"The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms; and to confide in one's self, and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course".
"The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection".
Visualizzazione post con etichetta 16th Century Art. Mostra tutti i post
Visualizzazione post con etichetta 16th Century Art. Mostra tutti i post
Michelangelo Buonarroti: "In every block of marble I see a statue"
• "My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth's loveliness".
• "The best artist has that thought alone which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone".
Michelangelo Buonarroti | 267 Drawings | Part.¹
A towering genius in the history of Western art, Michelangelo (Italian, Caprese 1475-1564 Rome) was celebrated during his long life for the excellence of his disegno, the power of drawing and invention that provided the foundation for all of the arts.
For his mastery of drawing, design, sculpture, painting, and architecture, he was called Il divino ("the divine one") by his contemporaries.
His powerful imagery and dazzling technical virtuosity transported viewers and imbued all of his works with a staggering force that continues to enthrall us today. | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
El Greco | The Adoration of the Name of Jesus, 1579
The larger version of this picture is in the Escorial in Madrid, and was probably intended for King Philip II.
El Greco made small copies of several of his own pictures to keep in his studio, of which this is probably one.
The subject is thought to be an allegory of the Holy League, a military alliance between Spain, the Papacy and the Venetian Republic, which was formed to combat the rise of Islam and the Turks.
The Pope, the Doge of Venice and Philip II are shown kneeling in adoration of the name of Jesus, shown in the heavens as IHS, these being the first letters of Jesus in Greek (IHSOUS).
Pontormo | Pittore Manierista
Jacopo Carrucci (1494-1557), conosciuto come Jacopo da Pontormo, o semplicemente il Pontormo, è stato un pittore Italiano.
Avviò una sistematica opera di rinnovamento degli schemi compositivi della tradizione, talvolta spregiudicato, cercando di reagire al classicismo pittorico attraverso un'inesauribile vena sperimentale ed anticlassicista.
La sua complessa personalità, introversa e tormentata, ne fa il prototipo dell'artista malinconico e solitario.
Charles William Mitchell | Hypatia of Alexandria, 1885
Charles William Mitchell (1854-1903) was an British Pre-Raphaelite painter from Newcastle.
A contemporary of John William Waterhouse, his work is similar in many ways.
His one famous piece was Hypatia, shown in 1885 and likely inspired by the Charles Kingsley serialized novel Hypatia, or New Foes with an Old Face. This painting is currently in the Laing Art Gallery.
Charles William Mitchell - Hypatia, 1885
Caravaggio | Madonna of the Rosary / Madonna del Rosario, 1608
The Madonna of the Rosary is a painting finished in 1607 by the Italian🎨 Baroque painter Caravaggio🎨, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It is the only painting by Caravaggio that could be called a standard Baroque🎨 altarpiece.
The commissioner of the work is uncertain. As altarpiece it would have been commissioned for a Dominican church, given the presence of Saint Dominic and Saint Peter Martyr of Verona. The donor is included in the painting; at the left, dressed in black with a ruff, seeking protection under the cloak of Saint Dominic and peering out at the viewer.
According to some, the donor was Nicholas (or Nicholas) Radulovic, a rich merchant of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik in Croatia) and the first idea for the composition was a Madonna Enthroned with Saints Nicholas and Vito, then the subject was changed to reflect the wishes of the Dominicans.
Caravaggio | Maddalena in pianto / Magdalene Grieving, 1605-1606
According to some research, "Magdalene grieving" (1605-1606), would be a preliminary study for the character of one of the most famous works of the Lombard master conserved at the Musée du Louvre "The death of the Virgin" (1601-1605).
Commissioned in 1601 for the church of Santa Maria della Scala in Rome, The Death of the Virgin (c. 1601-1606) could not have been finished before 1605-1606.
After being refused by the monks, who found it unworthy of the church, it was replaced by a work on the same subject painted by Carlo Saraceni.
A work of light and shadow
The composition is arranged around the Virgin, the painting's central theme. The compact mass of the assemblage and the posturing of the figures guide the viewer's eye toward the abandoned body. The theatrical drape of blood-red cloth heightens the scene's dramatic effect. The painter makes use of the nuances of light and shadow to model the volumes of the objects, figures, and clothing.
Sandro Botticelli | Vita privata
Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) non si sposò mai e, a quanto pare, espresse una forte avversione per l'idea del matrimonio.
Un aneddoto racconta che il suo mecenate Tommaso Soderini, morto nel 1485, gli suggerì di sposarsi, al che Botticelli rispose che pochi giorni prima aveva sognato di essersi sposato, si era svegliato "colpito dal dolore" e per il resto della notte aveva camminato per le strade per evitare che il sogno si ripresentasse se si fosse addormentato di nuovo.
Il racconto si conclude in modo criptico dicendo che Soderini capì "di non essere un terreno adatto per piantare viti".
Tiziano Vecellio | Ecce Homo, 1570-1576
Dimension: Height: 100.5 cm.; Width: 100.8 cm.
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Provenance: Royal Collection (Real Monasterio de El Escorial, Madrid, Sala Prioral)
Current location: Museo Nacional del Prado
Christ shown to the People: Ecce Homo, 1570-1576 depicts a passage from the Gospel of Saint John (19, 4-5) which recounts how after Christ had been whipped and crowned with thorns:
"Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.
Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.
And Pilate saith unto them: Behold the man"!
Caravaggio | The Lute Player / Suonatore di Liuto, 1595-1596
The Lute Player is an early work by Caravaggio, who sought above all to convey the reality and solidity of the surrounding world. We can already see the elements of the artist's style which were to have such a widespread influence on other artists.
The figure of a young boy dressed in a white shirt stands out clearly against the dark background.
The sharp sidelighting and the falling shadows give the objects an almost tangible volume and weight.
Caravaggio was interested in the uniqueness of the surrounding world, and there are markedly individual features not only in the youth's face but also in the objects which make up the still life: the damaged pear, the crack in the lute, the crumpled pages of the music.
The melody written on those pages is that of a then fashionable song by Jacques Arcadelt, "You know that I love you".
Caravaggio | The Lute Player | The Hermitage version, 1595-1596
Guido Reni(?) | Portrait of Beatrice Cenci, 1599
Author: Guido Reni (Italian Baroque painter, 1575-1642)
Medium: Oil canvas
Dimensions: 64,5 x 49 cm
Current location: Palazzo Barberini, Rome
A long historical tradition has identified Beatrice Cenci in this portrait.
The young parricide, who was processed and beheaded in Rome in 1599, is immortalized in prison by Guido Reni a few instants before being killed.
Peter Paul Rubens | Study of Two Heads, 1609
Artist: Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish Baroque Era painter, 1577-1640)
Title: Study of Two Heads
Date: ca. 1609
Medium: oil on panel
Dimensions: Height: 69.9 cm (27.5 in); Width: 52.1 cm (20.5 in)
Current location: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Rubens painted studies of heads after live models and artistic sources, creating a cast of characters that served in turn as models for figures in religious and mythological works.
Sandro Botticelli | Bella Simonetta, 1485
The painting is also known by the title “Bella Simonetta”, based on an early identification of the young woman as Simonetta Cattaneo (1453-1476), a Genoese noblewoman who went on to marry the Florentine Marco Vespucci in 1469 and was loved by Giuliano de’ Medici.
Museum: Pitti Palace
Collection: Palatine Gallery
Location: Prometheus Room
Technique: Tempera on wood
Size: 61 x 40.5 cm
Inventory: Inv. 1912 n. 353
Agnolo Bronzino | Pittore Manierista
Agnolo di Cosimo (1503-1572), conosciuto come Agnolo Bronzino o, semplicemente, il Bronzino è stato un pittore Italiano.
Vissuto tutta la sua vita a Firenze ed impegnato sin dalla fine degli anni '30 alla corte di Cosimo I de' Medici, fu tra i più raffinati e mirabili pittori del primo Manierismo, noto soprattutto per essere stato uno dei più abili ed incisivi ritrattisti della Firenze del tardo Rinascimento.
Caravaggio | The Supper at Emmaus, 1601
Full title: The Supper at Emmaus
Date made: 1601
Medium and support: Oil and tempera on canvas
Dimensions: 141 x 196.2 cm
Location: National Gallery, London
Acquisition credit: Presented by the Hon. George Vernon, 1839
Inventory number: NG172
Location in Gallery: Room 32
Michelangelo Buonarroti | Risen Christ, 1521
"The Risen Christ" - "Cristo della Minerva", also known as Christ the Redeemer or Christ Carrying the Cross, is a marble sculpture by the Italy High Renaissance master Michelangelo, finished in 1521.
It is in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, to the left of the main altar.
The work was commissioned in June 1514, by the Roman patrician Metello Vari, who stipulated only that the nude standing figure would have the Cross in his arms, but left the composition entirely to Michelangelo.
Andrea del Sarto | The Virgin and child, 1528
This intimate devotional image shows the Virgin looking for signs of the Christ Child’s first teeth.
The painting is unfinished, but provided the starting point for at least three other versions of similar size, all apparently painted at the same time by Sarto and his workshop.
The painting must have been a devotional image intended for a domestic setting.
It has a natural directness as the Virgin seems to be firmly but gently holding down the Christ Child’s lower lip and searching for signs of teeth.
El Greco e l'Arte Bizantina
A partire dagli inizi del XX secolo, gli studiosi hanno iniziato a chiedersi se lo stile di El Greco (1541-1614) potesse avere le sue origini nell'arte bizantina.
Alcuni storici dell'arte hanno sostenuto che le radici artistiche di El Greco affondavano profondamente nella tradizione bizantina, e che le sue caratteristiche più peculiari discendono in maniera diretta dall'arte dei suoi antenati, altri al contrario hanno affermato che l'arte bizantina non può essere messa in relazione con le opere di El Greco della fine della sua carriera.
La scoperta della "Dormizione della Vergine" sull'isola di Siro, opera autentica e firmata dall'artista del suo periodo cretese, e le approfondite ricerche d'archivio dei primi anni sessanta, hanno contribuito a riaccendere il dibattito e a rivalutare queste teorie.
El Greco | Dormizione della Vergine
Guido Reni (1575-1642)
Guido Reni (4 November 1575 - 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style.
He painted primarily religious works, as well as mythological and allegorical subjects.
Active in Rome, Naples, and his native Bologna, he became the dominant figure in the Bolognese School, and his eclectic classicism was widely influential.
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