Showing posts with label martyrs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label martyrs. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Signals - III

Paul Bril
Landscape with the Death of St Peter Martyr
ca. 1590
oil on panel
Galleria Borghese, Rome

Lattanzio Gambara
Battle Scene
(after an antique relief)
before 1574
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Marco Benefial
Cain slaying Abel
ca. 1730
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Jacob Jordaens
Odysseus threatening Circe
ca. 1630-35
oil on canvas
Kunstmuseum Basel

Giovanni Antonio Molineri
Martyrdom of St Paul
ca. 1618-21
oil on canvas
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

François Perrier
Olindo and Sophronia on the Pyre
(scene from Gerusalemme Liberata by Torquato Tasso)
ca. 1635-45
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims

Michael Wolgemut
Martyrdom of St Matthew
1493
woodcut and letterpress
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Heinrich Ulrich after Paulus Meyer
Battle of Tritons
1602
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Palma il Giovane
Venetians defending against the Siege
by Pepin, King of the Franks

ca. 1579-80
drawing
(study for painting)
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Giuseppe Peroni
Martyrdom of St Lucy
ca. 1762-63
oil on canvas
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

Giambattista Tiepolo
Martyrdom of St Agatha
ca. 1755
oil on canvas (altarpiece)
Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Bernardo Strozzi
Martyrdom of St Justina
ca. 1635
oil on canvas
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Philips Wouwerman 
Battle Scene
ca. 1655-60
oil on canvas
Mauritshuis, The Hague

Cornelis Bos after Luca Penni
Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs
ca. 1550
engraving
(joined image produced from two plates)
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Jacob Binck
Cain slaying Abel
before 1569
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Oliviero Gatti after Pordenone
Sacrifice of Abraham
1625
engraving
Hamburger Kunsthalle

On a Picture of Iphigenia – Iphigenia rageth furiously, but the face of Orestes recalls her to the sweet memory of kinship.  Being stirred by wrath, and gazing, too, at her brother, her glance is as of one carried away by mixed fury and pity. 

On a Statue of Niobe – From a living being the gods made me a stone, but Praxiteles from a stone made me alive again. 

On a Picture of Niobe – Thou seest the veritable shape of unhappy Niobe as if she were still bewailing the fate of her children.  But if it is not given to her to have a soul, blame not the artist for this: he portrayed a woman of stone. 

On a Statue Group of Niobe and her Children – This is the daughter of Tantalus, who of old bore from a single womb twice seven children, victims of Phoebus and Artemis: for the Maiden sent untimely death to the maidens, the male god to the boys, the two slaying two companies of seven.  She, once the mother of such a flock, the mother of lovely children, was not left with one to tend her age.  The mother was not, as was meet, buried by her children, but the children were carried by their mother to the sorrowful tomb.  Tantalus, thy tongue was fatal to thee and to thy daughter; she became a rock, and over thee hangs a stone to terrify thee.

On a Statue Group of Niobe and her Children – Stand near, stranger, and weep when thou lookest on the infinite mourning of Niobe, the daughter of Tantalus, who held not her tongue under lock and key; whose brood of twelve children is laid low now on earth, these by the arrows of Phoebus, and those by the arrows of Artemis.  Now, her form compounded of stone and flesh, she is become a rock, and high-built Sipylus groans.  A guileful plague to mortals is the tongue whose unbridled madness gives birth often to calamity. 

On a Statue Group of Niobe and her Children – Why, woman, dost thou lift up to Olympus thy shameless hand, and let thy divine hair fall loose from thy godless head?  Looking now on the heavy wrath of Leto, O mother of many children, bemoan thy bitter and froward strife.  One of thy daughters is gasping beside thee, one lies lifeless, and heavy death is nigh descending on another.  Yes, and this is not yet the end of thy woe, but the swarm of thy male children lies low likewise in death.  O Niobe, weeping for the heavy day that gave thee birth, thou shalt be a lifeless rock consumed by sorrow. 

– from Book XVI (Epigrams of the Planudean Anthology) in the Greek Anthology, translated and edited by W.R. Paton (1918)

Monday, April 27, 2026

Signals - II

Anonymous French Artist after Guido Reni
Hercules on the Pyre
ca. 1650
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Artemisia Gentileschi
Cleopatra
ca. 1620
oil on canvas
Fondazione Cavallini Sgarbi, Ferrara

Jacopo de' Barbari
Cleopatra
ca. 1510
engraving and drypoint
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucretia
ca. 1535-40
oil on panel
Kunstmuseum Basel

Albrecht Dürer
Arm and Hand with Sword
1508
drawing
(study for painting, Death of Lucretia)
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Francesco Francia (Francesco Raibolini)
Lucretia
ca. 1502
oil on panel, transferred to canvas
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

Frans Crabbe van Espleghem
Lucretia
ca. 1520-30
engraving
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Domenico Maria Canuti
Lucretia supported by Father and Husband
ca. 1670-80
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Sebald Beham
Lucretia
before 1550
engraving
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Josef Abel
Socrates preparing to drink Hemlock
ca. 1790
watercolor on paper
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Jacques-Louis David
Drapery Study for Death of Socrates
(Mourning Follower)

ca. 1787
drawing
Musée Bonnat-Helleu, Bayonne

Virgil Solis
Ajax Slaying Himself
ca. 1550-60
woodcut
(illustration to the Metamorphoses of Ovid)
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel

Jean Duvet
Remorse and Suicide of Judas
ca. 1550-60
engraving
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Georg Pencz
Marcus Curtius leaping into the Chasm
before 1550
engraving
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Georg Pencz
Death of Artemisia
ca. 1540
engraving
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous French Artist
Martyrdom of St Cecilia
ca. 1620-25
oil on canvas
Musée Fabre, Montpellier

On a Picture of Philoctetes – Parrhasius painted this, Philoctetes' likeness, after verily seeing the long-suffering hero from Trachis.  For in his dry eyes there lurks a mute tear, and the wearing pain dwells inside.  O best of painters, great is thy skill, but it was time to give rest from his pains to the much tried man. 

On a Bronze Statue of Philoctetes – My foe, more than the Greeks, was my maker, a second Odysseus, who put me in mind again of my evil, accursed hurt.  They were not enough, the rock-cave, the rags, the pus, the sore, the misery, but he wrought in the brass even the pain.

On a Picture of Philoctetes – I know Philoctetes when I look on him, for he makes manifest his pain to all, even to those who gaze on him from a distance.  He is all shaggy like a wild man; look at the locks of his head, squalid and harsh-coloured.  His skin is parched and shrunk to look at, perchance feels dry even to the finger's touch.  Beneath his dry eyes the tears stand frozen, the sign of sleepless agony. 

On a Statue of Alexander of Macedon – Lysippus, sculptor of Sicyon, bold hand, cunning craftsman, its glance is of fire, that bronze thou didst cast in the form of Alexander.  No longer do we blame the Persians: cattle may be pardoned for flying before a lion. 

On a Statue of Heracles – No, by Heracles the ox-eater, ye country lads, no longer shall wily wolves set their feet here, and thieves shall refuse to tread the path of pilfering, even if the villagers lie in imprudent sleep.  For Dionysius withal, not without a vow, hath set me, Heracles, here to be the place's good defender. 

On a Picture of Ulysses – Ever is the sea unkind to the son of Laertes; the flood hath bathed the picture and washed off the figure from the wood.  What did it gain thereby?  For in Homer's verse the image of him is painted on immortal pages. 

– from Book XVI (Epigrams of the Planudean Anthology) in the Greek Anthology, translated and edited by W.R. Paton (1918)

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Succour - II

attributed to Trophime Bigot
St Sebastian tended by St Irene
ca. 1620-30
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux

Dirck van Baburen
St Irene tending St Sebastian
ca. 1622
oil on canvas
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Theodoor Rombouts
St Irene succouring St Sebastian
ca. 1635
oil on canvas
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

Lodovico Lana
St Sebastian tended by St Irene
1643
etching
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Marcantonio Franceschini
St Sebastian tended by St Irene
ca. 1705-1706
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims

Balthasar van Cortbemde
The Good Samaritan
1647
oil on canvas
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

Johann Carl Loth
The Good Samaritan
ca. 1678-80
oil on canvas
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Nicolas Bertin
The Good Samaritan
ca. 1720
oil on canvas
Neue Pinakothek, Munich

Louis Fabritius Dubourg
The Good Samaritan
ca. 1750
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld
and Ferdinand and Friedrich Olivier
The Good Samaritan
1833
oil on canvas
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Domenico Fiasella
Christ healing the Blind Man
ca. 1615
oil on canvas
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art,
Sarasota, Florida

Peter van Lint
Christ healing the Sick at the Pool of Bethesda
1643
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Paolo Pagani
Christ healing the Blind Man
ca. 1680
oil on canvas
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

Bernardino Licinio
Return of the Prodigal Son
ca. 1530
oil on canvas
Romanian National Museum of Art, Bucharest

Bartolomé Estebán Murillo
Return of the Prodigal Son
ca. 1667-70
oil on canvas
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Pompeo Batoni
Return of the Prodigal Son
ca. 1765-70
oil on canvas
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

Je veux enfin vous redire ici, Monsieur, la cause de la commande, sa petite raison nécessaire et suffisante, le dessein des commanditaires. Qui ils sont. Et je sais bien que vous l'avez lu, dans la petite antichambre, que vous êtes censé l'avoir lu – mais je vous connais, Monsieur, vous et vos semblables: vous allez tout de suite dans vos lectures à ce qui brille et dont on est avide, les jupes de maman-putain, le plumet, les louis d'or: ou à ce qui est parfaitement mat et noir, la guillotine, Shakespeare: mais les arguties politiques vous fatiguent, vous sautez tout cela. La grisaille théorique et historique, la lutte des classes et le panier de crabes, vous vous dites que tout cela vous le lirez demain. Et je sais bien que vous n'avez pas besoin de l'entendre, mais j'ai besoin, moi, de vous le dire.

– Pierre Michon, from Les Onze (Verdier, 2009) 

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Corner to Corner, Edge to Edge - V

Giuseppe Maria Crespi
The Sibyl and Aeneas with Charon
ca. 1695-1705
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous German Artist
Pattern Sheet
ca. 1430-40
drawing
(probably motifs for glass engraving)
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Antonio Palomino
Archangel Michael defeating Satan
ca. 1695
oil on canvas
Detroit Institute of Arts

Renato Guttoso
La Spiaggia
ca. 1955-56
oil on canvas
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

Max Beckmann
Temptation Triptych
ca. 1936-37
oil on canvas
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich

Garofalo (Benvenuto Tisi)
Triumph of Bacchus
ca. 1540
oil on canvas
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

attributed to Pietro Negri
Mercury and Argus
ca. 1660-70
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen

Frans Francken the Younger
Fall of the Damned
ca.1605-1610
oil on panel
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Correggio (Antonio Allegri)
Martyrdom of St Placidus and St Flavia
ca. 1524
oil on canvas
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

Baccio Bandinelli
Studies of Child Mannequin
ca. 1520
drawing
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Adolph Menzel
Sheet of Studies
ca. 1882-84
drawing
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

Anonymous German Artist
Death of the Virgin
ca. 1520
oil on panel
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

Michelangelo Anselmi
Virgin and Child in Glory
with St Sebastian and St Roch

ca. 1536
oil on panel
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

Jacob Jordaens
Moses striking Water from the Rock
ca. 1618
oil on panel
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

Asger Jorn
Pixelated Garden
ca. 1966-69
oil on canvas
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Anonymous French Photographer
Storage for Paintings - Musée des Augustins de Toulouse
ca. 2020
digital photograph
Musée des Augustins de Toulouse

 from The Wanderings of Oisin

Till the horse gave a whinny; for, cumbrous with stems of the hazel and oak,
A valley flowed down from his hoofs, and there in the long grass lay,
Under the starlight and shadow, a monstrous slumbering folk,
Their naked and gleaming bodies poured out and heaped in the way.

And by them were arrow and war-axe, arrow and shield and blade;
And dew-blanched horns, in whose hollow a child of three years old
Could sleep on a couch of rushes, and all inwrought and inlaid,
And more comely than man can make them with bronze and silver and gold. 

And each of the huge white creatures was huger than fourscore men;
The tops of their ears were feathered, their hands were the claws of birds,
And, shaking the plumes of the grasses and the leaves of the mural glen,
The breathing came from those bodies, long warless, grown whiter than curds. 

– W.B. Yeats (1889)