18 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Paintings from the Bible by the Old Masters, with footnotes, 2

Orazio Borgianni - ROME 1574 - 1616
CHRIST AMONGST THE DOCTORS
oil on canvas
78.2 by 104.6 cm.; 30 3/4 by 41 1/4 in.

This extraordinary painting Orazio Borgianni was first published by Federico Zeri in 1956, when the painting was in a New York private collection. Borgianni was born in Rome on 6 April 1574, the son of a wood-painter.  After completing his early training in Rome, Borgianni travelled to Spain where he is recorded from 1598 and his presence there in the first decade of the 17th century is documented intermittently. The biographer Giovanni Baglione tells us he took a wife there and set up an art academy: he is indeed listed among the founders of the Academia de San Lucas in Madrid at the end of June 1603. 

By June 1606 Borgianni had settled back permanently in Rome.  Whilst in Spain he forged links with the artistocracy and found patrons among them, especially those in the inner circle of Philip III's favourite, the duque de Lerma. Francisco Ruiz de Castro was later to become Spanish ambassador in Rome and his secretary, Juan de Lezcano, not only owned numerous paintings by Borgianni (twelve are listed in his will of 1631) but most probably commissioned the present work directly from the artist. More

Pieter Brueghel the Younger - BRUSSELS 1564 - 1637/8 ANTWERP
SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST PREACHING TO THE MASSES IN THE WILDERNESS
oil on oak panel
91.1 by 140.5 cm.; 35 7/8 by 55 1/4 in

Of all Brueghel's treatments of this subject, at least fourteen others, this version would appear to best record their original appearance, given the extraordinary survival of, in particular, the azurite pigments which in all other versions known either first hand or in colour reproduction have at least partly oxidized. This painting thus allows us a unique glimpse of Brueghel's glittering interplay of the three primary colours that, with his own treatments of the composition, he galvanises from that of his father's original, replacing, for example, the cream coloured cape of the figure seated in the central foreground with one that is bright blue, and extending these stark azurite pigments into other items of clothing and headgear throughout the masses.  

The composition, with dozens of bodies pressed up against each other, was the perfect vehicle for Brueghel to experiment. Such is the diversity of the crowd that the painting becomes less a narrative on John the Baptist's act of preaching and more a fascinating study of the different classes, races and dispositions of the human race, as well as of the variety of inclinations of each protagonist's dress, the fascinating array of hats worn by the figures in the foreground being a case in point. In early seventeenth-century Flanders the subject would have been markedly less impactful than in 1566 when Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the artist's father, conceived it. His original has long been considered to be a comment on the religious debates that raged in the Low Countries at the time, the inspiration being the secret meetings and sermons attended en masse by Protestant reformers out in the countryside. The banning of such heathen activities as palm-reading is defied here by the figure dressed in black, kneeling, in the very centre of the composition. This figure has often been thought to be a portrait, either of the artist himself, the patron, or, as has been suggested, Thomas Armenteros, advisor to Margaret of Parma. More

Pieter Brueghel the Younger
BRUSSELS 1564 - 1637/8 ANTWERP
THE BATTLE BETWEEN CARNIVAL AND LENT
oil on oak panel
117 by 165 cm.; 46 by 65 in

The Fight Between Carnival and Lent is an oil-on-panel work painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1559. This painting depicts a common festival of the period, as celebrated in the Southern Netherlands.[1] It presents the contrast between two sides of contemporary life, as can be seen by the appearance of the inn on the left side - for enjoyment, and the church on the right side - for religious observance.

The busy scene depicts well-behaved children near the church and a beer drinking scene near the inn. At the centre is a well, showing the coming together of different parts of the community, and other scenes show a fish stall and two competing floats.

The painting is part of the collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. More

Bartolomeo Cavarozzi - VITERBO 1587-1625 ROME
THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC
oil on canvas
116 by 175 cm.; 45 5/8  by 68 7/8  in.

This masterpiece of early naturalism was painted around 1617, probably in Spain, by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi, one of Caravaggio’s most successful and accomplished followers. Such are its quality and dramatic impact that for several years after its rediscovery in 1987 the painting was associated with Caravaggio himself and it has been exhibited as such numerous times in the recent past. The cinematographic intensity of the spot-lit scene is tempered by a serenity unexpected in a depiction of one of the Old Testament's most enigmatic and potentially catastrophic episodes which is recounted in Genesis 22. More

Bartolomeo Cavarozzi was born at Viterbo, he traveled to Spain with his teacher to help paint and build the Pantheon at the Escorial. He adopted the style of Cristofano Roncalli. He painted a St Ursula and Her Companions with Pope Ciriacus and St Catherine of Alexandria (1608) for the Confraternità delle Sante Orsola e Caterina. He died in Rome. More

Pieter Brueghel the Younger - BRUSSELS 1564 - 1637/8 ANTWERP

THE TOWER OF BABEL

oil on oak panel

145 by 176.5 cm.; 57 by 69 1/2 in.

This is one of Pieter Brueghel the Younger's most monumental and imposing pictures, and not only because of its overwhelming subject. It is also one of his earliest pictures: one that belongs as thoroughly to the 16th century as his later kermesses belong to the 17th. Pieter Brueghel the Younger was an outstandingly successful painter in his own time, and his works remain extremely sought-after today. His career and enduring reputation was based on the production of paintings, like this one, that are based on compositions by his father, Pieter Bruegel the Elder. This is however one of Pieter Brueghel the Younger's rarest subjects, known only in this painting and one other. More

School of ANTHONY VAN DYCK (British, 1599-1641)
The Road to Calvary, 17th century
Oil on canvas
76-1/2 x 59 inches (194.3 x 149.9 cm)

Christ Carrying the Cross on his way to his crucifixion is an episode included in all four Gospels, and a very common subject in art, especially in the fourteen Stations of the Cross, sets of which are now found in almost all Catholic churches. Alternative names include the Procession to Calvary, Road to Calvary and Way to Calvary, Calvary or Golgotha being the site of the crucifixion outside Jerusalem. The actual route taken is defined by tradition as the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, although the specific path of this route has varied over the centuries and continues to be the subject of debate. More

Sir Anthony van Dyck, (22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England, after enjoying great success in Italy and Flanders. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next 150 years. He also painted biblical and mythological subjects, displayed outstanding facility as a draughtsman, and was an important innovator in watercolour and etching. More

Circle of WOLFGANG ANDREAS HEINDL (Austrian, 1693-1757)

Saint Michael

Oil on canvas

51 x 32 inches (129.5 x 81.3 cm)

Michael, is an archangel in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as "Saint Michael the Archangel" and also as "Saint Michael". Orthodox Christians refer to him as the "Taxiarch Archangel Michael" or simply "Archangel Michael".

In the New Testament Michael leads God's armies against Satan's forces in the Book of Revelation, where during the war in heaven he defeats Satan. In the Epistle of Jude Michael is specifically referred to as "the archangel Michael". Christian sanctuaries to Michael appeared in the 4th century, when he was first seen as a healing angel, and then over time as a protector and the leader of the army of God against the forces of evil. By the 6th century, devotions to Archangel Michael were widespread both in the Eastern and Western Churches. Over time, teachings on Michael began to vary among Christian denominations. More

Wolfgang Andreas Heindl (Born 1693 in Linz ; 28 July 1757 in Wels) was busy in the Bavarian and Austrian Danube Region painter ( fresco painter ) in the the Baroque time.

From In 1719 he worked as a janitor at Kremsmünsterer Freihaus in Wels. In 1735 he became a freelance painter and restaurateur in Wels. More

Karl Gampenrieder (1860-1930)

Painting, Madonna, c. 1890

Oil on canvas

Signed lower center ‘Gampenrieder’

Inscribed ‘GAMPENRIEDER / MADONNA’ on the verso

Dimensions: 94 x 75 cm

This painting by Karl Gampenrieder depicts an extraordinary motif for the Munich society portraitist – a Madonna. The Virgin is depicted seated before a stylized landscape, in an iconographically typical pose wearing a purple robe and richly pleated cape. With a proud gaze she looks down at the viewer, holding the Divine Child in her arm. Although the heads are crowned by delicate nimbuses, Gampenrieder not merely rendered a votive image of the Madonna and the Son of God but succeeded in creating an emotive portrait of a loving young mother with her child.

Jusepe de Ribera, called Spagnoletto - JÁTIVA, VALENCIA 1591 - 1652 NAPLES

CHRIST BLESSING

oil on canvas

61.8 by 49.2 cm.; 24 3/8  by 19 1/4  in.

This is a characteristic work by Ribera from the early 1630s, a time when the artist was well-settled in Naples and firmly established as the greatest exponent of the physical naturalism for which Neapolitan painting would be famed in the seventeenth century. Ribera’s single-figure subjects, which account for the vast majority of his œuvre, are invariably depictions of men at an age that allowed the artist to masterfully express, through wrinkled brows, sunken eyes and rugous, well-worn knuckles, the effects on the face and hands of a life well-lived. Here, however, he depicts a youthful Christ, his skin smooth and his hair silken.  It is however an image based on the realism for which he always strove, the two folded fingers, for example, revealing dirt under their nails. In both execution and design it is broadly comparable to a painting of the same subject in the Prado, also datable circa 1630–32, and to the depiction of St. James the Lesser from the same series, also in the Prado. All three faces share the same extended, very straight nose and sharply delineated eyes.

Giandomenico Tiepolo - VENICE 1727 - 1804

CHRIST AND THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY

oil on canvas

48 by 57 cm.; 18 7/8  by 22 1/2  in.

Jesus and the woman taken in adultery is a biblical episode from John 7:53-8:11 where Jesus encounters an adulteress brought before Pharisees and scribes, which has been depicted by many artists. Such a crime was punishable by death by stoning, however, in the scene, Jesus says to the crowd "he that is without sin among you, let him first cast the stone at her".

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (August 30, 1727 – March 3, 1804) was an Italian painter and printmaker in etching. He was the son of artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and elder brother of Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo. Domenico was born in Venice, studied under his father, and by the age of 13 was the chief assistant to him. He was one of the many assistants. By the age of 20, he was producing his own work for commissioners. More

Giandomenico Tiepolo - VENICE 1727 - 1804

CHRIST HEALING THE BLIND MAN

oil on canvas

48 by 65.5 cm.; 18 7/8  by 25 3/4  in.

Francesco Botticini - FLORENCE 1446 - 1497

THE MADONNA AND CHILD IN A LANDSCAPE, WITH THE INFANT SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

tempera on panel, rounded top

94.3 by 54.5 cm.; 37 1/8  by 21 1/2  in.

Raffaellino del Garbo - FLORENCE 1466 (?) - 1524

THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH THE INFANT SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST, BEYOND THEM A LANDSCAPE WITH SAINTS JEROME AND FRANCIS

oil on panel, a tondo

diameter: 87 cm; 34 1/4  in

Florentine School, circa 1560

THE DESCENT INTO LIMBO

oil on panel

146 by 114 cm.; 57 1/2  by 44 7/8  in.

In this innovative composition, Christ is portrayed from behind as he embarks upon his descent into Limbo, the zone before the entrance to Hell, where he traveled after his death and before his Resurrection. The story is not found in the New Testament but was part of early Church teachings and by the fifteenth century was an accepted Christian belief

Workshop Domenico Tintoretto

Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata

Oil on canvas

Italy, 1st half 17th century

Workshop of Domenico Tintoretto, origin. Robusti (1560-1635) - Venetian painter, son of Jacobo Tintoretto

Dimensions: 120 x 126 cm

Domenico Tintoretto and his father's workshop, which Domenico took over after the death of his father Jacobo

Saint Francis of Assisi (1181 / 82-1226), who received the stigmata of Christ since Michaels Day in the year 1224, is considered the first historically documented case of stigmatization. The subject of the Stigmata of St. Francis was already widespread in the fourteenth century, the best-known representations include the frescoes by Giotto di Bondone.

Workshop of Francisco de Zurbarán - FUENTE DE CANTOS, BADAJOZ 1598 - 1664 MADRID

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

bears inscription on the reverse: DE. BA(in ligature)ar.DE(in ligature)

oil on canvas

169 by 107 cm.; 66 1/2  by 42 1/8  in.

This painting was first published by the great Spanish scholar Diego Añgulo in 1983 as a new discovery by Zurbarán, one of the most original and important Spanish masters of the seventeenth century. The attribution was accepted by successive scholars, among them Alonso Pérez Sánchez in 1993, but has more recently been challenged by Odile Delenda (see Literature) who considers it to be the work of an as yet unidentified follower of Zurbarán, also working in Seville in the late 1620s.

Circle of Domenico Zampieri

Mary Magdalene, Painting, 17th C

Oil on canvas, relined

Dimension of canvas: 75.6 x 61.5 cm


Jean Fouquet (1420–1480) 
Madonna Surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim, 1452
Medium oil on panel
Height: 94.5 cm (37.2 in). Width: 85.5 cm (33.7 in)

Acknowledgment: Auctionata AG, Sotheby's, 

13 Drawings - RELIGIOUS ART - Drawings from the Bible by the Old Masters! 1

Artists: Giorgio Vasari, Carlo Maratta, Gioacchino Martorana, Paolo Caliari/Veronese, Ventura di Archangelo Salimbeni, Luca Cambiasi/Cangiagio, Guido Reni, Francesco Solimena, Doménikos Theotokopoulos, Francisco Rizi, Domenico Campagnola, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Lazzaro Baldi

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)

The Coronation of the Virgin

Pen and brown ink

7 x 23 cm. (2 3/4 x 9 in)

Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian painter, architect, writer and historian, most famous for his "Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects", considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.

Often called "the first art historian", Vasari invented the genre of the encyclopedia of artistic biographies, which was first published in 1550. He was the first to use the term "Renaissance" (rinascita) in print, and he was responsible for our use of the term Gothic Art, though he only used the word Goth which he associated with the "barbaric" German style.  The book was partly rewritten and enlarged in 1568, with the addition of woodcut portraits of artists (some conjectural).

The work has a consistent and notorious bias in favour of Florentines and tends to attribute to them all the developments in Renaissance art... More

Circle of Carlo Maratta (1625-1713)

Study of Christ Child, with left arm outstretched grasping an apple, supported by the hand of another

Black chalk on laid paper 

24 x 17.5 cm. (9 1/2 x 6 7/8 in)

Carlo Maratta or Maratti (13 May 1625 – 15 December 1713) was an Italian painter, active mostly in Rome, and known principally for his classicizing paintings executed in a Late Baroque Classical manner. Although he is part of the classical tradition stemming from Raphael, he was not exempt from the influence of Baroque painting and particularly in his use of colour.

Circle of Gioacchino Martorana (c.1735-1779)

David La unta va da Samueli

Samuel anointing David, who kneels surrounded by figures

Pen and brown ink, with grey wash, over graphite

left 17 x 14 cm. (6 3/4 x 5 1/2 in)

Gioacchino Martorana ( Palermo , 1735 - 1779 ) was a painter Italian .

Son of the painter Pietro, from whom he received his the first art lessons. In 1749 he went to Rome for an apprenticeship from "the Conca", directed by Vasi, a disciple of his father.

Then Martorana was a student of Benefial, which was an Academic of San Luca, again thanks to recommendations of Vasi, whose daughter Caterina he married. In 1759 he returned to Rome to remain there until the early sixties. From 1764 he was active in the capital island Palero where he had art work commissions for churches and aristocratic palace. More

Follower of Paolo Veronese (1528-1588)

Adoration of the Shepherds, with St Jerome.

Pen and black ink, brown wash, heightened with white, on paper support laid onto canvas 

Bears inscription P Veronese

41 x 26.5 cm. (16 x 10 1/2 in)

Saint Jerome ( c.  347 – 30 September 420) was an Illyrian Latin Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, who also became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, born at Stridon, a village on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia. He is best known for his translation of most of the Bible into Latin, and his commentaries on the Gospels. His list of writings is extensive. Known as the “protégé” of Pope Damasus I, who died in December of 384, Jerome became well known for outlining the type of lifestyle that was acceptable for Christians living in cosmopolitan centers like Rome. In many cases, he focused his attention to the lives of women and identified how a woman devoted to Jesus Christ should live her life. This concentration stemmed from his close patron relationships with several prominent female ascetics who were members of affluent Roman “senatorial families”. More

Paolo Caliari/Veronese (1528 – 19 April 1588) was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, most famous for large historical paintings of both religious and mythological subjects. 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.

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. More

Follower of Ventura Salimbeni (1568-1613)

The Marriage of the Virgin

Black chalk, touches of brown wash, on laid paper, with ruled border Inscribed West in black ink by a later hand

19.5 x 14 cm. (7 3/4 x 5 1/2 in) 

The present composition directly relates to an etching of the same subject by Salimbeni, printed circa 1590

The Marriage of the Virgin is the subject in Christian art depicting the marriage of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The marriage is not mentioned in the canonical Gospels but is covered in several apocryphal sources, and later redactions, notably the 14th century compilation the Golden Legend. Unlike many other scenes in Life of the Virgin cycles (like the Nativity of Mary and Presentation of Mary), it is not a feast in the church calendar. More

Ventura di Archangelo Salimbeni (also later called Bevilacqua; 20 January 1568 – 1613) was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker and among the last representatives of a style influenced by the earlier Sienese School of Quattrocento-Renaissance.He was born in Siena. and studied painting, under his father, Arcangelo Salimbeni.

He moved to Rome in 1588 to work, together with others, on the fresco painting of the Vatican Library under pope Sixtus V.

He got a commission for paintings in the Roman Jesuit Church of the Gesù and the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. These paintings show the influence of the Mannerist Cavalier D'Arpino and Andrea Lillio.

Salimbeni returned to Siena in 1595. He was influenced by Federico Barocci as can be seen in the draperies, highlighted with abrupt changes of light and flickering surfaces, of his painting "Birth of a Virgin" in the San Domenico church in Ferrara (1607–1608).

He is known for detailed preparatory drawings, most of which are now in the Uffizi in Florence. At around 1600, he began painting the "Life of St Hyacinth" for the Sienese church of Santo Spirito. He continued to create paintings for churches throughout Italy, including Florence. At the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata di Firenze, he frescoed lunettes (1605–1608) illustrating events in the history of the Servite Order. In the Duomo di San Salvatore, he executed a magnificent John the Baptist.

Around 1600, he got an assignment in Assisi for a fresco of the "Resurrection of Christ" and the "Dying Saint Clare is visited by the pope" in the vault of chapel of San Massimo in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli.

At the same time he was painting the "Vision of Gregory the Great" and the "Punishment of David" in the Basilica of San Pietro in Perugia. He invested with the Order of the Golden Spur, a very selective papal order. 

His last work of art was the oil painting the "Marriage of the Virgin" for the Seminario Diocesano in Foligno in 1613. More

Luca Cambiaso (1527-1585)

St Mark with an open book, and lion at his side

Pen and brown ink, with brown wash, over touches of black chalk, on laid paper 

37 x 27.5 cm. (14 1/2 x 10 3/4 in)

About this work: A large and dramatic drawing that captures both the pace and distinctive draughtsmanship of Cambiaso. The scale and controlled handling of the ink is reminiscent of Cambiaso's Hercules shooting his bow (Ercole tirando il suo arco), 1544-50. The inclusion of the bed of clouds that St Jerome sits upon in the present composition, and which engulfs the lower right corner of the work. The drawing was possibly one of several preliminary studies that Cambiaso would have executed before reaching the final design, which includes two lions, amongst other differences. 

Luca Cambiasi/Cangiagio (18 November 1527 – 6 September 1585) was an Italian painter and draftsman, familiarly known as Lucchetto da Genova. He was born at Moneglia, the Republic of Genoa, the son of a painter named Giovanni Cambiasi.

Cambiasi was precocious, and painting at the age of fifteen. In 1544, at the age of seventeen, he was involved in the decoration of the Palazzo Doria, now the Prefettura. He aided in the vault decoration of the church of San Matteo. 

The 1911 Britannica states that Cambiasi by his thirties began to decline in skill, though not at once in reputation, owing to the vexations brought upon him by a passion which he conceived for his sister-in-law. His wife having died, and the sister-in-law had taken charge of his house and children, he failed to procure a papal dispensation for marrying her.

In 1583 he accepted an invitation from Philip II, the principal reason for traveling to Spain was that he hoped royal influence would gain favor with the Vatican for his marriage plans, but this failed. 

His son Orazio Cambiasi became a painter. More

Circle of Guido Reni (1575-1642) 

St Mary Magdalene looking upwards, with cross and putti behind

Pen and brownish black ink, over red chalk, incised for transfer, with ruled border 

13.5 x 10.5 cm. (5 1/4 x 4 1/8 in)

Guido Reni (4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style. Born in Bologna into a family of musicians, At the age of nine, he was apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert. He may also have trained with a painter by the name of Ferrantini. When Reni was about twenty years old, he migrated to the rising rival studio, named Accademia degli Incamminati (Academy of the "newly embarked", or progressives), led by Lodovico Carracci. He went on to form the nucleus of a prolific and successful school of Bolognese painters who followed Annibale Carracci to Rome. Like many other Bolognese painters, Reni's painting was thematic and eclectic in style. More

Francesco Solimena (1657-1747)

Study for Fall of the Rebel Angels d.1747

Black chalk, on thick laid paper Bears old pen and brown ink 

25.5 x 19 cm. (10 x 7 1/2 in)

The composition of the present drawing relates to several known paintings by Francesco Solimena. The recumbent figure also appears as a type that Solimena employed in a number of commissions.

The Book of Revelation describes a "war in heaven" between angels led by the archangel Michael versus those led by "Satan", who is defeated and thrown down to the earth. Revelation's "war in heaven" has been compared to the idea of fallen angels, and possible parallels have been proposed in the Hebrew Bible and Dead Sea Scrolls. More

Francesco Solimena (October 4, 1657 – April 3, 1747) was a prolific Italian painter of the Baroque era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen. He was born in Canale di Serino, near Avellino.

He received early training from his father, Angelo Solimena. He settled in Naples in 1674, there he worked in the studio of Francesco di Maria and later Giacomo del Po. He apparently had taken the clerical orders, but was patronized early on, and encouraged to become an artist by Cardinal Vincenzo Orsini (later Pope Benedict XIII). By the 1680s, he had independent fresco commissions, and his active studio came to dominate Neapolitan painting from the 1690s through the first four decades of the 18th century. He was a highly conventional painter—after the Roman Baroque masters, whose technique of warm brownish shadowing Solimena emulated. Solimena painted many frescoes in Naples, altarpieces, celebrations of weddings and courtly occasions, mythological subjects, characteristically chosen for their theatrical drama, and portraits. His numerous preparatory drawings often mix media, combining pen-and-ink, chalk and watercolor washes. More

Attributed to Doménikos Theotokopoulos, called El Greco

CANDÍA, CRETE 1541 – 1614 TOLEDO

PIETÀ

Pen and brown ink and different shades of brown wash, over traces of black chalk

244 by 167 mm

More

The Pietà (Italian) is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ. When Christ and the Virgin are surrounded by other figures from the New Testament, the subject is strictly called a Lamentation in English, although Pietà is often used for this as well, and is the normal term in Italian. More

El Greco, born Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541 – 7 April 1614), was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" ("The Greek") was a nickname, a reference to his Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letter.

El Greco was born in Crete, which was at that time part of the Republic of Venice, and the center of Post-Byzantine art. He became a master and at age 26 travelled to Venice.] In 1570 he moved to Romes. During his stay in Italy, El Greco enriched his style with elements of Mannerism and of the Venetian Renaissance. In 1577, he moved to Toledo, Spain, where he lived and worked until his death.

El Greco's dramatic and expressionistic style was met with puzzlement by his contemporaries but found appreciation in the 20th century.] He is best known for tortuously elongated figures and often fantastic or phantasmagorical pigmentation, marrying Byzantine traditions with those of Western painting. More

Francisco Rizi - MADRID 1608 - 1685 ESCORIAL

THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. ANDREW

Pen and brown ink with red-brown wash, squared for transfer in black chalk, arched top

596 by 297 mm

More

Andrew the Apostle, also known as Saint Andrew, was a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter.

Arms thrown wide, Saint Andrew implores the heavens above while soldiers tie him to a cross in the shape of an X. His executioner, the Roman governor Egeas, watches from a classical porch above, and confusion reigns as soldiers try to push back the surging crowd.

Francisco Rizi (1608–1685) was a Spanish painter born at Madrid. Rizi was first trained by Vincencio Carducho. He became painter to Philip IV in 1656, and held the office under Charles II, who added to it the deputy-keepership of the royal keys. A few years prior, he was appointed painter to the Cathedral of Toledo. Rizi died at El Escorial. More

Domenico Campagnola - PADUA 1484 - 1550 (?)

THE FLAGELLATION

Pen and brown ink over black chalk

220 by 378 mm

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The Flagellation of Christ, sometimes known as Christ at the Column or the Scourging at the Pillar, is a scene from the Passion of Christ very frequently shown in Christian art, in cycles of the Passion or the larger subject of the Life of Christ. It is the fourth station of the modern alternate Stations of the Cross, and a Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary. The column to which Christ is normally tied, and the rope, scourge, whip or birch are elements in the Arma Christi. The Basilica di Santa Prassede in Rome, claimed to possess the original column. More

Domenico Campagnola (c. 1500 – 1564) was an Italian painter and printmaker in engraving and woodcut of the Venetian Renaissance. Born in Venice, he was the pupil of his father, the leading engraver and painter Giulio Campagnola. He was presumably trained initially by his father, and may also have been a pupil of Titian. Much of his early painting may be of landscape backgrounds in Titians. In his lifetime he was a successful painter, mostly in Padua (Giulio's home town), where he was based from the early 1520s onwards. Mostly he painted on walls, including decorative schemes, but portraits and landscapes are also attributed to him. His works as a painter are not highly regarded by modern art historians though some landscapes are of high quality. More

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called il Guercino

CENTO 1591 - 1666 BOLOGNA

A FEMALE NUDE LOOKING TO THE RIGHT, HALF LENGTH, RESTING HER RIGHT ARM ON A CUSHION - Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

Red chalk

247 by 220 mm

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Potiphar is a person known only from the Book of Genesis's account of Joseph. Potiphar is the captain of the palace guard and is referred to without name in the Quran. Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, is taken to Egypt where he is sold to Potiphar as a household slave. Potiphar makes Joseph the head of his household, but Potiphar's wife, who is not named in the Bible or in Christian tradition, is furious at Joseph for resisting her attempts to seduce him, and falsely accuses him of attempted rape. Potiphar casts Joseph into prison, from where he later comes to the notice of Pharaoh through his ability to interpret the dreams of other prisoners. More

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666), best known as Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from the region of Emilia, and active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous naturalism of his early manner is in contrast to the classical equilibrium of his later works. His many drawings are noted for their luminosity and lively style. More

Lazzaro Baldi - PISTOIA 1624 - 1703 ROME

THE ANNUNCIATION TO JOACHIM AND ANNA

Point of the brush and black and brown wash heightened with white, with some indentations, on grey prepared paper;

a cut-out and made up pentimento for the entire figure of Joachim

304 by 219 mm

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By tradition Joachim and Anne are considered to be the names of the parents of Mary, the Mother of God. We have no historical evidence, however, of any elements of their lives, including their names. Any stories about Mary's father and mother come to us through legend and tradition. More

Lazzaro Baldi (c. 1624 – 30 March 1703) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome. He was born in Pistoia and died in Rome. He moved to Rome to form part of the large studio directed by Pietro da Cortona, where Baldi became adept at fresco technique. He painted a David and Goliath for Alexander VII in the Palazzo Quirinale, as well as frescoes (1658) for the church of San Giovanni in Oleo and a San Giovanni in Patmos(1660–1665) for San Giovanni in Laterano... More