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| Orazio Mochi (sculptor) and Bianchi Bonavita (painter) Cosimo II de' Medici kneeling before an Altar 1624 molded cartapesta relief Victoria & Albert Museum |
"This painted and partly gilded relief in cartapesta (papier mâché) appears to be one of four documented versions of an exquisite relief carved in pietre dure (hardstones) and decorated with jewels and enamel that is now in the Museo degli Argenti in Florence. It shows Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, kneeling before an altar. The pietre dure relief was commissioned by Cosimo in fulfillment of a vow intended to secure his recovery from illness, as the centrepiece of a gold frontal for the altar of San Carlo Borromeo in the Cathedral of Milan. Work on the altar frontal began in 1617 and was completed in 1624. However, Cosimo died in 1621 and the frontal, though completed, was never sent to Milan. Instead, it remained in the Guardaroba Medicea in Florence until 1789, when it was dismantled. The gold parts were probably melted down, and the pietre dure relief was set within its current gilded metal frame."
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| attributed to Alexander Colin Landscape with Numa Pompilius and the Nymph Egeria ca. 1600 marble relief Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Sandro Botticelli The Calumny of Apelles ca. 1496-97 tempera on panel Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence |
"It seems that Apelles by his extraordinary skill had incurred the bitter enmity of one of his rivals, Antiphilis, who thereupon sought revenge by slanderously accusing Apelles of fostering the revolt of Tyre as an accomplice of Theodotas, Ptolemy's Governor of Phoenicia. At this revelation Ptolemy became so enraged that he was on the point of having Apelles immediately put to death, and would undoubtedly have done so had not one of the friends of Apelles spoken up for the slandered painter, proving that Apelles could in no possible way be connected with such a rebellion. The slanderer was duly punished by being sold into slavery; Ptolemy made amends for his unjust suspicion and rage, but Apelles, still indignant at such unfounded and almost fatal injustice, determined to avenge himself on his stupid monarch by painting an allegorical picture setting forth Calumny at work on the King, who is represented as having the ears of an ass."
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| Antoine Caron Dionysius the Areopagite converting the Pagan Philosophers ca. 1571-80 oil on panel Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
"In 1571 a dramatic solar eclipse occurred: this event probably served as the subject of this painting by Antoine Caron. He painted it at the court of Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France, who, like many rulers of the time, was extremely superstitious and fascinated by astronomical phenomena, often seeing eclipses and natural disasters as foreboding omens. In the painting, astronomers gather in a town square beneath the shadowed sun. A bearded Greek philosopher in the foreground looks at the sky and points to an armillary sphere on the ground. Next to him, the central figure, Dionysius the Areopagite, holds a book, points to the sky, and looks at the celestial globe carried by the figure running up the steps at the right. Dionysius preaches the Christian message of salvation to pagan Greek philosophers. A putto, seated on the steps between a square and a straight edge, writes on a tablet, recording the event. In the background on the right, a statue representing Urania, the Muse of Astronomy, stands on a twisted column. Near the statue, figures run and point towards the heavens while seeking cover. Above, an ominous red sun glows and lightning streaks the stormy, cloud-filled sky. . . . The painting was purchased at Christie's in London in 1947 by the celebrated art historian Anthony Blunt (1907-1983). He made a gift of it in 1962 to John Gaskin. In 1985, shortly after Blunt's death, Gaskin sold the painting through a dealer to the J. Paul Getty Museum."
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| Gerard ter Borch A Glass of Lemonade ca. 1664 oil on canvas Walters Art Museum, Baltimore |
"An attentive young man tenderly mixes a "restorative" glass of lemonade for a young woman, presumably to convey his own feelings to the "love-sick" young woman, under the watchful eye of a chaperon. Indeed, lemons were then seen as "an effective dietary cure" for lovesickness. Ter Borch was a talented portraitist as well as painter of interiors with figures in satins and other rich fabrics (although the effect is diminished here by an over-cleaning of the surface decades ago). The models for the young people were the artist's half-sister and brother, Gersina and Moses, who were also painters."
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| Camillo Miola The Oracle 1880 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
"The Pythia, a virgin from the local village selected in ceremonies that established her as Apollo's choice, sits atop the sacred tripod as the Delphic oracle. To the left is the omphalos, the most sacred object at Delphi, regarded as the center of the earth. A plinth on the right bears an inscription describing Apollo's conquest of Delphi with the Cretans, who became his first priests. The prophetess went to the tripod on the sacred seventh day of each month, the day of Apollo's birth, nine months of the year, to await the god's inspiration; her inspired utterances were later interpreted by a priest. The ancient Greeks considered the Delphic oracle – both Apollo's divine prophecy and the prophetess through whom it was spoken – the final authority on almost any matter, whether religious, political, or social. Camillo Miola merged academic and classical traditions to construct his view of the classical past. He filled the canvas with seemingly archaeologically accurate costume, architecture, and furnishings, and painted in a highly detailed style to create an ancient world that appears fully real."
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| Niclas Lafrensen Queen Christina of Sweden visiting Professor Saumaise 1794 gouache on paper (cabinet miniature) Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Placido Costanzi Alexander the Great founding Alexandria 1736-37 oil on canvas Walters Art Museum, Baltimore |
"The painting is a modello, or study, painted in preparation for one of the large canvases commissioned from the artist for the Throne Room of King Philip V of Spain in the Palace of San Idelfonso. Halls where European rulers granted audiences to their subjects and to visiting emissaries were traditionally decorated with tapestries or paintings reinforcing the ruler's position by reference to the power and renown of rulers of the past, principally Alexander the Great or the Roman emperors. In keeping with his ancient theme, Costanzi adopted a frieze-like composition that recalls Greek and Roman relief sculpture."
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| Lucas Cranach the Elder Lamentation 1538 oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
"A traditionally Catholic subject, the lamentation over the dead Christ is described in the apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus, not in the canonical Bible. Here, Nicodemus holds Mary Magdalene's ointment jar, and Joseph of Arimathea, with the crown of thorns, comforts the mourning Virgin. Saint John supports the dead Christ while Mary Magdalene kneels to kiss the wound on Christ's hand. Despite the religious upheaval in northern Europe, Cranach's Protestantism did not prevent him from accepting commissions from Catholic patrons."
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| Anonymous painter after Correggio St Bernardo degli Uberti with Angels 19th-century copy after a fresco of 1528 tempera on canvas Victoria & Albert Museum |
"This is a reduced copy on canvas, by an unknown artist probably painting in the early 19th century, of Correggio's fresco on one of the squinches of the dome of Parma Cathedral. It depicts one of the four patron saints of Parma, St Bernardo degli Uberti, born of a noble Florentine family and bishop of Parma from 1104 to 1133. In contrast to his predecessors, Bernardo supported Pope Pascal II over the German emperor and antipope. The Roman pontiff visited Parma in 1106 and dedicated the Cathedral. Bernardo left a vivid legacy in Parma, not only in the accounts of his saintly activities, but in his contribution to the fabric of the Cathedral itself."
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| Rodrigo de Osona the Elder Agony in the Garden ca. 1465 oil on panel Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Paolo Veronese Frieze with Actaeon watching Diana and her Nymphs bathing ca. 1560-70 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
"This work is part of a series of mythological subjects that most likely decorated a frieze in a private home, perhaps just under the crown molding. The hunter Actaeon has stumbled upon the goddess of the hunt, Diana, bathing with her nymphs – her arrows and their clothes have been discarded at right. As punishment for gazing upon their nudity, Diana transforms Actaeon into a stag and he is torn apart by his own dogs. Typically, this story is rendered with Actaeon expressing shock; here, however, he lounges on a rock, apparently enjoying the scene, before he suffers the consequences."
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| Aelbert Cuyp Equestrian portrait of Cornelis and Michiel Pompe van Meerdervoort with their Tutor and a Coachman ca. 1652-53 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| John Singer Sargent The Breakfast Table (Miss Violet Sargent) 1883-84 oil on canvas Harvard Art Museums |
"In this lively portrait, Sargent explores the material culture of the Victorian elite. The ostensible subject is his younger sister, Violet, who peels an orange in the midst of her morning reading. But Sargent is as interested in conveying his sister's character as he is in portraying her surroundings. Laden with ceramics, crystal, crisp white linens, and shimmering silver, The Breakfast Table captures the look and feel of the well-appointed French apartment that the Sargent family rented in the south of France in the summer of 1883. Painted in Paris, the work exemplifies Sargent's regard for the formal innovations of the French impressionists. With its cropped and compressed foreground, loose brushwork, and muted palette punctuated by daubs of bright white, it evokes the paintings of Degas and Manet. An inscription at lower right dedicates the work to Albert Besnard, a French artist and friend who also explored the effects of light and shadow."
– quoted texts based on curator's notes at the respective museums