'The Garden at Sainte-Adresse ' Claude Monet , French (1840-1926) Oil on canvas , circa 1867 . Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York .

Monet spent the summer of 1867 at the resort town of Sainte-Adresse on the English Channel , near Le Havre . It was there , in a garden with a view of Honfleur on the horizon that he painted this picture , which combines smooth , traditionally rendered areas with sparkling passages of rapid brushwork , and spots of pure colour .

' Dads Coming Home ' Winslow Homer , American (1836-1910) Oil on wood , circa 1873 . Private collection Mr and Mrs Woods .

....Homer's early work , whilst set mainly outdoors , are almost all figure paintings . This was a conspicuous departure from the type of pure landscape that dominated nineteenth - century American art . Homer spent the summer of 1873 in Gloucester, Massachusetts , where he painted this family of a fisherman waiting his return . The exuberance suggested by the title - first given when an engraving of the painting was published in Harper's Weekly in 1873 - is tempered by the meditative air of the still , silhouetted figures . The mother faces away from the sea , while the young boy scans a horizon that yields no sign of an approaching boat . Instead of depicting a celebratory narrative of homecoming , Homer captures the more ambiguous moment of watching and waiting . He would have been acutely aware of this aspect of the lives of fisherman's families , for Gloucester had experienced a significant loss of life due to tragedies at sea during his long stay .

Liszt - La Campanella — Alice Sara Ott

........'La Campennella ' is the nickname given to the third of six 'Grandes études de Paganini ' composed by Franz Lizt in 1851 ....Performed here by the German Japanese pianist, Alice Sara Ott who has gained critical acclaim for her performances at major concert halls worldwide .

' The Old Muscian ' Édouard Manet . French (1832-1883) Oil on canvas , circa 1862. National Gallery of Art , Washington DC

....'The Old Musician' , painting by Édouard Manet , was produced during the period when the artist was influenced by Spanish art . The painting also shows the influence of Gustave Courbert . This work is one of Manet's largest paintings and is now conserved at the National Gallery of Art in Washington ....The painting is composed of six characters and a baby in a landscape . Most of them are in fact real individuals . The old musician in the centre who is preparing to play the violin is Jean Lagréne , the leader of the local gypsy band . At the right there are a young girl standing with a baby in her arms , and two young boys . In the background , the man in the top hat is the rag-picker and ironmonger Colardet . At the right , the Oriental man with a turban and and a long robe , represents Guéroult , a " wondering Jew " The painting also contains a series of more or less explicit allusions : the man in the top hat is the same character as 'The Absinthe Drinker' (see previous post 29th December 2011), painted by Manet some years earlier and who reappears in this painting without any particular reason . The young boy in the straw hat , meanwhile . is explicitly inspired by Antoine Watteau's ' Pierrot '

'Calm Seas with a Fishing Boat and a Three Master ' Jan van Os . Dutch (1744-1808) Oil on panel , circa 1770's . Private collection, New York .

Although he spent his career in The Hague , Jan van Os was born in Middleharnis in the south western province of Zeeland , which as it's name suggests , straddles the Scheldt delta and was largely reclaimed from the sea . Scenes like the one portrayed here would have been familiar from van Os's childhood . Van Os , with Jan van Huysum , was the leading eighteenth century painter of flowerpieces , much in demand in the aristocratic city of The Hague , seat of the court . He also produced a number of superb shipping scenes which were popular in England , where he exhibited with the Society of Artists from 1773 ....The boats seen here are mostly fishing and transport craft seen a a flat calm , their curved hulls and white sails reflecting in the mirror like water . The radiant morning sky is piled high with cumulus clouds . The moisture in the atmosphere casts a pearly veil over the ships in the right middle distance , perhaps presaging a change in the weather . The foreground left boats fly the Dutch colours , the vanes barely lifting in the almost non-existent breeze . They have leeboards for manoeuvring in shallow waters . At far right is a three-masted merchantman . Van Os is working in the tradition of calm seascapes practiced so brilliantly in the previous century by Jan van de Cappelle (1626-1707) and Willem van de Veld the Younger (1633-1707)...As would be expected of a work made in the last half third of the eighteenth century , the painting is a higher key than those of van Os's seventeenth century precursors . The presence of women and children , their blue , red and white costumes providing colour highlights amid the browns and ochres of the shipping , underlines the peaceful , domestic nature of the scene . Although the Dutch Republic faced wars in the eighteenth century - it was invaded by France in 1795 - the struggles ( and the political dominance ) of the previous century were passed and the taste in paintings was more soothing and classical .

BBC Proms 2010 - Bach Day 4 - The Wise Virgins part 1

.........Part one of William Walton's arrangement of Bach pieces which form his ballet 'The Wise Virgins' ...Performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton on the 14th August 2010 at the Royal Albert Hall .

'An Allegory of Love' Benvenuto Tisi -called- Garofalo . ( Italian 1441-1559) Oil on canvas , circa 1527-39 . The National Gallery, London .

..Garofalo worked at Ferrara and this ambitious composition of about 1530 , probably a court commission , reflects the influence of the mythological paintings sent to that city by Titian in the 1520's . It's subject is mysterious : a contrast may be intended between the two pairs of lovers . An episode in a romance involving twins is also a possibility .

BBC Proms 2010 - Bach Day 10 - Sleepers Wake

....'Wachet auf , ruft uns die Stimme' , is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) .Written in Leipzig for the 27th Sunday after Trinity and first performed on November 25th , 1731..... Granville Bantock's arrangement of Bach's chorale "Wachet Auf " from cantata BWV 140( known in English as Sleepers wake) is performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton on the 14th August 2010 at the Royal Albert Hall .

'Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia ' Jean-Joseph Tallasson ( French 1745-1809) Oil on canvas , circa 1787. The National Gallery , London .

..The poet Virgil reads to the Emperor Augustus and his sister Octavia a passage from the Aeneid , in praise of Octavia's dead son Marcellus . She swoons with grief . The subject is from The Life of Virgil by Donatus ...Tallasson was born in Bordeaux . He trained in Paris as a pupil of Vien , a neo-classical artist , who also taught Jacques-Louis David. Tallasson became a member of the Academy in 1784 . He painted mostly subject pictures based on ancient history and regularly exhibited at the Salon in Paris.

'View of an Italian Port' Nicolaes Pieterszoon Bercham . ( Dutch 1620-1683) Oil on canvas , circa 1650's . National Gallery of Art , Washington DC . Gift of Robert H and Clarice Smith .

' The Eendracht and a Fleet of Dutch Men of War' Ludolf Bakhuizen ( Dutch 1630-1708) Oil on canvas , circa 1670 . The National Gallery , London .

..The main vessel in the centre is the Endracht which was built in 1653 , and was the 76-gun flagship of Lieutenant Admiral Jacob van Wassanaer van Obdam .She was blown up with the loss of her crew and the admiral , at the battle of Lowestoft in 1665 , which was an English victory . On the stern is the ship's name and the lion of the Dutch United Provinces . Ludolf Bakhuizen(1630-1708)was born in Emden ; in about 1650 in settled in Amsterdam .He specialised in seascapes , almost invariably with rough water .

Piano Sonata No14 Ludvig van Beethoven . Title Page of the First Edition of the Score , published in Vienna in 1802 .

Beethoven "Sonata Ao Luar" op 27 - Valentina Lisitsa

.....The Piano Sonata No14 in C-sharp minor 'Quasi una fantasia ', Op 27 No2 , popularly known as The Moonlight Sonata , is a piano sonata by Ludvig von Beethoven . Completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil , Countess Giulietta Guicciardi ,it is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions for the piano.....Performed by the celebrated Ukrainian born pianist , Valentina Lisitsa .

' The Siren and The Fisherman' Knut Ekwall . Swedish (1843-1912) Oil on canvas , circa 1860's . Private collection