Alphonse Osbert (23 March 1857 – 11 August 1939) was a French Symbolist painter.Le Bain (détail)
Éxtasis de Santa Teresa(detalle), de G.L. Bernini. Iglesia de Sta María de la Victoria, Roma.
De Artibus Romanorum
ROMAN STATE CAMEOS
The gemstones onxy and sardonyx often have veins of white onyx running through them. The cameo portraits made for members of the imperial family exploit the veins to create low relief white portraits with dark backgrounds. Given the hardness of the stone and the thinness of the vein, the degree of refinement and detail is extraordinary.
Intaglio is the opposite process, wherein the image is recessed into the stone instead of projecting above it. The Romans excelled at this technique as well.
1. Gemma Claudia, layered sardonyx, AD 49 Wien, Kunsthistorisches Museum. 2. Gemma Augustaea, layered onyx, c. AD 10, Wien, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
3. Claudius, layered sardonyx, c. AD 40, Wien, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
4. Augustus, layered sardonyx, 1st c. AD, Köln, Römisch-Germanisches Museum.
5. Grande Camée de France, c. AD 20-50, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Cabinet des Médailles.
6. Blacas Cameo, c. AD 20-50, London, British Museum.
7. Livia with Divus Augustus, layered sardonyx,c. AD 20, Wien, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
8. Vespasian, layered sardonyx, c. AD 60, Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery.
9. Trajan and Plotina, layered sardonyx, AD 105/115, London, British Museum.
During the late 60’s and early 70’s, photographer Arthur Tress asked children to describe their nightmares and fantasies. Then he recreated them into these particularly unnerving staged images.
The resulting series, first displayed in a show called “Daymares” is a fantastic and haunting look at the inner mind of the child. Dreams like falling, monsters, and being buried alive are played out in a safe, daytime world – often by the very child who imagined it.