01 Paintings, Olympian deities, by the Old Masters, with footnotes # 11b

Max Pietschmann, (1865 - 1952)

A Centaur, kidnapping a nymph, fighting with the sea god Triton, c. 1886

Oil on canvas

47,4 x 34,9 cm.

Private collection

A centaur  is a mythological creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse.

The centaurs were usually said to have been born of Ixion and Nephele (the cloud made in the image of Hera). Another version, however, makes them children of a certain Centaurus, who mated with the Magnesian mares. This Centaurus was either himself the son of Ixion and Nephele (inserting an additional generation) or of Apolloand Stilbe, daughter of the river god Peneus. In the later version of the story his twin brother was Lapithes, ancestor of the Lapiths, thus making the two warring peoples cousins. More Centaur

A nymph in Greek and Latin mythology is a minor female nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from other goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing; their amorous freedom sets them apart from the restricted and chaste wives and daughters of the Greek polis. They are beloved by many and dwell in mountainous regions and forests by lakes and streams. Although they would never die of old age nor illness, and could give birth to fully immortal children if mated to a god, they themselves were not necessarily immortal, and could be beholden to death in various forms. More on nymphs

Triton is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the sea. He is the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, god and goddess of the sea respectively, and is herald for his father. He is usually represented as a merman, having the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish.

Like his father, Poseidon, he carried a trident. However, Triton's special attribute was a twisted conch shell, on which he blew like a trumpet to calm or raise the waves. Its sound was such a cacophony, that when loudly blown, it put the giants to flight, who imagined it to be the roar of a dark wild beast.

Triton was the father of Pallas and foster parent to the goddess Athena. Triton can sometimes be multiplied into a host of Tritones, daimones of the sea. More on Triton 

Max Ernst Pietschmann (* 28. April 1865 in Dresden , † 1952 in Niederpoyritz ,  Dresden) was a German painter .

Pietschmann completed his studies at the Dresden Art Academy from 1883 to 1889. Pietschmann belonged to the painter colony in Goppeln near Dresden, which specialized in outdoor painting. He spent two years with Hans Unger in Italy, after which he continued his studies at the Académie Julian in Paris , where he mainly dealt with life drawing.  In the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris , he received an award. He then settled again in Dresden, where he joined the first Dresden Secession movement around the turn of the century, the Association of Visual Artists of Dresden. 

Under the pseudonym " Fr. (Francois) Laubnitz"  he painted pictures that were very popular in the first half of the 20th century as mural prints.

Pietschmann died in 1952 in the Niederpoyritz district of Dresden and was buried in the Hosterwitzer cemetery. More on Max Ernst Pietschmann

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, and The Canals of Venice

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05 Contemporary Interpretations, Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion, with footnotes #3

Odilon Redon, (French, Bordeaux 1840–1916 Paris)

The Chariot of Apollo, c. 1905–16

Oil on canvas

26 x 32 in. (66 x 81.3 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

About 1900 Redon abandoned his trademark black charcoal drawings and began avidly experimenting with color. He also explored new subjects, including the mythological horses of the sun, driven by Apollo, god of light and poetry; or by Phaethon, the boy who foolishly tried to steer the horses and fell to his death. Redon made over thirty depictions of the motif in oil, pastel, and pencil. In this version he omitted any indication of a ground plane, so that the horses and charioteer appear to race across a boundless sky. More on this painting

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion, and Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis.

As the patron of Delphi (Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. Amongst the god's custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, and as the patron defender of herds and flocks. As the leader of the Muses (Apollon Musegetes) and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry.

In Hellenistic times, especially during the 3rd century BCE, as Apollo Helios he became identified among Greeks with Helios, Titan god of the sun, and his sister Artemis similarly equated with Selene, Titan goddess of the moon. More on Apollo

Bertrand-Jean Redon better known as Odilon Redon (April 20, 1840 - July 6, 1916) was a Symbolist painter and printmaker, born in Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France. Odilon was a nickname derived from his mother, Odile.

Redon started drawing as a young child, and at the age of 10 he was awarded a drawing prize at school. At age 15, he began formal study in drawing but on the insistence of his father he switched to architecture. His failure to pass the entrance exams at Paris' Ecole des Beaux-Arts ended any plans for a career as an architect, although he would later study there under Jean-Leon Gerome.

He took up sculpture, and Rodolphe Bresdin instructed him in etching and lithography. His artistic career was interrupted in 1870 when he joined the army to serve in the Franco-Prussian War.

At the end of the war, he moved to Paris, working almost exclusively in charcoal and lithography. It would not be until 1878 that his work gained any recognition with Guardian Spirit of the Waters, and he published his first album of lithographs.

In the 1890s, he began to use pastel and oils, which dominated his works for the rest of his life. In 1899, he exhibited with the Nabis at Durand-Ruel's. In 1903 he was awarded the Legion of Honor. His popularity increased when a catalogue of etchings and lithographs was published by Andre Mellerio in 1913 and that same year, he was given the largest single representation at the New York Armory Show.  More on Bertrand-Jean Redon

Roberto Ferri, (born 1978) 

Naiade, 2012

Oil on canvas

44 x 80 cm

Private collection

In Greek mythology, the Naiads are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water.

They are distinct from river gods, who embodied rivers, and the very ancient spirits that inhabited the still waters of marshes, ponds and lagoon-lakes, such as pre-Mycenaean Lerna in the Argolis.

Naiads were associated with fresh water, as the Oceanids were with saltwater and the Nereids specifically with the Mediterranean, but because the ancient Greeks thought of the world's waters as all one system, which percolated in from the sea in deep cavernous spaces within the earth, there was some overlap. Arethusa, the nymph of a spring, could make her way through subterranean flows from the Peloponnesus, to surface on the island of Sicily. More on Naiads

Roberto Ferri, (born 1978), see below

Roberto Ferri, (born 1978) 

Nereide, 2012

Oil on canvas

90-x-50-cm

Private collection

In Greek mythology, the Nereids are sea nymphs. They often accompany Poseidon, the god of the sea, and can be friendly and helpful to sailors, like the Argonauts in their search for the Golden Fleece.

They symbolized everything that is beautiful and kind about the sea. Their melodious voices sang as they danced around their father. They are represented as very beautiful girls, crowned with branches of red coralt. They were part of Poseidon's entourage and carried his trident. More on the Nereids 

Roberto Ferri (born 1978) is an Italian artist and painter from Taranto, Italy, who is deeply inspired by Baroque painters (Caravaggio in particular) and other old masters of Romanticism, the Academy, and Symbolism. 

In 1996, he graduated from the Liceo Artistico Lisippo Taranto, a local art school in his hometown. He began to study painting on his own and moved to Rome in 1999, to increase research on ancient painting, beginning at the end of the 16th century, in particular. In 2006, he graduated with honors from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.

His work is represented in important private collections in Rome, Milan, London, Paris, New York, Madrid, Barcelona, Miami, San Antonio (Texas), Qatar, Dublin, Boston, Malta, and the Castle of Menerbes in Provence. His work was featured in the controversial Italian pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2011, and has exhibited at Palazzo Cini, Venice in the Kitsch Biennale 2010.  

More Roberto Ferri

Roberto Manetta, Italy

The Nymph of the Woods

Photography

59.1 H x 39.4 W x 15.7 in

Private collection

A nymph in Greek mythology and in Latin mythology is a minor female nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from other goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing; their amorous freedom sets them apart from the restricted and chaste wives and daughters of the Greek polis.

A dryad is a tree nymph, specifically the nymphs of oak trees. The dryads of ash trees were called the Meliai... More on Nymph of the Woods

Roberto Manetta is a traveling freelance photographer, Film and digital photography, since 1999. "No digital manipulation,only photography My passion comes from nature, adventure stories, fantasy films that have contributed phenomenally to my project ideas and the major part of my photographs. I am always very attentive, in all of my movements, in everything surrounding me. I often dream about adventures, fairy tales and mythological women. I look around at the objects surrounding me, with attention, searching for a link between a nude body more than a face. Geometric lines and original compositions are always at the centre of my attention when I launch upon a new project. I don’t really like the classic approach to nude photography. During the years I tried to maintain in all my productions a quality that re-conducted to classical photography, the one which is created without the need of much digital elaboration" More on Roberto Manetta

Roberto Manetta, Italy

Milky Nymph 

Photography

Size: 29.5 H x 19.7 W x 7.9 in

Private collection

In Greek mythology, maenads were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones".

As Plato says in the Ion, the god-intoxicated celebrants draw milk and honey from the streams. They strike rocks with the thyrsus, and water gushes forth. They lower the thyrsus to the earth, and a spring of wine bubbles up. If they want milk, they scratch up the ground with their fingers and draw up the milky fluid. Honey trickles down from the thyrsus made of the wood of the ivy, they gird themselves with snakes and give suck to fawns and wolf cubs as if they were infants at the breast. More on the Milky Nymph

Roberto Manetta, Italy, see above

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15 works - Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion. Know Their Stories

Anthonie van Dyck,

Venus in the Forge of Vulcan

Oil on wood. 32.5 x 21 cm.

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.

Venus went to her husband Vulcan's forge and asked him to make arms for her son Aeneas. On the right are two Cyclopes who have made the armor under Vulcan's direction. 

Dutch School, 17th Century
An offering to the Goddess Diana
oil on canvas
20 x 34 ¼ in. (50.8 x 87 cm.)

The Dutch School were painters in the Netherlands from the early Renaissance to the Baroque. It includes Early Netherlandish (1400–1500) and Dutch Renaissance (1500–1584) artists active in the northern Low Countries and, later, Dutch Golden Age painting in the United Provinces.

The festival for Diana, (aka Festival of Torches) was celebrated by the ancient Romans either on 13–15 August or on the August Full Moon, in honor of the goddess Diana. This festival was later adopted by Catholics as The Feast of the Assumption.

On this day, worshippers would form a shimmering procession of torches and candles around the dark waters of Lake Nemi, Diana's Mirror, wearing wreaths of flowers. The lights of their candles join the light of the moon, dancing in reflection upon the surface of the water.

Alessandro Allori (Florence 1535-1607)
Laocoön
oil on panel
28 5/8 x 22¼ in. (72.7 x 56.5 cm.)

Alessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino Allori (Florence, 31 May 1535 – 22 September 1607) was an Italian portrait painter of the late Mannerist Florentine school.

In 1540, after the death of his father, he was brought up and trained in art by a close friend, often referred to as his 'uncle', the mannerist painter Agnolo Bronzino, whose name he sometimes assumed in his pictures. In some ways, Allori is the last of the line of prominent Florentine painters, of generally undiluted Tuscan artistic heritage.

Laocoön is the son of Acoetes, a figure in Greek and Roman mythology and the Epic Cycle. He was a Trojan priest who was attacked, with his two sons, by giant serpents sent by the gods. Though not mentioned by Homer, the story of Laocoön had been the subject of a tragedy, now lost, by Sophocles and was mentioned by other Greek writers, though the events around the attack by the serpents vary considerably. The most famous account of these is now in Virgil's Aeneid where Laocoön was a priest of Poseidon (or Neptune for the Romans), who was killed with both his sons after attempting to expose the ruse of the Trojan Horse by striking it with a spear.

Jan van Noordt (Amsterdam 1620-1676)
Nymphs and a Satyr
oil on canvas
32 5/8 x 26 3/8 in. (83 x 66.9 cm.)

Jan van Noordt lived on the Bloemgracht in Amsterdam in 1674. He was the teacher of the painter Johannes Voorhout and is known for italianate landscapes, portraits, and historical allegories

Roman Alabaster Head of Serapis. Roman Empire, ca. 1st to 2nd century CE. Finely sculpted head of Serapis. Serapis was a Graeco-Egyptian god who first appeared around the time of Alexander the Great. Sculpture is shown with thick, wavy locks framing his face, and a full beard and moustache. Size: 2-7/8" H.

A Hellenistic Marble Torso of Aphrodite, circa 2nd Century B.C.

of the type called Aphrodite Anadyomene, of graceful form standing with her weight on the left leg, her right arm and left forearm formerly raised  to arrange her hair, part of a tress remaining on her right shoulder.

Aphrodite was born from the sea, and after she emerged, wrung the sea foam from her hair and tied it in a bun.

Height 13 in. 33 cm.

A Marble Torso of a Nymph, Roman Imperial, circa 2nd Century A.D.

standing with her legs crossed and right arm raised, the large hand of a satyr(?) pressing the folds of her mantle against her upper back and left shoulder in a mighty embrace, remains of a support against her right buttock.

Height 13 3/4 in. 34.9 cm

Charles Joseph Natoire (attributed to) 

Untitled (Baccanale)

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Size: Approx. 40.6 x 50.8 centimeters 16" x 20" inches

Date: 1780 circa

Charles-Joseph Natoire (3 March 1700 – 23 August 1777) was a French painter in the Rococo manner, a pupil of François Lemoyne and director of the French Academy in Rome, 1751-1775. Considered during his lifetime the equal of François Boucher, he played a prominent role in the artistic life of France.

He is remembered above all for the series of the History of Psyche for Germain Boffrand's oval salon de la Princesse in the Hôtel de Soubise, Paris, and for the tapestry cartoons for the series of the History of Don Quixote, woven at the Beauvais tapestry manufacture, most of which are at the Château de Compiègne.

Old Master German Baroque,  

The Three Graces

Medium: Oil on wood panel

Size: 21" x 26" Approximate

Date: 17th century

The mythological three Graces, daughters of Zeus – identified on some engravings of the statue as, from left to right, Euphrosyne, Aglaea and Thalia - who were said to represent beauty, charm and joy. The Graces presided over banquets and gatherings primarily to entertain and delight the guests of the gods.

1700 Nîmes - 1777 Castel Gandolfo - circle

Venus and Mars in the Smithy of the Volcano

NATOIRE, CHARLES JOSEPH

Oil on canvas. Relined. 104 x 129cm.

Venus had two main divine lovers: her husband Vulcan and Mars. There is a myth concerning Venus' and Mars' love affair and how Vulcan cunningly trapped them in bed.

Charles-Joseph Natoire (3 March 1700 – 23 August 1777) was a French painter in the Rococo manner, a pupil of François Lemoyne and director of the French Academy in Rome, 1751-1775. Considered during his lifetime the equal of François Boucher, he played a prominent role in the artistic life of France.

He is remembered above all for the series of the History of Psyche for Germain Boffrand's oval salon de la Princesse in the Hôtel de Soubise, Paris, and for the tapestry cartoons for the series of the History of Don Quixote, woven at the Beauvais tapestry manufacture, most of which are at the Château de Compiègne.

Venus and Mars

DOUVEN, BARTHOLOMEUS FRANS

1688 Düsseldorf

Oil on wood. Parqueted. 21,5 x 27cm. Inscribed lower left: B Douven

The subject of this painting is an episode from classical literature about the loves of the gods. Mars, the god of war, falls in love with Venus and succeeds in meeting her in the palace of her husband, Vulcan. Douven depicts the moment just before the adulterous couple is caught by Vulcan.

Bartholomeus Frans Douven was a visual artist who was born in 1688. Several works by the artist have been sold at auction, including 'Bathsheba at Her Bath' in 2012. The artist died in 1726.

Apollo hazing Marsyas

Attributed to the Caravaggio school

Oil on canvas. 

Size 191 x 154cm.

The Satyr Marsyas finds Athena's flute, which she threw away before due to vanity and he plays on the flute. He presumptuously attributes the divine sounds to his abilities and therefore accepts the artistic competition which the furious Apollo requests. The stake for this competition of the flute against the divine lyre or vielle is that the winner is in charge of the loser. At first Marsyas does well, but he has to give in when he is challenged to sing and at the same time play the flute. More

Trumeau Wall Mirror with Painting ‘Venus and Putti’, 19th C.
Wooden frame, painted and partly with gold
France, 2nd third of the 19th century
Decorative wall mirror with oil painting
Representation of Venus with maid and cherubs
Overall dimensions: c. 216 x 126 cm

This wall mirror is a so-called ‘Trumeau’ mirror. Originally mirrors of this kind were placed between two windows to add light to a room and provide a decorative eye-catcher due to their mostly very ornate design. Often the upper part was taken up by a painting, as is the case here. The present oil painting depicts a scene with Venus attended to by putti before a backdrop of clouds.

French School, Oil Painting, Venus with 2 Putti, around 1800

Oil on panel

France, around 1800

Verso inscribed ‘Leclerc / peintre aux Gobelins / 1785’

Gold painted wooden frame with leaf frieze

Dimensions, framed: 25.5 x 31 cm

This small-format, idyllic subject was created towards the end of the Rococo in around 1800 by an artist who was active in France. Depicted is a scene with Venus and two putti in a summery landscape. The goddess of love with blue hairband and white gown is accompanied by two putti with wings and the attribute arrow and bow. The artist understood well how to present the mythological scene in a fine brushwork and idyllic effects of light and shadow in the gown of the depicted.