Category: art

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Interior with woman reading. Carl Vilhelm Holsøe (Danish: 1863-1935).

Holsøe is most celebrated for his depictions of sparse, tranquil interiors, which convey stillness, timelessness, and introspection. Holsøe’s figures are still and contemplative, caught in their own reverie. Much like Vermeer, Holsøe’s paintings are illuminated by natural light, both direct and reflected, and the artist has brilliantly captured the atmospheric local Scandinavian light which gives the painting its ethereal quality.

Reading Books

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Byam Shaw’s illustration for Poe’s William Wilson in ‘Selected Tales of Mystery’ (London : Sidgwick & Jackson, 1909) on the frontispiece with caption ‘A masquerade in the palazzo of the Neapolitan Duke Di Broglio.’

“It was at Rome, during the Carnival of 18 – , that I attended a masquerade in the palazzo of the Neapolitan Duke Di Broglio. I had indulged more freely than usual in the excesses of the wine-table; and now the suffocating atmosphere of the crowded rooms irritated me beyond endurance.”

Inside Books