Monday, July 2, 2018

Distinct Individuals in Sixteenth-Century Paintings

Dosso Dossi
Portrait of a man wearing a black beret
ca. 1530
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

attributed to Agnolo Bronzino
Portrait of Isabella de' Medici
before 1572
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

"The young Isabella Romola de' Medici was a daughter of the mighty duke Cosimo.  Agnolo Bronzino was employed at the Medici court and made countless portraits of its members.  Isabella was depicted many times, as a child, as a young lady, and as a grown woman.  Bronzino never had the opportunity to paint her in old age, both because he died too soon, and because she herself died young – at the hands of a jealous husband.  According to legend, Isabella still haunts the Villa di Cerreto Guidi outside Florence, where she was murdered."   

– adapted from curator's notes at Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Nicolas Neufchatel
Portrait of a Sculptor, possibly Johan Gregor van der Schardt
ca. 1573
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Ambrosius Benson
The Magdalen Reading
before 1550
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Lucas Cranach the Elder
Portrait of Martin Luther
1527
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Lucas Cranach the Elder
Portrait of Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther
ca. 1527
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

"The important day had arrived.  All Wittenberg was in a flutter of festive excitement, and many fervent prayers ascended heavenward.  In the convent a distinguished company sat at table with Dr. Martin, at whose side Katharine, in wordless bliss, heard what the guests had to say in praise of the newly-wedded pair."

"She was as one in a dream.  She felt as though she were lifted from the condition of a servant to that of a queen, for he who sat beside her was a king indeed in the realms of thought; his sovereignty being attested alike by the praise of his friends and by the deadly hatred of his foes.  And she, the humble maiden, was henceforth to stand nearer to this great man than the most intimate of his friends – nearer than Melanchthon, or Kranach, than Buegenhagen or Jonas.  She pressed her hand to her heart to still its beating, and the prayer rose from her soul: "Lord, help me, lest I grow proud.  Keep me humble always."

– from Katharine von Bora, Dr. Martin Luther's Wife: A Picture from Life by Armin Stein, translated by E.A. Endlich (Philadelphia: G.W. Frederick, 1890)

Garofalo
God the Father blessing the Earth
before 1559
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Cornelis Cornelisz Kunst
Study of draped model
before 1544
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Anonymous artist
Portrait of red-bearded man
ca. 1550-1600
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Hans Baldung
Mercury
before 1545
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

My Seal-Ring

Mercury has cast aside
The sign of intellectual pride,
Freely offers thee the soul:
Art thou noble to receive?
Canst thou give or take the whole,
Nobly promise and believe?
Then thou wholly human art,
A spotless, radiant, ruby heart,
And the golden chain of love
Has bound thee to the realm above.

– Margaret Fuller (1810-1850)

Pietro Perugino
St Sebastian
before 1524
oil on panel, transferred to canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucretia
1528
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Lucas Cranach the Elder
Venus and Cupid
before 1553
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Giovanni Bellini
Dead Christ
before 1516
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm