Alexandrian Mischievous Dog

by with No Comment Ancient Greek ArtArtStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Mosaic of a Mischievous Dog, Ptolemaic period, 2nd century BC, Length 3.25 m; width: 3.25 m, Museum of Antiquities – Bibliotheca Alexandrina     

There was once a Dog, according to Aesop, who was so ill-natured and mischievous that his Master had to fasten a heavy wooden clog about his neck to keep him from annoying visitors and neighbours. But the Dog seemed to be very proud of the clog and dragged it about noisily as if he wished to attract everybody’s attention. He was not able to impress anyone. You would be wiser, said an old acquaintance, to keep quietly out of sight with that clog. Do you want everybody to know what a disgraceful and ill-natured Dog you are? This is definitely not the case for the Alexandrian Mischievous Dog depicted in the most adorable Mosaic!    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQDRKs8tfag    and    https://fablesofaesop.com/the-mischievous-dog.html

If you are a dog lover this Alexandrian Mosaic will become your favourite! It is about a kind but mischievous dog, that looks at you with big, guilty eyes because he has just dropped a pitcher down and spilt perfectly good wine… The Alexandrian Mosaic of this mischievous but remorseful Dog makes your heart leap and your hands open up for a big embrace!   

This wonderful 2nd century BC composition once decorated a floor in the royal quarter of Alexandria in Egypt. It is an astounding floor mosaic executed using the tiniest cubes in the Opus Vermiculatum (“worm-like work”) technique. Developed in Greece during the Hellenistic period, the “Opus Vermiculatum is a method of laying mosaic tesserae to emphasise an outline around a subject.”  This mosaic method allowed very fine details, imitating the illusionistic approach of Hellenistic painting. “It was generally used for emblēmata, or central figural panels, which were surrounded by geometrical or floral designs in opus tessellatum, a coarser mosaic technique with larger tesserae; occasionally opus vermiculatum was used only for faces and other details in an opus tessellatum mosaic.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_vermiculatum    and    https://www.britannica.com/art/opus-vermiculatum

We will never know if the Mischievous Dog Mosaic depicts a scene from a popular Hellenistic literary work performed in Alexandria. The mosaic itself gives no clues. The mosaicist created a circular composition, stark and minimal, with the Dog mosaic as a precious emblēma in its center. Quoting the Library of Alexandria Museum site where the mosaic is exhibited “the mosaic illustrates a dog sitting next to an inverted Greek vase. The details of the scene highlight the artist’s ability to make a realistic portrait of the dog so as to express the strength and vitality of the animal. Thus, the dog’s coat, spotted with black, is finely depicted, as well as the red collar that surrounds its neck. The central stage includes several colours, including black, white and yellow. The artist was able to accentuate the shadow-light contrasts by representing the dog from the angle of 3/4; the front part reflects the light while the rest of the body is in the shade. The same is true for the bronze vase, the gradation of its colours shows the reflection of light on the central part, while the sides are more and more shaded. The artist, using these rigid and inanimate materials, has indeed managed to give depth to the scene presented. This piece testifies to the virtuosity of the mosaic design workshops in Alexandria.” http://antiquities.bibalex.org/Collection/Detail.aspx?lang=fr&a=859

For a Student Activity, please…Check HERE!

A view of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt

Early Christian Funerary Paintings

by with No Comment ArtByzantiumExhibitionsMuseumsStudent ActivitiesTravelWorksheets
Tomb Painting of a Bird (Lark?), early 5th century, fresco painting,  Museum for Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki (Photo: Makis Skiatharesis, ΜΒΠ archive)

“A Work of Art which did not begin in Emotion is not Art” Paul Cezanne said… and I think of him every time I visit Room 3, “From the Elysian Fields to the Christian Paradise” in the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, to admire the exhibited Early Christian Funerary Paintings.    http://mbp.gr/en/room-3-elysian-fields-christian-paradise

Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki

Visiting the Thessaloniki Museum of Byzantine Culture is a true cultural experience. For years now, I have visited it with my Pinewood students, trying to instil upon them the fine essence of Byzantine art and culture. The actual Museum building comes to my assistance… every time!  In 1989, the Museum’s architect, Kyriakos Krokos, wrote: I wanted a space within which movement would create a feeling of freedom, stirring up the senses, and where the exhibit would be a surprise within the movement. Walking through the Museum with my students, one surprise surpasses the other. The floor and wall mosaics in the first Early Christian Period Room, attract everybody’s attention, the Byzantine tunics with their fine embroideries are eye-catching, the icons and the intricately illuminated manuscript in the Middle Byzantine Period Room are definitely noticed. Finally, as we are about to leave, one last surprise: a beautiful Post-Byzantine golden eikonostaasi, one last startling work of art to ponder. After each visit, my students, pencils, notebooks and cameras, in hand, surprised and dazzled, come one step closer to understanding our Byzantine heritage! What more can I ask…    

Grade 6 students eploring the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, photographed by Kostas Papantoniou

When I visit the Museum of Byzantine Culture alone and am in a mood, I cannot fully describe, my steps take me directly to Room 3: “From the Elysian Fields to the Christian Paradise.” Dimly lit, usually very quiet, full of elusive treasures to discover, this is my place, the Room, I love…

Room 3: “From the Elysian Fields to the Christian Paradise” was the first Exhibition Room in the Museum to open, back on the 29th of March 1997. It was the result of an EU funded Research Program,  titled “The Transformation of the Roman World AD 400-900.” As the title of the Exhibition Room connotates, this is an area dedicated to afterlife during Late Antiquity. All exhibited items come from tombs in cemeteries excavated outside the Walls of Thessaloniki. They consist of funerary gifts, inscriptions, and items of worship of the dead. According to the Museum experts “The exhibit is complete with a series of extremely rare and unique funerary paintings. These illustrate in an exceptional way the transition from the Late Antiquity concept of the afterlife into a heavenly place of material prosperity, along with the shift from the funerary customs and decoration of Antiquity that still survives to the final triumph of the Cross with the emergence of the New Religion and the establishment of the belief for the Last Judgment and the Resurrection of the Dead.” http://mbp.gr/en/room-3-elysian-fields-christian-paradise

View of Room 3: “From the Elysian Fields to the Christian Paradise” in the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki (Photo: ΜΒΠ archive)

It is these unique funerary paintings I seek out every time I visit my favourite Museum in Thessaloniki. They carry Hellenistic Naturalism and Roman Verism, traditional Late Antique or novel Christian subject matter, higher or poorer quality craftsmanship… all together, these amazing frescoes transfer me to an exciting world of unwavering changes and exciting cultural developments… the world of the Early Christian period and the artistic milieu of Thessaloniki, a city worth visiting!

Articles you might find interesting about Early Christian Funerary Paintings in Thessaloniki:    https://www.academia.edu/24852527/Iconographic_Programs_of_the_Early_Christian_Tombs_of_Thessaloniki_in_the_Context_of_the_Contemporary_Traditions_of_the_Funerary_Art_English_translation_     and    https://bookonlime.ru/lecture/8-early-christian-funerary-painting-thessaloniki-macedonian-and-roman-traditions    and    https://www.didaktorika.gr/eadd/handle/10442/13516

For a Student Activity on Early Christian Funerary Painting, please… Click HERE!

Small Arch of Galerius

by with No Comment ArtPowerpointsRoman ArtSocial StudiesStudent ActivitiesTravelWorksheets
Small Arch of Galerius, early 4th century AD, carved from a single block of marble, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki

“The Galerian Complex, the most important monumental group in Thessaloniki, was built at the turning-point of two worlds, the Roman and Byzantine. Its erection began in the late 3rd century-early 4th century AD when the Caesar Galerius Valerianus Maximianus (293-311 AD) chose Thessaloniki as the seat of the eastern part of the Roman Empire.”  The Small Arch of Galerius found in the Octagon area of the Complex, valued and cherished, is exhibited today in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. http://galeriuspalace.culture.gr/en/

One of the most important buildings within the Galerian Complex, the Octagon is a significant and luxurious structure worth exploring. It was the first important building that visitors arriving at the Palace by sea would enter and be dazzled. Facing the glorious Thermaic Golf of Thessaloniki, the Octagon is massive and opulent. All Palace buildings were meant to impress the visitor and set the tone… the Octagon area did an excellent job!

Excavation of this amazing structure started in 1950 and continued up until 1981, bringing to light all that survives today.  A splendid conservation and restoration program continued and in 2008, the archaeological site of the Palace of Galerius in Thessaloniki was awarded a EUROPA NOSTRA medal by the European Union. Today, the Galerian Complex, right in the heart of the city, is one of the most popular archaeological sites in Thessaloniki.

The Galerian Complex and the Octagon Area

… Agathoniki was on an official visit to the Court of Emperor Galerius in Thessaloniki… powerful and rich, she was treated with respect for her age and the loyal services extended to the Emperor…  She was modestly dressed but her gifts to the Emperor were valuable and exotic, coming all the way from Seres, the mythical lands of the East. She was guided to enter the Palace Complex through the grand, South Peristyle Court, its Porticos adorned with magnificent floor mosaics and a beautiful garden in the center. It was her first visit to Thessaloniki and she enjoyed every single thing she saw… she was, however, on a mission, so she briskly walked through a triple arch, a Tribelon with two columns, to enter an impressive Vestibule with two semi-circular niches on its narrow ends. She stopped for a minute to compose herself, reflect on her mission, and confidently entered the grandest room of the Palace… the domed Octagon! The room was magnificent! Its walls were covered with multicoloured marble revetments and square panels intricately worked in the opus sectile technique. The floor, featuring marble geometric motifs, created simple yet elegant chromatic oppositions… and there were four different Emblemata, right where she was standing, worthy of a great master! What a wonderful Audience Hall this is, she thought, as the entrance of the Emperor brought her to her knees…

Agathoniki, the imaginary visitor of our story, saw many more wonderful rooms and artefacts in the Palace of Galerius… My favourite artefact, still surviving today, is a small, marble Arch. Discovered at the north end of the eastern portico of the South Peristyle Court, the Small Marble Arch crowned a horseshoe-shaped niche framed by pilasters. This Arch, known by the conventional name “The Small Arch of Galerius”, is on display in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. Could this small, luxuriously adorned, niche be a Palace Temple?

This Arch, known today as “The Small Arch of Galerius”, is on display in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. According to Thessaloniki Museum experts, “The arch, a work of high artistic quality, is the product of a local workshop in Thessaloniki. The rich relief decorations occupy three sides of the arch. The main side depicts two men from the East, possibly Persians, raising two circular medallions with their hands. The right medallion depicts Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus, while the left one initially depicted his wife, Galeria Valeria. During a later intervention, after Galerius’ death, a mural crown was added to the female portrait. This alteration transformed the female bust into the depiction of a deity, most probably the “Tyche (fortune) of Thessaloniki”, who accompanied Galerius, the deified ruler of the city. Two winged Eros figures holding a garland fill the space between the medallions. Another medallion with a bust of Dionysos is located at the inner part of the arch, surrounded by vine branches. The right side of the arch depicts the hooved god Pan playing a pipe and holding a lagobolon (stick for hunting hares). The left side depicts a maenad.”    http://galeriuspalace.culture.gr/en/monuments/oktagono/    and    https://www.amth.gr/en/exhibitions/highlights

Along with my Grade 6 students, we study the history of Thessaloniki, visit the Archaeological Site of the Galerian Complex and prepare a RWAP (Research-Writing-Art-Project) that they thoroughly enjoy…

For a PowerPoint on the Galerian Complex Octagon Hall, please click HERE!

For a student RWAP on the Small Arch of Galerius, please click HERE!

For examples of Student RWAP Work, please click HERE!

Grade 6 student RWAP
RWAP stands for Research – Writing – Art – Project

Singer with a Glove…

by with No Comment 19th century ArtArtImpressionismStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Edgar Degas, 1834 – 1917
Singer with a Glove, c. 1878, pastel on canvas, 53.2 x 41 cm, Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see,” Edgar Degas once said. What do we really see in his pastel painting of a Singer with a Glove?

“What a creature he was, that Degas!” Renoir said about him, and he was right! A reluctant Impressionist, the offspring of a wealthy family with Creole ties, Edgar Degas studied in the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and then in July 1856, he travelled to Italy, where he would remain for the next three years drawing and painting numerous copies of works by the great masters of the Renaissance. However, Degas’s Italian art studies were not conventional. He learnt the secrets of each painter’s art by focusing his attention to a particular detail that had caught his attention, a secondary figure in a large composition, or a minor portrait in a master’s painting.

Edgar Degas, 1834 – 1917
Self-Portrait, 1863, oil on canvas, 925 x 665mm, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon

Upon his return to France in 1859, and for the next thirteen years, Degas kept busy exhibiting, annually, at the Salon (1865-1870) drawing attention with his historic paintings, defending Paris as an enlisted member of the National Guard, during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and travelling extensively visiting friends in France or spending a year visiting family in New Orleans (1972). In 1873 Degas was back in Paris, facing the death of his father and financial ruin due to enormous business debts amassed by his brother René. He sold his house and Art Collection to preserve his family’s reputation, and started fresh, producing much of his greatest work, joining a group of young artists who were soon to be known as the Impressionists.

Edgar Degas, 1834 – 1917
A Cotton Office in New Orleans, 1873, oil on canvas, 73 cm × 92 cm, Musée des beaux-arts de Pau, France

Degas participated in seven of the Impressionist Exhibitions (1874-1886) taking a leading role in their organization and final disbanding in 1886. Deeply conservative in his social views, Degas disliked the term “Impressionism” that was popularly attached to the group as much as he disliked and mocked painting “en plein air” like Monet and others did, writing “You know what I think of people who work out in the open. If I were the government I would have a special brigade of gendarmes to keep an eye on artists who paint landscapes from nature. Oh, I don’t mean to kill anyone; just a little dose of bird-shot now and then as a warning.”

He was very much, however, an Impressionist in painting the reality of the Parisian world around him with a strong sense of immediacy, using blazing and luminous colours, the force of light, and off-centre compositions. By the late 1860s women became Degas’s source of inspiration, and conforming to contemporary ideas, Degas painted hard-working women like milliners and laundresses, but women entertainers as well, like Ballet Dancers and Singers.

Edgar Degas, 1834 – 1917
Singer with Glove, 1878, pastel on paper marouflé on toile, 62,5 x 48 cm, Copenhague, Ordrupgaard, Danemark
Café Singer, 1879, oil on canvas, 53.5 × 41.8 cm, Art Institute of Chicago
Singer with Glove, 1878, drawing on paper, Louvre Museum
http://www.degas-catalogue.com/fiches.php?id=25

The Singer with a Glove is one such painting. Using the harsh artificial light needed to illuminate the stage of the famous Parisian Café Chantant, maybe his favourite Café des Ambassadeurs, Degas presents the singer as she holds an operatic note holding her gloved hand up to stress her effort! He uses harsh light and strong colours… shades of orange, washes of pink and green, stark black and pure white. Degas uses light and colours to dominate his composition and create… drama needed to stress new values for France’s newly established Third Republic!

Bibliography on Degas is extensive and interesting. For easy access to Internet short articles on the painting in focus, please go to https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/art/228652    and    https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1884-degas-singer-in-green/    and    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Degas#cite_note-26

For a student Activity on the painting of the Harvard Art Museums Singer with a Glove by Edgar Degas, please… click HERE!

The work of my Dear Student Kalypso I.

The Iron Crown

by with No Comment ArtByzantiumStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
The Iron Crown, dated between the IV-V and IX centuries, gold, silver, enamel and cabochons with garnets, blue corundum, amethysts, Teodolinda’s Chapel, Monza Cathedral

“…And so I left her to her prayers, and went    To gaze upon the pride of Monza’s shrine    Where in the sacristy the light still falls    Upon the Iron Crown of Italy    On whose crowned heads the day has closed, not yet    The daybreak gilds another head to crown…” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, A Last Confession

Once upon a time… there was a Bavarian princess named Teodolinda (570 – 627) whose fate was to prudently rule over Lombardy, and bequeath the people of Italy, a great treasure… the Iron Crown of Monza! She was the wife of two Lombard kings, Authari (c. 540 – 590) and Agilulf, (c. 555 – 616) and mother, and regent of king, Adaloaldo (603-629).

She is described as a beautiful and intelligent woman, a follower of the Nicene Creed (the First Council of Nicaea, 325 – adopted to resolve the Arian controversy) and a devoted friend of Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540 – 604). She is also described as a great patroness of the arts, providing Monza, the Lombard summer capital, with its Cathedral, a spectacular basilica dedicated to St. John the Baptist. A local legend describes how Queen Teodolinda while riding alongside the Lambro River in the area of Monza met with a dove which instructed her to build a church in the area…and how, dutifully, she did! Today, gazing upon the Monza Cathedral one can only think of the truth behind the legend!

Queen Teodolinda and Pope Gregory the Great are responsible for bringing to Monza some astonishing Early Christian works of art and relics. The Iron Crown is one such extraordinary relic, an item of veneration and great mastery of Early Christian goldsmithery.

The Crown consists of six golden, rectangular plates beautifully embellished with enamelwork and cabochon gems… garnets, amethysts and blue corundum. Each plate is divided into two uneven in size, parts. The right part is narrow and consists of a vertical row of three cabochon gems, one under the other. The other one is three times bigger in size and rectangular in shape. It is decorated with a central cabochon gem, four gold rosettes, and four amazing enamelled floral motifs. The combination of shining gold, opaque and translucent enamels add to the grace and beauty of the Crown, making it an alluring artefact of the Early Christian period.

The Iron Crown of Monza is one of the most venerated relics in Italy as tradition and legend ties it up with the Passion of Christ and the first Christian emperor, Constantine. According to Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan,  Saint Helena while visiting Palestine in 326, found the nails used for Christ’s martyrdom. One of these nails was inserted as an inner circle in the creation of the Iron Crown that was first worn by no other than Emperor Constantine himself! That Crown, always according to Ambrose, was brought to Milan by Emperor Theodosius, and after many interesting adventures passed to Queen Teodolinda and finally, the Cathedral of Monza. Historically, the Iron Crown was used for the Coronation of all Italian Kings since the Carolingian Period.

Ambrogio (active 1441 – 1481) and Gregorio (active 1453 al 1481) Zavattari
Teodolinda, queen of the Lombards, marries Agilulf, duke of Turin (detail), 1444, fresco, Chapel of Queen Teodolinda, Monza Cathedral

The original Monza oraculum (chapel) built on the Greek Cross plan Teodolinda commissioned back in 595, is long gone… only some walls exist today. On the exact site, however, starting from the 13th century, the Monza Cathedral was built,  a Basilica church in the Latin Cross plan with an octagonal tiburium. The famous Teodolinda chapel was built at the same time. Today, the Chapel is famous for the mid-15th century wall paintings, painted by Milanese artists from the Zavattari workshop, that recount 45 episodes from Queen Teodolinda’s life and a consecrated altar, built by Luca Beltrami in 1895-96, that holds this most important of Italy’s relics… the Iron Crown of Monza.  https://www.wmf.org/project/duomo-theodelindas-chapel

For a Student Activity, please check HERE!

Theodoros Ralli

by with No Comment 19th century ArtArtGreek ArtOrientalismStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Theodoros Ralli, 1852-1909
Veiled Woman, 1889, oil on vellum, diameter 22 cm, ALPHA Bank Collection

“Art is ANYTHING you can get away with” Andy Warhol once said… How true is he when we consider the artistic oeuvre of Theodoros Ralli and his amazing Orientalism! A wealthy Greek ex-patriate artist, living between the West, mostly in Paris, and the East, Cairo during the cold month of winter, Theodoros Ralli is a true cosmopolitan of the late 19th century Gilded Age.

“A perfect Parisian type, wearing a beret à la Hermonville and a light brown vest with gold trim buttoned to the neck, still very youthful and of an open, jovial character, Mr. Ralli is a delightful conversationalist and very gallant.”

Not just so… Theodoros Ralli, born in Constantinople, at the crossroads of East and West, the mythical capital of the Byzantine Empire and the alluring EAST, was destined to become the most representative of the Greek, Orientalist painters. He was “the offspring of a wealthy family from the island of Chios, active in commerce in England and around the world.” Theodoros Ralli had no financial problems to pursue, unobstructed, his passion for the Arts. The photographs of his Parisian Studio that still survive today preserve his appearance and way of living. Documents of the period present him as a personality, and discuss “his courtesy, gentility, humour, patience, tenacity, smoking habit, love of Wagnerian opera, a weakness for watercolourists, aversion to long-term relationships, industriousness and his love for the fair sex, in Parisian Studios he had the nickname of Don Juan.”  All documents “reinforce the picture of a man who despite his genteel and fragile appearance, disposed of enormous psychic reserves, had an iron will and the perseverance to become what he had dreamed of becoming: a painter.”

The Artist’s Studio in Paris

Theodoros Ralli studied painting under the academic teacher and Orientalist painter Jean-Leon Gerome until approximately 1880, sharing his teacher’s aversion towards Impressionism and the avant-garde movements of the later 19th century. He exhibited, uninterruptedly, in the official French Salons, the World Exhibitions of Paris, as well as many other exhibitions both inside and outside France, winning medals and establishing international recognition. He travelled extensively to Greece and many Middle Eastern countries, drawing inspiration for his paintings. He kept two Studios, one in Paris and another in Cairo, where he kept warm and stimulated during wintertime.

Theodoros Ralli, 1852-1909
Veiled Woman, 1889, oil on vellum, diameter 22 cm, ALPHA Bank Collection

Orientalism in later 19th century Art is a tantalizing, multi-faceted, genre much loved by Europeans of the time. We can trace it back to the merchants of the Silk Road, the few adventurous Northern European travellers of the “Grand Tour,” or the Venetian Renaissance fiestas painted by Veronese, the Dutch Curiosity Cabinets, Rococo eroticism or to the many Odalisques that inspired both Ingres and Delacroix. Then we have to consider Napoleon, his Egyptian Campaign of 1798-1801, and the gradual European desire for… political involvement and colonialism. Whatever the cause of European curiosity and pathos for the East, it lingered for a long time, inspiring and creating great works of art. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/euor/hd_euor.htm    and    https://www.artuk.org/discover/stories/inspired-by-the-east-thoughts-about-orientalism

For a Student Activity on Orientalism inspired by Theodoros Ralli, please… Click HERE!

Written both in Greek and English, this is a valuable source of information for the Artist: Theodoros Ralli, Looking East – The catalogue was first published on the occasion of the exhibition “Theodoros Ralli. Looking East” Benaki Museum, Museum of Islamic Art, 11th December 2014 – 22nd February 2015 https://www.benaki.org/images/publications/pdf/rallis.pdf

For Browsing through a collection of paintings by Theodoros Ralli, go to https://paletaart.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/%CF%81%CE%AC%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%B8%CE%B5%CF%8C%CE%B4%CF%89%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%82-rallis-theodoros-1852-1909/

The Month of April

by with No Comment ArtRenaissanceStudent ActivitiesTravelWorksheets
The Month of April, 1407, possibly by Maestro Venceslao, Fresco, Torre Aquila, Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento, Italy

The Italian proverb “Aprile dolce dormire” certainly does not suit the fourth scene of the calendar of the Cycle of Months of Torre Aquila in Trento. Here, under the great April sun, one does not sleep, nor is one idle, but it is all a fervour of activity. http://senzadedica.blogspot.com/2013/04/il-ciclo-dei-mesi-aprile.html

The Month of April fresco comes from Torre Aquila in the Castello del Buonconsiglio, in Trento, Italy. It is part of an amazing fresco Cycle of the Twelve Months painted on the walls of the tower’s 2nd-floor main room. It was commissioned by Prince-Bishop George of Liechtenstein, who wanted to show how well-governed his territories were and how his labourers thrived. The painter of these remarkable paintings, Master Wenceslas, understood well what he was asked to do, created the best 15th-century advertising brochure for Trento, and for the Month of April fashioned a dazzling spring scene, crowded with a well-dressed crowd who, in the lush local countryside, serenely performed their necessary everyday chores. 

Master Wenceslas, a Bohemian painter active in Trento since 1397, creates a rich April scene, full of natural beauty and pastoral activities. Nature awakens and the citizens of Trento are busy. The farmers catch up with their activities and the Ladies of the Court and enjoy a stroll in the woods. The scene is rich, dense and joyful… inspired by real-life but immensely beautified. The commissioner of this fresco, Prince-Bishop George of Liechtenstein, wants to give the idea that his territories flourish under his good governance. and prudent guidance. The painter, Master Wenceslas, understood this very well, and created a verdant scene of dazzling colours, the winter greys have disappeared, crowded with well-dressed farmers and elegant ladies.  https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciclo_dei_mesi

…the month of April, Many and June

Wenceslas’s countryside is fertile and well organized. The fields are separated in an orderly manner and protected, like precious gardens, by braided willow fences. Everything is represented with such precision… the land, the buildings, the farmers’ chores. The April fresco looks as if it is the page of a textbook for a young farmer to study and learn! https://www.ilmiraggio.com/ciclo-dei-mesi-torre-aquila/

At the top of the composition, a lush fir forest offers refuge to one of those bears that populated the Alps at the time. Further down, a pilgrim, fully dressed in white with a hat and a cane, walks through a borough of thatched-roof houses arranged around a small church, empty of villagers… silent. Even the dogs in this village keep silent, as they are both dozing.

The farmers are busy with their pastoral duties. In a fenced and already ploughed field a farmer sows, while another farmer works the land with a harrow pulled by a horse. Further down to the left, two men, probably coming from a water-mill, carry sacks of flour on a cart driven by oxen. In the foreground, two other farmers plough the land with a heavy wheeled plough pulled by a pair of oxen and a horse. Women do not remain idle. Two of them, taking advantage of the beautiful weather, participate in the fervour of spring activities, gardening their well-fenced plot! Their precious land is on the border of a small forest where, among immense mushrooms, a dog chases a hare!

The month of April fresco is not only about hard work. The presence of two aristocratic young ladies, in the lower, right part of the composition, can not be missed. Depicted on the edge of the painted scene, the elegant ladies seem to walk towards the festive procession depicted in the following month of May. One of them, wearing an elegant green gown with long sleeves, crosses the thin, pillar-like, frame that divides the two months, and effortlessly, just as the succession of seasons is constant and uninterrupted, guides us to the next composition… that of May!

Until Next Month… check HERE! for a student Activity!

Still Life à la cafetière

by with No Comment 19th century ArtArtBasil and Elise Goulandris Foundation AthensPost-ImpressionismStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Vincent van Gogh, 1853 – 1890
Still Life à la cafetière, Still Life with Coffee Pot, May 1888, Oil on Canvas, 65 × 81 cm, Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens

The three primary colours, red, blue yellow, a touch of orange… and how you can create a masterpiece! Still Life à la cafetière in the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation, at Athens, is a case to study!!!

“Painting Still Lifes is the beginning of everything,” Van Gogh said back in the winter of 1884/85, and as Dutch in origin, he was so right! Let’s not forget the Netherlandish attachment to this genre. During his prolific career that did not last more than a decade, from 1881 until his death in 1890, Van Gogh painted more than 170 Still Lifes! https://www.museum-barberini.com/en/van-gogh/

He started by “paying tribute” to his Dutch, 17th-century tradition of painting Still Lifes with sombre, melancholy, earthy tones. We can describe these early Still Life paintings as experiments in colour! Direct, powerful, and sincere, these early Still Life studies were created while living with his parents in Nuenen. Across a dark background, he used humble everyday objects that were probably used by his family for their everyday meals. By mixing primary colours himself, his palette was dark, brown and greyish, and the objects he was presenting were brought to life with touches of white paint. His painting, titled Still life with three bottles and earthenware, is a perfect example. https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0138V1962?v=1

Vincent van Gogh, 1853 – 1890
Still Life with three bottles and earthenware, 1884/5, oil on canvas, 39,5 x 56 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

That was not enough for Van Gogh! He felt the need to develop and evolve, to practice and struggle in getting better… and so, he travels to Paris, gets in touch with Impressionism, and his Still Life paintings gradually acquire the bright Mediterranean colours of Southern France, which he so loved. Painting Still Lifes during the Paris period is very important for him. He studies every book he can get on the fundamentals of “Colour Theory” and experiments until his colour palette dramatically changes. He doesn’t mix colours any more, he uses them separately, he combines complementary colours and gets rid of the use of browns. In Paris, painting flowers fascinates him, changing his technique intrigues him, communicating his feelings as well as what he sees becomes his objective. The newly authenticated Vase with Poppies at the Wadsworth Atheneum is such a representative example of his efforts at the time. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/blog/two-van-gogh-exhibitions-in-a-single-week

Vincent van Gogh, 1853 – 1890
Vase with Poppies, ca. 1886, oil on canvas, Wadsworth Atheneum, 56.0 cm × 46.5 cm, Hartford, Connecticut

Vincent van Gogh moved to Arles in early 1888, and his palette positively explodes with colour and vibrant brushstrokes. The Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation painting Still Life à la cafetière is an amazing example of his final period. Quoting a description of the painting in a Van Gogh letter to his brother Theo, we read… “A coffee pot in blue enamel, a cup (on the left) royal blue and gold, a milk jug checkered light blue and white, a cup (on the right) white with blue and orange patterns on a plate of earthenware yellow-grey, a pot of barbotine or majolica blue with red, green, brown patterns, finally two oranges and three lemons; the table is covered with a blue cloth, the background yellow-green, thus six different blues and four of five yellows and oranges.” The art of simplicity at it’s best. Once more, dispassionate items of his everyday life, search for immediacy and turn into a moving painting of extraordinary vitality. The three primary colours, lots of blues and greens, an amazing red borderline that encloses the painting, juxtapose to “touches” of complementary oranges. A diagonal composition with crossed lines animates the composition. Incredible brushstrokes forcefully convene in the enamel coffee pot, creating a sense of perspective. He works like a man in a frenzy and creates a world, his world, that feels ALIVE! Color, Space, and Creativity: Art and Ontology in Five British Writers, by Jack Stewart, 2008, Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corp., page 224, and https://goulandris.gr/en/artwork/vincent-van-gogh-still-life-coffee-pot

For a Student Activity, please… check HERE!

Correggio’s Jupiter and Io

by with No Comment ArtMythologyRenaissanceStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Antonio Allegri da Correggio, 1489 – 1534
Jupiter and Io, 1531-32, oil on canvas, 163.5 × 70.5 cm, Kunsthisstorisches Museums, Vienna
Photo credited to https://da.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/high-ren-florence-rome/late-renaissance-venice/v/correggio-jupiter-and-io

According to Kelly Richman-Abdou “Mannerism is the Style That Put an Elaborate Twist on Renaissance Art.” I like her comment, and how it applies to our Mannerist painting in focus, Correggio’s Jupiter and Io! MY MODERN MET, October 21, 2018, https://mymodernmet.com/what-is-mannerism/

My question is how can order, harmony, and balance, ideals of Classical Art and the Renaissance be “turned/twisted” into something fresh and exciting? Is Mannerism to Renaissance what Hellenistic Art was to 5th century BC Classicism? This is not an easy question to answer. Is Correggio’s mythological painting of Jupiter and Io a good example to start… better so, scratch the mere surface?

Antonio Allegri da Correggio is an interesting artist to consider. Famous today for his illusionistic, grand domed ceilings, Correggio is a protagonist of Mannerism! Giorgio Vasari wrote, “…everything that is to be seen by his [Correggio’s] hand is admired as something divine.” He is so right! Correggio’s paintings were appreciated by generations of fervent art patrons and artists… from Dukes to Emperors and from Rubens to Boucher. Vasari was also the first to write about Corregggio’s handling of colours, chiaroscuro, and textures, as well. “It may, at least, be held for certain that no one ever handled colors better than he and that no craftsman ever painted with greater delicacy or with more relief, such was the softness of his flesh-painting and such the grace with which he finished his works…” Today, describing the unique “softness” of his painting technique, we use the term “morbidezza,” meaning extreme softness, delicacy, and fuzziness. https://www.oxfordreference.com/noresults;jsessionid=58804597E272C2C21C9F375C6CEFC612?btog=chap&noresults=true&pageSize=20&q=morbid+ezza&sort=relevance

Correggio’s Jupiter and Io was most probably, one of four mythological paintings representing the Loves of Zeus, or Jupiter for the Romans, commissioned by the Duke of Mantua, Federico Il Gonzaga, for the decoration of his private Studiolo. These paintings render the myths of, 1. Jupiter and Io, 1531-32, oil on canvas, 163.5 × 70.5 cm, Kunsthisstorisches Museums, Vienna 2. Danaë, 1531, oil on canvas, 161 x 193 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome 3. Leda and the Swan, 1532, oil on canvas, 156.2 x 195.3 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin 4. Ganymede Abducted by the Eagle, 1531-1532, oil on canvas, 163.5 × 70.5 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The myth of Jupiter and Io, depicted in one of the two Vienna paintings by Correggio, is popular and well-liked since antiquity. Lust, deceit, jealousy, revenge and suffering, interwind, creating a fascinating story to render in art. Correggio did an amazing job! I love his Mannerist “twisted” use of posture, movement, and texture. Using a narrow upright format he creates a stable, vertical composition, but Io’s body turns, curls and entwines, so unnaturally, around the charcoal grey cloud of Zeus, it is impossible not to notice. Her firm naked body shimmers in the light and contrasts with the thick, dark, fuzzy cloud that envelops her. What a magnificent contrast of colours and textures. The faces of Zeus and Io make you wonder… what is he whispering to her ear that makes her look so “abandoned”?

For a Student RWAP (Research-Writing-Art-Project), please… check HERE!

What a life you had Bianca Cappello!

by with No Comment ArtRenaissanceStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Alessandro Allori, 1535–1607
Portrait of Bianca Cappello, Second Wife of Francesco I de’ Medici, c. 1580, fresco – tempera on plaster, 75 x 52 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
https://centuriespast.tumblr.com/post/67158750360/allori-alessandro-portrait-of-bianca-cappello

What a life you had Bianca Cappello! Rich, powerful and passionate! Born a Venetian lady of noble birth, you chose love over propriety and married Pietro Bonaventuri, escaped to Florence… and found your destiny with Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany… as a mistress, mother, and wife! You were loved devotedly! In 1579 you married the Grand Duke and on the 12th of June 1579, you were crowned the Grand Duchess of Tuscany at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. You were probably disliked equally strongly. You died along with Francesco in October 1587, at the famous Villa Medici in Poggio a Caiano. Some historians and scientific evidence suggest malaria fever, others believe you were both poisoned with arsenic! What a life you had Bianca Cappello! http://www.travelingintuscany.com/art/biancacappello.htm

Of all of Bianca’s Portraits, my favorite, painted by Alessandro Allori, c.1580, is in the Galleria Degli Uffizi, in Florence. She is depicted as the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, her beauty assured, elegant in an understated way, self-content, looking at us… critically thinking… are we among her supporters or her foes?  

Where can we “feel” Bianca’s presence in Florence?

As soon as Bianca became Francesco’s mistress she moved from the humble lodgings of her in-laws, where she was expected to do manual work, to the Palazzo Venturi-Ginori. a splendid estate with a fine garden (so-called Oricellari Gardens) and a prestigious history. According to Giorgio Vasari, between 1483 and 1500, Bernardo Rucellai commissioned the construction of the Palazzo and the planting of the famous gardens following designs by Leon Battista Albert. It was during the same period that several meetings of the famous Neo-Platonic Academy took place in the Palazzo. In 1534, the property passed to Bianca Cappello and the Palazzo was turned into a place for leisure and entertainment. The gardens, in particular, were the stage for numerous festivities staged by Bianca Cappello, some of which… quite profane!

Palazzo Venturi-Ginori with a view of the  Oricellari Gardens
http://www.palazzospinelli.org/architetture/scheda.asp?ID=689  
and for Bianca’s Garden Parties…
https://books.google.gr/books?id=guN0CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=Bianca+Cappello+Oricellari+Gardens&source=bl&ots=WTbhv9Bq6X&sig=ACfU3U0uHjTZbXkTksrfXPDP7aYoc_xwng&hl=el&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi315eT68vnAhWPyqQKHS2xBuwQ6AEwDHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=Bianca%20Cappello%20Oricellari%20Gardens&f=false

In 1974, Francesco, still deeply in love with Bianca Cappello, commissioned  Bernardo Buontalenti to design and build a new house for his mistress, much closer to his official residence, Palazzo Pitti. The now-famous Casa Bianca Capello is one of the Florentine historical landmarks you can’t miss! The exterior decoration of the Casa, by Bernardino Pocetti, is done in the black and white sgraffito technique, in which Pocetti was considered an expert. To please the Venetian Lady, the artist designed the Medici crest along with that of the Capello family crest and motifs of marine life within an extravagance of Renaissance designs.

Casa Bianca Capello in Florence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_di_Bianca_Cappello

For a Student Activity, on “What a Life you had Bianca Cappello!” please check… HERE!