the metaphor of the divine presence and of the sacred and also the metaphor of hope, of change and of step towards the unknown ...

4. the metaphor of the divine presence and of the sacred
and also the metaphor of hope, of change and of step towards the unknown ...

5. Windows
in Western painting

6. Through the window the eye is drawn to the farthest reaches past trees and buildings,
giving a sense of eternity …
The landscape seen through the window sets up an idealized landscape and represents
paradise lost, which Christ will redeem.
We see a very young oak tree, a sacred tree between the Greeks and the Romans.
It symbolizes temporal infinity, while the size of the landscape represents spatial infinity.
…
The central column, an architectural element that always separates Gabriel from Marie,
has disappeared here.
It is the frame of the window that becomes this column, where the hands of the Angel and Mary meet
... the announcement and the acceptance of the message are expressed here in a fascinating way.
Sandro Botticelli
Cestello Annunciation
L'Annonciation du Cestello
1489-1490
Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence

9. The Central panel, The Annunciation
There are two windows with a blue sky outside.
and
from the round window descending from heaven the Holy Spirit,
represented by rays of light and Jesus Christ, holding the cross ...
Unusual because it is usually a dove, but this is one of the first time
that God takes human form
…
The Right panel with Joseph busying himself in his carpentry,
Outside window you can see
the townscape
and
mousetrap for sale
The mouse traps here have been viewed as symbols, or “theological metaphors”,
of the Cross, referring to Jesus as the bait for Satan.
Robert Campin, Workshop of, Atelier de
Annunciation Triptych, Mérode Altarpiece
Triptyque de l'Annonciation, Triptyque de Merode
1427-1432
The Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York City

11. The figure at the window

14. Hans Memling depicts the Virgin and Child in the interior, the sacred world
while
the gaze can escape through the window to look at the view (the veduta)
which here represents the world in which man and nature become one.
Hans Memling
Diptych of Maarten van Nieuwenhove, Virgin and Child, left panel
Diptyque de Maarten van Nieuwenhove, Vierge à l'Enfant, panneau gauche
1487
Old St. John's Hospital, Bruges

16. Madonna and Child,
two angels,
and
an open window with plains, distant mountains, a city and a bay
Fra Filippo Lippi
Madonna and child with two angels, Madonna under the veil
La Lippina ou La Vierge à l'Enfant avec deux anges
1450-1465
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

19. Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus on her lap, holds a red carnation,
symbolizing blood and the Passion
and
two windows with Da Vinci’s usual vastness of the mountain scenery on the far horizon.
Leonardo da Vinci
Madonna of the Carnation
La Madone à l'œillet
1473
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

22. St. Jerome known for his teachings on Christian moral life,
a cat, a partridge and a peacock in the foreground,
a lion approaching in the shadows
and
a bucolic landscape illuminated by the sun that we can see through the windows …
Antonello da Messina
St Jerome in His Study
Saint Jérôme dans son étude
1456
National Gallery, London

26. The window is open ...
an perfect landscape in all respects, hills and rocks in the distance,
a river flows through a picturesque valley ...
...
The painter draws a clear parallel between nature and the relationship
of an grandfather and grandson.
They are really harmonious and beautiful.
The portrait is attractive with its similarity and huge difference between
a child and an old man.
Domenico Ghirlandaio
An Old Man and his Grandson
Portrait d'un vieillard et d'un jeune garçon
1490
Musée du Louvre, Paris

29. A haughty attitude of a noble and powerful man ...
an open window
a landscape of Umbria, with a lake, the hills disappearing in the distance,
a road, a building and forests
Raphael Sanzio, Raphaël
Portrait of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro
Portrait de Guidobaldo Ier de Montefeltro
1507
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

32. Between inside and outside ...
a door opens to the street and we witness a small scene …
a man stretching an index finger upwards, as if to warn of the danger
that would be in entering these places
a convex mirror reflects the space …
that of the lender's client, whose arm rests on the windowsill,
at the exact base of a frame that might suggest a Christian cross
but also
that of the viewer, himself a potential customer,
and threatened by vain values and greed.
Quentin Metsys
Le Prêteur et sa femme ou Le Changeur et sa femme
The Money Changer and His Wife
1514
Musée du Louvre, Paris

36. Intense beam of light ...
five men sitting around a table with very different attitudes,
two standing figures, Christ and before him Saint Peter
and above Christ's hand
an open cross-window announces the death
and resurrection of Christ by which he redeems sins
Caravaggio, Le Caravage
The Calling of St Matthew
La Vocation de saint Matthieu
1599-1600
Contarelli Chapel, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

39. Antique statues and busts, pictures, collectors' items on tables,
an artist showing a painting to a connoisseur
and
large windows ... this Gallery of a collector by Cornelis de Baellieur 1635,
must be adequately illuminated for potential buyers
Cornelis de Baellieur
Intérieur d'une galerie de tableaux et d'objets d’art
Interior of a Collector's Gallery of Paintings and Works of Art
1637
Musée du Louvre, Paris

42. A young girl reading a letter
and
it is this letter, on which the light from the window strikes
… a window that shows its leaded glass, which reflects the face of the young woman
Johannes Vermeer
Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window
Jeune fille lisant une lettre à la fenêtre
1657-1659
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

45. An elegantly dressed young man,
an finely dressed young lady holding the glass correctly
by the stem as indicated in courtesy books of the time,
and
an window with an symbolic meaning: a female figure
who personifies Temperantia, or Temperance (moderation)
Johannes Vermeer
The Wine Glass
Le Verre de vin
1658-1662
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

48. A small vase, a feather and some leaves on a windowsill
and
an old man's head protruding from one of the panes of glass: a kindly face,
wrinkles and the greying of his beard
and
such a singular perspective: to show the one who looks without saying what he looks at
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Old man in a window
L'Homme à la fenêtre
1653
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

51. … the tranquility and the simplicity of his bedroom using the symbolism of colours:
"the pale, lilac walls, the uneven, faded red of the floor, the chrome-yellow chairs and bed,
the pillows and sheet in very pale lime green, the blood-red blanket, the orange-coloured
wash stand, the blue wash basin, and the green window", ...
"I wanted to express absolute repose with these different colours".
Vincent van Gogh
La Chambre de Van Gogh à Arles
Bedroom in Arles
Septembre 1889
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

54. A open window,
a distant gaze ...
The decorative cast iron grating physically divides indoors and outdoors,
proximity and distance,
but symbolically it can also be seen as a division between yearning and reality.
Hans Heyerdahl
At the Window
À la fenêtre
1881
National Gallery, Oslo

56. A large open window …
a young man in a dark suit he looks out at a sun-drenched street scene,
uniform apartment blocks,
horse-drawn carriages,
a lone woman in fashionable attire is about to cross the street …
Gustave Caillebotte
Jeune homme à sa fenêtre
Young Man at His Window
1876
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

59. A street, illuminated shop windows, buildings, darkened
windows, passers-by, a large cypress tree
and
a mysterious couple,
faces hidden in the shadow of a sensual but not joyful embrace, bodies indistinguishable
from each other, locked in what seems more like a battle than a loving embrace
and
a window partially covered by a curtain
"The Kiss" is part of a series Munch called the “Frieze of Life.”
The cycle depicts stages of a relationship between men and women and is part
of what Munch called “the battle between men and women that is called love.”
It includes portrayals of attraction, courtship, realization, and disappointment.
Edvard Munch
The Kiss
Le baiser
1892
National Museum, Oslo

62. The nostalgia and melancholy of a woman looking out the window …
Like the painters of the Romantic period, Hammershøi
used the window motif to mark the threshold between outside and inside,
the near and far.
And to interpret the motif here as a symbol of longings and dreams
Vilhelm Hammershøi
The Tall Windows
La Très Haute Fenêtre
1913
Ordrupgaard, Copenhague

64. A black cat and a woman
and
the blue sky and green foliage framed invitingly by the window casing
(The blond woman in The Open Window may be Renée Monchaty,
with whom he fell in love around 1917 and who committed suicide in 1923,
when Bonnard left her to return to Marthe.)
Pierre Bonnard
Fenêtre ouverte
The Open Window
1921
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

66. Carrington, an hyena and an tailless rocking horse flying
and
an white horse gallops freely into the verdant landscape beyond the window ...
…
Despite the pessimistic plot, characteristic of surrealists,
a white horse, behind the open window, gives hope.
Somewhere very close by there is (there definitely is!) the desired lightness of being,
the fulfillment of desires and the attainment of happiness …
Leonora Carrington
Self-portrait, Inn of the Dawn Horse
Autoportrait, Auberge du cheval de l'aube
1937-1938
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

69. The bright blue sky, moon,
the blue rooster
symbolize the arrival of the morning, the inevitable parting of lovers.
…
But while it is night outside, young people are detached from the outside world
... only the open window, reminds them of the real course of time.
Marc Chagall
Le soir à la fenêtre
Evening at the window
1950
Sammlung Rosengart Art Museum, Lucerne

72. o.esqsegues@gmail.com
Windows in Western painting
La fenêtre dans la peinture occidentale
images and text credit www.
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