Art Blog: April 2015

The Dealer Who Made Impressionism Famous

Photograph of Paul Durand-Ruel in his gallery (photo taken by Dornac, circ. 1910, all images courtesy the National Gallery, London)

Impressionism is easily one of, if not the most, accessible and universally enjoyed art movements. Monet’s water lilies and Degas’s dancers are among many examples of the genre which have become world recognized to the point of cliché. With Paul Gauguin’s “Nafea Faa Ipoipo” (“When Will You Marry”) recently selling for a record $300m, Impressionism continues to dominate the art market. Yet what most of us do not know is that the movement’s fame was nearly never to be if it were not for one dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, who recognized the struggling Impressionists’ visual, and potentially monetary, value. This is the narrative drive of the National Gallery’s survey, Inventing Impressionism. More

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STANLEY MOREL COSGROVE - STILL-LIFE WITH JOURNAL DES ARTS

STANLEY MOREL COSGROVE, R.C.A.

STILL-LIFE WITH JOURNAL DES ARTS

oil on board

signed and dated ‘46

23 ins x 32 ins; 58.4 cms x 81.3 cms

In Still-Life with Journal des Arts, Cosgrove purposely deconstructs the unified image, intertwining his work with the still lifes of Paul Cézanne and George Braque. A grouping of fruit emerges from a bundle of green cloth and paper. Cosgrove’s is a world of simultaneous perspective: a geometric collage in paint where the fruit is flat and yet lush, earthly delights compliment the events of the art world, and folds and layers blossom into a riot of colour. More

LOUIS MUHLSTOCK - MONTREAL STREET SCENE

LOUIS MUHLSTOCK, R.C.A.

MONTREAL STREET SCENE

oil on canvas

32 ins x 26 ins; 81.3 cms x 66 cms

Muhlstock was foremost among a coterie of Jewish artists who gave Montreal a lively and informed art scene starting in the 1930s and continuing into the 1960s. Along with Ernst Neumann, Rita Briansky, Sam Borenstein, and others, Muhlstock brought fresh ideas and original expression to urban Montreal. His work was acquired for the National Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Art. Muhlstock and his friends collected European and Quebec painters like Miro and Dallaire. Muhlstock’s work made its Toronto debut at the Picture Loan Society, where Borduas and Riopelle also first showed in Toronto. David Silcox asserts: “To my mind, these two cityscapes are where Muhlstock’s strength lies.” More

LOUIS MUHLSTOCK - WINTER AFTERNOON

LOUIS MUHLSTOCK, R.C.A.

WINTER AFTERNOON

oil on canvas

33 ins x 30 ins; 83.8 cms x 76.2 cms

Six Authors Withdraw from PEN Gala in Protest of ‘Charlie Hebdo’ Honor

A ‘Charlie Hebdo’ cover (photo by Mona Okiddo-Eberhardt/Flickr)

As AP and the Times point out, the present controversy over the gala reflects the broader debate that flamed up in the wake of the original attacks on the magazine’s offices. While much of the literary community expressed support for Charlie Hebdo, others called the mainstream glorification of the publication into question, pointing to its perceived racism. But many of the loudest participants in the ensuing discussion seemed fairly divorced from the French context — many weren’t French speakers, and some hadn’t even heard ofCharlie Hebdo prior to the tragedy, much less read it. My news and Twitter feeds were littered with takes that seemed to materialize out of nowhere: as soon as it was fashionable to have an opinion, opinions seemed to abound. More

MARC-AURÈLE FORTIN - PAYSAGE LAURENTIEN

MARC-AURÈLE FORTIN, A.R.C.A.

PAYSAGE LAURENTIEN

watercolour on board

signed; also signed and titled on the reverse

22 ins x 27.75 ins; 55.9 cms x 70.5 cms

Marc-Aurèle Fortin started to work with watercolour in the early 1920s. By virtue of the immediacy of the medium, his work changed drastically, setting the stage for dazzling landscapes that bordered the limits of reality. Describing his use of watercolour, Fortin said: “when you master it, it's like a morphine addiction. It's a tremendous mania.” La Cueillette, vivid and luminous, is an exquisite display of the painter's whimsical palette.

MARC-AURÈLE FORTIN, A.R.C.A. - LA CUEILLETTE

MARC-AURÈLE FORTIN, A.R.C.A.

LA CUEILLETTE

watercolour, laid down on card

signed

18.5 ins x 24 ins; 47 cms x 61 cms

Mel Ramos - Wonder Woman

Mel Ramos (b. 1935)
Wonder Woman

Color lithograph on wove paper, USA, c. 1979

24 x 20 ½ in. (61 x 52.1 cm.)

Known for his provocative images that mix the idealized woman with imagery of popular culture, this lithograph by Mel Ramos depicts one of the most iconic fictional superheroes: Wonder Woman. Depicted here with voluptuous curves and with her hands behind her head in a departure from her signature hands-on-hips power pose, Ramos undercuts Wonder Woman's feminist ideals with tongue-in-cheek sexuality.

Executed in 1979, this color lithograph on wove paper is signed and numbered one hundred and twenty-nine from an edition of two hundred and fifty. Printed by L.P. Geyser and published by Atelier Dumas, with their ink and blind stamps, respectively, the work has full margins. The image measures 19 x 17 ½ inches. In overall good condition with no evidence of tears, toning, staining or repairs.

Mel Ramos (American, b. 1935) is an American Pop artist famous for his comic-book like images of naked, voluptuous females mixed the popular culture imagery. A prolific artist from his emergence in the 1960s onward, Ramos has often based his nudes on the female celebrities of the day, from Marilyn Monroe to Scarlett Johansson. His work appeared alongside Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923-1997) and Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987) at a Pop Art show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1963. In 1965, he first developed his most notable works depicting nude pin-up girls alongside mass-marketed products. Ramos has exhibited internationally and been featured in numerous museums, including the Whitney and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He has also held teaching positions at California State University, Syracuse University, and the University of Wisconsin. More on Mel Ramos

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11 Works by John C. Kacere - (23 June 1920 – 5 August 1999)

John C. Kacere (23 June 1920 – 5 August 1999) was an American artist. Originally an Abstract-Expressionist, Kacere adopted a photorealist style in 1963. Nearly all of his photorealist paintings depict the midsection of the female body. He is considered one of the original photorealists, although he rejected the term.

John Kacere, American, 1920–1999

Oksana '94, c. 1994

Oil on linen

36 × 52 in, 91.4 × 132.1 cm

Private collection

Kacere painted his first photorealist painting in 1969 involving the midsection of a woman dressed in lingerie. It was over three times life size. Kacere continued this type of painting throughout the rest of his career, making it an icon of the photorealism movement.

John Kacere, American (1920 - 1999)

Maija II, c. 1977

Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil

22 in. x 28 in. (55.88 cm x 71.12 cm)

Private collection

In the early 1980s, he branched away from this theme and included the entire body of a woman in lingerie, but returned to his original midsection of the female body in 1988. Kacere's paintings are figurative but still can be considered still lifes or even landscapes. More on John Kacere

John Kacere (American, 1920–1999)

Joelle 89, 1989

Paintings, oil on linen

101.6 x 152.4 cm. (40 x 60 in.)

Private collection

His style has influenced several pop artists from Michael English to Philip Castle, and later Hajime Sorayama. But it’s worth to mention the predecessors who inspired his technique: in terms of lighting and texture you can see John Kacere adopted a mix between Tamara de Lempicka and Edward Hopper, and a debt of gratitude for the beautifully rendered drapery goes to Renaissance’s masters such as Titian and Fra Angelico.

John Kacere (American, 1920–1999)

Roxanne 89, c. 1991

Lithographs

55 x 76 cm. (21.7 x 29.9 in.)

Private collection

His childish obsession is for an idealized object of desire that is not a woman but a synecdoche, a plump but empty kind of beauty, enhanced by the sexy paraphrenalia of her attire.

John Kacere (American, 1920–1999)

Anne 88, c. 1988

Oil on canvas

40 x 60 in. (101.6 x 152.4 cm.)

Private collection

The faceless portion of these pin ups reminds us of a table set before a banquet. No matter how much pop art can gain from kitsch (Jeff koons knows it too well) John Kacere’s paintings are splendid and he fully deserves an Extraordinart place. More John Kacere

I have no further description, at this time

Kacere, who died in 1999, earned a second shot at artistic immortality in 2003 when director Sofia Coppola based the iconic opening sequence of Lost In Translation (showing Scarlett Johansson‘s backside in sheer peach panties) on Kacere’s style. (The cotton crêpe briefs used in the shot were created by a youngAraks Yeramyan, and have become an enduring bestseller for the New York lingerie and womenswear brand Araks.)

John Kacere (American, 1920–1999)

Jutta , 1973, c. 1973

Acrylic on Canvas

134.6 x 199.5 cm. (53 x 78.5 in.)

Private collection

Kacere has focused his work in the female body, and despite criticism from feminists, some of whom have labeled his work sexist, Kacere sees the woman as the source of life and praises the aspect of womanhood in each of his works.

John Kacere

Louisa, c. 1989

Oil on canvas

40 x 60

Private collection

John Kacere

Purple Panties, Circa 1969

Oil on Canvas

60 x 66 inches [152.4 x 167.64 cm]

Private collection

John Kacere

Nathalie

Photolithography

43.00 cm x 65.00 cm to 50.00 cm x 70.00 cm

Private collection

John Kacere, American (1920 - 1999)
Poodle Panties, c. 1979
Lithograph

Private collection

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.

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51 Paintings, Interpretation of the bible by Artists of 16th and 17th Centuries, with footnotes

Antonio del Castillo

Saint Acisclus holding a sword and a martyr's palm, crowned by a putti;

Saint Victoria, holding an arrow and a martyr's palm, crowned by a putti

Oil on canvas

Private collection

Saint Acisclus was a martyr of Córdoba, in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula. His life is mentioned by Eulogius of Cordoba. He suffered martyrdom during the Diocletianic Persecution along with his sister Victoria. Their feast day is 17 November. There is doubt about the historical veracity of Victoria's existence, but both martyrs were honored in Mozarabic liturgical rites.

After they were arrested, Acisclus and Victoria were tortured. According to tradition, Victoria was killed by arrows and Acisclus was beheaded.

One tenth century passio relates that the Roman prefect of Córdoba, Dion, an "iniquitous persecutor of Christians," had Acisclus and Victoria cast into a fiery furnace. However, when he heard Acisclus and Victoria sing songs of joy from within the furnace, Dion had them bound to stones and cast into the Guadalquivir. They were soon floating unharmed on the river's surface. He then suspended them over a fire. The fire, however, raged out of control and killed hundreds of pagans. The two saints then submitted to martyrdom, having proved their point and demonstrated their faith.

Their home was turned into a church. During the ninth century, some of the Martyrs of Córdoba were associated with this church, including Perfectus, a priest. More on Saints Acisclus and Victoria

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo de Rey (13 December 1908 – 13 May 1984), known professionally as Antonio Castillo, was a Spanish fashion and costume designer who won an Academy Award for the film Nicholas and Alexandra in the category Academy Award for Best Costume Design during the 1971 Academy Awards, that he won along with Yvonne Blake.

Antonio Castillo was born in 1908 in Madrid. He was educated in his home city at the Colegio del Pilar and the University of Madrid before studying in Granada at the El Sacro Monte.

In 1936 the Spanish Civil War started and Castillo went to Paris. He spent some time as a diplomat until in 1949 he became a designer for Paquin and Robert Piguet. He also designed accessories for Coco Chanel.

Castillo, together with Pierre Balmain, Cristóbal Balenciaga, and Christian Dior, were the new generation of Paris designers after World War 2. In 1945, Elizabeth Arden persuaded him to join her in New York. Castillo also worked as a costume designer for the New York Metropolitan Opera Company and for Broadway shows.

In 1950, Castillo was invited by Jeanne Lanvin's daughter to design for her mother's firm in Paris, with hopes of relaunching the firm's name. In 1950 he joined the fashion house of Lanvin. Lanvin had died in 1946 and the salon needed a new designer. In 1962, Castillo left Lanvin and in 1964 opened his own business in Paris. He continued to design clothes for clients, the film and the stage. More on Antonio Castillo

Style of REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, Leiden - 1669 Amsterdam - school

The Great Deposition from the Cross

Oil on canvas

172,5 x 118,5cm

Private collection

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period of great wealth and cultural achievement that historians call the Dutch Golden Age when Dutch Golden Age painting, although in many ways antithetical to the Baroque style that dominated Europe, was extremely prolific and innovative, and gave rise to important new genres in painting.

Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, Rembrandt's later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, and for twenty years he taught many important Dutch painters. Rembrandt's greatest creative triumphs are exemplified most notably in his portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity.

In his paintings and prints he exhibited knowledge of classical iconography, which he molded to fit the requirements of his own experience; thus, the depiction of a biblical scene was informed by Rembrandt's knowledge of the specific text, his assimilation of classical composition, and his observations of Amsterdam's Jewish population. Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called "one of the great prophets of civilization." More on Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

Otto van Veen

Miles Christianus contra peccata mortalia pugnans coronam recipit.

(The dramatic battle of the Christian knight against the seven deadly sins and death itself)

Oil on canvas

159 x 116cm.

Private collection

According to Christian tradition the seven deadly sins are: envy, gluttony, greed or avarice, lust, pride, sloth, and wrath.

Otto van Veen was one of Antwerp's leading figure painters and he was the teacher of Peter Paul Rubens. His work "Miles Christianus", which depicts the dramatic battle of the Christian knight against the seven deadly sins (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony) and death itself, Presumably it was created between 1609 and 1629 for a Cologne cleric and in the 19th century it came to the collection of Johann Jakob Merlo who is known for his fundamental article "Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Werken Kölnischer Künstler" (news of the lives and works of Cologne artists) from 1850. After his death in 1890 the painting was sold by auction and after decades of uncertainty it was rediscovered in a private collection only a few years ago.

Above the young hero there is a host of angels who show him the weapons of Christ in order to fortify him. The ground is split and in the abyss there are men who abandoned themselves to vices. They make desperate gestures, are surrounded by flames and have to bear the torture of damnation. On high we see the future lying ahead of the hero: there is Christ who rewards the kneeling young man with the crown of the Blessed.

The motif of the painting itself has its origin in the letter of Paul to the Ephesians in the bible: Eph.6, 10-17.

Otto van Veen worked at the court of the prince-bishop of Liège, Gerard von Groesbeck, in Rome, at the Prague Court of Emperor Rudolf II. and at the Munich Court of the Wittelsbacher before he finally came to Cologne in 1583 where he became court painter of the Cologne elector Ernst of Bavaria. More on Otto van Veen

Florence 1492 - after 1527 - attributed to Andrea del Sarto

Madonna with Child Jesus, John and the St. Anthony of Padua

Oil on wood

73 x 58,5cm

Private collection

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

Andrea del Sarto (1486–1530) was an Italian painter from Florence, whose career flourished during the High Renaissance and early Mannerism. Though highly regarded during his lifetime as an artist senza errori ("without errors"), his renown was eclipsed after his death by that of his contemporaries, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.

By 1494 Andrea was apprenticed to a goldsmith, and then to a woodcarver and painter named Gian Barile, with whom he remained until 1498. According to his late biographer Vasari, he then apprenticed to Piero di Cosimo, and later with Raffaellino del Garbo.

Andrea and an older friend Franciabigio decided to open a joint studio at a lodging together in the Piazza del Grano. By the time the partnership was dissolved, Sarto's style bore the stamp of individuality. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it "is marked throughout his career by an interest, exceptional among Florentines, in effects of colour and atmosphere and by sophisticated informality and natural expression of emotion." More on Andrea del Sarto

Albrecht Dürer 1471 - 1528

The Virgin and the Child, c. 1520

Copper engraving, watermark: Krüglein

14,7 x 10,1 cm

Private collection

Albrecht Dürer (21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528) was a painter, printmaker and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was still in his twenties, due to his high-quality woodcut prints. He was in communication with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, and from 1512 he was patronized by emperor Maximilian I.

His vast body of work includes engravings, his preferred technique in his later prints, altarpieces, portraits and self-portraits, watercolours and books. The woodcuts, such as the Apocalypse series (1498), retain a more Gothic flavour than the rest of his work. His well-known engravings include the Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), Saint Jerome in his Study (1514) and Melencolia I (1514), which has been the subject of extensive analysis and interpretation. His watercolours also mark him as one of the first European landscape artists, while his ambitious woodcuts revolutionized the potential of that medium.

Dürer's introduction of classical motifs into Northern art, through his knowledge of Italian artists and German humanists, has secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance. This is reinforced by his theoretical treatises, which involve principles of mathematics, perspective and ideal proportions. More on Albrecht Dürer

DUTCH MASTER

Crowning of Mary

Oil/tempera on oak. Parqueted

78 x 51cm.

Private collection

Surrounded by a cloud aureole God the Father (to the left) and Christ (to the right) are sitting on a throne bank with high rests. God the Father is dressed in a coat of brocade and has a tiara on his head. Christ wears a green-lined red coat and holds the globe in his left hand. Together they hold the crown above Mary's head who is kneeling in between them, her hands clasped for prayer. In this way she is crowned Queen of Heaven. Behind the throne bank there are two angels observing what is going on. In the upper margin of the painting there is the dove of the Holy Spirit which, together with God the Father and Christ represents the Holy Trinity. All of the flesh tones are overall in a good condition. The background shows a condition, which makes presume a former pressed brocade application. The rather curious rests of the throne also support this presumption, because they would fit more organically into such an original context. The entire colouring of the work shows a harmonic character which is typical for this time. The painting might be a section of a formerly large retable. More on this work

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

Follower of Pieter Coecke van Aelst the Elder

ADORATION OF THE MAGI

oil on panel, shaped top

105.5 by 69.2 cm.; 41 3/8 by 27 1/4 in.

Private collection

Most probably originally the central panel of a triptych. Bermejo's essay (see Literature) argues for the composition developing out of van Aelst's Adoration of the Magi, now in the Prado (inv. no. 2223), which is itself based on a picture by the artist's father-in-law Jan van Dornicke (circa 1470–1527), now in a private collection, Paris.1 The main differences to the aforementioned pictures are the bringing of all three Magi into the foreground; the direct contact between the kneeling Magi and the Christ child, and the representation of the Virgin without a veil. Bermejo suggests a date of 1533–35. More on this painting

Pieter Coecke van Aelst or Pieter Coecke van Aelst the Elder (Aalst, 14 August 1502 – Brussels, 6 December 1550) was a Flemish painter, sculptor, architect, author and designer of woodcuts, stained glass and tapestries. His principal subjects were Christian religious themes. He worked in Antwerp and Brussels and was appointed court painter to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

Coecke van Aelst was a polyglot. He published translations of Ancient Roman and modern Italian architectural treatises into Flemish, French and German. These publications played a crucial role in spreading Renaissance ideas to the Low Countries. They contributed to the transition in Northern Europe from the late Gothic style then prevalent towards a modern 'antique-oriented' architecture. More on Pieter Coecke van Aelst

Netherlandish School, circa 1515-1520

THE CRUCIFIXION

Oil on linen, laid on to canvas

181.1 by 114.2 cm.; 71 1/4 by 45 in.

I have no further description, at this time

Early Netherlandish painting is the work of artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance; especially in the flourishing cities of Bruges, Ghent, Mechelen, Louvain, Tournai and Brussels, all in contemporary Belgium. Their work follows the International Gothic style and begins approximately with Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck in the early 1420s. It lasts at least until the death of Gerard David in 1523, although many scholars extend it to the start of the Dutch Revolt in 1566 or 1568 Early Netherlandish painting coincides with the Early and High Italian Renaissance but is seen as an independent artistic culture, separate from the Renaissance humanism that characterised developments in Italy. Because these painters represent the culmination of the northern European medieval artistic heritage and the incorporation of Renaissance ideals, they are sometimes categorised as belonging to both the Early Renaissance and Late Gothic. More on the Netherlandish School

Antwerp School, early 16th century

SAINT VERONICA OFFERS A CLOTH TO CHRIST ON THE WAY TO CALVARY; DESCENT FROM THE CROSS

A pair, both oil on marouflaged oak panel, in integral frames

each: 72.5 by 32.1 cm.; 29 1/4 by 12 5/8 in.

More on this work

Studio of Albrecht Bouts, LEUVEN 1452/5 - 1549

CHRIST CROWNED WITH THORNS

Oil on oak panel, shaped top, unframed

32 by 22.5 cm.; 12 5/8 by 8 7/8 in.

Private collection

The infrared image shows that the painter originally intended to depict Christ with hands clasped, after the lost prototype by Dirk Bouts known now from copies by Albrecht's workshop. But the hands were never painted in. The panel's shaped top is unusual amongst those many copies and was probably changed at a later stage to fit in a frame. More on this work

Aelbrecht Bouts (c.1452 - March 1549) was a Flemish painter of the Early Netherlandish era. He was born into a family of painters in Leuven where he developed his own unmistakable style with strong colors, rich texture and fine details. He died in Leuven. More on Aelbrecht Bouts

Florentine School, mid 14th century

THE CRUCIFIXION, WITH CHRIST IN BENEDICTION IN THE SPANDREL ABOVE

tempera, oil and gold ground on oak panel, with a pointed top and engaged frame

48.8 by 24 cm.; 19 1/4 by 9 1/2 in.

Private collection

Florentine School was a major Italian school of art that flourished between the 13th and 16th centuries, extending from the Early Renaissance to the crisis of Renaissance culture.

The founder of the Florentine school was Giotto, whose work placed Florence in the foreground of pre-Renaissance art. The work of his successors, who included Taddeo Gaddi and Maso di Banco, developed along the lines he had originated. However, toward the middle of the 14th century conciseness and clarity of form (as seen in the work of A. di Bonaiuti) disappeared, and a tendency toward linear and flat form became prevalent (Nardo di Cione and, occasionally, Orcagna). In the last 30 years of the 14th century a trend toward the international Gothic style prevailed (Agnolo Gaddi and Lorenzo Monaco). More on Florentine School

Circle of Giovanni Bellini (1431/6-1516 Venice)

Saint Mary Magdalene

oil on panel, shaped top, with later additions

19 1/8 x 15 7/8 in. (48.5 x 40.4 cm.)

Private collection

Mary Magdalene, literally translated as Mary the Magdalene or Mary of Magdala, is a figure in Christianity who, according to the Bible, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers. She is said to have witnessed Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Within the four Gospels she is named more than most of the apostles. Based on texts of the early Christian era in the third century, it seems that her status as an “apostle" rivals even Peter's.

The Gospel of Luke says seven demons had gone out of her. She is most prominent in the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, at which she was present. She was also present two days later when, she was, either alone or as a member of a group of women, the first to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. John 20 and Mark 16:9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.

During the Middle Ages, Mary Magdalene was regarded in Western Christianity as a repentant prostitute or promiscuous woman, claims not found in any of the four canonical gospels. More Mary Magdalene

Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430 – 26 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini (who was more highly regarded than Giovanni during his lifetime, although the reverse is true today), and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He was considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it towards a more sensuous and colouristic style. Through the use of clear, slow-drying oil paints, Giovanni created deep, rich tints and detailed shadings. His sumptuous coloring and fluent, atmospheric landscapes had a great effect on the Venetian painting school, especially on his pupils Giorgione and Titian. More on Giovanni Bellini

Follower of Giovanni Bellini

THE MADONNA AND CHILD, FLANKED BY SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

Oil on panel

84.2 by 111.2 cm.; 33 1/8 by 43 3/4 in.

Private collection

For Giovanni Bellini see above

Follower of Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian

HEAD OF CHRIST

Oil on canvas

36.8 by 29.5 cm.; 14 1/2 by 11 5/8 in

Private collection

Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio, or Titian (1488/1490 – 27 August 1576), See above

Manner of Marco Palmezzano

CHRIST CARRYING THE CROSS

Oil on panel

32.3 by 24.4 cm.; 12 3/4 by 9 5/8 in.

Private collection

Marco Palmezzano (1460–1539) was an Italian painter and architect, belonging to the Forlì painting school, who painted in a style recalling earlier Northern Renaissance models. He was mostly active near Forlì.

After his initial training with the painter Melozzo da Forlì Palmezzano went to Rome in the early 1490s.

It is rumored that Palmezzano may have then traveled to Jerusalem to join the team painting frescoes at the Holy Cross church there, but no documentary evidence exists. He is, however, noted in property records as residing in Venice in 1495. Shortly thereafter, Palmezzano returned to Forlì, where he spent the rest of his long life—apparently with only brief excursions connected with commissions in other places in the region—until his death in 1539.

Palmezzano's studio was prolific in producing altarpieces, most commonly featuring the iconic arrangement of an enthroned Virgin with child on her lap, while below, symmetrically sited in the foreground are flanking saints. Venetian painting, in general, and the work of Giovanni Bellini and Cima da Conegliano, in particular, were to remain the most powerful influences on Palmezzano's output. Moreover, he remained faithful to the Venetian style of the later 15th and early 16th century. Mannerism entirely passed him by, and he seemed immune to subsequent developments in Venetian painting. One of the most attractive facets of Palmezzano's oeuvre are the distinctive and suggestive landscapes that form the backdrops of many of his altarpieces. These are a blend of the ideal and lyrical, and of the observed reality of the Apennine foothills and mountains to the south of Forli for which Palmezzano clearly had a real affection. These landscapes are also employed to subtle and imaginative effect to convey the symbolic religious messages of the works. More on Marco Palmezzano

Follower of Vincenzo Foppa

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI

Distemper and pastiglia on linen, in a contemporary carved gilt wood frame

194 by 179 cm.; 76 3/8 by 70 1/2 in.

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

Vincenzo Foppa (c. 1427 – c. 1515) was an Italian painter from the Renaissance period. While few of his works survive, he was an esteemed and influential painter during his time and is considered the preeminent leader of the Early Lombard School. He spent his career working for the Sforza family, Dukes of Milan, in Pavia, as well as various other patrons throughout Lombardy and Liguria. He lived and worked in his native Brescia during his later years. More on Vincenzo Foppa

Workshop of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, SEVILLE 1618 - 1682

THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH THE INFANT SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

Oil on canvas

174.6 by 109 cm.; 68 3/4 by 42 7/8 in.

Private collection

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (born late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618 – April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children. These lively, realist portraits of flower girls, street urchins, and beggars constitute an extensive and appealing record of the everyday life of his times. More on Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Florentine School, 17th Century

SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA

oil on canvas

108 by 90 cm.; 42 1/2 by 35 1/2 in.

Private collection

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

For Florentine School see below

Giovanni Lanfranco, PARMA 1582 - 1647 ROME

Saint Praxedes

Oil on canvas

114.5 by 90.3 cm.; 45 by 35 1/2 in.

Private collection

Saint Praxedes is a traditional Christian saint of the 2nd century. She is sometimes called Praxedis or Praxed. Little is known about Praxedes, and not all accounts agree. According to Jacobus de Voragine's The Golden Legend, Praxedes was the sister of Saint Pudentiana; their brothers were Saint Donatus and Saint Timothy.

When the Emperor Marcus Antoninus was hunting down Christians, she sought them out to relieve them with money, care, comfort and every charitable aid. Some she hid in her house, others she encouraged to keep firm in the faith, and of yet others she buried the bodies; and she allowed those who were in prison or toiling in slavery to lack nothing. At last, being unable any longer to bear the cruelties inflicted on Christians, she prayed to God that, if it were expedient for her to die, she might be released from beholding such sufferings. And so on July 21 she was called to the reward of her goodness in Heaven. More on Saint Praxedes

Giovanni Lanfranco, also called Giovanni di Steffano or Il Cavaliere Giovanni Lanfranchi (born Jan. 26, 1582, Parma [Italy]—died Nov. 30, 1647, Rome) Italian painter, an important follower of the Bolognese school. He was a pupil of Agostino Carracci in Parma (1600–02) and later studied with Annibale Carracci in Rome. A decisive influence on his work, however, was not just the Baroque classicism of the Carracci brothers but the dynamic illusionism of the dome paintings in Parma by Correggio. Lanfranco translated Correggio’s 16th-century style into a Roman Baroque idiom. Soon after his arrival in Rome (1612), he painted the ceiling frescoes Joseph Explaining the Dreams of His Fellow Prisoners and Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (both 1615) in the Palazzo Mattei. The frescoes combine techniques and styles learned from Annibale Carracci and from Lanfranco’s own study of Correggio and Caravaggio. Lanfranco’s painting in the dome of San Andrea della Valle in Rome (1621–25) derives directly from Correggio in its virtuoso use of vigorously posed figures floating in the clouds over the spectator’s head. Lanfranco worked in Naples from 1633/34 to 1646, his best known work there being the dome of the chapel of San Gennaro in the cathedral (1641–46). He was a bitter rival of Domenichino, both in Rome and later in Naples. More on Giovanni Lanfranco

Niccolò Cassana, VENICE 1659 - 1714 LONDON
Lot and his two daughters
Oil on canvas, unframed
114.1 by 161.3 cm.; 44 7/8 by 63 1/2 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. 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

Niccolò Cassana (often called Nicoletto; 1659–1714) was an Italian painter born in Venice and active during the late-Baroque. His older brother Giovanni Agostino Cassana was also a painter.

He trained with his father, Giovanni Francesco Cassana, a Genoese painter, who had been taught the art of painting by Bernardo Strozzi. He painted a Conspiracy of Catiline for the Gallery at Florence. Having painted portraits of the Medici court, and also of some of the English nobility, Nicoletto was invited to England, and introduced to Queen Anne, who sat to him for her likeness, and conferred on him many marks of favor. He died in London in 1714, having given way to drinking in his later years. More on Niccolò Cassana

Follower of Antiveduto Gramatica
HOLY FAMILY WITH THE INFANT SAINT JOHN
Oil on canvas
105.4 by 130.8 cm.; 41 1/4 by 51 1/2 in.
Private collection

Antiveduto Grammatica (1571 – April 1626) was a proto-Baroque Italian painter, active near Rome.

His apprenticeship with the Perugian artist Giovanni Domenico Angelini introduced him to small-scale work, mostly on copper. He gained the nickname "gran Capocciante" because he specialised in painting heads of famous men. A decade later, in 1591, Antiveduto set up as an independent artist.

Characterized by Giulio Mancini as most zealous in his profession, Antiveduto began his association with the Accademia di San Luca in 1593. He gained great familiarity with the two protectors of the Academy, Cardinals Federico Borromeo and Francesco Maria Del Monte, and was closely attached to the latter; so much that he was elected to the highest office of the association as "principe" in 1624. Shortly after this, however, he became embroiled in scandal. The machinations of Grammatica’s enemy Tommaso Salini over the attempt to sell off the Accademia's altarpiece, thought to be by Raphael, brought about a humiliating retreat, when Cardinal Del Monte intervened to re-establish the constitution of the institution. His fortunes were in a way linked with the Cardinal himself, who was much frowned upon by the Barberini, and his death preceded that of Del Monte by four months, in April 1626. More on Antiveduto Grammatica

Circle of Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino
THE MADONNA AND CHILD
Oil on panel, oval
58 by 41 cm.; 22 3/4 by 16 1/4 in.
Private collection

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666), best known as Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from the region of Emilia, and active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous naturalism of his early manner is in contrast to the classical equilibrium of his later works. His many drawings are noted for their luminosity and lively style.

Mainly self-taught, at the age of 16, he worked as apprentice in the shop of Benedetto Gennari, a painter of the Bolognese School. By 1615, he moved to Bologna, where his work was praised by Ludovico Carracci. Guercino painted two large canvases, Elijah Fed by Ravens and Samson Seized by Philistines, for Cardinal Serra, a Papal Legate to Ferrara. These paintings have a stark naturalist Caravaggesque style, although it is unlikely that Guercino saw any of the Roman Caravaggios first-hand.

Guercino's early works are often tumultuous. He often claimed that his early style was influenced by a canvas of Ludovico Carracci that he saw in the Capuchin church in Cento. Some of his later works are closer to the style of his contemporary Guido Reni, and are painted with more lightness and clearness. More on Guercino

Follower of Guido Reni
MADONNA AND CHILD WITH THE INFANT SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
Oil on copper
28.4 by 21.2 cm.; 11 1/3 by 8 3/8 in.
Private collection

Guido Reni (4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style. Born in Bologna into a family of musicians, Guido Reni was the son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra de’ Pozzi. As a child of nine, he was apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert. When Reni was about twenty years old he migrated to the rising rival studio, named Accademia degli Incamminati (Academy of the "newly embarked", or progressives), led by Lodovico Carracci. He went on to form the nucleus of a prolific and successful school of Bolognese painters who followed Annibale Carracci to Rome. Like many other Bolognese painters, Reni's painting was thematic and eclectic in style. More on Guido Reni

Follower of Guido Reni
THE MADONNA SEWING
Oil on copper
24.5 by 19.5 cm.; 9 5/8 by 7 5/8 in.
Private collection

Matteo Rosselli, FLORENCE 1578 - 1650
THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL
Oil on canvas
64.5 by 51.5 cm.;25 3/8 by 20 1/4 in.
Private collection

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

Matteo Rosselli (10 August 1578 – 18 January 1650) was an Italian painter of the late Florentine Counter-Mannerism and early Baroque. He is best known however for his highly populated grand-manner historical paintings. On 26 February 1599, he was inducted to the Accademia del Disegno, and in 1605 traveled to Rome to work with Domenico Passignano for six months.

He completed some frescoes on Lives of Servite Monks (1614–1618) in the Palazzo Pitti and in the Cloister of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata; a Madonna and child with St Francis altarpiece for the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Florence; and an Adoration of the Magi (1607) for the Church of Sant'Andrea in Montevarchi. He painted a Crucifixion (1613) now in the parish church at Scarperia. He painted a Last Supper (1614) now in Conservatorio di San Pier Martire.

Upon the French monarch's death, he was commissioned two commemorative paintings of events in the life of Henry IV: his visit to Nantes and Gaudabec (1610). He also completed an Assumption (1613) for the church of San Domenico in Pistoia. He painted a number of frescoes for the Casa Buonarroti based on events of Michelangelo's life.

The largest collection of Rosselli drawings is contained within the Louvre Museum, Paris, with many being preliminary sketches for other works. More on Matteo Rosselli

Lombard School, circa 1700
SAINT ANDREW READING
oil on canvas, unframed
72.5 by 56.7 cm.; 28 1/2 by 22 1/4 in.
Private collection

Andrew the Apostle (from the early 1st century – mid to late 1st century AD), also known as Saint Andrew was a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter.

The name "Andrew", like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews, Christians, and other Hellenized people of Judea. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him. According to Orthodox tradition, the apostolic successor to Saint Andrew is the Patriarch of Constantinople. More Andrew the Apostle

Most references to Andrew in the New Testament simply include him on a list of the Twelve Apostles, or group him with his brother, Simon Peter. But he appears acting as an individual three times in the Gospel of John. When a number of Greeks wish to speak with Jesus, they approach Philip, who tells Andrew, and the two of them tell Jesus. (It may be relevant here that both "Philip" and "Andrew" are Greek names.) Before Jesus feeds the Five Thousand, it is Andrew who says, "Here is a lad with five barley loaves and two fish." And the first two disciples whom John reports as attaching themselves to Jesus are Andrew and another disciple (whom John does not name, but who is commonly supposed to be John himself). Having met Jesus, Andrew then finds his brother Simon and brings him to Jesus. Thus, on each occasion when he is mentioned as an individual, it is because he is instrumental in bringing others to meet the Saviour. In the Episcopal Church, the Fellowship of Saint Andrew is devoted to encouraging personal evangelism, and the bringing of one's friends and colleagues to a knowledge of the Gospel of Christ. More on Saint Andrew

LOMBARDE School. In the sixteenth century, Mantua was an independent state ruled by the Gonzaga family, while Bergamo and Brescia were both part of Venice’s western terraferma. The proximity of the latter two to Milan, however, is deeply significant for the development of their artistic schools, and their painters are frequently grouped with other Lombard artists.

The Sforza dukes presided over their court, one of the most magnificent in Europe, at the Castello Sforzesco in the heart of Milan. The dukes were great patrons of the arts, founding churches and building grand castles in neighboring Pavia and Vigevano, as well as in Milan. At their suggestion, the French, under Charles VIII, first entered Italy in 1494—it was a disastrous invitation, ultimately leading to the loss of Milanese independence. In 1499, Louis XII drove out the Sforza duke Ludovico. Milan and its territory fell definitively under imperial domination following the Battle of Pavia (1525), which Francis I lost to the Habsburg emperor Charles V. Although Francesco II Sforza was made duke, it was at Charles’s sufferance, and after Francesco’s death in 1535 the city was ruled by Spanish governors. These political twists and turns had a major impact on the local community of artists. More Lombard School

Giuseppe Vermiglio, ALESSANDRIA CIRCA 1585 - AFTER 1635
SAINT PAUL
Oil on canvas
103 by 83 cm.; 40 1/2 by 32 3/4 in.
Private collection

Paul the Apostle (c. 5 – c. 67), commonly known as Saint Paul, and also known by his native name Saul of Tarsus was an apostle (though not one of the Twelve Apostles) who taught the gospel of the Christ to the first century world. He is generally considered one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age. In the mid-30s to the mid-50s AD, he founded several churches in Asia Minor and Europe. Paul took advantage of his status as both a Jew and a Roman citizen to minister to both Jewish and Roman audiences. More Saint Paul

Giuseppe Vermiglio (c.1585 – c.1635) was a Caravaggist painter from Northern Italy, active also in Rome. It is probable that he was born in Alessandria. He spent the first two decades of the seventeenth century in Rome where, while training and working as an artist, he adopted a bohemian lifestyle with a tendency to become involved in painterly brawling.

Around 1620 he returned to northern Italy where he pursued his career as a painter in Piedmont (Novara and Alessandria) and in Lombardy (notably in Mantua and Milan). Judgments of quality of his work have ranged from Alfred Moir’s ‘inconsequential craftsman’ to Lanzi’s ‘the best painter in oils of which the ancient state of Piedmont could boast, and one of the best Italian artists of his times’. More on Giuseppe Vermiglio

Giovanni Battista Langetti

Joseph interprets the baker's dreams in prison

Oil on canvas

124 x 173 cm

Private collection

Joseph was falsely accused and thrown into prison. In prison, Joseph did the work of interpreting dreams for these politically connected individuals. Joseph met two of Pharaoh’s officials who were incarcerated, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.

The chief baker he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.”

Giovanni Battista Langetti (1625–1676), also known as Giambattista Langetti, was an Italian late-Baroque painter. He was active in his native Genoa, then Rome, and finally for the longest period in Venice.

He first trained with Assereto, then Pietro da Cortona, but afterwards studied under Giovanni Francesco Cassana, appeared in Venice by the 1650s where he worked in a striking Caravaggesque style. He is thought to have influenced Johann Karl Loth and Antonio Zanchi. He painted many historical busts for private patrons in the Venetian territory and in Lombardy. He died at Venice in 1676. More on Giovanni Battista Langetti

Venetian School, circa 1700
The Temptation of Saint Anthony
oil on canvas
73.7 by 87.6 cm.; 29 by 34 1/2 in.
Private collection

The Temptation of Saint Anthony is an often-repeated subject in history of art and literature, concerning the supernatural temptation reportedly faced by Saint Anthony the Great during his sojourn in the Egyptian desert. Anthony's temptation is first discussed by Athanasius of Alexandria, Anthony's contemporary, and from then became a popular theme in Western culture. More Temptation of Saint Anthony

The Venetian school had a great influence of subsequent painting, and the history of later Western art has been described as a dialogue between the more intellectual and sculptural/linear approach of the Florentine and Roman traditions, and the more sensual, poetic, and pleasure-seeking of the colourful Venetian school.

Although not considered part of the Venetian school, it provided the backdrop to 18th-century Venetian painting, which had a final flowering in Tiepolo's decorative painting and Canaletto's and Guardi's panoramic views. The extinction of the Republic by French Revolutionary armies in 1797 effectively brought the distinctive Venetian style to an end; it had at least arguably outlasted its rival Florence in that respect. More on The Venetian school

Follower of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
ST PETER DELIVERED BY AN ANGEL
Oil on canvas
63.4 by 82.5 cm.; 25 by 32 1/2 in.
Private collection

Acts 12:3–19 says that Peter was put into prison by King Herod, but the night before his trial an angel appeared to him, and told him to leave. Peter's chains fell off, and he followed the angel out of prison, thinking it was a vision (verse 9). The prison doors opened of their own accord, and the angel led Peter into the city.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (29 September 1571 in Caravaggio – 18 July 1610) was an Italian painter active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1592 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on Baroque painting.

Caravaggio trained as a painter in Milan under Simone Peterzano who had himself trained under Titian. In his twenties Caravaggio moved to Rome where there was a demand for paintings to fill the many huge new churches and palazzos being built at the time. It was also a period when the Church was searching for a stylistic alternative to Mannerism in religious. Caravaggio's innovation was a radical naturalism that combined close physical observation with a dramatic use of chiaroscuro which came to be known as tenebrism (the shift from light to dark with little intermediate value).

He gained attention in the art scene of Rome in 1600 with the success of his first public commissions, the Martyrdom of Saint Matthew and Calling of Saint Matthew. Thereafter he never lacked commissions or patrons, yet he handled his success poorly. He was jailed on several occasions, vandalized his own apartment, and ultimately had a death sentence pronounced against him by the Pope after killing a young man, possibly unintentionally, on May 29, 1606. He fled from Rome with a price on his head. He was involved in a brawl in Malta in 1608, and another in Naples in 1609. This encounter left him severely injured. A year later, at the age of 38, he died under mysterious circumstances in Porto Ercole in Tuscany, reportedly from a fever while on his way to Rome to receive a pardon.

Famous while he lived, Caravaggio was forgotten almost immediately after his death, and it was only in the 20th century that his importance to the development of Western art was rediscovered. More on Caravaggio

Francesco di Maria, NAPLES 1623 - 1690
THE LAMENTATION
oil on canvas
185 by 277 cm.; 72 3/4 by 109 in.
Private collection

The Lamentation of Christ is a very common subject in Christian art from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque. After Jesus was crucified, his body was removed from the cross and his friends mourned over his body. This event has been depicted by many different artists.

Lamentation works are very often included in cycles of the Life of Christ, and also form the subject of many individual works. One specific type of Lamentation depicts only Jesus' mother Mary cradling his body. These are known as Pietà (Italian for "pity") More The Lamentation of Christ

Francesco di Maria (1623–1690) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Naples. He was a pupil of the painter Domenichino. Maria was an early mentor of Francesco Solimena, Giacomo del Pò, and Paolo de Matteis. More on Francesco di Maria

Giovan Battista Boncori, CAMOPLI CIRCA 1633 - ROMA 1699
THE REST ON THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT
Oil on canvas
72.5 by 60.5 cm.; 28 1/2 by 23 3/4 in.
Private collection

THE REST ON THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT. The scene is based not on any incident in the Bible itself, but on a body of tales or legends that had grown up in the early Middle Ages around the Bible story of the Holy Family fleeing into Egypt for refuge on being warned that Herod the Great was seeking to kill the Christ Child. According to the legend, Joseph and Mary paused on the flight in a grove of trees; the Holy Child ordered the trees to bend down so that Joseph could take fruit from them, and then ordered a spring of water to gush forth from the roots so that his parents could quench their thirst. This basic story acquired many extra details during the centuries. More on THE REST ON THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT

Giovanni Battista Buonocore (1643 in Campli, Province of Teramo, Abruzzo – May 22, 1699 in Rome) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He became Rector (1679), then Principe (1698) of the Accademia di San Luca of Rome.

He first trained with Mola in Lombardy, then traveled to Parma, Venice, Ferrara, Cento, Florence, and Bologna, before settling in Rome. He painted an altar-piece for the Chiesa degli Orfanelli at Rome. He is known there for a canvas of Martyrdom of San Gaetano which was once in the Villa Medici. He also painted a San Andrea Avellino, Massacre of the Innocents, St Anthony of Padua with Virgin and Child, and a Deposition. He painted a Crucifixion for the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. He also painted some frescoes in the tribune of the church of San Carlo al Corso. He painted the main altarpiece for the church of the Orfanelli. He painted a series of canvases depicting the victories of Hannibal at Ticino, Trebbia, Trasimeno, and Canae, and also the Defeat of Hasdrubal at the battle of Metauro. Among his pupils was Girolamo de Rossi. His biography was written by Leone Pascoli. More on Giovanni Battista Buonocore

Rafael Tejeo Diaz, CARAVACA DE LA CRUZ 1798 - 1856 MADRID
MADONNA AND CHILD
Oil on canvas
88.9 by 77.5 cm.; 35 by 30 1/2 in.
Private collection

Rafael Tegeo Díaz (27 November 1798, Caravaca de la Cruz - 3 October 1856, Madrid) was a Spanish Neoclassical painter, known primarily for his portraits. His name is sometimes spelled Tejeo. He was born to a family of artisans. After displaying an early affinity for drawing, he was enrolled at the "Real Sociedad de Amigos del País" in Murcia. Later, he was able to attend the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where he studied with José Aparicio and Fernando Brambila.

In 1824, he received a stipend to study in Rome with Pietro Benvenuti and Vincenzo Camuccini, among others. While there, he was heavily influenced by the works of Raphael and Guido Reni. He sent numerous paintings home for exhibition and, in 1828, he was named an "Academician" for his painting of Hercules and Antaeus.

Initially, he concentrated on themes from mythology. He also did the occasional historical scene, notably an episode from the Siege of Málaga in the Palacio Real. Ultimately, though, he achieved his greatest fame through his portraits.

In 1839, he was appointed Deputy Director of painting at the Academia and, three years later, became Honorary Director, a position he held until his resignation in 1846. His last major exhibition was at the Exposition Universelle (1855).

The street where he was born was renamed in his honor. In 2015, the Ayuntamiento de Caravaca announced the forthcoming publication of a new book, Rafael Tegeo: Del tema clásico al retrato romántico, by Martín Páez Burruezo. More on Rafael Tegeo Díaz

Follower of Vittorio Amedeo Cignaroli
ELIEZER AND REBECCA AT THE WELL
Oil on canvas
62.9 by 87.6 cm.; 24 3/4 by 34 1/2 in.
Private collection

After the death of Sarah, Isaac, her son, was lonely; and as he was now old enough to marry, Abraham went about finding a wife for Isaac, who was already 37 years old. He commanded his servant, Eliezer of Damascus, to journey to his birthplace of Aram Naharaim to select a bride from his own family.

As Eliezer stood at the central well in Abraham's birthplace with his men and ten camels laden with goods, a young girl immediately came out and offered to draw water for him to drink, as well as water to fill the troughs for all his camels.

The servant recounted the oath he made to Abraham and all the details of his trip to and meeting with Rebecca in fine detail, after which her brother Laban and her father Bethuel agreed that she could return with him. Her family sent her off with her nurse, Deborah, and blessed her. More on ELIEZER AND REBECCA AT THE WELL

Vittorio Amedeo Cignaroli (1730–1800) was an Italian painter and architect. He was the grandson of Martino Cignaroli.

He was born in Turin, and is described as a painter of landscapes and history. He was active during 1778–1793. He married the daughter of the French sculptor La Datte, who had been member of the French Academy and author of the ossuary of the chapel of Sacra Sindone. Vittorio worked for the King of Sardinia, and in 1782, Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia named him painter of landscapes and wooded scenes for the King. Many of his paintings were present in the Royal Palace and Castle of the Venaria Reale; at the Palace of Stupinigi, he painted four large hunting scenes. For the Castle of Moncalieri, he painted the four stations. His daughter married the painter Gaetano Perego. More on Vittorio Amedeo Cignaroli

North Netherlandish School, first half of the 16th century
A TRIPTYCH: CENTRAL PANEL: THE CRUCIFIXION LEFT WING: THE DEPOSITION RIGHT WING: THE RESURRECTION, c. 1517
Oil on oak panel, the wings in integral frames
Overall (open): 130 by 154 cm.; 51 1/8 by 60 5/8 in.
Overall (closed): 130 by 77 cm.; 51 1/8 by 30 1/4 in.
Private collection

Workshop of Dieric Bouts, HAARLEM CIRCA 1420 - 1475 LEUVEN
MATER DOLOROSA/ Our Lady of Sorrows
Oil on panel
37.5 by 29.4 cm.; 14 3/4 by 11 1/2 in.
Private collection

Our Lady of Sorrows (Latin: Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (Latin: Mater Dolorosa), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which Mary, mother of Jesus, is referred to in relation to sorrows in life. As Mater Dolorosa, it is also a key subject for Marian art in the Catholic Church.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are a popular religious theme and a Roman Catholic devotion. In Christian imagery, the Virgin Mary is portrayed sorrowful and in tears, with one or seven long knives (daggers) piercing her. Devotional prayers that consist of meditation began to elaborate on her Seven Sorrows based on the prophecy of Simeon. Common examples of piety under this title are the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows, the Seven Principal Dolors of the Blessed Virgin, the Novena in Honor of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, and more recently, Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is liturgically celebrated every 15 September, while a feast, the Friday of Sorrows is observed in some Catholic countries. More on Our Lady of Sorrows

Dieric Bouts, (born c. 1415, Haarlem, Holland—died May 6, 1475, Louvain, Belgium), was a northern Netherlandish painter who, was an accomplished master.

In 1448 Bouts visited Louvain in the southern Netherlands. After 1457 his name appeared almost every year in the archives of Louvain. Bouts’s earlier works are strongly Rogierian in their expression of intense emotion through symbolic gestures. Passionate subjects were appropriate vehicles for this expression. Bouts’s lack of realism in anatomy, however, and his stiff and angular compositions may well reflect the sober religious intensity of the northern Netherlands.

In the paintings ascribed to Bouts’s mature period gives way to a greater severity and dignity in the treatment of figures. Bouts’s two best-known works belong to the last 20 years of his life. More on Dieric Bouts

Workshop of Cornelis Engelbrechtsz, LEIDEN 1460/65 - 1527
THE DEPOSITION
oil on oak panel
46.5 by 32 cm.; 18 1/4 by 12 5/8 in.
Private collection

The Descent from the Cross, or Deposition of Christ, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospels' accounts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after his crucifixion. In Byzantine art the topic became popular in the 9th century, and in the West from the 10th century. The Descent from the Cross is the 13th Station of the Cross.

Other figures not mentioned in the Gospels who are often included in depictions of this subject include St. John the Evangelist, who is sometimes depicted supporting a fainting Mary, and Mary Magdalene. The Gospels mention an undefined number of women as watching the crucifixion, including the Three Marys and Mary Salome. More on Deposition of Christ

Cornelis Engebrechtsz, also known as Cornelis Engelbrechtsz (c.1462–1527) was an early Dutch painter. He was born and died in Leiden, and is considered the first important painter from that city. Engebrechtsz. taught a number of other Leiden painters, including Lucas van Leyden, Aertgen van Leyden and Engebrechtsz.' own sons Cornelis, Lucas, and Pieter Cornelisz. Kunst. Lucas van Leyden is considered his most important pupil, eclipsing Engebrechtsz. in popularity.

Work by Engebrechtsz. is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, among others. More on Cornelis Engelbrechtsz

Follower of Rueland Frueauf the Elder
THE FLAGELLATION
oil on pine panel
109.9 by 87.2 cm.; 43 by 34 1/2 in.
Private collection

The Flagellation of Christ, sometimes known as Christ at the Column or the Scourging at the Pillar, is a scene from the Passion of Christ very frequently shown in Christian art, in cycles of the Passion or the larger subject of the Life of Christ. It is the fourth station of the modern alternate Stations of the Cross, and a Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary. The column to which Christ is normally tied, and the rope, scourge, whip or birch are elements in the Arma Christi. The Basilica di Santa Prassede in Rome, claimed to possess the original column. More on The Flagellation of Christ

Rueland Frueauf the Elder (c. 1440 – 1507) was an Austrian Late-Gothic painter.

Frueauf was born in Obernberg am Inn, and lived and worked there most of his life. He primarily painted frescoes in local churches. In 1484 he was appointed as a consultant to work with Michael Pacher on an altarpiece for the Franciscan Order.[1] His son Rueland Frueauf the Younger also became a painter. Frueauf the Elder died in Passau in 1507. More on Rueland Frueauf the Elder

Circle of Master of Delft
THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED
Oil on panel
72.9 by 88.3 cm.; 28 5/8 by 34 3/4 in.
Private collection

The composition may be based upon the Triptych with Virgin and Child with Saints by the Master of Delft, now in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. The style of the architectural background is very close to a series of panels showing female saints by the Master of Alkmaar. More on this painting

The Master of Delft (fl c. 1490–1520) was a Dutch painter of the final period of Early Netherlandish painting, whose name is unknown. He may have been born around 1470. The notname was first used in 1913 by Max Jakob Friedländer, in describing the wings of a Triptych with the Virgin and Child with St Anne with the central panel by the Master of Frankfurt, which is now in Aachen. This has donor portraits of an identifiable family from Delft, that of the Burgomaster of Delft, Dirck Dircksz van Beest Heemskerck (1463–1545), with his wife and children.

Delft was apparently more notable as a centre for miniatures for illuminated manuscripts in this period than for panel painting; there were many monasteries as well as churches in the city, which though small, was wealthy from textiles and brewing beer. The master's style can be compared to that of the Master of the Virgo inter Virgines, who was the other leading painter active in Delft in the same period. The careers of both are made harder to understand as an unusually high proportion of both local paintings and documents have been destroyed in a series of disasters: a large fire in 1536, the Beeldenstorm of 1566, or other Protestant destruction of images. The great Delft Explosion of 1654 no doubt destroyed more. There was also a tendency for the largest church commissions to be given to artists in the larger artistic centres to the south. More on The Master of Delft

Workshop of Jacopo da Valenza, ACTIVE IN THE VENETO 1485 - 1509

THE VIRGIN AND CHILD

Oil on panel

48.2 by 37.7 cm.; 19 by 14 7/8 in.

More on this painting

Jacopo da Valenza was an Italian painter, active in Vittorio Veneto, Feltre and Belluno. He worked in many churches in Belluno in a style strongly influenced by Alvise Vivarini.

He was active in a number of cities in the Veneto, including Serravalle, Belluno and Feltre. The earliest work that can be securely attributed to the artist is a signed, bust length Madonna and Child, dated 1485. A year earlier, in 1484, Nicolò Trevisan, Bishop of Ceneda, endowed an altar for the cathedral at Ceneda for which Jacopo executed the Madonna and Child with Sts Sebastian and Anthony and Bishop Nicolò Trevisan, which therefore likely slightly predates the Madonna and Child.

Jacopo most likely trained in the Venetian workshop of Bartolomeo and Alvise Vivarini and his work remained indebted to their distinctive style throughout his career. His important paintings are an Altarpiece (Parish Church, Porcen, Seren del Grappa), Madonna with Child (Museo civico Luigi Bailo, Treviso), Madonna Adoring the Child (Museo Correr, Venice), Christ Salvator Mundi (Accademia Carrara, Bergamo), Blessing Christ (Palazzo Pamphili, Rome). More on Jacopo da Valenza

Circle of Domenico Beccafumi
MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA
Oil on poplar panel, a tondo
diameter: 31.8 cm.; 12 1/2 in.
More on this painting

Saint Catherine of Siena, T.O.S.D. (March 25, 1347 in Siena – April 29, 1380 in Rome), was a tertiary of the Dominican Order and a Scholastic philosopher and theologian. She also worked to bring the papacy of Gregory XI back to Rome from its displacement in France and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. Since 18 June 1939, she is one of the two patron saints of Italy, together with St. Francis of Assisi. On 3 October 1970, she was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI, and on 1 October 1999, Pope John Paul II named her as one of the six patron saints of Europe, together with Benedict of Nursia, Saints Cyril and Methodius, Bridget of Sweden and Edith Stein. More on Saint Catherine of Siena

Domenico di Pace Beccafumi (1486 – May 18, 1551) was an Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter active predominantly in Siena. He is considered one of the last undiluted representatives of the Sienese school of painting.

Domenico was born in Montaperti, near Siena, the son of Giacomo di Pace, a peasant who worked on the estate of Lorenzo Beccafumi. Seeing his talent for drawing, Lorenzo adopted him, and commended him to learn painting from Mechero, a lesser Sienese artist. In 1509 he traveled to Rome, where he learned from the artists who had just done their first work in the Vatican, but soon returned to Siena. In Siena, he painted religious pieces for churches and of mythological decorations for private patrons, only mildly influenced by the gestured Mannerist trends dominating the neighboring Florentine school. More on Domenico di Pace Beccafumi

Italian School, 17th Century
THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS
oil on panel
42 by 57 cm.; 6 1/2 by 22 3/8 in.
Private collection

After a well known design by Raphael. No painting of the composition exists, it was designed to exist only as a print and was engraved by Marcantonio. This composition is thought to be the first of the engravings that Raphael and Marcantnio collaborated on. More on this painting

The Massacre of the Innocents is the biblical narrative of infanticide by Herod the Great, the Roman-appointed King of the Jews. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Herod ordered the execution of all young male children in the vicinity of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth had been announced to him by the Magi. In typical Matthean style, it is understood as the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy: "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 'A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.'" The number of infants killed is not stated. The Holy Innocents have been claimed as martyrs for Christianity. More on The Massacre of the Innocents

Painting in 17th-century Italy was an international endeavor. Large numbers of artists traveled to Rome, especially, to work and study. They sought not only the many commissions being extended by the Church but also the chance to learn from past masters. Most of the century was dominated by the baroque style, whose expressive power was well suited to the needs of the Counter-Reformation Church for affecting images.

The drama and movement that characterized the baroque—in sculpture and architecture as well as painting—can be first seen, perhaps, in the work of Caravaggio, who died in 1610. His strong contrasts of light and dark and unblinking realism were taken up by many artists, including the Italian Orazio Gentileschi, the Spaniard Jusepe de Ribera, and the Frenchmen Valentin de Boulogne and Simon Vouet, all of whom worked in Italy. Other artists carried Caravaggio’s so-called tenebrist style to northern Europe.

The more classical approach of the Carracci and their students Guercino and Domenichino was also an important force in 17th-century painting. It provided a foundation for the rational clarity that structured the work of French artists Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, both of whom worked in Rome for most of their lives. More on the ITALIAN SCHOOL, (17th century). More on Italian School, 17th Century

After Leonardo da Vinci

THE LAST SUPPER

Oil on copper, unframed

26.2 by 60.5 cm.; 10 1/4 by 23 3/4 in.

Private collection

A copy, circa 1800, after Leonard da Vinci's Last Supper, now in the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

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

Leonardo da Vinci, (born April 15, 1452, Anchiano, near Vinci, Republic of Florence — died May 2, 1519, Cloux, France), Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. His Last Supper (1495–98) and Mona Lisa (c. 1503–19) are among the most widely popular and influential paintings of the Renaissance. His notebooks reveal a spirit of scientific inquiry and a mechanical inventiveness that were centuries ahead of their time.

The unique fame that Leonardo enjoyed in his lifetime and that, filtered by historical criticism, has remained undimmed to the present day rests largely on his unlimited desire for knowledge, which guided all his thinking and behaviour. An artist by disposition and endowment, he considered his eyes to be his main avenue to knowledge; to Leonardo, sight was man’s highest sense because it alone conveyed the facts of experience immediately, correctly, and with certainty. Hence, every phenomenon perceived became an object of knowledge, and knowing how to see became the great theme of his studies. He applied his creativity to every realm in which graphic representation is used: he was a painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer. But he went even beyond that. He used his superb intellect, unusual powers of observation, and mastery of the art of drawing to study nature itself, a line of inquiry that allowed his dual pursuits of art and science to flourish. More Leonardo da Vinci

Venetian School, last quarter of the 15th century

MADONNA AND CHILD

Oil on panel

50.3 by 37.8 cm.; 19 3/4 by 14 7/8 in.

51.5 by 39 cm.; 20 1/4 by 15 3/8 in. with extensions

Private collection

Venetian school (art). From the later part of the 15th century, Venice had a distinctive, thriving and influential art scene. Beginning with the work of Giorgione (c. 1477–1510), and the workshop of Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430–1516), major artists of the Venetian school included Titian (1489–1576), Tintoretto (1518–1594), Veronese (1528–1588) and the Bassano (1510–1592). Considered to bring a primacy of color over line, this tradition was seen to contrast with the Mannerism then prevalent in the rest of Italy, and the Venetian style is viewed as having had a great influence on the subsequent development of painting. More on Venetian school

Follower of Sir Peter Paul Rubens

THE DECAPITATION OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
Oil on oak panel
27.9 by 26.7 cm.; 11 by 10 1/2 in.
Private collection

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

Guy François, LE PUY, HAUTE-LOIRE CIRCA 1578 - 1650 LE PUY
MADONNA AND CHILD
Oil on canvas
84.5 by 59 cm.; 33 1/4 by 24 1/4 in.
Private collection

Guy François was a French painter. He was known to be in Rome as early as 1608 and to be back in his native Puy-de-Dôme by 1613. He seems to have spent the rest of his long career in and around Le Puy, with an undocumented visit to Toulouse at an indeterminate date, probably in the 1620s. Most of the artist s pictures remain in the obscurity of the parish churches for which they were painted, and it is clear that he had ceased to experiment by about 1630. One of his most important pictures is at Bourg-en-Brese, the large altarpiece The Holy Family with St Bruno and St Elisabeth of 1626, which shows the artist s careful assimilation of the style of the Roman painter Carlo Saraceni.

There is now a dispute as to whether some pictures are by Saraceni or Guy Franois, notably the Holy Family in the Wadsworth Athenaeum Hartford, which seems characteristic of both artists. Unlike Tournier, Franois never showed any passion in his art; his pictures always retained a Saracenesque smoothness and elegance. More on Guy François

Jacob Jordaens and Workshop, ANTWERP 1593 - 1678

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, c. 1641
Oil on canvas
80.5 by 115.5 cm.; 31 3/4 by 45 1/2 in.
Private collection

The flight into Egypt is a biblical event described in the Gospel of Matthew in which Joseph fled to Egypt with Mary and infant son Jesus after a visit by Magi because they learned that King Herod intended to kill the infants of that area. The episode is frequently shown in art, as the final episode of the Nativity of Jesus in art, and was a common component in cycles of the Life of the Virgin as well as the Life of Christ.

When the Magi came in search of Jesus, they go to Herod the Great in Jerusalem and ask where to find the newborn "King of the Jews". Herod becomes paranoid that the child will threaten his throne, and seeks to kill him. Herod initiates the Massacre of the Innocents in hopes of killing the child. But an angel appears to Joseph and warns him to take Jesus and his mother into Egypt.

Egypt was a logical place to find refuge, as it was outside the dominions of King Herod, but both Egypt and Israel were part of the Roman Empire, linked by a coastal road known as "the way of the sea", making travel between them easy and relatively safe. More on The flight into Egypt

This is a secondary version of Jordaens' larger canvas in the collection of Baron Borrekens (100 by 185cm). Both paintings were executed in the same year, 1641. Amongst other versions are those in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow (135 by 201cm); sold New York, Christie's, 15 October 1992, lot 64 (122 by 174cm); and Van Gelder collection, Brussels (113 by 114cm). The composition very loosely derives from Rubens' treatment of the subject in the museum in Kassel. More on this painting

Jacob Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and tapestry designer known for his history paintings, genre scenes and portraits. After Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, he was the leading Flemish Baroque painter of his day. Unlike those contemporaries he never travelled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their intellectual and courtly aspirations. In fact, except for a few short trips to locations in the Low Countries, he remained in Antwerp his entire life. As well as being a successful painter, he was a prominent designer of tapestries. Like Rubens, Jordaens painted altarpieces, mythological, and allegorical scenes, and after 1640—the year Rubens died—he was the most important painter in Antwerp for large-scale commissions and the status of his patrons increased in general. However, he is best known today for his numerous large genre scenes based on proverbs in the manner of his contemporary Jan Brueghel the Elder, depicting The King Drinks and As the Old Sing, So Pipe the Young. Jordaens' main artistic influences, besides Rubens and the Brueghel family, were northern Italian painters such as Jacopo Bassano, Paolo Veronese, and Caravaggio. More on Jacob Jordaens

Studio of Francisco de Zurbarán (November 7, 1598 – August 27, 1664)

THE ENTOMBMENT OF SAINT CATHERINE ON MOUNT SINAI
oil on canvas
199.2 by 137 cm.; 78 1/2 by 53 7/8 in.
Private collection

Saint Catherine of Alexandria lived through the years 287 to 305. After she was baptized, Christ appeared to her, gave her a ring and called her a bride. And she decided to convert the Roman Emperor Maximillian II to Christianity who proposed her marriage. She refused, and he ordered to execute her on a wheel. The wheel is shown bottom right in the picture. The God’s angel hindered to carry out the execution. Then they beheaded her. The trace of a sword is visible on the neck of the saint woman. After the execution the body of St. Catherine disappeared and was found on Mount Sinai three centuries later due to the ring of Christ on her finger. Then she was laid in the tomb and buried. The picture shows just this moment. On her relics St. Catherine’s Monastery of Mount Sinai was erected in the 11th century. More on this painting

Francisco de Zurbarán, (baptized November 7, 1598, Fuente de Cantos, Spain—died August 27, 1664, Madrid), major painter of the Spanish Baroque who is especially noted for religious subjects. His work is characterized by Caravaggesque naturalism and tenebrism, the latter a style in which most forms are depicted in shadow but a few are dramatically lighted.

Zurbarán was apprenticed 1614–16 to Pedro Díaz de Villanueva in Sevilla (Seville), where he spent the greater part of his life. No works by his master have survived, but Zurbarán’s earliest known painting, an Immaculate Conception (1616), suggests that he was schooled in the same naturalistic style as his contemporary Diego Velázquez. From 1617 to 1628 he was living in Llerena, near his birthplace; then he returned to Sevilla, where he settled at the invitation of the city corporation. In 1634 he visited Madrid and was commissioned by Philip IV to paint a series of Labours of Hercules and two scenes of the Defense of Cádiz, which formed part of the decoration of the Hall of Realms in the Buen Retiro palace. The Adoration of the Kings, from a series painted for the Carthusian monastery at Jerez, is signed with the title “Painter to the King” and dated 1638, the year in which Zurbarán decorated a ceremonial ship presented to the king by the city of Sevilla. The paintings for the Buen Retiro are the only royal commissions and the only mythological or historical subjects by Zurbarán that are known. His contact with the court had little effect on his artistic evolution; he remained throughout his life a provincial artist and was par excellence a painter of religious life. In 1658 Zurbarán moved to Madrid. More on Francisco de Zurbarán

Claudio Coello, MADRID 1642 - 1693

SAINT JOHN OF GOD (1495- 1550) WITH AN ANGEL
Oil on canvas
104 by 83 cm.; 41 by 32 3/4 in.

Private collection

John of God, O.H. (March 8, 1495 – March 8, 1550) (Spanish: Juan de Dios and Portuguese: João de Deus) was a Portuguese-born soldier turned health-care worker in Spain, whose followers later formed the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God, a worldwide Catholic religious institute dedicated to the care of the poor sick and those suffering from mental disorders. He has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church, and is considered one of Spain's leading religious figures. More on John of God

Claudio Coello (2 March 1642 – 20 April 1693) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Coello is considered the last great Spanish painter of the 17th century.

The son of Faustino Coello, a famous Portuguese sculptor, he was a court painter for Charles II. He worked on many churches and public buildings in Madrid, with his most famous work being in the sacristy of El Escorial, which is filled with portraits of priests and courtiers. More on Claudio Coello

Juan Antonio de Frias y Escalante, CORDOBA 1630 - 1669 MADRID

Saint Peter Nolasco carried to the altar by angels

Oil on canvas

108.8 by 82.9 cm.; 42 3/4 by 32 5/8 in.

Private collection

Saint Peter Nolasco (1189 – 6 May 1256), is a Catholic saint, born at Mas-des-Saintes-Puelles, Languedoc, today's France.

He was in Barcelona when as a teenager, became part of an army fighting the Moors in the Iberian peninsula, and was appointed tutor to the young king, James I of Aragon. In 1218 he formed a congregation of men that became the Royal and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy of the Redemption of the Captives (the Mercedarians) with approval by Pope Gregory IX in 1230. More on Saint Peter Nolasco

Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante (1633 in Cordoba–1669 in Madrid) was a Spanish Baroque Golden Age painter.

He was born in Córdoba, studied under Francisco Ricci in Madrid, and developed a career in the Spanish Court despite his early death. He was an admirer of Venetian paintings by Tintoretto and Veronese. His last paintings are in the rococo style. He is known for his religious paintings, e.g. Roman Catholic Marian art depicting the Immaculate Conception. More on Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante

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