01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Circle of Hans von Aachen’s The Last Supper, with Footnotes – 188

Circle of Hans von Aachen, (Cologne 1552-1615 Prague)
The Last Supper
Oil on copper
12¼ x 16 3/8 in. (31.1 x 41.6 cm.)
Private collection

It is interesting for me is the artist’s blatant incorporating Mary Magdalene alongside Jesus.

The Last Supper is the final meal that, in the Gospel accounts, Jesus shared with his Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as “Holy Communion” or “The Lord’s Supper”.

The four canonical Gospels all state that the Last Supper took place towards the end of the week, after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and that Jesus and his Apostles shared a meal shortly before Jesus was crucified at the end of that week. During the meal Jesus predicts his betrayal by one of the Apostles present, and foretells that before the next morning, Peter will deny knowing him.

The three Synoptic Gospels and the First Epistle to the Corinthians include the account of the institution of the Eucharist in which Jesus takes bread, breaks it and gives it to the Apostles, saying: “This is my body which is given for you”. The Gospel of John does not include this episode, but tells of Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles, giving the new commandment “to love one another as I have loved you”, and has a detailed farewell discourse by Jesus, calling the Apostles who follow his teachings “friends and not servants”, as he prepares them for his departure.

Scholars have looked to the Last Supper as the source of early Christian Eucharist traditions. Others see the account of the Last Supper as derived from 1st-century eucharistic practice as described by Paul in the mid-50s. More on The Last Supper

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

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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, FOLLOWER OF BERNARDINO LUINI’s MADONNA AND CHILD, With Footnotes – 190

FOLLOWER OF BERNARDINO LUINI
MADONNA AND CHILD
Oil on panel
35¾ by 26 in.; 90.8 by 66 cm.
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 Child

Bernardino Luini (c. 1480/82 – June 1532) was a North Italian painter from Leonardo’s circle. Both Luini and Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio were said to have worked with Leonardo directly; he was described to have taken “as much from Leonardo as his native roots enabled him to comprehend”.[1] Consequently, many of his works were attributed to Leonardo. He was known especially for his graceful female figures with elongated eyes, called Luinesque by Vladimir Nabokov. More on Bernardino Luini

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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Marie Felix Hippolyte-Lucas’ Salome, with Footnotes – 189

Marie Felix Hippolyte-Lucas, French, 1854-1925
Salome
Oil on canvas
76 3/4 x 38 1/8 inches (195 x 96.8 cm)
Private collection

Salome was the daughter of Herod II and Herodias. She is infamous for demanding and receiving the head of John the Baptist, according to the New Testament. According to Flavius Josephus’s Jewish Antiquities, Salome was first married to Philip the Tetrarch of Ituraea and Trakonitis. After Philip’s death in 34 AD she married Aristobulus of Chalcis and became queen of Chalcis and Armenia Minor. They had three children. Three coins with portraits of Aristobulus and Salome have been found. Her name in Hebrew meaning “peace”. More on Salome

Marie-Felix Hippolyte-Lucas was a French painter , born on November 9 , 1854 in Rochefort-sur-Mer , and died on April 17 , 1925 in Bougival. 

Between 1877 and 1924, his works were regularly exhibited at the Salon des artistes français where he receives numerous awards . He was also awarded at the Universal Exhibitions of 1889 and 1900. He is knight of the Legion of Honor.

Marie Felix Hippolyte-Lucas was a pupil of Isidore Pils, Karl Lehmann and Évariste Luminais.

He executed decorative paintings for the casino in Monte Carlo, the conference centre at the Musée Océanographique in Monaco, and three ceilings in the Préfecture du Rhône. More on Marie-Felix Hippolyte-Lucas

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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, The Master of the Legend of St. Ursula’s MADONNA AND CHILD, with Footnotes – #85

The Master of the Legend of St. Ursula (1436–1505)
MADONNA AND CHILD, WITH AN EXTENSIVE LANDSCAPE SEEN THROUGH TWO WINDOWS BEYOND
Oil on panel
15 ¼ by 10 in.; 41 by 27 cm
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 Child

The Master of the Legend of St. Ursula (1436–1505) was a Flemish painter active in the fifteenth century. His name is derived from a polyptych depicting scenes from the life of Saint Ursula painted for the convent of the Black Sisters of Bruges. The city appears in the background of a number of the paintings.

The artist’s style combines influences of Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling, of whom the latter was his contemporary, while for many years some of his works were attributed to Hugo van der Goes. More on The Master of the Legend of St. Ursula

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, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Ilin Stanislav’s Eve, With Footnotes – #53

Ilin Stanislav, Russia
Eve
Oil on Canvas.
39.4 W x 39.4 H x 1.2 in
Private collection

Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, she was the first woman. In Islamic tradition, Eve is known as Adam’s wife and the first woman although she is not specifically named in the Quran.

According to the second chapter of Genesis, Eve was created by God by taking her from the rib of Adam, to be Adam’s companion. She succumbs to the serpent’s temptation to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She shares the fruit with Adam, and as a result the first humans are expelled from the Garden of Eden. Christian churches differ on how they view both Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God, and to the consequences that those actions had on the rest of humanity. Christian and Jewish teachings sometimes hold Adam and Eve to a different level of responsibility for the fall, although Islamic teaching holds both equally responsible. More on Eve
Ilin Stanislav was born in Kazan, and lives in Moscow. He finished the Moscow Academic institute of Surikova in 1999. The artist and sculptor of monuments, Participated in lists of the Temple of the Christ of the Savior, the Stained-glass window in a hall of session of an academic council in the Moscow State University. His works are in private assemblies of England, France, the USA, Japan. More on Ilin Stanislav

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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Michele Tosini’s PIETÀ WITH TWO ANGELS, with Footnotes – 182

Michele Tosini, Florence 1503 – 1577
PIETÀ WITH TWO ANGELS
Oil on panel
35¾ by 25⅜ in.; 90.8 by 64.4 cm.
Private collection

The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ. When Christ and the Virgin are surrounded by other figures from the New Testament, the subject is strictly called a Lamentation in English, although Pietà is often used for this as well, and is the normal term in Italian. More the Pietà

Michele Tosini, also called Michele di Ridolfo, (1503–1577) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance and Mannerist period, who worked in Florence.Tosini began painting in the early 16th-century Florentine style of Fra Bartolommeo and Andrea del Sarto. His acceptance of Mannerism was slow, but by the 1540s the influence of Salviati and Bronzino was visible in his work. After 1556, Tosini served as an assistant to Giorgio Vasari in the decoration of the Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Through Vasari’s example, Tosini adopted a vocabulary derived from the work of Michelangelo and painted some of his best-known works in this manner. He executed several important commissions late in his career: the fresco decoration of three city gates of Florence (1560s), the altar in the chapel at the Villa Caserotta (1561), near San Casciano Val di Pesa, and the paintings on the sides and back of the tabernacle of the high altar of Santa Maria della Quercia (1570), Viterbo. According to Vasari, Tosini headed a large workshop that executed numerous altarpieces and paintings. He was also a notable portraitist. More on Michele Tosini

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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Taddeo di Bartolo’s ENTOMBMENT, with Footnotes – #181

Taddeo di Bartolo, Siena 1362/3 (?) – after 1422
THE ENTOMBMENT
Tempera on panel, gold ground
13 by 13⅜ in.; 33 by 34 cm.
Private collection

The prevailing characteristic of Taddeo di Bartolo’s work being rich colour and spatial inventiveness. His gold backgrounds don’t sharpen but soften the mood and lend a dazzling glow to his paintings. Bartolo’s figures express raw, unfettered passion–passionate emotions that are not manufactured or abstracted. His concern was with dramatic action and human emotion. To make that dramatic action more effective, Bartolo placed his figures in a space more convincingly than earlier painters.  His depiction of Christ is kind and gracious, as if he has pity upon the longing of the soul of the believer. He avoids all contrived effects  and labors in the same style as Segna di Buonaventure, in whose works also the figures have  roundness and shadows. Bartolo’s work is confident, exploratory and intense. He opened up a new world of emotion and passion, but with a lyricism and deep sensitivity to color. His subjects, like his predecessors, are all religious ? the Virgin Mary, the Life of Christ, the Apostles, Angeles and the Life of St. Francis.

His great painting of Saint Christopher is housed in the famous Civic Museum inside the Palazzo Pubblico overlooking the Piazza del Campo. The Palazzo Pubblico was built in the early 1300s by the Government of Nove. It is a masterpiece of  medieval urban architecture. In the Great Council Hall there are extraordinary frescoes by Martini depicting a beautiful Maestà and next door, in the Hall of Nine there is the amazing fresco cycle by Ambrogio Lorenzetti showing the Allegory and Effects of Good and Bad Government. More on Taddeo di Bartolo

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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Francesco Furinis Rachel giving birth to Joseph, with Footnotes – #178

Francesco Furini (Florence 1604-1646)
Rachel giving birth to Joseph
Oil on canvas
205.1 x 161.9cm (80 3/4 x 63 3/4in)
Private collection

Rachel is first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 29 when Jacob happens upon her as she is about to water her father’s flock. She was the second daughter of Laban. Jacob had traveled a great distance to find Laban. His mother Rebekah had sent him there to be safe from his furious twin brother, Esau.

During Jacob’s stay, he fell in love with Rachel and agreed to work seven years for Laban in return for her hand in marriage. On the night of the wedding, the bride was veiled and Jacob did not notice that Leah, Rachel’s older sister, had been substituted for Rachel. Whereas “Rachel was lovely in form and beautiful,” “Leah had tender eyes”. Later Jacob confronted Laban, who excused his own deception by insisting that the older sister should marry first. He assured Jacob that after his wedding week was finished, he could take Rachel as a wife as well, and work another seven years as payment for her. When God “saw that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb”, and she gave birth to four sons.

Rachel was unable to conceive, and became jealous of Leah. She gave Jacob her maidservant, Bilhah, to be a surrogate mother for her. Bilhah gave birth to two sons that Rachel named and raised. Leah responds by offering her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob, and names and raises the two sons that Zilpah bears. After Leah conceived again, Rachel was finally blessed with a son, Joseph. More on Rachel

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.

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. An important early work, Hylas and the Nymphs (1630), features six female nudes that attest to the importance Furini placed upon drawing from life.

Furini became a priest in 1633 for the parish of Sant’Ansano in Mugello. Furini traveled to Rome again in the year before his death in 1646. More on Francesco Furini

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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Adriaen van der Werff’s The repudiation of Hagar, With Footnotes – #177

Adriaen van der Werff
The repudiation of Hagar
Oil on canvas
87.6 x 69.1
Private collection

Hagar is a biblical person in the Book of Genesis Chapter 16. She was an Egyptian handmaid of Sarah, who gave her to Abraham “to wife” to bear a child. The product of the union was Abraham’s firstborn, Ishmael, the progenitor of the Ishmaelites.

After Sarah gave birth to Isaac, and the tension between the women returned. At a celebration after Isaac was weaned, Sarah found the teenage Ishmael mocking her son, and demanded that Abraham send Hagar and her son away. She declared that Ishmael would not share in Isaac’s inheritance. Abraham was greatly distressed but God told Abraham to do as his wife commanded because God’s promise would be carried out through both Isaac and Ishmael.

The name Hagar originates from the Book of Genesis, and is only alluded to in the Qur’an. She is considered Abraham’s second wife in the Islamic faith and acknowledged in all Abrahamic faiths. In mainstream Christianity, she is considered a concubine to Abraham. More on Hagar

Adriaen van der Werff (21 January 1659 – 12 November 1722) was an accomplished Dutch painter of portraits and erotic, devotional and mythological scenes. His brother, Pieter van der Werff (1661–1722), was his principal pupil and assistant.

At the age of ten he started to take lessons, two years later moving in with Eglon van der Neer, specializing in clothes and draperie. At the age of seventeen he founded his own studio in Rotterdam where he later became the head of guild of Saint Luc. In 1696, he was paid a visit by Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine and his wife, Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici. The couple ordered two paintings to be sent to Cosimo III of Tuscany, Anna Maria Luisa’s father, in Florence. During the next years Van der Werff traveled regularly between Düsseldorf and his home town. In 1703, he became the official court painter and a knight, when his former teacher and predecessor Van der Neer died. Van der Werff, with a perfect technique, was paid extremely well by the Elector for his biblical or classical (erotic) paintings. In 1705, he painted a portrait of Gian Gastone de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. In 1716, he lost his job when the Elector died because the treasury was empty.

Van der Werff became one of the most lauded Dutch painters of his day, gaining a European reputation and an enormous fortune. Arnold Houbraken, writing in 1718, considered him the greatest of the Dutch painters and this was the prevailing critical opinion throughout the 18th century: however, his reputation suffered in the 19th century, when he was alleged to have betrayed the Dutch naturalistic tradition. In the Victorian Age people could not appreciate his art, so most of his work went into the cellars of the Alte Pinakothek.

Van der Werff also practised as an architect in Rotterdam, where he designed a few houses. More on Adriaen van der Werff

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10 works, Today, August 13th, is Marco d’Aviano’s day, their story illustrated #225

Anonymous
Marco d’Aviano in contemplation of the Crucifix, c. 1699
Padua, Capuchin Convent

Marco d’Aviano, born Carlo Domenico Cristofori (November 17, 1631 — August 13, 1699) was an Italian Capuchin friar.

orn in Aviano, a small community in the Republic of Venice. At 16 he tried to reach the island of Crete, where the Venetians were at war with the Ottoman Turks, in order to preach the Gospel and convert the Muslims to Christianity. On his way, he sought asylum at a Capuchin convent in Capodistria, where he was welcomed by the Superior, who knew his family, and who, after providing him with food and rest, advised him to return home.

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06 works, Today, August 8th, is Martyr John Felton’s day, his story illustrated #220

Daphne Pollen, (1904–1986)
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
I have no further description of this artwork at this time

John Felton (died 8 August 1570) was an English Catholic martyr, executed during the reign of Elizabeth I.

Felton was a wealthy man of Norfolk ancestry, who lived at Bermondsey Abbey, a mansion built out of the materials of a great Cluniac monastery. He “was a man of stature”. His wife had been a playmate of Elizabeth I, a maid-of-honour to Queen Mary. John Felton was a well-known Catholic.

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07 Works, Today, June 22nd, is Saint Alban’s day, his story in Paintings #173

Salrunn Nes
St. Alban, the first martyr of Britain
I have no further description of this artwork at this time

Saint Alban, Protomartyr of Britain, is venerated as the first-recorded British Christian martyr.

Alban lived in Roman Britain, in the 3rd or 4th century, when Christians began to suffer “cruel persecution”…

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08 Works, Today, June 21st, is Saint Luarsab’s day, his story in Paintings #172

Mikhail Sabinin
King Luarsab II of Kartli, c. 1880s
I have no further description of this artwork at this time

Luarsab II the Holy Martyr (1592–1622), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king of Kartli (eastern Georgia) from 1606 to 1615. He is known for his martyr’s death at the hands of the Persian shah Abbas I…

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07 Works, Today, June 10th, is Saints Antonina and Alexander’s day, his story in Paintings #161

Unknown artist
The Holy Martyrs Alexander and Antonina the Virgin

The Holy Martyrs Alexander and Antonina the Virgin. Saint Antonina was from the city of Krodamos. She was arrested for being a Christian, and was brought before the governor Festus. He urged her to worship the pagan gods, promising to make her a priestess of the goddess Artemis…

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05 Works, Today, June 8th, is Saint Melania the Elder’s day, her story in Paintings #159

Unknown artist
Melania the Elder

Saint Melania the Elder, (born in Spain, ca. 350–died in Jerusalem before 410 or in ca. 417) was a Desert Mother who was an influential figure in the Christian ascetic movement that sprang up in the generation after the Emperor Constantine made Christianity a legal religion of the Roman Empire. She founded two religious communities on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem…

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06 Works, Today, June 6th is Saint Hilarion’s day, his story in Paintings #157

Unknown artist
Synaxarion of Saint Hilarion

Saint Hilarion was born around 776. His pious parents were known by Emperor Leo IV the Khazar, his father being the bread supplier at the imperial table…

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04 Works, Today, May 27th is Saint Restituta’s day, her story in Paintings #147

Unknown artist
Santa Restituta, XV Century
Tempera on canvas and panel,
129.5 x 86.5 cm,
Palermo Cathedral, former convent of S. Chiara, Palermo

Saint Restituta (Santa Restituta of Africa; died in AD 255 or 304) is a saint and martyr of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. She was said to have been born in Carthage or Teniza (presently Ras Djebel, Tunisia) and martyred under Roman Emperor Diocletian. The location and date of her martyrdom are not precisely known…

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07 Works, Today, May 26th is Saint Augustine of Canterbury’s day, his story in Paintings #146

Augustine of Canterbury

Saint Augustine of Canterbury, also called Austin, (born Rome? — died May 26, 604/605, Canterbury, Kent, England;) first archbishop of Canterbury and the apostle to England, who founded the Christian church in southern England…

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08 Works, Today, May 24th is Meletius Stratelates’ day, his story in Paintings #144

Unknown artist
Saint Meletius the General

The holy martyr Meletius was a military commander of the Galatia district of Asia Minor during the reign of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius (138–161).

He was a Christian and he prayed fervently that the Lord would put an end to the pagan error. Terrified by his prayer, the devils inhabiting the pagan temples entered into dogs, which frightened the inhabitants of the district with their howling…

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05 Works, Today, May 19th is Saint Nino’s day, her Story in Paintings #139

Amiran Goglidze
Icon of St-Nino offered to Patriarch Kirill

Nino was born in the small town of Colastri, in the Roman province of Cappadocia. Her father was Roman general Zabulon and her mother Sosana On her father’s side, Nino was related to St. George, and on her mother’s, to the patriarch of Jerusalem, Houbnal I. Nino was brought up by the nun Niofora-Sarah of Bethlehem. Nino’s uncle, who was the patriarch of Jerusalem, oversaw her traditional upbringing. Nino went to Rome with the help of her uncle where she decided to preach the Christian gospel in Iberia…

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