03 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - CONTEMPORARY & 20th Century Interpretation of the Bible! With Footnotes - 27

 Irene Caesar, b. 1963

Susanna and the Elders, c. 2015

Triptych: left

Photograph

Susanna and the Elders. A fair Hebrew wife named Susanna was falsely accused by lecherous voyeurs. As she bathes in her garden, having sent her attendants away, two lustful elders secretly observe the lovely Susanna. When she makes her way back to her house, they accost her, threatening to claim that she was meeting a young man in the garden unless she agrees to have sex with them.

 Irene Caesar, b. 1963

Susanna and the Elders, c. 2015

Triptych: center

Photograph

She refuses to be blackmailed and is arrested and about to be put to death for promiscuity when a young man named Daniel interrupts the proceedings, shouting that the elders should be questioned to prevent the death of an innocent. After being separated, the two men are questioned about details of what they saw, but disagree about the tree under which Susanna supposedly met her lover. In the Greek text, the names of the trees cited by the elders form puns with the sentence given by Daniel. The first says they were under a mastic, and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to cuthim in two. The second says they were under an evergreen oak tree, and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to saw him in two. The great difference in size between a mastic and an oak makes the elders' lie plain to all the observers. The false accusers are put to death, and virtue triumphs. More on Susanna and the Elders

 Irene Caesar, b. 1963

Susanna and the Elders, c. 2015

Triptych: right

Photograph

Irene Caesar, Ph.D., (born 10 September 1963 in St. Petersburg, Russia) is a Russian-American conceptual artist and philosopher. She became a professional artist in 1988, and came to prominence in Russia in the early 1990s, with articles about her in major Russian newspapers of that time. As a way of questioning modern art, Caesar created a series of photographic portraits of some well-known critics, film directors, and artists, including Arthur Danto, Vitaly Komar, Alexander Melamid, Slava Tsukerman, Vadim Perelman, which she produced as absurd role-games. Caesar participated in the dissident movement in Russia, was invited by Marina Salye to make a speech at the Founding Conference of the Free Democratic Party of Russia during the 1991 Putsch, and produced the series of portraits of important dissidents. Critics emphasized that the uniqueness of Caesar’s creativity consists in the fact that, for the first time in the history of art, a woman – from a woman’s point of view -- gives an assessment of such a wide scope of human ideas via her art. More Irene Caesar

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01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - CONTEMPORARY & 20th Century Interpretation of the Bible! With Footnotes - 26

Unknown

 Saint Agatha, patron saint of the breast cancer

Photography

Private collection

Saint Agatha of Sicily (231 AD – 251 AD) is a Christian saint and virgin martyr. Agatha was born at Catania or Palermo, Sicily, and she was martyred in approximately 251. She is one of seven women, who, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. 

She is the patron saint of Catania, Molise, Malta, San Marino, and Zamarramala, a municipality of the Province of Segovia in Spain. She is also the patron saint of breast cancer patients, martyrs, wet nurses, bell-founders, bakers, fire, earthquakes, and eruptions of Mount Etna. 

Although the martyrdom of Saint Agatha is authenticated, and her veneration as a saint had spread beyond her native place even in antiquity, there is no reliable information concerning the details of her death. According to Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea of ca. 1288, having dedicated her virginity to God,[ fifteen-year-old Agatha, from a rich and noble family, rejected the amorous advances of the low-born Roman prefect Quintianus, who then persecuted her for her Christian faith. He sent Agatha to Aphrodisia, the keeper of a brothel. The madam finding her intractable, Quintianus sent for her, argued, threatened, and finally had her put in prison. Amongst the tortures she underwent was the cutting off of her breasts with pincers. After further dramatic confrontations with Quintianus, represented in a sequence of dialogues in her passio that document her fortitude and steadfast devotion, Saint Agatha was then sentenced to be burnt at the stake, but an earthquake saved her from that fate; instead, she was sent to prison where St. Peter the Apostle appeared to her and healed her wounds. Saint Agatha died in prison, according to the Legenda Aurea in "the year of our Lord two hundred and fifty-three in the time of Decius, the emperor of Rome." More on Saint Agatha

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01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 27, is John the Apostle's Day, With Footnotes - 160

Alonso Cano, (1601–1667)

São João Evangelista dando a comunhão à Virgem/ Saint John the Evangelist giving communion to the Virgin, c. 17th century

Oil on canvas

81 x 46,5 cm

Museo Nacional de San Carlos

John the Apostle ( c. AD 6 – c. 106) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome. His brother was James, who was another of the Twelve Apostles. Christian tradition holds that he outlived the remaining apostles and that he was the only one not to die a martyr's death. The Church Fathers considered him the same person as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder and the Beloved Disciple, although modern theologians and scholars have not formed a consensus on the relative identities of these men. The tradition of most Christian denominations holds that John the Apostle is the author of several books of the New Testament. 

St. John the Apostle held a special relationship with Jesus Christ. Scripture recalls that he was one of the few present at the Transfiguration, the raising of Jarius’s daughter, and the Agony in Gethsemane. He was also the only apostle to not forsake the Savior in the hour of his Passion and therefore, was made guardian of the Mother of God by Jesus and took her into his home. St. John was one of the first to reach the tomb of Jesus after hearing of the resurrection and he was the first to recognize the Risen Lord at Lake Tiberias.  More on John the Apostle

Alonzo Cano or Alonso Cano (19 March 1601 – 3 September 1667) was a Spanish painter, architect and sculptor born in Granada. He learned architecture from his father, Miguel Cano; painting in the academy of Juan del Castillo, and from Francisco Pacheco the teacher of Velázquez; and sculpture from Juan Martínez Montañés. As a sculptor, his most famous works are the Madonna and Child in the church of Lebrija.

He was made first royal architect, painter to Philip IV, and instructor to the prince, Balthasar Charles, Prince of Asturias. The King gave him the church preferment of a canon of the Granada Cathedral, in order to take up a position as chief architect of the cathedral, where his main achievement in architecture was the façade, designed at the end of his life.

After the death of his wife he took Holy Orders. More on Alonzo Cano

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01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 26, is Saint Stephen's Day, With Footnotes - 159

Vicente Juan Masip called Juan de Juanes

St. Stephen led to martyrdom, c. 1562, 

Museo del Prado, Madrid

Stephen or Stephan; traditionally venerated as the first martyr of Christianity, was, according to the Acts of the Apostles, a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem who aroused the enmity of members of various synagogues by his teachings. Accused of blasphemy, at his trial he made a long speech denouncing the Jewish authorities who were sitting in judgment on him and was then stoned to death. His martyrdom was witnessed by Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who would later himself become a follower of Jesus. More on Saint Stephen

Vicente Juan Masip (La Font de la Figuera 1507 – Bocairent 1579) was a Spanish painter of the Renaissance period. He is commonly considered the foremost member of the Valencian school of painters. Born in La Font de la Figuera, he is said to have studied his art for some time in Italy due to Sebastiano del Piombo's influence, with which school his affinities are closest, but maybe he never went to Italy, and he received this influence by the Italian peintures arriving to Valencia. Furthermore, two Italian painters Paolo da San Leocadio and Francesco Pagano, were engaged by cardinal Rodrigo Borgia for painting in Valencia Cathedral. Otherwise, the greater part of his professional life was spent in the city of Valencia, where most of the extant examples of his work are now found. All relate to religious subjects, and are characterized by dignity of conception, accuracy of drawing, beauty of color, and minuteness of finish. He died at Bocairent (near Xàtiva) while working on an altarpiece in the church there.

He never painted a profane subject, and emulated Luis de Vargas and Fra Angelico, in never painting unless he had received holy communion. Painting for him was a solemn exercise, an oratory process, full of prayers and fasts. He never lacked church patronage; the archbishop of Valencia, St. Thomas of Villanova, ordered a set of cartoon panels about the Life of the Virgin to model for some tapestries. He also painted for the churches of the Jesuits, Dominicans, Minims, Augustinians, Franciscans, and for the churches of San Nicolás, Santa Cruz, Carmen Calzado, St Esteban, Corona, Temple, San Andrés, San Bartolomé and San Miguel de los Reyes. More on Vicente Juan Masip

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01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 24, is Saints Adam and Eve's Day, With Footnotes - 158

Berthold Furtmeyr

The tree of life and death

Salzburg Missal

Adam and Eve are not called saints in ordinary reference. But they may be called saints on their feast day, which is the vigil of Christmas, because they repented of their sin, lived lives of holiness and are now in Heaven. Adam is the father of the human race. Eve, his wife, was formed from Adam’s body. All of us have descended from these two. 1

Adam is the chief peccator and Eve is the co-peccatrix who brought all of mankind into the bondage of original sin. Christmas introduces Jesus Christ as the New Adam Redemptor and Mary as the New Eve Coredemptrix as those who liberate mankind from sin into grace and glory. 

Over the centuries theologians have come to label Jesus and Mary as the “New Adam” and the “New Eve.” This corresponds to their role in reversing the “no” of the first Adam and Eve in the garden by saying “yes” to God’s plan.

St. Irenaeus summarizes the logic of this:

"As Eve was seduced by the word of an angel and so fled from God after disobeying his word, Mary in her turn was given the good news by the word of an angel, and bore God in obedience to his word. As Eve was seduced into disobedience to God, so Mary was persuaded into obedience to God; thus the Virgin Mary became the advocate of the virgin Eve." 2

Berthold Furtmeyr ( Regensburg , 1446 - Regensburg , 1501 ) was a German painter and illuminator . He worked mainly in Regensburg, but there is little and vague information on his training path, although some sources indicate him as a student at the school in Vienna . 

In 1466 he opened an atelier and began working for the aristocrats , the prelates of Regensburg, the archives of Salzburg and the duke Albert IV of Bavaria . 

Among the works attributed to him are the Old Testament of the collection Oettingen-Wallertsein decorated from 1470 to 1472 , the canon of the missal cl.14045 of the National Library of Monaco , the missal of the Archbishop Bernhard von Rohr of Salzburg in five volumes , illuminated in collaboration with Ulrich Schreier around 1481 , the canon of the missal of Berlin 14707, now at the Cabinet of Prints. 

The Old Testament consists of words and images, and includes the description of the Book, from Genesis to the Book of Ruth . The language is the Germanic one of its time, yet still comprehensible to the present day. The work is embellished by three full-page miniatures and three hundred and fifty-five small miniatures, describing scenes taken from the Bible. More on Berthold Furtmeyr

"Medieval Christians enjoyed performances on Christmas Eve called “Paradise Plays” that recounted how Adam and Eve lost their innocence by eating the fruit of the tree. Some have speculated that the placement of a tree decorated with red apples for this dramatic paradise play is the true origin of the Christmas Tree decorated with red apples or red ornaments. Soon, the people copied the practice and placed “paradise trees” in their homes."

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01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 23, is Saint Ivo's Day, With Footnotes - 157

Josse van der Baren,  (1550–1614)

The St Ivo Triptych, c. 1607

Oil on panel

M-Museum Leuven Leuven, Belgium

Saint Ivo of Chartres, French Saint Yves de Chartres, (born c. 1040, near Beauvais, France—died Dec. 23, 1116), bishop of Chartres who was regarded as the most learned canonist of his age.

Of noble birth, Ivo became prior of the canons regular of St. Quentin, Beauvais (c. 1078), and in 1090 Pope Urban II confirmed his election as bishop of Chartres. He was imprisoned in 1092 for opposing the plan of King Philip I of France to leave his wife, Bertha, and marry Countess Bertrade of Anjou. Ivo was released because of public pressure and the influence of Urban, who excommunicated Philip. At the Council of Beaugency (1104), Ivo recommended absolution for Philip, thus reconciling him with the Holy See. A moderate, Ivo served as mediator in the Investiture Conflict, a 12th-century dispute between the emperor and the papacy regarding the right to grant clerical office.

His importance as a canonist is displayed in his influential Decretum and his Panormia (17 and 8 books, respectively). His 288 letters reveal contemporary political, religious, and liturgical questions. More on Saint Ivo of Chartres

Josse van der Baren  (b. between 1540 and 1560 – d. between 1604 and 1624) was a Flemish painter of history paintings and a draughtsman active in the Leuven area around the turn of the 17th century.

He was born and died in Leuven. It is not clear with whom he trained. It is not known whether he visited Italy although his work is clearly influenced by Italian art. He was mainly active in the Leuven region and that is why most of his works are still found in that area.

Van der Baren was an active participant in Leuven’s rhetorician circles, which were responsible for the production of theatre performances. Many Flemish artists such as Michiel Coxie and Frans Floris painted in a Italianizing style and van der Baren’s work was clearly influenced by this movement.

The St Ivo Triptych was commissioned by the law faculty of the Old University of Leuven. The central panel depicts Ivo of Kermartin as the advocate of the poor who gives alms. More on Josse van der Baren

Josse van der Baren,  (1550–1614)
The St Ivo Triptych - Central Panel, c. 1607
Oil on panel
186 cm (73.2 ″); Width: 145 cm (57 ″)
M-Museum Leuven Leuven, Belgium

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03 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - The Ten Holy Martyrs of Crete's Day, With Footnotes - 157

The Ten Holy Martyrs of Crete

The Ten Holy Martyrs of Crete: Theodulus, Saturninus, Euporus, Gelasius, Eunician, Zoticus, Pompius, Agathopus, Basilides and Evaristus were a group of ten Christian men from Crete who suffered martyrdom during the persecutions of emperor Decius during the third century. They are commemorated on December 23.

The Ten refused to worship at the shrine of the deity of the emperor Decius as god of Rome. They were brought before the governor of Crete, also named Decius. At their trial they steadfastly confessed their faith in Christ and refused to worship the emperor and other idols.

The men were then imprisoned and tortured for one month. But the torture did not change their opinions, and they continued to glorifying God. They were sentenced by the governor of Crete to be beheaded. Before their death they prayed that the Lord would enlighten their torturers with the light of the true Faith. Their executions took place in Alonion, a part of Gortyn now known to have been the main amphitheater of Gortyn.

The Ten Holy Martyrs of Crete

Menologion of Basil II, 10th-11th c.

During the reign of emperor Constantine I, the bodies of the ten saints were reburied. The site of the reburial is reported differently. In one, St. Paul of Constantinople is said to have taken the relics of the holy martyrs to Constantinople to serve as a protection for the city, and a source of blessings for the faithful. Another relates to a 1981 discovery of a sarcophagi during rescue excavation in Alonion of Gortyn as the burial site. The Ten Holy Martyrs of Crete

The Ten Holy Martyrs of Crete

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02 Works, CONTEMPORARY & 20th Century Interpretation of Greek mythology With Footnotes - 23

Thomas Saliot, France

Three Graces by the pool

Oil on canvas

Size: 63 H x 49.2 W x 0.4 in

Private collection

Thomas Saliot: "one of my last painting in my Marrakech studio, summer vibes with a nice composition. Lots of work....'

In Greek mythology, a Charis or Grace is one of three or more minor goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity, and fertility, together known as the Charites or Graces. The usual list, from youngest to oldest is Aglaea ("Splendor"), Euphrosyne ("Mirth"), and Thalia ("Good Cheer"). In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, the "Graces". In some variants, Charis was one of the Graces and was not the singular form of their name.

The Charites were usually considered the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, though they were also said to be daughters of Dionysus and Aphrodite or of Helios and the naiad Aegle. Other possible names of their mother by Zeus are Eurydome, Eurymedousa, and Euanthe. Homer wrote that they were part of the retinue of Aphrodite. The Charites were also associated with the Greek underworld and the Eleusinian Mysteries.

The river Cephissus near Delphi was sacred to them. More Three Graces (aka the Charities)

Thomas Saliot, France

Three graces plus one

Oil on canvas

118.1 H x 82.7 W x 2 in

Private collection

Thomas Saliot: "I live in Morocco, France and Spain where i paint simple iconic images from the net or my life, like big oil sketches. I have been painting professionally for over thirty years. Sort of a child of Hopper, figurative and Pop art, i love colors, provocation and big canvas.

Thomas Saliot was born in Paris, France, in 1968. He studied Graphic Design at the Met de Penninghen (Esag) for 3 years and opened his own gallery in le Marais in the historic district of Paris from 1990 to 2000. For the past 20 years he has been living the life, painting and travelling between Marrakech, Morocco and his home city of Paris, France.  More on Thomas Saliot

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01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 20, is Thomas the Apostle 's Day, With Footnotes - 156

Caravaggio, (1571–1610) 

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, Jesus Christ & Thomas the Apostle

circa 1601 until 1602

Oil on canvas

Height: 42.1 ″ (106.9 cm); Width: 57.5 ″ (146 cm)

Sanssouci Picture Gallery, Germany

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas is a painting of the subject of the same name by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, c. 1601–1602. It is housed in the Sanssouci Picture Gallery, now a museum, in Potsdam, Germany. 


It shows the episode that gave rise to the term "Doubting Thomas" which, formally known as the Incredulity of Thomas, had been frequently represented in Christian art since at least the 5th century, and used to make a variety of theological points. According to St John's Gospel, Thomas the Apostle missed one of Jesus's appearances to the Apostles after His resurrection, and said "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." John 20:25[1] A week later Jesus appeared and told Thomas to touch Him and stop doubting. Then Jesus said, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29 More on The Incredulity of Saint Thomas 

Thomas the Apostle, also called Didymus which means "the twin", was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, according to the New Testament.

Thomas is informally referred to as "Doubting Thomas" because he doubted Jesus' resurrection when first told, followed later by his confession of faith, "My Lord and my God," on seeing Jesus' wounded body.

Traditionally, Thomas is believed to have travelled outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, travelling as far as Tamilakam which are the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in present-day India. According to tradition, Thomas reached Muziris,in the state of Kerala, India in AD 50, and baptized several people, founding what today are known as Saint Thomas Christians or Mar Thoma Nazranis. After his death, the reputed relics of Saint Thomas the Apostle were enshrined as far as Mesopotamia in the 3rd century, and later moved to various places. In 1258, some of the relics were brought to Abruzzo in Ortona, Italy, where they have been held in the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle. He is often regarded as the Patron Saint of India, and the name Thoma remains quite popular among Saint Thomas Christians of India. More on Thomas the Apostle

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 Caravaggio

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03 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 20, is Saint St. Dominic de Silos 's Day, With Footnotes - 150

Bartolomé Bermejo, (1440–1500)

Santo Domingo de Silos enthroned as bishop, between circa 1474 and circa 1477

Oil on panel

Height: 242 cm (95.2 ″); Width: 130 cm (51.1 ″)

Museo del Prado

Dominic of Silos, O.S.B., (Spanish: Santo Domingo de Silos) (1000 – December 20, 1073) was born at Canas de Navarre, on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees. From a family of peasants, at first he looked after his father’s flocks in the foothills of the beautiful mountains of that region.

Developing a taste for silence and solitude, he entered the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla. As he made great progress in the religious state, he was entrusted with works of reform and became prior of his monastery.

Refusing to hand over to King Garcia III of Navarre some of the monastery’s lands which the monarch coveted, he and two of his companions were forced into exile by the king. They were warmly received by Ferdinand I of Castille and León who entrusted to Dominic the monastery of San Sebastián de Silos, in a remote part of the diocese of Burgos.

Bartolomé Bermejo, (1440–1500)

Ferdinand I of Castile welcoming Saint Dominic of Silos, between circa 1478 & 1479

Oil on panel

Height: 145 cm (57 ″); Width: 94 cm (37 ″)

Museo del Prado

The ancient Benedictine monastery, however, was decaying – structurally and spiritually. As Abbot of San Sebastian, Dominic restored order to both the physical structure of the edifice and the spiritual edifice of the souls within, and made Silos famous throughout Spain.

Dominic was a great miracle worker, and it was said that there was no disease that he had not, at one time or another, cured.

His charitable solicitude embraced not only the poor and the infirm but Christians enslaved by the Moors. These he endeavored by all means within his powers to free from their cruel captivity.

Saint Dominic Of Silos

About one hundred year after his death, a young woman, Blessed Juana de Aza de Guzmán, made a pilgrimage to his tomb, asking to conceive a child. The child she effectually conceived and bore, she named Dominic after the holy abbot of Silos. This Dominic became the great St. Dominic de Guzmán, founder of the Dominican Order.

Dominic of Silos died on December 20, 1073. More on Dominic of Silos

Bartolomé Bermejo (c. 1440 – c.1501) was a Spanish painter who adopted Flemish painting techniques and conventions. Although it is unclear where Bermejo received his training, his complete mastery of the oil glaze technique suggests direct contact with 15th century Flemish painting, which he was able to adapt perfectly to the demands of Spanish altarpieces of the period: large-scale retables with many panels. Though his documented career spans over thirty years, he was peripatetic: he never settled in one place for more than a decade. Also, in a period and place where painting was a business, and work was generally negotiated by contract, there is both direct and indirect evidence that he was professionally unreliable, though apparently his outstanding talent made patrons willing to take the risk. At least three major altarpieces that he undertook, the high altar retables of Santo Domingo de Silos in Daroca and Santa Anna in Barcelona, and the triptych of the Virgin of Montserrat in Valencia, were left incomplete for others to finish.

Documentation places his activity in four cities of the Crown of Aragon: Valencia (1468), Daroca (1474), Zaragoza (1477–84) and Barcelona [1486–1501). More on Bartolomé Bermejo

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