Mythology

02 Painting, RELIGIOUS ART - Sir Peter Paul Rubens and Pieter Bruegel the elder's Christ and the woman taken in adultery, with footnotes #189

Workshop of Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Siegen 1577 - 1640 Antwerp

Christ and the woman taken in adultery

Oil on panel

panel: 40¼ by 54¼ in.; 102.2 by 137.8 cm.

Private collection

Lot Sold for 107,100 USD in Jan 2023

This particular subject proved popular among Flemish artists even in generations prior. In his famed grisaille at the Courtauld Gallery, for example, Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1529-1569) captures a full-length Christ kneeling as he writes the aforementioned admonition to the Pharisees in the sand (below). In contrast, here Rubens, using a vivid palette, depicts the figures half-length, a visual device that helps emphasize the scene's emotional dynamism. In Rubens' composition, Christ’s retort to the Pharisees is recorded in a Hebrew inscription on the head covering of the man at right. More on this painting

Pieter Bruegel the elder (c.1525–1569)

Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery, c. 1565

Oil on panel

H 24.1 x W 34.4 cm

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Grisaille or painting in shades of grey was traditionally used to decorate the outside of the folding panels of altarpieces. Bruegel has used it here in an display of skill, to be treasured by a private collector.

Watched by his disciples, Christ writes on the ground that he who is free of sin should cast the first stone at an adulterous woman. This biblical story challenged hypocrisy as well as demonstrating the virtue of mercy. More on this painting

Jesus and the woman taken in adultery – is a famous passage found in the Gospel of John, that has been the subject of much scholarly discussion.

Jesus has sat down in the temple to teach some of the people. A group of scribes and Pharisees confront Jesus, interrupting his teaching session. They bring in a woman, accusing her of committing adultery, claiming she was caught in the very act. They ask Jesus whether the punishment for someone like her should be stoning, as proscribed by Mosaic Law. Jesus first ignores the interruption, and writes on the ground as though he does not hear them. But when the woman's accusers continue their challenge, he states that the one who is without sin is the one who should cast the first stone. The accusers and congregants depart, leaving Jesus alone with the woman. Jesus asks the woman if anyone has condemned her. She answers that no one has condemned her. Jesus says that he, too, does not condemn her, and tells her to go and sin no more. More on Jesus and the woman taken in adultery

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

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at deviantart and Aaroko

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06 Photographs, Contemporary Interpretations of Olympian deities, Steven Irwin's Venus, Ceres, Persephone and Tellus, the Earth Goddesses, with footnotes #34

Steven Irwin

Land of Venus I

Giclée on Paper

20 W x 20 H x 0.1 D in

Private collection

Steven Irwin

Land of Venus II

Giclée on Paper

20 W x 20 H x 0.1 D in

Private collection

Steven Irwin

Land of Venus III

Giclée on Paper

20 W x 20 H x 0.1 D in

Private collection

Venus is a Roman goddess, whose functions encompass love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the ancestor of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, who survived the fall of Troy and fled to Italy. Julius Caesar claimed her as his ancestor. Venus was central to many religious festivals, and was revered in Roman religion under numerous cult titles.

The Romans adapted the myths and iconography of her Greek counterpart Aphrodite for Roman art and Latin literature. In the later classical tradition of the West, Venus became one of the most widely referenced deities of Greco-Roman mythology as the embodiment of love and sexuality. She is usually depicted nude in paintings. More on Venus

Steven Irwin, United Kingdom

Ceres

Giclee on Paper

18 W x 24 H x 0.1 D in

Private collection

In ancient Roman religion, Ceres was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as "the Greek rites of Ceres". Her seven-day April festival of Cerealia included the popular Ludi Ceriales (Ceres' games). She was also honoured in the May lustratio of the fields at the Ambarvalia festival, at harvest-time, and during Roman marriages and funeral rites. She is usually depicted as a mature woman.

Ceres is the only one of Rome's many agricultural deities to be listed among the Dii Consentes, Rome's equivalent to the Twelve Olympians of Greek mythology. The Romans saw her as the counterpart of the Greek goddess Demeter, whose mythology was reinterpreted for Ceres in Roman art and literature. More on Ceres

Steven Irwin

Persephone

Giclee on Paper

14 W x 14 H x 0.1 D in

Private collection

In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after her abduction by and marriage to her uncle Hades, the king of the underworld.

The myth of her abduction, her sojourn in the underworld, and her temporary return to the surface represents her functions as the embodiment of spring and the personification of vegetation, especially grain crops, which disappear into the earth when sown, sprout from the earth in spring, and are harvested when fully grown. In Classical Greek art, Persephone is invariably portrayed robed, often carrying a sheaf of grain. She may appear as a mystical divinity with a sceptre and a little box, but she was mostly represented in the process of being carried off by Hades. More on Persephone

Steven Irwin

Tellus

Giclee on Paper

18 W x 24 H x 0.1 D in

Private collection

The Italian deity of mother-earth, often called tellus mater. She was invoked during earthquakes. She was also invoked in solemn oaths as the common grave of all things, together with the Manes and with Jupiter, the god of heaven. Like the Greek Demeter, she was also the goddess of marriage, but was most revered in conjunction with Ceres as goddess of fruitfulness. Thus in her honour were held the festival of the sowing, celebrated in January at the end of the winter seed time, fixed by the pontifex to be held on two consecutive market days. The paganalia were celebrated at the same time in the country, when a pregnant sow was sacrificed to Tellus and Ceres. Besides these, there was the feast of fordicidia or hordicidia, at which cows in calf were sacrificed to her. This was held on the 15th of April to insure plenty during the year, and was celebrated under the management of the pontifices and the Vestal Virgins. The ashes of the unborn calves were kept by the Vestal Virgins till the feast of the Parilia, when they were used for the purpose of purification. More on Tellus

Steven Irwin is an award winning film maker and photographer. He's traveled the world in search of modern urbanscapes, iconic architecture and unusual landscapes.

His work explores the tension and coexistence of nature and the man made.

Photographic images are layered and juxtaposed to stage surreal, cinematic scenes rich in possibilities of interpretation: dream-like, elegiac, contemplative.

Steven's art practice consists of a rigorous exploration of cityscapes, urban landscapes and the fusion of human form and natural environments.

His work often references the early 17th century Vanitas compositions that consist of decaying objects, symbolic of the inevitability of death and the transience and vanity of earthly achievements. As well as customary Vanitas motifs, Steven depicts objects that have rusted - a contemporary representation of decay and mortality.

His skylines and iconic architecture have been modified and arranged to create abstracted scenes which consider the evolution of urban spaces.

Steven's work explores the effects of climate change on large city conurbations and depicts the decline of modern civilisation.

Curator Adriana Marques at Rise Art:

"Irwin's take on our dense urbanscapes remind us that even bricks and mortar don't last forever. These layered works test the boundaries of photography and bring a sense of organic vitality back to our cities. "

The artist uses both analogue and digital techniques, from scratched negatives and chemical staining to digital layering and blending, each created to form a unique and stylised image. More on Steven Irwin

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01 Painting, RELIGIOUS ART - Florentine School's Mary Magdalene , with footnotes #192

Florentine School (17th Century)

Mary Magdalene

oil on canvas

66 1/2 x 47 1/4in (168.9 x 120cm)

Private collection

Sold for $3,200 USD in Feb 2023

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

Florentine painting or the Florentine School refers to artists in, from, or influenced by the naturalistic style developed in Florence in the 14th century, largely through the efforts of Giotto di Bondone, and in the 15th century the leading school of Western painting. Some of the best known painters of the earlier Florentine School are Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Filippo Lippi, the Ghirlandaio family, Masolino, and Masaccio.

Florence was the birthplace of the High Renaissance, but in the early 16th century the most important artists, including Michelangelo and Raphael were attracted to Rome, where the largest commissions then were. In part this was following the Medici, some of whom became cardinals and even the pope. A similar process affected later Florentine artists. By the Baroque period, the many painters working in Florence were rarely major figures. More on Florentine School

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01 Painting, RELIGIOUS ART - Valentin de Boulogne's Christ crowned with thorns, with footnotes #191

Valentin de Boulogne, Coulommiers 1591 - 1632 Rome

Crowning with Thorns

Oil on canvas

58 5/8 × 41 7/8 in. (148.9 × 106.4 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Valentin focuses the scene on the interplay of the three figures, all done dal naturale, or from life. The compact drama transpires along a sweeping diagonal, accentuating the image’s theatrical tension. At left, an elaborately dressed young soldier kneels before Christ. Mere inches separate their faces, which are almost a study in opposites. The youth’s profile, silhouetted in shadow, is defined by his open mouth, from which one can imagine him shouting invectives. Conversely, Christ, with knitted brow, looks skyward as a warm light appears to offer the promise of deliverance. At upper right, a ruddy-faced man forces the crown of thorns upon Christ’s head while looking directly at the spectators, a pictorial device that both implicates and involves them in the violent act. More on this painting

Valentin de Boulogne (before 3 January 1591 – 19 August 1632), sometimes referred to as Le Valentin, was a French painter in the tenebrist style. Though little is known of Valentin de Boulogne’s early life, he is considered one of most devoted French followers of Caravaggio. De Boulogne joined a society of foreign artists while in Rome known as Bentvueghels, or “Birds of a Feather.” He also had a close working relationship with Nicolas Poussin, with whom he was frequently compared. Though de Boulogne painted biblical scenes, allegorical images, and portraits, he is best remembered for his genre scenes of merrymaking characters enjoying music, drinks, and games in taverns. These were in part inspired by Bartolomeo Manfredi’s genre paintings, and rendered with Caravaggesque chiaroscuro. Anecdotes report that de Boulogne passed away at his early age after contracting a fever after a night carousing at a tavern. More on Valentin de Boulogne

PlPlease visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at deviantart and Aaroko

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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Harry Morley's A Wayside Madonna, with Footnotes - #53

Harry Morley (1881–1943)

A Wayside Madonna, c. 1927

Oil on canvas

height: 108.3 cm (42.6 in); width: 96.5 cm (37.9 in)

Leicester Museum & Art Gallery

A small group of women stand behind the foreground sitter, their silent attitudes seeming to turn in judgement against her. The gate to her village beyond is shut, symbolising the refusal of passage to the mother (Madonna) to her home; Palestine!

Harry Morley was born in Leicester, England on 5 April 1881 and studied architecture at Leicester School of Art. In 1901 he began training in the London office of the architect Arthur Beresford Pite (1861-1934). He then continued his architectural studies at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1905 [or 1904 - sources differ] he was awarded scholarships from the RCA and the Royal Institute of British Architects which enabled him to attend the Académie Julian in Paris and to travel though Italy and France. Following his return to England, Morley appears to have abandoned thoughts of practising as an architect, and embarked on a career as a painter, illustrator, and (from 1928) engraver. From the early 1900s onwards Morley exhibited extensively, including at Agnew & Sons Gallery, Beaux Arts Gallery, Colnaghi & Co. More on Harry Morley

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01 Painting, RELIGIOUS ART - Giampietrino's Madonna nursing the Christ Child with Saint Anne, with footnotes #188

Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli, called Giampietrino, Milan 1480 or 1485 - 1553

Madonna nursing the Christ Child with Saint Anne

Oil on panel

25⅜ by 20⅛ in.; 64.5 by 51.1 cm.

Private collection

Sold for 252,000 USD in January 2023

Sitting on a stone parapet, the Virgin, in the pose of a Madonna lactans, nurses the infant Jesus as her own mother stands behind. The two women offer contrasting emotional responses to Christ’s ultimate fate: Saint Anne, shown with wizened features, stares stoically into the distance, while the Madonna diverts her tear-filled eyes from the child who lays across her lap. He, in turn, gazes at the viewer with innocent (or is it omniscient?) composure, seemingly content to nurse from his mother’s breast. Yet while his chubby body and energetically infantile pose speak to his childlike nature, the apple in his right hand recalls Eve’s original sin, the root of his own eventual sacrifice. More on this painting

According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come only from New Testament apocrypha, of which the Gospel of James seems to be the earliest that mentions them. The mother of Mary is mentioned but not named in the Quran. More on Saint Anne

The Nursing Madonna, Virgo Lactans, or Madonna Lactans, is an iconography of the Madonna and Child in which the Virgin Mary is shown breastfeeding the infant Jesus. In Italian it is called the Madonna del Latte ("Madonna of milk"). It was a common type in painting until the change in atmosphere after the Council of Trent, in which it was rather discouraged by the church, at least in public contexts, on grounds of propriety

In the Middle Ages, the middle and upper classes usually contracted breastfeeding out to wetnurses, and the depiction of the Nursing Madonna was linked with the Madonna of Humility, a depiction that showed the Virgin in more ordinary clothes than the royal robes shown, for instance, in images of the Coronation of the Virgin, and often seated on the ground. More on The Nursing Madonna

Giampietrino, probably Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli (active 1495–1549), was a north Italian painter of the Lombard school and Leonardo's circle. Giampietrino was a very productive painter of large altarpieces, Madonnas, holy women in half figure, and mythological women. For a long time, the true identity of the artist was unknown; he was only known as a so-called "Giampietrino" whose name appeared in lists of the members of Leonardo's studio. In 1929, Wilhelm Suida suggested that he could perhaps be Giovanni Battista Belmonte, since a Madonna signed with this name and dated 1509 had been associated stylistically with Giampietrino. Since then, this assumption is considered outdated, and Giampietrino is identified predominantly with Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli, who is known through documents.

Giampietrino has been regarded as a talented painter who contributed substantially to the distribution of the late style of Leonardo da Vinci. He copied numerous masterpieces by Leonardo, as well as leaving behind numerous capable original compositions of his own. Many of his works are preserved in multiple versions of the same subject. More on Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli

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02 Paintings, Olympian deities, Litvinov Oleg Arkad'yevich's Diana's hunts, Part 1 and 2, with footnotes # 49

Litvinov Oleg Arkad'yevich

Diana's hunts - part one

Oil on canvas

64x108.5 cm/ '25.19x42.71 inches'

Private collection

For sale at C$4,744.82 in Jan 2025

Diana is a goddess in Roman and Hellenistic religion, primarily considered a patroness of the countryside, hunters, crossroads, and the Moon. She is equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, and absorbed much of Artemis' mythology early in Roman history, including a birth on the island of Delos to parents Jupiter and Latona, and a twin brother, Apollo, though she had an independent origin in Italy.

Diana was originally considered to be a goddess of the wilderness and of the hunt, a central sport in both Roman and Greek culture. Early Roman inscriptions to Diana celebrated her primarily as a huntress and patron of hunters. More on Diana

Litvinov Oleg Arkad'yevich

Diana's hunts" - part two

Oil on canvas

40x60 cm/'15.74x23.62 inches'

Private collection

For sale at $1,150.00 USD in Jan 2025

This oil painting, part two of athe series, showcases the revered goddess Diana in the throes of the hunt, encapsulating both the grace and ferocity of her divine character.

Alexander Arkadievich Litvinov was born on May 18, 1967 in the city of Lubny. He graduated from the Lubensk secondary school № 1. One of his favorite lessons was drawing. I was even more attracted by studies at an art school Especially in his artistic development, Alexander owes to Vasily Ivanovich Semenyuta, his classical school of teaching, which he enriched in his time through his acquaintance with famous artists Alexei Asaulenko and Petr Likhin. And also an extremely important role in the passion for painting was played by the fact that Alexander's father, Arkady Petrovich Litvinov, was both a talented artist and an excellent teacher. Oleg Arkadyevich Litvinov, a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, now lives in Odessa, also chose the artistic path. And after leaving school, Alexander served in the army, where his artistic talent came in handy - in Soviet times, visual agitation was highly valued. He served in Dnepropetrovsk, where two personal exhibitions of his paintings were organized. While still at school, Alexander began to design books, in particular, children's literature. He received his first creative fee in the tenth grade from the publishing house "Raduga" for the design of the book by Anatoly Rybakov "Krosh's Vacation". Later she studied at the Odessa Theater and Art School, specializing in "Decoration of puppet shows and artistic and props art." Studying at the school and passion from childhood with historical and biblical literature greatly influenced the creative manner of the artist. He works in the style of the so-called figurative art, where the main thing is the image of the human body. More on Litvinov Oleg Arkad'yevich

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01 Limestone Sculpture, RELIGIOUS ART, French, Normandy, Virgin and Child - with footnotes #187

French, Normandy

Virgin and Child, c. First half 14th century

Limestone with traces of polychromy

52 ½ in.; 133.3cm.

Private collection

Sold for 113,400 USD in January 2022

This seated Virgin holds a lily-scepter in her proper left hand and supports the Christ Child with her right. She wears a belted gown under an open mantle, the edges of which are decorated with cavities that would have held jewels made from colored glass. The Christ Child stands on her lap, raising his proper left hand in blessing. The head of the Virgin, her garments, and the execution of her drapery are all consistent with examples of the present subject that were carved in Northern France during the first half of the 14th century.

While many of the Virgin and Child groups produced in France in the Gothic period possess more familial and tender poses, the front-facing and slightly formal postures of the figures in this group, and especially of the Christ Child, who stands in his mother’s lap, evoke the sedes sapientiae, or Throne of Wisdom, a representation of the Virgin and Child typical of the Romanesque period. More on this Sculpture

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01 Photograph, Contemporary Interpretations of Olympian deities, Nancy Ellison's mermaid, with footnotes #33

Nancy Ellison

VIPS: Maud Adams, c. 1982

Giclee print

Height: 26.25 inches / 66.67 cm, Width: 39.5 inches / 100.33 cm

Private collection

For sale at 7,335 USD in Nov 2023

A mermaid is a marine creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. The first stories appeared in ancient Assyria. Mermaids can be benevolent or beneficent.

Nancy Ellison was born in 1936 and was largely influenced by the 1950s growing up. In the Post-War period the lens of modernism was focused, in terms of internationally, on developments in New York City. The Second World War had brought many important creatives to the city in exile from Europe, leading to a noteworthy pooling of talent and ideas. Influential Europeans that came to New York and provided inspiration for American artists included Piet Mondrian, Josef Albers and Hans Hoffmann, who between them set the basis of much of the United States’ explosive cultural growth in the subsequent decades. Important artists of the Abstract Expressionist Generation included Jackson Pollock (who innovated his famed drip, splatter and pour painting techniques), Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Frank Kline, Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still and Adolph Gottlieb. It was a male dominated environment, though necessary reassessment of this period has underlined the contributions of female artists such as Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, and Louise Bourgeois, amongst others. More on Nancy Ellison

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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART - Franz von Stuck's The Dragon Slayer, With Footnotes - #135

Franz von Stuck, 1863 - 1928, GERMAN

The Dragon Slayer, c. 1913

Oil on panel

135 by 126cm., 53¼ by 49½in

Private collection

Sold for 605,000 GBP in May 2015

The Dragon Slayer is a particularly charged rendition of an age-old theme. Although most of Stuck's paintings depict scenes from the Antique or the Bible, neither the title The Dragon Slayer nor the iconography reveal the exact story behind the present work. Stuck's fascination with Greek legends suggests the subject to be Perseus and Andromeda, although Medusa's head and Perseus's winged shoes are missing. As early as 1900 Stuck’s contemporary, Lovis Corinth (lots 3, 4 & 5), had painted the hero as a medieval knight rather than a Greek half-god, and his Perseus and Andromeda may have been a possible source of inspiration for the present work. Another obvious influence would have been the biblical story of St. George, who kills the dragon to save a virgin. More on Thee Dragon Slayer

Franz Stuck (February 23, 1863 – August 30, 1928) was a German painter, sculptor, engraver, and architect. Born at Tettenweis near Passau, Stuck displayed an affinity for drawing and caricature from an early age. To begin his artistic education he relocated in 1878 to Munich, where he would settle for life. From 1881 to 1885 Stuck attended the Munich Academy.

In 1889 he exhibited his first paintings at the Munich Glass Palace, winning a gold medal for The Guardian of Paradise. In 1892 Stuck co-founded the Munich Secession, and also executed his first sculpture, Athlete. The next year he won further acclaim with the critical and public success of what is now his most famous work, the painting The Sin. Also during 1893, Stuck was awarded a gold medal for painting at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and was appointed to a royal professorship. In 1895 he began teaching painting at the Munich Academy.
Having attained much fame by this time, Stuck was ennobled on December 9, 1905 and would receive further public honours from around Europe during the remainder of his life. He continued to be well respected among young artists as professor at the Munich Academy, even after his artistic styles became unfashionable. More on Franz von Stuck

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