Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, c. 1603
Oil on panel
Height: 107 cm (42.13 in.), Width: 146 cm (57.48 in.
Bildergalerie - Sanssouci (Germany - Potsdam)
A doubting Thomas is a skeptic who refuses to believe without direct personal experience—a reference to the Apostle Thomas, who refused to believe that the resurrected Jesus had appeared to the ten other apostles, until he could see and feel the wounds received by Jesus on the cross.
In art, the episode (formally called the Incredulity of Thomas) has been frequently depicted since at least the 5th century, with its depiction reflecting a range of theological interpretations. More
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 art that was
tasked to counter the threat of Protestantism. Caravaggio's innovation was a
radical naturalism that combined close physical observation with a dramatic,
even theatrical, 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, possibly a deliberate
attempt on his life by unidentified enemies. 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
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
The Finding of Moses 1904
Oil on canvas
54 1/8 x 84 inches (137.5 x 213.4 cm)
Private collection
Finding of Moses. The book of Exodus (2:5) recounts how a Hebrew woman saved her infant son from Pharoah's massacre of Hebrew children by placing him in a basket on the Nile. Pharoah's daughter, while bathing on the banks of the river, found the child, adopted him, and named him Moses. More
The painting includes a number of archaeologically precise objects and inscriptions, the results of Tadema's diligent research. After Tadema spent two years working on the painting, his wife pointed out wryly that the infant Moses was now a toddler, and need no longer be carried.
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, OM, RA (8 January
1836 – 25 June 1912) was a
Dutch painter of special British denizenship.
Born in
Dronrijp, the Netherlands, and trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp,
Belgium, he settled in England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there. A
classical-subject painter, he became famous for his depictions of the luxury
and decadence of the Roman Empire, with languorous figures set in fabulous
marbled interiors or against a backdrop of dazzling blue Mediterranean Sea and
sky.
Though admired during his lifetime for his
draftsmanship and depictions of Classical antiquity, his work fell into
disrepute after his death, and only since the 1960s has it been re-evaluated
for its importance within nineteenth-century English art. More
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640)
The Adoration of the Magi
Oil on panel
20 x 15 1/4in.
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
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 (28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640)
A queda dos Anjos Rebeldes
The Fall of the Rebel Angels
Oil on canvas
81 x 65 cm
Private Collection
The Fall of the Damned, conversely known as The Fall of the Rebel Angels is a monumental religious painting by Peter Paul Rubens. It features a jumble of the bodies of the damned, hurled into abyss by archangel Michael and accompanying angels.
The sketch of The Fall of the Damned was made in black and red chalks, with a grey wash and is kept in the British Museum. It is assumed to be the work of a studio assistant, while Rubens then went over the drawing with brush and oil colour.[4] The dramatic chiaroscuro of the human forms and clouds emphasizes the darkness into which these figures fall, far from the heaven light above. More
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640), see above
STUDIO OF ADRIAEN ISENBRANT (FLEMISH, 1490-1551)
TRIPTYCH. CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN
OIL ON OAK PANEL
Center panel H. 14" x 10"
Private Collection
The Coronation of the Virgin or Coronation of Mary is a subject in Christian art, especially popular in Italy in the 13th to 15th centuries. Christ, sometimes accompanied by God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, places a crown on the head of Mary as Queen of Heaven. In early versions the setting is a Heaven imagined as an earthly court, staffed by saints and angels; in later versions Heaven is more often seen as in the sky, with the figures seated on clouds. The subject is also notable as one where the whole Christian Trinity is often shown together, sometimes in unusual ways. Although crowned Virgins may be seen in Orthodox Christian icons, the coronation by the deity is not. Mary is sometimes shown, in both Eastern and Western Christian art, being crowned by one or two angels, but this is considered a different subject. More
STUDIO OF ADRIAEN ISENBRANT (FLEMISH, 1490-1551)
TRIPTYCH. CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN
OIL ON OAK PANEL
Left Outer Panel
14" x 3 3/4
STUDIO OF ADRIAEN ISENBRANT (FLEMISH, 1490-1551)
TRIPTYCH. CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN
OIL ON OAK PANEL
Right Outer Panel
14" x 3 3/4
Edmund Blair Leighton, (21 September 1852 – 1 September 1922)
The blind man at the Pool of Siloam, c. 1879
Oil on canvas
Right Outer Panel
14" x 3 3/4
The blind man at the Pool of Siloam. Jesus meets a man born blind. To show that He is indeed the “light of the world” (John 9:5), Jesus heals the man. “He spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ‘Go,’ he told him, ‘wash in the Pool of Siloam’ . So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. More
Edmund Blair Leighton (21 September 1852 – 1 September 1922) was an English painter of historical genre scenes, specializing in Regency and medieval subjects.
Leighton was the son of the artist Charles Blair Leighton. He was educated at University College School, before becoming a student at the Royal Academy Schools. He was a fastidious craftsman, producing highly finished, decorative pictures, displaying romanticized scenes with a popular appeal. It would appear that he left no diaries, and though he exhibited at the Royal Academy for over forty years, he was never an Academician or an Associate. More
Hans von Aachen, (1552 – 4 March 1615)
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Oil on panel
31 1/2 x 41 1/4in.
Private Collection
Private Collection
The Adoration of the Shepherds, in the Nativity of Jesus in art, is a scene in
which shepherds are near witnesses to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, arriving
soon after the actual birth. It is often combined in art with the Adoration of
the Magi, in which case it is typically just referred to by the latter title.
The Annunciation to the Shepherds, when they are summoned by an angel to the
scene, is a distinct subject. More
Hans von Aachen (1552 – 4 March 1615) was a German painter who was one of the leading representatives of Northern Mannerism. He was a versatile and productive artist who worked in many genres. He was successful as a painter of princely and aristocratic portraits, and further painted religious, mythological and allegorical subjects. Known for his skill in the depiction of nudes, his eroticized mythological scenes. He also painted a number of genre paintings of small groups of figures shown from the chest upwards, laughing, often apparently using himself and his wife as models. Von Aachen usually worked on a small scale and many of his works are cabinet paintings on copper.
The life and work of Hans von Aachen bear unique witness to the cultural transfer between North, South and Central Europe in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. After training in the tradition of Netherlandish Renaissance painting the artist moved to Italy in 1574, where he remained for about 14 years, mainly working in Venice. He returned in 1587 to his native Germany, where he took up residence in Munich in Bavaria. His final years were spent in Prague. The combination of the Netherlandish realism of his training and the Italian influences gained during his travels gave rise to his unique painting style. More
Flemish School, 16th Century
Christ Casting Out a Demon from a mute Man
Oil on panel
37 3/4 x 20 1/2in.
Matthew 9:32 and 33 states, “As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, ‘It was never seen like this in Israel!’ But the Pharisees said, ‘He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.’”
Flemish painting flourished from the early 15th century until the 17th century. Flanders delivered the leading painters in Northern Europe and attracted many promising young painters from neighbouring countries. These painters were invited to work at foreign courts and had a Europe-wide influence. Since the end of the Napoleonic era, Flemish painters had again been contributing to a reputation that had been set by the Old Masters. More
John Riley Wilmer, (1883 - 1941)
Asenath, daughter of the priest of On, c. 1921
Watercolor over pencil on artist board
11 1/2 x 9in (29.2 x 22.8cm)
Private Collection
Asenath, Asenith and Osnat is a figure in the Book of Genesis (41:45, 41:50-52). An Egyptian woman who Pharaoh gave to Joseph, son of Jacob, to be his wife. The daughter of Potipherah, a priest of Heliopolis, she bore Joseph two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, who became the patriarchs of the Israelite tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim.
Modern scholarship says her name derives from the Egyptian language name "she who belongs to (the goddess) Neith". More
John Riley Wilmer, (1883 - 1941) was a watercolourist, painter (gouache); of religious subjects, figures, genre scenes.
Four paintings by this artist were exhibited at the 150th Anniversary Exhibition at the RCPS in Falmouth (1983). He is credited with a triptych in the Warrior Chapel of Falmouth Parish church. In September 1900 he exhibited at the RCPS,
John Riley Wilmer studied with Charles Napier Hemy and was in contact with Henry Scott Tuke and Thomas C. Gotch. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1911 to 1926 and apparently lived in Falmouth. More
PAUL CHOCARNE-MOREAU, (FRENCH, 1855-1931)
Depicts two young boys, one dressed as a baker the other dressed as an altar boy in the vestry of a church
Oil on canvas laid down on masonite
H 24", W 20"
Private Collection
PAUL CHOCARNE-MOREAU (FRENCH, 1855-1931). Born in Dijon, Chocarne Paul Moreau entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris , where he was a pupil of Tony Robert-Fleury and William Bouguereau . He began to show for French artists from 1882 and exhibited quite regularly from that date .
Chocarne Moreau specializes in genre painting. He depicts scenes of Parisian life whose heroes are generally young boys from popular backgrounds (young apprentices-confectioners, chimney sweepers, choirboys, schoolchildren) engaging in all sorts of jokes. Witness of his time, he painted works such as On the barricade he exhibits in 1909. salon You could see in him a precursor of Norman Rockwell . More
Édouard Detaille, 1848 – 1912
A halt in the village
Oil on panel
24 3/4 x 17 1/4in (62.8 x 43.8cm)
Private Collection
Jean-Baptiste Édouard Detaille (Paris 5 October 1848 – 23 December 1912 Paris) was a French academic painter and military artist noted for his precision and realistic detail. He was regarded as the "semi-official artist of the French army".
Detaille grew up in a prosperous military family in Picardy; his grandfather had been an arms supplier for Napoleon. An amateur artist who was friends with a number of collectors and painters, including Horace Vernet, Detaille's father encouraged his son's artistic endeavors. He began his artistic studies at age seventeen under the famous military painter Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier; he had originally approached him to ask for an introduction to the renowned Alexandre Cabanel but Meissonier decided to teach Detaille himself. Meissonier became a major influence on his style, and it was he who inculcated an appreciation for accuracy and precision in Detaille.
Detaille made his debut as an artist at the Salon—the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts—of 1867 with a painting of Meissonier's studio. At the Salon of 1868, he exhibited his first military painting, The Drummers Halt, which was based solely on his imagination of the French Revolution. With Repose During the Drill, Camp St Maur, which he debuted the following year, Detaille established his reputation as a painter. In the spring of 1870, he went on a "sketching trip" to Algeria with three other young painters, Étienne-Prosper Berne-Bellecour, Alexander Louis Leloir, and Jehan Georges Vibert. More
Estella Canziani, (12 January 1887 – 23 August 1964)
Satan awakening his legions, c. 1913
Gouache and gold
17 1/4 x 22 1/4in (43.7 x 56.5cm)
Private Collection
John Milton,Paradise Lost. In the first book, Milton announces the subject of the poem, Man's disobedience and the loss thereupon of Paradise. The poem opens in the midst of things, after the war in Heaven but before the fall of Adam and Eve. Satan and his multitude of angels have been cast out of Heaven and into the Deep for rebelling against God and are chained on the burning lake in Hell. Satan awakens his legions of angels, comforting them in their dejected state by offering them hope of reclaiming Heaven. More
Estella (Louisa Michaela) Canziani (12 January 1887 – 23 August 1964) was a British portrait and landscape painter, an interior decorator and a travel writer and folklorist. Born in London, Estella Canziani was the daughter of the painter Louisa Starr and Enrico Canziani (1848–1931), an Italian civil engineer. She lived all her life in the family home at 3 Palace Green, in the grounds of Kensington Palace.
She trained as an artist, studying first at the 'Copernicus', a Kensington school run by Sir Arthur Cope and Erskine Nicol, then at the Royal Academy schools. She exhibited at the RA London, Liverpool, Milan, Venice and France. Her most famous work was a water colour entitled The Piper of Dreams, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1915. Reproductions of the work are said to rivalled Holman Hunt's The Light of the World in popularity.
She travelled extensively throughout Europe, particularly in Italy. Her paintings document the clothes and lifestyle of the local people living in remote villages in Northern Italy. She also worked as a book illustrator.
She published three travel books: Costumes, Traditions and Songs of Savoy (1911), Piedmont (1913) and Through the Apennines and the Lands of the Abruzzi (1928), her writings gaining her membership of the Royal Geographical Society. She published a number of articles in the journal of the Folklore Society. She also published an autobiography: Round About Three Palace Green (1939).
A large part of her collection is preserved in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.
Canziani was a Quaker and member of the Royal Society of British Artists, Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, Society of Painters in Tempera, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Folklore Society. More
C Mercié, 19TH CENTURY, FRENCH
EVE
Oil on canvas
196 by 101cm., 77¼ by 39¾in.
Private Collection
Marius Jean Antonin Mercié (Toulouse October 30, 1845 – December 13, 1916 Paris), was a French sculptor and painter. Mercié entered the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and studied under Alexandre Falguière and François Jouffroy, and in 1868 gained the Grand Prix de Rome at the age of 23. His first great popular successes were the David and Gloria Victis, which was shown and received the Medal of Honour of the Paris Salon. The bronze was subsequently placed in the Square Montholon.
The bronze David was one of his most popular works. The Biblical hero is depicted naked with the head of Goliath at his feet like Donatello's David, but with a turbanned head and sheathing his long sword. Numerous reproductions exist, most of which incorporate a loincloth that covers David's genitalia but not his buttocks. The lifesize original is now in the Musée d'Orsay.
Mercié was appointed Professor of Drawing and Sculpture at the École des Beaux-Arts, and was elected a member of the Académie française in 1891, after being awarded the biennial prize of the Institute of 800 in 1887. He was subsequently elected to grand officier of the Légion d'honneur, and in 1913 became the president of the Société des artistes français. Marie-Antoinette Demagnez was among his many students at the École des Beaux-Arts. More
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