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, RELIGIOUS ART, Carlo Francesco Nuvolone's Martyrdom of Saint Catherine - with footnotes #205

Carlo Francesco Nuvolone (1609-1662)
Martyrdom of Saint Catherine
Oil on canvas
cm. 97x75
Private collection

Sold for €10,000 EUR in November 2023

Saint Catherine of Alexandria is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar, who became a Christian around the age of fourteen, and converted hundreds of people to Christianity. She was martyred around the age of 18. Over 1,100 years following her martyrdom, St. Joan of Arc identified Catherine as one of the Saints who appeared to her and counselled her.

The emperor condemned Catherine to death on a spiked breaking wheel, but, at her touch, it shattered. Maxentius ordered her to be beheaded. Catherine herself ordered the execution to commence. A milk-like substance rather than blood flowed from her neck.
 
The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates her as a Great Martyr, and celebrates her feast day on 24 or 25 November (depending on the local tradition). In the Catholic Church she is traditionally revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. In 1969 the Catholic Church removed her feast day from the General Roman Calendar; however, she continued to be commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 25 November. More on Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Carlo Francesco Nuvolone (1608 or 1609 in Milan – 1661 or 1662 in Milan) was an Italian painter of religious subjects and portraits who was active mainly in Lombardy. He became the leading painter in Lombardy in the mid-17th century, producing works on canvas as well as frescoes. 

After working with his father, Carlo Francesco studied at the Accademia Ambrosiana in Milan under Giovanni Battista Crespi (il Cerano). In that studio he would have encountered Daniele Crespi and Giulio Cesare Procaccini.

He later worked in Milan and its environs. During the 1650s, Nuvolone painted frescoes for the Cappella di San Michele in the Certosa di Pavia and contributed to the decorations of the sacro monte (hillside shrine) at Varese, an important local pilgrimage site. He later also painted frescos at the Sacro Monte di Orta. His brother occasionally assisted him with his fresco work.

Among his pupils were Giuseppe Zanata, Federigo Panza, Filippo Abbiati, and Pietro Maggi. More on Carlo Francesco Nuvolone



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02 Works , RELIGIOUS ART, Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder's The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man - with footnotes #203

Peter Paul Rubens  (1577–1640) and Jan Brueghel the Elder  (1568–1625)
The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man, circa 1615
Oil on panel
height: 74.3 cm (29.2 in); width: 114.7 cm (45.1 in)
Mauritshuis 

The scene is a reference to Genesis 2:8–14 and hosts a variety of animals, presumably 100, from diverse ecosystems. There is a Capuchin Monkey from South America, hidden to the left, who bites into an apple to symbolize the sin about the be committed by Adam and Eve. Since Adam has yet to commit the original sin, these creatures all live in harmony – a cow peacefully watches while two large cats play. Birds of Paradise are also painted with a scientific accuracy. Up until the time of this painting, these birds were believed to lack feet, and in this painting, they are depicted clearly. This was a modernistic move on Bruegel’s behalf.

Peter Paul Rubens  (1577–1640) and Jan Brueghel the Elder  (1568–1625)
Detail; The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man, circa 1615
Oil on panel
height: 74.3 cm (29.2 in); width: 114.7 cm (45.1 in)
Mauritshuis 

The monkey next to Adam is the hotspur who cannot resist temptation, while the choleric cat near Eve's heels represents cruel cunning In Christian symbolism, several grapes in the foliage behind Adam and Eve represent Christ's death on the cross, as wine represents his blood. A plethora of exotic birds such as peacocks and macaws spectate Adam's detrimental demise.

Sir Peter Paul Rubens (28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish Baroque painter. A proponent of an extravagant Baroque style that emphasized movement, colour, and sensuality, Rubens is well known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.
In addition to running a large studio in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe, Rubens was a classically educated humanist scholar and diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England.  More Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder (1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman. He was the son of the eminent Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. A close friend and frequent collaborator with Peter Paul Rubens, the two artists were the leading Flemish painters in the first three decades of the 17th century.

Brueghel worked in many genres including history paintings, flower still lifes, allegorical and mythological scenes, landscapes and seascapes, hunting pieces, village scenes, battle scenes and scenes of hellfire and the underworld. Brueghel represented the type of the pictor doctus, the erudite painter whose works are informed by the religious motifs and aspirations of the Catholic Counter-Reformation as well as the scientific revolution with its interest in accurate description and classification.

The artist was nicknamed "Velvet" Brueghel, "Flower" Brueghel, and "Paradise" Brueghel. The first is believed to have been given him because of his mastery in the rendering of fabrics.[7] The second nickname is a reference to his fame as a painter of (although not a specialist in) flower pieces and the last one to his invention of the genre of the paradise landscape. His brother Pieter Brueghel the Younger was traditionally nicknamed "de helse Brueghel" or "Hell Brueghel" because it was believed he was the author of a number of paintings with fantastic depictions of fire and grotesque imagery. These paintings have now been reattributed to Jan Brueghel the Elder. More on Jan Brueghel




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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART, Juan De Flandes' Deposition from the Cross - with footnotes #206

Juan De Flandes (Spain 1460-1519 attributed)
Deposition from the Cross
Oil on canvas
cm. 56x70
Private collection

Estimated for €2,500.00 in Feb 2023

The Descent from the Cross, or Deposition of Christ, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospels' accounts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after his crucifixion. In Byzantine art the topic became popular in the 9th century, and in the West from the 10th century. The Descent from the Cross is the 13th Station of the Cross.
 
Other figures not mentioned in the Gospels who are often included in depictions of this subject include St. John the Evangelist, who is sometimes depicted supporting a fainting Mary, and Mary Magdalene. The Gospels mention an undefined number of women as watching the crucifixion, including the Three Marys and Mary Salome.  More on Deposition of Christ

Juan de Flandes ("John of Flanders"; c. 1460 – by 1519) was an Early Netherlandish painter who was active in Spain from 1496 to 1519; his actual name is unknown, although an inscription Juan Astrat on the back of one work suggests a name such as "Jan van der Straat". Jan Sallaert, who became a master in Ghent in 1480, has also been suggested.

He was born around 1460 in Flanders (modern Belgium). He evidently trained in his home country, most likely in Ghent, as his work shows similarities to other Ghent artists. He is only documented after he became an artist at the court of Queen Isabella I of Castile, where he is first mentioned in the accounts in 1496. He is described as "court painter" by 1498 and continued in the queen's service until her death in 1504. He mostly painted portraits of the royal family, but also the majority of a large series of small panels for a polyptych altarpiece for the queen. The panels have been dispersed and the largest number of panels is in the royal collection in Madrid.

After Isabella's death in 1504 Juan de Flandes turned to ecclesiastical commissions from Spanish churches, beginning in Salamanca in 1505–7. He was later based in Palencia, where there is a large reredos in the Cathedral. The overwhelming majority of his work, held in collections outside Spain, date from this later period during which he concentrated on religious themes.

His works show the Early Netherlandish style of Ghent adapted to the Spanish taste and landscape, notably the requirements for groups of compartmented scenes for altarpieces. His colouring is refined, "with a preference for rather acid hues", and "while his feeling for space and light is sophisticated, a tendency to divide space into a succession of thin planes becomes a mannerism in his late works". More on Juan de Flandes




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01 Work , RELIGIOUS ART, Alphonse Legros' Femmes en Prière/ Women at prayer - with footnotes #201

Alphonse Legros 1837–1911
Femmes en / Women at prier, c. 1888
Oil paint on canvas
Support: 1335 × 1770 mm
Tate

This work portrays a group of mainly young women, seated or kneeling to pray, in a dimly lit austere French church. The women are all dressed in black with primarily white caps. One cannot conceive anything more gently touching than this grand and pensive scheme, where all is on the same lofty level – sentiment, form and execution. More on this painting

Alphonse Legros, (b Dijon, 8 May 1837; d Watford, 8 Dec. 1911). French-born painter and printmaker who settled in England in 1863 (encouraged by Whistler) and became a British citizen in 1881, although he never acquired fluency in English. His chief importance was as an influential teacher (particularly of etching) at the Slade School, where he was professor 1876–92 in succession to Poynter. He encouraged a respect for the tradition of the Old Masters. More on Alphonse Legros




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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Friedrich Fehr's Nuns Gathering Flowers, with Footnotes - #52

Friedrich Fehr
Nuns Gathering Flowers, c. 1918
Oil on canvas
Height: 46.5 inches / 118.11 cm, Width: 34.75 inches / 88.27 cm
Private collection

Estimated for 22,500 USD in April 2025

Friedrich Fehr first attended the Munich Academy of Fine Arts (1878–84), where he studied under Alexander Strahuber and Ludwig Von Lofftz. In 1885, Fehr was awarded the prestigious Martin von Wagner Foundation scholarship, which enabled him to live and study for five years in Italy. 

In 1890, Fehr returned to Germany, settling in Munich where he co-founded a private painting school. Fehr became an increasingly influential and successful teacher including, from 1897, at the Karlsruhe Academy. As a result of his grounding in anatomy, he also taught the live drawing class of the Munich Artists' Association.

Over the course of a distinguished career, Fehr exhibited widely and with success and his works may be found in the permanent collections of national museums, including the Nationalgalerie in Munich and the Karlsruhe Museum. The artist is listed in all relevant art reference works, including Benezit and Thieme-Becker. After Friedrich Fehr's death, a bronze statue was cast in tribute to the artist and still stands above the Stephanplatz fountain in his hometown of Karlsruhe. More on Friedrich Fehr




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03 Works , RELIGIOUS ART, Gustav Rienacker's Salome - with footnotes #204

Gustav Rienacker
Salome
Oil on board
26 x 19¾ in. (66 x 50 cm.)
Private collection

Sold for GBP 660 in Jan 2006

Salome was the daughter of Herod II and Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas, is known from the New Testament, where she is not named, and from an account by Flavius Josephus. In the New Testament, the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas demands and receives the head of John the Baptist. 

According to Josephus, she was first married to her uncle Philip the Tetrarch, after whose death (AD 34), she married her cousin Aristobulus of Chalcis, thus becoming queen of Chalcis and Armenia Minor.

The gospel story of her dance at the birthday celebration of her stepfather, who had John the Baptist beheaded at her request, inspired art, literature and music over an extended period of time. More on Salome


Gustav Rienacker
SALOME
Oil on cardboard
111 x 73 cm
Private collection

Sold for €1,000 EUR in March 2021

Salome was the daughter of Herod II and Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas, is known from the New Testament, where she is not named, and from an account by Flavius Josephus. In the New Testament, the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas demands and receives the head of John the Baptist. 

According to Josephus, she was first married to her uncle Philip the Tetrarch, after whose death (AD 34), she married her cousin Aristobulus of Chalcis, thus becoming queen of Chalcis and Armenia Minor.

The gospel story of her dance at the birthday celebration of her stepfather, who had John the Baptist beheaded at her request, inspired art, literature and music over an extended period of time. More on Salome

Gustav Rienäcker 
Nude Salome Snake Charmer
Oil on canvas
Private collection

Gustav Rienäcker is an artist born in Germany in 1861 and deceased in 1935. From the end of the 19th century painters based in Munich preferred to depict female nudes or oriental beauties and erotic motifs such as "Salome"; at the same time Gustav Rienacker worked as a sought-after portrait painter for several royal houses, including the Emperor's daughter Viktoria Luise of Prussia and her husband Ernst August Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg. Rienäcker taught at the Munich Academy and was represented several times in the Glaspalast from 1904 to 1929. More on Gustav Rienacker




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