Why is this painting black and white? Boilly’s ‘A Girl at a Window’ | National Gallery

Splendid! It’s not something you would deduce from the painting without knowing the historical context. Great video!

I like how you lead us through the various points, not just factually but visually. Logically leading us to see through the artist’s eyes as he creates his painting. Well done.

The narrator is exquisite. The painting is as well. Beautiful! Oh so easy to understand

" This not a print " . The Treachery of Images....Absolutely amazing ! Thanks.

7:00 I love this! It’s like he looked at this painting and said “opposites”. Bird cage left, his on right. Rabbit changed to carrots. From dead birds to bird watching. Bird on right changed to fish. Girl on left changed to boy, main subject not looking at you, looking directly at you. people standing to people sitting 😂

Wow! What a stunning work, why is Boilly not a better known artist? His skill is amazing

In one of my first trips to London, at the end of the 90s, I visited the NG. I just loved this painting! I still have a postcard of it and a small phone book with the fishes motive printed all over. I carried it with me on my handbag for many years!

great video. making a black-and-white painting means that artists don't have to worry about color, green, blue or yellow etc. they can just focus on dark & light.

Absolutely love these deep dives into lesser known works of art, that also becomes a lesson in art history.

Grisaille is and was also used as an underpainting, could this not just be an unglazed grisaille ? Grisaille is how you learn tone; colour comes later as it adds to the complexity...that's 'old school' art school.🙂

It’s a study he worked up to look like a brilliant print which would sell for more money than paintings at the time.

Boilly was known for being able to paint a portrait in one hour, a sort of snapshot. I have about 20 or more of his engravings from the period. Karl Lagerfeld used to collect his portraits, sadly they are out of my range !

Incredible that in 2024 I can think/say that this is still stunning to look at. It's holding up the test of time really well.

That made the painting more interesting. Good talk. Thanks.

I might be repeating myself a bit here because I've said this about your videos before, but this was yet again a brilliant production. I loved everything about it, from the music to the fascinating history told in such a masterful way and also the skill in filming this. There should be proper YouTube Video Awards every year, if there were such a thing, these videos on this channel should win a number of them. Please tell every person involved in producing these that these are so appreciated, they will be watched for years and years as people way in the future would appreciate them just as much as they do today, a work of art, like the paintings you talk about. Thank you!

I believe that the painting includes the artist's signature also on the stone wall beneath the black curtain above the type lettered one noted above the white line. Thank you so much for the informative, educational and enjoyable explanation. Well done.

Absolutely marvellous artworks with such great innovation and technical skill !! Paintings done by a true great artist!! Thank you so very much for explaining the artworks and the history behind them so beautifully and in such great details!!🙏🙏👍👍🥰🥰❤️❤️

What an absolutely beautiful painting. I have often given thought to painting a subject using such a limited palette; it is far more difficult than it would seem. I would love to own a print of this painting pretending to be a print.

The satin ribbon on her bonnet is astonishing.

There is also a theme of "confinement" -- the bird is confined in the cage, the fish are confined in their bowl, the carrots are confined by the string they're suspended by, the bottle's contents are confined by the bottle, and the girl is confined by the room, and by the very confined role society allows her. There is also the theme of being inside, looking out. The bird is inside the cage looking out; the fish are inside the bowl looking out, the boy and the girl are inside the room looking out.