Fine Arts

Fine Arts is a term that simply means art created for beauty.

Goyo Dominguez is described as a man who has chosen a peaceful, quiet life. He was prepared to become a priest before he found his calling as a romantic realist painter. Goyo studied Fine Arts at Madrid's Complutense University and developed exquisite technical skills that enable him to express his vision of beauty. He juxtaposes dull and bright colors to create brilliantly detailed and alluring paintings. The painting below is from 2003, and entitled, "Diadema."

Speaking of juxtaposition, Nelson De La Nuez is the humor pop art master today. In his own words, "My subject matter is primarily humorous, because I think the world is serious enough already. So hey—laugh a little. Humor and imagination are unique to the human experience." The artist lives in Los Angeles. I have one of his collectible pieces (one of 250) created in 2003: "The Out of Towners."

Gary George has been painting for forty years, and lives in West Palm Beach, Florida. Among other schools, the artist has studied at the Royal Academy in London. He has painted commissioned portraits of Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan. I don't know who "Rebecca" is; but here she is, a few years ago, as seen through the eyes of Gary George.

I featured a Tomasz Rut painting in one of my other posts about the Art in my Home. Rut also lives in Palm Beach, and he was cited in 1999 as one of the most collectible artists in the United States by the Robb Report. His mother was a painter when he grew up in Poland. He studied the masters, Rubens; Caravaggio; Michelangelo. Tomasz Rut has worked extensively in art restoration and conservation for the Biltmore and the Smithsonian. In his own words, "I look for inspiration in the humanistic tradition of classical art." The artist celebrates the human form with sensual imagery. Here is his 2003 oil on canvass, "Vigilia."

One of the paintings that drew the most attention in my Hub "Art in my Home" was by Sevitt Francis. She has a rich imagination and suffuses the canvass with lustrous colors. S. Francis recreates long gone days of gentle passion. This one is fairly recent and titled, "Strings of Music."

Warner Sallman produced the "Head of Christ" in 1940, having no idea it would go on to become the most popular picture of all time, with 500 million reproductions of its image thus far.

Its level of popularity has long been appalling to art critics, who variously dismiss it as kitsch for the unwashed masses; idolatry; naive sentimentality; Eurocentrism.

A famous survey was undertaken to ask the people who own the painting, what it was they liked about the "Head of Christ." By far the most common answer was, "It just looks like Jesus."

Well, nobody knows what Jesus looked like. The handful of critics who try to at least understand its appeal, note that Jesus appears radiant, solemn, strong, submissive, peaceful, trustworthy and accessible. The portrait is a worldwide phenomenon crossing nearly all denominational lines. I have one. Why? I just like looking at it.

In 1651, Rembrandt painting his own "The Head of Christ." He used a young Sephardic Jewish man as his model. People at the time were struck by the unusual earthiness of this creation, a Rembrandt trademark. This painting hangs in a museum in Berlin.

Rembrandt is my favorite artist of all. One of my previous Hubs is nothing but Rembrandt and features seven of his paintings that I own copies of. He was the creator of another painting I have: "Christ on the Cross." He used a common street beggar for his model. This work of art, painted early in Rembrandt's career (1631), lives in a small church in southwestern France.

Another of my favorite artists is the great Venetian painter, Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430-1516). I featured two of his works, "Madonna with Child Blessing" and "St. Francis in Ecstasy" in a previous Hub Page. The third Bellini copy I have is "The Doge" (formally Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan). This portrait, from 1501, helped popularize portraiture as an art form, and is installed in the National Gallery in London. The Doge's face, smooth yet perspicuous, is human yet majestic.

Yes, I have a copy—not the original—of Mona Lisa. I have viewed the real one, though, at the Musee du Louvre in Paris. This was painted in 1503 by Leonardo da Vinci. And no—you can't call him da Vinci. Vinci is where he is from. You may call him Leonardo.