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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04 Paintings, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, The Islamic Pirate Queen – Sayyida al-Hurra, with Footnotes. #172

Jean-Étienne Liotard
The Islamic Pirate Queen – Sayyida al-Hurra
Gouache on ivory
height: 10.2 cm (4 in); width: 8.3 cm (3.2 in)
Private collection

Sayyida al Hurra (1485–14 July 1561), was a queen of Tétouan in 1515–1542 and a pirate queen in the early 16th century. She is considered to be “one of the most important female figures of the Islamic West in the modern age”…

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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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Salvador Dalí’s 12 Apostles (Knights of the Round Table) Suite of 12 Lithographs c. 1972, with footnotes

Salvador Dalí
The Twelve Apostles (as Knights of the Round Table) (F. 180-81; M. & L. 1504-1515), c, 1977
lithograph in colors with embossing and foil on Arches paper
Private collection

Though there is some discussion surrounding the identification of the figures, they are accepted to be: Christ, James the Lesser, James the Greater, “The Watcher” and Saints Andrew, Mark, John, Peter, Thomas, Jude, Matthew, and Phillip

Identification has been made by examination of the images for symbols associated with each of them. More weight has been given to tradition than to theological scholarships because Dali would not have been aware of the latter…

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04 Icons from the Bible, Mother of God Znamenie, Madonna del Parto, Christ is carrying our cross, Mother of God “Surety of sinners” and the Mandylio, with footnotes, #18

Mother of God Znamenie
Russian icon, first half of 19th c.
38 x 30,5 cm
Private collection

The Icon of the Mother of God, named the “Sign” (“Znamenie”), shows the Most Holy Mother of God seated with prayerfully uplifted hands. On Her bosom, against the background of a circular shield (or sphere) — is the Divine Infant giving a blessing.

The Mother of God, known under the name “Znamenie-Sign”, appeared in Rus’ during the XI-XII Centuries, and were called such after a miraculous “Sign” from the Novgorod Icon, which occurred in the year 1170, the year the allied forces of the Russian appanage princes, marched to the the very walls of Great Novgorod…

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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, Philip Hermogenes Calderon’s St Elizabeth of Hungary’s Great Act of Renunciation – with footnotes #200

Philip Hermogenes Calderon 1833–1898
St Elizabeth of Hungary’s Great Act of Renunciation, c. 1891
Oil paint on canvas
1530 × 2134 mm
Tate

Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231) was the wife of Lewis, Landgrave of Thuringia. After his death in 1227 during one of the Crusades, she entered a convent and devoted herself to good works. Before becoming a nun, she passed through a spiritual crisis, torn by the need to renounce the world, and therefore her children, in order to fulfil her desire to serve God. Pressed by a domineering monk, Conrad, whose natural affections had been starved by celibacy, Elizabeth finally vowed that ‘naked and barefoot’ she would follow her ‘naked Lord’. Calderon’s picture shows this moment of self-abasement.

Calderon took his subject from a play by Charles Kingsley, ‘The Saint’s Tragedy’, first published in 1848. It was based on fact. More on Elizabeth of Hungary

Philip Hermogenes Calderon RA (Poitiers 3 May 1833 – 30 April 1898 London) was an English painter of French birth (mother) and Spanish (father) ancestry who initially worked in the Pre-Raphaelite style before moving towards historical genre. He was Keeper of the Royal Academy in London.

Calderon planned to study engineering, but he became so interested in drawing technical figures and diagrams that he changed his mind and devoted his time to art. In 1850, he trained at Leigh’s art school, London, then went to Paris in 1851. His first successful painting was in 1852, which was followed by a much more popular one in 1856. He was inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, and some of his work showed the detail, deep colors, and realistic forms that characterize the style. 

His later paintings adopt a more classical style, comparable to Edward Poynter. Calderon became Keeper of the Royal Academy in 1887, and from then on worked to support the teaching of anatomy based on nude models at the Royal Academy Schools. His 1891 painting St Elizabeth of Hungary’s great act of renunciation was secured by the Chantrey bequest for the national collection, and is now located in Tate Britain. More on Philip Hermogenes Calderon

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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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05 Works, February 14th, is Lupercalia/ Saint Valentine’s Day, With Footnotes – #45

Maria Rachele Branca
Lupercus, Lupercus, the protector of the harvest and farmers
Mixed technique on canvas
80×60 cm
I have no further description, at this time

In a refined contrast with a material background, the delicate and idealized line of Maria Rachele Branca , which distinguishes her style in the lyricism of a mythologized folklore, suspends the scene in the allusion to the invasive sound of the flute which bewitches the nymph sitting on it next to. And precisely in underlining its predatory instinct, the canvas accentuates the potential for prosperity of LUPERCUS FAUNUS in a good omen invoked for the territory. More on this painting

Lupercalia was an ancient pastoral annual festival observed in the city of Rome between February 13 and February 15, to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility.

At the Lupercal altar, a male goat and a dog were sacrificed by one or another of the Luperci, under the supervision of the Flamen dialis, Jupiter’s chief priest, after which two of the Luperci were led to the altar, their foreheads were touched with a bloody knife, and the blood was wiped off with wool dipped in milk Next the Luperci cut thongs from the flayed skin of the animal, and ran with these, naked or near-naked, in an anticlockwise direction around the hill. These gross whips were called, februare.

Maria Rachele «Since I was a child I had a passion for artistic expression which manifested itself with a particular talent in drawing. So when it came time to choose the address for high school I chose the Art Institute even if it meant taking the bus from Bagnoli every morning at dawn. I began to develop a bond with art, but I didn’t think of myself as an artist, I felt a strong pleasure in entering the churches of my small town, studying its culture, learning the traditions of the area»…

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04 Works, February 11th, is Our Lady of Lourdes’s Day, With Footnotes – #42

Our Lady of Lourdes
I have no further description, at this time

Our Lady of Lourdes is a Roman Catholic title of the Virgin Mary venerated in honour of the Marian apparitions that reportedly occurred in 1858 in the vicinity of Lourdes in France. The first of these is the apparition of 11 February 1858, when 14-year old Bernadette Soubirous told her mother that a “lady” spoke to her in the cave of Massabielle while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend.

Soubirous claimed she saw “a petite damsel,” in white, with a golden rosary and blue belt fastened around her waist, and two golden roses at her feet. In subsequent visitations she heard the lady asking that a chapel be built there…

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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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01 Sculpture , RELIGIOUS ART, Giambologna’s Christ at the column – with footnotes #188

Attributed to Giambologna, Italian, Florence, 17th century
Christ at the column
Bronze, on turned ebonized wood socle
height 6¾ in.; 14.1cm.
Private collection

As Avery notes, the present model was attributed to Giambologna on the basis of the strong modeling of the body and the hands of the figure but is more likely to have been cast by a younger follower. There are at least two other identical versions, both of which were attributed to Antonio Susini, the first was from the Beit Collection, sold in Christie’s, 7 December 2006, lot 197 and another formerly in the Barbara Piasecka Johnson Collection and exhibited at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. This model has also been variously ascribed to a French sculptor, perhaps associated with Prieur, due to the attention to detail, facture and color of the casts. More on this Sculpture

Christ at the Column (also known as The Flagellation of Christ). The sculpture shows the flagellation of Christ following his arrest and trial and before his crucifixion. The scene was traditionally depicted in front of a column, possibly alluding to the judgement hall of Pilate.  More on Christ at the Column

Giambologna (1529[1] – 13 August 1608) — (known also as Jean de Boulogne and Giovanni da Bologna) — was a Flemish sculptor based in Italy, celebrated for his marble and bronze statuary in a late Renaissance or Mannerist style.

Jean de Boulogne was born in Douai, Flanders (now in France), in 1529. After youthful studies in Antwerp with the architect-sculptor Jacques du Broeucq, he moved to Italy in 1550 and studied in Rome, making a detailed study of the sculpture of classical antiquity. He was also much influenced by Michelangelo, but developed his own Mannerist style, with perhaps less emphasis on emotion and more emphasis on refined surfaces, cool elegance, and beauty. Pope Pius IV gave Giambologna his first major commission, the colossal bronze Neptune and subsidiary figures for the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna. Giambologna spent his most productive years in Florence, where he had settled in 1553. In 1563 he was named a member of the prestigious Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, under the influence of the painter-architect Giorgio Vasari, becoming also one of the Medicis’ most important court sculptors. He died in Florence at the age of 79; the Medici had never allowed him to leave Florence, as they rightly feared that either the Austrian or Spanish Habsburgs would entice him into permanent employment. He was interred in a chapel he designed himself in the Santissima Annunziata. More on Giambologna

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01 Work , RELIGIOUS ART, Frederick Arthur Bridgman’s Pharaoh and his Army – with footnotes #189

Frederick Arthur Bridgman
Pharaoh and his Army Engulfed by the Red Sea, c. 1900
Oil on canvas
115 x 210.8 cms | 45 1/4 x 82 3/4 ins
Private collection

The painting depicts the Biblical narrative in the Book of Exodus (14:28) of the Israelites led by Moses fleeing the Egyptians. After promising them freedom, the Pharaoh reneges on his word and chases after the Israelites as they escape through a waterway which had been parted by command of Moses’ staff. As the Egyptian army follows the Israelites, the waters come crashing down upon them and drown the Pharaoh, his officers, and their horses. More on this painting

Frederick Arthur Bridgman (November 10, 1847 – 1928) was an American artist, born in Tuskegee, Alabama. The son of a physician, Bridgman would become one of the United States’ most well-known and well-regarded painters and become known as one of the world’s most talented “Orientalist” painters. He began as a draughtsman in New York City, for the American Bank Note Company in 1864-1865, and studied art in the same years at the Brooklyn Art Association and at the National Academy of Design; but he went to Paris in 1866 and became a pupil of Jean-Leon Gerome. Paris then became his headquarters. A trip to Egypt in 1873-1874 resulted in pictures of the East that attracted immediate attention, and his large and important composition, The Funeral Procession of a Mummy on the Nile, in the Paris Salon (1877), bought by James Gordon Bennett, brought him the Cross of the Legion of Honor. Other paintings by him were An American Circus in Normandy, Procession of the Bull Apis (now in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), and a Rumanian Lady (in the Temple collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). More on Frederick Arthur Bridgman

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04 Wooden Sculptures, RELIGIOUS ART – The Holy Trinity, Virgin and Child, Christ as the Man of Sorrows and the Pieta, with footnotes #188

Italian, 16th century
The Holy Trinity
Gilt and polychromed wood, on a later metal stand
height 23 ½ in.; 59.7cm.
Private collection

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity holds that God is one God, but three coeternal consubstantial persons or hypostases — the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit — as “one God in three Divine Persons”. The three Persons are distinct, yet are one “substance, essence or nature”. In this context, a “nature” is what one is, whereas a “person” is who one is…

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01 Painting, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretations by Marco Palmezzano’s Saint Sebastian, With Footnotes # 70 B

Marco Palmezzano, (1459–1539)
Saint Sebastian, circa 1515-1520
Tempera and oil on wood
81 х 60 cm.
Christian Museum, Budapest

Saint Sebastian (died c. 288 AD) was an early Christian saint and martyr. Sebastian had prudently concealed his faith, but in 286 was detected. Diocletian reproached him for his betrayal, and he commanded him to be led to a field and there to be bound to a stake so that archers from Mauritania would shoot arrows at him. “And the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an urchin is full of pricks, and thus left him there for dead.” Miraculously, the arrows did not kill him.

Sebastian later stood by a staircase where the emperor was to pass and harangued Diocletian for his cruelties against Christians. This freedom of speech, and from a person whom he supposed to have been dead, greatly astonished the emperor; but, recovering from his surprise, he gave orders for his being seized and beat to death with cudgels, and his body thrown into the common sewer. A pious lady, called Lucina, admonished by the martyr in a vision, got it privately removed, and buried it in the catacombs at the entrance of the cemetery of Calixtus, where now stands the Basilica of St. Sebastian. More St. Sebastian
Marco Palmezzano (1460–1539) was an Italian painter and architect, belonging to the Forlì painting school, who painted in a style recalling earlier Northern Renaissance models. He was mostly active near Forlì.

After his initial training with the painter Melozzo da Forlì Palmezzano went to Rome in the early 1490s.

It is rumored that Palmezzano may have then traveled to Jerusalem to join the team painting frescoes at the Holy Cross church there, but no documentary evidence exists. He is, however, noted in property records as residing in Venice in 1495. Shortly thereafter, Palmezzano returned to Forlì, where he spent the rest of his long life—apparently with only brief excursions connected with commissions in other places in the region—until his death in 1539.

Palmezzano’s studio was prolific in producing altarpieces, most commonly featuring the iconic arrangement of an enthroned Virgin with child on her lap, while below, symmetrically sited in the foreground are flanking saints. Venetian painting, in general, and the work of Giovanni Bellini and Cima da Conegliano, in particular, were to remain the most powerful influences on Palmezzano’s output. Moreover, he remained faithful to the Venetian style of the later 15th and early 16th century. Mannerism entirely passed him by, and he seemed immune to subsequent developments in Venetian painting. One of the most attractive facets of Palmezzano’s oeuvre are the distinctive and suggestive landscapes that form the backdrops of many of his altarpieces. These are a blend of the ideal and lyrical, and of the observed reality of the Apennine foothills and mountains to the south of Forli for which Palmezzano clearly had a real affection. These landscapes are also employed to subtle and imaginative effect to convey the symbolic religious messages of the works. More on Marco Palmezzano

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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Studio of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s Virgin and Child, with Footnotes – #211

Studio of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Seville 1617 – 1682
Virgin and Child
Oil on canvas
97,8 x 82,2 cm ; 38 ½ by 32 ⅜ in.
Private collection

The Madonna and Child or The Virgin and Child is often the name of a work of art which shows the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus. The word Madonna means “My Lady” in Italian. Artworks of the Christ Child and his mother Mary are part of the Roman Catholic tradition in many parts of the world including Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, South America and the Philippines. Paintings known as icons are also an important tradition of the Orthodox Church and often show the Mary and the Christ Child. They are found particularly in Eastern Europe, Russia, Egypt, the Middle East and India. More Madonna and ChildBartolomé Esteban Murillo (born late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618 – April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children. These lively, realist portraits of flower girls, street urchins, and beggars constitute an extensive and appealing record of the everyday life of his times. More on Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

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