The document discusses depictions of glass in European paintings from the 15th to 19th centuries. It provides numerous examples of paintings that include detailed renderings of glass objects like cups, decanters, and glasses. These glass objects often hold symbolic meanings and were used to depict important religious symbols. The document also discusses how certain artists, like Vermeer and Manet, were fascinated with realistically depicting glassware and the dexterity of waitresses handling multiple glasses.

2. The Glass
in European Paintings

3. One of the earliest realist depictions of glass truly virtuoso is found in Antonello da Messina's painting ...

6. Madonna and Child,
Saint Ursula,Saint Dominique,
Saint Nicholas, Saint Maddalena
and
a glass of water and fine glass rods, which Antonello paints impeccably
Antonello da Messina
San Cassiano Altarpiece. Detail of St. Nicholas and Mary Magdalene
Retable de San Cassiano. Détail de Saint Nicolas et sainte Marie-Madeleine
1475-1476
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

8. a narrow, vaulted room,
Simon sits with his guests at a table laid for a meal,
a female sinner bends down to anoint Jesus's feet
at the table bread, wine and fish, the last of these being an ancient
Christian symbol
Dieric Bouts
Christ in the House of Simon
Christ dans la maison de Simon
1440
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

12. St. Gregory the Great, supported by red-winged cherubim,
Saint Fina, flanked by her nurses Beldia and Bonaventura, is praying
while lying on a wooden plank,
a rat under the bench
and
on the bench, so like a still life, a row of objects with a symbolic
meaning:
the pomegranate, symbol of royalty, fertility, resurrection and unity
of the Church,
the apple is a symbol of original sin
and
the wine refers to the Eucharist sacrament
…
the shining bowl is an almost empty decanter, covered by an inverted
glass to protect the valuable wine
Domenico GHIRLANDAIO
Santa Fina Chapel, Announcement of Death to St Fina
Chapelle de Santa Fina, Annonce de la mort à Saint Fina
1473-1475
Collegiata, San Gimignano

16. late Gothic …
Madonna gives her Child a glass of red wine, a symbol of the Eucharist
Joos van Cleve
The Virgin with the Infant Christ Drinking Wine
Vierge à l'Enfant avec le vin
1520
Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

20. a splendid feast, a wealth of furniture, silverware, ewers,
cups and crystal vases,
130 human figures, six dogs, a cat, a parakeet
the sated guests at the nuptial banquet-table awaiting the new red wine …
a woman urging her husband to ask the bride about the new red wine
they have been served,
the steward of the house, dressed in green, supervises the black
servant-boy proffering a glass of the new,
the poet Pietro Aretino, intently considering the red wine in his glass
Paolo Veronese, Paolo Caliari, dit Veronese
The Wedding at Cana
Les Noces de Cana
1563
Musée du Louvre, Paris

24. Bacchus no longer appears to us like an ancient god, or the Olympian
vision of the High Renaissance and Mannerism.
Caravaggio paints a rather vulgar and effeminately preened youth,
who turns his plump face towards us and offers us wine from a goblet
held by pertly cocked fingers with grimy nails.
On a stone table in front of him is a bowl of fruit and a large carafe
of red wine.
Caravaggio, Le Caravage
Bacchus
1598
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

29. the moment of revelation ...
The stark lighting underlines the dramatic intensity of the scene.
The same light illuminates the astonishingly detailed and realistic
still life:
the white tablecloth,
loaves of rustic bread,
a chicken,
a basket of fruit teetering dangerously on the edge of the table
and the carafe of water
and
wine glass
Caravaggio, Le Caravage
The Supper at Emmaus
Le Souper à Emmaüs
1601
National Gallery, London

33. ‘Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas’, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity
the transience of life ...
the young man,
the portraits,
an extinguished candle, a fragile bubble,
a pocket watch, roses, a pearl necklace,
a skull,
a wine glass toppled
David Bailly
Self-Portrait with Vanitas Symbols
Vanité au portrait, Autoportrait avec symboles de Vanité
1651
Museum De Lakenhal, Leyde

37. a gap-toothed skull,
an expired lamp,
an overturned glass roemer with its fleeting reflections ...
and the attributes of a writer suggest that worldly efforts are
ultimately in vain.
Pieter Claesz
Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill
Nature morte avec un crâne et une plume d'écriture
1628
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

40. the beautiful transparency of the glass ...
An old man, a boy, and a young man in the background shadows.
The seller hands a freshly poured glass of water to the boy.
In it sits a fig, a perfumer intended to make the water taste fresher
(something still done in Seville today).
Diego Velázquez
The Waterseller of Seville
Le Porteur d'eau de Séville
1623
Wellington Museum, Apsley House, London

45. An elegantly dressed young man is watching a woman finish
a glass of wine.
He has his hand on a jug, and seems to be waiting to refill the glass.
Women who had become intoxicated on wine were considered
to be the embodiment of sin, and this is a motif central to
Vermeer's work.
Johannes Vermeer
The glass of wine
Le Verre de vin
1658-1660
Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Berlin

50. a procuress, dark dress and sharp, shifty gaze,
a fashionable young, places a coin in the cortesan's hand while his left
hand lays flat across her breast,
a young girl, elegant white cap bordered with a fine bobbin lace - unusual
for her profession. In the right hand holds Roemer, a traditional drinking
glass, frequently used in the 16th century in Holland and Germany,
and
a grinning man, who holds a cittern in his right hand and cheers
to the viewer with a beer glass in his left ... a stock figure
of Caravaggesque of brothel scenes of the Utrecht Caravaggists.
It has been suggested that it is a self-portrait
Johannes Vermeer
The Procuress
L'Entremetteuse
1656
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

55. a masterpiece ...
The girl carries a tray with a porcelain chocolate cup
and
a glass of water
Jean-Etienne Liotard
La Belle Chocolatière
The Chocolate Girl
1744-1745
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

59. The Café de la Gare in the Place Lamartine in Arles …
five customers huddled down in sleep or stupor,
absinthe and empty glasses on the tables
Vincent van Gogh
Le Café de nuit
The Night Café
Septembre 1888, September 1888, Arles
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

63. The painting catches a moment in the café of the Auberge Ravoux
from a patron's perspective, with a view of pedestrians walking
on the street …
on the table alongside a bottle of water, a glass of diluted absinthe
Vincent van Gogh
Table de café avec absinthe ou Nature morte au verre d'absinthe
Café table with absinth or Still Life with Glass of Absinthe and a Carafe
1887
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

67. Manet was fascinated by the dexterity of the waitresses
‘who, while placing with one hand a glass on a table in front
of a customer, were able to hold several more in the other,
without spilling a drop.’
Manet asked the most skilled waitress to pose for him in his studio,
which she agreed to do, but only on condition that she was
accompanied by her ‘protector’, who would also require payment.
He is the man in a blue smock leaning on the table as the waitress
sets down a glass of beer before him.
Édouard Manet
Coin de café-concert
Corner of a Café-Concert
1878-1880
National Gallery, London

71. a café-concert ...
a man in a top hat,
a woman smokes a cigarette,
a waitress enjoys a beer
and
the singer known as “La Belle Polonaise” is reflected in the mirror
in the background
Édouard Manet
Au Café ou Café-concert
The Café-Concert
1876
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

75. A group of Renoir's friends relaxing on a balcony at the Maison
Fournaise restaurant along the Seine river in Chatou, France.
figures, landscape
and
a luscious still-life on the table,
we feel we are in the presence of a superabundance of fine things,
pleasant people and brilliant painting
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Le Déjeuner des canotiers
Luncheon of the Boating Party
1881
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C

78. Monsieur Boileau
and
a glass of booze in an almost incandescent shade of green ...
Passing a gaze back and forth between Boileau’s glazed eyes
and the glass of absinthe, he much-celebrated and much-maligned
spirit, we all know how our friend reached his current state.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Monsieur Boileau
Monsieur Boileau at the Café
1893
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

81. Lautrec, the diminutive figure, accompanied by his cousin,
fixing her hair is Moulin Rouge dancer "La Goulue" and
the singer "Jane Avril",
english dancer May Milton, with painted red lips and face aglow
in a distinctive greenish light and shadow
and
a group of three men and two women sitting around a table
with absinthe ...
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Au Moulin-Rouge
At the Moulin Rouge
1892-1895
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

85. A woman and man sitting side-by-side, lethargic and lonely …
in front of her a glass filled with absinthe
Edgar Degas
Dans un café, dite aussi L’Absinthe
In a Café, or L’Absinthe, The Absinthe Drinker or Glass of Absinthe
1873
Musée d’Orsay, Paris

89. o.esqsegues@gmail.com
Glass in European Paintings
Le verre dans les peintures européennes
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