Abraham Bloemaert (Netherlands) Neptune and Amphitrite ca. 1630-35 oil on canvas Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
Salvator Rosa (Naples) Poetry ca. 1641 oil on canvas Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
"Poetry shows a half-length standing female who turns to look out of the picture towards the spectator, her pen posed to write, her book in her hand. A headscarf entwined with laurel leaves crowns her unruly hair, which tumbles out over her shoulders. She is not a Sibyl, as the inscription on the back suggests, but a personification of Poetry, and Rosa took Poetry's attributes, of pen, book and laurel leaves, from Cesare Ripa's Iconologia, the popular reference work for seventeenth-century artists searching for descriptions of allegorical figures. ... The painting is distinguished by its brilliant handling of paint and the bright clear colors of Poetry's gown, while shawl and headdress are an unusually subtle range of cool greys, blues and lilacs."
– Helen Langdon, from Salvator Rosa (Paul Holberton, 2010)
Cornelis van Haarlem (Netherlands) The Prodigal Son wasting his substance 1604 oil on canvas Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain) St Serapion 1628 oil on canvas Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
workshop of Evaristo Baschenis (Lombardy) Still-life with musical instruments mid 17th century oil on canvas Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
Artemisia Gentileschi (Rome) Self-portrait as lute-player ca. 1615-18 oil on canvas Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
Le Nain Brothers (France) Peasants in a landscape ca. 1640-45 oil on canvas Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
Hendrik Goltzius (Netherlands) Adam 1613 oil on panel Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
Philips Wouwerman (Netherlands) Man on horseback ca. 1650 oil on panel Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
Domenico Gargiulo and Viviano Codazzi (Naples) The men's bath ca. 1645 oil on canvas Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
Domenico Gargiulo (1609-1675) was a figure painter who collaborated in Naples with Viviano Codazzi (1604-1670), specialist in architectural scene-painting, or quadratture. During the 1640s they painted a series of archaeologically-informed recreations of Roman military life for the new Buen Retiro palace of King Philip IV of Spain – who also at this period ruled over Naples. The baths in the painting at the Wadsworth Atheneum are not further identified, but appear to represent an actual space in contemporary Naples.
Claude Vignon (France) Banquet of Antony and Cleopatra ca. 1630 oil on panel Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
Sisto Badalocchio (Bologna) Holy Family ca. 1610 oil on panel Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
Guercino (Bologna) Landscape with figures ca. 1630 drawing Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
Anonymous American craftsperson Taxidermied hummingbird-heads mounted as brooches 1880s rhinestones, gold, hummingbird heads Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
I am grateful for the excellent reproductions made available by the Wadsworth Atheneum.