01 Paintings, Olympian deities, Prague School’s Venus, Bacchus and Cupid, with footnotes # 43

Prague School, early 17th century followers of Hans von Aachen
Venus, Bacchus and Cupid
Oil on canvas
h: 67 w: 57.50 cm
Private collection

Venus and Love/ Venus and Cupid. Different tales exist about the origin of Venus and Cupid. Some say that Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, had a love affair with Mars, the god of war. Out of this relationship, Cupid was born. 

Cupid has attributes from both of his parents. Like his mother he is considered to be the god of love, or more precisely, the god of falling in love. He is portrayed as an innocent little child with bow and arrows. He shoots arrows to the heart, and awakening a love that you’re powerless to resist.

Venus and Cupid are often shown in intimate poses, reflecting the unique love between mother and child. More Venus and Love

Dionysus is the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy in Greek mythology. Alcohol, especially wine, played an important role in Greek culture with Dionysus being an important reason for this life style. His name shows that he may have been worshipped as early as c. 1500–1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks. His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources as Thracian, others as Greek. In some cults, he arrives from the east, as an Asiatic foreigner; in others, from Ethiopia in the South. He is a major, popular figure of Greek mythology and religion, and is included in some lists of the twelve Olympians. Dionysus was the last god to be accepted into Mt. Olympus. He was the youngest and the only one to have a mortal mother.

Also known as Bacchus, the name adopted by the Romans and the frenzy he induces, bakkheia. His wand is sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey. It is a beneficent wand but also a weapon, and can be used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. More on Bacchus

Hans von Aachen (1552 – 4 March 1615) was a German painter who was one of the leading representatives of Northern Mannerism.

Hans von Aachen was a versatile and productive artist who worked in many genres. He was successful as a painter of princely and aristocratic portraits, and further painted religious, mythological and allegorical subjects. Known for his skill in the depiction of nudes, his eroticized mythological scenes were particularly enjoyed by his principal patron, Emperor Rudolf II. These remain the works for which he is best known. He also painted a number of genre paintings of small groups of figures shown from the chest upwards.

The life and work of Hans von Aachen bear unique witness to the cultural transfer between North, South and Central Europe in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. After training in the tradition of Netherlandish Renaissance painting he moved to Italy in 1574, for about 14 years, mainly working in Venice. He returned in 1587 to his native Germany. His final years were spent in Prague. The combination of the Netherlandish realism of his training and the Italian influences gained during his travels gave rise to his unique painting style. More on Hans von Aachen

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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26 Works, December 3rd. is Frederic Leighton’s day, his art, illustrated with footnotes #244

Frederic Leighton (1830–1896)
And the Sea Gave Up the Dead Which Were in It, exhibited 1892
Oil on canvas
H 228.6 x W 228.6 cm
Tate Britain

This is one of the most dramatic and powerful works, painted in the dark and solemn style of Leighton’s late career. Leighton’s tondo shows the resurrection of the dead, as described in the Book of Revelation: ‘And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.’ (Revelation 20:13) It is a terrifying yet essentially optimistic image, meditating on the theme of spiritual salvation…

Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, PRA (3 December 1830–25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subject matter in an academic style. His paintings were enormously popular, and expensive, during his lifetime…

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14 Works, November 26th. is Antonio Carneo’s day, his art, illustrated with footnotes #241

Carneo Antonio
Proof of poison, c. 1670-1680
Oil on canvas
175 x 178 cm
Ado Furlan Foundation

Depicting a young man who compresses his bowels in the presence of a group of bystanders who follow his spasms with apprehension or try to help him, it is described ab antiquo with the title with which it is still remembered today. However, since it is difficult to represent a generic poisoning scene (provoked or self-induced), one wonders whether the artist did not want to illustrate a specific character in the episode in question. Among the proposals advanced by scholars, that of the young Mithridates who undergoes the poison test in order to immunize himself remains one of the most plausible. More on this painting

Antonio Carneo (1637–1692) was an Italian painter, active in Friuli and Venice, and depicting both mythologic, allegoric, and religious canvases, as well as portraits…

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23 Works, November 1st. is Cornelis Cornelisz’s day, his art, illustrated with footnotes #229

Circle Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem
The Last Supper
Oil on Panel
76 x 108 cm.
Private collection

The Last Supper is based on a late 15th-century mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. It is one of the world’s most famous paintings.

The painting represents the scene of The Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, as it is told in the Gospel of John, 13:21. Leonardo has depicted the consternation that occurred among the Twelve Disciples when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him. More on the The Last Supper

Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem (1562 — Haarlem — 1638) who himself added ‘van Haarlem’ to his name, was one of the leading figures of Dutch Mannerism, together with his townsman Hendrick Goltzius and Abraham Bloemaert from Utrecht. He was born in 1562 in a well-to-do Catholic family in Haarlem, where he first studied with Pieter Pietersz. At the age of seventeen he went to France, but at Rouen he had to turn back to avoid an outbreak of the plague and went instead to Antwerp, where he remained for a year with Gilles Coignet…

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23 Works, Today, June 3rd. is William Hilton’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #152

William Hilton (1786-1839)
Preparatory study for “Massacre of the Innocents”
Oil on canvas
4.5ins x 14ins
Private collection

The Massacre of the Innocents is the incident in the nativity narrative of the Gospel of Matthew in which Herod the Great, king of Judea, orders the execution of all male children two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem. The Catholic Church regards them as the first Christian martyrs. A majority of Herod biographers, and “probably a majority of biblical scholars,” hold the event to be myth, legend or folklore. The Massacre of the Innocents

William Hilton RA (3 June 1786–30 December 1839), was a British portrait and history painter…

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Circle of Nicolas Poussin, Venus and Cupid 01 Paintings, Olympian deities, by the Old Masters, with footnotes # 22

Circle of Nicolas Poussin, (1594 – 1665)

Venus and Cupid

Oil on canvas

33 x 42.5 cm.; 13 x 16 3/4  in.

Private collection

Venus and Love/ Venus and Cupid. Different tales exist about the origin of Venus and Cupid. Some say that Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, had a love affair with Mars, the god of war. Out of this relationship, Cupid was born.

Cupid has attributes from both of his parents. Like his mother he is considered to be the god of love, or more precisely, the god of falling in love. He is portrayed as an innocent little child with bow and arrows. He shoots arrows to the heart, and awakening a love that you’re powerless to resist.

Venus and Cupid are often shown in intimate poses, reflecting the unique love between mother and child. More Venus and Love

Nicolas Poussin (French: June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. His work is characterized by clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. Until the 20th century he remained a major inspiration for such classically oriented artists as Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Paul Cézanne.

He worked in Rome for a circle of leading collectors from there and elsewhere, except for a short period when Cardinal Richelieu ordered him back to France to serve as First Painter to the King. Most of his works are history paintings of religious or mythological subjects that very often have a large landscape element. More on Nicolas Poussin

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, and The Canals of Venice

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I don’t own any of these images – credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

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Italian School, Sleeping Venus with Cupid 01 Paintings, Olympian deities, by the Old Masters, with footnotes # 23

Italian School, c. 1660

Sleeping Venus with Cupid

Oil on canvas

75 x 130 cm

Private collection

This “Sleeping Venus” has not yet been assigned an author. The motif, with the goddess here depicted life-sized in an elongated landscape format, derives from the works of 16th century Venetian artists such as Giorgone and Titian. Paris Bordone also painted this motif, and the present work was formerly attributed to him. Pietro Liberi and Antonio Bellucci later picked up the subject again in the 17th century, and the vivid palette and delicate contours of the present work allow it to be placed in the circle of these Venetian artists. More on the Sleeping Venus

Venus and Love/ Venus and Cupid. Different tales exist about the origin of Venus and Cupid. Some say that Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, had a love affair with Mars, the god of war. Out of this relationship, Cupid was born.

Cupid has attributes from both of his parents. Like his mother he is considered to be the god of love, or more precisely, the god of falling in love. He is portrayed as an innocent little child with bow and arrows. He shoots arrows to the heart, and awakening a love that you’re powerless to resist.

Venus and Cupid are often shown in intimate poses, reflecting the unique love between mother and child. More Venus and Love

Italian School, 16th Century. The first two decades of the 16th century witnessed the harmonious balance and elevated conception of High Renaissance style, perfected in Florence and Rome by Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. It brought together a seamless blend of form and meaning. In Venice, Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian devoted themselves to an art that was more sensual, with luminous color and a tactile handling of paint, preoccupations that would attract Venetian artists for generations, including Tintoretto and Veronese later in the century.

In the 1520s, Florence and Rome, but not Venice, saw a stylistic shift following the social and political upheaval ensuing from the disastrous Sack of Rome. Mannerism, as practiced by Bronzino, Pontormo, and Rosso, was a self-consciously elegant style that traded naturalism for artifice, employing unnaturally compressed space, elongated figures, and acid color. While mannerism became popular internationally, and lingered in northern Europe, by around 1580 it had fallen out of favor in Italy. One factor was the desire of the Church, challenged by the Protestant Revolution, to connect with the faithful. In place of mannerism’s ingenuous complications and artificiality, the Counter-Reformation Church required painting that was direct and emotionally resonant. The “reform of painting,” as it was called, was launched by two brothers and a cousin in Bologna: Annibale, Agostino, and Lodovico Carracci. They established an academy that emphasized drawing from life and looked to inspiration from Titian and other Renaissance masters, restoring the naturalism and classical balance of the early 16th century. More Italian School, 16th Century

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, and The Canals of Venice

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don’t own any of these images – credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Giovanni Bilivert, VENUS, CUPID AND PAN 01 Paintings, Olympian deities, by the Old Masters, with footnotes # 19

Giovanni Bilivert, FLORENCE 1585 – 1644

VENUS, CUPID AND PAN

Oil on copper

18 by 13 in.; 45.7 by 33 cm.

Private collection

Venus, goddess of love, is dipping her feet in a shallow, crystalline pond.  Naked save for her pearl headdress and earrings, she is assisted by Cupid who washes her left leg.  He is naked as well, wearing only a silk sash that billows up behind him as he bends forward.  Standing in the background is Pan who holds Venus’s crimson cloak and a shepherd’s crook, his attribute as god of the wild and protector of flocks.  More on this painting

Giovanni Biliverti,  (Florence, 25 August 1585 – Florence, 16 July 1644) was an Italian painter of the late-Mannerism and early-Baroque period, active mainly in his adoptive city of Florence, as well as Rome. Biliverti was born as Jan Bilevelt. After his father’s death in 1603, Giovanni worked in the studio of Lodovico Cigoli, following him in April 1604 till 1607 to Rome. There he worked in projects approved by Pope Clement VIII.

In 1609 Bilivert joined the Medici-sponsored guild of artists, the Accademia del Disegno in Florence. Bilivert was employed by Cosimo II de’ Medici from 1611 until 1621, as a designer for works in pietra durai. Late in life, he became blind. Among his pupils were Cecco Bravo, Agostino Melissi, Baccio del Bianco, and Orazio Fidani. He painted a Hagar in the Desert once in the Hermitage and a Christ and the Samaritan Woman once in the Belvedere in Vienna. More on Giovanni Biliverti

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03 Paintings, Olympian deities, by the Old Masters, with footnotes # 13

George Frederick Watts, 1817 – 1904

UNDINE

Oil on panel

24 1/4 by 23 3/4 in., 61.6 by 60.3 cm

Private collection

Undine is a fairy-tale novella by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué in which Undine, a water spirit, marries a knight named Huldebrand in order to gain a soul. It is an early German romance, which has been translated into English and other languages.

During the nineteenth century the book was very popular. The story is descended from Melusine, the French folk-tale of a water-sprite who marries a knight on condition that he shall never see her on Saturdays, when she resumes her mermaid shape. It was also inspired by works by the occultist Paracelsus. More on Udine

George Frederic Watts OM RA (London 23 February 1817 – 1 July 1904) was a popular English Victorian painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said “I paint ideas, not things.” Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical works, such as Hope and Love and Life. These paintings were intended to form part of an epic symbolic cycle called the “House of Life”, in which the emotions and aspirations of life would all be represented in a universal symbolic language. More on George Frederic

Luca Giordano, called Luca Fa Presto

VENUS AT VULCAN’S FORGE

signed on the rock lower center: .LG. (in ligature)

oil on canvas

70 1/8  by 89 7/8  in.; 180 by 228.3 cm.

Private collection

The scene is set in the “underground cavern and galleries leading from [Mount] Etna” on the island of Sicily, the location of Vulcan’s forge, as described in the Aeneid (8.370-453). Here, Vulcan– the god of fire and metalworking—engages in discourse with his wife Venus as he and his workers create what will become arms that she will later give to her mortal son Aeneas. At Venus’ side is Cupid, who clings to her for protection amidst the fire and cacophony of sound.  More on this painting

 

Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 12 January 1705) was an Italian late Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain.

Born in Naples, Giordano was the son of the painter Antonio Giordano. In around 1650 he was apprenticed to Ribera, and his early work was heavily influenced by his teacher. Like Ribera, he painted many half-length figures of philosophers, either imaginary portraits of specific figures, or generic types.

He acquired the nickname Luca fa presto, which translates into “Luca paints quickly.” His speed, in design as well as handiwork, and his versatility, which enabled him to imitate other painters deceptively, earned for him two other epithets, “The Thunderbolt” (Fulmine) and “The Proteus” of painting.

Following a period studying in Rome, Parma and Venice, Giordano developed an elaborate Baroque style fusing Venetian and Roman Influences. His mature work combines the ornamental pomp of Paul Veronese with the lively complex schemes, the “grand manner”, of Pietro da Cortona. He is also noted for his lively and showy use of colour. More Luca Giordano

Frederic, Lord Leighton, P.R.A., 1830-1896

VENUS AND CUPID

oil on canvas

58 by 18 3/4 in., 147.3 by 47.6 cm

Private collection

Venus and Love/ Venus and Cupid. Different tales exist about the origin of Venus and Cupid. Some say that Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, had a love affair with Mars, the god of war. Out of this relationship, Cupid was born. 

Cupid has attributes from both of his parents. Like his mother he is considered to be the god of love, or more precisely, the god of falling in love. He is portrayed as an innocent little child with bow and arrows. He shoots arrows to the heart, and awakening a love that you’re powerless to resist.

Venus and Cupid are often shown in intimate poses, reflecting the unique love between mother and child. More Venus and Love

Frederic, Lord Leighton, P.R.A., 1830-1896

VENUS AND CUPID

Detail

Frederic Leighton, 1830–1896, British, English. (Born Scarborough, 3 December 1830; died London, 25 January 1896). English painter, draughtsman, and occasional sculptor, one of the dominant figures of late Victorian art. He travelled widely in Europe as a boy and his artistic education was gained principally in Frankfurt, Rome, and Paris. It was not until 1859 that he settled in England, but he had earlier made his name with Cimabue’s Celebrated Madonna is Carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence, which he painted in Rome: it was exhibited at the 1855 Royal Academy exhibition and bought by Queen Victoria (it is now on loan from the Royal Collection to the National Gallery, London).

From the mid-1860s he enjoyed a level of worldly success. He became president of the Royal Academy in 1878, was made a baronet in 1886, and a few days before he died was raised to the peerage, the first (and so far only) British artist to be so honoured. 

He is best known for his paintings of classical Greek subjects, the finest of which are distinguished by magnificently opulent colouring as well as splendid draughtsmanship. As a sculptor his output was small. The finished life-size bronze is in Tate Britain and there are various smaller models and versions, including one in Leighton House, the sumptuously decorated house and studio he built in the fashionable Holland Park area of London, now a museum dedicated to him. More Frederic Leighton

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