Monday, September 16, 2024

Ancient Divas - I

Bartholomeus Spranger
Omphale with Lion Skin and Club
and Hercules with Spindle

ca. 1585
oil on copper
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Filippo da Verona
Ariadne on Naxos
ca. 1510
oil on panel
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Alexander Runciman
Agrippina with the Ashes of Germanicus
ca. 1770
etching
Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

Bartholomeus Spranger
Circe and Odysseus
ca. 1580-85
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Michele Tosini
Leda
ca. 1565
oil on panel
Galleria Borghese, Rome

attributed to Jan van Scorel
Dying Cleopatra
ca. 1520
oil on panel
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Giovanni della Robbia
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
ca. 1495
glazed terracotta
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Giovanni Battista Zelotti
Costume Design for Sophonisba
(staging of drama by Giangiorgio Trissino)
ca. 1562
drawing
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

Gregorio Pagani
Esther before Ahasuerus
ca. 1600
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Fabrizio Santafede
Samson and Delilah
ca. 1610
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

attributed to Francesco Furini
Artemisia with the Ashes of Mausolus
ca. 1605-1610
oil on canvas
Yale University Art Gallery

Master of the Holy Blood
Lucretia
ca. 1510-20
oil on panel
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Laurent PĂ©cheux
Berenice Sacrificing her Hair
1797
oil on canvas
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

Lucas van Leyden
Jael and Sisera
1517
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Dosso Dossi
Dido
ca. 1519
oil on canvas
Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, Rome

Alonso Berruguete
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist
ca. 1514
oil on panel
Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence

from The Statues

Pythagoras planned it. Why did the people stare?
His numbers though they moved or seemed to move
In marble or in bronze, lacked character.
But boys and girls pale from the imagined love
Of solitary beds knew what they were,
That passion could bring character enough;
And pressed at midnight in some public place
Live lips upon a plummet-measured face.

– W.B. Yeats (1939)