Fra Bartolomeo Madonna and Child with four Angels ca. 1514 oil on panel, transferred to canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Gerard David Virgin Embracing the Dead Christ, with Garlands ca. 1500-1520 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Il Sodoma Stigmatization of St Catherine of Siena ca. 1510 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Tobias Verhaecht and Gillis Coignet Landscape with St John the Evangelist on Patmos 1598 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Saint John reputedly wrote the Book of Revelation – the final book in the Bible, as we know it – while on the Greek island of Patmos. In the Flemish panel above by Verhaecht and Coignet, Patmos is represented as a site of wonders. The painting contains selected monsters and celestial forms from among those described in John's text, yet reduced and attenuated, like toys in daydreams – a vaporous mental landscape, more than any credible geography. Bits from John's original descriptions as they appear in the 1611 King James Bible are quoted below –
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion . . ."
"And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree."
"And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns of gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months."
circle of Lucas van Leyden St Paul ca. 1510-20 oil on panel Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
Palma Vecchio Madonna and Child with Donors ca. 1505 oil on panel, transferred to canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Domenico Panetti Portrait of a woman ca. 1510 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Jan de Beer Birth of the Virgin ca. 1520 oil on panel Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
Paolo da San Leocadio Meeting of St Joachim and St Anne ca. 1510-20 tempera and oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Bonifazio Veronese Adoration of the Shepherds ca. 1523-25 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Joos van Cleve Infant Christ on Orb of the World ca. 1530 oil on panel Museo Thyssen-Bornesmisza, Madrid |
Pieter Coecke van Aelst Agony in the Garden ca. 1527-30 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Jan Sanders van Hemessen St Jerome 1543 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Pieter Aertsen Trader in Game 1561 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Jacob de Backer Three Ages of Man - An Allegory before 1590 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Michiel Coxie Annunciation 1580s oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |