01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation of the bible, Francesco Furini’s St. Agatha, With Footnotes – #173

Francesco Furini, (1603–1646)
St. Agatha, between circa 1635 and circa 1645
Oil and tempera on canvas
64.2 cm (25.2 ″); Width: 50.3 cm (19.8 ″)
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

This devotional image shows the saint contemplating God while tenderly holding the pincers, the instruments of her sufferings through which she achieved her sanctity. The palm branch is the attribute of martyrs. More on this painting

Saint Agatha of Sicily (231 AD – 251 AD) is a Christian saint and virgin martyr. Agatha was born at Catania or Palermo, Sicily, and she was martyred in approximately 251. 

She is the patron saint of Catania, Molise, Malta, San Marino, and Zamarramala, a municipality of the Province of Segovia in Spain. She is also the patron saint of breast cancer patients, martyrs, wet nurses, bell-founders, bakers, fire, earthquakes, and eruptions of Mount Etna.

Although the martyrdom of Saint Agatha is authenticated, and her veneration as a saint had spread beyond her native place even in antiquity, there is no reliable information concerning the details of her death. According to Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea of ca. 1288, having dedicated her virginity to God,[ fifteen-year-old Agatha, from a rich and noble family, rejected the amorous advances of the low-born Roman prefect Quintianus, who then persecuted her for her Christian faith. He sent Agatha to Aphrodisia, the keeper of a brothel. The madam finding her intractable, Quintianus sent for her, argued, threatened, and finally had her put in prison. Amongst the tortures she underwent was the cutting off of her breasts with pincers. After further dramatic confrontations with Quintianus, represented in a sequence of dialogues in her passio that document her fortitude and steadfast devotion, Saint Agatha was then sentenced to be burnt at the stake, but an earthquake saved her from that fate; instead, she was sent to prison where St. Peter the Apostle appeared to her and healed her wounds. Saint Agatha died in prison, according to the Legenda Aurea in “the year of our Lord two hundred and fifty-three in the time of Decius, the emperor of Rome.” More on Saint Agatha of Sicily

Francesco Furini (c. 1600 (or 1603) – August 19, 1646) was an Italian Baroque painter of Florence, noted for his sensual sfumato style in paintings of both secular and religious subjects. He was born in Florence to an artistic family. Furini’s early training was by Matteo Rosselli. Traveling to Rome in 1619, he also would have been exposed to the influence of Caravaggio and his followers.

Furini’s work reflects the tension faced by the conservative, mannerist style of Florence when confronting then novel Baroque styles. He is a painter of biblical and mythological set-pieces with a strong use of the misty sfumato technique. In the 1630s his style paralleled that of Guido Reni.

Furini became a priest in 1633 for the parish of Sant’Ansano in Mugello.

Freedberg describes Furini’s style as filled with “morbid sensuality”. His frequent use of disrobed females is discordant with his excessive religious sentimentality, and his polished stylization and poses are at odds with his aim of expressing highly emotional states. His stylistic choices did not go unnoticed by more puritanical contemporary biographers like Baldinucci. Pignoni also mirrored this style in his works.

Furini traveled to Rome again in the year before his death in 1646. More on Francesco Furini

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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation of the bible, Francesco Furini’s GENEROSITY OR LIBERALITY, with Footnotes – #172

Francesco Furini, FLORENCE 1604 – 1646
GENEROSITY OR LIBERALITY
Oil on canvas
122 x 92,4 cm ; 48 by 36 1/3 in
Private collection

LIBERALITY; broadness or fullness, as of proportions or physical attributes. One who is generous, bountiful, willing and ready to give and to help. 

There is measure in all things: Furini choses Horace’s maxim to evoke Generosity or Liberality. Personified as a nude woman, she leans upon the quotation from the Roman poet inscribed on a stone pedestal. Furini was inspired by the depiction of Generosity as defined by Cesare Ripa in his Iconology, who, in her right hand, ‘holds strings of jewels and pearls, displaying them as if offering them as gifts. More on this painting

Francesco Furini (c. 1600 (or 1603) – August 19, 1646) was an Italian Baroque painter of Florence, noted for his sensual sfumato style in paintings of both secular and religious subjects. He was born in Florence to an artistic family. Furini’s early training was by Matteo Rosselli. Traveling to Rome in 1619, he also would have been exposed to the influence of Caravaggio and his followers.
Furini’s work reflects the tension faced by the conservative, mannerist style of Florence when confronting then novel Baroque styles. He is a painter of biblical and mythological set-pieces with a strong use of the misty sfumato technique. In the 1630s his style paralleled that of Guido Reni.

Furini became a priest in 1633 for the parish of Sant’Ansano in Mugello.

Freedberg describes Furini’s style as filled with “morbid sensuality”. His frequent use of disrobed females is discordant with his excessive religious sentimentality, and his polished stylization and poses are at odds with his aim of expressing highly emotional states. His stylistic choices did not go unnoticed by more puritanical contemporary biographers like Baldinucci. Pignoni also mirrored this style in his works.

Furini traveled to Rome again in the year before his death in 1646. More on Francesco Furini 

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

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

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

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01 Work, Interpretations of Olympian deities, Nicolaus Knupfer’s Theseus Proposing to Phaedra, with footnotes #29

Nicolaus Knupfer, (Leipzig 1603-1660 Utrecht)
Theseus Proposing to Phaedra
Oil on panel
18 ½ x 25 1/8 in. (47 x 63.8 cm.)
Private collection

Phaedra is a tragic play by Roman playwright Seneca. The play tells the story of Theseus’ wife Phaedra and her lust for her stepson, Hippolytus. However, Hippolytus despises women and wishes to remain pure, preferring to hunt and live in the woods. After Phaedra declares her love, Hippolytus lashes out and strikes to kill her for her lustful crime. Phaedra and her nurse accuse him of raping her, and Hippolytus flees. Upon Theseus’ return from the Underworld, Phaedra continues her lie, and Theseus prays to Neptune for Hippolytus’ death. After Hippolytus dies, Phaedra reveals her deception and kills herself out of shame. Theseus mourns his lost son and condemns Phaedra for her betrayal. More on Theseus and Phaedra

Nikolaus Knüpfer (1609 – 1655) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Knüpfer was trained in Leipzig, where according to Houbraken he was apprenticed to Emanuel Nysen. He then moved to Magdeburg where he found work making brushes for artists. He stayed there until 1630, and then moved to Utrecht to work with Abraham Bloemaert. He lived with him for two years and then established his own studio in Utrecht, where in 1637 he became a visiting member of the Guild of St. Luke. He worked on the decorations of the castle Kronborg in Denmark, and painted figures in the landscapes of Jan Both and Jan Baptist Weenix. Knüpfer was a successful teacher, whose students were great painters after him. More on Nikolaus Knüpfer

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01 Russian Icon, An icon of St Euthymios the Great, with footnotes #58

Unknown iconographer
An icon of St Euthymios the Great, Greece, first half 17th century
Tempera on panel
90 by 55.5 cm, 35 2/5 by 21 4/5in.
Private collection

St. Euthymius the Great, (born 377, Melitene, Armenia—died January 20, 473, Palestinian desert, northeast of Jerusalem; feast day January 20), ascetic and one of the great fathers of Eastern Orthodox monasticism, who established religious communities throughout Palestine.

Orphaned in his youth, Euthymius was educated and later ordained priest by Bishop Otreus of Melitene. He was charged with the spiritual care of the ascetics and monasteries of the city, but in 406 he left for Palestine in search of solitude. Joining the monastery of Pharan, near Jerusalem, he befriended St. Theoctistus, and about 411 they retired to a cave in the wilderness beyond Jerusalem. On being joined by others, they established a cenobitic (“communal”) monastery, or laura, that integrated contemplative life with other liturgical and intellectual projects and work done in common.

Euthymius moved on with a small band and set up similar communities, one on the west bank of the Dead Sea, another farther west in the desert of Ziph, and a larger community northeast of Jerusalem, toward Jericho. This last foundation was named after Euthymius, and its church was dedicated by Bishop Juvenal of Jerusalem in 429.

Euthymius converted many nomad Saracens to the Orthodox Church. He was often consulted on theological questions by the Eastern bishops and participated in formulating the decrees of the Council of Ephesus (431) against the Nestorian heresy. He also contributed to the Council of Chalcedon (451) in refuting the heretical monophysites. Euthymius is credited with disseminating orthodox Christological doctrine throughout Palestinian monasticism, overcoming defamations by his theological adversaries. By his influence the Byzantine empress Eudoxia became convinced that monophysitism was in error and withdrew support from its chief proponent, Abbot Eutyches of Constantinople. More on St. Euthymius the Great

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1 Religious Icon, Bernard van Orley’s THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, with footnotes #26

Circle of Bernard van Orley
THE VIRGIN AND CHILD
Oil on panel
36.2 by 26.1 cm.; 14 1/4 by 10 1/4 in.
Private collection

This is one of a number of versions of the composition, the finest of which is a picture formerly in the collection of Friedrich Glück, Budapest, considered by Baldass to be by Van Orley before 1520.1 A workshop version is in the Royal Collection (L. Campbell, The Early Flemish Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Cambridge 1985, p. 105, no. 66, reproduced plate 78; inv. 1003). Van Orley’s original is in the Prince of Wied collection, Munic. More on this work
Bernard van Orley (between 1487 and 1491 – 6 January 1541), , was a leading artist in Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, though he was at least as active as a leading designer of Brussels tapestry and, at the end of his life, stained glass. Although he never visited Italy, he belongs to the group of Italianizing Flemish painters called the Romanists, who were influenced by Italian Renaissance painting, in his case especially by Raphael.

He was born and died in Brussels, and was the court artist of the Habsburg rulers, and “served as a sort of commissioner of the arts for the Brussels town council”. He was extremely productive, concentrating on the design of his works, and leaving their actual execution largely to others in the case of painting.

Accordingly, his many surviving works (somewhat depleted in number by Reformation iconoclasm) vary considerably in quality. His paintings are generally either religious subjects or portraits, these mostly of Habsburgs repeated in several versions by the workshop, with few mythological subjects. More on Bernard van Orley

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01 Work – Paintings from Norse mythology, Stepan Fedorovich Kolesnikoff’s Mythological scene, with footnotes – #04

Stepan Fedorovich Kolesnikoff, (Russian,1879-1955)
Mythological scene
Mixed technique paper glued to cardboard, tempera, oil
101 x 138 cm
Private collection

Stepan Fedorovitch Kolesnikoff (1879, Russian Empire – 1955, Belgrade, Yugoslavia), was a distinguished Realist painter.

Kolesnikoff was born in a peasant family in a southern province of the Russian Empire. His artistic potentials were recognized early. In 1897 he started attending an artistic school in Odessa, one of the topmost of its kind in the country. In 1903, Kolesnikoff was accepted into the Imperial Academy of Arts, where his paintings regularly won prizes in the annual Spring exhibitions.

In 1919 he and his family emigrated to the Balkans, and in 1920 he settled in Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, (Yugoslavia after 1929) where he spent the rest of his life as an immigrant. Kolesnikoff was promptly welcomed in the royal court of his new country. Among others, he was given a state assignment to lead the restoration works on numerous paintings and frescoes.

The last twelve years of his life Kolesnikoff suffered from Parkinsons’ disease. His remains are buried in the Russian Necropolis, a section of the Belgrade New Cemetery. More on Stepan Fedorovitch Kolesnikoff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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44 Paintings, RELIGIOUS ART – Paintings and Stories of The Angels; Saint Michael, Archangel, and Chief Commander, with footnotes, #22

Spinello Aretino, 1345-52; died 1410
Saint Michael and Other Angels, c. 1408-10
Arezzo Fresco Fragments
Fresco (with areas of secco) transferred to canvas
116.2 x 170.2 cm
The National Gallery, London

This and other fragments in the Collection are from a large fresco of the ‘Fall of Lucifer’ which was painted for S. Michele Arcangelo in Arezzo, Italy. The scene shows Saint Michael and other angels fighting a war in heaven. The battle took place before God who was originally shown enthroned above, while Lucifer’s agents plunge to earth below. More on this fresco

Spinello Aretino, (born c. 1346, Commune of Arezzo — died March 14, 1410, Arezzo) late Gothic Italian painter noteworthy for his vigorous narrative sense. His style anticipates the realistic painting of the early Renaissance of the 15th century. Early in his career he came under the influence of Orcagna and Nardo di Cione, whose style shows in his first major work, a fresco cycle in San Francesco at Arezzo…

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01 Painting, Olympian deities, Francesco Furini’s Hylas and the nymphs, with footnotes # 39

Francesco Furini, (1603–1646)
Hylas and the nymphs, c. 1630
Oil on canvas
Palazzo Pitti

Hylas was the son of King Theiodamas of the Dryopians. After Hercules killed Hylas’s father, Hylas became a companion of Hercules. They both became Argonauts, accompanying Jason in his quest on his ship Argo in seeking the Golden Fleece. During the journey, Hylas was sent to find fresh water. He found a pond occupied by Naiads, and they lured Hylas into the water and he disappeared. More on Hylas and the nymphs

Francesco Furini (c. 1600 (or 1603) – August 19, 1646) was an Italian Baroque painter of Florence, noted for his sensual sfumato style in paintings of both secular and religious subjects. He was born in Florence to an artistic family. Furini’s early training was by Matteo Rosselli. Traveling to Rome in 1619, he also would have been exposed to the influence of Caravaggio and his followers.

Furini’s work reflects the tension faced by the conservative, mannerist style of Florence when confronting then novel Baroque styles. He is a painter of biblical and mythological set-pieces with a strong use of the misty sfumato technique. In the 1630s his style paralleled that of Guido Reni.

Furini became a priest in 1633 for the parish of Sant’ Ansano in Mugello.

Freedberg describes Furini’s style as filled with “morbid sensuality”. His frequent use of disrobed females is discordant with his excessive religious sentimentality, and his polished stylization and poses are at odds with his aim of expressing highly emotional states. His stylistic choices did not go unnoticed by more puritanical contemporary biographers like Baldinucci. Pignoni also mirrored this style in his works.

Furini traveled to Rome again in the year before his death in 1646. More on Francesco Furini

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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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.

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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Fiona Maclean’s Madonna, With Footnotes – #47

Fiona Maclean, Australia
Madonna
Watercolor, Pastel, Pencil on Paper
11.5 W x 16 H x 0.1 in
Private collection

A Madonna is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is from Italian ma donna, meaning ‘my lady’. 

The term Madonna in the sense of “picture or statue of the Virgin Mary” enters English usage in the 17th century, primarily in reference to works of the Italian Renaissance. In an Eastern Orthodox context, such images are typically known as Theotokos.  More on Madonna

New Zealand born Fiona Maclean is a Painter and Visual Artist. After studying Art, Design and Production in New Zealand & Australia she continued her studies in Fine Art and Painting at Parsons School of Art in New York City. A family tragedy cut her studies short in New York where she had to move back to Australia. Fiona was chosen as an Artist to watch and amongst a strong emerging talent of Artists in the ‘One to Watch’ series released by Saatchi. “I am interested in layers, and what it is to be human, sensuality, sexuality and what it is to be female in the world.” As a Fine Artist her paintings and artworks hang in private collections around the world and appear in International reference books and publications. Fiona has exhibited in Australia, London and New York. More on Fiona Maclean

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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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Jacob Cornelisz’s The Adoration of the Magi, With Footnotes – #136

Workshop of Jacob Cornelisz, Oostzaan circa 1460/65 – 1533 Amsterdam
The Adoration of the Magi with portraits of two kneeling donors, Claes Hendricksz. Basgen (1488-1563) and his daughter Neel Claesdr. Basgen (1528-1594)
Oil on panel
31¾ by 26½ in.; 80.6 by 67.3 cm.
Private collection

The Adoration of the Magi (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: A Magis adoratur) is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and worship him. More on the Adoration of the Magi

A dynamic and colorful Adoration scene fills the composition, but two donor figures kneel in the lower corners. The kneeling figure on the left is Claes Hendricksz. Basgen (1488-1563), a wealthy merchant who held prominent political positions in Amsterdam. On the right is his daughter Neel Claesdr. Basgen (1528-1594), who is attired in the robes of an Augustinian canoness. While the specifics for the commission of this panel remain uncertain, Dudok van Heel has proposed that this painting may have been commissioned in celebration of her entrance into the women’s convent of Oude Nonnenklooster in Amsterdam. More on this work
Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (before 1470 – 1533) was a Northern Netherlandish designer of woodcuts and a painter. He was one of the first important artists working in Amsterdam, at a time when it was a flourishing provincial town.

Little is known about Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen’s life. Historians rely mostly on the biographical sketch of him written by Karel van Mander, the archives of Amsterdam, and the archives of Egmond Abbey, a Benedictine monastery that commissioned works by him. His name indicates he was from Oostzaan, North Holland

The first known commissions for Jacob Cornelisz were from when he was at least 35 years of age. It is assumed that he worked in a painters’s workshop before that, and judging from his close copies of Haarlem painting techniques, this was possibly in Haarlem. More on Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen

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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation the bible, Edouard Kasparides’ The penitent Mary Magdalene in the cave, with Footnotes – 127

Edouard Kasparides, (1858-1926 Austrian)
The penitent Mary Magdalene in the cave, c. 1890
Oil on canvas
45.5″ H x 67″ W
Private collection

The penitent Mary Magdalene was a sinner, perhaps a courtesan, Mary Magdalen was a witness of Christ who renounced the pleasures of the flesh for a life of penance and contemplation. Penitent Magdalene or Penitent Magdalen refers to a post-biblical period in the life of Mary Magdalene, according to medieval legend. 

According to the tenets of the 17th–century Catholic church, Mary Magdalene was an example of the repentant sinner and consequently a symbol of the Sacrament of Penance. According to legend, Mary led a dissolute life until her sister Martha persuaded her to listen to Jesus Christ. She became one of Christ’s most devoted followers and he absolved her of her former sins. More on The Penitent Magdalen

The sacrament of Penance had important significance in Counter-Reformation spirituality, and artists frequently portrayed penitent saints as exemplars of religious fervor. Such works were meant to inspire a greater devotion. On the other hand, the popularity of The Magdalene as a subject is also associated with her implied sexuality. Her passive gaze and partially naked body appealed to male viewers, for whom such paintings offered a moralizing context through which to engage with the sensuality of the female form. The Penitent Magdalene

Eduard Kasparides  (Krönau 1858 – 1926 Bad Gleichenberg) was born in Moravia in the eastern part of the Czech Repubic. In 1876 he moved to Vienna to study at the Academy of Fine Arts. His teachers were Christian Griepenkerl and Josef Mathias von Trenkwald.  In 1884 he finished his studies and moved to Munich one year later, he came back to Vienna in 1886. He made several study trips during his career and traveled through Italy, Germany, Sweden and Russia.

At the begin of his career Eduard Kasparides painted mainly conversation pieces and historical paintings with religious motives. But from 1899 he found his individual style and focussed on impressionistic evening-landscapes with a strong atmospheric effect. He became a member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1894 and was a co-founder of the artist group Hagenbund in 1900.

Eduard Kasparides was awarded several times, he got the Baron Königswarter-Künstlerpreis in 1899, the Mention honorable at the world exhibition in Paris in 1900 and the Kleine Goldene Staatsmedaille in Vienna, the Erzherzog Carl Ludwig Medaille in 1908, the Drasche Preis in 1911 and the Große Goldene Staatsmedaille in 1912. Eduard Kasparides died in 1926 in Styria. More on Eduard Kasparides

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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01 Work , RELIGIOUS ART, Follower of Angelica Kauffmann’s Holy Family – with footnotes #193

Follower of Angelica Kauffmann
Holy Family
Oil on canvas
10 1/4 by 12 1/2 in.; 26 by 31.8 cm.
Private collection

Angelica Kauffmann, in full Maria Anna Catharina Angelica Kauffmann, (born Oct. 30, 1741, Chur, Switz.—died Nov. 5, 1807, Rome, Papal States [Italy]), painter in the early Neoclassical style who is best known for her decorative wall paintings for residences designed by Robert Adam.

Her early paintings were influenced by the French Rococo works of Henri Gravelot and François Boucher. In 1754 and 1763 she visited Italy, and while in Rome she was influenced by the Neoclassicism of Anton Raphael Mengs.

She was induced by Lady Wentworth, wife of the English ambassador, to accompany her to London in 1766. She was well received and was particularly favoured by the royal family. Sir Joshua Reynolds became a close friend, and most of the numerous portraits and self-portraits done in her English period were influenced by his style of portrait painting. Her name is found among the signatories to the petition for the establishment of the Royal Academy, and in its first catalogue of 1769 she is listed as a member. She was one of only two women founding members. Kauffmann retired to Rome in the early 1780s with her second husband, the Venetian painter Antonio Zucchi.

Kauffmann’s pastoral and mythological compositions portray gods and goddesses. Her paintings are Rococo in tone and approach, though her figures are given Neoclassical poses and draperies. Kauffmann’s portraits of female sitters are among her finest works. More on Angelica Kauffmann

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01 Work, Interpretations of Hellenic and Roman legends. Salvator Rosa’s Interpretation of The Dream of Aeneas, with footnotes #190

Salvator Rosa (Italian, Arenella (Naples) 1615–1673 Rome)
The Dream of Aeneas, c. 1660–65
Oil on canvas
77 1/2 x 47 1/2 in. (196.9 x 120.7 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In Book VIII of Virgil’s Aeneid, the Trojan hero Aeneas has landed in Latium, exhausted from the brewing hostilities with the local Rutili and their leader Turnus. “This way and that he turns his anxious mind; thinks, and rejects the counsel he designed; explores himself in vain, and gives no rest to his distracted heart.” Aeneas finally finds nocturnal repose on the banks of the Tiber, when “thro’ the shadows of the poplar wood, arose the father of the Roman flood an azure robe was over his body spread, a wreath of shady reeds adorned his head.” Tiberinus, the river god himself, tells Aeneas not to fear, for “when thirty rolling years have run their race, thy son Ascanius, on this empty space, shall build a royal town, of lasting fame”—a prophecy of the foundation of Rome. More on this painting

Salvator Rosa (June 20 or July 21, 1615 – March 15, 1673) was one of the least conventional artists of 17th-century Italy, and was adopted as a hero by painters of the Romantic movement in the later 18th and early 19th centuries. He was mainly a painter of landscapes, but the range of his subject matter was unusually wide and included portraits and allegories. He also depicted scenes of witchcraft, influenced by Northern prints.

Rosa’s training took place in Naples, where he was born, and the main influences on his early work were Ribera and Aniello Falcone, a painter best known for his battle scenes. Following visits to Rome in the later 1630s Rosa worked in Florence and its neighbourhood (1640-9), before returning to Rome, where he eventually died. More on Salvator Rosa

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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation the bible, Neapolitan master’s ARCHANGEL MICHAEL FIGHTING THE DEVILS OF THE UNDERWORLD, with Footnotes – 124

Neapolitan master of the 17th century
ARCHANGEL MICHAEL FIGHTING THE DEVILS OF THE UNDERWORLD
Oil on canvas.
94 x 70 cm.
Private collection

Extremely complicated composition, with figures moving in opposite directions. In the color and the reproduction of the physical, the strong influence of Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640) can be seen, with whom he had worked together at the festive decoration in Ghent. All these stylistic aspects suggest the attribution. So too, this painting is characterized by a turbulent concentration of bodies – here hellish figures – against which the youthfully heroically portrayed Saint Michael fights. His movement from top left to bottom right, corresponding to the light incidence in the picture. His outstretched right arm holding the flaming sword, the left the round shield. It is striking here that the male figure, which is at the top of a dragon, has almost portraited facial features, which gives reason to suppose that this is an allegory of the victory over a fallen opponent. The barb in the right hand of the fallen is an attribute of the Greek Hades, ruler of the underworld. More on this painting

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL, is an archangel in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran traditions, he is called “Saint Michael the Archangel” and “Saint Michael”. In the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox traditions, he is called “Taxiarch Archangel Michael” or simply “Archangel Michael”.

Michael is mentioned three times in the Book of Daniel, once as a “great prince who stands up for the children of your people”. The idea that Michael was the advocate of the Jews became so prevalent that, in spite of the rabbinical prohibition against appealing to angels as intermediaries between God and his people, Michael came to occupy a certain place in the Jewish liturgy.

In the New Testament Michael leads God’s armies against Satan’s forces in the Book of Revelation, where during the war in heaven he defeats Satan. In the Epistle of Jude Michael is specifically referred to as “the archangel Michael”. Christian sanctuaries to Michael appeared in the 4th century, when he was first seen as a healing angel, and then over time as a protector and the leader of the army of God against the forces of evil. By the 6th century, devotions to Archangel Michael were widespread both in the Eastern and Western Churches. Over time, teachings on Michael began to vary among Christian denominations. More Archangel Michael

The 17th century sparked a golden age for art in Naples. It was a period of extraordinary achievement in painting characterized by a level of originality and quality that placed Naples at the centre of international artistic taste. An almost continuous quantity of remarkable artistic accomplishments in Naples at this time left an indelible imprint on the history of European art. Such artists as Artemisia Gentileschi, Francesco Solimena, Luca Giordano, Francesco Guarino, Mico Spadaro, Salvatore Rosa, Jusepe De Ribera and more. The paintings depict religious and secular subjects, still life, portraiture, and 17th century city life in Naples, including the ravages of rebellion and plague, and moments of great triumph. More on the Neapolitan masters

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