02 Works, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Slasky San Michele, after Luca Giordano, with Footnotes - #52

Slasky

San Michele, after Luca Giordano

Giclée on canvas with archival gloss varnish

1200 x 1800mm

Private collection

Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel or Saint Michael the Taxiarch in Orthodoxy. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in 3rd- and 2nd-century BCE Jewish works, often but not always apocalyptic, where he is the chief of the angels and archangels and responsible for the care of Israel.

He is mentioned explicitly in Revelation 12:7–12, where he does battle with Satan, and in the Epistle of Jude, where the author denounces heretics by contrasting them with Michael. He is also mentioned in surah 2:98 of the Quran, where the Jews of Medina challenge Muhammed to tell them the name of the angel from whom he received revelation, and when told that it was Gabriel they reply that revelations came from Michael. More on Saint Michael

Slasky is an established artist from Italy whose works have been featured in solo and group shows internationally. Fascinated by Caravaggio's The Conversion of San Paolo as a child, Slasky dedicated himself to a life of painting, merging classical works of art with contemporary digital art techniques. With his neo urban classic style, he bridges tradition and modernism, bringing protagonists of the original works of art into contemporary social and artistic environments.

The style is very personal working from some of the world's most recognizable images. The works have an instant sense of familiarity, but presented with an injection, sometimes explosion of colour and life that absorbs them with richness and modernity. Details are thrust front and centre in his canvases, using techniques of contrasting colours, textured backgrounds and screen prints to create the same subject in varying guises, separating them from their traditional backdrops. More on Slasky

Luca Giordano  (1634–1705)

The Fall of the Rebel Angels, c. 1660 - 1665

Oil on canvas

height: 4,190 mm (13.74 ft); width: 2,830 mm (111.41 in)

Kunsthistorisches Museum

When some of the angels rebelled against God, Archangel Michael cast them into the abyss of hell. The desperately screaming, distorted faces of the vanquished angels – now turned into devils – testify to the stark realism of the Spanish-Neapolitan court painter Jusepe de Ribera. The work is also determined by Ribera's Venetian-influenced palette in the sophisticated coloring of Michael. The altarpiece, whose original destination is unknown, was brought from the Minorite Church in Vienna to the Imperial Picture Gallery in the late 18th century. More on this painting

Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 12 January 1705) was an Italian late Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain.

Born in Naples, Giordano was the son of the painter Antonio Giordano. In around 1650 he was apprenticed to Ribera, and his early work was heavily influenced by his teacher. Like Ribera, he painted many half-length figures of philosophers, either imaginary portraits of specific figures, or generic types.

He acquired the nickname Luca fa presto, which translates into "Luca paints quickly." His speed, in design as well as handiwork, and his versatility, which enabled him to imitate other painters deceptively, earned for him two other epithets, "The Thunderbolt" (Fulmine) and "The Proteus" of painting.

Following a period studying in Rome, Parma and Venice, Giordano developed an elaborate Baroque style fusing Venetian and Roman Influences. His mature work combines the ornamental pomp of Paul Veronese with the lively complex schemes, the "grand manner", of Pietro da Cortona. He is also noted for his lively and showy use of colour. More Luca Giordano

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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Jan Saudek's Deep Devotion of Veronika, with Footnotes - #51

Jan Saudek, Czech, b. 1935

Deep Devotion of Veronika (My First Portrait of Veronika Schiele), c. 1995

Gelatin silver print with hand coloring

22.44 x 19.69 in. (57 x 50 cm.)

Private collection

Sold for EUR 3,750 in June 2021

Jan Saudek 's compositions evoke the dramatic tableaus of early photography, with subjects artificially posed in front of the viewer. For many years, Saudek’s work remained underground in Prague as it would have garnered the attention of the secret police for its depiction of nudity and overt eroticism; at the time. His work has been exhibited at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY, and the Getty in Los Angeles, CA. More on this work

Jan Saudek (born 13 May 1935 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech art photographer and painter. 

According to Saudeks's biography, he got his first camera, a Kodak Baby Brownie, in 1950. He apprenticed to a photographer and in 1952 started working as a print shop worker, where he worked until 1983. In 1959, he started painting and drawing. After completing his military service, he was inspired in 1963 by the catalogue for Edward Steichen's The Family of Man exhibition, to try to become a serious art photographer. In 1969, he traveled to the United States and was encouraged in his work by curator Hugh Edwards.

Returning to Prague, he was forced to work in a clandestine manner in a cellar, to avoid the attentions of the secret police, as his work turned to themes of personal erotic freedom, and used implicitly political symbols of corruption and innocence. From the late 1970s, he became recognized in the West as the leading Czech photographer. In 1983, the first book of his work was published in the English-speaking world. The same year, he became a freelance photographer as the Czech Communist authorities allowed him to cease working in the print shop, and gave him permission to apply for a permit to work as an artist. More Jan Saudek

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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01 Work, Olympian deities, Angelo Josef Graf von Courten's Die Nixe, with footnotes #29

Angelo Josef Graf von Courten (1848-1925)

Die Nixe

Oil on canvas

40 x 281⁄4 in. (101.6 x 71.8 cm.)

Private collection

The Nixe is a term widely used in German-speaking countries for a female or male water spirit; a kind of supernatural being found in the folklore of many cultures.

Angelo Josef Graf von Courten (born January 10, 1848 in Bologna , † December 15, 1925 in Munich ) was a German painter of Swiss descent.

Courten came from the old Swiss family de Courten and was the son of a Florentine general of the army of the Papal States. In 1867 he entered the service of the papal army, to which he belonged until the papal state was dissolved in 1870.

In 1872 he entered the Munich Art Academy . There he continued his art studies, which he had already started in Italy. He became a student of Karl Theodor von Piloty at the Munich Art Academy. As a result, he was a sought-after portrait and genre painter, and he also dealt with historical and religious topics. He created his most important works for the New Herrenchiemsee Palace, built by Ludwig II in 1878–86 .

In 1873 Courten was married to Irene Athenaïs von Klenze (1850-1916). She was a granddaughter of Leo von Klenze and had modeled her future husband. Angelo and Irene von Courten had a total of six children, including Louis (1885–1969), who followed in his father's footsteps, and Felix (1877–1959), who worked as an architect and illustrator.

Angelo von Courten lived in Munich until his death. Since the 1890s he spent his summer in Miesbach . As a result, five of his children mostly lived here and built several villas on site, almost all of which have been preserved. More on Angelo Josef Graf von Courten

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

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Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.