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Ming Dynasty Bronze Censer, Artist Unknown, 1368-1644 AD, Bronze, Hardwood, Jade, Private Collection
This Chinese Ming Dynasty censer has a bronze globular mask decorated body with twin handles. It is supported by a tripod of mask bronze legs resting on a hardwood stand. the cover is hardwood with central jade decoration. The height of the censer is 23 centimeters.
Michael Beckschebe, “Commodus Hercules”, Date Unknown, Silver Gelatin Print
This marble bust is titled “Commodus Hercules”, a marble portrait sculpture created sometime in 180-193 AD, more probably in 192 AD. The bust is one of the most famous masterpieces of Roman portraiture and depicts Emperor Commodus in the guise of Hercules. Commodus has been given the attributes of Hercules: the emblematic lion’s skin,, the club in this right hand, and the golden apples of Hesperides in his left hand.
The incredibly well-preserved bust is placed on a complex allegorical composition. Two kneeling Amazons besiege a globe decorated with the signs of the zodiac and hold aloft a cornucopia, which is entwined with a Peltaion, the Amazons’ characteristic shield.
The celebratory intent that, through a wealth of symbols, imposes the divine cult of the Emperor, is further underlined by the two marine Tritons flanking the central figure to express his deification. The group was recovered in an underground room of the Horti Lamiani complex, where it had probably been hidden.
Reblogged with thanks to http://mytro.tumblr.com
Added thanks to http://ganymedesrocks.tumblr.com for providing the information.
Photo taken in 2008 by Michael Beckschebe
Claus Sluter, “Well of Moses”, 1395-1404, Cloister of the Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, France
Claus Sluter was an influential master of early Netherlandish sculpture, who moved beyond the dominant French taste of the time and into highly individual monumental, naturalistic forms. The works of Claus Sluter infuse realism with spirituality and monumental grandeur.Sluter’s influence was extensive among both painters and sculptors of 15th-century northern Europe.
The six-sided “Well of Moses”, now lacking its crowning Calvary group, which made the whole a symbol of the “fountain of life,” presents six life-sized prophets holding books, scrolls, or both. The figures, beginning with Moses, proceed counterclockwise to David, Jeremiah, Zechariah, Daniel, and Isaiah. Moses was placed directly below the face of Christ, and the location of Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, was at Jesus’ back, as befits a precursor.
Zechariah looks down sadly as Daniel vigorously points to his prophecy. On the other side of Daniel, and serving to balance Daniel’s passionate temperament, is the calm reflective Isaiah. This juxtaposition reveals Sluter’s use of alternating naturalistic balances. The head and torso fragment of Christ from the Calvary reveal a power and intensity of restrained expression that conveys overwhelming grandeur. Suffering and resignation are mingled, a result of the way the brow is knitted, though the lower part of the face, narrow and emaciated, is calm and without muscular stress.
The “Well of Moses” was originally painted in several colours by Jean Malouel, painter to the duke, and gilded by Hermann of Cologne. The figures of the composition dominate the architectural framework but also reinforce the feeling of support that the structure provides through their largeness of movement.
Artist Unknown, Imperatore Constantino, Musei Capitolini, Rome, italy
The colossal statue of Constantine I, sculpted in marble, was one of the most important works of late-ancient Roman sculpture The remaining segments are at the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome and were dated between 313 and 324. A hand and the right arm, the two feet, the knee and the right femur, the left calf and the head are the only remaining parts of the statue. The origin statue judging from the remains was a seated form that reached approximately 12 meters in height.
The head, which was originally decorated with a metallic crown, is grandiose and solemn, presenting the characteristics of Roman art of that era, with the stylization and simplification tendencies of the lines. The face is squared, with hair and eyebrows rendered with very refined and “calligraphic” marble engravings, but still completely unnatural looking. The eyes are big, almost huge, with the well-marked pupil looking upwards; they are the focal point of the whole portrait.
The Emperor’s gaze seems to scrutinize the surrounding environment and gives the portrait an appearance of extraterrestrial austerity. The hair is treated as a single swollen mass deeply furrowed by the streaks that separate some locks. The face posesses an aquiling nose, long, thin lips and a prominent chin. This is an idelaized face, despite the classical importation, which seeks to show an aura of holiness.
Thomas Degeorge, “Odysseus and Telemachus Massacres the Suitors of Penelope”, Detail, 1812, Oil on Canvas, Current Location Unknown
Shorra, “Death of a Cyborg”, 2010
Toronto-based digital artist Shorra adapted the classical 1888 painting “Premier Deuil (First Mourning)” by Bouguereau, adding a unique science fiction twist. This image won the RoboRen Contest in 2010.
Reblogged with thanks to https://melimelo85.tumblr.com
Hendrick Goltzius, “Cadmus Slaying the Dragon”, 1573-1617, Oil on Canvas, 189 x 248 cm, Museet pa Koldinghus, Denmark
Hendrick Goltzius was renowned as a graphic artist and produced prints and drawings using a variety of techniques, including metalpoint, brush and ink, and chalk. He was also a pioneer in the art of “pen-painting,” a technique he invented in which pen is used directly on canvas to mimic the look of a print. Goltzius impressed his contemporaries with these large, monochromatic works, which were admired for their high degree of detail and innovative process of execution.
In about 1600 Goltzius added painting to his already long list of talents. It has been speculated that the artist’s failing eyesight played a part in his decision to begin painting, which did not require the precision of printmaking. It is possible, however, that his decision was prompted by his friend and biographer Van Mander, for whom painting was the highest form of art. In 1612 Goltzius was visited by Peter Rubens, who had come to the Haarlem master in search of a reproductive engraver to make prints after his paintings. Rubens hired Lucas Vorsterman, one of Goltzius’ assistants, to fulfill this role. Rubens’ visit had an important impact on Goltzius’ painting style, which subsequently became more assured and classical in character.
Ibis Coffin, 305-33 BCE, Wood, Silver, Gold Leaf, Gesso, Rock Crystal, Animal Remains, Linen, Pigment, 19 x 8 x 22 Inches, Brooklyn Museum, New York
This Ptolemaic Period ibis coffin was probably from the Tuna el-Gebel area of Egypt. The coffin is in the from of a standing figure of an ibis serving as container for mummified ibis; the wooden body of the coffin is entirely surface gilded. There is a resin covering the gilt in places which may be the remains of a varnish. The figure has a onventionalized tail indicated by black paint over the gilt and the top of its body is cut for a cover which runs entire length of body.
The figure’s head and feet is cast in silver; the eyes are of crystal outlined in gold. The head has an incised necklace at base of neck. The figure is mounted on an oblong wooden base, apparently original, of rough work. The mummified ibis lies within the figure’s body, in an intact condition.
Animal mummies were routinely placed in some type of container once the animal had been wrapped in linen. The more ordinary containers were specially designed or reused pottery jars. Such objects have been found by the tens of thousands in so-called animal cemeteries at a number of sites in Egypt.
At times elaborate coffins were crafted to hold the animal mummies. Just as human coffins were anthropoid, so animal coffins took the form of the animal contained. The ibis mummy held by this coffin was placed within through the detachable lid on the back. The gilding of the body and the exquisite detailing of the head, legs, and feet make this example one of the finest of its kind.
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, “Romulus’ Victory Over Acron”, Detail, 1812, Oil on Canvas, Amphithéatre d’Honneur, Paris, France
Completed in 1812, Jean Auguste Ingres’ source for this subject comes from Plutarch’s “Life of Romulus”. The painting depicts the war that resulted from the Roman abduction of the young Sabine women in an effort to remedy the shortage of women in the newly founded city of Rome. In retaliation Acron, the king of the neighbouring tribe, the Caeninenses, declared war upon the Romans. Aaron and his tribesmen are mercilessly defeated and their city is sacked by the Romans.
This neoclassical painting of Jean Ingres is one of his largest, cast in the form of a long frieze, a style traditional of the ancient world. Ingres used tempera to evoke the matte quality which is consistent with the ancient Roman frescoes.
Marco d’Oggiono, “Saint Sebastian”, 1520, Oil on Canvas, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin,
Marco d’Oggiono was an Italian Renaissance paint and a chief pupil of Leonardo da Vinci.
William Blake, “The Spiritual Form of Nelson Guiding Leviathan, in Whose Wreathings Are Infolded the Nations of the Earth”, 1805-1809, Tempera on Canvas, 30 x 24 Inches, Tate Museum, London
William Blake occupies a unique position in art history in that he was both a major artist and a major poet. Often the two went hand-in-hand, his art illustrating his poetry, or if not his, the poetry of others. The subject is not drawn from any literary source, but from contemporary history.
The spiritual form of Nelson guiding Leviathan was first shown in Blake’s solo exhibition of 1809, held at his brother’s house in London’s Soho. Though the reviews were mostly negative, some of the paintings did sell, including this portrait of Admiral Nelson. Instead of a lifelike portrait, Blake painted Nelson’s “Spiritual” likeness.
Admiral Nelson is in the centre of a graphic explosion of colour, creating a corona of light around him. He is standing on top of the Biblical sea creature, Leviathan, whose body encircles him; he controls the beast with a bridle, attached to its neck, which he holds loosely in his left hand.
Trapped in, crushed under, or in one case, half-consumed within Leviathan’s coiled body, ten figures are arranged around the figure of Nelson. These represent the European nations defeated by the British during the Napoleonic Wars.
Artist Unknown, (German Master Painter), “Parable of the Unforgiving Servantt”, circa 1560, Oil on Canvas, 104 x 153 cm, Gemäldegalerie (State Museum of Germany), Berlin
Eugene Delacroix, “The Baroque of Dante”, 1822, Oil on Canvas, Louvre, Paris
The “Baroque of Dante”, also known as “Dante and Virgil in Hell”, is the first major painting by French artist Eugene Delacroix, signaling a shift in the character of narrative painting from Neo-Classicism towards the Romantic Movement. It was completed for the opening of the Salon in 1822 and currently hangs for viewing in the Musee du Louvre in Paris.
The arrangement of figures is for the most part compliant with the tenets of the cool, reflective Neo-Classicism that had dominated French painting for nearly four decades. There is a group of central upright figures, and a rational arrangement of subsidiary figures, all in horizontal planes, and observing studied poses.
Although the composition is conventional, the painting in some important respects broke unmistakably free of the French Neo-Classical tradition. The painting explores the psychological states of the individuals it depicts, and uses compact, dramatic contrasts to highlight their different responses to their respective predicaments. There is neither comfort nor a place of refuge in the painting’s world of rage, insanity and despair.
The drops of water running down the bodies of the damned are painted in a manner seldom seen up to and including the early nineteenth century. Four different, unmixed pigments, in discretely applied quantities comprise the image of one drop and its shadow. White is used for highlighting, strokes of yellow and green respectively denote the length of the drop, and the shadow is red.
Francisco de Goya, “Vuelo de Brujas”, 1798, Oil on Canvas, Museo del Prado
“Vuelo de Brujas” or “Witches’ Flight” is an oil on canvas painting completed in 1798 by the Spanish painter Francisco de Goya. It was part of a series of six paintings related to witchcraft that was acquired by the Duke and Duchess of Osuna in that year. The painting decorated the Duke and Duchess’ villa, La Alameda, on the outskirts of Madrid; and eventually it was acquired by the Prado in 1999, where it is displayed today.
The general scholarly consensus is that the painting represents a rationalist critique of superstition and ignorance, particularly in religious matters and notably the violence of the Spanish Inquisition. The accusations of the religious tribunals are implicily equated with superstition and ritualized sacrifices. The donkey seen in the lower right corner is the traditional symbol of ignorance.
