Rubens – Zaidan Gallery

01 work, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, Rubens, Petrus Paulus’ Marie de Médicis, with Footnotes #183

Rubens, Petrus Paulus (Siegen (Westphalia), 1577 – Antwerp, 1640)
Henri IV receives the portrait of Marie de Médicis and allows himself to be disarmed by Love
Oil on canvas
Height: 3.94m; Width: 2.95m
The Louvre

Marie de’ Medici (French: Marie de Médicis, Italian: Maria de’ Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV. Marie served as regent of France between 1610 and 1617 during the minority of her son Louis XIII. Her mandate as regent legally expired in 1614, when her son reached the age of majority, but she refused to resign and continued as regent until she was removed by a coup in 1617.

A member of the powerful House of Medici in the branch of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, the wealth of her family caused Marie to be chosen by Henry IV to become his second wife after his divorce from his previous wife, Margaret of Valois. The assassination of her husband in 1610, which occurred the day after her coronation, caused her to act as regent for her son, Louis XIII, until 1614, when he officially attained his legal majority, but as the head of the Conseil du Roi, she retained the power.

Noted for her ceaseless political intrigues at the French court, her extensive artistic patronage and her favorites, she ended up being banished from the country by her son and dying in the city of Cologne, in the Holy Roman Empire. More on Marie de’ Medici

Sir Peter Paul Rubens (28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish Baroque painter. A proponent of an extravagant Baroque style that emphasized movement, colour, and sensuality, Rubens is well known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.

In addition to running a large studio in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe, Rubens was a classically educated humanist scholar and diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England. More Sir Peter Paul Rubens

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39 Works by 39 Old Masters Artists Embedded with Helen of Troy, with Footnotes

Luca Giordano, (Italian, 1634–1705)
THE RAPE OF HELEN
Oil on Glass
28 x 34 cm. (11 x 13.4 in.)
Private collection

Throughout his career, Gustave Moreau showed remarkable fidelity to the character of Hélène de Troie by devoting an exceptionally rich ensemble to her. Main rival of Salomé in the heart of the artist, the most beautiful woman of antiquity appeared in his work in 1852, then returned triumphantly in the company of Galatea on the occasion of the last Salon of the painter in 1880. More on this painting

Helen of Troy has inspired artistic and cultural works for nearly six centuries. The following works cover various media to include items of historic interest, enduring works of high art, and recent representations in popular culture. They represent portrayals that a reader has a reasonable chance of encountering rather than a complete catalog.

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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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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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39 Works by Old Masters Artists Embedded with Helen of Troy, with Footnotes

Gustave Moreau (1826–1898)
Hélène à la porte Scée./ Helen at the Scaean Gate, c. 1880s
Oil on canvas
height: 72 cm (28.3 in); width: 100 cm (39.3 in)
Musée Gustave Moreau

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01 work, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, Flemish School’s Helena Fourment, with Footnotes. #111

Flemish School
Helena Fourment, circa 1700
Oil on canvas
77.2 x 63.8cm (30 3/8 x 25 1/8in)
Private collection

Helena Fourment or Hélène Fourment (11 April 1614 – 15 July 1673) was the second wife of Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. She was the subject of a few portraits by Rubens, and also modeled for other religious and mythological paintings.

Helena was the youngest child of Daniël I Fourment, a wealthy Antwerp silk and carpet merchant, and Clara Stappaerts.

Helena Fourment married Rubens when she was 16 years old and he was aged 53. His first wife, Isabella Brant, had died in 1626. Her father was an art lover and possessed works by Rubens and Jacob Jordaens, and works by Italian masters. They had four sons and seven daughters.

After the death of Rubens, Helena started a relationship with Jean-Baptiste de Brouchoven, assessor and alderman of Antwerp, who later became 1st Count of Bergeyk. On 9 October 1644 their first son Jean de Brouchoven, 2nd Count of Bergeyck, was born, and Helena and Jean-Baptist married in 1645. Her second husband, who was a military knight of St-Jacques, died during a diplomatic mission in Toulouse in 1681.

Helena was buried together with her first husband, children and parents in the Saint James’ church, Antwerp. Most of her sisters married into important families.

She was said to be very beautiful, amongst others by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, then Governor of the Netherlands, stating that she was “undoubtedly the most beautiful one may see here” and by the poet Gaspar Gevartius, a friend of Rubens, who praised “Helen of Antwerp, who far surpasses Helen of Troy” More on Helena Fourment

Flemish painting flourished from the early 15th century until the 17th century. Flanders delivered the leading painters in Northern Europe and attracted many promising young painters from neighbouring countries. These painters were invited to work at foreign courts and had a Europe-wide influence. Since the end of the Napoleonic era, Flemish painters had again been contributing to a reputation that had been set by the Old Masters. More Flemish School

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

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

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38 Works, RELIGIOUS ART – Artists’ interpretation of Lot and His Daughters over the decades, with Footnotes – #136

Jan Wellens de Cock (ca. 1470–1521)
Lot and his daughters, c. 1523
Oil on oak wood
Height: 36.2 cm (14.2 in); Width: 48.9 cm (19.2 in)
Detroit Institute of Arts

Jan Wellens de Cock (c. 1480–1527) was a Flemish painter and draftsman of the Northern Renaissance.

He was probably born in Leiden in Holland but settled in Antwerp. In 1506 Jan is recorded in the archives of the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp as having accepted an apprentice called ‘Loduwyck’. It is unclear in which year Jan became a master. In 1507 de Cock was paid for painting angels and restoring the Holy Ghost at the altar of this guild in Antwerp Cathedral. These works were probably lost in the “beeldenstorm” of 1566. In 1511 the guild paid de Cock for cutting a woodblock for a print to use in the guild’s procession. This is the only indication that de Cock, to whom several prints have been attributed, was indeed active as a block cutter.

In 1520 he was dean of the guild of Saint Luke. Jan’s artistic activity has been the subject of considerable controversy, and there is not a single work that can be attributed to him with certainty. The works attributed to Jan generally belong to the so-called school of Antwerp Mannerism and/or show the influence of Hieronymus Bosch. More on Jan Wellens de Cock

Lot’s sexual relationship with his daughters was a theme seldom explored in medieval art. In the sixteenth century, however, the story became popular with European artists, primarily due to its erotic potential. Depictions of Lot and his daughters in this era were generally charged with sexuality; the daughters would often be painted as nudes, and Lot would be portrayed (in contradiction to the Bible narrative) as “either a happily compliant figure or an aggressive seducer”…

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16 works, Today, January 1st, is Mary the Blessed Virgin’s day, her story, illustrated #364

Edvard Munch, (1863–1944)
Detail; Madonna, c. 1895
Oil on canvas
Height: 90 cm (35.4 in); Width: 71 cm (27.9 in)
Kunsthalle, Hamburg

Mary’s father Joachim was a wealthy member of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. He and his wife Anne were deeply grieved by their childlessness. Joachim consequently withdrew to the desert, where he fasted and did penance for 40 days. Angels then appeared to both Joachim and Anne to promise them a child…

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06 works, Today, December 26th, is Saint Eugenia’s day, her story, illustrated #358

**Attributed to the Master of Dinteville/Bartholomeus Pons**
**The Legend of Sainte-Eugénie, c. 1535**
Saint-Pierre de Varzy church, Nièvre, Burgundy-Franche-Comté

Saint Eugenia (died c AD 258) was an early Christian Roman martyr who was converted by and martyred with Protus and Hyacinth, her Chamberlains during the persecution of Valerian.//

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

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

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11 works, Today, November 28th, is Martyr Stephen the New’s day, his story, illustrated #331

Santo Peranda, (1566-1638)
The Martyrdom of St. Stephen
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Church of San Stefano, Venice, Italy

The Holy Monk Martyr and Confessor Stephen the New was born in 715 at Constantinople into a pious Christian family. His parents, having two daughters, prayed the Lord for the birth of a son. The mother of the new-born Stephen took him to the Blakhernae church in honour of the Most Holy Mother of God and dedicated him to God…

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12 works, Today, September 26th, is Saint John the Evangelist’s day, his story illustrated #268

El Greco, (1541–1614)
Opening of the Fifth Seal, The Vision of Saint John, from 1608 until 1614
Oil on canvas
87.5 × 76 in (222.2 × 193 cm); 88.5 × 78.5 in (224.7 × 199.3 cm)
Metropolitan Museum, New York

Saint John came from Bethsaida, a poor village in Galilee. He was the son of Zebedee the fisherman and of Salome, the daughter of Joseph, the Betrothed of the Virgin Mary. Joseph had four sons by his first marriage: James, Joses, Jude, and Simon, and three daughters: Esther, Martha, and Salome. Thus, Jesus Christ our Savior was the uncle of Saint John the Theologian, since He was the half-brother of John’s mother Salome…

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Ilir Pojani, After “Portrait of Anne of Austria” by Rubens 02 Paintings, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, of the 18th & 19th C., with Footnotes. #32

Anne of Austria

Ilir Pojani, United States

After “Portrait of Anne of Austria” by Rubens (below), c. 2018

Oil on canvas

24 H x 18 W x 0.8 in

Private collection

Anna of Austria (2 November 1549 – 26 October 1580) was Queen of Spain by marriage to her uncle, King Philip II of Spain. She was the eldest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, and Maria of Spain. .
As the eldest daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, Anna was a desirable candidate for marriage at the European courts. Her parents thought of a Spanish marriage to strengthen links between the Austrian and Spanish Habsburg families.
Plans for a Spanish marriage were revived when Philip’s third wife, Elisabeth, died in childbirth in 1568. As a result, Philip was left a widower with two young daughters
Philip was a conscientious monarch and maintained his relationship with Anna twice a week in the form of notes, as well as visiting his niece’s bedchamber up to three times a day. It was Philip’s fourth marriage, but the king still had no male heir. Anna completed her duties flawlessly in that regard. Not only was she a good stepmother to Philip’s daughters Isabella Clara Eugenia and Catherine Michelle,[3] but she also gave birth to five children, including four sons, of which the eldest three died before Philip, and the youngest succeeded as Philip III. More on Anne of Austria

Ilir Pojani is a contemporary artist living in Fairfax, Virginia. His work can be found in numerous private, public and corporate collections both in the United States and abroad, and has been seen in many exhibitions worldwide.
Painting has always been an essential part of his life. Pojani began to draw and paint as a little child, and never had any doubts about becoming an artist.

His art is characterized by a contemporary figurative style, ranging from representational to a semi-representational form, with elements of abstraction and ambiguous narrative, leaving the subject recognizable. More on Ilir Pojani

Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640

Peter Paul Rubens, (1577–1640)

Portrait of Anne of Austria (1601-1666), Queen of France, c. 1620-1625.

Oil on panel

Height: 105 cm (1.1 yd); Width: 93 cm (1 yd)

Louvre Museum

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

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

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

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

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

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

01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation of the Bible! from the SPANISH GOLDEN AGE, With Footnotes – 87

Juan Carreño De Miranda

Saint Anthony Of Padua With The Christ Child

Spanish Gallery at Bishop Auckland

Until its recent acquisition for the Spanish Gallery at Bishop Auckland, this archetypal image of Saint Anthony had been in the collection of the Marquises de Legarda, Spain, for over three centuries. With remarkable painterly fluency Carreño expresses the belief in a personal relationship with Christ through the example of Saint Anthony of Padua, depicted here with the Christ Child at the crowning moment of his spiritual life. In composition and colouring the picture owes as much to the Baroque style of Rubens and other Flemish artists so admired by Carreño as it does to the painterly quality of the Venetians. More on this painting

Saint Anthony of Padua (Portuguese: Santo António), born Fernando Martins de Bulhões (1195 – 13 June 1231), also known as Anthony of Lisbon, was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. He was born and raised by a wealthy family in Lisbon, Portugal, and died in Padua, Italy. Noted by his contemporaries for his forceful preaching, expert knowledge of scripture, and undying love and devotion to the poor and the sick, he was the second-most-quickly canonized saint after Peter of Verona. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on 16 January 1946. He is also the patron saint of lost things. More on Saint Anthony of Padua

Juan Carreño de Miranda (25 March 1614 — 3 October 1685) was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period.
Born in Avilés in Asturias. His family moved to Madrid in 1623, where he trained in Madrid during the late 1620s as an apprentice to Pedro de las Cuevas and Bartolomé Román. He came to the notice of Velázquez for his work in the cloister of Doña María de Aragón and in the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, La Joyosa. In 1658 Carreño was hired as an assistant on a royal commission to paint frescoes in the Alcázar of Madrid; later destroyed in a fire in 1734. In 1671. Upon the death of Sebastián de Herrera, he was appointed court painter to the queen and began to paint primarily portraits. He refused to be knighted in the order of Santiago, saying Painting needs no honors.
Noble by descent, he had an understanding of the workings and psychology of the royal court as no painter before him, making his portraits of the Spanish royal family in an unprecedented documentary fashion. More on Juan Carreño de Miranda

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