https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Veiled_Virgin

It's all at the bottom of the Oak Island Money Pit.

Weird that the article has no mention of Torreggiani.

I think his Isabel II is one of the best examples of that style.

I had never seen either and have to say those are amazing.

I'd add mention of him to that article, but I guarantee some jackass would reset the article within a day.

searching on that veiled statue led me to one in netting.
That is even more amazing in detail. but I love the veiled ones, just because the illusion is so amazing.

That is "The Veiled Virgin", a remarkable piece that spurned several copycat pieces. There is a similar piece called "The Veiled Rebekah" on display at the High Museum in Atlanta. Absolutely incredible detail!

Wow. I'd never seen that before. Any info on it?

Photorealism like we see nowadays?  Arguably, no.  I've been to galleries with artists that specifically do photo-realism and they are on a different level since, at the very least, they are usually working off an an actual, oversized photo print.  They leave nothing to the imagination.


17th-18th century artists did essentially perfect realism as best they could, only really being outdone when actual photos could be used as a reference.

High end paintings can have individual eyelashes, fingernails, and other fine details done amazingly well.  It's amazing what some of these artists did with fur, facets on gemstones on someone's ring, or lace on garments.

I have this on the wall.  It's six feet wide.  It is a 19th century copy of a Franz Hals.  The detail is great but I'm the sure the original, at 11 or 13 feet wide, is far more amazing.  

I judge paintings based on their level of detail, use of light, and treatment of texture.  Until photos came about, this was mastered in the 1600s.  Not every artist mastered it, but the big dogs did.  

Attached File



And, yes, it seems I'll buy anything with halberds in it.

Oh 'dem teef!

What a masterpiece!

masterpiece in Cappella Sansevero is Il Disinganno, also known Release from Deception, depicting a fisherman entangled in a net,

about a 1/3 of the way down.

https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/12/the-unbelievably-delicate-marble.html

not really.  from the 12th century on, italian painters were developing techniques to render reality more accurately.  For example, giotto rendered depth with light falloff: near things were brightly lit, and distant things were darker.  Later  on, painters developed sfumata, which was more or less a haze effect, with greater distance as more visually attenuated.  then you get into vanishing point perspective, which is a high-fidelity optical effect.  but eventually they got bored with simply copying reality, and began idealizing (like raphael) or going expressive (like michelangelo).  both of those guys could render with extremely high fidelity, but where is the art in that?

realism is a learning phase that painters have to go through in order to become artists.

I'm actually quite relieved I've never been to Naples. If I had, I'd be pissed at myself for not overlooking that place.

I can’t remember the artist but there are several paintings in the Uffizi gallery in Florence from a painter that used single light sources and some multiple light sources whose paintings are really realistic.    

Look up anything from the Renaissance that was done by artists sponsored by the Medicis.   Amazing period of time in Florence.

EDITx3.  Thanks to a poster above!  I began looking and it was Caravaggio  In person those paintings are absolutely amazing.

Here is the linen that the artist Strazza supposedly portrayed in the Veiled Virgin. They're having the damnedest time copying it.


Here's one that predates Strazza's work......

Idk. Maybe that's what people looked like then