM
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Reminiscences of 1865 https://collections.artsmia.org/art/689/
Still life.Trompe l'oeil door, with ephemera tacked to the green door, including image of Abraham Lincoln, money, clippings, and labels. '1809', '1865' and 'ABE' are "carved" into the door. While many artists were celebrating America’s vastness and natural beauty, John Frederick Peto painted hyperrealistic trompe l’oeil (fool-the-eye) still lifes. Their somber mood and humble subjects speak of a nation still blighted by the destruction of the Civil War (1861–65). Affixed to this worn wooden door are objects that invite reflection on Abraham Lincoln’s life: an image of the assassinated president, his birth and death dates, the nickname Abe. The 25-cent paper money and the coin resembling an Indian Head penny were privately issued Civil War currency.
December 9, 2025 at 12:19 PM
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The Poorly Defended Rose https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1566/
Seduction The similar size, complementary subject matter, and the appearance of the same young woman in each of these paintings indicate that they narrate the beginning and end of a moralizing romantic tale. In The Poorly Defended Rose, both the lady’s inability to prevent her lover from picking the rose and the broken vase at her feet predict her moral compromise. In The Letter, with her seduction complete, she must subsist with the miniature portrait her lover has sent to make up for his absence. Michel Garnier’s delicate and highly polished painting style was particularly suited for depicting the elegant lifestyle of fashionable Parisians. The artist's detailed attention to decor accurately conveys the richness of the era's interiors. Although the narrative of these paintings is Rococo in sentiment, the solidly-modeled forms and their placement in a shallow picture plane are more typical of Neoclassical compositions.
December 9, 2025 at 10:16 AM
miapaintings.bsky.social
Green https://collections.artsmia.org/art/21315/
Green
December 8, 2025 at 7:24 PM
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The Death of Germanicus https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1348/
Historical. Death of Germanicus Caesar; he is lying on his death-bed with his wife Agrippina grieving at his bedside. The young Roman general Germanicus has just been poisoned by his jealous adoptive father, the emperor Tiberius. On his deathbed, Germanicus asks his friends to avenge his murder and his wife to endure her sorrow bravely. A key work in Western painting, this tragic picture presents a moral lesson in stoic heroism, notably in the restraint and dignity of the mourning soldiers. This work—Poussin’s first major history painting—became the model for countless deathbed scenes for the next two centuries. Many powerful human themes figure here: death, suffering, injustice, grief, loyalty, revenge. Poussin drew on Roman antiquity for the form as well as the subject. The composition, with figures crowded together near the front, is based on Roman sarcophagus reliefs. Poussin spent most of his life in Rome, where he developed a classical style that strongly influenced both French and Italian art. This painting was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Barberini. As prominent patrons of the arts, the wealthy Barberini family helped shape the artistic landscape of the time. The Death of Germanicus remained with descendants of the Barberini family until 1958, when Mia purchased it.
December 8, 2025 at 5:30 PM
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Number 55 https://collections.artsmia.org/art/10547/
Number 55
December 8, 2025 at 2:13 PM
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Untitled https://collections.artsmia.org/art/127151/
abstract image with chalkboard-like appearance; black background with white hashmarks and lines, triangles, smears, and imagery including a face, a hand, a house, and circles; red outline around canvas
December 8, 2025 at 12:09 PM
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The Pleasures of the Seasons: Autumn https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1542/
Allegory. Rococo. Autumn is the season of Bacchus, the ancient Roman god of wine, shown here as a life-size sculpture holding a chalice and a staff bearing clusters of grapes. In the distance, peasants labor in the vineyards. Autumn is also the season of the hunt. At the right, a young hunter offers game to a seated maiden, who responds by giving him a bird she has taken from its cage. A caged bird symbolizes virginity. Platzer refers here to the dangers of overindulgence, which can lead to uncontrollable passion, however subtly masked by elegant attire and graceful actions.
December 8, 2025 at 9:54 AM
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The Annunciation https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1858/
The Annunciation
December 7, 2025 at 7:26 PM
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The Living Room https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1627/
Although his first exhibition was in a Surrealist gallery and he had many friends among the Surrealists, Balthus never adopted the methods of Surrealism. He has no interest in visual puns, automatism, abstraction, or other facets of the Surrealist program. What he does share with Surrealism is an interest in eroticism as a central fact of psychic life. His constant theme is the self-absorbed, dawning sexuality of the virginal adolescent.
December 7, 2025 at 4:02 PM
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Nude Girl https://collections.artsmia.org/art/2240/
Born in East Prussia, Lovis Corinth spent almost the entirety of his training and career in Munich and Berlin. However, from 1884-87 the artist - who aspired to be a history painter - studied in Paris at the Académie Julian under the two celebrated artists, Tony Robert-Fleury and Adolphe William Bouguereau. Their teaching focused on life drawing - an approach that was particularly suited to the large figural compositions of history paintings. This life study is one of approximately twenty paintings - mostly nudes - that survive from Corinth's Parisian sojourn.
December 7, 2025 at 11:03 AM
miapaintings.bsky.social
Ice Falls https://collections.artsmia.org/art/2811/
This painting once belonged to James J. Hill (1838-1916), the Minnesota railroad magnate whose collection of European paintings forms the basis of the Institute's nineteenth-century holdings.
December 7, 2025 at 8:49 AM
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Young Greeks in the Mosque https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1510/
Worship and devotion non-Christian religions Gérôme traveled frequently in the Near East and specialized in scenes of daily life there. Since Moslem sanctuaries are closed to persons not of the Islamic faith, he may have obtained special permission to visit this mosque, or he may have composed the scene from photographs and his own stock of costumes.
December 6, 2025 at 7:26 PM
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Castle on the Rhône River, France https://collections.artsmia.org/art/581/
One of a pair of paintings, see also 39.9 Recent conservation of this picture was made possible by a generous contribution from an anonymous patron through the Adopt-a-Painting program.
December 6, 2025 at 3:31 PM
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Massacre of the Innocents https://collections.artsmia.org/art/10235/
In the biblical story of the Massacre of the Innocents, King Herod orders the killing of all boys two and younger in Bethlehem, Jesus’ birthplace. Three magi (wise men) from the East had arrived in Jerusalem seeking the newborn king of the Jews, whose star they had seen. Taking this as a threat to his rule, Herod found out where the child was to be born and ordered the massacre—but Jesus was no longer there. The Holy Innocents, recognized as the first Christian martyrs, are commemorated in Christian worship. This painting is thought to be a study for a mural in a church in Naples, Italy .
December 6, 2025 at 2:33 PM