Central Italian School, 13th Century
Madonna and Child with Saint Peter and an Apostle
Tempera on canvas, laid down on panel
98 x 67.5 cm
Private collection
The present panel painting represents the enthroned Virgin Lactans. The Christ Child is shown holding a scroll in his left hand. Behind them, on a much smaller scale than the foreground group, are an un-identified apostle saint also holding a scroll, and Saint Peter with his characteristic attribute, keys. This refined painting belongs to a type of devotional production that derived from the abstracted, hieratic, Byzantine style, in which however it is possible to note, in contrast to the typically fixed rigidity of the Madonna, a greater degree of animation in the expressions of the apostles at her shoulders. More on this painting
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.
Saint Peter (AD 30; d. between AD 64 and
68), according to the New Testament, was one of the Twelve
Apostles of Jesus Christ, leaders of the early Christian Church. He is also the
"Apostle of the Apostles". The Catholic Church considers him to be the first
pope, ordained by Jesus in the "Rock of My Church" dialogue in
Matthew. More on Saint Peter
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. More on the nursing
Madonna
Italian School, 13th Century. Italian painting began to develop beyond the influence of Byzantium in the Duecento or 13th century, with Cimabue, Duccio and Giotto, maintaining its lead throughout the Italian Renaissance, and reaching a particular peak in the High Renaissance of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael, despite great political turbulence. Italy retained its artistic dominance into the 17th century with Mannerism and the Baroque, and cultural tourism became a major prop to an otherwise faltering economy. More on Italian School, 13th Century
Anthony van Dyck, (1599–1641)
Maria with child and the saints Rosalia , Peter and Paul, c. 1629
Color on canvas
275 × 210 cm (108.3 × 82.7 in)
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Antwerp
Saint Rosalia (1130–1166), is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, Zuata, and Anzoátegui.
Rosalia was born of a Norman noble family that claimed descent from Charlemagne. Devoutly religious, she retired to live as a hermit in a cave on Mount Pellegrino, where she died alone in 1166. Tradition says that she was led to the cave by two angels. On the cave wall she wrote "I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Roses, and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ." In 1624, a plague beset Palermo. During this hardship Saint Rosalia appeared first to a sick woman, then to a hunter, to whom she indicated where her remains were to be found. She ordered him to bring her bones to Palermo and have them carried in procession through the city.
The hunter climbed the mountain and found her bones in the cave as described. He did what she had asked in the apparition. After her remains were carried around the city three times, the plague ceased. After this Saint Rosalia was venerated as the patron saint of Palermo, and a sanctuary was built in the cave where her remains were discovered. More on Saint Rosalia
Sir Anthony van Dyck, ( 22
March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish
Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England, after enjoying
great success in Italy and Flanders. He is most famous for his portraits of
Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance
that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next
150 years. He also painted biblical and mythological subjects, displayed
outstanding facility as a draughtsman, and was an important innovator in
watercolour and etching. The Van Dyke beard is named after him. More Sir
Anthony van Dyck
Paul Gauguin, (1848–1903)
The Yellow Christ, c. 1889
Oil on canvas
92.1 × 73 cm (36.3 × 28.7 in)
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
The Yellow Christ is a painting executed by Paul Gauguin in 1889 in Pont-Aven. Together with The Green Christ (below), it is considered to be one of the key works of Symbolism in painting.
The Yellow Christ is a symbolic piece that shows the crucifixion of Christ taking place in nineteenth-century northern France as Breton women are gathered in prayer. Gauguin relies heavily on bold lines to define his figures and reserves shading only for the women. The autumn palette of yellow, red and green in the landscape echoes the dominant yellow in the figure of Christ. The bold outlines and flatness of the forms in this painting are typical of the cloisonnist style. More on the Yellow Christ
Paul Gauguin, (1848–1903)
The Green Christ, or Breton Calvar, c. 1889
Oil on canvas
92 × 73 cm (36.2 × 28.7 in)
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
The Green Christ depicts a Breton woman at the foot of a calvary, or sculpture of Christ's crucifixion. Calvaries are common in town squares in Brittany.
Topographically, the site depicted is the Atlantic coast at Le Pouldu. But the calvary depicted is an amalgam of calvaires from different sites; the cross is based upon that in the centre of Névez, a community close to Pont-Aven and several miles from the coast. The figure of Christ is based upon the calvaire at Briec - also some distance from the sea. More on the Green Christ
Christ of the church of Trémalo, at Pont-Aven
Seventeenth century
189 x 133 cm
Gauguin first visited Pont-Aven in 1886. He returned to the village in early 1888 to stay until mid-October. Early in 1889, Gauguin was back to Pont-Aven to stay there until spring 1890. It was only for a short visit in summer 1889 to Paris to see the Exposition universelle and to arrange the Volpini Exhibition that Gauguin interrupted this sojourn. Soon after his return to Pont-Aven he painted The Yellow Christ.
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was
a French post-Impressionist artist. Underappreciated until after his death,
Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of color and Synthetist
style that were distinctly different from Impressionism. His work was
influential to the French avant-garde and many modern artists, such as Pablo
Picasso and Henri Matisse. Gauguin's art became popular after his death.
He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a
painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer. His bold experimentation
with color led directly to the Synthetist style of modern art, while his
expression of the inherent meaning of the subjects in his paintings, under the
influence of the cloisonnist style, paved the way to Primitivism and the return
to the pastoral. He was also an influential proponent of wood engraving and
woodcuts as art forms. More on Eugène Henri Paul
Gauguin
Circle Peter Paul Rubens
The Miracles of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
oil on copper
49.5 x 34.5 cm
Private collection
Saint Ignatius of Loyola (October 23, 1491 – July 31, 1556) was a Spanish Basque priest and theologian, who founded the religious order called the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and became its first Superior General. The Jesuit order served the Pope as missionaries, and they were bound by a vow of special obedience to the sovereign pontiff in regard to the missions. They therefore emerged as an important force during the time of the Counter-Reformation.
Ignatius is remembered as a talented spiritual director. He recorded his method in a celebrated treatise called the Spiritual Exercises, a simple set of meditations, prayers, and other mental exercises, first published in 1548.
Ignatius was beatified in 1609, and then canonized, receiving the title of Saint on March 12, 1622. His feast day is celebrated on July 31. He is the patron saint of the Basque provinces of Gipuzkoa and Biscay as well as the Society of Jesus, and was declared patron saint of all spiritual retreats by Pope Pius XI in 1922. Ignatius is also a foremost patron saint of soldiers. More on Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (28 June 1577
– 30 May 1640) was a Flemish Baroque painter. A proponent of an
extravagant Baroque style that emphasized movement, colour, and sensuality,
Rubens is well known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits,
landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.
In addition to running a large studio in Antwerp that
produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe,
Rubens was a classically educated humanist scholar and diplomat who was
knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England. More Sir Peter Paul
Rubens
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