Mythology: 2019-06-23

01 Contemporary Interpretation of Olympian deities, with footnotes #19

Gabrielle Bakker

Leda, 2011

Oil Linen on Panel

50" x 42"

Leda, in Greek legend, usually believed to be the daughter of Thestius, king of Aetolia, and wife of Tyndareus, king of Lacedaemon. She was also believed to have been the mother (by Zeus, who had approached and seduced her in the form of a swan) of the other twin, Pollux, and of Helen, both of whom hatched from eggs. Variant legends gave divine parentage to both the twins and possibly also to Clytemnestra, with all three of them having hatched from the eggs of Leda, while yet other legends say that Leda bore the twins to her mortal husband, Tyndareus. Still other variants say that Leda may have hatched out Helen from an egg laid by the goddess Nemesis, who was similarly approached by Zeus in the form of a swan.The divine swan’s encounter with Leda was a subject depicted by both ancient Greek and Italian Renaissance artists; Leonardo da Vinci undertook a painting (now lost) of the theme, and Correggio’s Leda (c. 1530s) is a well-known treatment of the subject. More Leda and The Swan

Gabrielle Bakker was born in Ann Arbor, MI, in 1958, and attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating with a BFA in 1982. She continued her studies 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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01 Painting, 20th Century Interpretation of the Bible! With Footnotes - 36

Alfred Eisenstaedt, (American, 1898-1995)

Dying Monk, Varlaan Monastery, Thessaly, Greece, 1934, c. 1979

Gelatin silver

9 x 7 inches (22.9 x 17.8 cm)

Private collection

Alfred Eisenstaedt (American, 1898-1995). Born in 1898, Eisenstaedt and his family moved to Berlin when he was just a little boy. He began taking photographs as a young teenager. After serving with the German army during World War I, he returned to freelance photography, eventually working for the Associated Press in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Eisenstaedt’s work for the AP allowed him to interact with many important political people of the day. In fact, he took pictures of both Hitler and Mussolini in the years prior to World War II. But the rise of the Nazi party in his home country bode ill for Eisenstaedt and his family since they were Jewish. Sensing the danger, they immigrated to New York in 1935, and Eisenstaedt became a U.S. citizen the very next year.

His photographic work from Germany was respected enough to help him land a position as one of the first staff photographers for the then new Life magazine. He would remain with Life for over 35 years, becoming a famous photo-journalist and contributing over 90 cover, as well as other photos on the inside pages. One of his best known pictures, often called "V-J Day in Times Square" shows a jubilant sailor kissing a nurse with great abandon. More on Alfred Eisenstaedt

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01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Interpretation of the bible, With Footnotes - 132

Netherlandish School, circa 1520

The Lamentation

Oil on panel

123 x 86 cm

Private collection

This work depicts several scenes taking place simultaneously: In the background we see Christ's deposition from the cross on Mount Calvary whilst His body is anointed in the foreground. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea hold Christ's body whilst Mary Magdalene kneels ready with the ointment jar at his feet. The Virgin is shown in the centre of the work supported by Saint John. The grave is prepared on the right edge of the image and in the background we see the silhouette of the city of Jerusalem. More on this work

Nicodemus, according to the New Testament, was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin mentioned in three places in the Gospel of John. He is identified as a Pharisee who comes to see Jesus "at night". John places this meeting shortly after the Cleansing of the Temple and links it to the signs which Jesus performed in Jerusalem during the Passover feast. More on Nicodemus

Joseph of Arimathea was, according to all four canonical Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' crucifixion. A number of stories that developed during the Middle Ages connect him with both Glastonbury, where he is supposed to have founded the earliest Christian oratory, and also with the Grail legend. More on Joseph of Arimathea

Mary Magdalene, literally translated as Mary the Magdalene or Mary of Magdala, is a figure in Christianity who, according to the Bible, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers. She is said to have witnessed Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Within the four Gospels she is named more than most of the apostles. Based on texts of the early Christian era in the third century, it seems that her status as an “apostle" rivals even Peter's.

The Gospel of Luke says seven demons had gone out of her. She is most prominent in the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, at which she was present. She was also present two days later when, she was, either alone or as a member of a group of women, the first to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. John 20 and Mark 16:9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.

During the Middle Ages, Mary Magdalene was regarded in Western Christianity as a repentant prostitute or promiscuous woman, claims not found in any of the four canonical gospels. More Mary Magdalene

Mary, mother of Jesus, was a 1st-century BC Galilean woman of Nazareth, and the mother of Jesus, according to the New Testament and the Quran.

The Descent from the Cross, or Deposition of Christ, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospels' accounts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after his crucifixion. In Byzantine art the topic became popular in the 9th century, and in the West from the 10th century. The Descent from the Cross is the 13th Station of the Cross.

Other figures not mentioned in the Gospels who are often included in depictions of this subject include St. John the Evangelist, who is sometimes depicted supporting a fainting Mary, and Mary Magdalene. The Gospels mention an undefined number of women as watching the crucifixion, including the Three Marys and Mary Salome.. More on Deposition of Christ

The Lamentation of Christ is a very common subject in Christian art from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque. After Jesus was crucified, his body was removed from the cross and his friends mourned over his body. This event has been depicted by many different artists.

Lamentation works are very often included in cycles of the Life of Christ, and also form the subject of many individual works. One specific type of Lamentation depicts only Jesus' mother Mary cradling his body. These are known as Pietà (Italian for "pity") More The Lamentation of Christ

Early Netherlandish painting is the work of artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance; especially in the flourishing cities of Bruges, Ghent, Mechelen, Louvain, Tournai and Brussels, all in contemporary Belgium. Their work follows the International Gothic style and begins approximately with Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck in the early 1420s. It lasts at least until the death of Gerard David in 1523, although many scholars extend it to the start of the Dutch Revolt in 1566 or 1568 Early Netherlandish painting coincides with the Early and High Italian Renaissance but is seen as an independent artistic culture, separate from the Renaissance humanism that characterised developments in Italy. Because these painters represent the culmination of the northern European medieval artistic heritage and the incorporation of Renaissance ideals, they are sometimes categorised as belonging to both the Early Renaissance and Late Gothic. More on the Netherlandish School

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01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Interpretation of the bible, Esther, With Footnotes - 168

Artus Wolffort, (1581–1641)

Esther's Toilet in the Harem of Ahasuerus, circa 1620

Oil on panel

Height: 59.4 cm (23.3 ″); Width: 81 cm (31.8 ″)

Victoria and Albert Museum

This subject was depicted by Wolffort several times, which attests to its popularity. The scene derives from the Book of Esther in the Old Testament, which tells the story of how an orphaned Jewish woman is selected by King Ahasuerus of Persia to become his queen. In this painting, Esther is the standing figure at center, drying her body with a white cloth. She is surrounded by seven maids, which King Ahasuerus assigned to her after she was summoned to his harem. They were called to help prepare Esther before she met the king. Other interesting elements in this work are the statues in niches, which starting from left to right, depict Diana, Venus with Cupid and Saturn devouring his children. The painting at upper center is said to depict the Judgement of Paris. More on this painting

Artus Wolffort, Artus Wolffaert or Artus Wolffaerts (1581–1641) was a Flemish painter known mainly for his history paintings depicting religious and mythological scenes.

Wolffort was born in Antwerp and moved with his parents to Dordrecht. He trained as a painter in Dordrecht where he joined the local Guild of Saint Luke in 1603. He returned to Antwerp around 1615. He became a member of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1617.[5]

Artus Wolffort likely operated a workshop in Antwerp, which produced various copies of his works.

His pupils included his son Jan Baptist Wolfaerts, Pieter van Lint, Pieter van Mol and Lucas Smout the Elder. He died in Antwerp. More on Artus Wolffort

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01 Paintings, Olympian deities, by the Old Masters, with footnotes # 34

Simone Pignoni, (1611–1698)

The Rape of Proserpine, circa 1650

Oil on canvas

Height: 88 cm (34.6 ″); Width: 134 cm (52.7 ″)

Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy

Proserpina, or Proserpine is an ancient Roman goddess whose cult, myths and mysteries were based on those of Greek Persephone and her mother Demeter, the Greek goddess of grain and agriculture. The Romans identified Proserpina with their native fertility goddess Libera, daughter of the grain and agriculture goddess Ceres and wife to Liber.

Venus, in order to bring love to Pluto, sent her son Amor (also known as Cupid) to hit Pluto with one of his arrows. Proserpina was in Sicily, at the Pergusa Lake near Enna, where she was playing with some nymphs and collecting flowers, when Pluto came out from the volcano Etna. He abducted her in order to marry her and live with her in the underworld of which he was the ruler.

Her mother Ceres went looking for her across all of the world, and all in vain. She was unable to find anything. In her desperation, Ceres angrily stopped the growth of fruits and vegetables, bestowing a malediction on Sicily. Ceres refused to return to Mount Olympus and started walking the Earth, creating a desert with each step.

Worried, Jupiter sent Mercury to order Pluto to free Proserpina. Pluto obeyed, but before letting her go he made her eat six pomegranate seeds, because those who have eaten the food of the dead could not return to the world of the living. This meant that she would have to live six months of each year with him, and stay the rest with her mother. More on Proserpina

Simone Pignoni (April 17, 1611 – December 16, 1698) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.

He is best known for painting in a style reminiscent of the morbidly sensual Furini. Reflective of this obsession in his self-portrait, c. 1650, in which he depicts himself building up a plump naked female from a skeleton.

Described as endowed with a "bizarre and amenable intelligence", Pignoni apparently had a late-life conversion to more pious painting. There is one episode recalled that during a serious illness "because in his life he had focused on studying about female forms, and (now) having resigned himself to the impending infinity, his spiritual father urged him to purge those errors with the flame, and once guided by a good disposition, he suddenly was cured by the Lord." Baldinucci's biography of Furini also recorded a similar, near-death renunciation of his art of the naked figure.

Among his more conventional works are a St. Agatha cured by St. Peter (attributed); a St. Louis providing a banquet for the poor (c. 1682); and a Madonna and child in glory with archangels Saints Michael and Raphael in battle armor and San Antonio of Padua. He painted an Allegory of Peace in Palazzo Vecchio. A Penitent Magdalen that has been attributed to Pignoni is found in the Pitti Palace. In San Bartolomeo in Monteoliveto, he painted a Madonna appearing to Blessed Bernardo Tolomeo. More on Simone Pignoni

01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! With Footnotes - 30

Borys Fiodorowicz
Madonna Mondriana od Laurenta, Madonna of Saint-Laurent, c. 2018

Acrylic on panel

Size:

40 x 30 cm. (15.7 x 11.8 in.)

Private collection

Yves Saint Laurent, in full Yves-Henri-Donat-Mathieu Saint Laurent, (born August 1, 1936, Oran, Algeria—died June 1, 2008, Paris, France), French fashion designer. In 1962 Saint Laurent opened his own fashion house and quickly emerged as one of the most influential designers in Paris. He popularized trousers for women. Metallic and transparent fabrics were prominent in his late ’60s collections; in the 1970s, inspired by ethnic costume, he introduced the haute peasant look. During the 1960s and ’70s his enterprises expanded to include ready-to-wear licenses, accessories, household linens, fragrances, and men’s clothes in addition to his couture business. More on Yves Saint Laurent

Borys Fiodorowicz is the graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. The artist comes from Ukraine but currently he lives and works near Cracow, Poland, where his closest entourage became a great source of inspiration. He took part in numerous individual and group exhibitions and charity auctions. His permanent exhibition can be seen in Parish House in Paszkówka. More on Borys Fiodorowicz

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01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Interpretation of the bible, with Footnotes - 152

School of the Lower Rhine, circa 1510-15

THE BETRAYAL OF CHRIST

Oil on oak panel

89.1 x 72.3 cm.; 35 x 28 1/2 in.

Private collection

The kiss of Judas, also known as the Betrayal of Christ, is how Judas identified Jesus to the multitude with swords and clubs who had come from the chief priests and elders of the people to arrest him, according to the Synoptic Gospels. The kiss is given by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper and leads directly to the arrest of Jesus by the police force of the Sanhedrin.

More broadly, a Judas kiss may refer to "an act appearing to be an act of friendship, which is in fact harmful to the recipient" More on the Betrayal of Christ

Till-Holger Borchert situates this works in the immediate milieu of the workshop of Derick Baegert and his son Jan in Wesel.

Derick Baegert, (?), ca. 1440 - Wesel, ca. 1515, was the head of a family of painters who worked in the Rhineland area in Germany during the last third of the 15th century and the first third of the 16th. Baegert organised a productive workshop in Wesel with his son Jan and Jan Joest, who was possibly his nephew. He also worked in Dortmund, Cologne and Kalkar. Stylistic similarities between his work and that of the Utrecht school suggests that he trained there. In 1476 he is recorded in Wesel, a city where his son worked as an independent master in 1490. Father and son travelled together to the Low Countries in 1482, a fact that is crucial for the evolution of their art. Although he borrowed elements from Netherlandish art, Derick’s style always remained close to that of the late Gothic. He tended to locate his figures in a narrow zone that acts as an intermediary point between the foreground and background. More on Derick Baegert

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