Triptych Leaf with St. Constantine

by ArtByzantine ArtByzantine IvoriesByzantiumStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Triptych Leaf with St. Constantine, mid-10th century, Ivory, 16.4×6.5 cm, Dumbarton
Oaks, Washington, DC, USA
http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27455

It was but recently the whole human race celebrated various ten-year periods for the great Emperor with festive banquets. It was but recently we ourselves hymned the conqueror with praises for his twenty years, taking the floor at the Council of God’s ministers. Just now we wove garlands of words also for his thirty years, in the very palace hardly yesterday to crown his sacred head. But today our thought stands helpless, longing to express some of the conventional things, but at a loss which way to turn, stunned by the sheer wonder of the amazing spectacle. Wherever it casts its gaze, whether east or west, whether all over the earth or up to heaven itself, every way and everywhere it observes the Blessed One present with the Empire itself… writes Eusebius PamphiliOn the Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine back in the 4th century AD. Today, celebrating Emperor Constantine’s Name-Day, I present you a Triptych Leaf with St. Constantine from the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and wish every person named Constantine or Constantina… Health, Happiness, and Prosperity! http://archive.eclass.uth.gr/eclass/modules/document/file.php/SEAD260/%CE%95%CF%85%CF%83%CE%AD%CE%B2%CE%B9%CE%BF%CF%82%2C%20Life%20of%20Constantine%20%28trans.%20Averil%20Cameron%20-%20Stuart%20Hall%29.pdf

Emperor Constantine is often described as the most important emperor of Late Antiquity. His political and military acumen, foresight, and sagacity mark his rule as a significant pivot point between Ancient History and the Middle Ages. His reign was eventful and brutal, but his momentous decisions created a whole new world for Europe and parts of the Eastern Mediterranean… He legalized and supported Christianity, and he founded the “New Rome,” mythical Constantinople, the city that ruled supreme in beauty, and power, for a thousand years! Emperor Constantine, while alive, was revered and feared at the same time. He was the greatest of statesmen… he became a Saint of the Christian faith, and a shining example for Emperors to come into the world! https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/constantine

Originally in the Collection of the famed connoisseur of European paintings and of objects of fine art from many cultures, Count Grigory Sergeievich Stroganoff (1829-1910) of Rome, Paris, and St Petersburg, the Triptych Leaf with St. Constantine entered the Dumbarton Oaks Collection in 1947. The small ivory representation of a Saint dressed in Imperial attire, a loros wrapped around his body and a crown with pendilia, is identified with Emperor/Saint Constantine I (208?-337 AD). Along with his mother St. Helena, according to John Hanson of Dumbarton Oaks, also dressed in royal robes, these saints were often shown flanking a representation of the True Cross. In all probability, this is the case for the Dumbarton Oaks Ivory panel. It was the left-wing of a precious triptych..  http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27455

Triptych Leaf with St. Constantine (detail), mid-10th century, Ivory, 16.4×6.5 cm, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, USA
http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27455

There were no less than eleven Byzantine Emperors by the name of Constantine, the number rising to twenty-two if children and relatives with little or no independent power were added to the list. They all wanted to connect with the Empire’s founder and share his legacy. It is perhaps for this reason that the saint’s features resemble, as stated by John Hanson, the facial features of early 10th century Byzantine Emperors, the time when the Triptych Leaf with St. Constantine was created. If the identity of the emperor was specifically Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, the resemblance creates a complex sign of authority and sanctity, aligning the living emperor with his imperial namesake. https://www.persee.fr/doc/numi_0484-8942_2005_num_6_161_2594 and http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27455

For a Student Activity on the Triptych Leaf with St. Constantine, please… Check HERE!

The Bee Goddess of Eleutherna

by Ancient Greek ArtArtGreek ArtJewelryStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Gold Pendant with the representation of a Bee Goddess, On the upper torso she is depicted as a female with a Daedalic wig and arms bent at the elbows. The rest of the body resembles an insect, its large wings decorated with stippled rosettes, 7th century BC, Archaeological Museum of Eleutherna, Crete, Greece
https://mae.uoc.gr/exhibits/

On the 20th of May… Let’s celebrate World Bee Day! Let’s observe the importance of the 25,000 to 30,000 species of bees as effective pollinators. According to the United Nations pollinators allow many plants, including many food crops, to reproduce. Indeed, the food that we eat, such as fruits and vegetables, directly relies on pollinators. A world without pollinators would equal a world without food diversity – no blueberries, coffee, chocolate, cucumbers and so much more. The ancient Greeks understood the importance of pollination and revered Bees as the “Divine Queens” of their ecosystem. The 7th century BC Gold Pendant with the representation of a Bee Goddess from Eleutherna in Crete is proof enough! https://www.un.org/en/observances/bee-day/background

The so-called Dark Ages of Greece, when the Eleutherna Gold Pendant with the representation of a Bee Goddess was created, were not dark at all! They were years of adjustment to a new reality, the aftermath years of the Homeric Epos, the years of the naissance of the great Greek art of antiquity. The small Bee Goddess of Eleutherna, a wonderful amalgam of old, and current Cretan traditions, is persuasive in its purpose and beautiful in its artistry. Whoever the pendant’s artist was, he was familiar with the Minoan past of female divine potency and the Homeric, rich literary tradition of metaphors relating the bee to human society. Let’s not forget how Homer (8th cent. BC) compares the Achaean warriors leaving the ships to attend an assembly to a swarm of bees leaving their hive in search of flowers:     From the camp the troops were turning / out now, thick as bees that issue from some / crevice in a rock face, endlessly pouring / forth, to make a cluster and swarm on / blooms of summer here and there, glinting / and droning, busy in bright air.     /     Like bees innumerable from ships and huts / down the deep foreshore streamed those / regiments toward the assembly ground. (Iliad II 86-93, trans. Robert Fitzgerald) https://www.apiservices.biz/documents/articles-en/beekeeping_in_mediterranean.pdf

The small Bee Goddess pendant was discovered in the necropolis of Orthi Petra in Crete and inspired Professor Νikolaos Stampolidis to use it as the logo of the Museum of ancient Eleutherna. This amazing ornament is a composite creation: it shows the bust of a woman, with arms folded over the chest, and the lower body of a bee, with large wings, adorned with dotted flowers. https://www.lamdadev.com/en/the-company/corporate-social-responsibility/culture/commemorative-volume-eleutherna.html?os_image_id-34

Gold Pendant with the representation of a Bee Goddess, 7th century BC, Archaeological Museum of Eleutherna, Crete, Greece
https://gr.pinterest.com/pin/343540277802257776/ and https://www.pinterest.de/pin/91409067412568201/

The city of Eleutherna, on the island of Crete, was of great importance in prehistoric times and continued to be so from the dawn of Hellenic Civilization to the Byzantine era. Systematic excavations organized by the University of Crete under the directorship of Professors Petros Themelis, Athanasios Kalpaxis, and Nikos Stampolidis since 2009, brought to light three sectors of the city and the necropolis at Orthi Petra, enhancing our knowledge of the political, economic, social, religious, and artistic history of the whole of Crete, particularly during the so-called “Dark Ages.” Eleutherna, close to Mount Ida, where the Νεφεληγερέτης (Cloud Gatherer) Zeus was safely born, raised with milk and honey, and protected by the Kourites warriors, is a city that eloquently bespeaks the continuity of the island’s prosperity and its seminal contribution to the genesis of Hellenic civilization. Discover its importance with the help of ELEUTHERA, by Nikolaos Chr. Stanmpolidis, LAMDA DEVELOPMENT, 2020. https://www.latsis-foundation.org/content/elib/book_29/eleytherna-english-l.pdf and https://www.latsis-foundation.org/content/elib/book_29/eleytherna-greek-f.pdf

For a Student Activity inspired by the 7th century BC Gold Pendant with the representation of a Bee Goddess from Eleutherna in Crete, please… Check HERE!

Painter at Work!

by ArtRoman ArtRoman Frecoes
Painter at Work from the House of the Surgeon in Pompeii, Room L, East Wall, central section, 1st century AD, Fresco, 45×45.4 cm, National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy – Credit: Image © Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum of Naples https://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/pompeii-in-color/objects/painter

Pompeii in Color: The Life of Roman Painting Exhibition at the New York University Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (through May 29, 2022) presents thirty-five frescoes from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Among these important works, all originally from Roman homes is a favorite painting of mine, titled Painter at Work! It comes from the Pompeian House of the Surgeon, and it is a Gem! https://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/pompeii-in-color

The amazing Pompeian fresco of a female painter immersed in her work… observed and admired… “bathed” in “aubergine” tones, attracts our attention, and captivates our eyes. The Questions and Answers that follow, will hopefully help us solve hidden clues, understand the fresco’s importance, and enjoy its charm!

Where was the Fresco titled Painter at Work discovered?

The fresco was found in the House of the Surgeon, in the ancient city of Pompeii, located in the Bay of Naples, or as Cicero would call it, the “the crater of all delights.” Pompeii was the favorite vacation spot of the Roman elite. Roman Emperors and their wives, members of the old aristocracy, and representatives of the new money elite were all, more than enthusiastic to live or vacation on the Neapolitan coast. The name of the House’s owner may not be known, but a toolkit of bronze and iron surgical instruments discovered during excavations is responsible for its modern name.   https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/roman-splendor-in-pompeii-59083755/

House of the Surgeon in Pompeii, City, and House Plan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_the_Surgeon
https://sites.google.com/site/ad79eruption/pompeii/regio-vi/reg-vi-ins-1/house-of-the-surgeon

Specific facts about When and Where the House of the Surgeon was built: The House of the Surgeon or Casa del Chirurgo is one of the oldest Italic Houses in the city. It was excavated back in 1771 by the Spanish military architect and archaeologist Francesco La Vega. It is located on the East side of the ancient city (Regio VI, Insula i, Doorway 10), about 50 meters inside the Herculaneum Gate, and dates from the Samnite period, between the 3rd and the early 2nd century BC. At the time of the eruption of 79 AD, the House had fallen into a poor state and was undergoing considerable repair work. https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue23/3/case_study.html and https://interactive.archaeology.org/pompeii/field/11.html

House of the Surgeon in Pompeii, Italy
https://www.storieparallele.it/la-casa-del-chirurgo-di-pompei/

Where was the fresco of the female Painter at Work discovered? The House of the Surgeon was, once, lavishly decorated with frescoes of the 4th Pompeian Style. Room L, next to the House’s Hortus (Garden), seems special. This is the Room where the Painter at Work fresco was discovered in 1771. The painting was detached, it was considered a protection procedure at the time, and is now exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, as a framed panel.

Engraving of the Frescoed East Wall of Room L in the House of the Surgeon, in Pompeii. The central painted panel depicts the Painter at Work
Le pitture antiche d’Ercolano, Tomo Setimo, Tabola LXXXII, pag. 365, Napoli : nella regia stamperia, 1757, TH-Bibliothek Zürich https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Delle_antichit%C3%A0_di_Ercolano,_1757-1779_(T._I-VII)_70388_(23839904461).jpg

Describe the Composition: Painter at Work is a wall decoration of a seated woman absorbed in the art of painting! It was discovered in 1771, during the early excavations, in Room L of the House of the Surgeon, in Pompeii. The painting was, at the time, removed, and now is exhibited in the Archaeological Museum in Naples. We do not know the name of the artist who created it, nor the name of the depicted female painter… they are both anonymous, but they both strike us as talented and unique! The portrayed artist sits comfortably on a stool, dramatically framed by a window opening to the sky. The window is bordered by two pillars/posts and is decorated with garlands and a Bucranium. In a faint distance, we can discern a Herm and a Vase standing on a pillar, both typical Hellenistic landscape motives.

The portrayed artist is about to finish her painting of a sculpture that stands in front of her. Her hand reaches back with her paintbrush to a box of pigments balancing on a cylindrical stand… is it the drum of a column? She is looking at the statue of a bearded man… is he God Dionysus as some scholars have suggested? Immersed in her work she is about to put the final touches on her painting placed on the floor directly beneath its model, held by a wreathed boy… is he Cupid? Behind the left Pillar, two richly dressed women stand, looking interested… are they friends, admirers, or sponsors? We can only guess…

There is so much I admire in this small painting! The noble theme of a painting dedicated to the Art of Painting, and thee, by a female artist… The idea of a painting within a painting, with the extra addition of a second small painting hanging on the right pillar… The amazing color scheme employed by the artist, muted aubergine tones and soft sky blues…the atmospheric perspective… and the fainted Hellenistic landscape. This is a grand painting in small size! http://www.pompeiiincolor.com/theme/the-fantastic-and-the-familiar

For more Questions and Answers, please… Check HERE!

Mother and Child by Pablo Picasso

by 20th century ArtArtPowerpoints
Pablo Picasso, Spanish Artist, 1881–1973
Mother and Child, ca. 1921, Oil on canvas, 142.9 × 172.7 cm, Art Institute, Chicago, IL, USA
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/109275/mother-and-child

Mother’s Day is an age-old tradition that can be traced back to the ancient Greeks, who held spring festivities to honour Rhea, Μήτηρ θεών, the Mother of the Gods. Let’s celebrate Mother’s Day, the 8th of May in 2022, with a poem by Lola Ridge (1873-1941)… Your love was like moonlight / turning harsh things to beauty, / so that little wry souls / reflecting each other obliquely / as in cracked mirrors . . . / beheld in your luminous spirit / their own reflection, / transfigured as in a shining stream, / and loved you for what they are not… and the painting Mother and Child by Pablo Picasso at the Art Institute of Chicago…  https://poets.org/poem/mother-1

Picasso’s painting of 1921 exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, depicting a Mother and Child has an interesting story to tell! More so, the relationship Picasso had with the Art Institute and the city of Chicago, a city the artist never visited, is interesting, and goes back in time! In 1913, for example, the Art Institute of Chicago became the first American art museum to present Picasso’s work when it hosted the Armory Show from March 24 to April 16. In 1923, a gift to the Institute by Robert Allerton, a businessman and Art Institute trustee, a drawing of a Young Woman and a Man (1905), became the first Picasso work of art to enter the Institute’s collection. In 1926, The Old Guitarist (1903–04), became the first Picasso painting to be put on permanent display, definitely a daring step at the time. In 1954, the Art Institute acquired Picasso’s painting Mother and Child (1921). Today, the Art Institute of Chicago has in its collection 357 works of art created by Pablo Picasso. https://www.timeout.com/chicago/art/the-art-institute-of-chicago-celebrates-picasso

The Picasso-Art Institute relationship gets especially interesting in 1968 when William Hartmann of the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill architect company, visited Picasso and showed him a photograph of the artist’s painting Mother and Child as exhibited at the Art Institute. Picasso, according to Stephanie D’Alessandro, Curator of Modern Art at the Art Institute on the 2013 Exhibit Picasso and Chicago, upon seeing the photograph disappeared and came back with a fragment of a painting depicting a seated man. Give this to Chicago. They’ll know what to do with it, the artist apparently said to Hartman. Picasso’s gift, the Art Institute experts realized, had once been part of the Mother and Child composition in the Institute’s collection. When we X-rayed the painting [to see the layers that had been painted over, D’Alessandro explained …we discovered that the man was originally dangling a fish over the child’s head. What a story… https://www.timeout.com/chicago/art/the-art-institute-of-chicago-celebrates-picasso

Pablo Picasso, Spanish Artist, 1881–1973
Mother and Child and Fragment of the “Father”, ca. 1921, Oil on canvas, 142.9 × 172.7 cm, Art Institute, Chicago, IL, USA
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/109275/mother-and-child

Between 1921 and 1923, when the Chicago painting of Mother and Child was created, Picasso was a happy man! He was married to Olga Khokhlova, a Russian dancer of the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, and the father of a boy named Paulo (Paul, b. February 4, 1921). During this relaxed period of time, Picasso produced according to the Art Institute experts, at least twelve works on the subject of mothers and children, returning to a theme that he had explored during his Blue Period. But whereas those figures are frail and anguished, his classical-period figures, with their sculptural modeling and solidity, are majestic in proportion and feeling. The 1921-1923 paintings were influenced by ancient Roman Art monumentality, figurative Renaissance frescoes, the finely modeled odalisques of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, the late, oddly proportioned female nudes of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and his own family life. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/109275/mother-and-child

Pablo Picasso, Spanish Artist, 1881–1973
Mother and Child and Fragment of Mother and Child (as presented in the Art Institute of Chicago 2013 Exhibition Picasso and Chicago), ca. 1921, Oil on canvas, 142.9 × 172.7 cm, Art Institute, Chicago, IL, USA
Photo Credit: https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/travel/2013/03/09/exhibit-looks-at-chicagos-love-affair-with-picasso/

The Mother and Child painting by Pablo Picasso at the Art Institute of Chicago is majestic in proportion and feeling. The depicted infant sits on the mother’s lap and reaches up to touch her. The woman, dressed in a Grecian gown, gazes intently at her child. Behind them stretches a simplified background of sand, water, and sky. Picasso’s treatment of the pair is not sentimental, but the relationship expresses the serenity and stability that characterized his own life at this time. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/109275/mother-and-child

For a PowerPoint on the 1921-1923 theme of Picasso’s Mother and Child, please… Click HERE!

Woman in Monsieur Forest’s Garden

by 19th century ArtArtBasil and Elise Goulandris Foundation AthensPost-ImpressionismPowerpoints
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French Artist, 1864 – 1901
Woman in Monsieur Forest’s Garden, 1891, Oil on Board, 60,7 × 55 cm, Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens, Greece
https://goulandris.gr/el/collection/highlights

How vainly men themselves amaze / To win the palm, the oak, or bays, / And their uncessant labours see / Crown’d from some single herb or tree, / Whose short and narrow verged shade / Does prudently their toils upbraid; / While all flow’rs and all trees do close / To weave the garlands of repose …     /     Fair Quiet, have I found thee here, / And Innocence, thy sister dear! / Mistaken long, I sought you then / In busy companies of men; / Your sacred plants, if here below, / Only among the plants will grow. / Society is all but rude, / To this delicious solitude… writes Andrew Marvell (1621 – 1678) back in the 17th century… and I think that maybe… Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Woman in Monsieur Forest’s Garden, sitting uptight with fingers intertwined, seeks in the wild garden of Père Forest… delicious solitude… a place of repose and restfulness… an escape from the more frenetic world of public life that lies beyond the boundaries of the garden. https://interestingliterature.com/2017/07/a-short-analysis-of-andrew-marvells-the-garden/ and https://poets.org/poem/garden

In Montmartre, in Paris, where Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec lived, at the bottom of rue Caulaincourt, not far from Place de Clichy, Père Forest, an enthusiastic Parisian archer, owned a half-wild, half-cultivated garden where he often welcomed friends to walk in the undergrowth. Among Père Forest’s friends was Toulouse-Lautrec, whose studio was nearby, and upon the arrival of spring, used to walk down to his friend’s garden, where he would receive his models, paint en plein air surrounded by a large group of onlookers, and share many drinks with old friends and acquaintances till the late hours of the afternoon. https://www.histoires-de-paris.fr/toulouse-lautrec-jardin-pere-forest/

From 1889 to 1891, Lautrec experimented with the plein-air approach of the Impressionists, producing a group of studies showing figures set against the foliage in the garden of Monsieur Forest, his neighbor in the Paris district of Montmartre. Lautrec referred to these self-imposed exercises in technique as “impositions,” for which friends, as well as models, posed. One such “imposition” is the Basil and Elise Goulandris’s Foundation painting titled Woman in Monsieur Forest’s Garden of 1891. https://vrallart.com/artworks/woman_in_the_garden_of_monsieur_forest/ and https://goulandris.gr/en/artwork/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec-woman-in-monsieur-forests-garden

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French Artist, 1864 – 1901
Woman in Monsieur Forest’s Garden (detail), 1891, Oil on Board, 60,7 × 55 cm, Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens, Greece
https://goulandris.gr/el/collection/highlights

The woman depicted in the Lautrec painting in Athens was named Honorine. She was most probably not a professional model or prostitute, and she was painted at least twice. In the Athens version, according to the Goulandris Foundation experts, the model appears in a three-quarter pose, looking the viewer straight in the eye, with her fingers intertwined, without wearing accessories. The painter opted for a minimalist palette with white, green, violet, and a warmer touch for the reddish-gold hair. The face is undoubtedly more treated: the thin brush strokes are small and precise; the features are subtly rendered, refuting the accusations that the painter constantly pursued caricature at that time. The gaze, reflecting a subtle worry, is not at all distant, but straight and gracious. https://goulandris.gr/en/artwork/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec-woman-in-monsieur-forests-garden

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French Artist, 1864 – 1901
Woman with Gloves (Honorine Platzer), 1891, oil on cardboard, 54×40 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France
https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/node/89835  

Toulouse-Lautrec painted Honorine Platzer three times as he clearly had some affection for her. In the Musée d’Orsay painting Woman with Gloves, the artist captured his model almost in spite of herself, her gaze focused elsewhere… ignoring the painter. Honorine was a slim, elegant woman with beautiful strawberry-blond hair and a gentle yet strong character. Both paintings show how close Toulouse-Lautrec approach to portraiture was to the Impressionists, who frequently painted outside using colours splashed with sunlight. But whereas the Impressionists searched out the passing moment, the ephemeral nature of the effects of light, and did not linger over the features in this type of portrait, Lautrec, in contrast, would disregard the changing elements to capture the inner personality of his models. https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/node/89835

For a PowerPoint on Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Portraits of Women in the Garden of Père Forest, please… Check HERE!

Simon Bening’s May

by 16th century ArtArtFlemish ArtManuscriptsNorthern RenaissancePowerpointsRenaissanceStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Simon Bening (d. 1561) and his workshop
Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, May (f. 22v),c. 1540, 30 Parchment leaves on paper mounts, bound into a codex, 110 x 80 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm), British Library, London, UK
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/11/

The American children’s poet Annette Wynne introduces us to charming spring with… May / Has such a winsome way, / Loves to love and laugh and play, / To be pretty all the day, / Never loves to sulk and frown, / As April does; when rain comes down, / May is sorry, says: “Rain, please / Go away soon, flowers and trees / Love the merry shining sun, / Want to laugh now, every one, / For the happy time’s begun.” / All you people who love play, / Love to love the livelong day, / Do you not love May / With her winsome way? The artist of the Golf Book, one of the finest manuscript illuminators of the Northern Renaissance introduces us to the month of May with an amazing miniature… Let’s celebrate with Simon Bening’s May…a day of boating, merriment, and joy! https://discoverpoetry.com/poems/may-poems/

Folio 22v of the Golf Book, showing the Month of May, is one of the most glorious pages Simon Bening, the renowned Flemish artist from the Netherlands, ever created. It is a characteristic Renaissance Maying scene in its depiction of a spring landscape (Bening is known for his landscapes), with green leaves, and branches of greenery… and much more! At first glance, it presents two distinctive scenes related to May Day and a glorious river-side cityscape background scene of fortification walls, several well-constructed secular buildings, and what seems like two impressive Gothic churches. It also includes an anecdotal scene of a small gate leading to the river and a young going down the gate steps leading to the river with a container in each hand, perhaps to fill them with water… so typical Flemish! http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/2004/05/01/its-may-2/ and https://www.moleiro.com/en/books-of-hours/the-golf-book-book-of-hours/miniatura/159

Simon Bening (d. 1561) and his workshop
Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, May (f. 22v, details),c. 1540, 30 Parchment leaves on paper mounts, bound into a codex, 110 x 80 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm), British Library, London, UK
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/11/

The main scene, in the foreground of the composition, depicts a May Day boating trip along the local canals. In this scene, two boatmen, one at each end of the boat, are rowing a nobleman and two well-dressed ladies along a river, just about to glide under an impressive arched bridge. Enjoying the trip are a man dressed in a large, loose French gown with a sable collar, playing, appropriately I would add,  an ambiguous-looking wind instrument that could be a flute, and two women, dressed in gold-toned garments, one of whom plays the lute, equally appropriate for a female, with a plectrum. The boat is filled with flowering branches reminding the viewer that this is a May Day excursion indeed. https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/11/ and https://www.moleiro.com/en/books-of-hours/the-golf-book-book-of-hours/miniatura/159

Simon Bening (d. 1561) and his workshop
Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, May (f. 22v, detail),c. 1540, 30 Parchment leaves on paper mounts, bound into a codex, 110 x 80 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm), British Library, London, UK
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/11/
Simon Bening (d. 1561) and his workshop
Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, May (f. 22v, detail),c. 1540, 30 Parchment leaves on paper mounts, bound into a codex, 110 x 80 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm), British Library, London, UK
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/11/

The middle ground scene focuses on the activity taking place on the bridge connecting the city to the riversides. Horses are depicted crossing the bridge, and Bening directs the attention of the viewer to an aristocratic couple, well-dressed, crowned with large, white flowers and carrying branches. They seem to be returning “home” after a day of merriment in the countryside. Were they part of the elegant group of riding aristocrats depicted strolling through the wood in the bas-de-page scene of folio 23r? It would have been interesting to know what Simon Bening thought! https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/11/

For a PowerPoint on the  Golf Book, please… Check HERE!

For references to Student Activities on Simon Bening’s May Day page, please… Check HERE!

Simon Bening (d. 1561) and his workshop
Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, May (f. 22v and 23r),c. 1540, 30 Parchment leaves on paper mounts, bound into a codex, 110 x 80 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm), British Library, London, UK
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/11/

La Fornarina

by ArtExhibitionsItalian Renaissance ArtMuseumsPowerpointsRenaissance
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino known as Raphael, 1483–1520
Portrait of a Woman – La Fornarina, about 1519–20, Oil on Panel, 85×60 cm, Galleria Nazionale di Arte Antica (GNAA), Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy
https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BF:La_Fornarina,_por_Rafael.jpg

The life of Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino was short, his work prolific, and his legacy immortal. This is how the National Gallery in London experts introduce their audience to the blockbuster Credit Suisse Exhibition on Raphael (9 April – 31 July 2022)… But I want to return to Giogio Vasari… The liberality with which Heaven now and again unites in one person the inexhaustible riches of its treasures and all those graces and rare gifts which are usually shared among many over a long period is seen in Raphael Sanzio of Urbino, who was as excellent as gracious and endowed with a natural modesty and goodness sometimes seen in those who possess to an unusual degree a humane and gentle nature adorned with affability and good-fellowship, and he always showed himself sweet and pleasant with persons of every degree and in all circumstances… and take another look at La Fornarina… http://www.artist-biography.info/artist/raphael/ and https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/the-credit-suisse-exhibition-raphael#content

Ever since I saw La Fornarina at Palazzo Barberini in Rome, I was intrigued by its captivating beauty and mysteries. Who is the beautiful woman who modestly tries to cover herself?

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino known as Raphael, 1483–1520
Portrait of a Woman – La Fornarina (detail of the face), about 1519–20, Oil on Panel, 85×60 cm,  Galleria Nazionale di Arte Antica (GNAA), Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy
Foto di Mauro Cohen https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/the-credit-suisse-exhibition-raphael/a-brief-introduction-to-raphaels-life-and-times

Giorgio Vasari describes Raphael as a very amorous man,  fond of women, …always swift to serve them. This description “helps” Raphael enthusiasts identify the woman portrayed in La Fornarina with Margherita Luti, Raphael’s Roman lover, the daughter of a baker in Trastevere. Unfortunately, there is no description or record of such a painting created by the artist at the time. There are, however, “hints” that supporters of this interpretation like to consider. For example, her right-hand rests, gently, over her heart, holding her exposed breast. More so, her left hand, the hand of the heart, is adorned with a luxurious armband bearing the inscription “Raphael Urbinas,” the painter’s signature and her fourth finger is adorned with a ruby wedding ring, hidden under flesh-coloured paint for almost five centuries, and revealed in 2001 when an x-ray analysis was carried out on the painting. According to primary sources, Raphael died a young, unmarried man of 37, engaged at the time to a woman named Maria Bibbiena, the daughter of his patron Bernardo Dovizi. Could La Fornarina truly be the portrait of Margherita? There are “hints” but no evidence… https://www.barberinicorsini.org/en/opera/la-fornarina/ and http://www.artist-biography.info/artist/raphael/ and https://www.walksofitaly.com/blog/art-culture/art-history-mystery-la-fornarina-raphael

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino known as Raphael, 1483–1520
Portrait of a Woman – La Fornarina (detail), about 1519–20, Oil on Panel, 85×60 cm,  Galleria Nazionale di Arte, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fornarina_03.jpg

Then come the Palazzo Barberini experts who have a different “reading” on the identity of the elusive young woman… They suggest that Raphael’s female Portrait in their Collection presents no other than Goddess Venus. The position of her hand, for example, one placed on her lap and the other on her breast, follows the classic statuary model of the “Venus Pudica”: a gesture of modesty that yet directs the viewer’s gaze to what she actually seeks to conceal. Other symbols are to be found in the painting’s background… the myrtle bush, laurel, and branches of quince are sacred emblems of Venus, marriage, lust, and fertility. Plausible but not decisive… https://www.barberinicorsini.org/en/opera/la-fornarina/

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino known as Raphael, 1483–1520
Portrait of a Woman – La Fornarina (detail), about 1519–20, Oil on Panel, 85×60 cm,  Galleria Nazionale di Arte, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy
https://claudiaviggiani.com/fornarina-di-raffaello-in-palazzo-barberini/

Finally, I enjoyed reading Rona Goffen’s article on Raphael’s Designer Labels: From the Virgin Mary to La Fornarina (Artibus et Historiae Vol. 24, No. 48, 2003). pp. 132-135). Raphael, the author believes, tantalized, and still tantalizes his audience with clues to the woman’s identity but withholds her name. Whatever La Fornarina’s real name might have been, the author concludes, whatever (personal amorous) considerations might have motivated Raphael, he painted her portrait as the embodiment of the beauty of his art, that is, not universal, but idiosyncratic, individual, unmistakable for any other. Redefining beauty according to his own criteria, asserting his possession of her, whose image he created, Raphael asserted possession of art itself. And so Raphael signed the Fornarina without a date, because his possession is forever, his achievement immortal. This is an article worth reading! https://www.jstor.org/stable/1483734?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A2d02ae94d96f8d5167a5b6a3fb35f281&seq=13#page_scan_tab_contents pp. 132-135

For a PowerPoint on Raphael’s Portraits of Women, please… Check HERE!

Good Friday – Μεγάλη Παρασκευή

by ArtByzantine ArtByzantine IvoriesByzantiumPowerpoints
Book cover with a silver-gilt Spanish setting of a Byzantine Ivory Crucifixion, 10th century (ivory); late 11th century (setting), silver-gilt with pseudo-filigree, glass, crystal, and sapphire cabochons, ivory on wood support, Overall: 26.4 × 21.9 × 2.5 cm, the MET, NY, USA https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464015

Today he who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon a Tree. He who is King of the Angels is arrayed in a crown of thorns. He who wraps the heaven in clouds is wrapped in mocking purple. He who freed Adam in the Jordan receives a blow on the face. The Bridegroom of the Church is transfixed with nails. The Son of the Virgin is pierced by a lance. We worship your Sufferings, O Christ. Show us also your glorious Resurrection. (Good Friday – Μεγάλη Παρασκευή Twelfth Antiphon – plagal fourth mode) http://www.hchc.edu/assets/files/CD/All_Creation_Trembled_ebook.pdf

Σήμερον κρεμᾶται ἐπὶ ξύλου ὁ ἐν ὕδασι τὴν γῆν κρεμάσας. Στέφανον ἐξ ἀκανθῶν περιτίθεται ὁ τῶν Ἀγγέλων Βασιλεύς. Ψευδῆ πορφύραν περιβάλλεται ὁ περιβάλλων τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐν νεφέλαις. Ῥάπισμα κατεδέξατο ὁ ἐν Ἰορδάνῃ ἐλευθερώσας τὸν Ἀδάμ. Ἥλοις προσηλώθη ὁ Νυμφίος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Λόγχῃ ἐκεντήθη ὁ Υἱὸς τῆς Παρθένου. Προσκυνοῦμέν σου τὰ Πάθη, Χριστέ. Δεῖξον ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν ἔνδοξόν σου Ἀνάστασιν/ (ΜεγάληΠαρασκευή Ἀντίφωνον ΙΒ΄ – ἦχος πλ. δ΄) http://www.hchc.edu/assets/files/CD/All_Creation_Trembled_ebook.pdf

Panel with a Byzantine Ivory Carving of a Crucifixion, 10th century, Ivory, the MET, NY, USA https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464015

Byzantine Panels of Ivory Carvings were precious and treasured… just like the Ivory Panel in the MET coming from the Nunnery of Santa Cruz de la Serós in Spain. Set within an amazing gold frame of a Spanish goldsmith, the Byzantine Ivory Crucifixion Panel becomes an important testimony of Western admiration for the artistry of Byzantine craftsmanship, the high esteem accorded such Byzantine objects, and the cultural exchange, the artistic emulation, Byzantine artifacts initiated. The Glory of Byzantium, Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/The_Glory_of_Byzantium_Art_and_Culture_of_the_Middle_Byzantine_Era_AD_843_1261 p. 466

The Crucifixion plaque of Santa Cruz de la Serós originally formed the center of a Byzantine three-paneled icon. Typical to Byzantine Iconography, a Triumphant Christ stands erect on the Cross, his face serene, the eyes closed, his arms effortlessly horizontal, and his feet supported by a projecting platform. The “monumental” Cross in the center, seems to divide the compositional panel into 4 parts. The upper two smaller in size parts exhibit the sun and the moon, and two Angels. Standing under them, flanking the Cross, are the weeping Virgin Mary, and Saint John the Evangelist. They are both depicted holding a Book, an open one by Mary, and a bejeweled closed Book, by Saint John. Could the two represented Books be meant to remind the plaque’s viewer of Christ’s message of hope and redemption? https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464015

The Metropolitan Museum Ivory is associated (by Goldschmidt and Weitzmann) with the Cortona Reliquary of the True Cross Ivory panel, and a collection of Ivory plaques known as the Nikephoros Group. These Ivories display simplicity of composition, stylistic homogeneity, rough but monumental style of carving, broad, blunt facial features, and rather large hands. The Nikephoros Group Ivories are dated to the middle of the 10th century because of an inscription on the back of the Cortona Reliquary of the True Cross Ivory panel mentioning emperor Nikephoros, most certainly the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas (963-969). https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/The_Glory_of_Byzantium_Art_and_Culture_of_the_Middle_Byzantine_Era_AD_843_1261 p. 466

The MET Byzantine Ivory of the Crucifixion has been one of the many gifts to the Nunnery of Santa Cruz de la Serós, outside the royal capital of Jaca, which was founded by Queen Felicia (d. 1085), wife of Sancho V Ramírez (r. 1076–94), king of Aragon and Navarre. It entered the Metropolitan Museum Collection in 1917 as a gift from J. Pierpont Morgan. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464015?&exhibitionId=0&oid=464015&pkgids=722 and https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464015

A PowerPoint of all artworks presented for the Holy Week in the Greek Orthodox Church, 2022… is HERE!

Holy Monday – Μεγάλη Δευτέρα

by ArtByzantine ArtByzantine ManuscriptByzantiumManuscriptsPowerpoints
Vienna Genesis, The Pharaoh’s Banquet, folio 17, page 34, (Cod. Theol. gr. 31), first half of the 6th century, Illuminated Parchment dyed purple, heightening in shell gold, with a text written in silver ink, 32.0×26.5 cm, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, Austria https://onb.digital/result/10F14EEA

On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he held a feast for all his officials, and in their presence, he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.… (Book of Genesis, The story of Joseph, 40:20-22 – Holy Monday – Μεγάλη  Δευτέρα) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+40&version=NIV

Την τρίτη ημέρα λοιπόν, ο Φαραώ είχε τα γενέθλιά του και έκανε συμπόσιο για όλους τους υπηρέτες του και έφερε μπροστά τους τόσο τον αρχιοινοχόο όσο και τον αρχιαρτοποιό.  Και επανέφερε τον αρχιοινοχόο στη θέση που είχε ως οινοχόος, και εκείνος συνέχισε να δίνει το ποτήρι στον Φαραώ.  Τον αρχιαρτοποιό όμως τον κρέμασε, ακριβώς όπως τους είχε δώσει την ερμηνεία ο Ιωσήφ. (Γένεση, Η Ιστορία του Ιωσήφ, 40:20-22- Holy Monday – Μεγάλη  Δευτέρα) https://www.jw.org/el/%CE%B2%CE%B9%CE%B2%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%BF%CE%B8%CE%AE%CE%BA%CE%B7/%CE%B1%CE%B3%CE%AF%CE%B1-%CE%B3%CF%81%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%AE-online/nwt/%CE%B2%CE%B9%CE%B2%CE%BB%CE%AF%CE%B1/%CE%93%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%83%CE%B7/40/

Vienna Genesis, The Pharaoh’s Banquet, folio 17, page 34, (Cod. Theol. gr. 31), first half of the 6th century, Illuminated Parchment dyed purple, heightening in shell gold, with a text written in silver ink, 32.0×26.5 cm, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, Austria https://onb.digital/result/10F14EEA

Andreas Fingernagel, Director of the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books

at the Austrian National Library, considers the Late Antique Codex theologicus graecus 31, the Vienna Genesis as of outstanding importance, an illuminated manuscript regarded and admired as a rare testimony of Late Antique art history. The manuscript, dated to the first half of the 6th century, consists of 48 preserved pages, written in Maiuscula Biblica in silver ink on purple parchment. It is illustrated with 48 miniatures produced in a city scriptorium of culture and sophistication like Antioch or Constantinople. It is one of the earliest known cycles of book miniatures from the Old Testament, a rare witness of Late Antique book culture. Since 1664, this magnificent codex has been preserved at the Imperial Court Library, today, the Austrian National Library in Vienna. https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/41206

Vienna Genesis, The Pharaoh’s Banquet (detail), folio 17, page 34, (Cod. Theol. gr. 31), first half of the 6th century, Illuminated Parchment dyed purple, heightening in shell gold, with a text written in silver ink, 32.0×26.5 cm, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, Austria https://onb.digital/result/10F14EEA

According to research done in the early 2020s, the Vienna Genesis is the incredible work of 7 different artists. Scholars came to this conclusion, by looking into each artist’s style, iconography, colour palette, pigments, and dyes. All artists involved in the illumination of the Vienna Genesis were trained in creating rich, and lively paintings in an authentic Late Antique style, suited for the sophisticated liking of an imperial patron.  Painter E (folios 17–18, pages 33–36) has been identified as the artist who created the amazing miniature (folio 17, page 34) depicting The Pharaoh’s Birthday Banquet. This is a scene in the story of Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel, celebrated during Holy Monday. https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/41206 pp. 232-235 and Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Age_of_Spirituality_Late_Antique_and_Early_Christian_Art_Third_to_Seventh_Century pp. 458-459

The Österreichische Nationalbibliothek of Vienna Digital Copy of the Vienna Genesis… Check https://onb.digital/search/324304

A PowerPoint of all artworks presented for the Holy Week in the Greek Orthodox Church, 2022… is HERE!

Lazarus Saturday – Σάββατο του Λαζάρου

by ArtByzantine ArtByzantiumPowerpoints
Cup with the Raising of Lazarus (Christ holding a staff and Lazarus still  wrapped in his burial shroud), 4th century, Free-blown glass with wheel-cut decoration; very pale green, nearly colourless, 11.2 × 11.8 cm, Yale University Art Gallery, USA
https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/52562

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint[a] of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (John 12:1-3 – Lazarus Saturday – Σάββατο του Λαζάρου) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2012%3A1-8&version=NIV

Ο δε Ιησούς, εξ ημέρας προ του πάσχα ήλθεν εις την Βηθανίαν, όπου ήτο ο Λάζαρος, ο οποίος είχε πεθάνει και τον οποίον είχε αναστήσει εκ νεκρών. Παρέθεσαν, λοιπόν, εις αυτόν δείπνον εκεί και η Μάρθα υπηρετούσε. Ο Λάζαρος ήτο ένας από τους συνδαιτυμόνας. Εν τω μεταξύ η Μαρία επήρε μίαν λίτραν μύρου γνησίου και πολυτίμου, καμωμένου από το αρωματικόν φυτόν που λέγεται νάρδος, και άλειψε τα πόδια του Ιησού,  τα οποία και εσπόγγισε κατόπιν με τας τρίχας της κεφαλής της. Όλο δε το σπίτι εγέμισε από την ευωδίαν του μύρου. (Κατά Ιωάννην Ευαγγέλιον 12:1-3 – Lazarus Saturday – Σάββατο του Λαζάρου) http://www.imgap.gr/file1/AG-Pateres/AG%20KeimenoMetafrasi/KD/04.%20Ioan.htm

Cup with the Raising of Lazarus Lazarus (anonymous onlookers), 4th century, Free-blown glass with wheel-cut decoration; very pale green, nearly colourless, 11.2 × 11.8 cm, Yale University Art Gallery, USA
https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/52562

Lazarus Saturday, along with Palm Sunday, holds a unique position in the Church Calendar of the Greek Orthodox Church. They are days of celebration… before the days of sorrow that follow… The Raising of Lazarus of Bethany and the Entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem are both the most popular themes in Byzantine Art since the beginning of the Christian era.

Ever since I first saw the Yale University Art Gallery’s unique glass Cup with the Raising of Lazarus, at the Exhibition Age of Spirituality, as a university student at the time, I am enamored with it! I like its simple skyphos-like shape, slightly conical, and how very pale green, nearly colourless, it is. I like best, how it is decorated by wheel-cutting, a technique in which shallow cuts were made in the surface of a glass vessel by applying a rotating wheel of metal or stone covered with an abrasive material. This decorative technique… was used to create lines, geometric designs, or, as in this case, figural scenes. According to the Yale University experts, examples of glass items like the Yale glass cup, in which variously oriented groups of parallel cut lines create solid areas suggestive of anatomy, drapery, architecture, and landscape, are associated with glass-cutters working in Cologne, Germany. The Cup’s iconography is simple, yet powerful. Lazarus, still wrapped in his burial shroud, stands next to Jesus, who holds a staff in his left hand. The remaining four figures included in the scene are probably anonymous onlookers. In a typical Early Christian style, they are depicted between trees with highly flat, geometricized tops. Simply put… a magnificent piece! https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/52562 and https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Age_of_Spirituality_Late_Antique_and_Early_Christian_Art_Third_to_Seventh_Century pp. 444

Cup with the Raising of Lazarus Lazarus (anonymous onlookers), 4th century, Free-blown glass with wheel-cut decoration; very pale green, nearly colourless, 11.2 × 11.8 cm, Yale University Art Gallery, USA
https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/52562

A PowerPoint of all artworks presented for the Holy Week in the Greek Orthodox Church, 2022… is HERE!