David Teniers the Younger

David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II (15 December 1610 – 25 April 1690) was a Flemish Baroque painter, printmaker, draughtsman, miniaturist painter, staffage painter, copyist and art curator. He was an extremely versatile artist known for his prolific output. He was an innovator in a wide range of genres such as history painting, genre painting, landscape painting, portrait and still life. He is now best remembered as the leading Flemish genre painter of his day. Teniers is particularly known for developing the peasant genre, the tavern scene, pictures of collections and scenes with alchemists and physicians.
He was court painter and the curator of the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, the art loving Governor General of the Habsburg Netherlands. He created a printed catalogue of the collections of the Archduke. He was the founder of the Antwerp Academy, where young artists were trained to draw and sculpt in the hope of reviving Flemish art after its decline following the death of the leading Flemish artists Rubens and Anthony van Dyck in the early 1640s. He influenced the next generation of Northern genre painters as well as French Rococo painters such as Antoine Watteau.
Life.
Initial career in Antwerp.
David Teniers the Younger was born in Antwerp as the son of David Teniers the Elder and Dymphna de Wilde. His father was a painter of altarpieces and small-scale cabinet paintings. Three of his brothers also became painters: Juliaan III (1616–1679), Theodoor (1619–1697) and Abraham (1629–1670). The work of his two oldest brothers is virtually unknown. The work of his youngest brother Abraham was very close to David's own.
From 1626 David the younger studied under his father. A collaborator of his father early on in his career, the father and son pair created together a series of twelve panels recounting stories from Torquato Tasso's epic "Gerusalemme Liberata" (Museo del Prado, Madrid). His father was frequently in financial straits and his debts landed him occasionally in jail. David the younger had to make copies of old masters in order to support the family. In 1632–33 he was registered as 'wijnmeester' (i.e. the son of a master) in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke.
A David Teniers is recorded in the Antwerp records as having been issued in 1635 a passport to visit Paris. The artist likely also travelled to England as on 29 December 1635 of the same year he signed in Dover a contract with the Antwerp art dealer Chrisostomos van Immerseel, then resident in England.
Rubens received in 1636 a commission from the Spanish king Philip IV of Spain to create a series of mythological paintings to decorate the Torre de la Parada, a hunting lodge of the king near Madrid. The mythological scenes depicted in the series were largely based on the Metamorphoses of Ovid. Rubens realized this important commission with the assistance of a large number of Antwerp painters such as Jacob Jordaens, Cornelis de Vos, Jan Cossiers, Peter Snayers, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, Theodoor van Thulden, Jan Boeckhorst, Peeter Symons, Jacob Peter Gowy and others, who worked after Rubens' modellos. Teniers was also invited to participate in this project and make a picture after Rubens' design. That painting is considered lost.
Teniers married into the famous Brueghel artist family when Anna Brueghel, daughter of Jan Brueghel the Elder, became his wife on 22 July 1637. Rubens, who had been the guardian of Anna Brueghel after her father’s death, was a witness at the wedding. Through his marriage Teniers was able to cement a close relationship with Rubens who had been a good friend and frequent collaborator with his wife's father. This is borne out by the fact that at the baptism of the first of the couple's seven children David Teniers III, Rubens' second wife, Hélène Fourment was the godmother. Around this time Teniers started to gain a reputation as an artist and he received many commissions. The Guild of St George (Oude Voetboog Guild), a local militia in Antwerp, commissioned a in 1643 (Hermitage Museum).
Teniers was a dean of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1644–1645. When Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria became the Governor General of the Southern Netherlands in 1647, the Archduke soon became an important patron of Teniers. The success went to the artist's head. He claimed that his grandfather Julian Taisnier, who had moved from Ath (now located in the Walloon province of Hainaut) to Antwerp in the 16th century had been from a family that had been entitled to bear a coat of arms. Teniers started to use this coat of arms consisting of a croaching bear on a field of gold encircled by three green acorns. His brother-in-law Jan Baptist Borrekens reported him and Teniers was prohibited from using the coat of arms.
Court painter in Brussels.
Around 1650 Teniers moved to Brussels to formally enter into the service of the Archduke as a "pintor de cámara" (court painter). The Archduke asked him to be the keeper of the art gallery he had set up in his palace in Brussels. In that position he succeeded the Antwerp painter Jan van den Hoecke who had earlier worked in Vienna for the Archduke. One of Teniers's key tasks in this position was to look after and enlarge the Archducal collection. Teniers put together a collection for the art gallery which included his own work and that of other artists, which he selected. He was involved in the purchase of a large number of Italian, and especially Venetian, masterpieces from the confiscated collections of Charles I of England and his Jacobite supporters. One of his most important successes was the acquisition of the major part (about 400 paintings) of the collection owned by James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, who had been a close associate and favorite of the English King and was, like the King, executed in 1649. The Conde de Fuensaldaña, then acting as Leopold Wilhelm's lieutenant in the Southern Netherlands, also sent Teniers to England in 1651 to purchase paintings at the Pembroke and presumably other sales. The collection of the Archduke grew to incorporate about 1,300 works, mainly of leading Italian artists such as Raphael, Giorgione, Veronese and Titian (15 works by this artist alone) as well as of famous Northern artists such as Hans Holbein the Younger, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Jan van Eyck. The collection became the foundation and nucleus of the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
The Archduke also promoted Teniers's art by giving his compositions to other European rulers as presents. As a result, many of these rulers also became patrons of the artist. The bishop of Ghent Anthonius Triest, the Stadtholder Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange, Christina, Queen of Sweden, William II, Prince of Orange and Philip IV of Spain were among his patrons. Only king Louis XIV of France does not seem to have liked Teniers's work. According to a story, when presented with a peasant scene by Teniers the French king asked for the 'magots' ('baboons') to be removed from his sight as soon as possible.
Teniers bought a house close to the Brussels court and was promoted in 1655 to 'camerdiender' or 'ayuda de cámara' (chamberlain) by the Archduke. It was most unusual for a painter to serve as chamberlain at the Spanish court. In fact, there was only one other case, which dates from the same time: that of Velázquez, whose aim was also to be elevated to the nobility. Not long after the Archduke resigned from his position as Governor General of the Spanish Netherlands and returned to Vienna with his large art collection. A Flemish priest, who was also a gifted still life painter, Jan Anton van der Baren, moved with Leopold Wilhelm from Brussels to Vienna where he was the successor of Teniers as the director of the archducal gallery in Vienna. The new Governor General of the Spanish Netherlands, Don Juan of Austria continued the support for the artist that he had enjoyed from his predecessor the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. The early Flemish biographer Cornelis de Bie reports in his "Het Gulden Cabinet" published in 1662 that Don Juan was an amateur artist who regularly asked Teniers to give him instructions in art. Don Juan was so taken by Teniers that he even drew a portrait of Teniers son.
Teniers's wife died on 11 May 1656. On 21 October of the same year the artist remarried. His second wife was Isabella de Fren, the 32-year-old daughter of Andries de Fren, secretary of the Council of Brabant. It has been suggested that Teniers's main motive for marrying the 'spinster' was her rather elevated position in society. His second wife also brought him a large dowry. The couple had four children, two sons and two boys. His second wife's attitude to Teniers's children from his first marriage would later divide the family in legal battles. Teniers petitioned the king of Spain to be admitted to the aristocracy but gave up when the condition imposed was that he should give up painting for money.
In 1660 Teniers's "Theatrum Pictorium" was published in Brussels. When Don Juan of Austria ended his term as Governor General of the Southern Netherlands in January 1659, Teniers appears to have withdrawn from active court duty. He purchased from the husband of Hélène Fourment, the widow of Rubens, a country estate called the 'Drij Toren' ('Three towers') located in Perk, in the environs of Brussels and Vilvoorde. Teniers did not cut his links with Antwerp while living and working in Brussels. Teniers maintained close contacts with artists as well as the influential art dealers in Antwerp. In particular; the firm of Matthijs Musson was instrumental in building Teniers's international reputation.
At the behest of his Antwerp colleagues of the Guild of Saint Luke, Teniers became the driving force behind the foundation of the Academy in Antwerp, only the second of such type of institution in Europe after the one in Paris. The artist used his connections and sent his son David to Madrid to assist in the negotiation to successfully obtain the required licence from the Spanish King. This involved Teniers's son presenting a very expensive golden watch to one of the courtiers who could influence the Spanish King's decision on the matter. As soon as he received the royal charter creating the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Teniers travelled with it from Brussels to Antwerp and celebrated the accomplishment with a big banquet in the Schilderskamer of the Guild of St. Luke. When in 1674 the existence of the Academy was threatened he again used his influence at the Spanish court to save the institution.
As a court painter Teniers was not required to become member of a local guild. Nevertheless, he became a member of the Brussels Guild of Saint Luke in 1675. In his later years Teniers was also active as an art dealer and he organised art auctions. This brought him into conflict with his fellow artists who started proceedings to prohibit him from holding an auction in 1683. Teniers argued that he needed the proceeds of the auction because his children were suing him for their mother's part of her estate. The matter was finally settled between the parties themselves. In his final years he lost his second wife and was involved in further lawsuits over her estate with the two surviving children of his second wife. There is evidence that in these years he suffered a decline in his prosperity and that his output was diminished.
On 25 April 1690 David Teniers died in Brussels.
His pupils included his son David, Ferdinand Apshoven the Younger, Thomas van Apshoven, Jan de Froey, Aert Maes, Abraham Teniers, and Aert van Waes. Gillis van Tilborgh is also presumed to have studied under Teniers.
Work.
Subjects.
Teniers was known as a hard worker who was extremely prolific. About two thousand paintings are thought to have been painted by the artist. He was extremely versatile and tried his hand at all the genres then practised in Flanders including history, genre, landscape, portrait and still life.
Teniers is particularly known for developing the peasant genre, the tavern scene and scenes with alchemists and physicians. He also painted many religious scenes among which stand out his many compositions treating the subjects of the "Temptation of St Anthony" and hermit saints in grottoes or deserts.
Evolution.
Teniers's early works show the influence of Elsheimer. This influence was transmitted to him through his father, who had studied under Elsheimer in Rome and is regarded as a follower of Elsheimer. Elsheimer was mainly known for his small cabinet paintings characterised by their innovative treatment of landscape and light effects.
Another major influence on David Teniers the Younger's early work was the work of the Flemish painter Adriaen Brouwer. Adriaen Brouwer was working in Antwerp from the mid 1620s to the mid 1630s after an extended residence in Haarlem. He was an important innovator of genre painting through his vivid depictions of peasants, soldiers and other 'lower class' individuals, whom he showed engaged in drinking, smoking, card or dice playing, fighting, music making etc. usually in taverns or rustic settings. Brouwer also contributed to the development of the genre of tronies, i.e. head or facial studies, which investigate varieties of expression. Teniers's early work up to the end of the thirties was very close to that of Brouwer in terms of subject matter, technique, color and composition. He took from Brouwer the gross types, placed in the characteristic smoky, dimly lit taverns. He also treated these subjects with the same monochrome tonality as Brouwer.
The personal style of Teniers was visible from the outset. An important distinction was that unlike Brouwer who placed these genre scenes mainly indoors, Teniers gradually moved his scenes into the open air and started to give the landscape a major place in his work from the 1640s. This was a common development in Flemish painting at the time. The smoky and monochrome tonality of the interiors from the 1630s was replaced by a luminous, silvery atmosphere, in which the peasants sit at their ease, conversing or playing cards. These paintings show a radical move towards a more positive attitude towards country life and the peasantry than was reflected in his earlier satirical pieces influenced by Brouwer.
Teniers's later works such as his (1652, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels) breathe an idyllic Arcadian spirit. The peasant characters have lost their ungainly appearance and people from the higher social classes are now mixed in with the common people. The artist's new status as court painter of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm from 1651 may have contributed to this 'gentrification' of his work. This type of rural scene became very popular. In many of Teniers's late paintings, the excitement of his earlier peasant feasts is gradually replaced by tranquil scenes populated with only a few human figures. In this later period Teniers also adopted a more painterly and looser style.
Teniers's scenes with peasants were so well known that compositions with this subject came to be called 'tenierkens' ('small teniers') and tapestries with peasant scenes were referred to as 'Teniers tapestries'. Teniers did not design any Teniers tapestries himself. Only a few of these tapestries can be directly linked to works by Teniers. Teniers tapestries were particularly popular from the last third of the 17th century and well into the 18th century. The Teniers tapestries were woven by many Brussels weavers and also in other centers such as Lille, Oudenaarde, Beauvais and Madrid.
Country and pastoral landscapes.
In the early 1640s Teniers began to paint more landscape paintings and in these he developed his own pictorial language. He started to focus on the Flemish countryside as a subject in itself rather than solely as a backdrop to his outdoor peasant scenes. In his landscapes he paid particular attention to the variegated light of the Flemish countryside in different weather conditions. In his he included thin, dark clouds, with streaking sun rays piercing through rain and a rainbow in the left background. Along with Rubens, Teniers was among the first Flemish 17th-century artists to include rainbows in his compositions, not for their religious or allegorical meaning, but rather as another means by which to showcase his careful study of nature. Other examples of this include other works from the mid 1640s such as (Hermitage Museum). Teniers depicted real as well as imaginary landscapes. Although he did not intend these works to be topographically accurate, he spent a lot of time sketching in the countryside. This explains why certain motifs recur in his landscape oeuvre.
In the 1660s Teniers started to paint pastoral scenes. It is likely that the increased prominence of rural life and nature in his work of that period was connected to his 1662 purchase of Drij Toren, a country house in Perk in which he maintained a studio. In contrast to the sophisticated compositions he painted as a court painter, the landscapes he painted at Perk stand out by their simplicity. They expressed an Arcadian view of life in the countryside and eulogized the advantages of a peaceful existence on the land. He presented the rural life as happy and carefree. The landscapes themselves were a combination of fantasy and reality. The Arcadian spirit was conveyed through stock motifs such as cattle and sheep, bridges and classical ruins on a hill as well as through the general tonality and style of these works.
Teniers's interest in pastoral paintings has been linked to his ambition to be elevated to the nobility. Agriculture and animal husbandry were regarded as proper occupations of the nobility. An estate in the countryside was therefore a necessary part of the status of nobles of that time. Teniers had himself acquired the country estate Drij Toren in Perk near Rubens' country estate "Het Steen". Teniers painted his own country estate several times. In the (c. 1660, Boughton House) Teniers placed his estate in the center of the composition and included a portrait of his family, servants and tenant farmers at the harvest. He paid homage to Rubens by including Rubens' nearby estate called "Het Steen" in the far distance. He depicted himself in the picture as a country "gentleman", who through his graceful bearing and costly clothing sets himself apart from the servants and toiling peasants in the picture. Teniers also made many paintings of other chateaux and estates. Only a few of the chateaux and estates he represented in these paintings are of known estates. It is believed that they are imaginary creations intended to present a generic view of what a country estate should look like: large, stately and dominating the countryside around it. These paintings often include depictions of the tenant farmers who pay deference to their masters. They thus give expression to the prevalent worldview of the ruling class of his day, of which Teniers aspired to be a part, which was that the good and humble peasant would always show reverence to his noble lord.
Gallery paintings.
Teniers painted 10 paintings representing the collection of the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Brussels. Of these only three are dated. Nine are painted on canvas and one on copper. The paintings are believed to depict a fictitious space rather than the actual location of the Archduke's collection in his Brussels palace. The paintings shown in them, however, are known to have formed part of the Archducal collection.
Teniers's paintings of the Archduke's collection fall into a genre referred to as 'gallery paintings' or 'pictures of collections'. Gallery paintings typically depict large rooms in which many paintings and other precious items are displayed in elegant surroundings. Antwerp artists Jan Brueghel the Elder and Frans Francken the Younger were the first to create paintings of art and curiosity collections in the 1620s. The genre was further developed by Hieronymus Francken the Younger, Willem van Haecht and Hendrik Staben. The genre became immediately popular in Antwerp where many artists practised it in Teniers's time: they included artists such as Jan Brueghel the Younger, Cornelis de Baellieur, Hans Jordaens, Gonzales Coques, Jan van Kessel the Elder and Hieronymus Janssens. Later practitioners included Teniers's presumed pupil Gillis van Tilborgh as well as Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg, Jacob de Formentrou and Balthasar van den Bossche.
Teniers played an important role in the development of the genre of gallery paintings and his mid-17th-century gallery paintings of the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm are among the most famous examples of the genre. The earliest works in this genre depicted art objects together with other items such as scientific instruments or peculiar natural specimens. These paintings expressed the Early Modern culture of curiosity, in which art works and scientific instruments were mixed together in so-called "cabinets of curiosities". The persons populating the galleries in these early works are 'virtuosi' who appear as keen to discuss scientific instruments as to admire an artwork. Teniers transformed the genre in the mid 17th century by moving away from the depiction of "cabinets of curiosities" to depicting art galleries, and in particular the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. In the final, 'late' phase of the genre from c. 1660 to 1690, artists such as Teniers's pupil Gillis van Tilborgh went further in removing non-art objects from the gallery and introduced figures in the gallery setting who claimed elite status by virtue of their knowledge of (and, as in some cases artists are present, ability to produce) art.
Teniers first depicted Archduke Leopold Wilhelm with his collection in two pictures dated 1651 (one in Petworth House and the other in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium). The only other dated gallery painting by Teniers is dated 1653. The fact that the other gallery paintings of Teniers are not dated has made it difficult to establish a chronology and evolution of his work in this genre. Two of the ten known gallery paintings with Archduke Leopold Wilhelm have similar compositions and include the same paintings: the large, undated canvas in the Kunsthistorisches Museum likely followed the equally large painting dated 1651 in Petworth House. The others are all independently composed and display different works or when the same works are included they are hung in a different order. Although Teniers's gallery paintings depict pictures known to have been part of the Archduke's collection, the precise arrangements in which he depicted those pictures is believed to be fictional. Teniers strove in these paintings to arrive at a visual survey of the collection. Some of the paintings show the Archduke visiting the collection accompanied by courtiers and other art collectors. Teniers included in some a portrait of himself apparently in the act of providing his patron some explanation on a particular work of art in the collection. In the "Archduke Leopold Willem in his gallery at Brussels" (c. 1650, Kunsthistorisches Museum) Teniers included a portrait of Jan Anton van der Baren (the third man from the right) who later followed the Archduke upon his return to Vienna where he took over Teniers's role as director and cataloger of the Archduke's collection.
It is likely that these gallery paintings of the Archduke's collection were painted to memorialize and eulogize it and anyone associated with it. The gallery painting with Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Peftord House was made on copper. This was unusual for a picture of such a large size and was presumably done so that the Archduke could send it as a present to Philip IV of Spain. By sending this work to Philip IV, the Archduke may have intended to pay homage to his uncle as a prominent connoisseur of Italian painting known for his large collection at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid. His secondary intention may have been to demonstrate to the King that his collection in Brussels could emulate the King's collection in Madrid. As in the 17th century the power of a prince was no longer judged solely based on his military success, but even more so on his taste in, and appreciation of, art, the Archduke thus wanted to show that he could hold his own against the King.
Teniers also painted a few gallery paintings showing artists at work or cognoscenti inspecting a collection. An example is (At Sotheby's New York, 24 January 2002, lot 169). These gallery paintings are heavy with symbolism and allegory and are a reflection of the intellectual preoccupations of the age, including the cultivation of personal virtue and the importance of connoisseurship. They accentuate the notion that the powers of discernment associated with connoisseurship are socially superior to or more desirable than other forms of knowing. Teniers also created an allegorical or satirical interpretation of a gallery painting in the drawing (British Museum). The drawing is clearly a pun on the popular 'art as the ape of nature' present in many pictures of collections through the inclusion of a monkey among the art lovers.
"Theatrum pictorium".
During his tenure as keeper of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm's collection, Teniers undertook the preparation and publication of the first ever illustrated catalog of old master paintings. His brother Abraham Teniers was involved in organizing the publication of the work. The first official publication of the work in bound book format was published by Hendrick Aertssens in Brussels in 1660 (although the title page states the date as 1658). The title page of the book refers to it as 'Hoc Amphiteatrum Picturarum' ('This amphitheatre of pictures'). The publication is now often referred to as "Theatrum pictorium" ('Theatre of Paintings'). The cover of the "Theatrum pictorium" contained a bust portrait of the Archduke with a dedication to the Archduke as well as introductions in Latin, French, Spanish and Dutch. The title page clarifies that Teniers funded the publication project out of his own pocket. The Theatrum pictorium was published in four languages (Latin, French, Dutch, and Spanish) and further editions appeared in 1673 and 1688 and in the 18th century. The last edition was published in 1755.
The publication comprised 246 engravings of important Italian paintings in the art collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. While the project was initially planned to include the entire collection of the Archduke, the Archduke returned to Vienna before the project was completed. As a result, ultimately only a series of 246 plates was produced, of which 243 depicted about half of the Italian paintings then owned by the Archduke).
In the preparation of this project, Teniers first painted reduced "modelli" after the original works on panels of roughly 17 by 25 in dimensions. These were then engraved on the same scale by a pool of 12 engravers. Teniers used full colour in the modelli, rather than grisaille. This could mean that he intended these reproductions to function as independent records of some of these Italian paintings in the Archduke's collection. From the many modelli, which have been preserved, it is obvious that Teniers's copies constitute a true record of the originals even while he left out details and painted them in his typical fluid and transparent manner. The engraving of the catalog by engravers who worked after the modelli, not the originals, was started by 1656. In the 17th century there existed no efficient method for inverting images. As a result, most of the prints in the catalog are reverse images of the originals. Each print gives the name of the author of the original work on the left hand side (indicated by the letter 'p' for 'pinxit', Latin for 'painted by') and the engraver of the print on the right hand side (indicated by the letter 's' for 'sculpsit', Latin for 'engraved by'). Some editions also indicated the original dimensions of the paintings.
Teniers's modelli and the "Theatrum pictorium" serve as a record for some important paintings the whereabouts of which are currently unknown. For instance, the modelli in the Metropolitan Museum of Art of the attributed by Teniers to Correggio and the after Padovanino are the most important records of these lost paintings.
The "Theatrum Pictorium" had an important impact on the manner in which collections were organised, appreciated and published and continued to be used as a reference book during the 18th century.
Singeries.
Teniers contributed to the spread of the genre of the 'monkey scene', also called 'singerie' (which in French means a 'comical grimace, behaviour or trick' and is derived from 'singe', the French word for monkey). Comical scenes with monkeys appearing in human attire and a human environment are a pictorial genre that was initiated in Flemish painting in the 16th century and was subsequently further developed in the 17th century. Monkeys were regarded as shameless and impish creatures and excellent imitators of human behaviour. These depictions of monkeys enacting various human roles were a playful metaphor for all the folly in the world. In 16th century visual and literary sources, the image of the monkey was typically used to symbolise the unreasonable and foolish aspect of human nature. It is this quality that Teniers refers to in his (1633, private collection) in which he included a chained monkey in fool's clothes who is looking through a telescope from the wrong end. In addition, monkeys were associated with the Antichrist and the Devil and regarded as the opposite of god. In Dürer's print the Virgin, who represents holiness, is contrasted with the monkey chained at her feet who symbolizes evil.
The Flemish engraver Pieter van der Borcht introduced the singerie as an independent theme around 1575 in a series of prints, which were strongly embedded in the artistic tradition of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. These prints were widely disseminated and the theme was then picked up by other Flemish artists. The first one to do so was the Antwerp artist Frans Francken the Younger, who was quickly followed by Jan Brueghel the Elder, the Younger and Sebastiaen Vrancx. David Teniers the Younger, following in the footsteps of his father-in-law Jan Brueghel the Elder, became the principal practitioner of the genre and developed it further with his younger brother Abraham Teniers. The two brothers were able to cater to the prevailing taste in the art market and were thus instrumental in spreading the genre outside Flanders. Later in the 17th century Nicolaes van Verendael started to paint these 'monkey scenes' as well.
Teniers painted singeries in two distinctive periods. During the first period in the early 1630s he was still working in Antwerp. He returned to the subject in the 1660s when he was working in Brussels as the court painter of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. In the early period Teniers's singeries typically depicted monkeys as soldiers. From this period dates his (1633, private collection). Monkey soldiers are shown enjoying themselves in front of a tent set up on what is likely a town square with a landscape in the distance. Food and wine are in abundant supply. On the tent is pinned an image of an owl with spectacles. The owl recalls the Flemish proverb 'wat baten kaars en bril als de uil niet zien en lezen wil' ('what good are candle and spectacles if the owl does not want to see and read'). The "Festival of monkeys" can be regarded as a criticism of the role of 'fools in high places'. Teniers evidently identified close with the singerie genre in this early period of his career as two monkey scenes – the "Guardroom with monkeys" and the "Festival of monkeys" – are reproduced in his self-portrait of 1635, known as "The Artist in his studio" (private collection, a was sold at Sotheby's New York sale of 27 May 2004 as lot 16). The artist is shown sitting in front of an easel holding his brush and palette. In an exceptions combination of the genre of artist studio and gallery painting, some young connoisseurs are visiting the artist's studio and are examining some of his works.
Guardroom scenes.
Teniers painted several guardroom scenes or "corps de garde" such as "The Sentinel" (1642). A guardroom scene is a type of genre scene that became popular in the mid-17th century, particularly in the Dutch Republic. In Flanders Teniers was one of the principal practitioners of the genre together with his brother Abraham, Anton Goubau, Cornelis Mahu and Jan Baptist Tijssens the Younger.
A guardroom scene typically depicts an interior scene with officers and soldiers engaged in merrymaking. Guardroom scenes often included mercenaries and prostitutes dividing booty, harassing captives or indulging in other forms of reprehensible activities. Many of Tenier's guardroom interiors date to the mid-1640s and are painted on copper. The subject of the guardroom and its contents such as armor, colorful flags and banners, saddles, drums, pistols allowed Teniers to showcase his brilliance as a still life painter. Teniers also used the subject to demonstrate his ability to use light to achieve a perfect representation of the quality of painted objects.
The armour depicted in the guardroom pictures was already out of date at the time it was painted since metal armours, breast plates and helmets fell out of use from the 1620s. It is possible that in line with the moralizing intent of the genre, the armour is a reference to the vanitas motif of the transience of power and fame.
In one of his guardroom interiors referred to as (At Sotheby's London sale of 7 July 2010, lot 12) Teniers included his own portrait at about 36 years of age. The artist has dossed himself out as an officer wearing an exotic fur-trimmed coat and a fur hat with plume. This self-portrait within this picture may have been intended as a tronie, which often depicted a stock character in an exotic costume. Teniers combined the genres of singerie and guardroom scene in the composition (Private collection). At a first glance, the Guardroom with Monkeys is no different from other guardroom scenes. It is clear from the round moon above the door that the scene is set late at night. The off-duty monkeys have removed their armor, stowed their pikes and rolled up their company flag and placed it against the far wall. Like their human counterparts, the monkey soldiers are loitering about, some of them are drinking and smoking, others are playing games. At the door a cat wearing respectable civilian clothes is led into the room by two monkeys who restrain it. The contrast between the properly dressed cat and the bizarre outfit of the monkey soldiers, one of which is wearing a funnel on his head while another has an upturned pot on his head, raises doubt as to the legitimacy of the monkeys' authority. As was customary in singeries, the dress and behaviour of the monkeys highlight the foolishness of human undertakings. Teniers may also have intended to criticize the bloated military in the Southern Netherlands in the 1630s.
Physicians and alchemists.
The theme of physicians and alchemists was popular in 17th century Flemish and Dutch genre painting. Teniers was the principal contributor to this genre and its iconography in Flanders. The view of the public towards practitioners of either craft was ambivalent. Physicians and alchemists were regarded either as quacks or charlatans using deception to seek material gain or as persons seriously committed to the pursuit of knowledge. The ambivalence of this attitude was reflected in the artistic representations of physicians and alchemists. The first approach was to satirise the alchemist and turn him into a symbol of human folly. The artists would stress that the alchemist's research into creating gold from base metals was solely driven by a sinful pursuit of personal gain. Symbolism was used to show that alchemists were wasting precious time and money, and in the process sacrificed the well-being of their families. In his famous dated to 1658 (Kupferstichkabinett Berlin) Pieter Brueghel the Elder depicted the alchemist as recklessly extravagant and wasteful in the use of resources. This drawing set the standard for the imagery of alchemists that was adopted by 17th century artists such as Jan Steen, David Rijckaert III and Adriaen van Ostade. In the 1640s Teniers created the second imagery of the alchemist. Teniers portrayed the alchemist as a learned and humble scientist diligently pursuing his research in his laboratory crowded with instruments. In the laboratory one or two assistants typically assist the alchemist with the performance of an experiment. Teniers's (between circa 1640 and circa 1650, Mauritshuis) is an example of one of his alchemist laboratory scenes, which is devoid of the symbols of self-deception and consequent misery that Breughel had associated with alchemy, such as empty purses or tearful families. Teniers's new way of depicting alchemists was followed by contemporary artists such as Thomas Wijck, Frans van Mieris the Elder, Jacob Toorenvliet and Cornelis Bega.
While alchemists were mainly concerned with transmutation of base metals into more noble ones, their endeavors were wider and also involved the use of their techniques to diagnose or cure people (the so-called 'iatrochemistry', which aimed to provide chemical solutions to diseases and medical ailments). There was therefore an overlap with the role of physicians. One of the popular methods of medical diagnosis was the so-called 'uroscopy', the analysis of the urine of a patient. Whereas this was considered a valid diagnostic method in the Middle Ages its validity had come under attack by more modern-minded physicians in the 17th century. The practice of uroscopy and the questions surrounding its use by medical practitioners were the impetus for genre paintings on the theme of the 'piskijker' ('pee examiner'). They typically showed the inspection by a physician or a quack of a flask of urine provided by a young woman. If the inspection revealed the image of a fetus this was proof that the woman was pregnant. It is assumed that the genre was started by Adriaen Brouwer and that a now lost work of Brouwer inspired Teniers and Gerard ter Borch to paint works in this genre.
An example of Teniers's contribution to the genre is the composition "" (1640s, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium), which shows a man examining a urine flask for the purpose of medical diagnosis while an anxious peasant woman is looking on. Teniers also depicted physicians performing various operations such as foot and back operations.
Still lifes.
Teniers is not generally known as a still life painter. Nevertheless, many of his interiors include elaborate still lifes, some of them painted by specialist still life painters, others painted by Teniers himself. The subject of the guardroom and all its trappings such as armor, colorful flags and banners, saddles, drums and pistols gave Teniers ample opportunity to showcase his capabilities as a still life painter. This can be seen in the (c. 1645–47, Metropolitan Museum of Art).
A few independent still life paintings have also been attributed to Teniers. One of the most accomplished ones of these is the (At Sotheby's on 5 December 2007, lot 5).The work is dated to the mid-1630s on stylistic grounds. This work seems to show the influence of the Dutch monochrome still life painters. In particular, its simplicity and studied informality and the use of subtle muted colours bring to mind the work of contemporary artists from Leiden and Haarlem. However, is not clear whether Teniers was in fact directly influenced by these artists, and if so how. No similar still life paintings are known in Antwerp at this early date. At the time Teniers created this still life painting, the principal influence on him was Adriaen Brouwer, who had returned from Haarlem to Antwerp around 1631-2. To date Brouwer is not known to have been active as a painter of still lifes. While Teniers's early work also reveals his knowledge of Dutch artists in Rotterdam such as Pieter de Bloot and the Saftleven brothers, none of these artists were still life painters. The still life may possibly reflect the influence of the important Dutch still life painter Jan Davidsz. de Heem, who had arrived in Antwerp in 1635, the year this picture was made.
Collaborations.
Collaboration between artists specialized in distinctive genres was a defining feature of artistic practice in 17th-century Antwerp. Teniers was likewise a frequent collaborator with fellow artists. His collaborators included Lucas van Uden, Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Adriaen van Utrecht, Jacques d'Arthois, his nephew Jan van Kessel the Younger and Gualterus Gysaerts.
An example of such a collaboration is the , which depicts a kitchen in which two men appear to be roasting meat and fish. The left foreground of the painting is dominated by a bouquet of flowers and a still life of game; which were painted by Antwerp still life specialists Nicolaes van Verendael and Carstian Luyckx.
Teniers collaborated on a series of twenty copper panels commissioned by two members of the Moncada family, a noble Catalan family. The panels illustrate the deeds of Guillermo Ramón Moncada and Antonio Moncada, two brothers from the Moncada House who lived at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th century in Sicily. Five prominent Flemish artists collaborated on the panels. Of 12 scenes devoted to Guillermo Ramón Moncada, Willem van Herp painted six, Luigi Primo five and Adam Frans van der Meulen one. Teniers was responsible for all eight panels describing the deeds of Antonio Moncada. He painted them not long after the first part of the series had been finished. Jan van Kessel the Elder, a nephew of Teniers and a still life specialist, realised the decorative borders framing each episode.
Garland paintings.
Another example of a collaborative painting made by Teniers is the composition (c. 1660–1670, Louvre). In this work Teniers collaborated again with his nephew Jan van Kessel the Elder who painted a decorative garland representing the four elements around a cartouche showing a young man blowing soap bubbles, which was painted by Teniers. The young man blowing bubbles and the elements in the garland surrounding him such as the flowers, the dead fish and the armor and flags are all references to the theme of vanitas, i.e. the transience of life and the worthless nature of all earthly goods and pursuits.
This type of painting belongs to the genre of the 'garland painting', which was invented and developed by Teniers's father-in-law Jan Brueghel the Elder in the first two decades of the 17th century. Garland paintings typically show a flower garland around a devotional image or portrait. Other artists involved in the early development of the genre included Hendrick van Balen, Andries Danielsz., Peter Paul Rubens and Daniel Seghers. The genre was initially connected to the visual imagery of the Counter-Reformation movement. The genre was further inspired by the cult of veneration and devotion to Mary prevalent at the Habsburg court (then the rulers over the Southern Netherlands) and in Antwerp generally. The earliest specimens of the genre often include a devotional image of Mary in the cartouche but in later examples the image in the cartouche could be religious as well as secular as is the case of Teniers's "The Soap Bubbles".
In 1676 Teniers collaborated with his nephew or cousin Gualterus Gysaerts, a still life painter, on a series of 19 garland paintings depicting the martyrs of Gorkum. The series was made for the Minorite Church in Mechelen following the beatification of the martyrs on 9 July 1676. Teniers painted the monochrome bust portrait of each martyr in a cartouche while Gysaerts painted the cartouche and the flower garland surrounding it. Of these paintings, eight are known still to exist, , is in the Rijksmuseum. Both Gysaerts and Teniers signed the painting in the Rijksmuseum.
Influence.
Teniers's genre paintings were influential on northern painters of the 17th century. His work was easily accessible to other artists as he was one of the most reproduced artists of his time and prints after his work were produced in large quantities. In Flanders he influenced his pupil Gillis van Tilborgh and David Rijckaert III. In the Dutch Republic Thomas Wijck, Frans van Mieris the Elder, Jacob Toorenvliet and Cornelis Bega were influenced by his scenes of alchemists.
In the 18th century, Parisian collectors eagerly competed to lay their hands on Teniers's works. They knew the artist chiefly for his idealized scenes of rural life, paintings of village feasts, interiors with peasants and guardroom scenes. Teniers's work was very much admired by French painters of that time, particularly Antoine Watteau. Without Teniers's influence it is unlikely that Watteau would have developed his typical style and subjects. In particular the village feasts of Teniers had shown the way for Watteau in the development of his "fêtes galantes", which featured figures in ball dress or masquerade costumes disporting themselves amorously in parkland settings. In the 18th century, Watteau was commonly described as the 'French Teniers', thus showing that the comparison between the two artists contributed to Watteau's success. Other French painters of this time who were influenced by Teniers include Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Étienne Jeaurat and Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Some art historians see a direct link between Teniers's and Chardin's based on thematic as well as compositional similarities.


The Royal

The Royal is a British period medical drama produced by ITV and aired normally on Sundays in the early evening slot; episodes after 21 June 2009 were also broadcast on ITV HD. The show consisted of eight series of one-hour episodes and was broadcast on ITV from 2003 until the show was cancelled in 2011, with repeats continuing on ITV3. The show is set in the 1960s and focuses on the fictional "St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital", an NHS hospital serving the fictional rural seaside town of Elsinby and its surrounding area. The show is as a spin-off of ITV's period police drama series "Heartbeat" featuring characters from "Heartbeat" during the first three series, before dropping any "Heartbeat" character guest appearances. However Dr Omerod, Dr Wheatherill, Alun Morris, Lizzie Hopkirk and Sister Brigid all first appeared in "Heartbeat" and remained in "The Royal" until the end.
The show itself was shot within Whitby, Scarborough, City of Bradford and the North Riding of Yorkshire, and stars of "The Royal" included Ian Carmichael, Wendy Craig, Robert Daws, and Amy Robbins. The show itself generated its own spin-off, entitled "The Royal Today", which used the same settings but in the present day.
Overview.
The setting of "The Royal" was first introduced as part of the story for the 14th episode of the 12th series of "Heartbeat" entitled "Out of the Blue", in which the hospital was used to treat "Heartbeat" character Vernon Scripps and several people of Aidensfield. The benefit of this and its connection to the show, helped it to gain its own series, though it initially began as a spin-off with several characters from "Heartbeat" appearing in episodes as part of its main plots or side story; the most prominent of these appearances were Claude Greengrass (Bill Maynard), PC Alfred "Alf" Ventress (William Simons), and PC Philip "Phil" Bellamy (Mark Jordon). By the end of the third series, the show's ties to "Heartbeat" were discontinued, with the show's production team working to make it into its own entity by the fourth series. Unlike its former parent show, "The Royal" uses the song "Somebody Help Me" by The Spencer Davis Group as it main theme tune, with an instrumental version playing over the ending credits.
The majority of the plots in each episode centred around medical emergencies or a serious medical case, and often featured moral dilemmas created or exposed by these matters. Additional story-lines also included staff members dealing with personal problems or issues, and an occasional side-story in a similar vein to "Heartbeat". While the show tended to avoid political topics on the whole (the Vietnam War was briefly featured in one episode), its main themes focused and centred upon the conflict between progressive and conservative social ideals, as well as the ethical challenges and social changes faced by the hospital's staff, a reflection of its setting and what was faced by the world in the 1960s. Although the setting used includes references to 1960s events, such as the coming of colour television, like "Heartbeat" the show featured a number of anachronisms, such as the use of "a glass ceiling", an expression not coined until some years later.
Set roughly twenty years after the creation of the National Health Service, a theme running through the series is the previously independent hospital's attempts at preserving its methods and standards within a National Health Service portrayed as bureaucratic and concerned more with efficiencies than patient care.
Filming.
Filming of the interior scenes of "St. Aiden's" utilised both The Leeds Studios and St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, the latter of which was chosen because it had not been updated in many years, and retained the appearance of what a hospital would appear like in the 1960s. The exterior scenes of the fictional hospital used the Red Court building on Holbeck Road, within Scarborough's South Cliff, and included the nearby park area and Holbeck Clock Tower; scenes were shot during the summer months. The remaining scenes outside the hospital covered the area of the North Riding of Yorkshire, including Whitby and Scarborough.
Ratings.
Below is the list of ratings of The Royal, giving an overall result for each series.
"The Royal Today".
In 2007, ITV commissioned a daytime spin-off of "The Royal", entitled "The Royal Today". The spin-off focused on the same settings of the main show, but set in the present day with a new cast of characters. The show ran for one series in 2008 between 7 January to 14 March. The show was axed due to low ratings.
End of production.
Speculation surrounding the future of both "Heartbeat" and "The Royal" began in 2009, when ITV announced on 4 March that a loss of £2.7 billion was forcing it to make cutbacks in employment numbers, the biggest of which were made at ITV Yorkshire Studios. Many raised concerns that the shows were to be axed, after reports were made to that effect in early January, though a spokesperson stated later that the production of the shows was simply "resting". No official news was given that the show was axed, but like "Heartbeat", the series ended with a cliffhanger surrounding one of its main characters, when the final episode was aired on 31 July 2011.


The 70s (TV series)

The 70s is a British documentary television series about the 1970s. It was broadcast on BBC Two in four episodes and was presented by Dominic Sandbrook.
Episode 1: Get It On, 70–72.
Air date: 16 April 2012
Episode 2: Doomwatch, 73–74.
Air date: 23 April 2012
Episode 3: Goodbye Great Britain, 75–77.
Air date: 30 April 2012
Episode 4: The Winner Takes It All, 77–79.
Air date: 7 May 2012
Reception.
The first episode was watched by around 2.7 million people (an audience share of 10.3%).
Nigel Farndale of the "Sunday Telegraph" gave it four stars out of five, saying Sandbrook "knows his subject", with the series being entertaining as well as having "a big idea at the core" — that the decade inspired Thatcherism.


The Pagan Queen

The Pagan Queen is a 2009 historical drama film directed by German director Constantin Werner. The film combines realism with fantasy elements and is based on the legend of Libuše, the Czech tribal queen of 8th century Bohemia who envisioned the city of Prague and founded the first Czech dynasty with a farmer called Přemysl, the Ploughman.
Plot.
After her father, the great chieftain Krok (Ivo Novák) dies, the tribes of the Bohemian forests elect his youngest daughter Libuše (Winter Ave Zoli) as their new ruler. Together with her two beautiful sisters, the healer Kazi (Veronika Bellová) and the priestess Teta (Vera Filatova) and an army of women under the command of her best friend, the Amazon Vlasta (Lea Mornar), Libuše guides her people with the power of her visionary abilities. A seer by nature, she can travel into the Otherworld, the land of the death, from where she returns with predictions of the future and answers for people in need.
During her reign Libuse envisions the city of Prague at the Vltava river, starts mining in the rich Bohemian mountains and helps her farmers to fight a deadly plague. She also starts a secret affair with the charismatic ploughman Přemysl (Csaba Lucas).
When the peaceful community of farmers is under attack by raiders and split into different parties of power hungry landowners under the guidance of their plotting chieftains Domaslav (Pavel Kríz) and Vrsovec (Marek Vašut), Libuše is eventually forced into marriage by her own people. Desperate, she elects Přemysl to become her husband and king. Soon Přemysl takes over the new kingdom and rules with an iron fist, enslaving the formerly free farmers.
But Libuše's friend Vlasta, who loves her since childhood, refuses to follow the new leader and with her maiden army declares war on the men of Bohemia. After Vlasta kills Ctirad [Mirek Hrabé), a popular warrior and blinds Domaslav, Přemysl meets Vlasta in a showdown and kills her. At the same time Libuše gives birth to his son Nezamysl.
The film ends with Libuše diving into the river Vltava which symbolizes her becoming a legend.
Story sources.
The English language screenplay by Irish writer/director Lance Daly and director Constantin Werner was based on the 18th and 19th century romantic German fairytales and plays by Johann Karl August Musäus, Clemens Brentano and Franz Grillparzer who emphasize the supernatural elements of the story and combine that with psychology and philosophy, as well as on the 1894 publication Old Bohemian Legends (Staré pověsti české) by Czech author Alois Jirásek.
The film recreates the pagan, pre-Christian time period of the so-called Dark Ages and shows the transition from a pagan matriarchate to a modern patriarchate. It is also a passionate love story between two lovers from different social status, a queen and a ploughman, who meet in a time when the old ways of the Slavic tribes were coming to an end.
Locations.
The entire film was shot on location in the Czech Republic using reconstructions of Slavic settlements for the buildings in the story.
Release history and critical reception.
The film had its premiere at the October 2009 Estepona Fantastic Film Festival/Spain where it won the Silver Unicorn award for best original film music.
It was released theatrically in the Czech Republic in October 2009 by Atyp Film where it ran in movie theaters until January 2010. Since then it has been sold to over a dozen countries. It was released in Russia and the Russian speaking countries on DVD November 2009 by Lizard Trade and in the US on June 29, 2010 by Vanguard Cinema. It was released in the German-speaking countries on September 9, 2010 by Eurovideo and in Australia
and New Zealand February 23, 2011 by Gryphon Entertainment.
The critical reception in the Czech Republic was very negative. Many Czech critics like Frantisek Fuka attacked every aspect of the film, some even the hair color of the lead actress, as they didn't feel that the film represented their traditional view of the story and characters. The film was also rejected by the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
In the United States the film's reception was much better. Ian Jane from AV Maniacs called it ""a nicely made picture with some beautiful camera work and strong performances. It plays around with some interesting themes quite effectively and makes for a decidedly different type of film all together" and the Pagan Newswire Collective called it "a beautiful and realistic look at early medieval paganism"".
Music.
The orchestral score for "The Pagan Queen" was written by German composer Benedikt Brydern and recorded in Prague with a full symphonic orchestra. The main theme of the film was quoted from Antonín Leopold Dvořák, "Romance in F minor", Op. 11.The score won the Silver Unicorn Award for Best Music at the 10th Estepona International Horror and Fantasy Film Festival in Estepona, Spain in 2009.
2018 New version.
The film was remastered with a new director's cut in 2019 and is now included in Amazon Prime and other streaming services.


Saints and Strangers

Saints and Strangers is a book by George F Willison published in 1945 by "Reynal & Hitchcock", New York.
Its full title, Saints and Strangers - Being the Lives of the Pilgrim Fathers & Their Families, with Their Friends & Foes: & and Account of Their Posthumous Wanderings in Limbo, Their Final Resurrection & Rise to Glory, & the Strange Pilgrimages of Plymouth Rock, is a fair description of this historical account.
The book includes an appendix listing names and data of the many "saints and strangers" involved as described in the title.
A softback edition published by "Time-Life Books" is commonly found in thrift and used book stores.


What the Romans Did for Us

What the Romans Did for Us, is a 2000 BBC documentary series "looking at the innovations and inventions brought to Britain by the Romans". The title of the programme is derived from the cult film "Monty Python's Life of Brian", referencing the famous scene where the People's Front of Judea discuss (itself based on a Mishnaic discourse by Rabbi Shimon) "What have the Romans done for us?"
Production.
In 2003, the series was re-edited into 10-minute sections for broadcast as programme fillers.
Reception.
Awards.
Nominated for "Best Feature" at the British Academy Television Awards 2001.


Black Hearts in Battersea

Black Hearts in Battersea is a children's novel by Joan Aiken first published in 1964. The second book in the Wolves Chronicles, it is loosely a sequel to her earlier "Wolves of Willoughby Chase". The book is set in a slightly altered historical England—during the reign of King James III—in the early 19th century, and follows the adventures of Simon, an orphan whose plans to study painting in London are derailed by high adventure. Aiken was inspired to create an atmosphere of important events having already transpired offstage (which was helped by the fact that a great deal of the beginning had to be left out due to length), and also included an involved "Dickensian plot" which she believed to complement the habit many children have of rereading or having a book reread to them.
TV adaptation.
In 1995, the book was adapted by James Andrew Hall into a television series by James Andrew Hall, airing on BBC1 from 31 December 1995 to 11 February 1996.
Radio adaptation.
A BBC Radio dramatisation by Lin Coghlan, directed by Marc Beeby, of Joan Aiken's classic children's adventure. Starring Joe Dempsie as Simon, Nicola Miles-Wilden as Dido, and Emerald O'Hanrahan as Sophie.
Part One:
Young Simon comes to 18th century London to study painting - and finds himself caught up in wicked Hanoverian plots to overthrow the King.
Broadcasts: BBC Radio 4, 14:15 Wed 23 Dec.2009. 14:15 Wed 21 Dec.2011.
Part Two:
To save the King from Hanoverian plotters Simon and Sophie must first suffer shipwreck, attacks by wolves and a narrow escape from an exploding castle, in a hot air balloon.
Broadcasts: BBC Radio 4, 14:15, Thu 24 Dec.2009. 14:15, Thu 22 Dec.2011.


Jan Thomas van Ieperen

Jan Thomas or Jan Thomas van Ieperen (5 February 1617 – 6 September 1673) was a Flemish Baroque painter, draughtsman and printmaker. He was first active in Antwerp where he worked in the workshop of Rubens. He later became court painter at the Habsburg court in Vienna. He is known for his portraits of the rulers of Austria as well as for his pastoral, mythological and religious scenes.
Life.
Jan Thomas was born in Ypres, Flanders. Ypres is called Ieper and Ieperen in Flemish. The addition 'van Ieperen', which means 'from Ypres' was added to his name to indicate this.
Little is known about the artist's training. The 17th century Flemish biographer Cornelis de Bie wrote in his "Het Gulden Cabinet" that Jan Thomas was a pupil of Peter Paul Rubens. There is evidence that he spent time in Rubens' workshop at the end of Rubens' life or shortly thereafter. There are stylistic grounds to consider Thomas as a pupil of Rubens as he was familiar with Rubens' late works and translated some of them to smaller scale paintings. Modern scholarship tends to regard Jan Thomas as one of the many collaborators in Rubens' workshop who assisted with large commissions such as the decorations for the Torre de la Parada, the hunting lodge of the Spanish king (1636-1638). It is possible that upon Rubens' death Thomas was the 'primer official' of Rubens' workshop, i.e. the chief assistant in charge of executing paintings after the designs of the master.
Jan Thomas became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1639/1640. Two years later he acquired Antwerp citizenship. In 1641/1642 he took Andris Lamberechts]] on as an apprentice. The next year Andries de Coninck and Jacob Sons joined his workshop as pupils. In 1642 he married Maria Cnobbaert, daughter of the Antwerp book dealer Joannes Cnobbaert. In 1652 Jan Thomas' third child was baptized in the St. James' Church in Antwerp, which is evidence that he was then still living in that city.
It is believed that Jan Thomas left Antwerp in 1654 to work as a painter for the bishop of Mainz Johann Philipp von Schönborn one of the important courts at that time. Jan Baptist de Ruel was his pupil during his stay in this city. Around 1658 he was in Frankfurt at the time of the coronation of Leopold I as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and painted a (now lost) portrait of the emperor. In that period he also received commissions from the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. From the latter part of the 1650s Jan Thomas certainly lived with his family in Vienna. He is documented in Vienna when a child of his was baptized there on 8 December 1663. He is recorded living in the Kärtnerstrasse in 1667. In Vienna he received commissions from the imperial court and painted the portraits of Leopold I and his wife Margaret Theresa in theater costume. These portraits were made at the occasion of the celebrations surrounding the marriage of the imperial couple in 1666.
Jan Thomas also received commissions from the higher clergy and the aristocracy, such as the House of Zrinski or Zrínyi. He painted a of the general and poet Miklós Zrínyi a few years before Zrínyi's death in 1664.
He died from a stroke in Vienna on 6 September 1673.
Work.
In addition to large religious history paintings, Jan Thomas painted landscapes with mythological or pastoral figures and portraits. He made a large number of portraits of Leopold William and Emperor Leopold I and other members of the royal and aristocratic families in the Habsburg territories.
His style shows a close relationship to that of Rubens, in particular that of Rubens' later work which was sent directly to Spain. This is evidence that he likely worked in Rubens' workshop at the end of the master's life and/or just after his death. Like his contemporary Frans Wouters, many of his works translate the monumental Baroque style of Peter Paul Rubens into the small context of cabinet paintings. This is particularly obvious in his biblical paintings in which he regularly cites from Rubens' works. In his small-scale mythological scenes his style is more reminiscent of the late Mannerist style of Frans Francken the Younger.
His life-size portraits, which he already made during his stay in Vienna, are consistent with the elegant and, at the same time, decorative portrait style created by Flemish artists working in Vienna in the second half of the 17th century. An example is the (1668, Kunsthistorisches Museum).
Around 1658 Jan Thomas began to work in the new medium of the mezzotint. One of these works in mezzotint is a portrait of Titian from 1661, which was dedicated to Empress Eleonora, widow of the father of Leopold I, Emperor Ferdinand III. Besides engravings in mezzotint Jan Thomas also worked as an etcher and engraver. He made engravings of his own compositions as well as of the works of other artists such as Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Gerard Dou and Giovanni Ambrogio Figino. In his graphic work he also made genre and allegorical works as in the (Rijksmuseum), which was published by Frans van den Wyngaerde. It shows a sitting woman with an older woman behind her in a confined area. The younger woman holds the portrait of a man in her one hand and an arrow in her other. On the dressing table in front of her are placed a ring, a comb and scissors. This may be a pure genre scene or a vanitas allegory reminding the viewer of the temporary nature of all humanly endeavors.


Maria egiziaca

 ("Saint Mary of Egypt") is an opera in one act, in three episodes, by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. The libretto, by Claudio Guastalla, is based on a Medieval life of Saint Mary of Egypt, contained in the translation into the vernacular of the "Vitae Patrum" written by Domenico Cavalca.
The work was originally intended as a concert piece although it has been fully staged in some revivals. It was first performed at Carnegie Hall, New York City, on 16 March 1932. The first stage performance was at the Teatro Goldoni in Venice on 10 August 1932. Both the language of the libretto and the music employ archaism; Respighi's score contains stylistic echoes of Gregorian chant, Renaissance music and Monteverdi.
Instrumentation.
"Maria egiziaca" is scored for the following instruments:
flute , oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 horns, trumpet, 2 trombones, harpsichord (or piano), strings.
Synopsis.
The prostitute Mary suddenly feels an overwhelming longing to travel to Jerusalem. Here she repents her sins and an angel tells her to go to the desert where she lives in prayer until old age. She is found dying by Saint Zosimas, who digs her grave with the help of a lion.


Ludvig August Smith

Ludvig August Smith (22 November 182012 November 1906) was a Danish painter, specialising in genre painting but also producing portraits and history paintings.
Born in Copenhagen, he was the son of Morten Peter Smith (1776-1835) and Lene Dorothea (nee Scheel; 1780-1853). He studied at the Kunstakademiet from 1831 until 1841 and for a time painted there under C.W. Eckersberg. His first exhibition of a work, "A Family Scene", came in 1839. His genre works included "Supplicants" (1853), bought by the Kunstforeningen. Particularly popular was his "A Copenhagen Family" (1861), popularised via a lithograph copy.
In 1864 he married Margrethe Petersen (1843-1877). He last exhibited in 1894 and died in Copenhagen.


Karl von Piloty

Karl Theodor von Piloty (1 October 1826 – 21 July 1886) was a German painter, noted for his historical subjects, and recognised as the foremost representative of the realistic school in Germany.
Life and work.
Piloty was born in Munich. His father, Ferdinand Piloty (d. 1844), enjoyed a great reputation as a lithographer. In 1840, Karl was admitted as a student of the Munich Academy, under the artists Karl Schorn and Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld. A year later the acclaimed history paintings (referred to as the 'Belgian paintings'), i.e. the "Compromise of the nobles" and "The Abdication of Charles V" by the two Belgian artists Edouard de Bièfve and Louis Gallait, were shown in Munich and their realistic depiction of a historic subject matter made a lasting impression on him. After a journey to Belgium, France and England, Piloty commenced work as a painter of genre pictures, and in 1853 produced a work, "Die Amme" ("The Wet Nurse"), which, on account of its originality of style, caused a considerable sensation in Germany at the time.
But he soon forsook this branch of painting in favour of historical subjects, and produced in 1854 for King Maximilian II "The Accession of Maximilian I to the Catholic League in 1609". It was succeeded by "Seni at the Dead Body of Wallenstein" (1855), which gained for the young painter the membership of the Munich Academy, where he succeeded Schorn (his brother-in-law) as professor in 1856.
Among other well-known works by Piloty are the "Battle of the White Mountain near Prague", "Nero Dancing upon the Ruins of Rome" (1861), "Godfrey of Bouillon on a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land" (1861), "Galileo in Prison" (1864) and "The Death of Alexander the Great" (unfinished), his last great work. He also executed a number of mural paintings for the royal palace in Munich.
For Baron von Schach, Piloty painted the famous "Discovery of America". In 1874, he was appointed keeper of the Munich Academy, being afterwards ennobled by the king of Bavaria. Piloty was the foremost representative of the realistic school in Germany. He was a successful teacher, and among his more famous pupils were Hans Makart, Franz von Lenbach, Franz Defregger, Gabriel von Max, Georgios Jakobides, and Eduard von Grützner.


My Old School (film)

My Old School is a 2013 historical documentary created by Jason Allard and Scott Gabrielson.
Plot.
The film traces in history of the largest abandoned school in New England, located in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The historic building, constructed in 1914, housed thousands of students over the years as Woonsocket High School, then as Woonsocket Middle School. "My Old School" features a series of interviews with former teachers, faculty, and city officials along with historical photographs and footage from inside the abandoned school.
The film premiered to a local audience in Woonsocket, Rhode Island on October 5, 2013. It premiered on PBS on March 6, 2014.


Ernst Hiemer

Ernst Hiemer (5 July 1900 in Großweingarten – 29 July 1974 in Altötting) was a German writer, who worked closely with Julius Streicher, the founder of the anti-Semitic newspaper "Der Stürmer". Hiemer's three main books were all published in the Second World War and had anti-Semitic themes.
Biography.
Hiemer began working with Julius Streicher in the 1920s, as a journalist for Streicher's weekly anti-Semitic newspaper "Der Stürmer", for which he reported on trials of Jewish offenders. Using the knowledge and experience he had gained working as a teacher, Hiemer wrote two anti-Semitic books for children which were both published by Julius Streicher's "Stürmer" publishing house. The first of these was "Der Giftpilz" ("The Poisonous Mushroom"), published in 1938. This was a collection of 17 short stories, illustrated by 'Fips' (Philipp Rupprecht). It was followed in 1940 by another collection, "Der Pudelmopsdackelpinscher und andere besinnliche Erzahlungen" ("The Poodle-Pug-Dachshund-Pinscher and other contemplative stories"), which compared Jews to various forms of animals. These publications were amongst the most extreme anti-Semitic items produced for children under the Nazi regime, causing them to be the subject of negative comments from some Nazis. During this time, Hiemer was also the chief editor of "Der Stürmer". In 1942, he published a collection of anti-Semitic proverbs entitled "Der Jude im Sprichwort der Völker".
After the war, Hiemer was interned for three and a half years at Stalag XIII-D, and banned from teaching for life. He died on 29 July 1974 in Altötting, Bavaria.


Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall

Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall is a 1902 historical novel written by Charles Major. Following the life and romances of Dorothy Vernon in Elizabethan England, the novel became the year's third most successful novel according to "The Bookman" annual list of bestselling novels. The novel was Charles Major's third, and his second bestseller, following "When Knighthood Was in Flower".
A 1903 play and a 1924 film are based on the novel.
History.
Historically, Dorothy Vernon, the daughter of Sir George Vernon, the owner of Haddon Hall, married John Manners, the second son of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland (circa 1492 - 1543) in 1563. Sir George supposedly disapproved of the union, possibly because the Manners were Protestants and the Vernons were Catholics. According to legend, 18-year-old Dorothy eloped with Manners.
In the novel, neither Dorothy Vernon nor John Manners has any siblings. Also, John Manners' father is alive. In the novel, the elopement takes place in 1568 (an adjustment needed to make it line up with Queen Mary's flight to England, which is a plot point in the novel).
Plot.
The story is narrated by Sir George Vernon's 35-year-old cousin, Malcolm François de Lorraine Vernon. Raised in France, he became enamored of Mary, Queen of Scots, when she was a youth there, and followed her to Scotland. Historically speaking, Mary was captured, imprisoned, and forced to abdicate the Scottish throne in July 1567, but in the novel, Malcolm receives word of Mary's capture in the Fall. He immediately flees to England, and heads to Haddon Hall to take refuge with Sir George. On the way, he meets and becomes friends with John Manners, son of Sir George's hated enemy Thomas Manners (Lord Rutland).
Years earlier, Sir George had suggested that Malcolm marry George's daughter Dorothy as a way to keep the Vernon properties held by Vernons. Dorothy at the time had been an awkward adolescent; she now is a mature, strong-willed, red-headed beauty. On his way to Haddon Hall, Malcolm (still in the company of John Manners) encounters Dorothy, her aunt, and her friend Madge, all of whom live at Haddon Hall. Catching glimpses of each other, John Manners and Dorothy instantly begin to be attracted to each other. Malcolm, by contrast, sees his cousin as too beautiful and strong-willed to make a good wife.
As the book progresses, Dorothy and John develop a secret romance, aided by Malcolm and hidden from her father, who first presses her to marry Malcolm, and then the son of the Earl of Derby. Various dramatic elements include a chapter in which Dorothy is imprisoned in her bedroom, but manages to disguise herself as Malcolm to escape and meet John; John fails to recognize her, thinking her a male stranger, and makes some embarrassing remarks about his previous love affairs, and then when he realizes she is a woman, fails to recognize her as Dorothy, but attempts to kiss her, causing her to reveal herself. Later, John disguises himself and takes a job as a household servant at Haddon Hall to be able to spend time with Dorothy; she fails to recognize him for days until he reveals himself.
This ruse ends when Dorothy quarrels with her father, who attempts to strike her. John jumps in the way and is struck unconscious, and a distraught Dorothy reveals that this is the lover her father suspected her of having. Her father orders him imprisoned in the dungeon, to be hanged the next day if the blow to his head does not kill him, but Malcolm, aided by Dorothy's Aunt (also named Dorothy), arrange for his escape.
Subsequently, Queen Mary escapes from Scotland and takes secret refuge at Lord Rutland's estate.
Queen Elizabeth arrives to visit Haddon Hall. Sir George brings the Stanlys (the Earl of Derby and his oafish son) to ratify the marriage contract before the Queen, but Dorothy publicly humiliates the Stanlys, ruining the arrangements and amusing the Queen. Meanwhile, her father has already begun to nurse a hope she might marry the Queen's favorite, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester.
Unable to see John for an extended period of time, and knowing that the seductive Queen Mary is staying at his home, Dorothy becomes crazed with jealousy and tells Queen Elizabeth of Queen Mary's location. Elizabeth rouses a troop of soldiers to arrest Mary. Remorse-stricken, Dorothy attempts to arrive at Lord Rutland's before the troops, but fails, and John, his father, and Queen Mary are all arrested, and Dorothy's father finds out John's identity.
Malcolm shares a carriage with Queen Mary and a sleeping, exhausted, Dorothy for the return to Haddon Hall, and during the trip Mary manages to regain his allegiance and romantic interest (despite his being engaged to Madge) and he promises to help her escape to France. Mary also attempts to gain the allegiance of the Earl of Leicester, but he betrays her to Elizabeth, resulting in Malcolm's arrest.
Queen Elizabeth tells Dorothy she will free John and Lord Rutland if Dorothy can prove that they planned only to get Mary out of Scotland, and had no part in any conspiracy to place Mary on the throne of England. By speaking with him in the dungeon, which is equipped with a speaking tube for eavesdropping, Dorothy exonerates John and his father, and they are set free. Elizabeth decides Malcolm may go free as well, provided he leaves England and returns to France.
Sir George, furious at Malcolm's part in aiding Dorothy and John's romance, tells him to leave Haddon Hall, so Malcolm gathers his belongings and apologizes to Madge and prepares to head to Lord Rutland's estate, where he will await the passport allowing him to leave England. As he leaves, Madge joins him, forgiving him, and they plan that she will accompany him to France as his wife.
In the final chapter of the novel, during a party in Queen Elizabeth's honor, Dorothy tricks her father into letting her steal away for a few crucial minutes, supposedly to court the Earl of Leicester's affections. Instead, she is met by John, who literally carries her off despite her last-minute uncertainty, and they elope to his father's hall where they bid farewell to Malcolm and Madge, who move to France and don't see them again (as of the close of the novel, forty years later).
Editions.
The 1902 Macmillan first edition is bound in green cloth with an imprinted design on the front cover. Approximately the top quarter of the front cover is taken up with two coats of arms, between which is the title of the book. Below these is a picture of the front of a manor house with a stairway and some trees, signed (or labeled) "EWO" in the lower-right corner. Below that is the authors name. The cover type is gold, with some light green elements being used in the coats of arms and the drawing, and a whitish green for the sky in the drawing.
This edition has a flyleaf, a title page (bearing only the title) with the Macmillan logo on the obverse, a frontispiece illustration (one of eight illustrations by Howard Chandler Christy), the full title page, dedication "To My Wife", table of contents, table of illustrations, 367 pages plus the additional illustrations, and four pages of ads at the back for other Macmillan books, priced at $1.50 each.
There is also an early edition by Grosset & Dunlap.


Anton von Werner

Anton Alexander von Werner (9 May 18434 January 1915) was a German painter known for his history paintings of notable political and military events in the Kingdom of Prussia. One of the most famous painters of his time, he is regarded a main protagonist of the Wilhelmine Period.
Biography.
Werner was born in Frankfurt (Oder) in the Prussian Province of Brandenburg, the son of a carpenter. His family originally came from East Prussia and was ennobled ("von") in 1701. He began an apprenticeship as a decorative painter in 1857 and from 1860 onwards studied painting at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. One year later, he pursued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe, where he studied with Johann Wilhelm Schirmer, Ludwig des Coudres, Adolf Schroedter, and Karl Friedrich Lessing.
In Karlsruhe, Werner met with artists like Eduard Devrient, Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann, Paul Heyse, and the Norwegian painter Hans Gude. The author Joseph Victor von Scheffel, who became a close friend, introduced him to Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden, and Werner illustrated several printed editions of Scheffel's works. Werner visited Paris in 1865 and again from March 1867 to July 1868, preparing the International Exposition of 1867. He was strongly influenced by the history paintings of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Eugène Delacroix, Ernest Meissonier, and Léon Cogniet whom he also met personally. Having obtained a travelling scholarship upon the exhibition of his early works at the International Exposition, he moved to Italy in 1868 and stayed with Anselm Feuerbach in Rome until November 1869. On his return to Baden, he received several state commissions.
Upon the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Werner was sent with the staff of the 3rd "Corps d'Armée" under the command of Prince Frederick William of Prussia in October 1870. In January 1871, he was summoned to the Prussian headquarters in Versailles and commissioned to immortalize the proclamation of the German Empire at the Hall of Mirrors. This painting marked Werner's final breakthrough, he became acquainted with numerous German federal princes he portrayed, met with Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, as well as with Emperor Wilhelm I. Afterwards he returned to Berlin, now the German capital, and married Malwine Schroedter, daughter of his tutor Adolf Schroedter in August 1871.
In Berlin, Werner designed a large velarium stretching over the Unter den Linden boulevard at the triumphant arrival of the victorious German troops. He received further public commissions to create the mural decorations in the portico of the Victory Column, whereby he used his velarium as a cartoon for an innovative stained glass mosaic. He continued to commemorate the Franco-Prussian War in several commissioned paintings.
In 1873 Werner was appointed professor at the Berlin Academy. His career reached its peak when he became, in 1875, director of the Academy. After 1888, while in William II's court, Werner tutored the emperor to become a painter. In 1909, he succeeded Hugo von Tschudi in directing the Nationalgalerie in Berlin. He died in Berlin in 1915 and was interred at the "Alter Zwölf-Apostel-Kirchhof" in the Schöneberg neighborhood of Berlin.
Works.
Werner's more important works include "The Capitulation of Sedan", "Proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles", "Moltke before Paris", "Moltke at Versailles", "The Meeting of Bismarck and Napoleon III", "Christ and the Tribute Money", "William I Visiting the Tombs", "The Congress of Berlin", and some decorations executed in mosaic for the Berlin Victory Column. Werner's work is chiefly interesting for the historic value of his pictures of the events of the Franco-Prussian War.
Werner was good friends with Norwegian painter Hans Gude whom he met at the Karlsruhe school, and whom he would later work with at the Berlin Academy. Gude wrote of Werner in 1873,
Protégés and students.
One of his students at the Prussian Academy of Arts was Emil Fuchs; another was August von Brandis.


Gun Fight

Gun Fight, known as in Japan and Europe, is a 1975 multidirectional shooter arcade game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released by Taito in Japan and Europe and by Midway in North America. Based around two Old West cowboys armed with revolvers and squaring off in a duel, it was the first video game to depict human-to-human combat. The Midway version was also the first video game to use a microprocessor. The game's concept was adapted from Sega's 1969 arcade electro-mechanical game "Gun Fight".
It was ported to the Bally Astrocade video game console as a built-in game in 1977 and later the Atari 8-bit family. "Gun Fight" sold 8,600 arcade cabinets in the United States, where it was the third highest-grossing arcade game of 1975 and then the second highest-grossing arcade game of 1976. It is the first ever violent video game that depicts violence like realistic death.
Gameplay.
"Western Gun" is a single-screen shooter where two players compete in an Old West gun fight. It was the first video game to depict human-to-human combat. When shot, the characters in fall to the ground and the words "GOT ME!" appear above the body. The game has two joysticks per player: an eight-way joystick for moving the computerized cowboy and the other for changing the shooting direction. Unlike later dual stick games, "Western Gun" has the movement joystick on the right.
Obstacles between the characters block shots, such as a cactus, and (in later levels) stagecoaches. The guns have limited ammunition, with each player given six bullets. A round ends if both players run out of ammo. Gunshots can ricochet off the top and bottom edges of the playfield, allowing for indirect hits.
Taito's original "Western Gun" allows the two players to move around anywhere on the screen. Midway's version, "Gun Fight", restricts each player to their respective portions of the screen and also increased the size of the characters.
Development.
Both "Western Gun" and "Gun Fight" have artwork of Wild West cowboys on the cabinet, with matching in-game graphics featuring cacti, rocks, and human characters (and a covered wagon in "Gun Fight"). These cartoon-like humans were in contrast to earlier games which used miniature shapes to represent abstract blocks or spaceships.
The original game, "Western Gun", was created by Tomohiro Nishikado for Taito. The game's concept was adapted from a Sega arcade electro-mechanical game, also called "Gun Fight", which was released in 1969. In that game, two players control cowboy figurines on opposing sides of a playfield full of obstacles, with each player attempting to shoot the opponent's cowboy. The cowboy figurines were adapted into character sprites, with both players able to maneuver across a landscape while shooting each other. It was the second game by Nishikado to use human character sprites, after a 1974 sports video game he designed for Taito, "Basketball", which was released as "TV Basketball" by Midway in North America.
Taito licensed "Western Gun" to Midway for release in North America, one of the first such licenses, after the 1974 scrolling racing game "Speed Race", also designed by Nishikado, and the 1974 sports game "Basketball". The title "Western Gun", while making perfect sense for Japanese audiences in that it conveyed the setting and theme as simply as possible, sounded odd to American audiences, so it was renamed "Gun Fight" for its American localization.
Taito's version was based on discrete logic. When Dave Nutting adapted the game for Midway, he decided to base it on the Intel 8080, which made "Gun Fight" the first video game to use a microprocessor. Nutting's company Dave Nutting Associates had already used microprocessor technology in prototypes of arcade pinball machines, and the first arcade pinball machine to include a microprocessor, "The Spirit of '76" by Mirco Games, used this technology under license.
Midway's version, which had a black-and-white raster monitor with a transparent yellow screen overlay, used bitmapped framebuffer technology to display the game text and graphics, including its animated human-like characters. To make the animation fast and smooth, the game included a special barrel shifter circuit built from multiple discrete chips. The microprocessor used this to shift each pattern of picture bits, byte-by-byte, to the proper horizontal bit offset, reading back each shifted byte and then writing it into the framebuffer. The 8080, like other microprocessors of its era, had shift instructions that could only shift by a single bit position. With the shifter circuit, the microprocessor could quickly shift a picture byte by several bit positions, giving it more time for other work. A similar shifter circuit was used in later Midway and Taito games whose hardware was based on "Gun Fight", such as "Sea Wolf" and "Space Invaders". (In some later "Space Invaders" derivatives, such as Taito's "Space Invaders Part II" of 1979, this circuit is a Fujitsu MB14241, a single-chip implementation of the barrel shifter.)
Midway's version increased the size of the character sprites, while at the same time restricting each character's movement to their respective portions of the screen. Nishikado believed that his original version was more fun than Midway's version, but he was impressed with the Midway machine's improved graphics and smoother animation. This led him to design microprocessors into his subsequent games, including the 1978 shoot 'em up "Space Invaders".
Reception.
In Japan, "Western Gun" was among the top ten highest-grossing arcade video games of 1976.
Following its November 1975 release in North America, "Gun Fight" sold 500 arcade cabinets by the end of 1975, making it one of the top ten best-selling arcade games of 1975. It eventually went on to sell 8,600 arcade cabinets in the United States.
In March 1976, the first annual "RePlay" arcade chart listed "Gun Fight" as the third highest-earning arcade game of the previous year in the United States, below the Kee game "Tank I & II" and Taito/Midway game "Wheels I & II". In October 1976, "RePlay" listed "Gun Fight" as the second highest-grossing arcade game of 1976 in the United States, below Midway's "Sea Wolf". In November 1977, the first annual "Play Meter" arcade chart listed "Gun Fight" as the fifth highest-earning arcade video game of 1977.
Ports.
In 1978, the game was introduced to the home market with a port to the Bally Astrocade, which included a color version of the game within the system's ROM.
In 1983, Epyx released "Gun Fight" and another Midway game, "Sea Wolf II", for the Atari 8-bit family as an "Arcade Classics" compilation.
Legacy.
The game was included in GameSpy's "Hall of Fame" in 2002.
Atari, Inc. released a similar arcade game in 1976 titled "Outlaw" which was ported to the Atari VCS.
In 1982, the clone "Gunfight" was released for the Atari 8-bit family by Hofacker / Elcomp Publishing. "The Duel" for the Commodore 64 is a clone released in 1985.
In 1995, "GamesMaster" host Dominik Diamond called Sega's arcade game "" "a futuristic version of the old "Gun Fight" game."


Citizen Jake

Citizen Jake is a 2018 Philippine noir crime drama film which featured Atom Araullo directed by Mike de Leon.
Plot.
When journalist Jake Herrera (real life journalist Atom Araullo, in his film debut) investigates the murder of a student, he is forced to confront the sins of his own family - especially as his father, (Teroy Guzman) was a loyal Marcos crony who still has the power to ruin lives and manipulate public perceptions.
Cast.
The rest of the film's cast consists of Cherie Gil, Lou Veloso, Nonie Buencamino, Anna Luna, Allan Paule, Richard Quan, Victor Neri, Ruby Ruiz, Nanding Josef and Dina Bonnevie.
Production.
Development.
"Citizen Jake" was directed by Mike de Leon. De Leon is making his first film in the 21st century having directed the 1999 classic, "Bayaning 3rd World". De Leon along with Atom Araullo and Noel Pascual wrote the script for the film. The trio met regularly to work on the film as early as November 2016.
Director Mike de Leon said that the title of "Citizen Jake" is a reference to "the world of citizen journalists, social media and politics" and described the film as a "hybrid film of sorts". The film, which he described as a personal, is meant as a tribute to the now defunct LVN Studios which was ran by his grandmother and father. He also cite his worry on the recent political gains of the Marcos family as another reason and says that President Rodrigo Duterte believes that the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos was not bad at all. De Leon believed that Duterte was aiming to "outdo the dead dictator in his sociopathic quest for absolute power".
Principal photography.
It was projected that the film's production team would be set up by Christmas of 2016 and it was planned that the principal photography was to start by mid-March to early-April 2017. Principal photography began on March 17, 2017 with some scenes shot in Baguio. Filming was also made at the director's house in Baguio which was also a filming location of the film, "Kung Mangarap Ka’t Magising" which starred Christopher de Leon.
The cinematographer of the film was Dix Buhay while Lorna Sanchez and Martin Mayuga served as assistant director and production manager respectively.
By July 2017, principal photography of "Citizen Jake" has been finished. Post-production work was briefly stopped in November 2017 but was later continued.
Release.
Marketing.
A teaser for "Citizen Jake" was released in June 2017.
Special screening.
On January 5, 2018, it was announced that "Citizen Jake" will be having a special screening on March 10, 2018 in Cine Adarna at the University of the Philippines Diliman
Theatrical release.
The film was initially planned to be submitted as an entry of the 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival. It was submitted as a script to the film festival's organizers but was not selected as one of the first four official entries. It was announced that the film will be later submitted when its final state in a bid to be among the final four entries.
However, in October 2017, the film's director, Mike de Leon announced that the film will not be entered to the film festival and alleges the organizers of corruption particularly the selection process. He criticized the organizers of the film festival "that purports to make children happy during the holiday season, a euphemism for profit and greed."
"Citizen Jake" is slated for theatrical release on May 23, 2018 under Solar Pictures.


The Ivory Tower (Boardwalk Empire)

"The Ivory Tower" is the second episode of the first season of the HBO television series "Boardwalk Empire", which originally aired September 26, 2010. The episode was written by series creator and executive producer Terence Winter and directed by executive producer Tim Van Patten.
Nucky is paid a visit by Agent Nelson Van Alden. Jimmy is forced to pay Nucky a larger sum of money. Margaret is visited by Van Alden and Eli, each seeking a different side of her story as to the death of her husband.
Plot.
At Big Jim Colosimo's funeral in Chicago, Capone and Torrio are questioned by reporters about Colosimo's murder. Back in Atlantic City, Nelson Van Alden, an investigator with the Bureau of Prohibition, questions Nucky about the robbery he is investigating, revealing his suspicions that Hans Schroeder was framed for the crime. At Nucky's direction, Eli visits Margaret in the hospital and delivers an envelope of cash, stressing Hans's reported involvement in criminal activities. Nucky confronts Mickey in prison, informing him that his operation is being taken over by African-American gangster Albert "Chalky" White. Jimmy buys expensive Christmas gifts for his family with part of his share of the robbery proceeds.
In New York, Luciano delivers Frankie Yale to be questioned by Rothstein about his role in Colosimo's murder. Jimmy visits his mother Gillian, a showgirl, and presents her with an expensive necklace, replacing one she had sold to support the family during his childhood. When Jimmy goes to work, Nucky confronts him about the robbery. After Jimmy admits his and Capone's involvement, Nucky fires him and demands an extra $3,000 share from the proceeds. Rothstein telephones Nucky and demands $100,000 to cover his losses from the robbery, pointing out that a member of his family was among the shooting victims. Nucky refuses the demand. Van Alden visits Margaret at her home and tells her he believes her husband was not involved in the robbery, questioning her about her involvement with Nucky.
Nucky visits his political mentor, "Commodore" Louis Kaestner, who derides the idea of women's suffrage. After Van Alden writes home to his wife, he takes a hair ribbon he had taken from Margaret and smells it. Margaret visits Nucky and returns the money Eli gave her. They discuss Nucky's late wife, Margaret's financial situation, and Margaret's enthusiasm for reading, which appears to impress Nucky. Jimmy steals back the necklace from his mother and resells it in order to pay Nucky back. Nucky demonstrates the change in their relationship by immediately betting, and losing, the $3,000 in a roulette game. Elsewhere, a wounded survivor of the robbery turns up at the shooting scene.
Production.
The episode was written by series creator and executive producer Terence Winter and directed by executive producer Tim Van Patten. This is Van Patten's first directional episode of the series. He directs later episodes, Broadway Limited, Family Limitation and the season finale, A Return to Normalcy.
The story about Big Jim Colosimo's death is the one non-fictional story in "The Ivory Tower". As seen in the pilot, Frankie Yale murders Jim on orders from Johnny Torrio. It was widely believed that Torrio ordered Colosimo's killing so that the gang could enter the lucrative bootlegging business.
Reception.
Critical reception.
"IGN" gave the episode a score of 8 out of 10, calling it "...an episode that is in some ways better than the pilot." They continued by praising Buscemi's performance as Nucky by saying: "Here, Buscemi effortlessly switches between silver-tongued politician and two-steps-ahead gangster, and in doing so eliminates any previous doubt that Nucky is not as formidable a presence as Tony Soprano."
Ratings.
Ratings for "The Ivory Tower" fell to 3.329 million viewers in its original telecast. However, if the repeat-telecast that night is included, the total viewer count reaches 4.4 million.


Jan Baptist Martin Wans

Jan Baptist Martin Wans or Jan Baptist Wans (10 December 1628 – between 1684 and 1687) was a Flemish Baroque painter known for his landscapes and religious scenes.
Life.
Wans was born in Antwerp where he started his artist training in the studio of Frans van Oosten in 1641. He was registered with the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp as a pupil under the name 'Jan Baptist Wané'. In 1657 he became master of the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp. There has been some question as to whether it was another person with the same name who became master in 1657 because the time lapsed between the start of his apprenticeship and the year he became a master seems rather long. He married Cornelia van der Stael in 1659 and the couple had two sons.
He left Antwerp in 1661 and stayed abroad a few years but it is not clear where. Upon his return he became a captain of the civic guards by 1672, which earned him the nickname 'the Captain'. His wife died in 1684.
Wans died some time between February 1684 and June 1687. A ground for believing that he may have lived past 1684 is evidence of a legal dispute in 1685 involving a painter called Jan Baptist Wans over his refusal to hand over a painting that he had promised to give in return for services rendered by a doctor.
Work.
Only a few paintings of Jan Baptist Martin Wans are known to exist. He was mainly a landscape artist but he also painted religious compositions. He is further said to have painted copies of the works of Anthony van Dyck. As a landscape painter he is regarded as a follower of Jacques d'Arthois, an exponent of the Brussels school of landscape painters. He painted italianizing landscapes as well as wooded landscapes.
As was the practice in Antwerp at the time, he collaborated often with other painters such as the figure painter Peter Ykens and the still life painter Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen the Younger for whom he either painted the landscapes or the figures.