Art Archives - Page 25 of 43

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Edgar Degas

February 25, 2022

by admin 19th century Art Art Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation Athens Impressionism Sculpture Student Activities Worksheets

**Edgar Degas,** French Artist, 1834 – 1917
**Little Dancer Aged Fourteen,** circa 1878-1881, Bronze with brown patina, tulle skirt and satin ribbon on wooden base, Cast by A. A. Hébrard, Paris, circa 1922, 96.5×47×35 cm, Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens, Greece
https://goulandris.gr/en/artwork/degas-edgar-little-dancer-aged-fourteen

You may write me down in history / With your bitter, twisted lies, / or may trod me in the very dirt / But still, like dust, I’ll rise. / Does my sassiness upset you? / Why are you beset with gloom? / ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells / Pumping in my living room. / Just like moons and like suns, / With the certainty of tides, / Just like hopes springing high, / Still I’ll rise. / Did you want to see me broken? / Bowed head /and lowered eyes? / Shoulders falling down like teardrops. / Weakened by my soulful cries. / Does my haughtiness offend you? / Don’t you take it awful hard / ‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines / Diggin’ in my own back yard. / You may shoot me with your words, / You may cut me with your eyes, / You may kill me with your hatefulness, / But still, like air, I’ll rise. / Does my sexiness upset you? / Does it come as a surprise / That I dance like I’ve got diamonds / At the meeting of my thighs? / Out of the huts of history’s shame / I rise / Up from a past that’s rooted in pain / I rise / I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide, / Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. / Leaving behind nights of terror and fear / I rise / Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear / I rise / Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, / I am the dream and the hope of the slave. / I rise / I rise / I rise… writes Maya Angelou and I think of the Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Edgar Degas in the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation in Athens… https://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poems/best/dance

**Edgar Degas,** French Artist, 1834 – 1917
**Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (detail),** circa 1878-1881, Bronze with brown patina, tulle skirt and satin ribbon on wooden base, Cast by A. A. Hébrard, Paris, circa 1922, 96.5×47×35 cm, Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens, Greece
https://goulandris.gr/en/shop/category/edgar-degas

Edgar Degas found ballet dancing irresistible and at the Paris Opéra, he frequently attended grand ballet productions on stage and small ballet classes in rehearsal studios. He was an astute observer of the ballerinas’ daily routine of rehearsing, stretching, and resting. He studied dance movements and filled numerous notebooks with sketches to help him remember details so he could later compose paintings and model sculptures in his studio. His penetrating observations are best exemplified in the artist’s statue of the Little Dancer Aged Fourteen exhibited in the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation in Athens. The Little Dancer’s name was Marie van Goethem… and she was a young student at the Paris Opéra Ballet School. https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/Education/learning-resources/an-eye-for-art/AnEyeforArt-EdgarDegas.pdf and https://goulandris.gr/en/artwork/degas-edgar-little-dancer-aged-fourteen

Adolescent Marie, according to Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation experts, is presented standing in a dynamic but relaxed way, her feet in the “fourth position,” her hands held behind her back, the head slightly raised, and the entire appearance revealing all the ambiguity of an adolescent figure deformed by the dancing practice. The thinness of her body, the possible malnutrition suggested by a slightly swollen belly, does not diminish the girl’s sensuality, whose proud position, almost with an air of defiance, may seem, according to observers, dignified, provocative, or despising… I rise / Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear / I rise… https://goulandris.gr/en/artwork/degas-edgar-little-dancer-aged-fourteen

**Edgar Degas,** French Artist, 1834 – 1917
**Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (back view),** circa 1878-1881, Bronze with brown patina, tulle skirt and satin ribbon on wooden base, Cast by A. A. Hébrard, Paris, circa 1922, 96.5×47×35 cm, Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens, Greece
https://goulandris.gr/en/artwork/degas-edgar-little-dancer-aged-fourteen

**Edgar Degas,** French Artist, 1834 – 1917
**Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (side view),** circa 1878-1881, Bronze with brown patina, tulle skirt and satin ribbon on wooden base, Cast by A. A. Hébrard, Paris, circa 1922, 96.5×47×35 cm, Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens, Greece
https://goulandris.gr/en/artwork/degas-edgar-little-dancer-aged-fourteen

Degas worked on Little Dancer Aged Fourteen for more than two years. He first created an armature of metal, wood, wire, rope, and two long paintbrushes for the dancer’s shoulders. Then, he modeled the figure first with clay to define the muscles, and then he modeled the final layer of the sculpture in wax. It was not enough… He dressed the statue in real ballet satin slippers, a linen bodice, a muslin tutu, and a wig of human hair, braided and tied with a ribbon. Finally, to complete the illusion, a coat of wax spread smoothly with a spatula over the surface of the sculpture, giving it an overall waxy, lifelike look. After Degas died in 1917, copies of this wax figure were cast in plaster and bronze, and Little Dancer Aged Fourteen grew in fame around the world. https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/Education/learning-resources/an-eye-for-art/AnEyeforArt-EdgarDegas.pdf

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

**Edgar Degas,** French Artist, 1834 – 1917
**Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Museum Hall view),** circa 1878-1881, Bronze with brown patina, tulle skirt and satin ribbon on wooden base, Cast by A. A. Hébrard, Paris, circa 1922, 96.5×47×35 cm, Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens, Greece
https://goulandris.gr/en/visit/be-athens

Saint George and the Dragon by Rogier van der Weyden

February 22, 2022

by admin Art Northern Renaissance Powerpoints Renaissance

**Rogier van der Weyden,** 1399 or 1400-1464
**Saint George and the Dragon**, 1432-1435, oil on panel, 14.3×10.5 cm, NGA, Washington DC
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_George_and_the_Dragon_Rogier.jpg

The legend of Saint George and the Dragon, popular in literature and the visual arts since the 11^th century, has the right measure of Christian faith, fervor, and miracle! It is a joy to read about, and marvel …the king had his daughter dressed like a bride, embraced and kissed her, gave her his blessing, then led her to the place where the dragon was. / When she was there Saint George passed by, and seeing the lady, he asked her what she was doing there. / She said, “Go your way, fair young man, lest you perish as well.” / Then he said, “Tell me why you are weeping.” / When she saw that he insisted on knowing, she told him how she had been delivered to the dragon. / Then Saint George said, “Fair daughter, doubt not, for I shall help you in the name of Jesus Christ.” / She said, “For God’s sake, good knight, go your way, for you cannot save me.” / While they were thus talking together the dragon appeared and came running toward them. Saint George, who was on his horse, drew his sword, made the sign of the cross, then rode swiftly toward the dragon. He struck him with his spear, injuring him severely. / Then he said to the maid, “Tie your belt around the dragon’s neck, and be not afraid.” / When she had done so the dragon followed her meekly. She led him into the city, and the people fled in fear. / Saint George said to them, “Doubt not. Believe in God and Jesus Christ, and be baptized, and I shall slay the dragon.” / Then the king and all his people were baptized, whereupon Saint George killed the dragon and cut off his head… Saint George and the Dragon by Rogier van der Weyden is a marvel to explore! https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/stgeorge1.html

http://www.eliotsofporteliot.com/misc/stgeorgeandthedragon.html

I particularly like Roger van der Weyden’s small painting of Saint George and the Dragon at the National Gallery in Washington DC. Probably the earliest of Roger’s paintings, Saint George and the Dragon is of exceptionally high quality. Some scholars discuss how close the painting is to the art of the International Gothic Style, while others find close affiliations to the Netherlandish tradition of Manuscript Illumination; yet they all agree that Roger’s characteristic linearity is evident, his tendency in depicting courtly chivalric elegance apparent and a microscopic yet realistic and atmospheric landscape all too powerful! https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/early-netherlandish-painting.pdf pp. 264-270

**Rogier van der Weyden,** 1399 or 1400-1464
**Saint George and the Dragon (details)**, 1432-1435, oil on panel, 14.3×10.5 cm, NGA, Washington DC
https://twtext.com/article/1246172930633015296

Rogier van der Weyden is a favourite Flemish artist… thoughtful and insightful, overwhelming yet sincere in his art. According to the National Gallery (London) experts, he was internationally famed for the naturalism of his detail and his expressive pathos. He created a range of types – for portraits and for religious subjects – which were repeated throughout the Netherlands, the Iberian peninsula, and even Italy, until the mid-16th century. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/rogier-van-der-weyden

As is the case with many Early Flemish painters, we know little about Rogier van der Weyden’s life. We know, for example, that for almost five years, between March 1427 to August 1432, he was “apprenticed” to Robert Campin in his hometown of Tournai. He couldn’t have chosen a better teacher/mentor. On the 1st of August 1432, Rogier became a master of the Tournai guild, entitled to undertake work there on his own account, opened his own workshop, acquiring success, and prestige. It is interesting how he maintained workshops in both the cities of Tournai and Brussels whereby 1436, it has been documented, that… he was made painter to the city of Brussels and that… in 1450 he may have traveled to Rome. . https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/rogier-van-der-weyden and https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/artist/weyden-rogier-van-der/2f4ef580-41c0-4756-a74c-d8ebda889668

**Rogier van der Weyden,** 1399 or 1400-1464
**Saint George and the Dragon (detail)**, 1432-1435, oil on panel, 14.3×10.5 cm, NGA, Washington DC
https://twtext.com/article/1246172930633015296

Rogier van der Weyden was a prolific painter and an astute businessman. By 1443, he had acquired two large, adjoining houses in Brussels, in the posh “Golden Street,” in close proximity to the Coudenberg Palace, the residence of the Duke of Burgundy, the Town Hall and the Markt (now the Grand-Place), the centres of civic life and commerce; and the Collegiate Church of Saint Gudula (now the city’s Cathedral). It is believed, by the Prado Museum experts that he ran a busy workshop, and he may have had to feed a large team. One of his two houses could have been the place where he and his assistants worked, where his apprentices, and perhaps other collaborators, lodged, and where pictures were displayed for sale to patrons like Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, foreign princes, as well as for city and church dignitaries. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/rogier-van-der-weyden

The small painting of Saint George and the Dragon has all the characteristics of Rogier’s paintings that I find endearing… an imaginary landscape, rich in detail rendered with the greatest clarity and realism, amazing interest in the depiction of light, as we see it reflecting on George’s armor and the dragon’s scales, elegance, chivalry, and pathos! What more can you ask!

For a PowerPoint on Rogier van der Weyden’s Altarpieces, please… Check HERE!

For a Student Activity, check NGA’s Eye for Art Pamphlet… https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/Education/learning-resources/an-eye-for-art/AnEyeforArt-RogierVanDerWeydenRaphael.pdf

Byzantine Girdle

February 18, 2022

by admin Art Byzantine Art Jewelry Student Activities Worksheets

**Marriage Belt,** 6^th-7^th century, Gold, 4.8×75.5 cm, Byzantine Collection, Dumbarton Oaks Museum, Washington DC, USA
https://www.doaks.org/resources/bliss-tyler-correspondence/art/bz/BZ.1937.33.jpg/view

That which her slender waist confin’d, / Shall now my joyful temples bind; / No monarch but would give his crown, / His arms might do what this has done. / It was my heaven’s extremest sphere, / The pale which held that lovely deer, / My joy, my grief, my hope, my love, / Did all within this circle move. / A narrow compass, and yet there / Dwelt all that’s good, and all that’s fair; / Give me but what this ribbon bound, / Take all the rest the sun goes round… wrote Edmund Waller, back in the 17^th century… and I imagine another slender waist confin’d by a Byzantine Girdle, masterfully created back in the 6^th or the 7^th century… https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45437/on-a-girdle

The Gold Byzantine Marriage Belt at Dumbarton Oaks is small, but lo and behold, it’s luxurious and precious, unique, and ever so beautiful! It combines Christian and pagan iconography… two large medallions depicting Jesus uniting a young couple as they clasp each other’s right hand, in a gesture, known as the dextrarum iunctio, that had been part of the Roman marriage rite, and twenty-one small medallions that contain busts of pagan figures: all men, some draped, several bearded, others with leaves in their hair, a few holding the thyrsos—a staff associated with Dionysos—and some a caduceus, the rod of the god Hermes/Mercury. Framing the central, Marriage scene, is the inscription, “From God, concord, grace, health.” http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27445

**Marriage Belt (detail),** 6^th-7^th century, Gold, 4.8×75.5 cm, Byzantine Collection, Dumbarton Oaks Museum, Washington DC, USA
http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27445

The fascinating aspect of the Dumbarton Oaks marriage belt is how the artist combined the “sacred with the profane…” Jesus blessing the young couple, with Dionysus and his male entourage. The combination of Pagan and Christian traditions in early Byzantine marriage art is captivating. The presence of Christ uniting the young couple in the larger, central two disks was apparently a popular practice in wedding belts and marriage rings. There is a similar second belt at the Musée du Louvre in Paris, and numerous variations on marriage rings to testify to the fact. What the Dumbarton Oaks experts find challenging is the integration of non-Christian figures with the Christian scenes. https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010256506 and http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27445

It is also interesting to read the actual Epithalamic Poem by Dioscorus of Aphrodito dedicated to Count Callinicus… τον περίβλεπτον κόμετα Καλλίνικον… Bridegroom, may your wedding be filled with the dancing of the Graces; may it ever seek the help of Wisdom after Beauty. You are marrying a bride who is an enviable Ariadne, silver-sandaled Theophile wreathed in gold. (May your marriage) have the scent at once of love and of wisdom. Gold has embraced gold, and silver has found silver. You raise up the honey-sweet grape cluster, in its bloom of youth; Dionysus attends the summer of your wedding, bearing wine, love’s adornment, with plenty for all, and blonde Demeter brings the flower of the field. . . . They have woven holy wreaths round your rose-filled bedroom. Like splendid Menelaus, but more tawny colored, follow your Helen, a wife who will not leave you. And afterwards you shall see dear children on your lap, like both your excellence and your wife’s to look upon. I wish a famous painter would accurately depict your lifelike image, with his craft to work your beloved likeness, whose bright beams flash with joy like the moon. Your young body has surpassed prize-winning Bellerophon, and your beauty is that of measureless excellence. To judge impartially, you have outdone Achilles and Diomedes, and easily outstripped Ares and brave Herakles. Be gracious to me in my awe of you, so I may sing your song: I came sailing on my voyage, inspired by your measureless excellence. Not in a worldly sense . . . https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft0m3nb0cs;chunk.id=d0e3949;doc.view=print -88-

If you are interested in discovering how the Dumbarton Oaks Marriage Belt ended in the renowned Washington DC Museum, please click HERE! and read the correspondence between Mildred and Robert Bliss and Royall Tyler between September 1937 and August 1938. It is a fascinating story… https://www.doaks.org/resources/bliss-tyler-correspondence/letters#b_start=0&c1=Marriage+Belt

The astonishing Tapestry of Dionysus at Abegg-Stiftung

February 11, 2022

by admin Art Byzantine Art Byzantium Early Christian Art Museums Mythology Student Activities Textiles Worksheets

**Dionysos and his entourage standing underneath arcades lavishly decked out in climbing foliage and braided ornaments,** Egypt, 4th century, wool tapestry on a linen ground, h. 210 cm, w. ca. 700 cm, Abegg-Stiftung, Canton Bern , Switzerland
https://twitter.com/Pythika/status/1141411261286146048/photo/1
https://abegg-stiftung.ch/en/
https://twitter.com/caitlinrgreen/status/616963854870970368?lang=el

[1] I begin to sing of ivy-crowned Dionysus, the loud-crying god, splendid son of Zeus and glorious Semele. The rich-haired Nymphs received him in their bosoms from the lord his father and fostered and nurtured him carefully [5] in the dells of Nysa, where by the will of his father he grew up in a sweet-smelling cave, being reckoned among the immortals. But when the goddesses had brought him up, a god oft hymned, then began he to wander continually through the woody coombes, thickly wreathed with ivy and laurel. And the Nymphs followed in his train [10] with him for their leader; and the boundless forest was filled with their outcry. / And so hail to you, Dionysus, god of abundant clusters! Grant that we may come again rejoicing to this season, and from that season onwards for many a year. The Homeric Hymns 26 on Dionysus is, I believe, a wonderful introduction to The astonishing Tapestry of Dionysus at Abegg-Stiftung, my new BLOG POST… Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA, 1914, Harvard University Press, https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D26

Regretfully, I never visited the Abegg-Stiftung, this amazing “cultural” center where the collection, conservation and study of historical textiles take place. Abegg-Stiftung is based just outside the village of Riggisberg in the foothills of the Bernese Alps, which is where the museum of textiles and applied art, the research library and the Villa Abegg, the Abeggs’ former home that is now a museum, are situated. The studio for textile conservation and restoration is also a training centre for budding young conservators. The Abegg-Stiftung publishes books and papers in which it shares its research findings with fellow historians and conservators as well as a lay readership. Year after year, its annual exhibitions shed new light on a material that has served humanity for thousands of years, whether made up into objects of everyday use or in the form of exquisite works of art. What an amazing place to visit and learn! https://abegg-stiftung.ch/en/

**Dionysus and his entourage standing underneath arcades lavishly decked out in climbing foliage and braided ornaments (Museum Room View),** Egypt, 4th century, wool tapestry on a linen ground, h. 210 cm, w. ca. 700 cm, Abegg-Stiftung, Canton Bern , Switzerland
file:///C:/Users/aspil/Downloads/ulfl202121_tm_Anexo%20(4).pdf

Among their rich collection of textiles from Late Antiquity, the visitor is astounded by grand and small examples showing figures from Graeco-Roman mythology and scenes from the Old Testament. What really fascinates me is the “Dionysus Hanging,” a monumental tapestry originally that served as a wall hanging in a Roman private home or cult building. The tapestry’s programme shows Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstasy, and his entourage standing underneath arcades lavishly decked out in climbing foliage and braided ornaments. The cult of Dionysos was widespread in Late Antiquity. It promised its adherents life after death and was an articulation of the desire for a life of happiness and superfluity. https://abegg-stiftung.ch/en/collection/late-antiquity/

**Dionysos and his entourage standing underneath arcades lavishly decked out in climbing foliage and braided ornaments (Detail),** Egypt, 4th century, wool tapestry on a linen ground, h. 210 cm, w. ca. 700 cm, Abegg-Stiftung, Canton Bern , Switzerland
https://abegg-stiftung.ch/en/

An Abegg-Stiftung much-appreciated traditionis its dedication in publishing books and papers in which their experts share their research findings with fellow historians and conservators as well as a lay readership. Among the Museum’s rich List of Publications (for German readers) is a book titled Der Dionysosbehang der Abegg-Stiftung by Dietrich Willers und Bettina Niekamp, Riggisberger Berichte 20 | 272 S., 200 Abb., 32 Tafeln, 1 Falttafel, brosch., 23 x 31 cm, 2015, ISBN 978-3-905014-53-2 https://abegg-stiftung.ch/en/publication-category/riggisberger-berichte-en/

I was able to download Dietrich Willers’s Zur Begegnung von Heidentum und Christentum im spätantiken Ägypten – Der Dionysosbehang der AbeggStiftung (Schweiz) and read in Google translation… http://kgkw.de/Vortrags-Skripte/Willers/KGKW%20Willers.pdf

Preparing for this BLOG POST I reread pp. 35-38 of Textiles of Late Antiquity, a 1995 Metropolitan Museum of Art Publication, and Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt, an Exhibition Catalogue of 2020, organized by the George Washington University Museum, The Textile Museum, and Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. https://museum.gwu.edu/woven-interiors-furnishing-early-medieval-egypt

For a Student Activity on The astonishing Tapestry of Dionysus at Abegg-Stiftung, please… Check HERE!

Hellenistic Golden Hairnets

February 8, 2022

by admin Ancient Greek Art Art Exhibitions Hellenistic Art Jewelry Powerpoints

**Gold Hairnet with a relief bust of Athena from Thessaly (Detail),** 2nd century BC, gold, Diam. 0.111 m, Benaki Museum, Athens Photo Credit: https://mobile.twitter.com/tzoumio/status/1413408320489144320

Amarantha sweet and fair / Ah braid no more that shining hair! / As my curious hand or eye / Hovering round thee let it fly. / Let it fly as unconfin’d / As its calm ravisher, the wind, / Who hath left his darling th’East, / To wanton o’er that spicy nest. / Ev’ry tress must be confest / But neatly tangled at the best; / Like a clue of golden thread, / Most excellently ravelled. / Do not then wind up that light / In ribands, and o’er-cloud in night; / Like the sun in’s early ray, / But shake your head and scatter day… wrote Richard Lovelace, back in the 17^th century… no Hellenistic Golden Hairnets for… Amarantha sweet and fair! https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/richard-lovelace

**Gold Hairnet with a relief bust of Athena from Thessaly,** 2nd century BC, gold, Diam. 0.111 m, Benaki Museum, Athens Greece
Photo Credit: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/642596

The visitors of the Ancient Greeks: Science and Wisdom Exhibition in the Science Museum (London, 17 November 2021 – 05 June 2022) will be able to admire a rare, Hellenistic Golden Hairnet from the Benaki Museum in Athens and marvel at its amazing beauty and craftsmanship! This is a real treat as only a handful of such Golden Hairnets survive today scattered around major Museums around the world. https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/ancient-greeks-science-and-wisdom

The Exhibited Hairnet comes to London from Greece, and specifically, the Benaki Museum in Athens. Gold Hairnets were created by exceptional goldsmiths for aristocratic, well-to-do Greek ladies of the Hellenistic period (late 4^th to early 1^st cent. BC), to contain a simple hair chignon at the back of their head. The Benaki Hairnet consists of a central gold medallion with a bust of Athena in high relief, and an intricate, gold net. Goddess Athena is depicted wearing a helmet with three plumes, a laurel wreath, and an oblique aegis with a mermaid. The bust of Athena is framed by concentric bands adorned with ornaments applied in the jeweler’s fine technique of filigree and granulation. The lavish decoration is mostly floral consisting of a wreath of beautifully executed pointed leaves, an exquisite, and complex band of floral designs, and a strip of eggs and tiny rosettes. The central medallion was further embellished with enameling and minuscule beads of garnet. The gold net around the medallion consists of a lattice of chains with intersecting points articulated with tiny rosettes. What an amazing achievement of workmanship! https://www.benaki.org/index.php?option=com_buildings&view=building&id=11&Itemid=533&lang=en and https://www.benaki.org/index.php?option=com_collectionitems&view=collectionitem&id=140287&lang=en&lang=el and https://ellaniapili.blogspot.com/2015/11/blog-post_328.html

**Gold Hairnet with repousse bust of Athena from Thessaly,** 2nd century BC, gold, Diam. 0.111 m, Benaki Museum, Athens Greece
Photo Credit: https://www.myfaveplaces.com/contemp-galleries/2016/7/6/gold-gold-gold-plus-some-bronze-and-silver

Describing the Benaki Museum Medallion Berta Segall writes… The artist of the Benaki medallion wanted to achieve unity. The elements of the ornamental frame are part of a continuous, flowing design, the bust, by taking up as much as possible of the background and touching the border, gives the impression of a full length figure cut off by a wreath. Its modeling is an example of the “impressionistic” technique in relief which uses a soft, almost imperceptible gradation of planes from the high to the very low, and from there to engraving. Thus, the folds of the garment are indicated in low relief, and even shallower, almost disappearing into the background, are the two plumes of the helmet right and left of the face. Berta Segall, Two Hellenistic Gold Medallions from Thessaly, Record of the Museum of Historic Art, Princeton University, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Autumn, 1945), pp. 2-11 https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774132?seq=3#metadata_info_tab_contents

The Benaki Museum Hairnet was part of an unbelievable “treasure” of 44 pieces of jewelry sold to private collectors in Athens, in 1929. The “treasure,” a product of illegal excavations, came from Thessaly, and the exact circumstances of their discovery are not well established. According to one testimony, they were discovered inside a copper vessel near Almyros in Magnesia, according to a source, the “treasure” came from the area of Lamia-Lianokladi. It has also been claimed that the 44 pieces of exquisite jewelry were found in Domokos, while the antique dealer, who sold 35 pieces of jewelry to the collector Eleni Stathatou (today in the Stathatos Collection in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens) and 9 to the Benaki Museum, assured that they were discovered near Karpenisi. https://ellaniapili.blogspot.com/2015/11/blog-post_328.html

For a PowerPoint on Hellenistic Golden Hairnets, please… check HERE!

**Gold Hairnet with repousse bust of Athena from Thessaly,** 2nd century BC, gold, Diam. 0.111 m, Benaki Museum, Athens Greece
Photo Credit: https://twitter.com/AngHellenLeague/status/1464252708806873091/photo/1

The Science Museum in London promises a unique experience to the visitors of their free exhibition Ancient Greeks: Science and Wisdom (17 November 2021 – 05 June 2022). The Museum experts believe that curiosity and investigation are central to furthering our understanding of the universe today… and suggest that we step back through millennia… and discover how the ancient Greek civilization questioned, contemplated, and debated the natural world. If your steps take you to London, the Science Museum Exhibition Ancient Greeks: Science and Wisdom, is worth visiting! https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/ancient-greeks-science-and-wisdom and https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/guides for a free guidebook.

The Etruscan Bronze Chandelier of Cortona

February 4, 2022

by admin Art Etruscan Art Student Activities Worksheets

**Cortona Chandelier (Museum View),** mid 4^th century BC, Bronze, Diameter of 60 cm, Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca e della Città di Cortona, Italy
https://www.toscanaovunquebella.it/en/cortona

Traveller, thou art approaching Cortona! Dost thou reverence age – that fulness of years which, as Pliny says, “in men is venerable, in cities sacred? This is that which demands thy reverence. Here is that, which when the Druidical marvels of thine own land were newly raise, was of hoary antiquity – that, compared to which Rome is but of yesterday – to which most other cities of ancient renown are fresh and green. Thou mayst have wandered far and wide through Italy – nothing hast thou seen more venerable than Cortona. Ere the days of Hector and Achilles, ere Troy itself arose – Cortona was. On that bare and lofty height, whose towered crest holds communion with the cloud, dwelt the heaven-born Dardanus, ere he left Italy to found the Trojan race; and on that mount reigned his father Corythus, and there he was laid in the tomb. Such is the ancient legend, wherefore gainsay it? Away with doubts – pay thy full tribute of homage – acceptam parce movere fidem! Hast thou respect to fallen greatness? – Yon solemn city was once the proudest and the mightiest in the land, the metropolis of Etruria, and now – but enter its gates and look around… writes in 1845 the British scholar and diplomat George Dennis and I think I couldn’t find a better introduction for my new BLOG POST The Etruscan Bronze Chandelier of Cortona. George Dennis, The Cities, and Cemeteries of Etruria, Volume II, pages 432-435 https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/dennis1848bd2/0030/scroll

The city of Cortona, the metropolis of Etruria, a proud and mighty citadel… has a lot of secret beauties for the Traveler to come upon! Amongst them, its Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca e della Città di Cortona or as it is popularly known THE MAEC OF CORTONA. Established in 2005, the MAEC is a museum, according to its official site, that brings together the ancient eighteenth-century collections of the Etruscan Academy such as the Etruscan Chandelier, the Egyptian section, the historical library, and the works of Gino Severini with the most recent archaeological finds that illustrate the history of Cortona. Among these, the “Tabula Cortonensis” and the grave goods of the Sodo circles stand out. The MAEC is also the point of synthesis to understand the realities of the city’s Archaeological Park. https://cortonamaec.org/it/

**Cortona Chandelier,** mid 4^th century BC, Bronze, Diameter of 60 cm, Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca e della Città di Cortona, Italy
https://cortonamaec.org/it/le-opere/

In the splendid new round room of the MAEC, the Cortona visitor can properly admire the Museum’s crown jewel, the Etruscan Bronze Chandelier, hanging from the ceiling, as it was meant to be seen, along with a gypsum cast exhibited in a niche at eye-level for all to marvel at its “frightening” decoration! The famous Chandelier was accidentally found in 1840 by peasants working in a field called Il Bisciaio, just 2,8 km west of Cortona.

The shape of the Chandelier reminds me of a large, circular, shallow bowl. Looking up at the center of the Chandelier’s underside section, the head of Gorgo encircled by snakes, dominates the overall composition. Moving outwards, an innermost ring illustrates four groups of animals fighting, followed by yet another ring of waves running from right to left. The external ring shows a complex scene of eight crouching, ithyphallic Sileni alternating with eight dressed, and bejeweled Sirens. In an alternating scheme four Sileni blow the double aulos, and the other four a syrinx, with seven canes of the same length. Under the hooves of the Sileni, the artist presented eight swimming dolphins. The Bronze Cortona Chandelier is an elaborate antique oil lamp with sixteen oval nozzles. Between the nozzles, sixteen three-dimensional heads of the river-god Acheloos look outward, in a horizontal direction, forming the outermost ring of this amazing creation. What a remarkable composition with such complex imagery! https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298407240_The_Etruscan_Bronze_Lamp_of_Cortona_its_Cosmic_Program_and_its_Attached_Inscription

**Cortona Chandelier (details),** mid 4^th century BC, Bronze, Diameter of 60 cm, Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca e della Città di Cortona, Italy
https://cortonamaec.org/it/le-opere/

The iconographic program of the Etruscan Bronze Lamp of Cortona most probably has a cosmic meaning referring to the Underworld, Ocean, and Heaven (Sky)… according to Bouke Van der Meer. His article The Etruscan Bronze Lamp of Cortona, its Cosmic Program and its Attached Inscription, (June 2014 Latomus 73(2):289-302), is most interesting to read… https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298407240_The_Etruscan_Bronze_Lamp_of_Cortona_its_Cosmic_Program_and_its_Attached_Inscription

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

**Cortona Chandelier (detail),** mid 4^th century BC, Bronze, Diameter of 60 cm, Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca e della Città di Cortona, Italy
https://europeupclose.com/article/cortona/

Simon Bening’s February

January 31, 2022

by admin Art Renaissance Student Activities Worksheets

**Simon Bening** (d. 1561) and his workshop
**Book of Hours, known as the *Golf Book,* February (f. 19v),**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’s February scene is a feast for the eyes! Under an impressive green canopy, and in front of a blazing fire the lord and the lady of the Manor House are ready for an evening of festivities and fine dining. Seated on a high-backed chair, a symbol of her social rank, and attended by her handmaiden, the lady of the manor is portrayed spirited, and enthusiastic, chatting with her husband who seems interested, like-minded, and responding. He is lavishly clothed in a tunic with a sable collar holding a bowl of liquid. Like most of the men in the room except the servants, musicians and the dancer, the lord wears a small, soft cap with a slightly raised crown and very narrow rim. The shirt collar, of German origin, is quite high and trimmed by a narrow, gathered edge. Bening presents them in a richly-appointed room, behind an opulent dining table laden with two candlesticks each with a lit candle, a platter of meat, loaves of bread, a metal container possibly for drinks, and a glass goblet which reveals the high social standing of the figures. The large proportions of the room and compositional depth are enhanced by the presence of two doors, on either side of the fireplace. A group of crammed, curiously-looking men is depicted through the left door, and a serious servant carrying a bowl of food emerges through the right door. We are witnesses of a true Renaissance feast in the making! https://www.moleiro.com/en/books-of-hours/the-golf-book-book-of-hours/miniatura/157 and https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/11/

For Simon Bening, presenting a scene of feasting is not enough! I sense anticipation rising high… I imagine the hosts, the servants, and the guests eager for the entertainment to begin! A troop of musicians… accompanied by a rather mischievous-looking jester, are ready! To the left of the composition, two servants holding torches, just like Renaissance spotlights, illuminate the scene. On the opposite side, a group of musicians playing a melody on a flute to the sound of a drum set the tone for merriment! Beside them is a jester or fool in the typical horned cap with bells and mock scepter. He looks utterly mischievous… Is he about to make some impudent, risqué comment? Is the young, a fashionably dressed couple in the center, the target of his bold wit? https://www.moleiro.com/en/books-of-hours/the-golf-book-book-of-hours/miniatura/157 and https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/calendars/page/11/

Simon Bening takes time and effort to present us with a powerful couple of impeccable tastes… stylish, and trendy! They are about to start dancing, and he is the protagonist of the scene… wearing a doublet with gusseted sleeves and full-length hose with a ribbon tied around each leg. He differs from the others, present in the composition, by his loose, decorative, slit sleeves hanging from the forearm… the golden dagger tied to his waist… his narrow, closed footwear, of the duck’s beak type that appeared around 1530. What an amazing presentation! We can only speculate which winter feast is celebrated on Bening’s February page. Perhaps a feast related to Carnival, as suggested by the image of another small jester painted in cameo fashion in a niche on the left of the border around the painting. Perhaps not… https://www.moleiro.com/en/books-of-hours/the-golf-book-book-of-hours/miniatura/157

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

For a Student Activity on Simon Bening’s February page, please… Check HERE!

**Simon Bening** (d. 1561) and his workshop
**Book of Hours, known as the *Golf Book,* February (f. 20r),**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 Belle Nani by Paolo Veronese

January 25, 2022

by admin Art Powerpoints Renaissance

**Paolo Veronese**, 1528–1588
**Portrait of a Venetian Woman – La Belle Nani,** circa 1560, oil on canvas, 119×103 cm, Louvre Museum, Paris, France
https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010065927

Men were created before women… But that doesn’t prove their superiority – rather, it proves ours, for they were born out of the lifeless earth in order that we could be born out of living flesh. And what’s so important about this priority in creation, anyway? When we are building, we lay foundations on the ground first, things of no intrinsic merit or beauty, before subsequently raising up sumptuous buildings and ornate palaces. Lowly seeds are nourished in the earth, and then later the ravishing blooms appear; lovely roses blossom forth and scented narcissi… writes Moderata Fonte in her book The Worth of Women: Wherein Is Clearly Revealed Their Nobility and Their Superiority to Men, and I think that La Belle Nani by Paolo Veronese is one such Venetian… ravishing bloom, a lovely roses blossom, a scented narcissi! https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/893320.Moderata_Fonte and https://books.google.gr/books?id=AtTGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA138&lpg=PA138&dq=Men+were+created+before+women.+…+But+that+doesn%27t+prove+their+superiority+%E2%80%93+rather,+it+proves+ours,+for+they+were+born+out+of+the+lifeless+earth+in+order+that+we+could+be+born+out+of+living+flesh.+And+what%27s+so+important+about+this+priority+in+creation,+anyway?+When+we+are+building,+we+lay+foundations+on+the+ground+first,+things+of+no+intrinsic+merit+or+beauty,+before+subsequently+raising+up+sumptuous+buildings+and+ornate+palaces.+Lowly+seeds+are+nourished+in+the+earth,+and+then+later+the+ravishing+blooms+appear;+lovely+roses+blossom+forth+and+scented+narcissi.&source=bl&ots=LzBLZk1PqE&sig=ACfU3U14hiEGCMR-a1Zp9IywMToXnxIAsw&hl=el&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi37YHOwKb1AhXLgv0HHYiYA1AQ6AF6BAgCEAM#v=onepage&q&f=false

What an incredible portrait La belle Nani is! Created by Paolo Veronese (1528-1588), one of the most famous painters of the Cinquecento, it fascinates and fires the imagination. Who is she? Is she a respectable Venetian matron, one of Venice’s famous courtesans, or is she the image of the Venetian ideal beauty? Well, we do not really know… except that back in the 19^th century, it was thought that the portrait was commissioned by the Nani, a patrician family of Venice, and thus, the nickname La Belle Nani was adopted. http://editions.louvre.fr/en/titles/monographs/painting/veroneseune-dame-venitienne-dite-la-belle-nani.html

**Paolo Veronese**, 1528–1588
**Portrait of a Venetian Woman – La Belle Nani (detail),** circa 1560, oil on canvas, 119×103 cm, Louvre Museum, Paris, France
https://www.iefimerida.gr/politismos/ethniki-pinakothiki-loybro-maska-napoleonta-parisi

The portrait of the “Beautiful Nani” follows, according to the Louvre experts, a very fashionable compositional formula developed by no other than the greatest portrait painter of the Venetian Renaissance, Titian. The model is depicted facing the viewer, in front of a dark neutral background, and is placed next to an element of furniture, in Veronese’s painting, a table covered with a precious carpet of Anatolian manufacture, known as “a la Moretto” style. Portrayed against a sober background the beautiful woman bursts of light and colour reflecting the extraordinary skills of the Venetian Renaissance artist. https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010065927

The Louvre Portrait exalts the beauty of a young woman as much as the richness of her dress. It is believed that this is the Portrait of an aristocratic Venetian mother… beautiful and utterly fashionable! Her delicate complexion, for example, is white and pink, indicating that the lady is protecting herself from the sun. Her sparkling hair is blond, a color that was obtained, according to the beauty recipes of the time, by exposing hair to the midday sun, on the roofs of Venetian palaces. Her ceremonial dress, made of luxurious blue velvet and branched brocade on a white background, is fashionably loose, with a fairly wide opening on the chest, a light white gauze coat draped over her shoulders, and sumptuous pieces of jewelry all over her. https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010065927

La belle Nani is beautiful, fashionable, and virtuous… She chastely turns her gaze away from that of the spectator. Her left hand, whose ring finger is adorned with a wedding ring, elegantly re-dyes the transparent veil of her coat, while her right hand rests on her heart, as a sign of conjugal fidelity. The portrait must thus signify the exemplary nature of this woman: her high social rank, her physical beauty, and her moral virtue. https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010065927

Katerina Sakellaropoulou the President of the Hellenic Republic at the National Gallery of Greece Exhibition *In Search of Immortality – The Art of Portrait in the Louvre Collections* (December 1, 2021-28 March 2022).
https://www.newsit.gr/politikh/katerina-sakellaropoulou-egkainiase-ekthesi-tis-ethnikis-pinakothikis-foros-timis-sto-mouseiou-tou-louvrou/3418282/

In Search of Immortality – The Art of Portrait in the Louvre Collections (December 1, 2021-28 March 2022) is a wonderful Exhibition at the National Gallery in Athens, Greece. La Belle Nani is just one of one hundred portraits from the Louvre Museum Exhibited in Athens. An impressive selection of valuable works of art dating from the period of Pharaonic Egypt to Gericault and Delacroix, the Athens Exhibition explores the genre of Portraiture with stunning examples like… The Death of Mara by Jacques-Louis or Bonaparte at the Pont d’Arcole by Antoine-Jean Gros. This is an Exhibition worth visiting! https://digitalculture.gov.gr/2021/11/ethniki-pinakothiki-anazitontas-tin-athanasia-i-techni-tou-portretou-stis-silloges-tou-louvrou/

For a PowerPoint on Portraits of Renaissance Women by Paolo Veronese, please… Check HERE!

Love of Virtue by François Lemoyne

January 12, 2022

by admin Art Baroque Powerpoints

**François Lemoyne,** 1688-1737
**Study of a head for Love of Virtue in The Apotheosis of Hercules, circa 1733,**
Pastel, trois crayons and stump blending on formerly blue paper, © château de Versailles, France https://en.chateauversailles.fr/news/exhibitions/drawings-versailles-20-years-acquisitions#the-exhibition

The Doors of the Versailles Exhibition… Drawings for Versailles, 20 years of Acquisitions… closed for the interested visitors, but the preparatory drawing of a head for the Love of Virtue by François Lemoyne has become a favourite! The exhibition displayed acquisitions that have joined the Palace of Versailles Graphic Arts Department over the last 20 years. On display, in Madame de Maintenon’s apartments, visitors were able to admire pastels, gouaches, watercolours, and other works that are often kept in storage because of their great fragility. Portraits and scenes from life at court, such as Louis XIV portrayed as a Roman emperor or Charles Perrault drawn by Charles Le Brun, plans, architectural drawings, and preparatory sketches for the major painted decors of the Palace of Versailles were on display and greatly admired! The visitors traveled through four centuries of graphic creation, discovering a Versailles as envisioned by great artists like Charles Le Brun, Charles de la Fosse, François Lemoyne, Richard Mique, Jacques Gondoin, and Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer… a place of great wonders! https://en.chateauversailles.fr/news/exhibitions/drawings-versailles-20-years-acquisitions#the-exhibition

Around 1733, while François Lemoyne was painstakingly working for the Apotheosis of Hercules ceiling decoration of the Versailles Hercules Room, a small preparatory drawing of a head for the Love of Virtue was quickly drawn… and if I may humbly say, the finesse of French Baroque Art turning to Rococo comes to fruition.

**The Hercules Room-View of the Ceiling and the Paolo Veronese Painting of the Feast in the House of Simon, Palace of Versailles**
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Feast_in_the_House_of_Simon_by_Paolo_Veronese_(Versailles)#/media/File:Le_salon_d’Hercule_(24302264315).jpg

Part of the King’s (Louts IV 1638-1715) State Apartment, the Hercules Room was lavishly decorated in the Italian-style with exceptional marble wall paneling, splendid chimney bronzes, a monumental painting by the Venetian Paolo Veronese depicting the Feast in the House of Simon and the largest painted ceiling, representing the Apotheosis of Hercules by François Lemoyne. The decoration of the Hercules Room initiated in 1712, was interrupted by the death of Louis XIV in 1715; it resumed in 1729 and was completed in 1736. The Hercules Room is undoubtedly one of the finest in the palace. https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/palace/king-state-apartment#the-hercules-room and https://en.chateauversailles-spectacles.fr/tag/hercules-room_t50/1

**The Hercules Room, Palace of Versailles**
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Salon_d%27Hercule_du_Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Versailles#/media/File:Panorama_of_the_ceiling_of_Le_salon_d’Hercule_(24275994646).jpg

The Room’s pièce de resistance is Lemoyne’s Apotheosis of Hercules. This vast, impressive, allegorical work, depicting no fewer than 142 persons, can be considered on a par with masterpieces by Italian fresco painters. It was created, however, using the marouflage technique, that is the scenes were painted on canvas and then stuck onto the ceiling. When the painting was finally cleaned and restored in 2000 the composition’s drama and bright colours were justly revealed and the room was once more lit up enhancing the other great exhibited masterpiece, the Renaissance monumental painting of the Feast in the House of Simon by Paul Veronese. http://www.versailles3d.com/en/over-the-centuries/xxie/2000.html

François Lemoyne was a hard-working and ambitious artist of the early 18^th century, aspiring to be seen as the new Charles Le Brun. He was admired by his contemporaries for covering vast spaces with bold mythological scenes, graceful figures, and elegant, pastel colours. In 1728, he was awarded a royal commission to paint the ceiling of the Hercules Room at Versailles, at à ciel ouvert style. The Apotheosis of Hercules painting (finished in 1736) received unanimous praise, Voltaire complimented the artist’s talent, and Lemoyne was appointed 1^st painter of King Louis XV. It was a short triumph. Six months later, Lemoyne committed suicide exhausted by work, court intrigue at Versailles, the death of his wife, and psychological instability. https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/3473/francois-le-moyne-french-1688-1737/

For a PowerPoint on François Lemoyne, please… Check HERE!

Villa Arianna’s Dionysus and Ariadne Fresco

January 7, 2022

by admin Art Roman Art Roman Frecoes Student Activities Worksheets

**Ariadne on Naxos, 4^th Pompeian Style Fresco, Villa Arianna grand Triclinium, (fresco and Room No. 3),** 1^st century AD, Stabiae, Italy
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Triclinio_3_di_Villa_Arianna#/media/File:Affresco_particolare_23.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Triclinio_3_di_Villa_Arianna#/media/File:Mito_ri_Arianna.jpg

Lying in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius… Stabiae is home to a group of enormous, sea-edge, Villae Marittimae, which are set on a cliff above the modern town of Castellammare di Stabia. We know of at least six of these villas, built directly next to one another—a sort of Roman high-rent resort district next to the small town of Stabiae. They were beautifully preserved by the eruption of 79 A.D., with standing walls, some of the highest quality frescoes surviving from antiquity, and some of the most innovative garden architecture in the Roman world. On the 13^th of October I presented you with information on Villa Arianna, today, on the 11^th of December… let’s discuss Villa Arianna’s Dionysus and Ariadne Fresco. https://www.baslibrary.org/archaeology-odyssey/8/1/5

**Ariadne on Naxos, 4^th Pompeian Style Fresco, Villa Arianna grand Triclinium, Room No. 3,** 1^st century AD, Stabiae, Italy
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Triclinio_3_di_Villa_Arianna#/media/File:Mito_ri_Arianna.jpg

**Villa Arianna Areal View**
https://www.stabiaholidayhouse.it/en/visit-to-the-ancient-stabiae/
**Villa Arianna Plan,** Stabiae (after Kockel 1985 with corrections by Allroggen-Bedel A. and De Vos M.) https://www.pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/VF/Villa_102%20Stabiae%20Villa%20Arianna%20plan.htm

Villa Arianna was lavishly decorated with frescoes and portable furnishings, an undisputed testimony of the expensive lifestyle the owners enjoyed, and evidence of their refined taste and style. One such high-quality fresco, drawing inspiration from the myth of Dionysus and Ariadne, gave the Villa its modern name.

Ιmagine the scene… Theseus and Ariadne flee Crete in a hurry. With the help of Ariadne, Theseus had just killed the horrible Minotaur in the depths of Knossos’s palace maze. Their first stop to rest on their way to Athens is the island of Naxos… where the story unfolds dramatically and excitingly. God Dionysus, in love with Ariadne, appears to Theseus in his sleep and convinces him to abandon Ariadne at Naxos and continue his trip alone. Ariadne, unaware of divine intervention disembarks at Naxos enchanted by the beauty of the island, happily explores it, and tired falls asleep on the beautiful islet of Palatia. When she wakes up… god Dionysus, the son of Zeus and Dione, looks at her adoringly and a new love affair is in the making. A glorious wedding follows and an eternal gift is still with us to admire… the constellation known as Corona Borealis is said to be Dionysus’s wedding gift to Ariadne, a special ornament to adorn her beautiful head.

Please take the time to look at the Villa’s Plan, locate Room 3, and imagine a December Symposium night two thousand years ago…

Villa Arianna’s Dionysus and Ariadne Fresco is a small part of Villa’s grand Triclinium decoration. Room 3 is decorated in the 4th Pompeian Style, elaborate and complex as it can be, combining large-scale Narrative Painting, small Panoramic Vistas, and Still Lifes, within an architectural fantasy of pedestals, aediculae, columns, entablatures, and… theatrical masks! The Villa’s grand Triclinium decoration doesn’t resemble any believable space but instead consists of a variety of architectural elements arranged in an unrealistic manner with an unrealistic perspective, set against a flat background. The three large mythological scenes framed in blue on a yellow and red ground above a lower red and black decorative frieze are the room’s main artistic attraction. A panel presenting the myth of Dionysus and Ariadne decorates the South Wall, a rare scene of Lycurgus and Ambrosia is presented on the West Wall, and on the East Wall, the unknown master painter of the grand Triclinium presented the myth of Zeus and Ganymede. https://depts.washington.edu/hrome/Authors/ninamil7/TheFourStylesofRomanWallPaintings/pub_zbarticle_view_printable.html

Room number 3 was Villa Arianna’s grand Triclinium… the main dining room of a luxurious Roman residence, so-called because of the three banqueting couches (klinai) arranged around the walls. All you have to do is… imagine a warm summer night, overlooking the Bay of Naples, in the company of good friends, bathed in the flickering light, and content with scrumptious food… If you were the owner of Villa Arianna, life was good!

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

Teacher Curator

Posts in category: Art

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Edgar Degas

Saint George and the Dragon by Rogier van der Weyden

Byzantine Girdle

The astonishing Tapestry of Dionysus at Abegg-Stiftung

Hellenistic Golden Hairnets

The Etruscan Bronze Chandelier of Cortona

Simon Bening’s February

La Belle Nani by Paolo Veronese

Love of Virtue by François Lemoyne

Villa Arianna’s Dionysus and Ariadne Fresco