01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation of the bible, Francesco Furini’s St. Agatha, With Footnotes – #173

Francesco Furini, (1603–1646)
St. Agatha, between circa 1635 and circa 1645
Oil and tempera on canvas
64.2 cm (25.2 ″); Width: 50.3 cm (19.8 ″)
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

This devotional image shows the saint contemplating God while tenderly holding the pincers, the instruments of her sufferings through which she achieved her sanctity. The palm branch is the attribute of martyrs. More on this painting

Saint Agatha of Sicily (231 AD – 251 AD) is a Christian saint and virgin martyr. Agatha was born at Catania or Palermo, Sicily, and she was martyred in approximately 251. 

She is the patron saint of Catania, Molise, Malta, San Marino, and Zamarramala, a municipality of the Province of Segovia in Spain. She is also the patron saint of breast cancer patients, martyrs, wet nurses, bell-founders, bakers, fire, earthquakes, and eruptions of Mount Etna.

Although the martyrdom of Saint Agatha is authenticated, and her veneration as a saint had spread beyond her native place even in antiquity, there is no reliable information concerning the details of her death. According to Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea of ca. 1288, having dedicated her virginity to God,[ fifteen-year-old Agatha, from a rich and noble family, rejected the amorous advances of the low-born Roman prefect Quintianus, who then persecuted her for her Christian faith. He sent Agatha to Aphrodisia, the keeper of a brothel. The madam finding her intractable, Quintianus sent for her, argued, threatened, and finally had her put in prison. Amongst the tortures she underwent was the cutting off of her breasts with pincers. After further dramatic confrontations with Quintianus, represented in a sequence of dialogues in her passio that document her fortitude and steadfast devotion, Saint Agatha was then sentenced to be burnt at the stake, but an earthquake saved her from that fate; instead, she was sent to prison where St. Peter the Apostle appeared to her and healed her wounds. Saint Agatha died in prison, according to the Legenda Aurea in “the year of our Lord two hundred and fifty-three in the time of Decius, the emperor of Rome.” More on Saint Agatha of Sicily

Francesco Furini (c. 1600 (or 1603) – August 19, 1646) was an Italian Baroque painter of Florence, noted for his sensual sfumato style in paintings of both secular and religious subjects. He was born in Florence to an artistic family. Furini’s early training was by Matteo Rosselli. Traveling to Rome in 1619, he also would have been exposed to the influence of Caravaggio and his followers.

Furini’s work reflects the tension faced by the conservative, mannerist style of Florence when confronting then novel Baroque styles. He is a painter of biblical and mythological set-pieces with a strong use of the misty sfumato technique. In the 1630s his style paralleled that of Guido Reni.

Furini became a priest in 1633 for the parish of Sant’Ansano in Mugello.

Freedberg describes Furini’s style as filled with “morbid sensuality”. His frequent use of disrobed females is discordant with his excessive religious sentimentality, and his polished stylization and poses are at odds with his aim of expressing highly emotional states. His stylistic choices did not go unnoticed by more puritanical contemporary biographers like Baldinucci. Pignoni also mirrored this style in his works.

Furini traveled to Rome again in the year before his death in 1646. More on Francesco Furini

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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation of the bible, Francesco Furini’s GENEROSITY OR LIBERALITY, with Footnotes – #172

Francesco Furini, FLORENCE 1604 – 1646
GENEROSITY OR LIBERALITY
Oil on canvas
122 x 92,4 cm ; 48 by 36 1/3 in
Private collection

LIBERALITY; broadness or fullness, as of proportions or physical attributes. One who is generous, bountiful, willing and ready to give and to help. 

There is measure in all things: Furini choses Horace’s maxim to evoke Generosity or Liberality. Personified as a nude woman, she leans upon the quotation from the Roman poet inscribed on a stone pedestal. Furini was inspired by the depiction of Generosity as defined by Cesare Ripa in his Iconology, who, in her right hand, ‘holds strings of jewels and pearls, displaying them as if offering them as gifts. More on this painting

Francesco Furini (c. 1600 (or 1603) – August 19, 1646) was an Italian Baroque painter of Florence, noted for his sensual sfumato style in paintings of both secular and religious subjects. He was born in Florence to an artistic family. Furini’s early training was by Matteo Rosselli. Traveling to Rome in 1619, he also would have been exposed to the influence of Caravaggio and his followers.
Furini’s work reflects the tension faced by the conservative, mannerist style of Florence when confronting then novel Baroque styles. He is a painter of biblical and mythological set-pieces with a strong use of the misty sfumato technique. In the 1630s his style paralleled that of Guido Reni.

Furini became a priest in 1633 for the parish of Sant’Ansano in Mugello.

Freedberg describes Furini’s style as filled with “morbid sensuality”. His frequent use of disrobed females is discordant with his excessive religious sentimentality, and his polished stylization and poses are at odds with his aim of expressing highly emotional states. His stylistic choices did not go unnoticed by more puritanical contemporary biographers like Baldinucci. Pignoni also mirrored this style in his works.

Furini traveled to Rome again in the year before his death in 1646. More on Francesco Furini 

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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Kasia Derwinska’s Prayer, with Footnotes – #51

Kasia Derwinska, Spain
Prayer
Digital, Black & White, Manipulated, New Media, Paint on Paper
15.7 W x 15.7 H x 0 in
Private collection

I talk to God but the sky is empty. Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Plath was clinically depressed for most of her adult life, and was treated multiple times with electroconvulsive therapy. She died by suicide in 1963.  More on Sylvia Plath

Kasia Derwinska “Photography is my way of communicating with the world. In my work, I talk about own experiences, thoughts, doubts, fears and hopes trying to reflect my own life’s path. In addition to my experiences, my creations are inspired by night dreams as since childhood I remember most of them and I believe that dreams are the most simbolic language of our subconscious, a guide to navigate in the modern world. I am autodidactic and I don´t recognize myself as a photographer. I use photography as a tool, like a brush for painting or an instrument to play music. My work is an attempt to connect substantiality of the world that surrounds us with elusiveness of feelings and thoughts. For that reason I describe my creations as building a bridge between the visible and the invisible. My works are divided in four basic series: fairytales and fantasies, conceptual black and white, night dreams, and the color serie called “who sings, frightens away his fears”  More on Kasia Derwinska

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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation the bible, Lidia Wylangowska’s Bohemian Angel, with Footnotes – #129

Lidia Wylangowska, United States
Bohemian Angel
Original Oil Painting
108 W x 80 H x 1.5 in
Private collection

An angel is generally a supernatural being found in various religions and mythologies. In Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism, angels are often depicted as benevolent celestial beings who act as intermediaries between God or Heaven and Humanity. Other roles of angels include protecting and guiding human beings, and carrying out God’s tasks. More on Angels

Lidia Wylangowska: “My art tells my story. It’s a story of my world, of my thoughts and emotions entwined in an internal dialogue. And some of it can be expressed only through painting. It is incredible, how fairy-tales I heard once-upon-a-time, in my childhood actually influenced my life and defined who I am. 

The technique I use in my works is changing and evolving as I do. There is a lot my very own inventions in it but the very base comes from Renaissance Masters. Masaccio, Leonardo da Vinci , Raphael are commonly considered to have pioneered the use of chiaroscuro to create the illusion of relief – notably in the modelling of the human body. Chiaroscuro modeling is supporting the effect of color. In order to use the under painting efficiently, I put the color transparently. The transparent layer of paint spread over the top of an opaque passage that has been given some time to dry. Light travels through the glaze and is reflected back off of the opaque layer below. The light in the painting constructed this way lit the color from the bottom. More on Lidia Wylangowska

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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation the bible, Henri Fantin-Latour’s Stabat Mater, with Footnotes – 128

Henri Fantin-Latour, (French, 1836-1904)
Stabat Mater, c. 1896
Oil on canvas
18 ¾ x 26 ½ in. (47.6 x 67.3 cm.)
Private collection

The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ’s mother during his crucifixion. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III. The title comes from its first line, “Stabat Mater dolorosa”, which means “the sorrowful mother was standing”.

The hymn is sung at the liturgy on the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. The Stabat Mater has been set to music by many Western composers. More on Stabat Mater

Henri Fantin-Latour (14 January 1836 – 25 August 1904) was a French painter and lithographer best known for his flower paintings and group portraits of Parisian artists and writers.  He was born Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour in Grenoble, Isère. As a youth, he received drawing lessons from his father, who was an artist. In 1850 he entered the Ecole de Dessin. After studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1854, he devoted much time to copying the works of the old masters in the Musée du Louvre. Although Fantin-Latour befriended several of the young artists who would later be associated with Impressionism, including Whistler and Manet, Fantin’s own work remained conservative in style.

Whistler brought attention to Fantin in England, where his still-lifes sold so well that they were “practically unknown in France during his lifetime”. In addition to his realistic paintings, Fantin-Latour created imaginative lithographs inspired by the music of some of the great classical composers.

In 1875, Henri Fantin-Latour married a fellow painter, Victoria Dubourg, after which he spent his summers on the country estate of his wife’s family at Buré, Orne in Lower Normandy, where he died on 25 August 1904. More on Henri Fantin-Latour 

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01 Russian Icon, An icon of St Euthymios the Great, with footnotes #58

Unknown iconographer
An icon of St Euthymios the Great, Greece, first half 17th century
Tempera on panel
90 by 55.5 cm, 35 2/5 by 21 4/5in.
Private collection

St. Euthymius the Great, (born 377, Melitene, Armenia—died January 20, 473, Palestinian desert, northeast of Jerusalem; feast day January 20), ascetic and one of the great fathers of Eastern Orthodox monasticism, who established religious communities throughout Palestine.

Orphaned in his youth, Euthymius was educated and later ordained priest by Bishop Otreus of Melitene. He was charged with the spiritual care of the ascetics and monasteries of the city, but in 406 he left for Palestine in search of solitude. Joining the monastery of Pharan, near Jerusalem, he befriended St. Theoctistus, and about 411 they retired to a cave in the wilderness beyond Jerusalem. On being joined by others, they established a cenobitic (“communal”) monastery, or laura, that integrated contemplative life with other liturgical and intellectual projects and work done in common.

Euthymius moved on with a small band and set up similar communities, one on the west bank of the Dead Sea, another farther west in the desert of Ziph, and a larger community northeast of Jerusalem, toward Jericho. This last foundation was named after Euthymius, and its church was dedicated by Bishop Juvenal of Jerusalem in 429.

Euthymius converted many nomad Saracens to the Orthodox Church. He was often consulted on theological questions by the Eastern bishops and participated in formulating the decrees of the Council of Ephesus (431) against the Nestorian heresy. He also contributed to the Council of Chalcedon (451) in refuting the heretical monophysites. Euthymius is credited with disseminating orthodox Christological doctrine throughout Palestinian monasticism, overcoming defamations by his theological adversaries. By his influence the Byzantine empress Eudoxia became convinced that monophysitism was in error and withdrew support from its chief proponent, Abbot Eutyches of Constantinople. More on St. Euthymius the Great

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1 Religious Icon, Bernard van Orley’s THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, with footnotes #26

Circle of Bernard van Orley
THE VIRGIN AND CHILD
Oil on panel
36.2 by 26.1 cm.; 14 1/4 by 10 1/4 in.
Private collection

This is one of a number of versions of the composition, the finest of which is a picture formerly in the collection of Friedrich Glück, Budapest, considered by Baldass to be by Van Orley before 1520.1 A workshop version is in the Royal Collection (L. Campbell, The Early Flemish Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Cambridge 1985, p. 105, no. 66, reproduced plate 78; inv. 1003). Van Orley’s original is in the Prince of Wied collection, Munic. More on this work
Bernard van Orley (between 1487 and 1491 – 6 January 1541), , was a leading artist in Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, though he was at least as active as a leading designer of Brussels tapestry and, at the end of his life, stained glass. Although he never visited Italy, he belongs to the group of Italianizing Flemish painters called the Romanists, who were influenced by Italian Renaissance painting, in his case especially by Raphael.

He was born and died in Brussels, and was the court artist of the Habsburg rulers, and “served as a sort of commissioner of the arts for the Brussels town council”. He was extremely productive, concentrating on the design of his works, and leaving their actual execution largely to others in the case of painting.

Accordingly, his many surviving works (somewhat depleted in number by Reformation iconoclasm) vary considerably in quality. His paintings are generally either religious subjects or portraits, these mostly of Habsburgs repeated in several versions by the workshop, with few mythological subjects. More on Bernard van Orley

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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Joel-Peter Witkin’s Ars Moriendi, with Footnotes – #50

Joel-Peter Witkin, (American, 1939-)
Ars Moriendi, c. 2007
Tirage argentique
66 x 71 cm
Private collection

Joel-Peter Witkin is known for his grotesquely beautiful photographs that explore themes of death, religion, and the experience of being socially outcast. Witkin stages surrealistic scenes with cadavers, skeletons, and dismembered body parts so they recall Classical paintings and religious imagery. More on this work

The Ars moriendi (“The Art of Dying”) are two related Latin texts dating from about 1415 and 1450 which offer advice on the protocols and procedures of a good death, explaining how to “die well” according to Christian precepts of the late Middle Ages. It was very popular, and was the first in a western literary tradition of guides to death and dying.

There was originally a “long version” and a later “short version” containing eleven woodcut pictures as instructive images which could be easily explained and memorized. More on Ars moriendi

Joel-Peter Witkin (born September 13, 1939) is an American photographer. His work often deals with such themes as death, corpses, and various outsiders such as dwarves, transsexuals, intersex persons, and physically deformed people. Witkin’s complex tableaux often recall religious episodes or classical paintings.

Witkin’s parents divorced when he was young. In 1961 Witkin enlisted in the United States Army with the intention of capturing war photography during the Vietnam war. However, Witkin never saw combat in Vietnam and spent his military time at Fort Hood, Texas, and was mostly in charge of Public Information and classified photos. In 1967, he became the official photographer for City Walls Inc. He attended Cooper Union in New York, where he studied sculpture, attaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974. Columbia University granted him a scholarship for graduate school, but his Master of Fine Arts degree is from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque  More Joel-Peter Witkin

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44 Paintings, RELIGIOUS ART – Paintings and Stories of The Angels; Saint Michael, Archangel, and Chief Commander, with footnotes, #22

Spinello Aretino, 1345-52; died 1410
Saint Michael and Other Angels, c. 1408-10
Arezzo Fresco Fragments
Fresco (with areas of secco) transferred to canvas
116.2 x 170.2 cm
The National Gallery, London

This and other fragments in the Collection are from a large fresco of the ‘Fall of Lucifer’ which was painted for S. Michele Arcangelo in Arezzo, Italy. The scene shows Saint Michael and other angels fighting a war in heaven. The battle took place before God who was originally shown enthroned above, while Lucifer’s agents plunge to earth below. More on this fresco

Spinello Aretino, (born c. 1346, Commune of Arezzo — died March 14, 1410, Arezzo) late Gothic Italian painter noteworthy for his vigorous narrative sense. His style anticipates the realistic painting of the early Renaissance of the 15th century. Early in his career he came under the influence of Orcagna and Nardo di Cione, whose style shows in his first major work, a fresco cycle in San Francesco at Arezzo…

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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Fiona Maclean’s Madonna, With Footnotes – #47

Fiona Maclean, Australia
Madonna
Watercolor, Pastel, Pencil on Paper
11.5 W x 16 H x 0.1 in
Private collection

A Madonna is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is from Italian ma donna, meaning ‘my lady’. 

The term Madonna in the sense of “picture or statue of the Virgin Mary” enters English usage in the 17th century, primarily in reference to works of the Italian Renaissance. In an Eastern Orthodox context, such images are typically known as Theotokos.  More on Madonna

New Zealand born Fiona Maclean is a Painter and Visual Artist. After studying Art, Design and Production in New Zealand & Australia she continued her studies in Fine Art and Painting at Parsons School of Art in New York City. A family tragedy cut her studies short in New York where she had to move back to Australia. Fiona was chosen as an Artist to watch and amongst a strong emerging talent of Artists in the ‘One to Watch’ series released by Saatchi. “I am interested in layers, and what it is to be human, sensuality, sexuality and what it is to be female in the world.” As a Fine Artist her paintings and artworks hang in private collections around the world and appear in International reference books and publications. Fiona has exhibited in Australia, London and New York. More on Fiona Maclean

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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Jacob Cornelisz’s The Adoration of the Magi, With Footnotes – #136

Workshop of Jacob Cornelisz, Oostzaan circa 1460/65 – 1533 Amsterdam
The Adoration of the Magi with portraits of two kneeling donors, Claes Hendricksz. Basgen (1488-1563) and his daughter Neel Claesdr. Basgen (1528-1594)
Oil on panel
31¾ by 26½ in.; 80.6 by 67.3 cm.
Private collection

The Adoration of the Magi (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: A Magis adoratur) is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and worship him. More on the Adoration of the Magi

A dynamic and colorful Adoration scene fills the composition, but two donor figures kneel in the lower corners. The kneeling figure on the left is Claes Hendricksz. Basgen (1488-1563), a wealthy merchant who held prominent political positions in Amsterdam. On the right is his daughter Neel Claesdr. Basgen (1528-1594), who is attired in the robes of an Augustinian canoness. While the specifics for the commission of this panel remain uncertain, Dudok van Heel has proposed that this painting may have been commissioned in celebration of her entrance into the women’s convent of Oude Nonnenklooster in Amsterdam. More on this work
Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (before 1470 – 1533) was a Northern Netherlandish designer of woodcuts and a painter. He was one of the first important artists working in Amsterdam, at a time when it was a flourishing provincial town.

Little is known about Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen’s life. Historians rely mostly on the biographical sketch of him written by Karel van Mander, the archives of Amsterdam, and the archives of Egmond Abbey, a Benedictine monastery that commissioned works by him. His name indicates he was from Oostzaan, North Holland

The first known commissions for Jacob Cornelisz were from when he was at least 35 years of age. It is assumed that he worked in a painters’s workshop before that, and judging from his close copies of Haarlem painting techniques, this was possibly in Haarlem. More on Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen

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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation the bible, Edouard Kasparides’ The penitent Mary Magdalene in the cave, with Footnotes – 127

Edouard Kasparides, (1858-1926 Austrian)
The penitent Mary Magdalene in the cave, c. 1890
Oil on canvas
45.5″ H x 67″ W
Private collection

The penitent Mary Magdalene was a sinner, perhaps a courtesan, Mary Magdalen was a witness of Christ who renounced the pleasures of the flesh for a life of penance and contemplation. Penitent Magdalene or Penitent Magdalen refers to a post-biblical period in the life of Mary Magdalene, according to medieval legend. 

According to the tenets of the 17th–century Catholic church, Mary Magdalene was an example of the repentant sinner and consequently a symbol of the Sacrament of Penance. According to legend, Mary led a dissolute life until her sister Martha persuaded her to listen to Jesus Christ. She became one of Christ’s most devoted followers and he absolved her of her former sins. More on The Penitent Magdalen

The sacrament of Penance had important significance in Counter-Reformation spirituality, and artists frequently portrayed penitent saints as exemplars of religious fervor. Such works were meant to inspire a greater devotion. On the other hand, the popularity of The Magdalene as a subject is also associated with her implied sexuality. Her passive gaze and partially naked body appealed to male viewers, for whom such paintings offered a moralizing context through which to engage with the sensuality of the female form. The Penitent Magdalene

Eduard Kasparides  (Krönau 1858 – 1926 Bad Gleichenberg) was born in Moravia in the eastern part of the Czech Repubic. In 1876 he moved to Vienna to study at the Academy of Fine Arts. His teachers were Christian Griepenkerl and Josef Mathias von Trenkwald.  In 1884 he finished his studies and moved to Munich one year later, he came back to Vienna in 1886. He made several study trips during his career and traveled through Italy, Germany, Sweden and Russia.

At the begin of his career Eduard Kasparides painted mainly conversation pieces and historical paintings with religious motives. But from 1899 he found his individual style and focussed on impressionistic evening-landscapes with a strong atmospheric effect. He became a member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1894 and was a co-founder of the artist group Hagenbund in 1900.

Eduard Kasparides was awarded several times, he got the Baron Königswarter-Künstlerpreis in 1899, the Mention honorable at the world exhibition in Paris in 1900 and the Kleine Goldene Staatsmedaille in Vienna, the Erzherzog Carl Ludwig Medaille in 1908, the Drasche Preis in 1911 and the Große Goldene Staatsmedaille in 1912. Eduard Kasparides died in 1926 in Styria. More on Eduard Kasparides

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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Jean Jansem’s Lot and his two daughters, with Footnotes – 44

Jean Jansem, (1920-2013)
Loth et ses filles/ Lot and his two daughters, c. 1999
Oil on canvas
51 3/16 x 63 3/4 in
Private collection

Lot and his two daughters, Genesis 19:30-38,  left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. 32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”

That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today. More Lot and his two daughters

Hovhannes “Jean” Semerdjian (9 March 1920 – 27 August 2013), also known as Jean Jansem, was a French-Armenian painter. Jansem’s artworks are internationally known, and are part of museum collections throughout France, Japan and the United States. A Foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (2002).

He was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1953 and by the Knight of the French Legion of Honour in 2003. The President of Armenia awarded Jansem a Medal of Honor for his “reinforcement of Armenian-French cultural ties.” 

Hovhannes Semerdjian was born in 1920 in Bursa, Turkey. In 1922, his family fled to Greece. He spent his childhood in Thessaloniki. They arrived to Issy-les-Moulineaux suburb of Paris, France in 1931 when he was 11 and that is when he begin to paint. The first professional schools for Jansem became free academies of Montparnasse (1934-1936). He studied in the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs. Jansem also studied at the Sabatie studio for a year. Early paintings by Jansem were mainly to national issues. He had individual exhibitions in Paris, New York, Chicago, London, Tokyo, Rome, Brussels, Lausanne, Beirut etc. Hovhannes Semerdjian was elected the President of the Young Artists’ Saloon in 1956.

Jansem’s primary sources of inspiration were Goya and Brueghel. His mother and his children were the main heroes in his earlier works. Jansem was characterized as a miserablist, an artist of unfortunate people.

Jansem died on 27 August 2013, aged 93, outside Paris. More on Jean Jansem

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01 Work , RELIGIOUS ART, Charles Burton Barber’s The lamb with the lion – with footnotes #196

Charles Burton Barber, ROI (British, 1845-1894)
The lamb with the lion, c. 1873
oil on canvas
71 x 91.5cm (27 15/16 x 36in)
Private collection

An unusual subject for the artist, in the present painting, Barber has used his skills as an animal painter to produce a work brimming with religious symbolism. Used in Christianity to represent the Messianic Age, the lion is seen to symbolise Christ’s resurrection, while the lamb stands for Christ’s sacrifice. The symbols are also used to represent a time of peace; the work makes an interesting comparison with William Strutt’s 1896 work Peace which draws inspiration from Isaiah, and depicts a child surrounded by a group of animals, among which a lion stands next to a lamb. More on this painting

Charles Burton Barber (1845–1894), was a British painter who attained great success with his paintings of children and their pets.

Barber was born in Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, and studied from the age of 18 at the Royal Academy, London – receiving a silver medal for drawing in 1864, and first exhibiting there in 1866.

During his lifetime Barber was regarded as one of Britain’s finest animal painters and received commissions from Queen Victoria to do paintings of her with grandchildren and dogs, and also the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and his pets. A number of his portraits are in the Royal Collection. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1866 to 1893. In 1883 he was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.

Barber received his final commission in 1894 to paint Queen Victoria, with her grandchildren, in her pony-carriage. He died in London soon afterwards. More on Charles Burton Barber

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01 Work , RELIGIOUS ART, Edouard Manet’s The Dead Christ with Angels – with footnotes #195

Edouard Manet (French, Paris 1832–1883 Paris)
The Dead Christ with Angels, c. 1864
Oil on canvas
70 5/8 x 59 in. (179.4 x 149.9 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Manet identified the source for this painting, the first of several religious scenes, in the inscription on the rock: the Gospel according to Saint John. However, in the passage cited, Christ’s tomb is empty except for two angels. After Manet sent the canvas to the 1864 Salon, he realized that he had made an even greater departure from the text, depicting Christ’s wound on the wrong side. Despite Charles Baudelaire’s warning that he would “give the malicious something to laugh at,” the artist did not correct his mistake. Indeed, critics denounced the picture, particularly the realism of Christ’s cadaverous body. More on this painting

Édouard Manet (23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, and a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.

His early masterworks, The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l’herbe) and Olympia, both 1863, caused great controversy and served as rallying points for the young painters who would create Impressionism. Today, these are considered watershed paintings that mark the genesis of modern art. More on Édouard Manet

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01 Work , RELIGIOUS ART, Follower of Angelica Kauffmann’s Holy Family – with footnotes #193

Follower of Angelica Kauffmann
Holy Family
Oil on canvas
10 1/4 by 12 1/2 in.; 26 by 31.8 cm.
Private collection

Angelica Kauffmann, in full Maria Anna Catharina Angelica Kauffmann, (born Oct. 30, 1741, Chur, Switz.—died Nov. 5, 1807, Rome, Papal States [Italy]), painter in the early Neoclassical style who is best known for her decorative wall paintings for residences designed by Robert Adam.

Her early paintings were influenced by the French Rococo works of Henri Gravelot and François Boucher. In 1754 and 1763 she visited Italy, and while in Rome she was influenced by the Neoclassicism of Anton Raphael Mengs.

She was induced by Lady Wentworth, wife of the English ambassador, to accompany her to London in 1766. She was well received and was particularly favoured by the royal family. Sir Joshua Reynolds became a close friend, and most of the numerous portraits and self-portraits done in her English period were influenced by his style of portrait painting. Her name is found among the signatories to the petition for the establishment of the Royal Academy, and in its first catalogue of 1769 she is listed as a member. She was one of only two women founding members. Kauffmann retired to Rome in the early 1780s with her second husband, the Venetian painter Antonio Zucchi.

Kauffmann’s pastoral and mythological compositions portray gods and goddesses. Her paintings are Rococo in tone and approach, though her figures are given Neoclassical poses and draperies. Kauffmann’s portraits of female sitters are among her finest works. More on Angelica Kauffmann

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02 Works , RELIGIOUS ART, Archangel Eliel and Ángeles Arcabucero – with footnotes #194

Anonymous Cusco Schoolca. 1690 – ca. 1720
Archangel Eliel with Harquebus
Oil on canvas
w1080 x h1685 cm (Complete)
Museode Art de Lima

The Cusco School or Cuzco School, was a Roman Catholic artistic tradition based in Cusco, Peru (the former capital of the Inca Empire) during the Colonial period, in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. It was not limited to Cusco only, but spread to other cities in the Andes, as well as to present day Ecuador and Bolivia.

Many colonial Cusco School paintings are preserved, most of them currently at Cusco, but also in other areas of Peru, the town of Calamarca (Bolivia) and in museums of Brazil, United States and England. More on The Cusco School

The theme of archangels had a surprising development in the art of the southern highlands of the viceroyalty of Peru. Replacing classic suits of armor and bladed weapons, depictions emerged of these heavenly emissaries with harquebuses and the elegant attire of artillery officers. They were grouped in series, like military companies led by soldiers adorned with flags and drummers, and they adopted the poses of men performing firearms drills…

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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Biblel, by Roberto Ferri, With Footnotes – #54

Roberto Ferri
Liberaci dal Male/ Deliver us from Evil, c. 2013
Oil on canvas
Private collection

Our Prayer Against Evil – Deliver us From Evil-The original language of this passage has the article “the”-i.e. “deliver us from the evil”-the Evil One or Satan. The meaning here is, “deliver us from his power, his snares, his arts, his temptations.” Satan is supposed to be the great parent of evil, and to be delivered from him is to be safe. More on Deliver us from Evil

Roberto Ferri (born 1978) is an Italian artist and painter from Taranto, Italy, who is deeply inspired by Baroque painters (Caravaggio in particular) and other old masters of Romanticism, the Academy, and Symbolism.

In 1996, he graduated from the Liceo Artistico Lisippo Taranto, a local art school in his hometown. He began to study painting on his own and moved to Rome in 1999, to increase research on ancient painting, beginning at the end of the 16th century, in particular. In 2006, he graduated with honors from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.

His work is represented in important private collections in Rome, Milan, London, Paris, New York, Madrid, Barcelona, Miami, San Antonio (Texas), Qatar, Dublin, Boston, Malta, and the Castle of Menerbes in Provence. His work was featured in the controversial Italian pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2011, and has exhibited at Palazzo Cini, Venice in the Kitsch Biennale 2010. More on Roberto Ferri

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01 Work , RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation the bible, Moretto da Brescia’s The Entombment – with footnotes #193

Moretto da Brescia (Alessandro Bonvicino) (Italian, Brescia ca. 1498–1554 Brescia)
The Entombment, c. 1554
Oil on canvas
94 1/2 x 74 1/2 in. (240 x 189.2 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Moretto’s last major work, this altarpiece was commissioned by the Brescian confraternity known as the Disciplina di San Giovanni Evangelista for their oratory adjacent to the church of the same name. It hung on the upper story of the building which, as was typical in the city, was divided so that men and women could meet on separate floors. The painting was first described in Bernardino Faino’s Guide to the churches of Brescia, written in the mid-seventeenth century: “In the upper oratory of this church there is an altarpiece by Moretto, a most beautiful thing and worthy of consideration. In it are shown the dead Christ with many figures. . . .” (Faino 1630–69 and Christiansen 1985). Dated October 1554, which was two months before the artist’s death, the painting probably hung in its original location from that time until the confraternity was suppressed in 1771. More on this painting

The burial of Jesus refers to the burial of the body of Jesus after crucifixion, before the eve of the sabbath described in the New Testament. According to the canonical gospel accounts, he was placed in a tomb by a councillor of the sanhedrin named Joseph of Arimathea. In art, it is often called the Entombment of Christ.

The earliest reference to the burial of Jesus is in a letter of Paul. Writing to the Corinthians around the year 54 AD, he refers to the account he had received of the death and resurrection of Jesus

The four canonical gospels, written between 66 and 95, all conclude with an extended narrative of Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.  All four state that, on the evening of the Crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body, and, after Pilate granted his request, he wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid it in a tomb. More on Burial of Jesus

Alessandro Bonvicino (also Buonvicino) (c. 1498 – possibly December 22, 1554), more commonly known as Moretto, or in Italian Il Moretto da Brescia (the Moor of Brescia), was an Italian Renaissance painter from Brescia, where he also mostly worked. His dated works span the period from 1524 to 1554, but he was already described as a master in 1516. He was mainly a painter of altarpieces that tend towards sedateness, mostly for churches in and around Brescia, but also in Bergamo, Milan, Verona and Asola; many remain in the churches they were painted for. Most are on canvas, but a number even of large ones are on wood panel. Only a handful of drawings survive.

He was a prominent and pious citizen of the small city of Brescia, belonging to at least two of the most prominent confraternities. More on Alessandro Bonvicino

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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation the bible, Giacinto Brandi’s Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, with Footnotes – #131

Giacinto Brandi, (1621–1691)
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, circa 1650
Oil on canvas
Height: 99 cm (38.9 ″); Width: 75 cm (29.5 ″)
Pinacoteca Vaticana

Gethsemane is an urban garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. In Christianity, it is the place where Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested the night before his crucifixion.

Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane refers to the events in the life of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament, between the Farewell Discourse at the conclusion of the Last Supper and Jesus’ arrest. More on this painting

According to all four Gospels, immediately after the Last Supper, Jesus took a walk to pray. The gospels of Matthew and Mark identify this place of prayer as Gethsemane. Jesus was accompanied by three Apostles: Peter, John and James, whom he asked to stay awake and pray. He moved “a stone’s throw away” from them, where He felt overwhelming sadness and anguish, and said “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it.” Then, a little while later, He said, “If this cup cannot pass by, but I must drink it, your will be done!”. He said this prayer three times, checking on the three apostles between each prayer and finding them asleep. He commented: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”. An angel came from heaven to strengthen him. During his agony as he prayed, “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground”.

At the conclusion of the narrative, Jesus accepts that the hour has come for him to be betrayed. More on Christ in the Garden

Giacinto Brandi (1621 – 19 January 1691) was an Italian painter of the Baroque era, active mainly in Rome and Naples. Born in Poli, in Lazio, he was trained in Rome in the studio of Alessandro Algardi, a noted sculptor, who noted that Brandi was more suited to painting. He joined the studio of Giovanni Giacomo Sementi. He traveled to Naples from 1638, and by 1647 had returned to Rome to work under Giovanni Lanfranco, where Brandi befriended Mattia Preti. The two latter artists would often collaborate.

His works are well distributed among baroque Churches of Rome. In 1647, he joined the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon in Rome and from 1651 was inducted into the Accademia di San Luca for painters. In 1663, he frescoed the life of Saint Erasmus for the crypt of the cathedral of Gaeta. Some of his works are in Milan, Toledo, and Zaragoza. More on Giacinto Brandi

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