Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 12

Fred Wessel
"The Majestic Flowering Artichoke" (2025) Egg Tempera Painting on Panel

2025

$11,500
£8,770.52
€10,105.92
CA$16,427.45
A$18,060.12
CHF 9,335.56
MX$216,100.83
NOK 117,859.27
SEK 110,496.37
DKK 75,476.69

About the Item

About the artist: A two week trip that I took to Italy in 1984, had a profound and prolonged influence on my work. At that time I was involved in making a series of aquarium images. I went to Italy to view the art of the Renaissance, for it is my belief that all visual artists, especially realists, should experience and study this work firsthand. I could not have predicted the dramatic impact, both direct and indirect, that this journey of discovery would have on my ensuing work. I believe that in our search for novelty in post-modernist art making, we often lose touch with certain basics: beauty, grace, harmony and visual poetry are nowadays rarely considered important criteria in evaluating contemporary works of art. Since the Bauhaus, the term ‘precious’ has had a negative connotation in art schools. It was a term used derisively in the 1960’s to describe work that did not adhere to the fashionably pared down kernels of conceptualism or minimalism. But after seeing the beauty, sensitivity, harmony—the ‘preciousness’—of Italian Renaissance painting—especially the early Renaissance work of artists such as Fra Angelico, Duccio and Simone Martini—I realize that, as artists, we may have abandoned too much. The ever–changing inner light that radiates from gold leaf used judiciously on the surface of a painting, and the use of pockets of rich, intense colors that illuminate the picture’s surface impressed me deeply. It was ‘preciousness’ elevated to grand heights: semi–precious gems such as lapis lazuli, malachite, azurite, etc., were ground up, mixed with egg yolk and applied as paint pigments, producing dazzling, breathtaking colors! The surface of these colors forms a texture that sparkles and reflects light much like gold does, but in ways that are much more subtle than gold. I look to the early Renaissance as a source of inspiration that I can use along with contemporary content and image making. I look to the Renaissance as the artists of that time looked back to early Greek and Roman art—not as a reactionary but as one who rediscovers and reapplies important but forgotten visual stimuli.

More From This Seller

View All
"Fritillaria Imperialis" (2023) By Fred Wessel, Egg Tempera/Gold Leaf Painting
By Fred Wessel
Located in Denver, CO
Fred Wessel's "Fritillaria Imperialis" is a stunning egg tempera painting on gold leaf. Created in 2023, this piece features a stem of Fritillaria Imperialis, resting in an ornate go...
Category

2010s Realist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

"Angel Trumpets, Morning Dew" (2025) Egg Tempera Painting on Panel
By Fred Wessel
Located in Denver, CO
Fred Wessel's "Angel Trumpets, Morning Dew" measures 22.5 x 21.25 inches in its elegant frame and is ready to hang. About the artist: A two week trip that I took to Italy in 1984,...
Category

2010s Realist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

"Dahlia Icon" (2022) By Fred Wessel, Egg Tempera on Gold Leaf Painting
By Fred Wessel
Located in Denver, CO
Fred Wessel's "Dahlia Icon" is a stunning egg tempera painting on gold leaf with coral cabochons. Created in 2022, this piece features a freshly bloomed stem of an orange Dahlia flow...
Category

2010s Realist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

"West Hartford Canna" (2022) By Fred Wessel, Egg Tempera Painting on Gold Leaf
By Fred Wessel
Located in Denver, CO
Fred Wessel's "West Hartford Canna" is a stunning egg tempera painting on gold leaf. Created in 2022, this piece features a beautiful single stem of an orange Canna Hybrida lily, among its large leaves and stem. Painted underneath is a Victorian stone...
Category

2010s Realist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

"Clematis Blossom" (2025), Egg Tempera Painting on Panel
By Fred Wessel
Located in Denver, CO
Fred Wessel's "Clematis Blossom" is an egg tempera painting with gold leaf and lapis gems on a panel. This piece measures 12.5 x 12.25 inches framed and is ready to hang. About the ...
Category

2010s Realist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

"Striped Tulip" (2024) By Fred Wessel, Egg Tempera on Gold Leaf Painting
By Fred Wessel
Located in Denver, CO
Fred Wessel's "Striped Tulip" is a stunning egg tempera painting on gold leaf with garnet cabochons. Created in 2024, this piece features a freshly bloomed red and white striped tuli...
Category

2010s Realist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

You May Also Like

"Angel's Trumpet" By Fred Wessel
By Fred Wessel
Located in Denver, CO
Angel's Trumpet
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Thistle, on pure gold foreground oil painting mediterranean iconic flower
By Margherita Leoni
Located in Milan, IT
Interpreting reality with skill and expertise is Margherita Leoni's principal value. She has been studying botany for decades and has an incredible hand that allows her to make water...
Category

2010s Realist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Tempera

Cardoon, Still Life Art, Floral Art, Pink and Green Print, Representative Art
By Vicky Oldfield
Located in Deddington, GB
Vicky Oldfield artist and printmaker, ‘Cardoon’ is a hand coloured collagraph print, the print is taken from a plate which has been collaged with a variety of textured materials. The...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Still-life Prints

Materials

Paper, Intaglio, Ink, Etching

"Artichokes" contemporary realist oil painting still life, green and purple hues
By Sarah Lamb
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
"Artichokes" is a contemporary realist oil painting still life, with its green and purple hues dominating the neutral surroundings. A rustic wooden bowl holds two whole artichokes, a...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings

Materials

Linen, Oil

Dahlia, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Dahlias,2023 year :: Painting :: Photorealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to Hang: Yes :: Signed: Yes :: Signature ...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Ora Sorensen, "Protea I", Photorealistic Flower Painting on Canvas
By Ora Sorensen
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
This hyperrealist floral "Protea I" by artist Ora Sorensen is a 40x30 original oil painting on canvas. Depicted is a stalk and bloom of the South African...
Category

2010s Photorealist Still-life Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil