Bye, bye December - Welcome 2020!

In December we had snow for a few days, otherwise warm & very dark.

But Christmas decorations & lights lifted the spirits.

I also visited many museums and had a wonderful time with my husband.

But now the clock is ticking. It is time to forget the past and celebrate a new start
- and a new decennium. Happy New Year!

New year - a new chapter, new verse, or just the same old story? 
Ultimately we write it. The choice is ours. - Alex Morritt

The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. 
- Melody Beattie

Tonight’s December thirty-first,

Something is about to burst.

The clock is crouching, dark and small,

Like a time bomb in the hall.

Hark, it’s midnight, children dear. 

Duck! Here comes another year! 

- Ogden Nash

Life is about change, sometimes it’s painful, sometimes it’s beautiful, 

but most of the time it’s both. -Kristin Kreuk

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#all seasons   #der natur donnerstag   #digitalart dienstag   #foto-tunes   #gartenglück    

#image-in-ing   #makrotex   #mosaic monday   #my corner of the world   

#saturday’s critters   # t in die neue woche   #the weekend roundup   #tuesday’s treasures
#uudet värikollaasit   #wandering camera   #willy-nilly   #watw 

Renessaince Beauties by Lucas Cranach

Portrait of a young woman, 1525



Lucretia, 1530

Renaissance Beauties is the first solo exhibition in Finland on the oeuvre of the great German Renaissance master Lucas Cranach the Elder. The works on display include paintings and prints from the collections of European museums. The above two  works are the only works by Cranach in Finland, both in the collection of the Sinebrychoff Art Museum. They represent popular themes in the artist’s oeuvre: female portraits and beauties, both rendered in a personal and recognizable style.

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) established a successful and lucrative studio in Wittenberg, known for some 5,000 paintings. In addition to numerous altarpieces and allegorical paintings, Cranach is known for his elaborate portraits, numerous versions of close friend Martin Luther. Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515-1586) continued the studio after his father’s death. His style of painting is so similar to that of his father that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish their work.

Cranach’s fascinating and enigmatic paintings have spoken to artists over the ages. Among the best-known examples are probably the interpretations by Picasso.  A present-day perspective on the handsome jewellery depicted in Cranach’s works is offered by a number of impressive items created by German jewellery artists. Jewellery photos in a later post!

This lady by Picasso has a lot of jewellery on. Too much perhaps,
because she seems a bit unhappy to me!

Portrait of a Young Woman (Princess Emilia of Saxony?), before 1537

Venus and Cupid the Honey Thief, 1530

So many nudes!

Dido, 1547

Ill-Matched Lovers,  c. 1530

I’ll add here still one portrait that I photographed at The Uffizi.

Portrait of a young woman, 1530, The Uffizi

Cranach was a German painter and printmaker, born in Germany and having studied in Vienna. He was active in the town of Wittenberg where he spent most of his career as a court painter to the Saxon electors. His work includes many fine religious examples and several portraits of Martin Luther, although he also painted secular subjects. Besides being one of the greatest German painters of his time, Cranach was also widely known for his woodcuts, some of which illustrated the first German printing of the New Testament.

Cranach learned the art of drawing from his father and would pass this on to his own son, Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515 – 1586). Cranach the Elder’s chief occupation was that of portrait painting, where he preserved the features of all the German Reformers and their princely adherents. - The Uffizi

In advance of the Strauss New Year’s Concert from Vienna...
Happy New Year!

❤︎❤︎❤︎

#all seasons   #der natur donnerstag   #digitalart dienstag   #foto-tunes   #gartenglück 

#image-in-ing   #makrotex   #mosaic monday   #my corner of the world 

#saturday’s critters   #t in die neue woche   #the weekend roundup   #tuesday’s treasures

#uudet värikollaasit   #wandering camera   #willy-nilly #watw

Color Collage

Thank you Aino for hosting and giving us challenging colors!
Thank you all group members as well for your great works - wishing Happy 2020!

Color Collage 53/2019

T in die neue Woche

Soon we open the door to New Year and wonder what the new year will bring. 

A few photos of Talvipuutarha / the Winter Garden of Helsinki - both spring & winter outlook. 

It is a lovely place to visit, especially in early spring when my soul longs for GREEN.

The view over the Gulf of Töölö towards the center of Helsinki 

is wonderful in the spring ❤︎

Coelogyne cristata - Snow Queen - Schneekönigin - Lumikuningatar -

with its name this beautiful orchid fits into the end of December. It is not mine,

admired it once in the Wintergarden - click to my post from 2018.

Happy New Year!

❤︎❤︎❤︎

#all seasons   #der natur donnerstag   #digitalart dienstag   #foto-tunes   #gartenglück    

#image-in-ing   #makrotex   #mosaic monday   #my corner of the world   

#saturday’s critters   # t in die neue woche   #the weekend roundup   #tuesday’s treasures

#uudet värikollaasit   #wandering camera   #willy-nilly   #watw 

The Weekend Roundup Z

Starts with Z:

Zoological Museum of Helsinki - sorry no Zebra!

Starts with Z:

Tourist Zone

Starts with Z & my favourite:
Zzzzz

The Finnish alphabets have still two letters to go: Ä & Ö.
Two tongue twisters to show how funny they sound.

Ääliö, älä lyö, ööliä läikkyy!

Idiot, don't hit, beer spills!

Gödöllön pöllö töllöttää, möllöttää, köllöttää ja ööliä löllöttää

The owl of town Gödöllö (in Hungary) watches around, sulks, idles and consumes beer.

I’m such a great photographer: Christmas lights in Helsinki :)))
Anyway, Happy New Year to you all!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#all seasons   #der natur donnerstag   #digitalart dienstag   #foto-tunes   #gartenglück    

#image-in-ing   #makrotex   #mosaic monday   #my corner of the world   

#saturday’s critters   # t in die neue woche   #the weekend roundup   #tuesday’s treasures
#uudet värikollaasit   #wandering camera   #willy-nilly   #watw 

Memories of 2019

The year 2019 was a good one, and also very active for me. I have got to know a bunch of new blog friends who have interesting linkups. That is why I have published over 320 posts: about the garden and nature, digital art, about sightseeings around Helsinki and many museums & art exhibitions. In October i visited Florence and that was perhaps the highlight of my year. I could have chosen any post, but here a random selection of each month.

JANUARY

Cold & sunny Helsinki / Flower shelter

FEBRUARY

Runeberg Pastries

MARCH

Longing for Spring

APRIL

Vappu - Walpurgi’s Night

MAY

Clematis Constance - Pretty in Pink

JUNE

La vie en rose / Louise Odier & Midsummer Bouquet

JULY

Rhododenron Roseum Elegans

AUGUST

Jenni Tieaho - Black Swan

SEPTEMBER

Emma - Michael Jackson On The Wall

OCTOBER

Santo Spirito, Florence / Boboli Gardens, Florence

NOVEMBER

State of Mind, Helsinki 1939-1945 / Library on Wheels

DECEMBER

Christmas Market in The Senate Square

I want to thank you each and everyone for your comments and company this year.

The Spanish have a lovely way of expressing it:

¡Salud, amor y pesetas, y tiempo para disfrutarlas!

Health, love and wealth - and time to enjoy them!
❤︎❤︎❤︎

#all seasons   #der natur donnerstag   #digitalart dienstag   #foto-tunes  #gartenglück    

#image-in-ing   #makrotex   #mosaic monday   #my corner of the world   

#saturday’s critters   # t in die neue woche   #the weekend roundup   #tuesday’s treasures

#uudet värikollaasit   #wandering camera   #willy-nilly   #watw 

Friday Bliss #68 - Festive at the Sinebrychoffs

Photo: H. Aaltonen, the museums site

Still one set of luxury table settings for you. The roots of the Sinebrychoff family lead to Moscow but they have settled in Finland already at the end of the 18th century. The family got rich via brewing business, nowadays the brewery is owned by the Danish Carlsberg.

Paul Sinebrychoff (1859-1917) & his wife Fanny (1862‒1921) started collecting art in the 1890s. Just before her death, after almost thirty years of collecting, Fanny Sinebrychoff donated a collection of about 900 works of art to the Finnish government, as was their mutual wish. The collection is housed in their original home in the center of Helsinki, at Bulevardi. The home museum at the 2nd floor is very luxurious. It abounds with old oil paintings and antique furniture, much gold & much money. In the basement there are changing exhibitions, now of Lucas Cranach the Elder. Shall tell you about it later... Photos are mine, except two from the museum’s site. 

Photo: H. Aaltonen, the museums site

The coffee tables was set in the luxurious saloons, silver was shining

and the table cloths were amazingly white.

The dining room was decorated with dark furniture but the chandelier was sparkling.

There  were an endless amount of expensive art treasures, as the reading monk by Rembrandt.
On the basement I could admire the exhibition of Lucas Cranach the Elder!

#FRIDAY BLISS

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