Mythology

08 Icons from the Bible, OF SAINT WLADIMIR, THE VIRGIN OF WLADIMIR, THE BLESSING CHRIST, Legends of Saint Nicholas... with footnotes, #17

Goldsmith Punch: illegible

ICON OF SAINT WLADIMIR

Tempera on wood preserved under riza and oklad in vermeil.

H. 31 cm - L: 27 cm.

Private collection

Vladimir the Great (also (Saint Vladimir of Kiev); (c. 958 – 15 July 1015, Berestove) was a prince of Novgorod, grand prince of Kiev, and ruler of Kievan Rus' from 980 to 1015.

After the death of his father in 972, Vladimir, who was then prince of Novgorod, was forced to flee to Scandinavia in 976 after his brother Yaropolk had murdered his other brother Oleg and conquered Rus'. In Sweden, with the help from his relative Ladejarl Håkon Sigurdsson, ruler of Norway, he assembled a Varangian army and reconquered Novgorod from Yaropolk. By 980, Vladimir had consolidated the Kievan realm from modern-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to the Baltic Sea and had solidified the frontiers against incursions of Bulgarian, Baltic tribes and Eastern nomads. Originally a follower of Slavic paganism, Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988, and Christianized the Kievan Rus'. More on Vladimir the Great (also (Saint Vladimir of Kiev)

Alexandre Yashinoff, active from 1795 to 1826.

ICON OF THE VIRGIN OF WLADIMIR, c. Saint-Pétersbourg, 1816.

Tempera on wood, preserved under a riza

chiselled rim, applied with a mantle woven with river pearls and set with amethysts, emeralds, citrines, diamond roses , stones of the Rhine and stones of Color, surmounted

by an oklad in vermeil decorated with the same decoration.

Worries of time, small gaps, but good general condition.

H. 70.5 cm - L: 53 cm.

Weight: 4 k 700 grs

Private collection

Theotokos of Vladimir. About 1131 the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople sent the icon as a gift to Grand Duke Yury Dolgorukiy of Kiev. The image was kept in a monastery, until Dolgorukiy's son Andrey Bogolyubskiy brought it to his favourite city, Vladimir, in 1155. Tradition tells that the horses transporting the icon stopped near Vladimir and refused to go further. People interpreted this as a sign that the Theotokos wanted her icon to stay in Vladimir. To house the icon, the great Assumption Cathedral was built there, followed by other churches dedicated to the Virgin throughout Ukraine. However the presence of the icon did not prevent the sack and burning of the city by the Mongols in 1238, when the icon was damaged by fire. It was first restored after this, and again before 1431 and in 1512.

According to the traditional accounts the image was taken from Vladimir to the new capital, Moscow, in 1395 during Tamerlane's invasion. Vasili I of Moscow spent a night crying over the icon, and Tamerlane's armies retreated the same day. The Muscovites refused to return the icon to Vladimir and placed it in the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Moscow Kremlin.

Crediting the icon with saving Moscow in 1395 does not appear in sources until the late 15th century, and the full version of the story until accounts of 1512 and then the 1560s. By the 16th century, the Vladimirskaya was a thing of legend, and associated with the growth of Russian national consciousness based on the Muscovite state. The intercession of the Theotokos through the image was credited also with saving Moscow from Tatar hordes in 1451 and 1480. More on Theotokos of Vladimir

Alexandre Yevgenievich Jacovleff (25 June [O.S. 13 June] 1887 – 12 May 1938) was a Russian neoclassicist painter, draughtsman, designer and etcher.

Alexandre was the son of a naval officer from Saint Petersburg, where he was born. Between 1905 and 1913 he studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts under Kardovsky. While a student he enjoyed drawing and worked for the art magazines. After 1912, Jacovleff was a member of Mir Iskusstva. Jacovleff's large group portrait On Academic Dacha was exhibited at the Baltic Exhibition in Malmö in 1912, and received praise from the critics, including Alexandre Benois.

During his student days he befriended another Academy student, Vasiliy Shukhaev. They were almost inseparable, and received the nickname of The Twins.

In 1913, Jackovleff received the rank of an Artist and a scholarship to study abroad. He later went to Italy and Spain together with Shukhaev. Another important work of that period was Violinist painted in 1915. At that time Jacovleff attempted to integrate Renaissance art with Primitivism, particularly the Russian Lubok.

In 1915, Jacovleff returned to Petrograd. The same year his works were shown at a Mir Iskusstva exhibition and caused mixed reactions. Jackovleff painted a lot of Sanguine drawings including the Shalyapin portrait. He frescoed Firsanov's mansion in Moscow, and the artistic cabaret Prival Komediantov in Petrograd. He also lectured on Women's Architect Courses and organized his own artistic movement (together with Shukhaev, Radlov and Kardovsky): St. Luke Guild of Painters.

In the summer of 1917, Jacovleff received a scholarship to study in the Far East. He traveled to Mongolia, China and Japan (1917–1919). At the end of the First World War he celebrated at the Italian Legation in Beijing together with the Italian chargé d'affaires Daniele Varè. Subsequently he settled in Paris and obtained French Citizenship.

Between 1924 and 1925 he took part in an expedition to the Sahara desert and Equatorial Africa organized by Citroën (Croisière Noire). His African paintings were a big success and as a result Jacovleff was awarded the Legion of Honor by the French government in 1926. In 1928, Jacovleff organized a large personal exhibition in Moscow.

Between 1931 and 1932, he was the Artistic Adviser of another Citroën expedition, this time across Asia: the Yellow Expedition. He travelled through Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia and China, and created a number of orientalist paintings.

From 1934 to 1937, Jacovleff was the Director of the Painting Department of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He spent the last months of his life in Paris and Capri. He died in Paris in 1938, after an unsuccessful surgery. More on Alexandre Yevgenievich Jacovleff

Unknown iconographer

Theotokos of Vladimir, c. 1130 in Constantinople

Tempera on panel

104 x 69 cm

Tretyakov Gallery

Our Lady of Vladimir (12th century), the holy protectress of Russia, now in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Goldsmith stamp: Nicolas Michaeloff, active from 1830 to 1860.

ICON OF THE THREE ARCHANGES, c. 1831

St. Gabriel, St. Michael and St. Raphael.

Tempera on wood stored under riza and gilt nimbus.

H. 31 cm - L. 26 cm.

Private collection

In the Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an angel who typically serves as a messenger sent from God to certain people.

In the Old Testament, he appears to the prophet Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel's visions. In the Gospel of Luke, Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and the Virgin Mary, foretelling the births of John the Baptist and Jesus. In the Book of Daniel, he is referred to as "the man Gabriel", while in the Gospel of Luke, Gabriel is referred to as "an angel of the Lord". Gabriel is not called an archangel in the Bible, but is so called in Intertestamental period sources like the Book of Enoch. In the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, the archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel are also referred to as saints. In Islam, Gabriel is considered an archangel whom God is believed to have sent with revelation to various prophets, including Muhammad. The 96th chapter of the Quran, The Clot, is believed by Muslims to have been the first chapter revealed by Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad. More on St. Gabriel

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 St. Michael

In the Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an angel who typically serves as a messenger sent from God to certain people.

Goldsmith's stamp: Michael Timorieff, active from 1817 to 1829.

ICON OF THE BLESSING CHRIST, Moscow, 1818.

Tempera on wood preserved under riza in vermeil

enamelled part , with oklad set with stones of the Rhine. Wear of time

but good general condition.

H.: 33 cm - L.: 28 cm.

Private collection

Gerard David, Netherlandish (about 1460 - 1523)

Three Legends of Saint Nicholas, c. 1500 - 1520

Oil on panel

3 panels each: 55.90 x 33.70 cm (framed: 73.30 x 131.40 x 9.00 cm)

National Galleries of Scotland

St Nicholas first appears here as a newly born baby miraculously standing up and praying. In the centre panel, he is an adult, looking through the window of an impoverished widower’s house. His anonymous present of money will provide dowries for the widower’s three daughters and save them from destitution. Finally, he is shown as a bishop reviving three murdered boys. St Nicholas was Archbishop of Myra, Asia Minor, in the fourth century who, famous for his kindness to children, was later associated with Santa Claus. The three panels formed part of a predella of a larger altarpiece (the other panels are in the National Gallery of Art, Washington and the Toledo Museum, Ohio)

Gerard David, Netherlandish (about 1460 - 1523)

Three Legends of Saint Nicholas, c. 1500 - 1520

Detail: St Nicholas first appears here as a newly born baby miraculously standing up and praying

Gerard David, Netherlandish (about 1460 - 1523)

Three Legends of Saint Nicholas, c. 1500 - 1520

Detail: Saint Nicholas is an adult, looking through the window of an impoverished widower’s house. His anonymous present of money will provide dowries for the widower’s three daughters and save them from destitution

Gerard David, Netherlandish (about 1460 - 1523)

Three Legends of Saint Nicholas, c. 1500 - 1520

Detail: Saint Nicholas is shown as a bishop reviving three murdered boys.

Gerard David, (b. ca. 1460, Oudewater, d. 1523, Bruges), Flemish painter who was the last great master of the Bruges school. David went to Bruges, presumably from Haarlem, where he is supposed to have formed his early style under the instruction of Albert van Ouwater; he joined the guild of St Luke at Bruges in 1484 and became dean in 1501.

In his early work he followed the Haarlem tradition as represented by Ouwater and Geertgen tot Sint Jans but already shown evidence of his superiority as a colourist. But the works on which David's fame rests most securely are his great altarpieces. These are mature works - severe yet richly coloured, showing a masterful handling of light, volume, and space. The Judgment panels are especially notable for being among the earliest Flemish paintings to employ such Italian Renaissance devices as putti and garlands. In Antwerp David became impressed by the life and movement in the work of Quentin Massys, who had introduced a more intimate and more human conception of sacred themes. More on Gerard David

South German School, early 16th century

THE ANNUNCIATION

oil on panel

72 x 50 cm.; 28 3/8 x 19 5/8 in.

Private collection

The Annunciation referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus, the Son of God, marking his Incarnation. Gabriel told Mary to name her son Yehoshua , meaning "YHWH is salvation".

According to Luke 1:26, the Annunciation occurred "in the sixth month" of Elizabeth's pregnancy. Many Christians observe this event with the Feast of the Annunciation on 25 March, an approximation of the northern vernal equinox nine full months before Christmas, the ceremonial birthday of Jesus. In England, this came to be known as Lady Day. It marked the new year until 1752. The 2nd-century writer Irenaeus of Lyon regarded the conception of Jesus as 25 March coinciding with the Passion. More The Annunciation

South German School, early 16th century. The changes experienced in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries were nowhere more strongly felt than in German-speaking lands. There the revolutions of printing and the Protestant Reformation were first unleashed. And it was a German artist, Albrecht Dürer, who introduced the art of Renaissance Italy to northern Europe. As France, England, and Spain coalesced around strong dynasties into powerful nations, Germany remained a political mosaic of small, independent states under the aegis of the Holy Roman Emperor. Yet it sustained a strong sense of national identity, and this was reflected in the distinctive character of German art.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century, German artists, like those all across Europe, created delicate courtly art in what is now known as the International Style. This was marked by long graceful figures, richly patterned surfaces, gold decoration, and a preference for abstract ornamentation over realism. By about 1450, influenced by painting in the Netherlands, German artists adopted a more naturalistic style. In general, however, their work remained more expressive than their neighbor's. German painters tended to emphasize line and pattern over three-dimensional form. They juxtaposed strong contrasts of color and continued to use gold backgrounds long after they became old fashioned elsewhere. German altarpieces often included painted and gilded sculpture, increasing the theatricality of the sacred scenes. All these qualities pitched art to a high emotional key, one well suited to the German religious experience, which had been heavily influenced by the mysticism of such preachers as Meister Eckehart beginning in the 1300s. More South German School, early 16th century

Unknown iconographer

Prophet Elijah (late 12th century)

From the Byzantine Museum in Kastoria

Elijah was a prophet and a miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worship of the Jewish God over that of the Canaanite deity Baal. God also performed many miracles through Elija. He is also portrayed as leading a school of prophets known as "the sons of the prophets". The Book of Malachi prophesies Elijah's return "before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD", making him a harbinger of the Messiah and of the eschaton in various faiths that revere the Hebrew Bible.

The Christian New Testament describes how Elijah was thought, by some, to be the Messiah. Jesus makes it clear that John the Baptist is "the Elijah" who was promised to come in Malachi 4:5. Elijah appears with Moses during the Transfiguration of Jesus. Elijah is also a figure in various Christian folk traditions, often identified with earlier pagan thunder or sky gods.

In Islam, Elijah appears in the Quran as a prophet and messenger of God, where his biblical narrative of preaching against the worshipers of Baal is recounted in a concise form. Due to his importance to Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians, Elijah has been venerated as the patron saint of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1752.

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01 Work , RELIGIOUS ART, Italian School, 16th Century's Angel - with footnotes #202

Italian School, 16th Century

Engel/ Angel

Oil on canvas

55 x 45,5 cm

Private collection

An angel is a spiritual, heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God and humanity in various traditions like the Abrahamic religions. Other roles include protectors and guides for humans, such as guardian angels and servants of God. In Western belief-systems the term is often used to distinguish benevolent from malevolent intermediary beings. More on angels

Italian School, 16th Century. The first two decades of the 16th century witnessed the harmonious balance and elevated conception of High Renaissance style, perfected in Florence and Rome by Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. It brought together a seamless blend of form and meaning. In Venice, Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian devoted themselves to an art that was more sensual, with luminous color and a tactile handling of paint, preoccupations that would attract Venetian artists for generations, including Tintoretto and Veronese later in the century.

In the 1520s, Florence and Rome, but not Venice, saw a stylistic shift following the social and political upheaval ensuing from the disastrous Sack of Rome. Mannerism, as practiced by Bronzino, Pontormo, and Rosso, was a self-consciously elegant style that traded naturalism for artifice, employing unnaturally compressed space, elongated figures, and acid color. While mannerism became popular internationally, and lingered in northern Europe, by around 1580 it had fallen out of favor in Italy. One factor was the desire of the Church, challenged by the Protestant Revolution, to connect with the faithful. In place of mannerism’s ingenuous complications and artificiality, the Counter-Reformation Church required painting that was direct and emotionally resonant. The “reform of painting,” as it was called, was launched by two brothers and a cousin in Bologna: Annibale, Agostino, and Lodovico Carracci. They established an academy that emphasized drawing from life and looked to inspiration from Titian and other Renaissance masters, restoring the naturalism and classical balance of the early 16th century. More Italian School, 16th Century

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01 Work , RELIGIOUS ART, Italian School, 16th Century, THE VIRGIN AND CHRIST AT THE TOMB WITH TWO ANGELS - with footnotes #199

Italian School, 16th Century

THE VIRGIN AND CHRIST AT THE TOMB WITH TWO ANGELS

Oil on copper

12 by 9 in.; 32 by 24 cm

Private collection

Sold for 245,000 USD in January 2015

The painting was clearly produced by a painter conversant in both Northern and Venetian trends of painting. The composition ultimately derives from a Pietà designed by Michelangelo Buonarotti. It is not known whether Michelangelo executed the eventual painting but his drawing, dated to circa 1546, survives today in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. The design for the Virgin’s pose, with her raised arms outstretched and face turned upward toward heaven, enjoyed great popularity.

Although Michelangelo sets his scene at the base of the cross, and Christ’s body is slumped in the lap of the Virgin’s, in the present painting, the artist instead places the figures before Christ’s tomb. Christ is seated on a stone plinth at the mouth of the tomb. In its present incarnation, the composition relates more closely to an engraving of the Pietà by Battista del Moro. More on this painting

Italian School, 16th Century. The first two decades of the 16th century witnessed the harmonious balance and elevated conception of High Renaissance style, perfected in Florence and Rome by Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. It brought together a seamless blend of form and meaning. In Venice, Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian devoted themselves to an art that was more sensual, with luminous color and a tactile handling of paint, preoccupations that would attract Venetian artists for generations, including Tintoretto and Veronese later in the century.

In the 1520s, Florence and Rome, but not Venice, saw a stylistic shift following the social and political upheaval ensuing from the disastrous Sack of Rome. Mannerism, as practiced by Bronzino, Pontormo, and Rosso, was a self-consciously elegant style that traded naturalism for artifice, employing unnaturally compressed space, elongated figures, and acid color. While mannerism became popular internationally, and lingered in northern Europe, by around 1580 it had fallen out of favor in Italy. One factor was the desire of the Church, challenged by the Protestant Revolution, to connect with the faithful. In place of mannerism’s ingenuous complications and artificiality, the Counter-Reformation Church required painting that was direct and emotionally resonant. The “reform of painting,” as it was called, was launched by two brothers and a cousin in Bologna: Annibale, Agostino, and Lodovico Carracci. They established an academy that emphasized drawing from life and looked to inspiration from Titian and other Renaissance masters, restoring the naturalism and classical balance of the early 16th century. More Italian School, 16th Century

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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Juan de Borgoña's Adoration of the Magi, with Footnotes - #212

Juan de Borgoña

Adoration of the Magi

Oil on cradled panel

48 3/4 by 56 in.; 124 by 142.2 cm.

Private collection

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

Juan de Borgoña (c. 1470–1536), was a High Renaissance painter who was born in the Duchy of Burgundy, probably just before it ceased to exist as an independent state, and was active in Spain from about 1495 to 1536. His earliest documented work was painted in 1495 for the cloister of the Cathedral of Toledo. Borgoña’s compositions are well balanced with finely drawn figures in elegant, tranquil poses. They are set either against open spaces leading on to craggy landscapes or against gold embroidered drapery. He brought the Quattrocento form of paintings into Castile.

He is not to be confused with another painter Joan de Burgunya or Borgunya who was active in Catalonia between 1510 and 1525. More on Juan de Borgoña

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01 Work, Interpretations of Olympian deities, Jacob de Backer's Paris Being Admitted to the Bedchamber of Helen, with footnotes #38

Jacob de Backer (Flemish, active 1545–1600)

Detail; Paris Being Admitted to the Bedchamber of Helen, c. about 1585/1590

Oil on canvas

119.4 × 171.5 cm (47 × 67 1/2 in.)

J. Paul Getty Museum

Paris is a mythological figure in the story of the Trojan War. He appears in numerous Greek legends and works of Ancient Greek literature such as the Iliad. In myth, he is prince of Troy, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, and younger brother of Prince Hector. His elopement with Helen sparks the Trojan War, during which he fatally wounds Achilles. More on Paris

Jacob de Backer (Flemish, active 1545–1600)

Paris Being Admitted to the Bedchamber of Helen, c. about 1585/1590

Oil on canvas

119.4 × 171.5 cm (47 × 67 1/2 in.)

J. Paul Getty Museum

Helen was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and considered in Greek myth to be the most beautiful woman in the world. She was married to Menelaus, King of Sparta. When the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen and carried her off to the city of Troy, the Greeks responded by mounting an attack on the city, thus beginning the Trojan War. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and the brother of Menelaus, led an expedition of Greek troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris's insult. After the deaths of many heroes, including the Greeks Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and Paris, the city fell to the ruse of the Trojan Horse. The Greeks slaughtered the Trojans and desecrated the temples More on Helen

Jacob de Backer (c. 1555 – c. 1591) was a Flemish Mannerist painter and draughtsman active in Antwerp between about 1571 and 1585. Even though he died young at the age of 30, the artist was very prolific and an extensive body of work has been attributed to him. Art historians are not agreed on how many of these works are autograph or the product of a workshop. The works attributed to the artist or his workshop are executed in a late-Mannerist style clearly influenced by Italian models. More on Jacob de Backer

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10 Paintings, RELIGIOUS ART - Interpretations of the Bible! by The Old Masters, With Footnotes # 47

Religious art is a visual representation of religious ideologies and their relationship with humans. Sacred art directly relates to religious art in the sense that its purpose is for worship and religious practices. According to one set of definitions, artworks that are inspired by religion but are not considered traditionally sacred remain under the umbrella term of religious art. More on Religious art

Raphael, 1483 – 1520

The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, c. 1515-1516

Bodycolour on paper on canvas

320 × 390 cm

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Pope Leo X commissions Raphael to design ten draperies for the lower parts of the walls of the Sistine Chapel. In 1515-16 Raphael creates the cartoons for the wool and silk draperies to be manufactured in Pieter van Aelst's workshop in Brussels. Seven cartoons survive today, and are kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Four draperies show scenes from the life of Peter, the other six of Paul's.

This cartoon shows the Lake of Gennesaret, better known as Lake Tiberias or the Sea of Galilee. Peter, still known as Simon at the time, has been fishing all night, but has caught nothing. Jesus asks Peter if he can address a crowd from his boat. Afterwards Jesus tells Peter to throw out his nets, which he does. When he hauls them back in, he is stunned to find them full of fish. Peter immediately joins Jesus, soon after followed by his mates James and John. More on this painting

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (April 6 or March 28, 1483 – April 6, 1520), known as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

Raphael was enormously productive, running an unusually large workshop and, despite his death at 37, leaving a large body of work. Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace. The best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura. After his early years in Rome much of his work was executed by his workshop from his drawings, with considerable loss of quality. He was extremely influential in his lifetime, though outside Rome his work was mostly known from his collaborative printmaking. More Raffaello

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, Milan or Caravaggio, 1571–1610 Porto Ercole)

The Denial of Saint Peter, c. 1610

Oil on canvas

37 x 49 3/8 in. (94 x 125.4 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Denial of Saint Peter. Standing before a fireplace, the apostle Peter is accused of being a follower of Jesus. The pointing finger of the soldier and the two fingers of the woman allude to the three accusations recounted in the Bible as well as to Peter's three denials. The composition is reduced to essentials. The soldier's helmet is taken from a precise model of the early sixteenth century, thus breaking down the fiction of an imagined past. More The Denial

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, Milan or Caravaggio 1571–1610 Porto Ercole)

The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, c. 1610

Oil on canvas

Height: 154 cm (60.6 in). Width: 178 cm (70.1 in).

Palazzo Zevallos, Naples

Saint Ursula (Latin for "little female bear") is a Romano-British Christian saint. Because of the lack of definite information about her and the anonymous group of holy virgins who accompanied her and on some uncertain date were killed at Cologne, they were removed from the Roman Martyrology and their commemoration was omitted from the General Roman Calendar when it was revised in 1969.

Her legend, probably not historical, is that she was a princess who, at the request of her father King Dionotus of Dumnonia in south-west Britain, set sail to join her future husband, the pagan governor Conan Meriadoc of Armorica, along with 11,000 virginal handmaidens. After a miraculous storm brought them over the sea in a single day to a Gaulish port, Ursula declared that before her marriage she would undertake a pan-European pilgrimage. She headed for Rome with her followers and persuaded the Pope, Cyriacus, and Sulpicius, bishop of Ravenna, to join them. More Saint Ursula

According to legend, Saint Ursula traveled with her eleven thousand virgins to Cologne, where the chief of the Huns besieging the city fell in love with her. When she rejected his advances, he killed her with an arrow. In this depiction, Caravaggio places the two figures improbably close to each other, maximizing the contrast between their expressions: Ursula’s perplexed gaze at the agent of her martyrdom; the tyrant’s conflicted reactions of rage and guilt. Caravaggio includes himself as a spectator, straining for a glimpse, while another figure thrusts his hand forward in an abortive effort to prevent the saint’s execution. The exaggerated contrasts between dark and light seem not merely a dramatic device but a symbolic allusion to sin and redemption, death and life. More on this painting

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 Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Attr. To François Venant

Crucifixion between the two thieves

Oil on oak panel

34 13/16 X 47 5/8 IN. 88,5 X 121 CM

Private collection

Estimate for €4,000 - €6,000 in Oct 2018

François Venant was a Dutch painter; born in Midellburg in 1591 , buried in Amsterdam on17 March 1636.

François Venant was part of a group of artists called pre-rembranesques, that is to say painters before Rembrandt.

17th century French school,

Christ in front of Pilate

Oil on canvas

92 1/8 X 87 IN. 234 X 221 CM

Private collection

Sold for 5,460.00 € in Mar 2017

John 18:28-40. Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor Pilate. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.

17th-century French art is generally referred to as Baroque, but from the mid to late 17th century, the style of French art shows a classical adherence to certain rules of proportion and sobriety uncharacteristic of the Baroque as it was practiced in Southern and Eastern Europe during the same period.

In the early part of the 17th century, late mannerist and early Baroque tendencies continued to flourish in the court of Marie de' Medici and Louis XIII. Art from this period shows influences from both the north of Europe and from Roman painters of the Counter-Reformation. Artists in France frequently debated the merits between Peter Paul Rubens and Nicolas Poussin.

There was also a strong Caravaggio school represented in the period by the candle-lit paintings of Georges de La Tour. The wretched and the poor were featured in an almost Dutch manner in the paintings by the three Le Nain brothers. In the paintings of Philippe de Champaigne there are both propagandistic portraits of Louis XIII' s minister Cardinal Richelieu and other more contemplative portraits of people in the Jansenist sect. More 17th-century French art

Gortzius Geldorp, LEUVEN 1553 - 1618 COLOGNE

THE VIRGIN IN PRAYER

Oil on oak panel

62.8 x 47.8 cm.; 24 5/8 x 18 7/8 in

Private collection

Estimated for €3,500 EUR - €4,000 EUR in Dec 2022

Gortzius Geldorp (1553–1618) was a Flemish Renaissance artist who was active in Germany where he distinguished himself through his portrait paintings. Geldorp was born in Leuven. Geldorp first learned to paint from Frans Francken I and later from Frans Pourbus the Elder.

Geldorp became court painter to the Duke of Terra Nova, Carlo d'Aragona Tagliavia, whom he accompanied on his trips. He travelled to Cologne with the Duke who was participating in peace negotiations with the Dutch Republic. Geldorp stayed in the city while remaining a companion of the Duke on his travels. In 1610 Geldorp took over the seat of Barthel Bruyn the Younger on the city council of Cologne. Geldorp was a successful portrait painter working for the aristocracy and other prominent patrons. More Gortzius Geldorp

Andrea Vaccaro, NAPLES 1604 - 1670

THE PENITENT MAGDALENE

oil on canvas,

oval 89 x 73.5 cm.; 35 x 29 in.

Private collection

Mary Magdalene provides a lens to view the role of the feminine in religion and culture over the centuries. She has been variously portrayed as a wealthy benefactress to Jesus and his followers, as a prostitute, as an apostle, as an ascetic, as a contemplative, and as Jesus' companion. In these various roles, she is viewed as an individual, and her individuality allows an exploration of the feminine in Christianity. Her life is reflected not only in the New Testament descriptions of her but also in the Gnostic Book of Mary and the Gnostic Gospels found at Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt. In the New Testament Gospels, she is identified as the privileged person who found the empty tomb and to whom the resurrected Christ first appeared. Earlier in the Christian Bible, she is described as among the wealthy women who provided material support for Jesus' teaching. In the Book of Mary, she is said to be the most beloved among the disciples and is described there as the female apostle. In the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Gospels, she is referred to as a leader who went forth along with the other disciples in the Book of Thomas and as companion to Jesus in the Book of Philip. More Mary Magdalene

Andrea Vaccaro (baptised on 8 May 1604 – 18 January 1670) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Vaccaro was in his time one of the most successful painters in Naples, a city then under Spanish rule. Very successful and valued in his lifetime, Vaccaro and his workshop produced many religious works for local patrons as well as for export to Spanish religious orders and noble patrons. More Andrea Vaccaro

Guido Cagnacci, (1601–1663)

Martha blames Mary for her Vanity, c. after 1660

Oil on canvas

229 × 266 cm (90.2 × 104.7 in)

Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena

This is no ordinary representation of Mary Magdalene, who became a follower of Christ and later, a saint. Traditionally shown holding a skull and contemplating her morality, here she lies almost naked on the ground, begged by her virtuous sister Martha to abandon her sinful life of vice and luxury. Virtue, a blond-haired angel, chases out Vice, a devil who bites his hand in anger as he turns for a last look at the Magdalene. The painting is a celebration of the triumph of virtue over vice, but Cagnacci takes obvious pleasure in describing worldly temptations – in particular, the attention he lavishes on the expensive costume, beautiful shoes, and jewellery scattered across the floor. More on Martha blames Mary for her Vanity

Guido Cagnacci, (January 19, 1601 – 1663) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, who produced many works characterized by their use of chiaroscuro and their sensual subjects. Cagnacci was born in Santarcangelo di Romagna, near Rimini. He worked in Rimini from 1627 to 1642. After that, he moved to work in Forlì, where he would have been able to observe the paintings of Melozzo.

In Rome he may have had an apprenticeship with the elderly Ludovico Carracci in Bologna. His initial output includes many devotional subjects. But moving to Venice under the name of Guico Baldo Canlassi da Bologna, he dedicated himself to private salon paintings, often depicting sensuous naked women from thigh upwards. In 1658, he traveled to Vienna, where he remained under patronage of the Emperor Leopold I. He died in Vienna in 1663. More Guido Cagnacci

Unknown

Unknown woman, formerly known as Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury,

circa 1535

National Portrait Gallery

Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (14 August 1473 – 27 May 1541), was born August 14, 1473. She was the Countess of Salisbury and she was distantly in line for the throne of England. Being a possible successor to the throne called for danger. She was only three years old when her mother died and a few years later her father died as well.

When Margaret was about eighteen years old, she married a distant relative, Sir Richard Pole. Her marriage was a happy one. She had five children; one of them became a cardinal and later, Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1505, Margaret was widowed.

Then, years later, she became godmother and governess to Princess Mary, daughter of to King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. When King Henry wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon, Margaret’s son, Cardinal Reginald Pole, spoke out against the decision. The entire Pole family was against the divorce.

The king found this insulting and threatening. Because the family was against his decision, they were exiled from the court and stripped of their titles. No longer was Margret a governess to the young princess.

Eventually, she was taken to the Tower of London. And two years later, she was beheaded. Two of her sons would soon die for the same cause.

On December 29, 1886, she was beatified by Pope Leo XIII along with other English martyrs. Her feast day is May 28, the day she died in 1541. She was around seventy years old. More Blessed Margaret Pole

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