10 Paintings, RELIGIOUS ART - Interpretations of the Bible! by The Old Masters, With Footnotes # 47

Religious art is a visual representation of religious ideologies and their relationship with humans. Sacred art directly relates to religious art in the sense that its purpose is for worship and religious practices. According to one set of definitions, artworks that are inspired by religion but are not considered traditionally sacred remain under the umbrella term of religious art. More on Religious art 

Raphael, 1483 – 1520

The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, c. 1515-1516

Bodycolour on paper on canvas

320 × 390 cm

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Pope Leo X commissions Raphael to design ten draperies for the lower parts of the walls of the Sistine Chapel. In 1515-16 Raphael creates the cartoons for the wool and silk draperies to be manufactured in Pieter van Aelst's workshop in Brussels. Seven cartoons survive today, and are kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Four draperies show scenes from the life of Peter, the other six of Paul's.

This cartoon shows the Lake of Gennesaret, better known as Lake Tiberias or the Sea of Galilee. Peter, still known as Simon at the time, has been fishing all night, but has caught nothing. Jesus asks Peter if he can address a crowd from his boat. Afterwards Jesus tells Peter to throw out his nets, which he does. When he hauls them back in, he is stunned to find them full of fish. Peter immediately joins Jesus, soon after followed by his mates James and John. More on this painting

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (April 6 or March 28, 1483 – April 6, 1520), known as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

Raphael was enormously productive, running an unusually large workshop and, despite his death at 37, leaving a large body of work. Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace. The best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura. After his early years in Rome much of his work was executed by his workshop from his drawings, with considerable loss of quality. He was extremely influential in his lifetime, though outside Rome his work was mostly known from his collaborative printmaking. More Raffaello

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, Milan or Caravaggio, 1571–1610 Porto Ercole)

The Denial of Saint Peter, c. 1610

Oil on canvas

37 x 49 3/8 in. (94 x 125.4 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Denial of Saint Peter. Standing before a fireplace, the apostle Peter is accused of being a follower of Jesus. The pointing finger of the soldier and the two fingers of the woman allude to the three accusations recounted in the Bible as well as to Peter's three denials. The composition is reduced to essentials. The soldier's helmet is taken from a precise model of the early sixteenth century, thus breaking down the fiction of an imagined past. More The Denial

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, Milan or Caravaggio 1571–1610 Porto Ercole)

The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, c. 1610

Oil on canvas

Height: 154 cm (60.6 in). Width: 178 cm (70.1 in).

Palazzo Zevallos, Naples

Saint Ursula (Latin for "little female bear") is a Romano-British Christian saint. Because of the lack of definite information about her and the anonymous group of holy virgins who accompanied her and on some uncertain date were killed at Cologne, they were removed from the Roman Martyrology and their commemoration was omitted from the General Roman Calendar when it was revised in 1969.

Her legend, probably not historical, is that she was a princess who, at the request of her father King Dionotus of Dumnonia in south-west Britain, set sail to join her future husband, the pagan governor Conan Meriadoc of Armorica, along with 11,000 virginal handmaidens. After a miraculous storm brought them over the sea in a single day to a Gaulish port, Ursula declared that before her marriage she would undertake a pan-European pilgrimage. She headed for Rome with her followers and persuaded the Pope, Cyriacus, and Sulpicius, bishop of Ravenna, to join them. More Saint Ursula

According to legend, Saint Ursula traveled with her eleven thousand virgins to Cologne, where the chief of the Huns besieging the city fell in love with her. When she rejected his advances, he killed her with an arrow. In this depiction, Caravaggio places the two figures improbably close to each other, maximizing the contrast between their expressions: Ursula’s perplexed gaze at the agent of her martyrdom; the tyrant’s conflicted reactions of rage and guilt. Caravaggio includes himself as a spectator, straining for a glimpse, while another figure thrusts his hand forward in an abortive effort to prevent the saint’s execution. The exaggerated contrasts between dark and light seem not merely a dramatic device but a symbolic allusion to sin and redemption, death and life. More on this painting

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 Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Attr. To François Venant

Crucifixion between the two thieves

Oil on oak panel

34 13/16 X 47 5/8 IN. 88,5 X 121 CM

Private collection

Estimate for €4,000 - €6,000 in Oct 2018

François Venant was a Dutch painter; born in Midellburg in 1591 , buried in Amsterdam on17 March 1636.

François Venant was part of a group of artists called pre-rembranesques, that is to say painters before Rembrandt.

17th century French school,

Christ in front of Pilate

Oil on canvas

92 1/8 X 87 IN. 234 X 221 CM

Private collection

Sold for 5,460.00 € in Mar 2017

John 18:28-40. Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor Pilate. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 

17th-century French art is generally referred to as Baroque, but from the mid to late 17th century, the style of French art shows a classical adherence to certain rules of proportion and sobriety uncharacteristic of the Baroque as it was practiced in Southern and Eastern Europe during the same period.

In the early part of the 17th century, late mannerist and early Baroque tendencies continued to flourish in the court of Marie de' Medici and Louis XIII. Art from this period shows influences from both the north of Europe and from Roman painters of the Counter-Reformation. Artists in France frequently debated the merits between Peter Paul Rubens and Nicolas Poussin.

There was also a strong Caravaggio school represented in the period by the candle-lit paintings of Georges de La Tour. The wretched and the poor were featured in an almost Dutch manner in the paintings by the three Le Nain brothers. In the paintings of Philippe de Champaigne there are both propagandistic portraits of Louis XIII' s minister Cardinal Richelieu and other more contemplative portraits of people in the Jansenist sect. More 17th-century French art 

Gortzius Geldorp, LEUVEN 1553 - 1618 COLOGNE

THE VIRGIN IN PRAYER

Oil on oak panel

62.8 x 47.8 cm.; 24 5/8  x 18 7/8  in

Private collection

Estimated for €3,500 EUR - €4,000 EUR in Dec 2022

Gortzius Geldorp (1553–1618) was a Flemish Renaissance artist who was active in Germany where he distinguished himself through his portrait paintings. Geldorp was born in Leuven. Geldorp first learned to paint from Frans Francken I and later from Frans Pourbus the Elder.

Geldorp became court painter to the Duke of Terra Nova, Carlo d'Aragona Tagliavia, whom he accompanied on his trips. He travelled to Cologne with the Duke who was participating in peace negotiations with the Dutch Republic. Geldorp stayed in the city while remaining a companion of the Duke on his travels. In 1610 Geldorp took over the seat of Barthel Bruyn the Younger on the city council of Cologne. Geldorp was a successful portrait painter working for the aristocracy and other prominent patrons. More Gortzius Geldorp

Andrea Vaccaro, NAPLES 1604 - 1670

THE PENITENT MAGDALENE

oil on canvas, 

oval 89 x 73.5 cm.; 35 x 29 in.

Private collection

Mary Magdalene provides a lens to view the role of the feminine in religion and culture over the centuries. She has been variously portrayed as a wealthy benefactress to Jesus and his followers, as a prostitute, as an apostle, as an ascetic, as a contemplative, and as Jesus' companion. In these various roles, she is viewed as an individual, and her individuality allows an exploration of the feminine in Christianity. Her life is reflected not only in the New Testament descriptions of her but also in the Gnostic Book of Mary and the Gnostic Gospels found at Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt. In the New Testament Gospels, she is identified as the privileged person who found the empty tomb and to whom the resurrected Christ first appeared. Earlier in the Christian Bible, she is described as among the wealthy women who provided material support for Jesus' teaching. In the Book of Mary, she is said to be the most beloved among the disciples and is described there as the female apostle. In the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Gospels, she is referred to as a leader who went forth along with the other disciples in the Book of Thomas and as companion to Jesus in the Book of Philip. More Mary Magdalene

Andrea Vaccaro (baptised on 8 May 1604 – 18 January 1670) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Vaccaro was in his time one of the most successful painters in Naples, a city then under Spanish rule. Very successful and valued in his lifetime, Vaccaro and his workshop produced many religious works for local patrons as well as for export to Spanish religious orders and noble patrons. More Andrea Vaccaro

Guido Cagnacci,  (1601–1663)

Martha blames Mary for her Vanity, c. after 1660

Oil on canvas

229 × 266 cm (90.2 × 104.7 in)

Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena

This is no ordinary representation of Mary Magdalene, who became a follower of Christ and later, a saint. Traditionally shown holding a skull and contemplating her morality, here she lies almost naked on the ground, begged by her virtuous sister Martha to abandon her sinful life of vice and luxury. Virtue, a blond-haired angel, chases out Vice, a devil who bites his hand in anger as he turns for a last look at the Magdalene. The painting is a celebration of the triumph of virtue over vice, but Cagnacci takes obvious pleasure in describing worldly temptations – in particular, the attention he lavishes on the expensive costume, beautiful shoes, and jewellery scattered across the floor. More on Martha blames Mary for her Vanity

Guido Cagnacci, (January 19, 1601 – 1663) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, who produced many works characterized by their use of chiaroscuro and their sensual subjects. Cagnacci was born in Santarcangelo di Romagna, near Rimini. He worked in Rimini from 1627 to 1642. After that, he moved to work in Forlì, where he would have been able to observe the paintings of Melozzo.

In Rome he may have had an apprenticeship with the elderly Ludovico Carracci in Bologna. His initial output includes many devotional subjects. But moving to Venice under the name of Guico Baldo Canlassi da Bologna, he dedicated himself to private salon paintings, often depicting sensuous naked women from thigh upwards. In 1658, he traveled to Vienna, where he remained under patronage of the Emperor Leopold I. He died in Vienna in 1663. More Guido Cagnacci 

Unknown

Unknown woman, formerly known as Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, 

circa 1535

National Portrait Gallery

Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (14 August 1473 – 27 May 1541), was born August 14, 1473. She was the Countess of Salisbury and she was distantly in line for the throne of England. Being a possible successor to the throne called for danger. She was only three years old when her mother died and a few years later her father died as well.

When Margaret was about eighteen years old, she married a distant relative, Sir Richard Pole. Her marriage was a happy one. She had five children; one of them became a cardinal and later, Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1505, Margaret was widowed.

Then, years later, she became godmother and governess to Princess Mary, daughter of to King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. When King Henry wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon, Margaret’s son, Cardinal Reginald Pole, spoke out against the decision. The entire Pole family was against the divorce.

The king found this insulting and threatening. Because the family was against his decision, they were exiled from the court and stripped of their titles. No longer was Margret a governess to the young princess.

Eventually, she was taken to the Tower of London. And two years later, she was beheaded. Two of her sons would soon die for the same cause.

On December 29, 1886, she was beatified by Pope Leo XIII along with other English martyrs. Her feast day is May 28, the day she died in 1541. She was around seventy years old.  More Blessed Margaret Pole

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 and my art stores at  deviantart and Aaroko

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01 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Andrea Vaccaro's Sant 'Agata, With Footnotes - 123

Andrea Vaccaro, (baptised on 8 May 1604 – 18 January 1670) 

Sant 'Agata 

Oil on unlined canvas

FONDAZIONE FEDERICO ZERI - Università di Bologna

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 of Sicily

Andrea Vaccaro (baptised on 8 May 1604 – 18 January 1670) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Vaccaro was in his time one of the most successful painters in Naples, a city then under Spanish rule. Very successful and valued in his lifetime, Vaccaro and his workshop produced many religious works for local patrons as well as for export to Spanish religious orders and noble patrons. More Andrea Vaccaro

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.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

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.

34 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - 27 Old Master Artists' interpretation of the Martyrdom of St. Agatha, with Footnote #36

Artists : Lorenzo di Niccolò Gerini, G. Rubini, Francesco Guarino, Andrea Vaccaro, Niccolo De Simone, Paul Gismondi, Massimo Stanzione, Jean Colombe, Felice Ficherelli,  Francesco Guarino, Jehan Bellegambe, Paolo Veronese, Giovanni Lanfranco, Giovanni Martinelli, Alessandro Turchi,  Simon Vouet, Francesco Rustici, Jacopo Ligozzi, Filippo Paladini, Sebastiano del Piombo, Caitlin Karolczak, Giovanni di Paolo, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Sebastiano del Piombo, Francesco Cairo, Giulio Campi, Caravaggio, 

Lorenzo di Niccolò Gerini

Martyrdom of St. Agatha

I have no further description, at this time

Lorenzo di Niccolò or Lorenzo di Niccolò di Martino was an Italian painter active in Florence from 1391 to 1412. Often erroneously cited as the son of Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, with whom he realized some works, this artist transformed his style from one more reminiscent of Giotto to one more elegant and linear, similar to that of such artists as Lorenzo Monaco. Together with Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, he painted some frescoes in the Chapterhouse of the convent of San Francesco (Prato) and the panel Coronation of the Virgin, once in Santa Felicita. A slightly later work on the same subject for the Medici Chapel in Santa Croce, Florence, dated to 1409 in the predella, today is split between its original location and the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum in Milan. More on Lorenzo di Niccolò Gerini

These martyrs suffered a vast range of tortures. They survived long after any normal person would have died, suffering unspeakable agonies. Often God miraculously turned the tortures against the evil perpetrator, who usually died in front of his victim. 

G. Rubini (1655 Cortemaggiore - Piacenza 1735)

Martyrdom of St. Agatha, c. 1685-1699

Church of Santa Margherita - Piacenza (side walls of the presbytery)

I have no information about this artist!

The painting was perhaps executed around 1685 after the reconstruction of the church of Santa Margherita. Regarding the work, Arisi points out the small head of the saint on a very tall body, the mannered drapery and the unnatural pose of the page's head visible on the right of the composition. More on this work

Francesco Guarino

Agata in front of Quinziano (1637)

Church of St. Agatha Irpinia (Solofra)

"This work depicts the theological dispute between S. Agata and the Roman governor, is the workshop of Francesco Guarino and affected the climate of the Collegiate works fact S. Agata is the same model of woman in profile of the Announcement to Zechariah. " More about this work

Francesco Guarino or Guarini (1611-1651 or 1654) , see below

Andrea Vaccaro  (1604–1670)

Saint Agatha of Sicily, circa 1635

Oil on canvas

Height: 128.5 cm (50.5 in); Width: 101 cm (39.7 in)

Museo del Prado 

Andrea Vaccaro (baptised on 8 May 1604 – 18 January 1670) see below

A massively disproportionate number of these victims were nubile young women whose suffering included being stripped and humiliated. With the benefit of modern knowledge it is easy to identify sadomasochistic tendencies in these stories and associated art.  More on sadomasochistic

Niccolo De Simone

Saint Agatha

Oil on canvas

104.7 x 75.9 cm. (41.2 x 29.9 in.)

Private collection

Niccolò De Simone, (died circa 1677) was a Flemish painter, active during 1636-1654 in Naples, Italy. He was born in Liege. His style suggests he was in the circle or influenced by Massimo Stanzione, Bernardo Cavallino, and Mattia Preti. Bernardo de' Dominici claims he was also painting in Spain and Portugal. More on Niccolò De Simone

Paul Gismondi

Sant'Agata in the brothel of Aphrodisias, c. 1636

Fresco in the church of St. Agatha of the Goths (Rome)

I have no information about this artist!

Massimo Stanzione

St. Agatha in Prison

I have no further description, at this time

Massimo Stanzione (1585 – 1656) was an Italian Baroque painter, mainly active in Naples, where he and his rival Jusepe de Ribera dominated the painting scene for several decades. Most of his work, in both oils and fresco (these usually for ceilings), depicted religious subjects. A papal knight, he is often referred to as Cavalliere Massimo Stanzione. 

Born in Frattamaggiore, Naples, Massimo Stanzione was influenced by Caravaggio. Art historians believe that Stanzione developed his career as an artist in Rome. It is thought that he began his career as a portraitist. In 1621, pope Gregory XV awarded him the title of Knight of the Golden Spur and in 1627, he received the title of Knight of Saint George, and Urban VIII invested him with the Order of Christ. 

It is believed that Massimo Stanzione died during the plague of 1656. More on Massimo Stanzione

Jean Colombe, (1430 / 35-1493)

Martyrdom of St. Agatha

Part of Manuscript: "Louis Hours of Laval - Tours Bourges or.", c. 1470 -1475?

Parchment, painting on paper

 National Library of France

Jean Colombe (b. Bourges ca. 1430; d. ca. 1493) was a French miniature painter and illuminator of manuscripts. He is best known for his work in Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. He is the brother of the sculptor Michel Colombe.

In 1470–1472, Colombe created the miniatures of the Hours of Louis de Laval; around 1475, he illuminated the crusader chronicles, Les Passages d'oultre mer du noble Godefroy de Bouillon, du bon roy Saint Loys et de plusieurs vertueux princes, by Sébastien Mamerot. Both works had been commissioned by Louis de Laval. Between 1485 and 1490, Jean Colombe completed the decoration of the Très Riches Heures which had been left unfinished in 1416. He executed the image for the month of November (below the zodiac arch), completed the Limbourg brothers' design for September, and retouched other images. More on Jean Colombe

Circle of Andrea Vaccaro (Naples 1604-1670)

Saint Agatha

Oil on canvas

28¼ x 23½ in. (71.7 x 59.6 cm.)

Private collection

Andrea Vaccaro (Naples 1604-1670), see above

Saint Agatha 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. More

Circle of Felice Ficherelli

Saint Agatha

Oil on canvas

74 x 64 cm

Private collection

Felice Ficherelli (30 August 1605 – 5 March 1660) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, born in San Gimignano and active mainly in Tuscany. Among Ficherelli's early patrons was Conte Bardi, who persuaded Ficherelli to move to Florence and to study with the painter Jacopo da Empoli. Empoli's influence is evident in the sumptuous fabrics seen in many of Ficherelli's works. Ficherelli was nicknamed "Felice Riposo" for his retiring nature. More on Felice Ficherelli

In the legend of her life, we are told that she belonged to a rich, important family. When she was young, she dedicated her life to God and resisted any men who wanted to marry her or have sex with her. One of these men, Quintian, was of a high enough rank that he felt he could force her to acquiesce. Knowing she was a Christian in a time of persecution, he had her arrested and brought before the judge - - himself. He expected her to give in to when faced with torture and possible death, but she simply affirmed her belief in God by praying: "Jesus Christ, Lord of all, you see my heart, you know my desires. Possess all that I am. I am your sheep: make me worthy to overcome the devil."

Andrea Vaccaro, (1604–1670) 

Martyrdom of St Agatha, c. 1635-1640

Oil on canvas

122 × 159 cm (48 × 62.6 in)

Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France

Andrea Vaccaro (Naples 1604-1670), see above

Legend tells us that Quintian imprisoned her in a brothel in order to get her to change her mind. Quintian brought her back before him after she had suffered a month of assault and humiliation in the brothel, but Agatha had never wavered, proclaiming that her freedom came from Jesus. 

Andrea Vaccaro, (baptised on 8 May 1604 – 18 January 1670) 

St. Agatha in prison, XVII century

Oil on canvas

104 x 127 cm

Museo Nacional del Prado

Andrea Vaccaro (Naples 1604-1670), see above

Francesco Guarino, (1611 - 1651) 

Saint Agatha, c. 1640

Oil on Canvas

32.5 x 27.5"

Naples, Museo di S. Martino

Francesco Guarino or Guarini (1611-1651 or 1654) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in the mountainous area east of Naples. He was born in Sant'Andrea Apostolo, today a frazione of Solofra in the Province of Avellino, Campania, and died in Gravina di Puglia. He was a pupil first locally of his father, Giovanni Tommaso Guarino, before moving to Naples to work in the studio of Massimo Stanzione. In Naples, like many of his contemporaries there, he was influenced by the style of Caravaggio. In his selection of models who appear to have been plucked from the streets of Naples, he recalls the style of Bernardo Cavallino, the fellow-pupil of Stanzioni. Among his masterpieces are the works for the Collegiata di San Michele Arcangelo in Solofra. More on Francesco Guarino

Unknown artist

The Martyrdom of Sant'Agata

Oil on canvas

Maschio Angioino, Central Naples, Italy.

Jehan Bellegambe, (1470-1534)

The Martyrdom of St. Agatha

Oil on canvas

0.600 m. x 0.440 m

Musée de la Chartreuse

Jehan Bellegambe or Jean Bellegambe (sometimes Belgamb or Belganb) (ca. 1470 – ca. June 1535–March 1536) was a French-speaking Flemish painter of religious paintings, triptychs and polyptychs, the most important of which are now held at Douai, Arras, Aix, Lille, Saint Petersburg and Chicago. He was known as the 'master of colours' for the transparency and interplay of his colours. He is known as Jehan Bellegambe the elder to distinguish him from his descendents who were also called Jehan. More on Jehan Bellegambe

Quintian sent her to prison, instead of back to the brothel -- a move intended to make her more afraid, but which probably was a great relief to her.

Paolo Veronese

Detail from Saint Agatha, c. 16th Century

Oil on canvas

I have no further description, at this time

Paolo Caliari, known as Paolo Veronese (1528 – 19 April 1588) was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, most famous for large history paintings of both religious and mythological subjects, such as The Wedding at Cana and The Feast in the House of Levi. With Titian, who was at least a generation older, and Tintoretto, ten years older, he was one of the "great trio that dominated Venetian painting of the cinquecento" or 16th-century late Renaissance. Veronese is known as a supreme colorist, and after an early period with Mannerist influence turned to a more naturalist style influenced by Titian.

His most famous works are elaborate narrative cycles, executed in a dramatic and colorful style, full of majestic architectural settings and glittering pageantry. His large paintings of biblical feasts, crowded with figures, painted for the refectories of monasteries in Venice and Verona are especially famous, and he was also the leading Venetian painter of ceilings. Most of these works remain in situ, or at least in Venice, and his representation in most museums is mainly composed of smaller works such as portraits that do not always show him at his best or most typical.

He has always been appreciated for "the chromatic brilliance of his palette, the splendor and sensibility of his brushwork, the aristocratic elegance of his figures, and the magnificence of his spectacle", but his work has been felt "not to permit expression of the profound, the human, or the sublime", and of the "great trio" he has often been the least appreciated by modern criticism. Nonetheless, "many of the greatest artists ... may be counted among his admirers, including Rubens, Watteau, Tiepolo, Delacroix and Renoir". More on Paolo Caliari,

When she continued to profess her faith in Jesus, Quintian had her tortured. He refused her any medical care but God gave her all the care she needed in the form of a vision of St. Peter. 

St. Peter comes to St. Agatha's prison cell in the guise of an old man. (To the viewer, however, he is identifiable by the square beard and the keys in his left hand.) He offers to heal Agatha with ointments carried in by "a boy carrying a light." 

As usual in her portraits, Agatha has long, blond hair and holds a palm branch in her left hand. She points to Heaven because "I have my Lord Jesus Christ, and he by a single word can cure everything … If he so wills, he can cure me instantly." Peter reveals himself and says she has been healed in Jesus' name; then Agatha prays in thanksgiving and finds that her breasts are restored. More

Paolo Veronese

Saint Agatha in Prison, c. 1566

Oil on canvas

In the left nave of the church of San Pietro Martire (St. Peter of Verona) at Murano (Venice, Italy)

Veronese seems to be picturing the moment in the Golden Legend when Peter reveals himself to Agatha. Up till then, she has been cool to the old man's offer of help, explaining that she looks only to Christ as her healer. This seems to be expressed in the way she pulls her body away from Peter and the angel, her left arm gathering up her garments as if to shield her wounded chest from them. Then his reply, "I am his apostle…know that you are healed" is expressed in the right hand that points heavenward and the left that holds "the keys of the kingdom" that are his attribute".

Paolo Caliari, known as Paolo Veronese (1528 – 19 April 1588) , see above

Giovanni Lanfranco, (1582–1647)

St Peter Healing St Agatha, circa 1614

Oil on canvas

Height: 100 cm (39.4 in). Width: 133 cm (52.4 in).

Galleria nazionale di Parma

Giovanni Lanfranco, also called Giovanni di Steffano or Il Cavaliere Giovanni Lanfranchi (born Jan. 26, 1582, Parma [Italy]—died Nov. 30, 1647, Rome) Italian painter, an important follower of the Bolognese school. He was a pupil of Agostino Carracci in Parma (1600–02) and later studied with Annibale Carracci in Rome. A decisive influence on his work, however, was not just the Baroque classicism of the Carracci brothers but the dynamic illusionism of the dome paintings in Parma by Correggio. Lanfranco translated Correggio’s 16th-century style into a Roman Baroque idiom. Soon after his arrival in Rome (1612), he painted the ceiling frescoes Joseph Explaining the Dreams of His Fellow Prisoners and Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (both 1615) in the Palazzo Mattei. The frescoes combine techniques and styles learned from Annibale Carracci and from Lanfranco’s own study of Correggio and Caravaggio. Lanfranco’s painting in the dome of San Andrea della Valle in Rome (1621–25) derives directly from Correggio in its virtuoso use of vigorously posed figures floating in the clouds over the spectator’s head. Lanfranco worked in Naples from 1633/34 to 1646, his best known work there being the dome of the chapel of San Gennaro in the cathedral (1641–46). He was a bitter rival of Domenichino, both in Rome and later in Naples. More on Giovanni Lanfranco

Giovanni Martinelli, (Montevarchi, Arezzo 1600 - Florence 1659)

St Agatha Cured By St Peter In Prison

Oil on canvas

109 x 88 cm

Museo Nacional del Prado

Giovanni Martinelli (Montevarchi, Arezzo 1600 - Florence 1659) was an Italian, Baroque era painter active mainly in Florence. On the 400th anniversary of his birth, the artist finally received the acknowledgement he merits; He was the subject, first, of a monographic volume containing various essays dedicated to aspects of his brilliant sacred and profane production, both on canvas and in frescoes, and, subsequently, of an exhibition organized by the Uffizi in his native town.

Martinelli started his apprenticeship in the studio of Jacopo Ligozzi in Florence, and stayed there until 1625. Though there is no documented trace of the artist during the following ten years, he most likely sojourned in Rome, beginning a long and profitable period of study. 

Martinelli painted allegories characterized by the prevailing influence of Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi as well as the French Vouet and Valentin. The faces of the protagonists in the paintings of those years are rendered with exceptional clarity, of Caravaggesque derivation, and illuminated by extraordinarily clear, cold colour tones.

In 1636, Martinelli began to paint more complex allegories and to darken the range of colour tones. Although devoid of any chronological reference, the paintings made in this stylistic phase clearly distinct themselves from the ones created in the earlier periods. More on Giovanni Martinelli

Alessandro Turchi,  (1578–1649)

Saint Agatha Attended by Saint Peter and an Angel in Prison, circa 1640 and circa 1645

Oil on slate

H: 13 11/16 x W: 19 1/2

Walters Art Museum

The gray stone of the prison wall was created by letting the slate show through, and it forms a background for the night scene, illuminated by a torch. As opposed to canvas and wood, slate gave a painting almost unlimited durability and the same kind of permanence as sculpture. More on this painting

Alessandro Turchi (1578 – 22 January 1649) was an Italian painter of the early Baroque, born and active mainly in Verona, and moving late in life to Rome. He also went by the name Alessandro Veronese or the nickname L'Orbetto.

 

Turchi initially trained with Felice Riccio (il Brusasorci) in Verona. By 1603, he was working as independent painter. Turchi painted the organ shutters for the Accademia Filarmonica of Verona. When Brusasorci died in 1605, Turchi and Pasquale Ottino completed a series of their deceased master's canvases. On leaving the school of Riccio, he went to Venice, where he worked for a time under Carlo Cagliari.

 

By 1616, Turchi traveled to Rome and participated in the fresco decoration depicting the Gathering of Manna for the Sala Reggia of the Quirinal Palace. In competition with Andrea Sacchi and Pietro da Cortona, he painted some pictures in the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. In 1619, he sent an altarpiece of the 40 martyrs for the Chapel of the Innocents in the church of Santo Stefano, Verona, to hang next to paintings by Pasquale Ottino and Marcantonio Bassetti. He was much employed on cabinet pictures, representing historical subjects, which he frequently painted on black marble. 

 

In 1637, with the sponsorship of the cardinal Francesco Barberini, he became Principe or director of the Accademia di San Luca. In 1638, he joined the papal guild of artists, called the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon. He died in Rome. More on Alessandro Turchi

Simon Vouet, (1590–1649)

Saint Peter Visiting Saint Agatha in Prison, circa 1624

Oil on canvas

129.8 × 183.2 cm (51.1 × 72.1 in)

Private collection

Simon Vouet, (born January 9, 1590, Paris, France—died June 30, 1649, Paris), painter who introduced an Italianate Baroque style of painting into France.

Vouet formed his style in Italy, where he lived from 1612 to 1627. The use of dramatic contrasts of light and shade seen in such early works as his Two Lovers indicates that he began in Rome as a follower of Caravaggio. Works done after 1620, however, display more idealized figures. Vouet’s Time Vanquished (1627) breaks with the tenebrism of Caravaggio, using the more evenly diffused white light that characterizes his later style.

He returned to Paris in 1627 at the request of Louis XIII, who named him his first painter. Thereafter, Vouet won almost all the important painting commissions and dominated the city artistically for 15 years. He exercised an enormous influence with such works as Riches (c. 1630), which was probably part of the decorative program of the château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Engravings and surviving panels show that he had studied Italian illusionistic ceiling decoration. His other principal undertakings were in the Hôtel de Bullion and in the palace of the Cardinal de Richelieu at Rueil. More on Simon Vouet

Francesco Rustici, said Rustichino

Sant'Agata visited by St. Peter in Prison, 1630 ca.

Oil on canvas

Caltagirone, Capuchin Church

Giovan Francesco Rustici, or Giovanni Francesco Rustici, (1475–1554) was an Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor. He was born into a noble family of Florence, with an independent income. Rustici profited from study of the Medici sculptures in the garden at San Marco, and Lorenzo de' Medici placed him in the studio of Verrocchio. After Verrocchio's departure, Giovan placed himself with Leonardo da Vinci, who had also trained in Verocchio's workshop. He shared lodgings with Leonardo while he was working on the bronze figures for the Baptistry. At this time, Pomponius Gauricus, in De sculptura (1504), named him one of the principal sculptors of Tuscany, the peer of Benedetto da Maiano, Andrea Sansovino and Michelangelo. It may have been made in France, perhaps in the circle of Rustici, who entered Francis I's service in 1528.

At the time of the siege of Florence, 1528, he went to France, where he was pensioned by King Francis I but after the king's death died in poverty at Tours. More on Giovan Francesco Rustici

Jacopo Ligozzi (1547–1627)

Martyrdom of St. Agatha, 1600 ca.

Oil on canvas

Piazza Armerina Cathedral

Jacopo Ligozzi (1547–1627) was an Italian painter, illustrator, designer, and miniaturist. His art can be categorized as late-Renaissance and Mannerist styles. Born in Verona, he was the son of the artist Giovanni Ermano Ligozzi, and part of a large family of painters and artisans. After a time in the Habsburg court in Vienna, where he displayed drawings of animal and botanical specimens, he was invited to come to Florence and became one of the court artists for the Medici.

In 1574 he became head of the Accademia e Compagnia delle Arti del Disegno, the officially patronized guild of artists, which was often called to advise on diverse projects. He served Francesco I, Ferdinando I, Cosimo II and Ferdinando II, Grand Dukes of Tuscany. Late in life, he was named director of the grand-ducal Galleria dei Lavori, a workshop providing designs for artworks made mainly for export: embroidered textiles and for the newly popular medium of pietre dure, mosaics of semiprecious stones and colored marbles. He died in Florence. More on Jacopo Ligozzi

Filippo Paladini

Martyrdom of St. Agatha, c. 1605

Oil on canvas

Catania Cathedral

Filippo Paladini, also known as Philip Benedict Paladini ( Sieve (Italy) , 1544 - Mazzarino , 1614 ), was an Italian painter. He was one of the last masters of the late mannerism Tuscan, not immune from the influence of Caravaggio .

After some trouble with the law, in 1590 he fled to the island of Malta , where he stayed for five years. Subsequently, he become a guest at the court of Prince Branciforte of Mazarin, where he died in 1614 . Many Sicilian churches retain his paintings, made ​​during the last years of life.

He has been confused in the past with the painter Filippo di Lorenzo Paladini from Pistoia (who died in Pisa in 1608), author of the frescoes on the façade of the Clock Palace Pisa, completed after his death by Giovanni Stefano Maruscelli. More on Filippo Paladini

Giambattista Tiepolo

The martyrdom of Saint Agatha

Oil on canvas

Altarpiece at the Museo Antoniano

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (March 5, 1696 – March 27, 1770), see above

Andrea Vaccaro, (Naples 1604–1670)

Saint Agatha

Oil on canvas

135 x 104 cm

Dorotheum,  Wien, Austria

Andrea Vaccaro (Naples 1604-1670), see above

17th century Anonymous painter, 

The martyrdom of Saint Agatha of Sicily (detail)

Oil on canvas

National Museum of San Marino

When she was tortured again, Saint Agatha died after saying a final prayer: "Lord, my Creator, you have always protected me from the cradle; you have taken me from the love of the world and given me patience to suffer. Receive my soul."

Sebastiano del Piombo (1485–1547)

Martyrdom of Saint Agatha, c. 1520

Oil on panel

127 × 178 cm (50 × 70.1 in)

Pitti Palace, Firenze, Italy

Sebastiano del Piombo (c. 1485 – 21 June 1547), byname of Sebastiano Luciani, was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance and early Mannerist periods famous as the only major artist of the period to combine the coloring of the Venetian school in which he was trained with the monumental forms of the Roman school.

His nickname derived from the lucrative Papal appointment as Keeper of the Seal, which he held from 1531. Never a very disciplined or productive painter, his artistic productivity fell still further after this, which committed him to attend on the pope most days, and travel with him. He now painted mostly portraits, and relatively few works of his survive compared to his great contemporaries in Rome. This limited his involvement with the Mannerist style of his later years.

Having achieved success as a lutanist when young, he turned to painting and trained with Giovanni Bellini and Giorgione. When he first went to Rome he worked with Raphael and then became one of the few painters to get on well with Michelangelo, who tried to promote his career by encouraging to compete for commissions against Raphael. More on Sebastiano del Piombo

Francesco Guarino, (1637-1640)

St Agatha's Martyrdom

Oil on canvas

St. Agata Cathedral Association Catania

Francesco Guarino or Guarini (1611-1651 or 1654) see above

Caitlin Karolczak

St Agatha

I have no further description, at this time

This image can be found on various witch-hunting websites as pictorial evidence of the use of torture by the Inquisition. The pictured painting from the early 15th century actually shows the martyrdom of St. Agatha of Catania (250 CE).

Giovanni di Paolo 

St. Agatha, c. 15th century 

Tempera on wood, gold ground 

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Portraits of St. Agatha in the West are readily identified by the presence of a platter holding her severed breasts, as at right. Sometimes she also holds the pincers used to remove them.

Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia (c. 1403–1482) was an Italian painter, working primarily in Siena. He may have apprenticed with Taddeo di Bartolo, becoming a prolific painter and illustrator of manuscripts, including Dante's texts.

He was one of the most important painters of the 15th century Sienese School. His early works show the influence of earlier Sienese masters, but his later style was more individual, characterized by cold, harsh colours and elongated forms. His style also took on the influence of International Gothic artists such as Gentile da Fabriano. Many of his works have an unusual dreamlike atmosphere, such as the surrealistic Miracle of St. Nicholas of Tolentino painted about 1455 and now housed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, while his last works, particularly Last Judgment, Heaven, and Hell from about 1465 and Assumption painted in 1475, both at Pinacoteca Nazionale (Siena), are grotesque treatments of their lofty subjects. Giovanni's reputation declined after his death but was revived in the 20th century. More on Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

The Martyrdom of St. Agatha, about 1750

I have no further description, at this time

(Altarpiece from S. Agata, Lendinara) 

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (March 5, 1696 – March 27, 1770), also known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice. He was prolific, and worked not only in Italy, but also in Germany and Spain.

Successful from the beginning of his career, he has been described by Michael Levey as "the greatest decorative painter of eighteenth-century Europe, as well as its most able craftsman." More on Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Because one of the tortures she supposedly suffered was to have her breasts cut off, she was often depicted carrying her breasts on a plate. It is thought that blessing of the bread that takes place on her feast may have come from the mistaken notion that she was carrying loaves of bread.

Francesco Cairo, (26 September 1607 – 27 July 1665) 

The Martyrdom of Saint Agnes, c. 1634-5

Oil on Canvas

Galleria Sabauda

Francesco Cairo (26 September 1607 – 27 July 1665) was an Italian Baroque painter active in Lombardy and Piedmont. He was born and died in Milan. It is not known where he obtained his early training though he is strongly influenced by the circle of il Morazzone, in works such as the Saint Teresa altarpiece in the Certosa di Pavia.

 

In 1633, Cairo moved to Turin to work as a court painter. Between 1637–1638, Cairo travelled to Rome, where he encounters the works of Pietro da Cortona, Guido Reni and of the Caravaggisti. He returns to Lombardy to complete altarpieces for the Certosa of Pavia and a church at Casalpusterlengo. Between 1646–1649, he returns to Turin, and paints an altarpiece for Savigliano and the church of San Salvario. He is also known as Il Cavalière del Cairo, because in Turin, he received the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus in recognition of his merit.

 

Many of his works are eccentric depictions of religious ecstasies; the saints appear liquefied and contorted by piety. He often caps them with exuberant, oriental turbans. More on Francesco Cairo

Because she was asked for help during the eruption of Mount Etna she is considered a protector against the outbreak of fire. She is also considered the patroness of bellmakers for an unknown reason -- though some speculate it may have something to do with the fact that bells were used as fire alarms. More on Saint Agnes

Giulio Campi, (1500 – 5 March 1572)

The Burial of St. Agatha, c.  1537

Fresco

Basilica di Sant'Agata (Cremona)

Giulio Campi (1500 – 5 March 1572) was an Italian painter and architect. The eldest of a family of prominent painters, Campi was born at Cremona. His father Galeazzo (1475–1536) taught him the first lessons in art.

In 1522, in Mantua, he studied painting, architecture, and modelling under Giulio Romano. He visited Rome, became an ardent student of the antique, and like Bernardino he combined a Lombard and Roman traditions. He collaborated on some works with Camillo Boccaccino, the son of Boccaccio Boccaccino, with whom Campi may also have received training.

When he was just twenty-seven Giulio executed for the church of Sant'Abondio his masterpiece, a Virgin and Child with Sts Celsus and Nazarus, a decoration masterly in the freedom of its drawing and in the splendour of its color. Many of his fresco works are housed in churches of Cremona, Mantua, Milan and in the church of Saint Margaret's, in his native town. Among his chief works are the Descent from the Cross in San Sigismondo at Cremona, and the frescoes in the dome of San Girolamo at Mantua. He was involved in the reconstruction and decoration of the church of Santa Rita in Cremona. 

He died in Cremona in 1572. More on Giulio Campi

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 in Caravaggio – 18 July 1610) 

Sant'Agata greater altar, c. 1519

(The Virgin and Child, between S. John, St. Joseph, St. Jerome and a holy bishop (Augustine?)

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

Master of Sant'Agata di Castroreale

Sant'Agata and stories of her life, 1410 ca.

Castroreale, Pinacoteca di Santa Maria degli Angeli

I have no information about this artist!

Festival of Saint Agatha – Ph. Fallica

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