Art Archives - Page 25 of 42

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!

**Ariadne on Naxos, 4^th Pompeian Style Fresco, Villa Arianna grand Triclinium – South Wall, (Room No. 3 on the Villa Plan),** 1^st century AD, Stabiae, Italy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stabiae#/media/File:Villa_Arianna_(Stabia)_WLM_099.JPG

**Ariadne on Naxos (detail – Mask and Landscape scene), 4^th Pompeian Style Fresco, Villa Arianna grand Triclinium – South Wall, ( (Room No. 3 on the Villa Plan),** 1^st century AD, Stabiae, Italy
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Triclinio_3_di_Villa_Arianna#/media/File:Affresco_particolare_7.jpg

Suzanne Valadon

January 4, 2022

by admin 20th century Art Art Post-Impressionism Student Activities Worksheets

**Suzanne Valadon (Marie-Clémentine Valadon),** 1865-1938
**Self Portrait with Family (**Suzanne Valadon is in the center, flanked by André Utter and her mother, with her son at the foreground), 1912, oil on canvas, 97 x 73 cm, Le Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/ressources/oeuvre/cyjjkkA#&gid=viewer-lightbox&pid=0

The French artist Suzanne Valadon is the protagonist of a unique Exhibition at the Barnes, in the heart of Philadelphia, that introduces to the general public a late 19^th – early 20th-century Woman of extraordinary qualities. The Exhibition will be open to the public until the 9^th of January, 2021, and so far, the Artist and the Exhibition have been described as… A thrilling tour of [her] portraits, nudes, still lifes, and drawings by The New York Times, or… A brilliant artist making breathtaking paintings that have the flat, colorful solidity of Gauguin, but a piercing intelligence and emotional insight by The Washington Post, or… She is a maverick artist, who often drew from her own life to create a body of work that envisions the 20th-century woman by WHYY, and Breathing new life into rebellious early 20th-century art by the Broad Street Review. https://www.barnesfoundation.org/whats-on/exhibitions/suzanne-valadon?gclid=CjwKCAjwzaSLBhBJEiwAJSRokgRhEY928WI-tXfLFrUON5esRwP3uD8RRKR9pNAu2rdgIPlxP88W8hoCkC4QAvD_BwE

**Maurice Utrillo and his mother Suzanne Valadon**, c. 1890 by an unknown photographer
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M_Utrillo_et_sa_m%C3%A8re_S_Valadon_vers_1890.jpg

Born Marie-Clémentine, Suzanne Valadon, was born into poverty, as the daughter of an unmarried domestic worker. She grew up in Montmartre, the bohemian quarter of Paris, supporting herself from the age of ten with odd jobs: waitress, nanny, and circus performer. A fall from a trapeze led her in a new direction…that of modeling for some of the most important artists of her time. She was more than a model… she became the muse and the friend of artists like Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Amedeo Modigliani, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Miguel Utrillo, who agreed to give Maurice, Valadon’s son, born out of wedlock, his last name and legally recognize him as his son. Suzanne was artistic. She loved to draw while in the company of her artists/friends, practice her skills by observing them paint, and with the encouragement and tutelage of her mentor Edgar Degas, learn how to master the art of drawing and etching techniques. Valadon soon transitioned from an artist’s model into a successful artist with …a complicated personal life. She was a free spirit and a bohemian in every sense of the word… Suzanne Valadon, her second husband André Utter, and her son Maurice Utrillo were known as the trinité maudite (cursed trinity) because the family environment was characterized by violent outbursts, reconciliations, and alcoholism. https://nmwa.org/art/artists/suzanne-valadon/ and https://www.messynessychic.com/2021/10/15/renoirs-art-model-was-the-greatest-painter-you-never-heard-of/?fbclid=IwAR33WEcmDTxJ4n84O07M7RIJ1rv5WaCZb8Xtc8auSwKRndJhQPfTpaliFZI and https://www.arts-spectacles.com/Valadon-Utrillo-et-Utter-la-trinite-maudite-entre-Paris-et-Saint-Bernard-1909-1939-du-16-octobre-au-12-fevrier-2012_a6460.html

**Suzanne Valadon (Marie-Clémentine Valadon),** 1865-1938
**Self-Portrait,** 1898, Oil on Canvas, 40×26.7 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suzanne_Valadon_-_Self-Portrait_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

The artist is famous for her unapologetic female and male nudes… bold, controversial, and provocative! My favourite Valadon painting is her 1912 Self Portrait with Family…odd, disturbing, and unconventional. https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/ressources/oeuvre/cyjjkkA#&gid=viewer-lightbox&pid=0

The Centre Pompidou painting shows Suzanne Valadon in the center, flanked by André Utter, her second husband, her mother Magdeleine Valadon, and her son in the foreground, Maurice Utrillo. Suzanne Valadon is the only one directly facing the viewer, but she does so tentatively, with her hand on her chest… Utter and Madame Valadon are gazing to their right, each foreseeing a different future: the young man looks confident and rather content, while the woman – all wrinkled and slightly hunchbacked, with the corners of her mouth turned downwards – appears resigned. Maurice Utrillo’s depiction earns the most sympathy, for he seems to be the most miserable and out of place, gazing melancholically with his head leaning on his hand, as if he simply cannot muster the energy to stand or sit upright… What an unusual family portrait! https://artschaft.com/2018/05/23/suzanne-valadon-family-portrait-1912/

For a Student Activity inspired by the Exhibition at the Barnes, in Philadelphia, please… Check HERE!

**Suzanne Valadon (Marie-Clémentine Valadon),** 1865-1938
**Portrait of the painter Maurice Utrillo,** 1921, Collection of the City of Sannois, Val d’Oise, France, on temporary loan to the Musée de Montmartre, Paris
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maurice_Utrillo,_par_Suzanne_Valadon.jpg

Simon Bening’s January

January 1, 2022

by admin Art Powerpoints Renaissance Student Activities Worksheets

**Simon Bening** (d. 1561) and his workshop
**Book of Hours, known as the *Golf Book,* January (f. 18v),**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/2013/01/a-calendar-page-for-january-2013.html

It’s the 1^st of January 2022… It is time to start a new Calendar Presentation… and Wish you ALL a Happy New Year, Health, Love, and Prosperity!!! Let’s start the Year with Simon Bening’s January, our new BLOG POST.

My search for the perfect Calendar for the new year is a long process, and starts during summer! I want each “Calendar under Focus” to embrace and present every month in a comprehensive way… to make me wonder how effectual it can be. I search for information on the artist who created it and the patron who commissioned it. I want to explore and present you with Calendars of different mediums… For example, the 2000 Calendar presentation was on the Maestro Venceslao Fresco Calendar in Torre Aquila, Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento, Italy. In 2021 I focused on a Venetian Set of Doors presenting the Twelve Months created by an anonymous Venetian artist in the National Gallery in London. This year it is time to turn to an Illuminated Manuscript, a medium I love, and present you a 16^th century famous Book of Hours with an interesting name… the Golf Book! https://www.teachercurator.com/art/the-month-of-january/ and https://www.teachercurator.com/art/the-labours-of-the-months-february/ and http://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?docId=IAMS032-002031376&fn=permalink&vid=IAMS_VU2

Some of the greatest paintings and drawings of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, according to Wendy A. Stein, are not displayed on church and museum walls; instead, they shine forth from the pages… of very special illuminated manuscripts known as Books of Hours. Thousands of Books of Hours made between 1250 and 1700 survive today in libraries and museums, a testament to their popularity in their heyday, especially in northern Europe. They were functional prayer books made for the nonordained, and the paintings in them were intended to foster reflection and devotion. Each Book of Hours was unique, serving the spiritual needs of its patron. Book of Hours were devotional books containing prayers to be recited at set times of the day. By the 15th century, the norm was to contain the Hours of the Virgin, a Calendar, a set of Gospel lessons, Hours focusing on the Cross, a group of Psalms, and prayers to saints called Suffrages. It is interesting how most Books of Hours begin with a Calendar, to help the owner keep track of saints’ days and other feasts. Each month gets a page with listed days, holy days are often written in red (the origin of the term “red letter day”), and significant feast days are written in gold letters. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hour/hd_hour.htm

**Simon Bening** (d. 1561) and his workshop
**Book of Hours, known as the *Golf Book,* January (f. 18v – f. 19f ),**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/2013/01/a-calendar-page-for-january-2013.html

The 16^th century Book of Hours, known as the Golf Book, is a very unique and special manuscript in the Collection of the British Library. Unfortunately, the Golf Book is not, in its present state, a complete manuscript as most of the text is now missing. Thirty parchment leaves, however, remain, twenty-one pages of which, are full-page miniatures, in colours and gold, surrounded by a historiated border (12 pages are part of the Calendar section). The remaining forty pages feature historiated borders as well, that incorporate medallions, architectonic decoration, and cameos in grisaille and semi-grisaille. The text pages present large and small initials and line-fillers, in colours and gold. Simon Bening (d. 1561), with the assistance of his workshop, was the artist from Bruges responsible for this amazing manuscript. Bening’s accomplishments will feature in the Month of February Presentation. http://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?docId=IAMS032-002031376&fn=permalink&vid=IAMS_VU2

**Simon Bening** (d. 1561) and his workshop
**Book of Hours, known as the *Golf Book,* January (details of f. 18v),**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/2013/01/a-calendar-page-for-january-2013.html

The miniatures for the Month of January (ff. 18v-19r) cover two pages facing each other. Folio18v is a full-page miniature of a winter landscape with peasants busy with their chores or simply relaxing, and enjoying the pleasures of a cold, snowy day. The protagonists of the composition are the couple in the foreground chopping and collecting wood. Next comes the couple inside the house behind them – one wall of which is conveniently missing to show the indoor scene. The room, showing signs of certain wealth, is warm and cozy with a linen-covered table, set with food and drink – the fruits of their hard work. The Lady of the house is breastfeeding her baby in front of a raging fire, the Lord of the house is relaxing… talking to her, I want to imagine, planning their family future! A busy landscape completes the composition… a windmill on a promontory with a peasant carrying his load towards it, a church with a person coming out of it, and other people talking or simply strolling about wrapped up in capes or warm clothes to protect themselves from the cold. Several bare trees with snow-lined branches, birds resting on the roof-top, a smoking chimney, and a clear, blue sky, complete the full-page composition. The historiated borders of both folios presenting to the Month of January (ff 18v and 19r) include depictions, in cameo fashion, of children or youths pulling sleds. What an amazing scene Simon Bening’s January is! https://www.moleiro.com/en/books-of-hours/the-golf-book-book-of-hours/miniatura/156

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

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

Apolausis the personification of Enjoyment

December 30, 2021

by admin Art Byzantium Early Christian Art Student Activities Worksheets

**Floor Mosaic with Bust of Apolausis/Enjoyment** (Baths of Apolausis, Pool Room West of the Frigidarium), late 4th century-early 5th century, Mosaic on Mortar, 98×266 cm, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, USA
http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info?query=Portfolios%20%3D%20%222606%22&sort=0&page=2

I have always said and felt that true enjoyment can not be described… said Jean Jacques Rousseau… but at the vestibule of the Dumbarton Oaks Museum, Enjoyment has a face… the Floor Mosaic with Apolausis the personification of Enjoyment welcomes visitors since its doors opened to the public in 1941and I can not think of a better way to welcome you to the New Year! May 2022 be a Year of pure Enjoyment! https://www.stresslesscountry.com/enjoyment-quotes/

Antioch on the Orontes, the modern-day city of Antakya in Turkey, was founded near the end of the fourth century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great’s generals and successors to his Empire. It flourished and prospered, rivaling even the city of Alexandria in Egypt, as the capital of the Seleucid Empire until 63 BC, when the Romans took control in Syria. Called the cradle of Christianity, Antioch, a great military, and economic metropolis with a population of about 250,000 people became the hub of both Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity. The city’s decline started during the Byzantine–Sassanid War of 602–628 and continued during the Umayyad period as Antioch found itself on the frontline of the conflicts between two hostile empires, the Byzantine, and the rising realm of the Arabs. In 1268 the Baibars (Mamluks of Egypt), besieged Antioch, capturing the city on May 18, marking, thus, the end of its history. https://vrc.princeton.edu/archives/collections/show/7 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antioch

Between 1932 and 1939, archaeological excavations of Antioch, its wealthy suburb Daphne, and the port city of Seleucia Pieria, were undertaken under the direction of the “Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and Its Vicinity”, which was made up of representatives from Princeton University, the National Museums of France, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Worcester Art Museum, and later (1936), Mr. and Mrs. Bliss, founders of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Archaeologists unearthed magnificent public and private buildings, and …over three hundred mosaic pavements. The Syrian Government agreed that in return for their contributions, the institutions and the donors to the excavation project would receive archaeological finds like the Apolausis Floor Mosaic. https://vrc.princeton.edu/archives/collections/show/7 and https://www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics/catalogue/excavations-antioch/ and http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info?query=Portfolios%20%3D%20%222606%22&sort=0&page=2

**Excavation Photo showing the Mosaic of Apolausis,** Bath of Apolausis – Pool Room West of the Frigidarium, Antioch, Syria, 1938 Antioch Expedition Archives, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University No. 4082
**Plan of the Bath of Apolausis,** based on an original excavation drawing (Stillwell, 1941, plan 5)
https://www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics/catalogue/excavations-antioch/#&gid=1&pid=4
https://www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics/catalogue/excavations-antioch/#&gid=1&pid=2

The Bath of Apolausis, a small public building that originally served an agricultural complex or group of country villas on the eastern side of the plain of Antioch, at the foot of Mount Silpios was richly decorated with floor mosaics and wall frescoes. Today, the mosaics discovered in this small Bath-House are shared between the Getty Museum (Mosaic Floor with Animals), the Hatay Museum (Sotiria/Salvation Floor Mosaic), and the Dumbarton Oaks (Apolausis/Enjoyment Floor Mosaic). https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/103452/unknown-maker-panel-from-a-mosaic-floor-from-antioch-central-panel-part-of-70ah96-roman-syrian-about-ad-400/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spir8xGciQo and http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info?query=Portfolios%20%3D%20%222606%22&sort=0&page=2

The personification of Apolausis/Enjoyment, after which the bath was named, decorated the bottom of a large pool with an apsidal end accessed through a doorway on the west side of the octagonal Hall/Frigidarium. As Dr. Will Wootton noted during a 2016 lecture… water would have run over the surface of the Apolausis floor Mosaic… showing that the water was so clear and pure that you could see the mosaic perfectly beneath it. http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info?query=Portfolios%20%3D%20%222606%22&sort=0&page=2 and https://www.doaks.org/newsletter/how-mosaics-were-made-and-made-known

To Celebrate the New Year with your Kindergarten – Early Elementary School students… do a HAND-FAN Activity. Create simple, paper HAND-FANS and decorate them with Synonyms to ENJOYMENT! Add a beautiful coloured ribbon and… Voila!!!

For the Student Activity Worksheet, please Check HERE!

Santa Maria foris portas at Castelseprio

December 24, 2021

by admin Art Byzantium Powerpoints

**Nativity,** **Church of Santa Maria foris portas in Castelseprio, Italy**
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Maestro_di_castelseprio%2C_storie_dell%27infanzia_di_cristo%2C_datazione_incerta_tra_l%27830_e_il_950_dc_ca.%2C_15_nativit%C3%A0_1.jpg

I have been fascinated by the Castelseprio frescoes since I was a student, and I was introduced to their unique beauty and… ‘mysteries!’ When I finally visited Castelseprio in 1988, inside this amazing Church, enveloped in their splendor… I was transfixed, spellbound, awe-struck, entranced… forever. Years passed by, and I yearn to visit Castelseprio once more… stand in the middle of the Church, and experience… moments of the sublime.

**Church of Santa Maria foris portas in Castelseprio, Italy**
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Santa_Maria_foris_portas2.JPG

When the extraordinary Mariological programme of paintings on the walls of the church of Santa Maria foris portas at Castelseprio was first uncovered, and then quickly made known to the art historical community in an exemplary publication, historians of early medieval art were transfixed. Here was the missing link, the key which would provide the key which would provide the means to unlocking and understanding the role that the classical Byzantine tradition of art, played in the evolution of elite artistic developments in the various theatres of state formations in post-Roman western Europe, from papal Rome to Carolingian Aachen and Northumbrian Lindisfarne, in the early medieval centuries. The artists responsible appeared to be masters of an almost undiluted tradition of Greco-Roman painting, testifying to the enduring existence of a strain of what has been designated by Ernst Kitzinger as ‘perennial Hellenism’, continuing unbroken in one or more centers in the eastern Mediterranean and potentially available to the artist in western Europe, minded to recover some of the elements of ancient classical practice in an age in which overt classical form and subject-matter were valued at a high premium in the rival courts of Europe… write John Mitchell and Beatrice Leal… and I can not think of a better introduction to my Christmas POST on Santa Maria foris portas at Castelseprio Nativity Scene. https://www.academia.edu/13897079/_Co-authored_with_John_Mitchell_Wall_pantings_in_S._Maria_foris_portas_Castelseprio_and_the_tower_at_Torba._Reflections_and_reappraisal._In_Castelseprio_e_Torba_sintesi_delle_ricerche_e_aggiornamenti_ed._Paola_Marina_de_Marchi_2013

**Nativity** (detail), **Church of Santa Maria foris portas in Castelseprio, Italy**
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Maestro_di_castelseprio%2C_storie_dell%27infanzia_di_cristo%2C_datazione_incerta_tra_l%27830_e_il_950_dc_ca.%2C_15_nativit%C3%A0_3.jpg

The Church of at Castelseprio is so special and unique, many great scholars of Byzantine Art wrote about it… one way or another, more or less. I am fascinated by the surviving frescoes within the Church, the “ambiance” they create, their “Hellenistic” origin, stylistic characteristics (brushwork, colour, light), and drama in their compositions. I find it irresistible how the unknown “Greek” painter of the time, used diagonal perspective, a three-quarter view of both persons and objects, and a constant search for depth of space, to enhance his brilliant style. In compositions like the Nativity scene, I admire the portrayal of illusionistic forms within a deep, open landscape, and how the master artist used illusionism to enhance and at the same time, transfigure reality. I like… everything!

Merry Christmas

Preparing for this POST (this is the most important part for every BLOG POST of mine)… wondering how “Hellenistic,” in rendering and mood, the Castelseprio frescos are… I reread The Hellenistic Heritage in Byzantine Art, by Ernst Kitzinger, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 17 (1963), pp. 95-115 (37 pages) https://www.jstor.org/stable/1291192?seq=13#metadata_info_tab_contents , and Castelseprio and the Byzantine “Renaissance,” by Charles R. Morey, The Art Bulletin Vol. 34, No. 3 (Sep. 1952), pp. 173-201 (37 pages), https://www.jstor.org/stable/3047419?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

For a PowerPoint on Castelseprio’s Nativity Scene, please… Check HERE!

David with the Head of Goliath by Andrea del Castagno

December 17, 2021

by admin Art Powerpoints Renaissance

**Andrea del Castagno,** c. 1419-1457
**David with the Head of Goliath,** c. 1450/1455, tempera on leather on wood, H. 115.5 cm, width at top: 76.5 cm, width at bottom: 40.6 cm, NGA, Washington DC, USA
https://el.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BF:Andrea_del_castagno,_scudo_di_david_con_la_testa_di_golia,_1450-55_circa,_02.JPG

The Philistine Goliath said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” and David replied… “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head…” As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. David with the Head of Goliath by Andrea del Castagno presents the famous Biblical story described in the Book of Samuel (1 Samuel 17) in an exemplary Florentine style that fascinates me! https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2017&version=NIV

David with the Head of Goliath, exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, is one more example of the Florentine fascination with David, the Biblical King, and Hero. David, early in the 15th century, became the embodiment of the city’s Republican identity and a favourite theme for artistic commissions. The people of Florence, a small political power at the time (15th century), identified themselves with young and untried at war David, his intelligence, his motivation, and ultimate success. Goliath was compared to the big Renaissance political entities like Milan… crushed by the will of God and Florentine “diplomacy.” The story is endlessly told by great masters like Donatello, Verrocchio, Michelangelo… and Andrea del Castagno in an amazing and unique painting!

**Andrea del Castagno,** c. 1419-1457
**David with the Head of Goliath (detail),** c. 1450/1455, tempera on leather on wood, H. 115.5 cm, width at top: 76.5 cm, width at bottom: 40.6 cm, NGA, Washington DC, USA
https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/audio/david-and-goliath-castagno-english.html

This is actually an amazing, unique, and rare painted Heraldic Shield, a type of shield, that would be carried in civic processions and then housed in the owner’s bedroom chamber. According to the NGA experts, young… David has been victorious in battle against the giant Goliath, whose decapitated head lies at his feet. David is shown with his hand raised in a gesture that speaks of determination and self-possession and may have been taken from an antique model. Furthermore, Andrea’s Shield of David, combining references of personal and civic valor, and painted by a highly esteemed artist of the period, would have underscored the owner’s readiness to do battle on both a metaphorical and an actual level, testifying to his civic and personal virtues. An amazing, unique, and rare work of Art, to say the least. http://www.italianrenaissanceresources.com/units/unit-5/essays/the-beautiful-chamber/

For information on the relationship between Andrea del Castagno and Domenico Veneziano… the fictional story of how Domenico Veneziano was murdered by his good friend Andrea del Castagno… a story masterfully said by Gorgio Vasari, but totally untrue… please go to my Teacher Curator Post: https://www.teachercurator.com/art/teaching-with-domenico-veneziano/

For a National Gallery Podcast on Andrea del Castagno’s David with the Head of Goliath, check… https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/audio/david-and-goliath-castagno-english.html

For a PowerPoint on Andrea del Castagno, please… Click HERE!

…a student interpretation of David’s story!

Five O’Clock Tea with Mary Stevenson Cassatt

December 14, 2021

by admin 19th century Art American Art Art Impressionism Student Activities Worksheets

**Mary Stevenson Cassatt,** 1844-1926
**Five O’Clock Tea,** 1880, Oil on Canvas, 64.7×92 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mary_Cassatt_-_The_Tea_-_MFA_Boston_42.178.jpg

I believe it is customary in good society to take some slight refreshment at five o’clock… Oscar Wilde humorously wrote in Act 1 of his famous play The Importance of Being Earnest… Five O’Clock Tea with Mary Stevenson Cassatt is how an American painter portrayed, in all seriousness, the same customary ritual with paints. https://www.shmoop.com/importance-of-being-earnest/act-i-full-text-2.html

**Cassatt seated in a chair with an umbrella. Verso reads “The only photograph for which she ever posed. Courtesy of Durand-Ruel.”,** 1913
Source: http://digitalcollections.frick.org/digico/#/archive/Archives/Images%20of%20Artists%20
Images of Artists Collection. The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mary_Cassatt_photograph_1913.jpg

Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844 – 1926) was a fortunate lady! Born into a prosperous family in Pennsylvania who believed it was important for women to receive an education, she grew up attending school in Philadelphia and traveling to Europe where …Art kept changing. Reaching adulthood, she persuaded her parents that her life’s destination was to be in Europe, and painting professionally was to become her life’s pursuit! It was not easy for her father to accept Mary’s artistic ambition, but after serious deliberation, he came around and… in 1866, with her mother and family friends acting as chaperones, she settled in Paris and was accepted to study Art in the private studios of Jean-Léon Gérôme, Charles Joshua Chaplin and Thomas Couture. She expanded her training with daily copying in the Louvre and trips to the French countryside where she drew from life. Two years later, in 1868, her painting A Mandoline Player, was accepted for exhibition in the Paris Salon. She was noticed as a professional painter, but she was not fully content!

Everything changed in 1877 when she submitted paintings to enter the year’s Salon and was rejected by the committee. When she met Edgar Degas, an artist she greatly admired, Cassatt was disillusioned with academic painting and eager to experiment. The French artist invited her to collaborate with the Impressionists and exhibit with them in 1879, during the 4th Impressionist Exhibition… I accepted with joy, she later recalled as I hated conventional art. She was one of just a few women, and the only American, to exhibit with the group. She was finally happy in an artistic environment that suited her needs… Plein Air painting, vibrant, metallic in some cases, color, in short, dancing brushstrokes, flat space, the discovery of Japanism… and scenes of everyday modern life in Paris – her family, friends, and their children. https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/Education/learning-resources/an-eye-for-art/AnEyeforArt-MaryCassatt.pdf and https://collections.mfa.org/objects/32829/the-tea;jsessionid=20E4DE2A8A06D4816FA7D20AFF171D7C?ctx=884b7166-374f-468a-8909-136f2658e914&idx=7

**Mary Stevenson Cassatt,** 1844-1926
**Five O’Clock Tea (Details – 2 women),** 1880, Oil on Canvas, 64.7×92 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
https://atsunnyside.blog/2018/08/31/tea-by-mary-cassatt-1880/

In 1880 Mary Cassatt painted Five O’Clock Tea documenting the trendy social ritual of well-to-do women like herself. Paintings of women taking afternoon tea became a popular theme for Cassatt in the late 1870s and early 1880s, and in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Mary Cassatt aficionados can admire three fine examples of this trend, two paintings in oil and a print. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cast/hd_cast.htm

**Mary Stevenson Cassatt,** 1844-1926
**The Cup of Tea,** ca. 1880–81, Oil on Canvas, 92.4 x 65.4 cm, the MET, NY, USA
**Afternoon Tea Party,** 1890–91, Drypoint and aquatint, printed in color from three plates, Plate: 34.6 x 26.7 cm, the MET, NY, USA
**Lady at the Tea Table,** 1883–85, Oil on Canvas, 73.7 x 61 cm, the MET, NY, USA
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/The_Cup_of_Tea_MET_DT88.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Afternoon_Tea_Party_MET_DP819587.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Lady_at_the_Tea_Table_MET_DT516.jpg

The MFA Five O’Clock Tea, modern, intimate, and informal, is my favourite. It displays a contemporary drawing room, sometimes described as Cassatt’s own. The fine striped wallpaper and carved marble fireplace, ornamented with an elaborately framed painting and a porcelain jar, are typical of an upper-middle class Parisian interior, and the antique Silver Tea Service on the foreground table implies a distinguished family history. The truth is that the depicted Tea Service was part of a family Tea Set made in Philadelphia about 1813, of which six pieces (but not the tray) are now in the MFA’s collection. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/32829/the-tea;jsessionid=20E4DE2A8A06D4816FA7D20AFF171D7C?ctx=884b7166-374f-468a-8909-136f2658e914&idx=7 and https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7f/ef/3d/7fef3d6daead8cc0cbed4636a232971f.jpg

**Mary Stevenson Cassatt,** 1844-1926
**Five O’Clock Tea (Detail Tea Set),** 1880, Oil on Canvas, 64.7×92 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
https://atsunnyside.blog/2018/08/31/tea-by-mary-cassatt-1880/

Mary Cassatt’s Five O’Clock Tea is a testimony to modernity by rejecting several traditional artistic conventions. For example, the artist denies the human form its usual compositional primacy as the tea service seems larger in scale than the women themselves. Taking further steps towards novelty in art, Mary Cassattt renders the depicted guest in the transitory act of drinking. By selecting the only point in the action when her subject’s face is almost completely hidden by the teacup, Cassatt reiterates her modernist creed that her painting is not only about representing likeness, but also about design and color. Furthermore, she uses the oval shapes of cups and saucers, trays, hats, and faces as repetitive patterns, offsetting the strict graphic geometry of the gray and rose striped wallpaper. I am not surprised that J.-K. Huysmans wrote that the Five O’Clock Tea was an excellent canvas. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/32829/the-tea;jsessionid=20E4DE2A8A06D4816FA7D20AFF171D7C?ctx=884b7166-374f-468a-8909-136f2658e914&idx=7

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

Theseus and Antiope

December 10, 2021

by admin Ancient Greek Art Art Exhibitions Mythology Powerpoints

**Theseus and Antiope,** sculpture from the West Pediment of the Temple of Apollo Daphnephorus in ancient Eretria, late 6^th century, Marble, 110 cm, Archaeological Museum of Eretria, Greece
https://www.esag.swiss/eretria/museum/

The multiple aspects of the concept of Kallos in the everyday life and the philosophical discourse of ancient Greece are presented in the major, emblematic, archaeological exhibition of the Museum of Cycladic Art, titled ΚΑLLOS. The Ultimate Beauty. Τhis exhibition displays three hundred emblematic antiquities from fifty-two museums, collections, and Ephorates of Antiquities throughout Greece, as well as from Italy, and the Vatican. The overwhelming majority appear for the first time outside of the museums of their provenance. They meet and mingle in the Museum of Cycladic Art, so as to give an integrated picture of the ideal of Kallos, inadequately translated into English as Beauty. On the 6^th of November I presented you one such exhibit… the Kore from Chios today, I will present you a favourite Archaic work of art… Theseus and Antiope! https://cycladic.gr/en/page/kallos-i-ipertati-omorfia

The story of Theseus and Antiope has it all… adventure, strife, love, and devotion! According to Pausanias and his Description of Greece… As one enters the city (of Athens) there is a monument to Antiope the Amazon. This Antiope, Pindar says, was carried off by Peirithous and Theseus, but Hegias of Troezen gives the following account of her. Heracles was besieging Themiscyra on the Thermodon, but could not take it, but Antiope, falling in love with Theseus, who was aiding Heracles in his campaign, surrendered the stronghold. Such is the account of Hegias. But the Athenians assert that when the Amazons came, Antiope was shot by Molpadia, while Molpadia was killed by Theseus. To Molpadia also there is a monument among the Athenians. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.%201.2.1&lang=original

***ΚΑLLOS. The Ultimate Beauty*** Exhibition Photo, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Greece
Photo Credit: Paris Tativian, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Greece
https://cycladic.gr/page/kallos-i-ipertati-omorfia?slide=1

The effigy of Theseus and Antiope, temporarily exhibited in the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, was originally created for the West Pediment of the Temple of Apollo Daphnephorus in Eretria. Information regarding the Temple of Apollo in Eretria is unfortunately scarce. Eretria, a town in Euboea facing the coast of Attica, was first mentioned in Homer’s Iliad as one of the cities that provided ships against the Trojans. During the 8^th century BC, the citizens of Eretria, a flourishing city during the Geometric and Archaic periods, built an impressive Temple to honour God Apollo, apsidal in architectural form. Soon after, a second, wooden Temple followed on the same site. Finally, around 520- 490 BC, a larger stone Temple was built, the remains of which are still visible today. Unfortunately, the Archaic Temple was badly destroyed during the Persian invasion of 490 BC. https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/intranets/students/modules/greekreligion/database/clunba/

The late Archaic period (510-500 BC) pediment sculpture depicting the abduction of Antiope by Theseus portrays the moment of Theseus stepping onto a chariot’s platform while tightly holding Antiope in his arms… a decisive moment in the development of the story, a key moment in the development of ancient Greek Art. Notice the depicted entwined torsos and think of the evolution accomplished as figural depiction moves from the frontal and immobile Kouros and Kore type of sculpture to the more naturalistic modeling of the classical era. Notice how the psychological drama unfolds, and consider the subtle ways the artist of Theseus and Antiope presents the understated surrender of the elegant Amazon, and the restrained triumph of the victorious hero. Notice how the heads of both figures slightly bend and observe the created interplay of light and shade, shapes and forms. What an accomplishment for the unknown artist. Could he be the famous Athenian sculptor Antenor? https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/intranets/students/modules/greekreligion/database/clunba/

For a PowerPoint on the Theseus and Antiope theme, please… Check HERE!

**Photograph of the actress Katharine Hepburn in the 1932 Broadway production of The Warrior’s Husband,** March 1932
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Katharine_Hepburn_in_The_Warriors_Husband.jpg

Pissarro’s Basket of Pears

December 4, 2021

by admin 19th century Art Art Impressionism Student Activities Worksheets

**Camille Pissarro**, French Artist, 1830–1903
**Still Life: Pears in a Round Basket**, 1872, Oil on Canvas, 45.7 x 55.2 cm, The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation on loan to the Princeton University Art Museum, USA
https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/21437

They are juicy and sweet, can be tart or buttery, soft, or crunchy, they have been around since the 5^th millennium BC, they are my favourite winter fruit! We celebrate them on the 5^th of December… during World Pear Day! Lamar Cole’s poem… It always made him feel so refreshed and new. / When he tasted pear juice. / On pears he loved to munch. / He loved the sound of their crunch. / He was happy as could be. / Because on his grandma’s farm. / There were many pear trees… sets the tone! Camille Pissarro’s Basket of Pears invites me to contemplate and Enjoy! https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/pears-3/ and https://nationaldaycalendar.com/world-pear-day-first-weekend-in-december/

Camille Pissarro’s Basket of Pears is a rare treat! An exceptional theme for Camille Pissarro, the Princeton Museum painting surprised me… ever so pleasantly, I may add. It dates from the year after his move to Pontoise, a village north of Paris where, in 1872, joined by Cézanne, who regarded Pissarro as a father figure, the artists, often working side by side outdoors, experimented with the Impressionist techniques pioneered by some of their friends. https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/21437

**Camille Pissarro**, French Artist, 1830–1903
**Self-Portrait,** 1873, Oil on Canvas, 55.5×46.0 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France
https://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/oeuvres/portrait-de-lartiste-366

According to the experts at Sotheby’s… Pissarro lived in Pontoise, a village located northwest of Paris, between 1872 and 1882, finding great inspiration in its landscapes. Pontoise played an integral role in Pissarro’s work, establishing his reputation as an innovative painter of rural scenes, as well as contributing to the emergence of Impressionism. For this reason, his works painted between 1872 and 1873 are often considered his masterpieces, works that would have a long-lasting influence on both his contemporaries and subsequent generations of artists. The 1877 Musée d’Orsay painting of Orchard with Flowering Trees, Spring, Pontoise, is a wonderful example of how Pissarro, during his ten years at Pontoise, developed his style influenced by Gustave Corot, Claude Monet, and William Turner. Painted en plain air, with short, visible brushstrokes, and colorful cast shadows, the Orsay painting of Flowering Trees, I would like to think of them as Pear Trees! exhibits all the characteristics of the Impressionist style, Pissarro is so famous about. https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/impressionist-modern-art-day-sale-/lallee-des-vignes-a-pontoise

**Camille Pissarro**, French Artist, 1830–1903
**Orchard with Flowering Trees, Spring, Pontoise**, 1877, Oil on Canvas, 65.5×81 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camille_Pissarro_-_Orchard_with_Flowering_Trees,_Spring,_Pontoise.JPG

**Camille Pissarro**, French Artist, 1830–1903
**Still Life with Apples and Pitcher,** 1872, Oil on Canvas, 46.4 x 56.5 cm, the MET, NY, USA
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437317

During his sojourn at Pontoise, in 1872 to be exact, Pissarro painted two, very similar Still Lives, I particularly like. Identical in size, Pears in a Round Basket (Princeton University Art Museum), and Still Life with Apples and Pitcher (the MET, New York), stun the viewer with the artist’s clarity of vision, and simplicity of composition. Featuring the same floral-patterned wallpaper in the background, I love its vertical orientation, floral design, and pastel colour scheme, both paintings clearly expressed forms and subtle manipulation of light. The viewer can only wonder… How much were Cezanne’s Still Life paintings influenced by Pissarro? https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437317

For a PowerPoint on Camille Pissarro’s Basket of Pears, please… Click HERE!

The Labours of the Months: December

November 30, 2021

by admin Art Powerpoints Renaissance Uncategorized

**By an unknown Venetian artist…**
**The Labours of the Months: December,** about 1580, oil on canvas, 13.6 x 10.6 cm, National Gallery, London
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/italian-venetian-the-labours-of-the-months-january#painting-group-info

Last, for December, houses on the plain, / Ground-floors to live in, logs heaped mountain-high, / And carpets stretched, and newest games to try, / And torches lit, and gifts from man to man / (Your host, a drunkard and a Catalan); / And whole dead pigs, and cunning cooks to ply / Each throat with tit-bits that shall satisfy; / And wine-butts of Saint Galganus’ brave span. / And be your coats well-lined and tightly bound, / And wrap yourselves in cloaks of strength and weight, / With gallant hoods to put your faces through. / And make your game of abject vagabond / Abandoned miserable reprobate / Misers; don’t let them have a chance with you. My new BLOG POST for The Labours of the Months: December starts with a sonnet by Folgore Da San Geminiano (c. 1250-1317), translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in his book “Dante and His Circle,” (Roberts Brothers, Boston, 1893). http://www.sonnets.org/folgore.htm

Depicting the Labours of the Months was a popular artistic theme that was frequently used in the decoration of Cathedrals and Churches, Castles and Palaces, Psalters, Breviaries and Books of Hours across Europe during the Medieval and Early Renaissance period. Each month, depicting popular activities of peasants or/and the gentry through the year were sometimes paired with the Signs of the Zodiac circle. They would be either simple and small in size or large and elaborate, crafted in stone, wood, stained glass, painted in murals or often enough, painted in parchment. The Labours of the Months had a role in highlighting authority and privilege, hard work and occasionally, small, everyday pleasures. They are often perceived as a link between the work of man, the seasons of the year and God’s ordering of the Universe. Many great Monuments and Libraries in Europe display fine examples of such artefacts for art lovers to enjoy. http://www.livingfield.co.uk/ages/labours-of-the-months/

Throughout 2021, on the 1^st day of every month, I presented you with a small painting, part of a group of twelve, from the National Gallery in London, depicting a young man busy with some kind of a pastoral chore. According to the National Gallery experts… painted on canvas and then glued to a wooden panel these paintings were made to decorate the recessed panels of a pair of doors. The paintings seem to have been planned in pairs with the figures facing each other and …show the ‘labours of the months’ – the rural activities that take place each month throughout the year.” This set of painted Doors combine simplicity in execution and extravagance in visual effect! The paintings, very small in size, about 13.6 x 10.6 cm, were achieved in vivid, bright, luxurious colours, like ultramarine blue for the sky, strong vermilion and red lake for the clothing, with rich greens and yellows in the landscape. The restricted and repeated use of colour gives the group of little pictures a charming, decorative simplicity. All but one of the scenes show a man working outdoors on what appears to be the estate of a large villa, seen in several of the paintings, at the foot of the distant blue mountains. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/italian-venetian-the-labours-of-the-months-january#painting-group-info

**By an unknown Venetian artist…**
**The Labours of the Months: December (detail),** about 1580, oil on canvas, 13.6 x 10.6 cm, National Gallery, London
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/italian-venetian-the-labours-of-the-months-january#painting-group-info

The last painting for 2021… a simple brick building to the right, and a bare, uninviting landscape, introduces the viewer to the composition depicting the December Labour of the Month. It shows a popular theme… a slaughterman pinning an animal down with his right knee, holding its snout shut to stop it from struggling, whilst slitting its throat and moving its leg to make its blood flow quickly into the skillet on the ground. December is a month to celebrate the Birth of Christ, and the preparations for the festivities are about to begin!

For a PowerPoint on the Venetian paintings depicting the Labours of the Months, please … Check HERE!