footnotes – Zaidan Gallery

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

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

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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01 Work, The Art Of The Nude, Alphonsine de Challié’s Young brunette woman with a pink veil at her toilet, with footnotes # 31

Alphonsine de Challié, French, 1858 – 1904
Young brunette woman with a pink veil at her toilet
Oil on canvas
62.5 by 81½ cm., 24½ by 32 in.
Private collection

Alphonsine de Challie worked in the studio of Charles Joshua Chaplin and was a friend of Berthe Morisot. In 1875, Berthe Morisot painted the’ Woman with her toilet ‘which is today preserved at the Art Institute of Chicago. Is she undressing or getting ready? The same mystery surrounds this picture of Alphonsine Challie who was probably influenced by his elder. More on this painting
Having grown up in an intellectual family that encouraged her talent for drawing, Alphonsine de Challié studied painting under Charles Chaplin, one of the first artists to open his studio to female students among whom were Mary Cassatt, Louise Abbéma and Madeleine Lemaire. De Challié befriended fellow artist Berthe Morisot and exhibited regularly at the Salon between 1878 and 1882. More on Alphonsine de Challié

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05 Works, Sebastiaen Vrancx’s Medieval soldiers scenes, with footnotes

The Tard-Venus pillage Grammont in 1362
Froissart’s Chronicles / Gallica Digital Library, Public Domain
I have no further description, at this time

An army always made sure to put in place what was called a “ supply train” , this is even known from the times of Alexander´s campaigns.

The supply train was the logistic mechanism that allowed resupplying the army with everything it needed. The bigger the army and the deeper it was into enemy territory, the bigger and longer the “supply train” was. More on supply train

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1 Work , John Lewis Brown’s Battle of Reichshoffen, with footnotes

John Lewis Brown, French, 1829 – 1890
Battle of Reichshoffen, 6 August 1870, c. 1872
Oil on canvas
148 by 146.5cm., 58¼ by 57¾in.
Private collection

The Battle of Reichshoffen (also known as the Battle of Wörth) took place near the village of Wœrth in Alsace, on the Sauer River at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War. It is referred to as the second battle of Wörth (the first occurred during the French Revolutionary wars in 1793). In the second battle depicted here, troops from Germany defeated the French, primarily due to a much larger army and superior artillery. More on The Battle of ReichshoffenJohn Lewis Brown (1829–1890) was a French battle, animal, and genre painter. He was born in Bordeaux of a Scottish family of Stuart partisans. He studied in the École des Beaux-Arts with Camille Roqueplan and Jean-Hillaire Belloc.[1] He is known for his pictures of hunting and military scenes, and his studies of horses and dogs. He painted a number of admirable pictures from the American Revolutionary War, the Seven Years’ War, and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. His presentation is clever and humorous, his work characterized by refinement and charm. The Luxembourg possesses his “Before the Start,” the Gallery of Dublin, “The Mountebank.” He was also an excellent etcher and aquarellist. More on John Lewis Brown

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02 Paintings, Middle East Artists, Anna Boghiguian’s Alexandria , with Footnotes, #69

Anna Boghiguian, B. 1947, EGYPTIAN
ALEXANDRIA, JUNE – SEPT.
Oil on canvas
50 by 50cm.; 19 5/8 by 19 5/8 in.
Private Collection

Alexandria is a Mediterranean port city in Egypt. Founded in c. 331 BC by Alexander the Great, Alexandria grew rapidly and became a major centre of Hellenic civilisation, eventually replacing Memphis, in present-day Greater Cairo, as Egypt’s capital. During the Hellenistic period, it was home to the Lighthouse of Alexandria that ranked among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, as well as the storied Library of Alexandria. Today, the library is reincarnated in the disc-shaped, ultramodern Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Its 15th-century seafront Qaitbay Citadel is now a museum. Called the “Bride of the Mediterranean” by locals, Alexandria is a popular tourist destination and an important industrial centre due to its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez. More on Alexandria…

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01 painting, The amorous game, Otto Aguiar’s Miami Beach, With Footnotes, #87

Otto Aguiar, Brazilian (1938 – 2006)
Miami Beach, c. 1993
Screenprint
40 x 30 inches
Private collection

The son of a highly respected Brazilian general, Otto de Souza Aguiar graduated with honors and was awarded a Master’s Degree in Graphic Art and Drawing from the University of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After teaching drawing and design to aspiring architects, Otto began the extensive travels through Europe that were his induction into the world of High Fashion and Interior Design. As one of Brazil’s top models, his engagements took him to Milan, Paris, and London. There, with his assignments in Harper’s Bazaar Italia and others of the world’s most prestigious publications, Aguiar developed an inspired aesthetic perception, which manifests itself boldly in his dramatic blending of color, texture and gilding.

Otto has combined his vast fashion and theatrical background with his diversified experience in the Visual Arts. Thus, his work has been characterized by the portrayal of elegance and grace. His inner tranquility manifests in his paintings as he recaptures the lush topical beauty of the Brazilian beaches and gardens of his youth. Aguiar was greatly inspired by the romance of the Baroque and Colonial period of Brazilian.

Renowned for his masterful integration of trompe l’oeil and unique figurative style, Aguiar’s work has been an extraordinary enhancement to residential, public and corporate settings on several continents, for almost 30 years. More on Otto Aguiar

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01 Photograph, The Art Of The Nude, Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s Fruta prohibida/ Forbidden Fruit, with footnotes # 170

Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Mexican, 1902 – 2002)
Fruta prohibida [Forbidden Fruit] 1976, printed 1990s
Silver print
6 7/8×9 inches (17.5×22.9 cm.)
Private collection

Manuel Álvarez Bravo was a teenager when he first picked up a camera and began taking pictures, before he enrolled in night classes in painting at the Academia San Carlos, in 1917, or sought instruction in the darkroom of local German photographer Hugo Brehme. Initially self-taught, Álvarez Bravo’s style developed through study of foreign and local photography journals. In these pages, he first encountered the work of Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, who came to Mexico in 1923; the latter became a close colleague and supporter, introducing Álvarez Bravo to the artists of Mexico’s avant-garde, including Diego Rivera, Frida Khalo, and Rufino Tamayo, as well as encouraging him to send photographs to Weston.

In the 1930s, Álvarez Bravo met Paul Strand, traveling with him while he worked in Mexico, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. With Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans he exhibited in a three-man show at the Julien Levy Gallery, New York, in 1935. Mexico was a cultural hub for many in the international avant-garde in these years; André Breton visited, including Álvarez Bravo in the Exposition of Surrealism he organized in 1940 in Mexico City. Although the artist never identified with Surrealism, it was a major theme in the analysis of his pictures throughout his career. Revealing the influence of his formative years following the Mexican Revolution of 1910, Álvarez Bravo would instead speak of his interest in representing the cultural heritage, peasant population, and indigenous roots of the Mexican people in the face of rapid modernization. More on Manuel Álvarez Bravo

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18 Works, March 23rd. is artist Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #81

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609–1664)
God Creating the Animals
Oil on canvas
101 ¼ x 117 ¼ ( 258 x 298 cm.)
Private collection

Myths of creation occur in Mesopotamian and Canaanite literature and it is from these bodies of literature that the Old Testament book of Genesis derived some of its motifs surrounding the acts of creation. Genesis contains an account of eight works of creation that were actually spread over six days, the first four of which are known as the Works of Division and the second as the Works of Ornamentation. The subject of Castiglione’s painting, God’s Creation of the Animals, took place on the sixth day, when the creation of man also took place. The subject of the creation was extremely popular during the High Renaissance and was treated on a monumental scale by both Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel and Raphael in the Vatican Logge. More on this painting

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (baptized 23 March 1609–5 May 1664) was an Italian Baroque painter, printmaker and draftsman, of the Genoese school. He is best known now for his etchings, and as the inventor of the printmaking technique of monotyping. He was known as Il Grechetto in Italy and in France as Le Benédette…

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01 Marine Painting – Jack Lorimer Gray’s Nova Scotian Schooner, with Footnotes, #361

Jack Lorimer Gray, American/Canadian, 1927-1981
Nova Scotian Schooner, c. 1961
Oil on canvasboard
24 x 36 inches (61 x 91.4 cm)
Private collection

Of all the wooden vessels that have sailed in Nova Scotia waters, perhaps the best-known and best-loved is the schooner. Regardless of size or various sail configurations and rigs, the Nova Scotian Schooner and its graceful silhouette are instantly recognizable, imbedded in the popular imagination as quintessential symbols of maritime life and the salt-water trade.

The schooner’s reputation was built on serviceability — relatively small, speedy, agile and seaworthy, it was the workhorse of the sea. In the days before modern road networks and transportation systems, regional trade and commerce relied almost entirely on marine routes — and small vessels. Schooners were the backbone of the coastal trade — every seaside community had at least one or two carrying produce, fish and passengers to larger towns, bringing goods back. Schooners were also the mainstay of both the inshore and Grand Banks fisheries. More on the Nova Scotian Schooner

Jack Lorimer Gray (April 28, 1927 — September, 1981) was a Canadian artist, known particularly for marine art.

Jack Lorimer Gray was born in Halifax and studied at the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design (NSCAD). Though a traditional painter of marine pictures in a decade known for advances in abstraction in Canada, Gray’s paintings are avidly sought internationally. The appeal of his paintings has much to do with their authenticity and dynamism. Gray spent time at sea and was well-positioned to interpret in paint how vessels responded to the movement induced by wind and wave, unlike other marine painters who limited themselves to moored ships which they studied from dry land.

Gray lived in New York in the mid-50s and was represented by Kennedy Galleries which accounts for the significant patronage he enjoyed in the U.S. Gray moved to Maine in the late 1950s but was back in Halifax by 1961, More on Jack Lorimer Gray

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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.