07 Paintings, RELIGIOUS ART - Interpretations of the Bible! by The Old Masters, With Footnotes # 60

Khalil Saleeby, 1870 - 1928, LEBANESE
SOLOMÉ, c. 1901
Oil on canvas 
73 by 59.5cm.; 28 3/4 by 23 3/8 in
Private collection

At first glance, Solomé almost passes for a Vermeer-esque scene of domesticity, only after we come to know the subject of the painting do we realise that the empty dish is entirely devoid of any culinary purpose, prepared instead to receive the severed head of John the Baptist. Diaphanous gossamer sleeves enclose a subtle reference to the fabled ‘Dance of the Seven Veils’, yet there is a tenderness of expression which seems to overhaul the threatening European version of Salome, recasting the daughter of Herodias less as a temptress than as an object of affection. More on this painting

Solomé was the daughter of Herod II and Herodias. According to Mark's gospel, she danced before Herod and her mother Herodias at the occasion of his birthday, and in doing so gave her mother the opportunity to obtain the head of John the Baptist. Even though the New Testament accounts do not mention a name for the girl, this daughter of Herodias is often identified with Salome. Herodias bore a grudge against John for stating that Herod's marriage to her was unlawful; she encouraged her daughter to demand that John be executed. More on Salome

Khalil Saleeby was born in Btalloun, Lebanon in 1870. Captivated by nature and colour from a young age, he continued to nurture this passion through drawings and sketches while receiving a military education in Ottoman Beirut. After completing his studies, Saleeby resolved to develop his artistic sensibilities and moved to Edinburgh in 1890, and then shortly afterwards to Paris. He greatly admired Puvis de Chavannes, and was deeply influenced by his romantic treatment of classical subjects. He was also fascinated by Renoir’s luminous brushwork and his languorous nudes. Saleeby gained considerable notoriety in fin-de-siècle Paris, exhibiting at the Salon des Indépendants and under the aegis of the renowned Impressionist dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel. Saleeby spent a number of years in London before finally returning to his native Lebanon in 1900. It was here that he became a pre-eminent portrait artist and a pioneering figure of Lebanese modernism. More on Khalil Saleeby

Tintoretto,  (1519–1594)
Miracle of the Slave, c. 1548
Oil on canvas
415 × 541 cm (163.4 × 213 in)
Accademia of Venice

The Miracle of the Slave was originally commissioned for the Scuola Grande di San Marco, a confraternity in the city. It portrays an episode of the life of Saint Mark, patron saint of Venice, taken from Jacopo da Varazze's Golden Legend. Legenda Aurea, the Golden Legend, is a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medieval church that was one of the most popular religious works of the Middle Ages.

The subject of the canvas is the miraculous appearence of St Mark to rescue one of his devotees, a servant of a knight of Provence, who had been condemned to having his legs broken and his eyes put out for worshipping the relics of the saint against his master's will. The scenes takes place on a kind of proscenium which seems to force the action out of the painting towards the spectator who is thus involved in the amazement of the crowd standing in a semi-circle around the protagonists: the fore-shortened figure of the slave lying on the ground, the dumbfounded executioner holding aloft the broken implements of torture, the knight of Provence starting up from his seat out of the shadow into the light, while the figure of St Mark swoops down from above. More on this painting


Tintoretto; born Jacopo Comin, (October, 1518 May 31, 1594) was an Italian painter and a notable exponent of the Renaissance school. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed Il Furioso. His work is characterized by its muscular figures, dramatic gestures, and bold use of perspective in the Mannerist style, while maintaining color and light typical of the Venetian School.

In his youth, Tintoretto was also known as Jacopo Robusti as his father had defended the gates of Padua in a way that others called robust, against the imperial troops during the War of the League of Cambrai (1509–1516). His real name "Comin" has only recently been discovered by Miguel Falomir, the curator of the Museo del Prado, Madrid, and was made public on the occasion of the retrospective of Tintoretto at the Prado in 2007. More on Tintoretto

Workshop of ORLEY, BERNARD VAN, (1491 Brussels 1542) 
Triptych: Adoration with John the Baptist, James the Elder and two portraits of donors. 
Oil on panel. 
51 x 46 (central panel), 48.5 x 18.5 cm (wing panels)
Private collection

Maria presents the Christ Child to the curious glances of the shepherds, above her, three angels hover with a scroll The central panel is flanked by two donors, each kneeling before their patron saints. On the left is a cleric in a black robe in front of St. John the Evangelist, and above them is a coat of arms, which, because of its color, suggests a Spanish patron. The Spanish Provenance and the Holy Jacob the Elder with his saintly promenality in Spain, underpinned the acceptance of a Spanish contractor. More on this painting

Bernard van Orley (between 1487 and 1491 – 6 January 1541), , was a leading artist in Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, though he was at least as active as a leading designer of Brussels tapestry and, at the end of his life, stained glass. Although he never visited Italy, he belongs to the group of Italianizing Flemish painters called the Romanists, who were influenced by Italian Renaissance painting, in his case especially by Raphael.

He was born and died in Brussels, and was the court artist of the Habsburg rulers, and "served as a sort of commissioner of the arts for the Brussels town council". He was extremely productive, concentrating on the design of his works, and leaving their actual execution largely to others in the case of painting. 

Accordingly, his many surviving works (somewhat depleted in number by Reformation iconoclasm) vary considerably in quality. His paintings are generally either religious subjects or portraits, these mostly of Habsburgs repeated in several versions by the workshop, with few mythological subjects. More on Bernard van Orley

BRUGES, CIRCA 1500 
The Madonna and Child enthroned
Oil on panel. 
30 x 24.1 cm.
Private collection

The Madonna and Child Enthroned is a painting from the Italian Renaissance. The centre of the composition is the face of the Madonna, who sits on a precious throne holding the Child. The attention to the volumes, is intermingled with the light effects, studied in the Flemish masters. More on this painting

MASTER OF THE PRODIGAL SON, (active in Antwerp, 2nd half of the 16th century) 
Mary with the infant Jesus, John the Baptist and a boy pilgrim
Oil on panel. 
Private collection

Mary is depicted with the Christ-child on her lap, the boy, John, who hands an apple to the child; beside him lies the Lamb of God with the cross-bar. To the right is another boy with his right hand on Maria's knee. The pilgrim boy is recognized by the Jacob's shell on his cloak, the pilgrim's stick and his leather bag lying on the ground. More on this painting

MASTER OF THE PRODIGAL SON, The name for this master is based on a representation from the parable of the lost son in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. He must have had a large and flourishing workshop in Antwerp in the sixteenth century, from which not only works of painting, but also tapestries and painted glass panels were exhibited. More on the master

ANTWERP, C. 1510-30 
Adoration of the Child. 

Oil on panel. 
74.4 x 52 cm. 
Private collection

THE ADORATION OF CHRIST. The fourteenth-century mystic Saint Bridget of Sweden recounted Christ's birth after experiencing a vision. The "great and ineffable light" she described as emanating from the Child is the center of this icon. The portrayal of this divine splendor allowed painters to convey the mystical aura of the event. More on Adoration of the Child

NORTHERN NETHERLANDISH SCHOOL, 16TH CENTURY 
The Flagellation of Christ
Oil on panel. 
38.2 x 26.9 cm. 
Private collection

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

Circle of Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, (circa 1460 Amsterdam 1528) 
The Crucifixion with Mary, Saint John and Mary Magdalene. 
Oil on canvas. 
66 x 49.2 cm. 
Private collection

The crucifixion of Jesus occurred in 1st century Judea, most probably between the years 30 and 33 AD. Jesus' crucifixion is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and is established as a historical event confirmed by non-Christian sources.

According to the canonical gospels, Jesus, the Christ, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally crucified by the Romans. Jesus was stripped of his clothing and offered wine mixed with gall to drink, before being crucified. He was then hung between two convicted thieves and according to Mark's Gospel, died some six hours later. During this time, the soldiers affixed a sign to the top of the cross stating "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" in three languages. They then divided his garments among them, but cast lots for his seamless robe. After Jesus' death they pierced his side with a spear to be certain that he had died. More on the crucifixion

Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (before 1470 – 1533) was a Northern Netherlandish designer of woodcuts and a painter. He was one of the first important artists working in Amsterdam, at a time when it was a flourishing provincial town.

Little is known about Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen's life. Historians rely mostly on the biographical sketch of him written by Karel van Mander, the archives of Amsterdam, and the archives of Egmond Abbey, a Benedictine monastery that commissioned works by him. His name indicates he was from Oostzaan, North Holland

The first known commissions for Jacob Cornelisz were from when he was at least 35 years of age. It is assumed that he worked in a painters's workshop before that, and judging from his close copies of Haarlem painting techniques, this was possibly in Haarlem. More on Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen

FRANCKEN, FRANS the younger, (1581 Antwerp 1642) 
Saint Christopher, Circa 1630. 
Oil on panel. 
30.3 x 25 cm. 
Private collection

Saint Christopher is venerated as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman Emperor Decius,) or alternatively under the Roman Emperor Maximinus II Dacian. There appears to be confusion due to the similarity in names "Decius" and "Dacian". However his veneration only appears late in Christian tradition, and did not become widespread in the Western Church until the Late Middle Ages, although churches and monasteries were named after him by the 7th century.

It is disputed whether Christopher existed, and if so whether the name applied to a specific person or was a general title meaning "Christ-bearer" which was applied to several different real or legendary people. He may be the same figure as Saint Menas. His most famous legend, which is mainly known from the West and may draw from Ancient Greek mythology, tells that he carried a child, who was unknown to him, across a river before the child revealed himself as Christ. Therefore, he is the patron saint of travelers. More Saint Christopher

Frans Francken the Younger (Antwerp, 1581 – Antwerp, 6 May 1642) was a Flemish painter and the best-known member of the large Francken family of artists. He played an important role in the development of Flemish art in the first half of the 17th century through his innovations in genre painting and introduction of new subject matter. Francken was born in Antwerp where he trained with his father Frans Francken the Elder. He may also have trained with his uncle Hieronymus Francken I in Paris, together with his brother Hieronymus Francken II. He became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1605 and was deacon of the Guild in 1616. More on Frans Francken the Younger






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