Patrick Henry O'Brien was born in Laurium, Michigan, on March 15, 1868. His parents, Mary and Patrick, were immigrants from County Cork, Ireland, who settled in the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan, in 1863. The area was known as Copper County for the prevalent copper mining from the 1850s through the 1960s. Patrick lost both his father and uncle to mining accidents, leading him down a very different path.
Mother M. Frances Krasse left behind a legacy when she passed away from tuberculosis at the age of 46 in 1885. An emigrant from Germany, Mother M. Frances only spent nine years in Illinois. Along with five other Sisters, she arrived in Peoria in 1876 to start a hospital they named called St. Francis Hospital and was appointed the local superior. The following year, they formed a new congregation - Sister of the Third Order of St. Francis of Peoria, with Mother M. Frances serving as the first Mother General.
The Brandywine School of Artists was a group of impressionist and post-impressionist painters who lived and worked in the Brandywine River Valley region, primarily in Delaware and Pennsylvania, from 1870 to 1920. The artists are best known for depicting people residing along the Brandywine River during the late 19th century.
Philadelphia artist Howard Pyle founded the group. He had been a successful illustrator for books and magazines, but he wanted to teach his students more about color, light, form, space, and composition. He started teaching at Drexel Institute in 1885 before founding the Howard Pyle School of Illustration Art. His artistic style influenced many artists, such as N.C. Wyeth, Thornton Oakley, and Frank Schoonover.
Founded in 1837 in Davenport, Iowa, St. Anthony Catholic Church is the second oldest Catholic church west of the Mississippi River. The historic church has evolved over the years, from a small 3-room building shared with the local judicial court and town hall, to merging with neighboring parish St. Mary's Catholic Church in July 2020. As a result of the merger, St. Anthony's has two sets of the Stations of the Cross; one, plaster relief sculptures set in the walls of the church, and the second, large oil paintings from St. Mary's. As John Cooper, Pastoral Associate at St. Anthony Catholic Church shares, "Both sets in their own unique ways, accomplish the artistic purpose of pulling you into the scene with Christ."
Astounding Stories was an American science fiction magazine that began in 1930 when Clayton Publishing launched it to capitalize on the interest in science fiction stories. In the 1930s, it became one of the most popular and influential magazines in the science fiction world; in 1934, it had double the circulation of its science-fiction rivals. While the magazine's title has changed over the years, in 2011, it became the longest-running, continuously published magazine dedicated to the science fiction genre. In fact, the magazine is included in the library of the International Space Station.
In late-2023, construction is scheduled to be completed on the University of Notre Dame's new art museum. The new Raclin Murphy Museum of Art will increase the University's capacity to display its art collection and accept programs that the current facility, the Snite Museum of Art, cannot because of size restrictions. In preparation for the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art opening, select paintings are undergoing treatment by The Conservation Center staff in preparation for display in their new home.
This sunny coastal scene was painted by Michalis Economou, a Greek artist who first learned painting techniques under the tutelage of Konstantinos Volanakis, also known as the “father of Greek seascape painting.” Although living in Paris for nearly 5 years, Economou’s oeuvre consists mainly of serene, rustic landscapes.
A painting by early twentieth-century Chicago artist Marie Blanke was significantly brightened after a good cleaning and a fresh coat of varnish. The original canvas, which was deformed and brittle from age, was flattened with a combination of heat, suction, humidity, and weight techniques, and then strengthened by being lined to a prepared canvas. The painting was put back into its original frame, the miters of which were stabilized.
Art has the incredible ability to take hold of you, transfix you, and then transport you into another state of mind. That’s exactly what happens to one of our clients when he gazes at “The Trinity with the Virgin and Two Donors,” a painting attributed by one expert to Marten de Vos, a Flemish history painter and portraitist of the late 16th century.
As the weather grows colder here in Chicago, we are constantly dreaming of our next getaway. One classic that captures our wanderlust is Audrey Hepburn’s “Roman Holiday.” Unfortunately, Rome is a little far, but luckily, we had the opportunity this month to watch the treatment of a Greco-Roman painting instead.
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