02 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 15, is Santa Nino's Day, With Footnotes - 147

Saint Christiana (Nino) and her “living cross”, (c. 296 – c. 338 or 340)

Saint Christiana (Nino) (c. 296 – c. 338 or 340) was a woman who preached Christianity in Georgia, that resulted from the Christianization of Iberia.

Christiana belonged to a Greek-speaking Roman family from Kolastra, Cappadocia, and was a relative of Saint George. She came to Georgia (ancient Iberia) from Constantinople. Other sources claim she was from Rome, Jerusalem or Gaul. According to legend, she performed miraculous healings and converted the Georgian queen, Nana, and eventually the pagan king Mirian III of Iberia, who, lost in darkness and blinded on a hunting trip, found his way only after he prayed to "Nino’s God". Mirian declared Christianity the official religion (c. 327) and Nino continued her missionary activities among Georgians until her death.

According to the legend, Nino received a vision where the Virgin Mary gave her a grapevine cross and said: "Go to Iberia and tell there the Good Tidings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and you will find favour before the Lord; and I will be for you a shield against all visible and invisible enemies. By the strength of this cross, you will erect in that land the saving banner of faith in My beloved Son and Lord." She secured the cross  with a lock of her own hair, forming “a living cross”

Vladimir Guk

St. Nina of Georgia

Nino, having witnessed the conversion of Iberia to Christianity, withdrew to the mountain pass in Bodbe, Kakheti. St Nino died soon after; immediately after her death, King Mirian commenced with the building of monastery in Bodbe, where her tomb can still be seen in the churchyard. More on Saint Christiana (Nino)

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01 Contemporary Interpretations of Olympian deities, with footnotes #16

Gabrielle Bakker

Eurytus and Hippodamia

Private collection

The theme of the painting is taken from Ovid. The Lapiths, a peace-loving people of Thessaly, were celebrating the wedding of their king Pirithous to Hippodamia. The Centaurs were invited but they quickly began to misbehave. One of them, Eurytus, full of liquor, tried to carry off the bride and soon a battle raged in which drinking vessels, table legs, antlers, in fact anything to hand, served as weapons. Blood and brains were scattered everywhere. Finally, thanks chiefly for Theseus, the friend of Pirithous, who was among the guests, the Centaurs were driven off. To the ancients and to the Renaissance the theme symbolized the victory of civilization over barbarism. It was used to decorate Greek temples, notably the metopes of the Parthenon (the 'Elgin marbles'), and was popular with baroque painters. More on Eurytus and Hippodamia

Born in Ann Arbor, MI, in 1958, Gabrielle Bakker attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating with a BFA in 1982. She continued her study at Yale University, where she studied under William Bailey and received her MFA in 1984. Since then she has been awarded the Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant and the Academy Award in Painting from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has exhibited at the Laguna Museum, CA; Frye Art Museum, Seattle; Earl McGarth Gallery, NYC; Mincher/Wilcox Gallery, San Francisco; and the Dart Gallery in Chicago. Bakker’s work is in the public collections of the HBO Coporation, Chicago, the Santa Baraba University Museum, the San Jose Art Museum, and the Art Institue of Chiacgo. She currently lives and works in Seattle. More on Gabrielle Bakker

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02 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 14, is St. Nicasius's Day, With Footnotes - 147

Mattia Preti (c. 1664-65)

St. Nicasius

Oil on stone

St. John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta

Saint Nicasius or Nicaise of Rheims (French: Saint-Nicaise; d. 407 or 451) was a bishop of Rheims. He founded the first cathedral in Rheims and is the patron saint of smallpox victims.

Sources placing his death in 407 credit him with prophesying the invasion of France by the Vandals. He notified his people of this vision, telling them to prepare. When asked if the people should fight or not, Nicasius responded, "Let us abide the mercy of God and pray for our enemies. I am ready to give myself for my people." Later, when the barbarians were at the gates of the city, he decided to attempt to slow them down so that more of his people could escape. He was killed by the Vandals either at the altar of his church or in its doorway. He was killed with Jucundus, his lector, Florentius, his deacon, and Eutropia, his virgin sister.

After the killing of Nicasius and his colleagues, the Vandals are said to have been frightened away from the area, according to some sources even leaving the treasure they had already gathered. More on Saint Nicasius

Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John.

Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was called Il Cavalier Calabrese after appointment as a Knight of the Order of St. John (Knights of Malta) in 1660. His early apprenticeship is said to have been with the "Caravaggist" Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, which may account for his lifelong interest in the style of Caravaggio.

Probably before 1630, Preti joined his brother Gregorio in Rome. In Rome, he painted fresco cycles. Between 1644 and 1646, he may have spent time in Venice, but remained based in Rome until 1653. 

During most of 1653–1660, he worked in Naples, where he was influenced by  Luca Giordano. One of Preti's masterpieces were a series of large frescoes, ex-votos of the plague depicting the Virgin or saints delivering people from the plague.

Having been made a Knight of Grace in the Order of St John, he visited the order’s headquarters in Malta in 1659 and spent most of the remainder of his life there. Preti transformed the interior of St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta with a huge series of paintings on the life and martyrdom of St. John the Baptist (1661–1666). 

Preti was fortunate to enjoy a long career and have a considerable artistic output. His paintings, representative of the exuberant late Baroque style, are held by many great museums. More on Mattia Preti

History of Saint Nicaise 

Stained glass window of the 13th century 

Church of Soissons, (Louvre Museum)

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02 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 13, is SAINT LUCY's Day, With Footnotes - 146

Maestro de Borbotó, ACTIVE IN VALENCIA FIRST QUARTER OF THE 16TH CENTURY

SAINT LUCY

oil on panel

10 3/8  by 12 1/2  in.; 26.5 by 31.8 cm.

Private collection

Saint Lucy, Italian Santa Lucia (died 304, Syracuse, Sicily), virgin and martyr who was one of the earliest Christian saints to achieve popularity, having a widespread following before the 5th century. She is the patron saint of the city of Syracuse (Sicily). Because of various traditions associating her name with light, she came to be thought of as the patron of sight.

Lucy came from a wealthy Sicilian family. Spurning marriage and worldly goods, however, she vowed to remain a virgin in the tradition of St. Agatha. An angry suitor reported her to the local Roman authorities, who sentenced her to be removed to a brothel and forced into prostitution. This order was thwarted, according to legend, by divine intervention; Lucy became immovable and could not be carried away. She was next condemned to death by fire, but she proved impervious to the flames. Finally, her neck was pierced by a sword and she died.

Lucy was a victim of the wave of persecution of Christians that occurred late in the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian. References to her are found in early Roman sacramentaries and, at Syracuse, in an inscription dating from 400 ce. As evidence of her early fame, two churches are known to have been dedicated to her in Britain before the 8th century, at a time when the land was largely pagan. More Saint Lucy

The Master of Borbotó. The identity of this prolific 16th century Valencian artist remains a mystery even today. Some scholars claim that the Master of Borbotó, the Master of Xàtiva and the Master of Artes, to whom numerous works have been attributed, sometimes in conjunction, were in fact the same person, and that the different names indicated the Master’s stylistic evolution from the Gothic to the Renaissance. More on The Master of Borbotó

Caravaggio, (1571–1610)

Burial of St. Lucy, circa 1608

Oil on canvas

Height: 408 cm (13.3 ft); Width: 300 cm (118.1 ″)

Santa Lucia al Sepolcro (Syracuse)

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 12, is The Virgin of Guadalupe's Day, With Footnotes - 145

Unknown artist

Virgin of Guadalupe, circa 1700

Oil on canvas

Indianapolis Museum of Art

The Virgin of Guadalupe featuring a novelty crown on the Virgin's head, later removed on 23 February 1888.

A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance by the Blessed Virgin Mary. The figure is often named after the town where it is reported, or on the sobriquet given to Mary on the occasion of the apparition. More on Marian apparition

Our Lady of Guadalupe, also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe, is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a Marian apparition and a venerated image enshrined within the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

On December 9, 1531, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Juan Deigo Cuauhtlatoatzin on a hill near Mexico City.

Unknown artist

God painting the Virgin of Guadalupe, 18th century

In the apparitions—the last of which took place on December 12—Mary's appearance was like that of the Aztec peoples. Mary also spoke Juan Diego’s native language, sending him to the bishop of Mexico City, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga.

After hearing Juan Diego’s request that the bishop build a chapel in Mary’s honor on Tepeyac Hill, the bishop asked for a sign.

In the final apparition, Mary provided roses for Juan Diego’s to present to the bishop as a sign of her presence. Arranging the roses in Juan Diego’s cactus-fiber cloak (or tilma), the poor man took the roses to the bishop but when he opened his cloak to show the roses to the bishop, his cloak was miraculously imprinted with the image of the woman.

Devotion to Mary under the title “Our Lady of Guadalupe” spread quickly and was finally approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1895. Today, Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated as the “Queen of Mexico” and “Empress of the Americas,” and is also honored as the patroness of the unborn. More on Virgin of Guadalupe

Nicolás Enríquez (Mexican, 1704–1790)

The Virgin of Guadalupe with the Four Apparitions, c. 1773

Oil on copper

22 1/4 × 16 1/2 in. (56.5 × 41.9 cm)

 Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nicolás Enríquez de Vargas (1704-1790) was a novohispanic painter. He was a student of Juan Rodríguez Juárez. Along with José de Ibarra supported the foundation of the Academia de Pintores (Painters Academy) in New Spain, which was the precedent of the Real Academia de San Carlos. Most of his work remains in Guadalajara. More on Nicolás Enríquez

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03 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 11, is Pope Damasus' Day, With Footnotes - 144

Artist Unknown
Pope Damasus I

Pope Damasus I (c. 305 – 11 December 384) was Supreme Pontiff from 366 to 384. He was a very learned man, well versed in the Scriptures. He commissioned St. Jerome to complete the translation of the Bible into the Latin language. Shortly after his reign the 72 books of the Bible, hitherto scattered in different parts of the Orient, were collected into one volume. He defended the rights of the Holy See, and beautified the Roman resting places of the Christian dead and of the saints. He also confirmed the practice of singing the Psalms day and night in the churches and adding a Glory Be at the end of each Psalm.

Artist Unknown

Greek Orthodox Icon of Saint Damasus

Pope Damasus fostered the development of the Church by publishing a list of the books of both the Old and New Testaments. He also encouraged his longtime friend and secretary, St. Jerome, to translate the Bible into Latin. 

Artist Unknown
Pope Damasus I was, possibly, the first Hispanic Pope

The chair of St. Peter was never more respected than during the pontificate of Damasus. He tirelessly promoted the Roman primacy, successfully persuading the government to recognize the Holy See as a court of first instance, although it declined to give the pope himself any particular immunity against the civil courts. More on Pope Damasus

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01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 10, is Pope Miltiades' Day, With Footnotes - 143

Saint Pope Miltiades

Museum: St. Demetrios Church, Pomona

Pope Miltiades (d. 10 January 314), also known as Melchiades the African , also called Melchiades was the bishop of Rome from July 2, 311 to January 10, 314. His papacy marked the end of the church's period of persecution under the Roman emperors and the advent of the Christian emperor, Constantine I.

Miltiades appears to have been an African by birth, but of his personal history before becoming pope, little else is recorded. He was elected after a vacancy in the Roman episcopacy following the banishment of his predecessor, Pope Eusebius, to Sicily. Miltiades became pope after a period of violent factional strife within the Roman church, which had caused Emperor Maxentius to banish both Eusebius and the leader of the opposing Christian party, Heraclius, in order to bring an end to public disorders that had spread throughout Rome over the question of admitting former apostate Christians back into the church. Around the time that Miltiades' papacy began, Galerius and his co-emperors issued an decree of toleration giving the Christians the legal right to practice their faith.

During Miltiades' pontificate, the Edict of Milan was passed by the tetrarchs Constantine and Licinius in 313, declaring that they would be neutral with regard to religious worship and would restore church property confiscated by the state during the recent persecutions.

Constantine presented the pope with the Lateran Palace, which became the papal residence and seat of Christian governance. At Constantine's request, Miltiades presided over the first Lateran synod dealing with the early stages of the Donatist controversy.

Although Miltiades was once thought to have been a martyr, the Roman Catholic calender has amended this tradition. He is now commemorated as a saint on December 10. More on  Pope Saint Miltiades

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03 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Today, December 8, is the day of Conception by St. Anna, With Footnotes - 140

Holy Prophetess Hannah

The Holy Prophetess Hannah dwelt in marriage with Elkanah, but she was childless. Elkanah took to himself another wife, Phennena, who bore him children. Hannah grieved strongly over her misfortune, and every day she prayed for an end to her barrenness, and vowed to dedicate her child to God.

Once, as she prayed fervently in the Temple, the priest Heli thought that she was drunk, and he began to reproach her. But the saint poured out her grief, and after she received a blessing, she returned home. After this Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel (which means “Asked from God”).

When the child reached the age of boyhood, the mother herself presented him to the priest Heli, and Samuel remained with him to serve before the Tabernacle. More on Holy Prophetess Hannah

Anton Leinweber (German, 1845–1921)

Hannah brings Samuel to Eli. c. 1915

Chromolithograph on card stock

 8.9 x 14 cm (3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Anton Robert Leinweber , Czech Robert Antonín Leinweber (born February 7, 1845 in Bohemian Leipa , Kingdom of Bohemia , † December 21, 1921 in Munich ), was a German painter and illustrator of Czech descent.

Anton Robert Leinweber studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden . 

He spent many years in North Africa, especially in Tunisia. He created together with Philip Grot Johann and Hermann Vogel illustrations to the children and house fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm . Leinweber also created numerous Bible illustrations. More on Anton Leinweber

HEINZ PINGGERA (Italian. Born 1900)

Hannah brings Samuel to Eli the priest

Oil on canvas

58 x 79 cm

Private collection

The Prophet Samuel was the fifteenth and last of the Judges of Israel, living more than 1146 years before the Birth of Christ. He was descended from the Tribe of Levi, and was the son of Elkanah from Ramathaim-Zophim of Mount Ephraim.

He was born, having been besought from the Lord through the prayers of his mother Hannah (therefore he received the name Samuel, which means “besought from God”). Even before birth, he was dedicated to God. More on The Prophet Samuel

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