Jesus – Zaidan Gallery

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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2 Religious Icons, Barnaba da Modena and Veneto-Cretan Icons of the Madonna and Child, with footnotes #27

Barnaba da Modena (1328–1386)
Madonna and Child, c. 1370s
Tempera on panel
height: 109 cm (42.9 in); width: 72 cm (28.3 in)
Louvre Museum

The panel, probably originally rectangular, was cut at the top following the profile of the moldings in relief. Central element of a polyptych.

The Nursing Madonna, Virgo Lactans, or Madonna Lactans, is an iconography of the Madonna and Child in which the Virgin Mary is shown breastfeeding the infant Jesus. In Italian it is called the Madonna del Latte (“Madonna of milk”). It was a common type in painting until the change in atmosphere after the Council of Trent, in which it was rather discouraged by the church, at least in public contexts, on grounds of propriety…

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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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05 Works, February 20th, is Saint Leo of Catania’s Day, With Footnotes – #50

Unknown iconographer
St. Leo, Bishop of Catania, Sicily
Private collection

Icon with water-gilding on plywood. The wood has been prepared in heat and gilded with gold leaf 24K, in accordance with traditional Byzantine techniques. The icon has been painted with egg-tempera paints for best performance and endurance of colors used. The colors were chosen based on studies and analyses of older icons by renowned iconographers, after ARTIS had first conducted conservation treatments on them. More on this work

Saint Leo of Catania, nicknamed the Thaumaturgus, also known as St Leo the Wonderworker in Sicily (May 703 or 709–20 February 789) lived at the time of the first persecutions of the holy icons. He was born in Ravenna to a noble family, and became bishop of his native city. Soon his reputation spread, and he was elected Bishop of Catania in Sicily. As is so often true even today, the city, though nominally Christian, was plagued by superstition and paganism. The holy bishop set about to turn the people away from error: by his prayers he caused a pagan temple to collapse and built a church on its site, dedicated to the Forty Maryrs of Sebaste…

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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, 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, 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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07 Icons, RELIGIOUS ART – Icons from the 14 and 15 Centuries, with footnotes – 5

Lorenzo di Bicci (c. 1350 – 1427), DOCUMENTED IN FLORENCE 1370 – 1427
A PORTABLE TRIPTYCH SHOWING THE MADONNA AND CHILD ENTHRONED WITH SAINTS, WITH THE ANNUNCIATION, NATIVITY, AND CRUCIFIXION DEPICTED ON THE WINGS
Tempera on panel, gold ground, pointed tops
central panel: 73.9 by 39.8 cm.; 29 by 15 5/8 in.
wings, each: 56.4 by 13.5 cm.; 22 1/8 by 5 1/2 in
Private collection

The arrangement and combination of subjects in this devotional triptych were common throughout the Florentine Trecento and early Quattrocento, a tried and tested formula which found its origin in Bernardo Daddi’s Bigallo Triptych of 1333, in the Museo del Bigallo, Florence. The left wing depicts the Nativity; the right wing shows the Crucifixion. The pinnacles above each wing form a single narrative representing the Annunciation. At centre, below a blessing Christ, the Virgin sits on a Gothic throne, adorned with a red and gold cloth of honour. A corporeal Christ Child sits upon her lap and, with an innovative gesture of tenderness, clutches her finger. Surrounding them are a group of six saints, which include John the Baptist and John the Evangelist.

Lorenzo di Bicci (c. 1350–1427) was an Italian painter of the Florentine school, traditional in outlook. He is believed to have learned his trade from his father, about whom little other than his name, Bicci, is known. By 1370, Lorenzo was a member of the Guild of Saint Luke, the painters’ guild of Florence. Lorenzo’s earliest documented work, Saint Martin Enthroned, dates from 1380 and is now in the Depositi Galleria Arte in Florence. More on Lorenzo di Bicci

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1 Religious Icon, 19th C. St. John the Baptist & Head, with footnotes #24

Eastern Europe, Russia, 19th century CE. Icon
St. John the Baptist & Head
Egg tempera and gold leaf on wood
17.5″ W x 43.75″ H (44.4 cm x 111.1 cm)
Private collection

A winged St. John the Baptist holding a scroll as well as his severed head on a platter, with God the Father above. The wings occupy a large part of the composition and bestow John the Baptist’s body with an otherworldly, celestial dimension. The artist painstakingly delineated the feathered wings in various neutral earthtones with black and white highlights, creating a rich sense of depth. This attention to detail is also visible on this camel-hair tunic and blue-green himation. The white strokes dramatically highlighting these vestments symbolize the spiritual energy of divine light. On the scroll are the words, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” and “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (John 1:29, Matthew 3:2). A large golden halo encircles his visage cascading past his beard and shoulders. More on this icon

John the Baptist (sometimes called John in the Wilderness; also referred to as the Angel of the Desert) was the subject of at least eight paintings by the Italian Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610).

The story of John the Baptist is told in the Gospels. John was the cousin of Jesus, and his calling was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. He lived in the wilderness of Judea between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, “his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leather girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.” He baptised Jesus in the Jordan.

According to the Bible, King Herod’s daughter Salome requested Saint John the Baptist’s beheading. She was prompted by her mother, Herodias, who sought revenge, because the prophet had condemned her incestuous marriage to Herod. More John the Baptist

The Eastern Orthodox Church subscribes to a belief in the intercession of saints. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition every individual is named in honor of a specific saint when baptized, and this saint is regarded as a patron for the person’s entire life. In addition, there are patron saints of activities and occupations, ailments and dangers, as well as locales.

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01 Painting, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretations by The Master of the Figdor St Eustache, With Footnotes # 70 A

The Master of the Figdor St Eustache
ACTIVE IN ROMAGNA AT THE END OF THE 15TH CENTURY
THE MARTYRDOM OF SAINT SEBASTIAN
Oil on panel, maroflauged
88.3 x 65.3 cm.; 34 3/4 x 25 3/4 in.
Private collection

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

The name of the artist derives from a panel depicting Saint Eustace in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, formerly in the Figdor collection, which was considered to be by Melozzo da Forlí by some of the titans of twentieth-century Italian art history, including Roberto Longhi, Carlo Volpe and Federico Zeri.1 While recognising the distinct debt to Melozzo, more recent scholars such as Tambini (see Literature) have questioned this attribution, proposing instead that it could be an early work by Marco Palmezzano while still heavily dependent on Melozzo’s style. More on this painting

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01 Religious Icon, 19th C. Russian Icon, St. Seraphim of Sarov, with footnotes #23

19th C. Russian Icon
St. Seraphim of Sarov
Egg tempera and gold leaf on wood
4.375″ W x 5.375″ H (11.1 cm x 13.7 cm)
Private collection

St. Seraphim of Sarovblesses himself before his icon of the Mother of God hanging in the tree above. At his feet are a hat, bread sack, gloves, and axe. The strongly modeled visage as well as the perspectival background suggest that the painter was very much influenced by Western art. The borders are meticulously incised and painted to simulate enamel. More on this Icon

Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1 August 1754 (or 1759) – 14 January 1833), born Prokhor Moshnin, is one of the most renowned Russian saints in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He is generally considered the greatest of the 19th-century (elders. Seraphim extended the monastic teachings of contemplation, theoria and self-denial to the layperson. He taught that the purpose of the Christian life was to acquire the Holy Spirit. Perhaps his most popular quotation amongst Orthodox believers is “Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.”

Seraphim was glorified (canonized) by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1903. Pope John Paul II referred to him as a saint. More on St. Seraphim of Sarov

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08 Paintings, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretations of the Bible! by Paul Gauguin, Louis B. Davis, Callisto Piazza, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, With Footnotes # 56

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, (1828–1882)
Lady Lilith, c. 1866-68 (altered 1872-73)
Oil on canvas
97.8 × 85.1 cm (38.5 × 33.5 in)
Delaware Art Museum

Lilith, the subject of this painting, is described in Judaic literature as the first wife of Adam. She is associated with the seduction of men and the murder of children. The depiction of women as powerful and evil temptresses was prevalent in 19th-century painting, particularly among the Pre-Raphaelites. The artist depicts Lilith as an iconic, Amazon-like female with long, flowing hair. Her languid nature is reiterated in the inclusion of the poppy in the lower right corner — the flower of opium-induced slumber.

A large 1867 replica of Lady Lilith, painted by Rossetti in watercolor, which shows the face of Cornforth, is now owned by New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (below). More on this painting

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2 Religious Icon, Virgin of the Burning Bush and the Theotokos of Unburnt Bush with footnotes #22

Eastern Europe, Russia, ca. 1760 to 1780 CE
Virgin of the Burning Bush
Egg tempera and gold leaf on wood
14.125″ L x 12.125″ W (35.9 cm x 30.8 cm)
Private collection

The subject of Our Lady of the Burning Bush is based on the Old Testament prophecy of the incarnation of Christ. Such theologians as St Gregory of Nyssa and Theodoret of Cyrrhus regarded Moses’s vision of the burning bush as a symbol and prototype of the Virgin Mary and the Immaculate Conception.

The iconography of the scene was inspired by the Russian Orthodox hymns comparing the Virgin to the burning bush seen by Moses — engulfed in flames, yet not burning (Exodus 2:1–6). Icons of the subject were popular from the sixteenth century onwards and were believed to offer protection from fire. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the festival of the icon on 4/17 September, which is also the day of Moses. More on Our Lady of the Burning Bush

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08 works, Today, December 28th, is The 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia’s day, their story, illustrated #360

Troganov school
Detail; Saint Cyril, c. 17th C
Russian I con
Church-Archaeological Office of the Moscow Theological Academy.

Stroganov School is a conventional name for the last major Russian icon-painting school, which thrived under the patronage of the rich Stroganov family of merchants in the late 16th and 17th century.

“Stroganov School” owes its name to frequent mentioning of the Stroganovs on the markings on the back of the icons of Yemelyan Moskvitin, Stefan Pakhirya, Prokopy Chirin, Istoma, Nazariy, and Nikifor Saviny. Most of these icon painters, however, did not belong to the Stroganov School. They were icon painters from Moscow and executed commissions by the tsar. Many of their works were eventually acquired by the Stroganovs, who had been known as connoisseurs of sophisticated craftsmanship.

The works of art of the Stroganov School have quite a few features in common, such as small size, diminutiveness, refined palette, density of paint layers, graphic precision of details, fragile characters’ postures and gestures, richness of their vestments, and complicated landscape background. More on the Stroganov School

The 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia refers to victims of persecution of Christians in Nicomedia, Bithynia (modern Izmit, Turkey) by the Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian in the early 4th century AD.

At this time the bishop of the city of Nicomedia was Saint Cyril, whose preaching had greatly contributed to the spread of the Gospel…

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09 works, Today, December 25th, is Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar’s day, their story, illustrated #357

Andrea Mantegna, (1431–1506)
The Adoration of the Magi, c. between 1495 and 1505
Oil on canvas
Height: 486 mm (19.1 in); Width: 656 mm (25.8 in)
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California

Andrea Mantegna ( c. 1431 — September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality. His flinty, metallic landscapes and somewhat stony figures give evidence of a fundamentally sculptural approach to painting. He also led a workshop that was the leading producer of prints in Venice before 1500. More on Andrea Mantegna

Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar were distinguished foreigners in the Gospel of Matthew and Christian tradition…

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06 works, Today, December 24th, is Adela of Normandy’s day, her story, illustrated #356

Unknown artist
Saint Adela of Normandy, Patron Saint
Oil on canvas
16″x20″
I have no further description, at this time

Adela of Normandy, of Blois, or of England (c. 1067 – 8 March 1137), also known as Saint Adela in Roman Catholicism, was a daughter of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders who later became the Countess of Blois, Chartres, and Meaux by marriage to Stephen II, Count of Blois. The couple had ten children – five sons and five daughters. She was mother of Stephen, king of England, whose right to the throne derived through her…

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09 works, Today, December 16th, is Saint Adelaide of Italy’s, day, her story, illustrated #349

Tracy L. Christianson
St. Adelaide
I have no further description, at this time

Tracy L. Christianson: “I’m a self taught artist who has loved drawing people for as long as I can remember. While working as a graphic artist /designer, I did portraiture on the side. My future lead me to combining my beautiful Catholic faith and love of portraiture to drawing portraits of the saints. Each saint has a fascinating story to tell and I love creating their portrait and spreading devotion to them. There are over 10,000 canonized saints in the Catholic Church so I should never run out of subject matter.

I have over 430 saints currently in my collection and new ones are added every month. All are available for sale online at PortraitsofSaints.com

Adelaide of Italy (931–16 December 999 AD), also called Adelaide of Burgundy,
was born in the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy (Switzerland), she was the daughter of Rudolf II of Burgundy…

08 works, Today, December 12th, is Saint Agatha of Sicily’s day, her story, illustrated #345

Andrea Vaccaro, (1604–1670)
Detail; Saint Agatha, circa 1635
Oil on canvas
Height: 128.5 cm (50.5 in); Width: 101 cm (39.7 in)
Museo del Prado, Madrid

Agatha of Sicily (c. 231 — c. 251 AD) is a Christian saint. Her memorial is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania or Palermo, Sicily. One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, Agatha was put to death during the persecution of Decius (250–253) in Catania, Sicily, for her determined profession of faith.

According to the 13th-century Golden Legend, fifteen-year-old Agatha, from a rich and noble family, made a vow of virginity and rejected the amorous advances of the Roman prefect Quintianus, who thought he could force her to turn away from her vow and marry him. His persistent proposals were consistently spurned by Agatha. This was during the persecutions of Decius, so Quintianus, knowing she was a Christian, reported her to the authorities. Quintianus himself was governor of the district…

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