Gray Connolly Profile picture
Jan 9, 2022 20 tweets 7 min read Read on X
Notwithstanding some curator atrocities, I strongly advise anyone in Sydney to patronise @ArtGalleryofNSW as we (and many others) did yesterday. It has a wonderful collection. As few go to the 'modern' collection, it should give way so more of the 18th/19thC art can be displayed.
Eduard Detaille, "Vive l'Empereur" (1891) ... the Imperial French 4th Hussar Regiment during Napoleonic Wars. Detaille's painting pays endless study as it was a depiction of the Hussars' charge as Napoleon himself would have wanted.
Edouard Detaille was so committed to the detail of his work that a portrait was done of Detaille at work here (by Basil Lemeunier, also 1891) painting the immense canvas - surrounded by the arms and uniforms of the French Hussars.
Frank William Bourdillon, "On Bideford Sands" (1889)

This seems to be the depiction of either a duel, in which the seconds are trying to make the duelling parties see sense, or the Baroque version of a group chat getting out of control
Evariste Vital Luminais, "The sons of Clovis II" (1880)

A rather ominous painting of Clovis' rebellious sons who were 'hamstrung' by their mother & then cut adrift on the river Seine. Wastrel royal princes needing remedial lessons in familial loyalty clearly nothing new here.
Alphonse de Neuville, "The defence of Rorke's Drift" (1879)

This painting depicts the famous defence by the Welsh Borderers (and some Sappers) against a ferociously brave Zulu attack & you can spend much time studying its very lifelike depictions of the defenders in the scene
Briton Riviere, "Compulsory education" (1887)

If you had a beloved dog as a child (or indeed, as an adult), you will immediately grasp this majestic painting's import and message.
Marcus Stone, "Stealing The Keys" (1866)

Depicts a civil war scene where a Royalist house is taken over by seditious & drunken Roundheads (who you will note have disfigured the King's portrait) & this loyal & virtuous daughter has come to take the keys to rescue her noble father
Edward Poynter, "Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon (1890)

This enormous and masterful depiction of the Queen of Sheba overwhelmed by Solomon in all his majesty is worthy of awe ... note many things but that Solomon leaves his throne to come & great his royal visitor.
Jean-Francois Portaels, "Esther" (1869)

This painting of the great Jewish heroine Queen Esther as she proceeds, with great fortitude and dignity, to see her husband King Xerxes to plead for her people against the evil machinations of Haman.
Briton Riviere, "Requiescat" (1888)

The loyal and devoted hound of a late medieval knight, based on Prince Edward the black prince, sits by his late master's bed, a stalwart even in death.
Left: an unknown Belgian Master painter of the 1540s' portrait of a young (Catholic) woman (c1541)
Right: Willem Key, "Portrait of a Protestant Minister" (1563)

Already at the Reformation's outset, the confessional differences present in the pious woman vs the scolding parson
Agnolo Bronzino, "Cosimo de Medici in armour" (1545)

Medici's portrait intended to send the message that the nominal Florentine republic was both under 'new management' & that its wealth and power allowed its ruler to appear this way.
Nicolas de Largillierre, "Portrait of an Officer", France, 1715

NdL was a favourite of the Stuart Kings & it is possible this officer was a (very young) Jacobite officer in France. The red sash suggests royalism - the blood specks on the paper suggests a recent battle.
Sano di Pietro, "Madonna and Child wth the Saints Jerome, John the Baptist, Bernard, and Bartholomew" (1481)

An outstanding acquisition by @ArtGalleryofNSW
Francesco di Simone Ferruci, "Madonna and Child" (c1480s)
Bernardo Strozzi, "The release of Saint Peter" (1635)
Prospero Fontana, "Deposition" (c1543)

Note behind the Virgin Mary holding Jesus's body is, at least, Joseph of Arimathea, who, while an 'establishment' man, went to Pilate to ask for Jesus' body for burial. Note also the Angels hold the nails, sponge & crown of thorns.
Sassoferrato, "The Virgin in Prayer" (1640)
Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo, "The Strike's Aftermath", (1913)

A quite sad portrayal of an unnamed manual worker, his pick and shovel laid up, his clothing torn, his teapot and cup unused, pondering his impecunious present.

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More from @GrayConnolly

Apr 16
Holy/Maundy Thursday good wishes to all:

"Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved His own in the world and He loved them to the end" (John 13:1) Image
Good morning to all on this Good Friday:

"But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5) Image
It is interesting the number of people who find Good Friday hard - the betrayal, the disloyalty, the widowed Virgin Mary watches her son’s brutal, public death, with the women of Jerusalem & only John the youngest apostle who goes to the trial & Calvary (too young to know better)
Read 12 tweets
Apr 6
My #TartanDay thread for all who are celebrating & to all those with their familial ancestry in Scotland, or who, rightly, love the Scots as a people. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Image
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#TartanDay marks the anniversary of the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath made by the Scots Nobility & Clergy to the Pope: "It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom–for that alone which no honest man gives up but with life itself"🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇻🇦 Image
"But from these countless evils we have been set free, by the help of Him Who though He afflicts yet heals and restores, by our most tireless Prince, King and Lord, the Lord Robert." #TartanDay 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇻🇦 Image
Read 6 tweets
Apr 3
Disagree-the signs were there in the 1990s and not just in the US. It was always going to end when first world countries' populations saw open trade & borders as making them less secure not more secure. Making China part of the WTO (Blob conventional wisdom) guaranteed this
I have thought more on this - as I was a school and then university student in the 1990s - and yes there was a whole 'whither the globalised world order?' Thomas Friedman sort of midwit debate that went on then & you can find it in many books from the era
At the same time, the 1990s, for every Globalisation point, you had:
- former Yugoslavia with combatants periodically massacring each other
- Somalia & Rwanda, which had their own causes & body counts
- Soviet collapse & then the Russians fighting the Chechens and Dagestanis...
Read 5 tweets
Apr 2
The problem of all Free Trade ideology for nation-states with real world responsibilities is its complete unrealism ... rather like open borders, free trade is utopian ... you cannot be a great or even regional power & rely overly on others supply to you in critical industries Image
Conservatism in the English speaking world, historically, was always Protectionist. The British Conservative Party & the GOP were historically for Protection and Tariffs (until Thatcher & the Bushs) - unchecked free trade & free markets were considered dangerous liberal heresies Image
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The British Empire was almost destroyed for two World Wars by liberal Free Trade's slow gutting of British industrial capacity & but for Imperial Preference in the 1930s, there would have been few if any UK & Empire industries left for WW2 esp the Alone period of 1939-1941 Image
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Read 4 tweets
Jan 4
This @Telegraph long read by @SAshworthHayes @CDP1882 on the UK's long-running rape (and in some cases murder) gang scandal is bracing reading and not for the squeamish. But it must be read - and acted upon.

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Read 11 tweets
Nov 25, 2024
Social media bill is another very poorly drafted law from the very same people who drafted the Voice constitutional alteration (which failed) & the Misinformation/Disinformation bill (which was withdrawn). Sheer lunacy for the Coalition to support the social media bill #Auspol
One of many problems we have with our Parliament in 2024 is its membership is simply not across how modern economies & communications work - you do not have to be any expert but you do need some lay understanding. One saw this in the Misinformation/Disinformation bill #Auspol
As a matter of public law - which binds everyone & should be as simple to follow as law can - the social media bill has ridiculous complexity & carve-outs ... and it is unreal to legislate on social media access separate from AI & exposure to its knowledge & also 'fakes' #Auspol
Read 5 tweets

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