01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Gonzalo Bilbao Martinez's Procession of the Seven Words, with Footnotes - #53

Gonzalo Bilbao Martinez

Procession of the Seven Words, c. 1902

Oil on canvas

54 x 45 cm

Carmen Thyssen Museum Málaga

The "Procession of the Seven Words" refers to a religious event, a solemn procession that often takes place on Good Friday, where participants, particularly members of religious brotherhoods, reflect on and commemorate the seven last words of Jesus on the cross. The artwork depicts the entrance of the Brotherhood of the Seven Words into a cathedral, showcasing the event. 

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34 

In 1902, Alfonso XIII was proclaimed King of Spain. Joaquín Sorolla went to Seville to attend the coronation and also to take up Gonzalo Bilbao's invitation to paint the processional parades. Bilbao himself painted this scene of the entrance of the Brotherhood of the Seven Words into the metropolitan cathedral, just when the Seville brotherhoods were considering the creation of a new official processional route. 

Like a press photographer, the painter took up a position facing the main procession. In the foreground stands the elder, staff in hand; behind him are several penitents who, like him, are wearing white robes and black shoes, some carrying candles and one the white flag; in the middle are youths with candlesticks, and an altar boy with a thurible. At the sides are women in mantillas and in the background, the float carries Roldán's crucified Christ (from which the brotherhood takes its name) and the 19th-century images of Our Lady of Remedies, St John and Mary Magdalene. More on this work

Gonzalo Bilbao Martínez (27 May 1860 – 4 December 1938) was a Spanish costumbrista painter and art professor.

He was born in Seville, the son of a well-to-do lawyer and the older brother of the sculptor, Joaquín Bilbao. With the encouragement of José Jiménez Aranda, he began drawing lessons at an early age. At his father's insistence, he studied law along with his art lessons.

In 1880, he completed his law degree, but never entered into practice; continuing his art lessons and devoting himself exclusively to painting. As it turned out, his father was pleased with the results and paid his expenses for travelling to France and Italy with Aranda. He remained in Italy for three years, establishing himself in Rome; travelling frequently to Naples and Venice, where he painted both urban and rural scenes.

He returned to Spain in 1884. His restless temperament made it difficult for him to become accustomed to life in Seville, so he moved constantly, painting landscapes and wasted little time planning new trips; visiting Algeria and Morocco. From there, it was back to Paris, where he sold his Moroccan paintings. His travels continued throughout Europe and America.

In 1893, he was appointed a member of the Academia de Bellas Artes and, in 1901, became President of the Athenaeum. In 1903, he succeeded Aranda as a Professor at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría.

He is perhaps best known for a series of sketches and paintings depicting "cigarreras" (cigar makers), made during the 1910s at the Royal Tobacco Factory. During his later years, he received numerous awards, including the Order of Isabella the Catholic and the Order of Carlos III.

In 1935, he was elected a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and moved to Madrid. He died in Madrid, aged 78, during the Spanish Civil War, while the city was under siege. After the war, his widow donated his remaining works to the Museo de Bellas Artes. More on Gonzalo Bilbao Martínez

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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Donato Creti's The Penitent Magdalene, with Footnotes - #211

Donato Creti

 "The Penitent Magdalene" 

Oil on canvas

Size: 24” inches wide by 29” inches high 

I have no further description, at this time

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

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

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

Donato Creti (24 February 1671 – 31 January 1749) was an Italian painter of the Rococo period, active mostly in Bologna.

Born in Cremona, he moved to Bologna, where he was a pupil of Lorenzo Pasinelli. He is described by Wittkower as the "Bolognese Marco Benefial", in that his style was less decorative and edged into a more formal neoclassical style. It is an academicized grand style, that crystallizes into a manneristic neoclassicism, with crisp and frigid modeling of the figures. Among his followers were Aureliano Milani, Francesco Monti, and Ercole Graziani the Younger. Two other pupils were Domenico Maria Fratta and Giuseppe Peroni. More on Donato Creti

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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Harry Morley's A Wayside Madonna, with Footnotes - #53

Harry Morley  (1881–1943)

A Wayside Madonna, c. 1927

Oil on canvas

height: 108.3 cm (42.6 in); width: 96.5 cm (37.9 in)

Leicester Museum & Art Gallery

A small group of women stand behind the foreground sitter, their silent attitudes seeming to turn in judgement against her. The gate to her village beyond is shut, symbolising the refusal of passage to the mother (Madonna) to her home; Palestine!

Harry Morley was born in Leicester, England on 5 April 1881 and studied architecture at Leicester School of Art. In 1901 he began training in the London office of the architect Arthur Beresford Pite (1861-1934). He then continued his architectural studies at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1905 [or 1904 - sources differ] he was awarded scholarships from the RCA and the Royal Institute of British Architects which enabled him to attend the Académie Julian in Paris and to travel though Italy and France. Following his return to England, Morley appears to have abandoned thoughts of practising as an architect, and embarked on a career as a painter, illustrator, and (from 1928) engraver. From the early 1900s onwards Morley exhibited extensively, including at Agnew & Sons Gallery, Beaux Arts Gallery, Colnaghi & Co. More on Harry Morley

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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Marc Chagall's Anne Invoque l'Eternel, with Footnotes - #218

Marc Chagall

Anne Invoque l'Eternel, from La Bible (V. 256; C. 30), c. 1931-39

(Is she praying for Gaza?)

Etching with handcoloring printed on Arches paper

21 x 15 3/8in

Private collection

Anna (distinguished as Anna the Prophetess), is a woman mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. According to that Gospel, she was an elderly woman of the Tribe of Asher who prophesied about Jesus at the Temple of Jerusalem. She appears in Luke 2:36–38 during the presentation of Jesus at the Temple.

"There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. More on this Etching

Marc Zakharovich Chagall (1887 – 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernist, he was associated with several major artistic styles and created works in virtually every artistic medium, including painting, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramic, tapestries and fine art prints.

Chagall saw his work as "not the dream of one people but of all humanity. According to art historian Michael J. Lewis, Chagall was considered to be "the last survivor of the first generation of European modernists". Using the medium of stained glass, he produced windows for the cathedrals of Reims and Metz, windows for the UN, and the Jerusalem Windows in Israel. He also did large-scale paintings, including part of the ceiling of the Paris Opéra.

Before World War I, he traveled between St. Petersburg, Paris, and Berlin. During this period he created his own mixture and style of modern art based on his idea of Eastern European Jewish folk culture. He spent the wartime years in Soviet Belarus, becoming one of the country's most distinguished artists and a member of the modernist avant-garde, founding the Vitebsk Arts College before leaving again for Paris in 1922.

He experienced modernism's "golden age" in Paris, where "he synthesized the art forms of Cubism, Symbolism, and Fauvism, and the influence of Fauvism gave rise to Surrealism". "When Matisse dies," Pablo Picasso remarked in the 1950s, "Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what colour really is" More on Marc Zakharovich Chagall

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08 Works, Contemporary Interpretations of The Bible, William Oxer's The Grieving Magdalene, with footnotes #46

After William Oxer
The Grieving Magdalene 1

AI Generated

nightcafe

Mary Magdalene was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurrection. She is mentioned by name twelve times in the canonical gospels, more than most of the apostles and more than any other woman in the gospels, other than Jesus's family. 

After William Oxer
The Grieving Magdalene 2

AI Generated

deviantart

After William Oxer
The Grieving Magdalene 3

AI Generated
deviantart

After William Oxer
The Grieving Magdalene 4

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The sacrament of Penance had important significance in Counter-Reformation spirituality, and artists frequently portrayed penitent saints as exemplars of religious fervor. Such works were meant to inspire a greater devotion. The popularity of The Magdalene as a subject is also associated with her implied sexuality. Her passive gaze and partially naked body appealed to male viewers, for whom such paintings offered a moralizing context through which to engage with the sensuality of the female form. 

After William Oxer
The Grieving Magdalene 5

AI Generated
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The Magdalene’s partly exposed breasts and long, flowing hair, would have held erotic connotations for the sixteenth-century viewer. Biographer Giorgio Vasari denied such sexual undertones, and declared that the pictures “profoundly stirs the emotions of all who look at them; and, moreover, although the of figure Mary Magdalene is extremely lovely it moves one to thoughts of pity rather than desire.”

After William Oxer
The Grieving Magdalene 6

AI Generated
deviantart

Mary Magdalene's mourning for Christ is a poignant and deeply emotional moment in the Christian narrative. After the crucifixion, she is depicted as one of the most devoted followers of Jesus, filled with grief and despair at his passing. Her sorrow is profound, reflecting not just the loss of Jesus as a leader and teacher but also as a beloved figure in her life.

After William Oxer
The Grieving Magdalene 7

AI Generated
deviantart

Her story invites reflection on the nature of grief and the possibility of finding solace and joy even in the depths of sorrow. It speaks to the human experience of loss and the strength of love that endures beyond death.

In her anguish, Mary embodies the themes of loss, love, and hope. 

After William Oxer
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"William Oxer is not merely a painter; he is a distinctive sensibility, with a poetic vision he explores in many media. His art is affirmative, evocative and forgiving..." Professor Sir Roger Scruton

"William Oxer's paintings represent a strikingly fresh current in contemporary art. His work is experimental, and he is also willing to take on larger themes as well as demonstrating a delight in detail and minutiae. Very few contemporary artists paint so consistently well." Dr David Morley, University of Warwick

In 2017 William was invited by the Royal Society of Arts to become one of their Fellows, which he is honoured to become. More on William Oxer

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01 Work, Olympian deities, Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian's Venus and Adonis, With Footnotes - #136

Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian, and workshop, Pieve di Cadore circa 1485/90–1576 Venice

Venus and Adonis

Oil on canvas

177.2 x 199.2 cm.; 69 3/4 x 78 3/8 in. 

Private collection

Sold for 11,164,000 GBP in December 2022

Venus, as if filled with foreboding about Adonis’s fate, desperately clings to her lover, while he pulls himself free of her embrace, impatient for the hunt and with his hounds straining at the leash. The goddess’s gesture is echoed by that of Cupid, who anxiously watches the lovers’ leave-taking while clutching a dove—a creature sacred to Venus.

Titian’s scene was inspired by the account in Ovid’s Metamorphoses of the goddess Venus’s love for the beautiful young huntsman Adonis, who was tragically killed by a wild boar. Though Ovid did not describe the last parting of the lovers, Titian’s imagining of it introduced a powerful element of dramatic tension into the story.

Venus and Adonis was one of the most successful designs of Titian’s later career. At least 30 versions are known to have been executed by the painter and his workshop, as well as independently by assistants and copyists within the painter’s lifetime and immediately afterward, and the evolution of the composition over the years was highly complex. For stylistic reasons, the Gallery’s version is believed to date from the 1560s. However, technical examination of the underlying paint layers has revealed changes to the composition that suggest the painting may have been begun as early as the 1540s. More on this painting

Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio, or Titian (1488/1490 – 27 August 1576), was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno (in Veneto, Republic of Venice). During his lifetime he was often called da Cadore, taken from the place of his birth.

Recognized by his contemporaries as "The Sun Amidst Small Stars", Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally adept with portraits, landscape backgrounds, and mythological and religious subjects. His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of color, would exercise a profound influence not only on painters of the Italian Renaissance, but on future generations of Western art.

During the course of his long life, Titian's artistic manner changed drastically but he retained a lifelong interest in color. Although his mature works may not contain the vivid, luminous tints of his early pieces, their loose brushwork and subtlety of tone are without precedent in the history of Western painting. More on  Tiziano Vecelli

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01 Painting, Contemporary Interpretations of Olympian deities, Esther Sarto's Leda & the Swan, with footnotes #32

Esther Sarto

Leda & the Swan, c. 2023

Watercolour, gouache & acrylic medium on watercolour paper. 

43 x 53 cm.

Private collection

Leda and the Swan is a story and subject in art from Greek mythology in which the god Zeus, in the form of a swan, seduces and has sex with Leda. According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus, while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children of her husband Tyndareus, the King of Sparta. According to many versions of the story, Zeus took the form of a swan and had sexual intercourse with Leda on the same night she slept with her husband King Tyndareus. In some versions, she laid two eggs from which the children hatched. In other versions, Helen is a daughter of Nemesis, the goddess who personified the disaster that awaited those suffering from the pride of Hubris.

Especially in art, the degree of consent by Leda to the relationship seems to vary considerably; there are numerous depictions, for example by Leonardo da Vinci, that show Leda affectionately embracing the swan, as their children play. More on Leda and the Swan

Esther Sarto is an emerging contemporary artist, who was born in Denmark, in 1992.

Esther Sarto is best known for producing figurative work. Often seen as the contrary of abstraction, figurative art also subsists beyond just a simple representation of reality.

Sarto’s paintings depict a specific world beautified, one where all animals are equal, life feeds into itself and death is just the feeding of another creature of equal import. Sarto uses a soft palette for the harsh nature of her subject matter — the predator and prey are rendered as parallel versions, the meat and egg the same as the mother and child. More on Ester Sarto

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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Italian School's Abraham Casting Out Hagar and Ishmael, with Footnotes - #220

Italian School (18th Century)

Abraham Casting Out Hagar and Ishmael

Oil on canvas

55-1/2 x 47-1/2 inches (141.0 x 120.7 cm)

Private collection

Sold for $1,000 USD in May 2022

Hagar is a biblical person in the Book of Genesis Chapter 16. She was an Egyptian handmaid of Sarah, who gave her to Abraham “to wife” to bear a child. The product of the union was Abraham’s firstborn, Ishmael, the progenitor of the Ishmaelites.

After Sarah gave birth to Isaac, and the tension between the women returned. At a celebration after Isaac was weaned, Sarah found the teenage Ishmael mocking her son, and demanded that Abraham send Hagar and her son away. She declared that Ishmael would not share in Isaac’s inheritance. Abraham was greatly distressed but God told Abraham to do as his wife commanded because God’s promise would be carried out through both Isaac and Ishmael.

The name Hagar originates from the Book of Genesis, and is only alluded to in the Qur’an. She is considered Abraham’s second wife in the Islamic faith and acknowledged in all Abrahamic faiths. In mainstream Christianity, she is considered a concubine to Abraham. More on Hagar

Painting in 17th-century Italy was an international endeavor. Large numbers of artists traveled to Rome, especially, to work and study. They sought not only the many commissions being extended by the Church but also the chance to learn from past masters. Most of the century was dominated by the baroque style, whose expressive power was well suited to the needs of the Counter-Reformation Church for affecting images.

The drama and movement that characterized the baroque—in sculpture and architecture as well as painting—can be first seen, perhaps, in the work of Caravaggio, who died in 1610. His strong contrasts of light and dark and unblinking realism were taken up by many artists, including the Italian Orazio Gentileschi, the Spaniard Jusepe de Ribera, and the Frenchmen Valentin de Boulogne and Simon Vouet, all of whom worked in Italy. Other artists carried Caravaggio’s so-called tenebrist style to northern Europe.

The more classical approach of the Carracci and their students Guercino and Domenichino was also an important force in 17th-century painting. It provided a foundation for the rational clarity that structured the work of French artists Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, both of whom worked in Rome for most of their lives. More on the ITALIAN SCHOOL, (17th century)

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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! ZURAB TSERETELI'S Jesus Healing the Sick, with Footnotes - #47

ZURAB TSERETELI (GEORGIAN B. 1934)

Jesus Healing the Sick

Enamel and copper

33.5 x 26 cm (13 1/4 x 10 1/4 in.)

Private collection

Sold for $1,000 USD in Oct 2022

Jesus used a variety of different methods to heal the sick and the infirmed. Sometimes they were healed through prayer alone. At other times, prayer was combined with a touch.

Zurab Tsereteli was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1934 and graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 1958. Solo exhibitions include: the New Manege, Moscow (1998 and 2004); the UNESCO headquarters, Paris (2007), Museo di San Salvatore, Rome (2011), the Palace of Gran Guardia, Verona (2016) and the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, Cannes (2017).

In 1995, Tsereteli established the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, officially opened in 1999 as the first state museum in Russia entirely dedicated to modern and contemporary art. In 1997, Tsereteli was elected the President of the Russian Academy of Arts. In 2001, the Gallery of Arts of Zurab Tsereteli was opened in Moscow as part of the Russian Academy of Arts, and in 2012, Zurab founded the Museum of Modern Art in Tbilisi.

Tsereteli has been awarded UNESCO Ambassador of Good Will (2007); Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Austria (2009); Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honor by the government of France (2010); For Life in Art Prize and the International Giuseppe Sciacca Award from the Roman Academy of Fine Arts (2011); UNESCO Five Continents Medal (2014) and elected Member of the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts (2015). More on Zurab Tsereteli

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