Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Rococo / Neoclassical Martyrdom

Antonio Balestra
Martyrdom of Saints Cosmas and Damian
1718
oil on canvas
Basilica di Santa Giustina, Padua

Michele Rocca
Virgin Martyrs
before 1751
oil on canvas
Palazzo Buonaccorsi, Macerata

Anonymous Italian Artist
Martyrdom of St Agnes
ca. 1700-1750
oil on panel
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham

Giambattista Tiepolo
Martyrdom of St Agatha
ca. 1750
oil on canvas
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Antonio Bellucci
St Sebastian tended by St Irene
ca. 1716-18
oil on canvas
Dulwich Picture Gallery, London

Anonymous Italian Artist
St Sebastian
18th century
oil on canvas
Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti, Genoa

from Arrows

In the famous painting, the saint
looks steadfastly heavenward,
               away from the physical indignity below,

the fascinating spectacle
     of his own body
                       bristling with arrows;

he looks up
as if he were already adamantly elsewhere,
     exerting that power of denial
          the soul is famous for,
that ability to say, "None of this is real:

Nothing that happened here on earth
and who I thought I was,
and nothing that I did or that was done to me,
was ever real."

– Tony Hoagland (1998)

François-Guillaume Ménageot
Martyrdom of St Sebastian
ca. 1780
oil on canvas
Haggerty Museum, Marquette University, Milwaukee

Antonio Palomino
St Sebastian
before 1726
oil on canvas
Musée Thomas-Henry, Cherbourg

attributed to Antonio Bellucci
St Sebastian
ca. 1700
oil on canvas
Koper Regional Museum, Slovenia

Giacinto Diana
Martyrdom of St Sebastian
ca. 1780
oil on canvas
Indianapolis Museum of Art

Pierre Subleyras
Crucifixion of St Peter 
ca. 1740
oil on canvas 
(modello)
Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

Pierre Subleyras
Crucifixion of St Peter
ca. 1740
oil on canvas
Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig

Pompeo Batoni after Guido Reni
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist
ca. 1740-62
oil on canvas
National Trust, Stourhead Wiltshire

Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist
ca. 1700
oil on copper
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Jacques-Louis David
Death of Socrates
1787
oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York