Worksheets Archives - Page 7 of 20

Giorgone’s Madonna Cook

May 8, 2023

by admin 16th century Art Art Exhibitions High Renaissance Italian Renaissance Art Renaissance Renaissance Art Student Activities Worksheets

**Giorgone,** 1477/78 or 1473/74 – 1510
**Virgin and Child called Madonna Cook,** circa 1500, oil on wood, 68 x 48,1 cm, private collection on deposit at the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany https://www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com/en/giovanni-bellini

While in Paris, visiting the Exhibition GIOVANNI BELLINI Influences croisées (March 3 to July 17, 2023) at the Jacquemart-André Museum, I came upon a painting, Giorgone’s Madonna Cook, I did not know. The painting made an entirely unexpected impression on me. It is part of a private collection, on deposit at the Gemäldegalerie, in Berlin, and however hard I searched (on the Internet), little did I find. https://www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com/en/giovanni-bellini

Giorgio Barbarelli, universally known as Giorgione (Castelfranco Veneto, 1478-Venezia, 1510), is one of the most enigmatic painters of the Renaissance. Very little is known about Giorgione’s early life and training, but he is believed to have studied, along with Titian, with the Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini, who was a prominent figure in the Renaissance art scene. Unfortunately, Giorgione’s life and career were cut short by his premature death at the age of 33, probably from the plague. Despite his short career, he had a significant influence on the development of the Venetian school of painting, and his legacy continues to inspire and intrigue art lovers and scholars to this day.

A major innovator, Giorgione is acclaimed as the father of modern Venetian painting of the 16th century. As a student of Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione’s style in painting was characterized by his use of atmospheric effects, delicate modeling, and a subdued color palette. Influenced by Leonardo, the young Venetian artist is also known for his mastery of sfumato, a technique in which colours are blended together in such a way that they appear to merge seamlessly, creating a soft, hazy effect. Finally, paintings by Flemish artists motivated Giorgone to further explore the application of multiple thin layers of paint, so as to give a new dimension to light and colour. https://archive.org/details/giorgionemytheni0000unse/page/n3/mode/2up

What I find appealing is how Giorgone often painted landscapes or cityscapes as backdrops to his compositions, using them to create a sense of depth and space. The landscape scene in his Virgin and Child called Madonna Cook exhibited at the Jacquemart-André, caught my attention. It looks sparse and unfinished(?), yet a tower, a ‘leitmotiv’ in his landscape repertoire, is prominently displayed.

**The Tempest,** circa 1508, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice
**The Holy Family**, probably c. 1500, Samuel H. Kress Collection
**Castelfranco Madonna,** c. 1503/04, Duomo of Castelfranco, Veneto
**Adoration of the Shepherds,** c. 1500, NGA, Washington DC
**Virgin and Child called Madonna Cook,** circa 1500, Private Collection

Legend has it that Giorgone was not just a handsome, amorous man, and an innovative painter, but a talented musician who, as Vasari wrote, “sang divinely” and played the lute. He was also likely a large man, as Giorgione translates to “Big George.” For today’s BLOG POST allow me to quote and remember Giorgio Vasari who describes the life and artistic achievements of the famous Venetian. The first paragraph of Vasari’s presentation to Giorgione is a small compensation for the little information I can provide for the so-called Madonna Cook. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-four-paintings-renaissance-master-changed-course-art and http://www.travelingintuscany.com/art/gutenberg/vasarilives4.htm#Page_107

At the same time when Florence was acquiring such fame by reason of the works of Leonardo, no little adornment was conferred on Venice by the talent and excellence of one of her citizens, who surpassed by a great measure not only the Bellini, whom the Venetians held in such esteem, but also every other master who had painted up to that time in that city. This was Giorgio, who was born at Castelfranco in the territory of Treviso, in the year 1478, when the Doge was Giovanni Mozzenigo, brother of Doge Piero. In time, from the nature of his person and from the greatness of his mind, Giorgio came to be called Giorgione; and although he was born from very humble stock, nevertheless he was not otherwise than gentle and of good breeding throughout his whole life. He was brought up in Venice, and took unceasing delight in the joys of love; and the sound of the lute gave him marvellous pleasure, so that in his day he played and sang so divinely that he was often employed for that purpose at various musical assemblies and gatherings of noble persons. He studied drawing, and found it greatly to his taste; and in this nature favoured him so highly, that he, having become enamoured of her beauties, would never represent anything in his works without copying it from life; and so much was he her slave, imitating her continuously, that he acquired the name not only of having surpassed Giovanni and Gentile Bellini, but also of being the rival of the masters who were working in Tuscany and who were the creators of the modern manner. Giorgione had seen some things by the hand of Leonardo with a beautiful gradation of colours, and with extraordinary relief, effected, as has been related, by means of dark shadows; and this manner pleased him so much [Pg 110] that he was forever studying it as long as he lived, and in oil-painting he imitated it greatly. Taking pleasure in the delights of good work, he was ever selecting, for putting into his pictures, the greatest beauty and the greatest variety that he could find. And nature gave him a spirit so benign, and with this, both in oil-painting and in fresco, he made certain living forms and other things so soft, so well harmonized, and so well blended in the shadows, that many of the excellent masters of his time were forced to confess that he had been born to infuse spirit into figures and to counterfeit the freshness of living flesh better than any other painter, not only in Venice, but throughout the whole world… http://www.travelingintuscany.com/art/gutenberg/vasarilives4.htm#Page_107

For a Student Activity, inspired by Giorgone’s Madonna Cook, please… Check HERE!

The Bersha Procession

May 2, 2023

by admin Art Education Egypt Egyptian Art Powerpoints Student Activities Worksheets

**The Bersha Procession,** Middle Kingdom, late 11th Dynasty–early 12th Dynasty, 122010–1961 BC, Egypt, Deir el-Bersha, Tomb 10, shaft A (Djehutynakht), Painted Wood, 66.4 x 8.6 x 42.5 cm, MFA, Boston, MA, USA
https://gr.pinterest.com/pin/670473463254087082/?nic_v3=1a7FXhvpJ

In a 1915 excavation, archaeologists from the Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition discovered, explain the MFA experts, the entrance to a tomb at the picturesque site of Deir el-Bersha in Egypt. Inside, the MFA team found, in jumbled array, the largest burial assemblage of the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 BC) ever discovered. The tomb, designated Tomb 10A, was filled with the funerary equipment of a local governor by the name of Djehutynakht and his wife, also named Djehutynakht. Robbers had stolen the finest jewels but left everything else, including the severed (but nicely wrapped and painted) head of one of the Djehutynakhts. The tomb contained four beautifully painted coffins, one of which, the famous “Bersha coffin” (the outer coffin of the governor), is arguably the finest painted coffin Egypt produced and a masterpiece of panel painting. The tomb also included Djehutynakht’s walking sticks, pottery, canopic jar, and miniature wooden models that were made for the burial but reflect life on Djehutynakht’s estate, including some 58 model boats and nearly three dozen models of daily life such as individual shops for carpenters, weavers, brick-makers, bakers, and brewers. Of these, the best known is the exquisitely carved Bersha procession of a male priest leading female offering bearers. https://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/secrets-tomb-10a

During the Middle Kingdom, and for reasons we do not know, a new trend occurred in Egyptian burial customs. Miniature models made of wood, a less costly material, were manufactured in large numbers and placed in the burial chamber to furnish provisions for the deceased in the afterlife. In symbolically providing for the tomb owner’s needs, the models functioned in much the same way as painted scenes of these activities did on the walls of tomb chapels. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/143887

A variety of boats, food products, craftsmen and workshops, soldiers, servants, house models, and agricultural activities, are among the most popular representations. They are three-dimensional, and small in size, made out of wood, and colorfully painted. The fact is that the artistic quality of these models varies. However, the Middle Kingdom funerary models are precious as they convey a liveliness and energy that give us a sense of the bustling activities of Egyptian daily life. They also demonstrate innovative poses and subjects that would never have been attempted in the more formal sculptures that represented the tomb owner and his family. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/143702/model-of-a-granary;jsessionid=2E377953D2424D2AFEA2C5AB2332B8C7?ctx=bc58e347-f685-466f-8431-dabc79fda065&idx=32

**The Deir el-Bersha region** https://cool.culturalheritage.org/jaic/articles/jaic42-02-003.html and https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/dayr-al-barsha/project-sites

The Tomb of Djehutynakht put on view the largest collection of wooden models ever discovered in Egypt. The archaeologists, excavating the site in May 1915, discovered the ransacked Tomb of a local governor, stripped of all precious artifacts except humble items of clay, wood, and paint. They discovered 58 model boats and nearly three dozen models of daily life such as individual shops for carpenters, weavers, brick-makers, bakers, and brewers. Of these, the best known is the exquisitely carved Bersha Procession of a male priest leading female offering bearers. https://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/secrets-tomb-10a

**The Bersha Procession,** 2010–1961 BC, Egyptian Middle Kingdom, late Dynasty 11 – early Dynasty, Findspot: Egypt, Deir el-Bersha, Tomb 10, shaft A (Djehutynakht), Painted Wood, 66.4 x 8.6 x 42.5 cm, MFA, Boston, USA
https://gr.pinterest.com/pin/405886985159696252/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/AgeofBronze/comments/qhkhq8/procession_of_offering_bearers_egypt_deir/

The MFA experts believe that the Bersha Procession stands out in every aspect. The skill and delicacy with which it was carved, and painted, they state, rank it among the finest wooden models ever found in Egypt. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/143592/model-of-a-procession-of-offering-bearers-the-bersha-proce?ctx=913074da-57e1-4b97-86d5-d4064c9e2c0e&idx=26

The composition is simple, yet elegant, finely carved and subtly painted. Four figures, a man and three women ‘march’ towards the deceased Djehutynakht bringing offerings to sustain his Ka in the afterlife. They bring him food, drink, items of personal adornment, and the incense used to attract and appease divinities and the blessed dead. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/143592/model-of-a-procession-of-offering-bearers-the-bersha-proce?ctx=913074da-57e1-4b97-86d5-d4064c9e2c0e&idx=26

Simply put, I am completely awestruck by the high quality of craftsmanship and anecdotal details of the Bersha Procession model. So much so, that I dream of visiting the MFA once more!

For a PowerPoint on the contents of the Djehutynakht’s Tomb (Tomb 10A), please… Check HERE!

For a Student Activity inspired by the Bersha Procession, please… Check HERE!

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts received the contents of Djehutynakht’s tomb (Tomb 10A) as a gift from the Egyptian government for their assistance in the 1915 excavation. Since 1920 the Bersha finds are in Boston. https://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/secrets-tomb-10a

May Day on Corfu by Charlambos Pachis

April 30, 2023

by admin 19th century Art Art Greek Art Neohellenic Art Student Activities Worksheets

**Charalambos Pachis,** Greek Artist, 1844 – 1891
**May Day on Corfu**, ca 1875-1880, oil on canvas, 61 x 50 cm, National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Athens, Greece https://www.nationalgallery.gr/artwork/protomagia-stin-kerkyra/

On May Day in Corfu, write ‘The Kapodistria Museum – Center for Kapodistrian Studies’ experts, the villagers brought a cypress trunk to the city, the foliage of which they had decorated with wreaths and colorful ribbons. They hung red Easter eggs, pine cones, artichokes, and other fruit gilded, doves and such. This May tree was reminiscent of the Christmas tree. The villagers holding the cypress were singing outside the houses. May Day on Corfu by Charlambos Pachis is here to remind us of bygone happy days on the Island… https://www.capodistriasmuseum.gr/stories/anoixi-stin-kerkyra/

Haralambos Pachis (1844-1891) was an artist from the Island of Corfu who painted genre scenes and landscapes, mixing elements of traditional folk art with the Italian influences widespread on the island at the time. His education started at the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma (1868-1869) where he studied the latest techniques and styles of painting, and further matured, as he traveled to various European countries, to meet artists, and visit Museums and Galleries. In 1870 he returned to Corfu where he originally taught at the Capodistrias School but then founded a private art school at which many noteworthy Corfiot painters studied, such as Angelos Giallinas and Georgios Samartzis. https://www.nationalgallery.gr/en/artist/pachis-charalambos/

Like many artists from the Ionian Islands who were trained in Europe, Pachis brought his art experiences back to Corfu and incorporated them into his native ‘world’, adapting them to reflect the unique cultural and historical context of the Ionian Islands. As a result, the paintings he created were often characterized by a vibrant use of color, dynamic compositions, and a focus on local landscapes, people, and cultural traditions.

The artist from Corfu became an active member of the late 19th-century Greek art community. He was known for his portraits, landscapes, history compositions, and genre scenes, like the circa 1875-1880 painting of May Day on Corfu in the collection of the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum in Athens, Greece.

May Day on Corfu, painted after the union (1864) of the Ionian Islands with Greece bursts with liveness, energy, and an ‘eloquent’ expressiveness. The artist’s diagonal composition brings us to the heart of a central street in the city of Corfu, where typical Corfiot buildings with arches, and a Church with a tall Belltower create a strong sense of depth and perspective, further increased with the faintly colored buildings at the end of the line.

In the foreground, we discern two groups of people: the ‘Creators of Merriment’, centrally placed, and the ‘Viewers’ around them.

Full of energy, and carrying the May Day cypress trunk, the Musicians presented in the composition, create true merriment and cheerfulness with jovial singing and robust music. Dressed in traditional Corfiot attire, and bathed in light, they draw our attention, but most importantly, the attention of the picture’s second group, the ‘Viewers’. Placed in front of a Beerhouse, or around the Musicians, Charalambos Pachis creates a diverse and ‘interesting’ group of ‘Viewers.’ Two herdsmen, for example, wearing red fezzes and tsaruchia-type shoes, one of them carrying a milk container on his shoulder, and five children, three of them standing by the herdsmen, and two more, by the Musicians. These children are quite enigmatic. Are they children or dwarfs? Do they present specific, well-known people on the island? I am afraid I do not have the ‘right’ answer.

**Charalambos Pachis,** Greek Artist, 1844 – 1891
**May Day on Corfu** (detail), ca 1875-1880, oil on canvas, 61 x 50 cm, National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Athens, Greece https://www.nationalgallery.gr/artwork/protomagia-stin-kerkyra/

May Day on Corfu by Charlambos Pachis is a composition that projects a wealth of details, purity of forms, vivid colours, and precision of design. It is an ethnological treasure trove, a festive scene in an Ionian Island rich in culture… a 19th-century snapshot of Corfiot merriment!

Wishing you a very Happy May Day!

For a May Day Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

Lekythos in the Canellopoulos Museum

April 25, 2023

by admin Ancient Greek Art Art Greek Art Museums Pottery Student Activities Worksheets

**White-Ground Lekythos,** 440-430 BC, Terracotta, H. 25,5 cm, Canellopoulos Museum, Athens, Greece https://camu.gr/en/item/likythos/

Intended as a grave gift, this beautiful, white-ground Lekythos in the Canellopoulos Museum is a distinctive 5^th century type of Athenian vessel. According to Maria S. Brouscari… the composition presented on the pot’s body, features, a tall, narrow stele with three steps, decorated with fillets, one at the top of the stele and one with its ends hanging over the top step, from which hang also two thin cords. To the left of the stele, a kneeling woman mourns. With her left hand she strikes her head, while her right is outstretched in a gesture of despair. To the right of the stele the dead stands motionless: a young man, fully clad in a deep purple garment, leaving only the head uncovered. His hair is rendered with a dilute black paint. The decoration of the Canellopoulos Museum Lekythos is typical of scenes connected with funerary rituals and can give us some insight into ancient Athenian funerary practices and ideas about death. https://camu.gr/en/item/likythos/

The Athenian, white-ground Lekythos, developed during the Classical period (5th-4th centuries BC), when Athenian potters began to cover the natural reddish color of their pottery with clay that turned white when fired. These small in size oil containers were used in funerary rituals in a number of different ways. They were, for example, burned with the body in cremations, used for pouring oil libations on the body or the grave site, and as offerings, were left at or in a burial. The great majority of these vessels have been found in and around graves, in Attica. https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103VMY

When I look at the Lekythos in the Canellopoulos Museum, I think of Simonides of Ceos. His poetry, widely admired for its beauty, precision, and emotional depth, befits the funerary composition of the white-ground Lekythos in the Athenian Museum…

Fragment 520: ἀνθρώπων ὀλίγον μὲν / κάρτος, ἄπρακτοι δὲ μεληδόνες, / αἰῶνι δ᾽ ἐν παύρωι πόνος ἀμφὶ πόνωι· / ὁ δ᾽ ἄφυκτος ὁμῶς ἐπικρέμαται θάνατος· / είνου γὰρ ἴσον λάχον μέρος οἵ τ᾽ ἀγαθοὶ / ὅστις τε κακός. – Των ανθρώπων λιγοστή η δύναμη κι άκαρπο ό,τι φροντίζουν πιο πολύ· στη σύντομη ζωή τους η μια στεναχώρια ακολουθεί την άλλη. Αναπόδραστος ο θάνατος ζυγιάζεται από πάνω τους χωρίς διάκριση· ευγενείς και ταπεινοί, όλοι έχουν μπροστά τους την ίδια μοίρα. (Translated by I. N. Kazazis) – Little is the strength of men and fruitless what they care most for; in their short life one sorrow follows another. Death, inescapable, weighs upon them without distinction; noble and humble, all face the same fate. https://www.greek-lan guage.gr/digitalResources/ancient_greek/anthology/poetry/browse.html?text_id=431

Fragment 521: ἄνθρωπος ἐὼν μή ποτε φάσηις ὅ τι γίνεται αὔριον, / μηδ᾽ ἄνδρα ἰδὼν ὄλβιον ὅσσον χρόνον ἔσσεται· / ὠκεῖα γὰρ οὐδὲ τανυπτερύγου μυίας / οὕτως ἁ μετάστασις. – Είσαι άνθρωπος, και γι᾽ αυτό ποτέ μην πεις τί μέλλει αύριο να συμβεί, μήτε να προβλέψεις, σαν δεις κανέναν να ευτυχεί, πόσον καιρό θα κρατήσει αυτό. Γιατί τόσο γοργό σαν την αλλαγή της μοίρας δεν είναι ούτε το φτερούγισμα της μακρόφτερης μύγας. (Translated by I. N. Kazazis) – You are only human, so, never tell what will happen tomorrow, do not predict, if you see someone happy, how long his happiness will last. Because fate changes faster and swifter than the fluttering of the long-flying fly. https://www.greek-language.gr/digitalResources/ancient_greek/anthology/poetry/browse.html?text_id=432

Fragment 522: πάντα γὰρ μίαν ἱκνεῖται δασπλῆτα Χάρυβδιν, αἱ μεγάλαι τ᾽ ἀρεταὶ καὶ ὁ πλοῦτος. – Γιατί όλα τα πράγματα καταλήγουν στην ίδια φριχτή Χάρυβδη, κι οι μεγάλες επιτυχίες και ο πλούτος. (Translated by I. N. Kazazis) – For all things come down to the same horrible Charybdis; people’s virtues and success. https://www.greek-language.gr/digitalResources/ancient_greek/anthology/poetry/browse.html?text_id=433

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

Flora

April 19, 2023

by admin Art Mythology Roman Art Roman Frecoes Student Activities Worksheets

**Villa Arianna Fresco of Flora,** (Room W. 26), 1^st century AD, fresco, 38×32 cm, from Villa Arianna in Stabiae, National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Primavera_di_Stabiae.jpg

Love came to Flora asking for a flower / That would of flowers be undisputed queen, / The lily and the rose, long, long had been / Rivals for that high honor. Bards of power / Had sung their claims. “The rose can never tower / Like the pale lily with her Juno mien” — “But is the lily lovelier?” Thus between / Flower-factions rang the strife in Psyche’s bower. / “Give me a flower delicious as the rose / And stately as the lily in her pride” — But of what color?” — “Rose-red,” Love first chose, / Then prayed — “No, lily-white — or, both provide;” / And Flora gave the lotus, “rose-red” dyed, / And “lily-white” — the queenliest flower that blows… writes the Indian poet Toru Dutt and I think of Flora my favorite fresco in Villa Arianna in Stabiae. https://allpoetry.com/Toru-Dutt

Where is Stabiae? Stabiae was an ancient Roman city, or rather a string of luxury villas stretching along the coast, located on the western side of Italy, in the modern-day region of Campania. It was well known for its luxurious villas and rich maritime trade. The city was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, along with the nearby city of Pompeii. The well-preserved remains of Stabiae, including frescoes and mosaics, offer a unique glimpse into the daily life and culture of ancient Rome. During the Archaic period (8th century BC) Stabiae already played an important strategic and commercial role. The city reached its highest population density between its destruction by Sulla (89 B.C.) and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (79 A.D.). During this period, on the northernmost edge of the Varano hill, many Villas were built taking advantage of the panoramic views. They were mainly residential villas, with beautifully decorated large apartments, thermal baths, porticoes, and nymphaea. At present, only some of these villas, not entirely excavated yet, can be visited…

Information about Villa Arianna… On the western hills of Varano, and overlooking the Bay of Naples, Villa Arianna, is impressive, to say the least. It is estimated that it covered an area of over 11,000 sq.m., whereas its excavated parts cover only 2,500 sq.m. The villa has an unconventional layout, due in part to its continuous development but also to the sloping nature of the site. As much of the building is still buried, the original floor plan is quite difficult to interpret. Certainly, the main range of rooms was at the front of the highest of a series of terraces; some of these rooms featured views both of the sea on one side and of the mountains on the other. There was also a long tunnel (B) leading from the stables and farm court under the residential quarters to the shore. https://sites.google.com/site/ad79eruption/stabiae/villa-arianna

Excavations at Villa Arianna, When, How, and by Whom… Excavations in Villa Arianna started in 1757 and were conducted by the Swiss engineer Karl Weber, until 1762. At the time, the archaeological site of the Villa was seen more like a treasure hunt exploration site. The Weber team dug underground tunnels, explored the excavated areas, and whatever was discovered and considered of value, like furnishings and frescoes, were detached and taken to the Bourbon Museum at the Royal Palace of Portici. A lot, deemed unworthy or ruined, were left behind and much was ruined by the methods employed by the “archaeologists” of the time. Today, parts of the Villa nearest the sea have collapsed down the cliff and perished forever, extended areas of the site are still buried awaiting excavations, but thanks to a Bourbon-period map showing where tunnels were dug and thereafter re-buried, archaeologists resumed excavations in 1950, and proceed with proper scientific research.

Discuss the Fresco of Flora… Among the many treasures discovered in Villa Arianna is the fresco of Flora, exhibited today in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. It is a 38×32 cm fresco, created for the triclinium area of the Villa (Room W. 26 in the Plan). The fresco depicts the goddess Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, surrounded by a variety of plants and flowers.

**Villa Arianna Fresco of Flora (detail),** (Room W. 26), 1^st century AD, fresco, 38×32 cm, from Villa Arianna in Stabiae, National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy https://mariasannino.com/2021/03/08/la-fanciulla-che-coglie-fiori/

In vibrant colors, intricate details, and naturalistic depictions of plants and flowers, the lovely Flora, a young girl shown with her back to us, delicately gathering spring flowers, is a fine example of the 3^rd Pompeian style in painting. Barefoot with a light step, her veil and the hem of her dress floating in the air, Flora turns suddenly to the side to pick a spring from a thin shrub with white flowers. Shown in a relaxed and carefree manner, the goddess is thought to reflect the changing cultural attitudes of the time, the increasing wealth and luxury of the Roman Empire, and may suggest a greater appreciation for the beauty and abundance of nature in ancient Campania!

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

Holy Thursday – Μεγάλη Πέμπτη

April 12, 2023

by admin 16th century Art Art Renaissance Renaissance Art Student Activities Worksheets

**Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco),** 1541 – 1614
**The Agony in the Garden,** c. 1590, oil on canvas, 104 x 117 cm, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, USA https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/greco_el/index.html

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Luke 22:39-46 Holy Thursday – Μεγάλη Πέμπτη) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2022&version=NIV

Domenikos Theotokopoulos was a Cretan Greek, born at Handaka-Candia, present-day Herakleion, part, at the time, of the thriving Republic of Venice. He was young, talented, and ambitious, well-versed in the Creto-Byzantine style of painting, and eager to establish himself among the greatest of his time! By 1567/8 Theotokopoulos traveled to Venice, by 1570, he was in Rome, by 1576 he relocated to Spain, and in 1577 the artist settled in Toledo where he found his spiritual home and remained for the rest of his life. He died on the 7th of April 1614, admired for his unique fluid style, temperamental character, and humanist education. One of his friends and admirers, Hortensio Félix Paravicino y Arteaga (1580-1633) the Spanish poet, preacher, and a member of the Trinitarian Order, wrote for the artist “O Greek divine! We wonder not that in thy works / The imagery surpasses actual being.” Paravicino also wrote, foreseeing Theotokopoulos’s legacy “Future generations will admire his strange genius, but for centuries he will not be imitated.” http://www.nccsc.net/essays/spanish-style

The Agony in the Garden is a mature El Greco painting circa 1590, created in Toledo. The artist, known for his unique style that combined elements of Renaissance and Byzantine art, depicts the biblical scene of Jesus’ agony (in Greek, agonia, “agony”) in the Garden of Gethsemane, located on the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem before his arrest and crucifixion. Christ prays to God for strength and comfort. He is depicted as a tall and slender figure, surrounded by his disciples who are asleep. He is shown with his head raised to heaven, as he prays in a state of intense emotion and expressive distress. El Greco gives visual form to Matthew 26:42, My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done. http://emuseum.toledomuseum.org/objects/54729/the-agony-in-the-garden

My thoughts on why this is a very ‘special,’ one of my favourites, Theotokopoulos paintings:

The composition is unique! El Greco’s figures and landscape are isolated in individual pockets of ambiguous, shallow space. There are four such areas, the sleeping disciples, the imposing Angel to the left, the approaching Roman soldiers to the right, and Christ in the middle, depicted kneeling, praying… in agony. The contrast between the individual pockets of shallow space creates a sense of emotional tension, with Jesus in a state of intense distress and the disciples in peaceful slumber. http://emuseum.toledomuseum.org/objects/54729/the-agony-in-the-garden

El Greco’s use of light and color is one of the most distinctive features of his work. In The Agony in the Garden, the intense light source illuminates Jesus and creates a strong contrast with the dark background, emphasizing his centrality and importance. The use of warm, golden tones adds to the emotional impact of the scene.

The figures in the painting are depicted with elongated forms, a hallmark of El Greco’s style. The two larger figures in the composition, Christ in the middle and the Angel of Compassion and Consolation to the left, facing each other, contribute to the emotional and spiritual intensity of the scene and highlight the dramatic nature of Jesus’ anguish.

The Agony in the Garden is considered one of El Greco’s most important works and is considered a masterpiece of Spanish Renaissance art. It is widely regarded as one of the most powerful and expressive religious paintings of the period and continues to be widely admired and studied by art enthusiasts and scholars today.

For a Student Activity on Holy Thursday – Μεγάλη Πέμπτη, please… Check HERE!

April by Lucien Pissarro

March 31, 2023

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

**Lucien Pissarro,** French Artist, 1863–1944
**April, Epping,** 1894, Oil paint on canvas, 603 × 730 mm, Tate, London, UK
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/lucien-pissarro-april-epping-r1139298

Oh, to be in England / Now that April’s there, / And whoever wakes in England / Sees, some morning, unaware, / That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf / Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, / While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough / In England—now! Robert Browning probably wrote Home-Thoughts, from Abroad in 1845, while he was staying in Italy, homesick of the English countryside during a glorious April morning! Interestingly, April by Lucien Pissarro is an Impressionistic painting of a similar April morning by a French artist living in England! https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43758/home-thoughts-from-abroad

Lucien Pissarro was a French painter, printmaker, and etcher. He was born on February 20, 1863, in Paris, France, and was the oldest son of the Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. He began his artistic education at a young age, studying under his father and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1884, he began exhibiting his work in Impressionist exhibitions, and in 1886, he participated in the 8th and final Impressionist exhibition. In 1888, Pissarro moved to London, where he became a member of the New English Art Club and began to develop his own unique style, influenced by the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and Japanese prints. He spent the next two decades in London, exhibiting his work and participating in the city’s art scene. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/lucien-pissarro-r1105344

**Portrait of Lucien Pissarro**, c.1937, Photograph, black and white, on paper, taken by Lafayette Ltd, London, Tate Archive, London, UK
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/lucien-pissarro-r1105344

In 1910, Pissarro returned to France and settled in the small town of Éragny-sur-Epte, where he focused on painting landscapes and rural scenes. He continued to exhibit his work, and in 1913, he was awarded the Légion d’honneur. Pissarro’s work is characterized by his use of vibrant colors, bold brushstrokes, and a focus on nature. He is considered to be one of the most important Impressionist painters of the 20th century. Pissarro died on July 10, 1944, in Éragny-sur-Epte, France. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/lucien-pissarro-r1105344

According to the TATE experts David Fraser Jenkins and Helena Bonet, …Lucien Pissarro exhibited April, Epping at the New English Art Club in November–December 1904, where he renewed contact with artists, he had met more than ten years earlier. He was invited to join Walter Sickert’s Fitzroy Street Group in 1907, and so became acquainted with those who went on to form the Camden Town Group in 1911. For the younger artists of the group in particular, Pissarro represented a direct link to the origins of impressionism and neo-impressionism, his father Camille being a great inspiration, as well as his friends Seurat, Signac, and van Gogh. The influence of Pissarro’s style and technique can be traced in the work of Spencer Gore, Harold Gilman, William Ratcliffe and James Bolivar Manson in particular. Sickert wrote of this influence in the New Age in May 1914: ‘Mr. Pissarro, holding the exceptional position at once of an original talent, and of the pupil of his father, the authoritative depository of a mass of inherited knowledge and experience, has certainly served us as a guide, or, let us say, a dictionary of theory and practice on the road we have elected to travel.’ https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/lucien-pissarro-r1105344

Created just a few years after he settled in England, April, Epping is for Lucien Pissarro a new approach to Landscape painting. He breaks away from the ‘teachings’ of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, the ‘neo-impressionist’ or ‘divisionist’ artists with whom he had been friend in Paris, and he creates a landscape painting characterized by thick, visible brushstrokes, and a strong emphasis on light and color. He uses ordered, criss-crossed touches of paint, mostly light green but with a variety of other colours, showing recession by means of colour, and he uses touches of orange, mauve and blue paints among the green of the meadow, to re-introduce the key principle of impressionism, that, of coloured shadows. In May 1894 Lucien Pissarro wrote to his father asking for new materials and …short brushes, like the ones Cézanne used … because I am going to try to paint in an entirely different way. Did he? https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/lucien-pissarro-april-epping-r1139298

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

GIOVANNI BELLINI Influences croisées

March 16, 2023

by admin Art Italian Renaissance Art Renaissance Student Activities Venetian Art Worksheets

**Giovanni Bellini,** c. 1435/40 – 1516
**The Madonna and Child at a Ledge with an Apple: “The Philips Madonna”,** c.1459-1460, tempera, oil and gold on a panel of poplar, 76.8 x 53 cm, Private collection
https://www.sortiraparis.com/album-photo/101484-exposition-giovanni-bellini-musee-jacquemart-andre

Giovanni Bellini opened the way to the art of colour and tones that came to be characteristic of the art of the sixteenth century in Venice… write the Musée Jacquemart-André experts, Neville Rowley and Pierre Curie, introducing the Exhibition GIOVANNI BELLINI Influences croisées (Paris, from 3 March to 17 July 2023). For a private, intimate, Museum like the Jacquemart-André, gathering fifty artworks of the great Venetian master, from public and private European collections, some of which were put on display for the first time, this exhibition was one more great accomplishment. The Exhibition’s goal is to compare the artist’s works with those of his intellectual models, and thus showcase how his artistic language has never ceased to renew itself while developing its very own unique style. Not an easy task… but in creating an effective ‘dialogue’ between Bellini’s works and the ‘models’ that inspired them… the Museum experts were successful in organizing a most interesting Exhibition! While in Paris for four days, the Musée Jacquemart-André Exhibition on Bellini was the first to visit, and thoroughly enjoy it! https://www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com/en/giovanni-bellini

**The Exhibition Poster at the Musée Jacquemart-André**

Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430 – 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, considered one of the greatest Venetian painters of the 15th century. Born in Venice, he was part of a famous family of artists, including his father Jacopo Bellini, his brother Gentile, and his brother-in-law Andrea Mantegna. His style is characterized by the use of rich, glowing colors, an interest in light and atmospheric effects, and his ability to create a sense of depth and space in his paintings. He is known for his religious paintings, which often featured devotional themes such as the Madonna and Child.

The Madonna and Child at a Ledge with an Apple, also known as The Philips Madonna, caught my eye. I am always attracted to Byzantine-influenced Venetian paintings of the Madonna, and Bellini’s Phillips Madonna, painted circa 1460 was no exception. In 1453, when Constantinople fell into the hands of the Ottoman Empire, thousands of refugees flocked to Venice, bringing with them many Greek manuscripts, icons, and relics. It was only natural for the young artist, who had just set up an independent workshop in 1459 in the parish of San Lio, near the Rialto Bridge, to be attracted to an artistic tradition with deep roots in his native city. https://www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com/en/giovanni-bellini

Yet, Bellini’s progressive approach to the subject of the Madonna and Child is evident. The Philips Madonna gold ground on which the image is painted represents the Byzantine influence still evident and popular in the city of Venice, but the dynamism of the pose of the figure of the infant Christ… demonstrates Bellini’s awareness of the “new style” being formulated throughout Italy. https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/master-paintings-sculpture-part-i/the-madonna-and-child-at-a-ledge-with-an-apple-the

According to Sotheby’s experts, who auctioned the painting on the 27th of January 2022, Bellini’s composition echoes the terracotta reliefs of this same theme by Donatello, whose own work had made such an impression in Venetian artistic circles during the previous two decades. The painting’s Child is also connected, by Mauro Lucco, to the putti in the so-called “Trono di Saturno,” a pair of ancient reliefs that decorated an archway between Piazza San Marco and the Frezzaria. These amazing Roman bas-reliefs furnished inspiration not just for Donatello and Giovanni Bellini, but also for Mantegna, Titian, and Sansovino.

A delightful painting in an Exhibition worth visiting!

For a Student Activity on GIOVANNI BELLINI Influences croisées, please… Check HERE!

Cameo of two Emperors

March 4, 2023

by admin Art Roman Art Student Activities Worksheets

**Busts of Two Emperors,** late 3rd century – early 4th century, Chalcedony on Gold, 3.5 cm x 4.3 cm, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC, USA
http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info?query=Portfolios%20%3D%20%223671%22&sort=0&page=466

The period of the Tetrarchy in the Roman Empire began around 293 CE, twenty years into the rule of the emperor Diocletian. Due to the sheer size of the empire, Diocletian established four regions and appointed two augusti and two caesars, one to govern each section. During this time period, there was an explosion of art being produced emphasizing peace, or concordia. This trend is best shown in official artworks and coins presenting the four rulers in incredible similarities. Such artworks, displayed across the empire were intended to illustrate the unity of the empire despite the 4 rulers and the hierarchy of power ranking them. The Cameo of two Emperors in the Byzantine Collection of the Dumbarton Oaks is one such artwork of incredible beauty! https://sites.rhodes.edu/coins/imperial-imagery-tetrarchy

It was Christmas break 1977, a university student at the time when I first visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and saw the Dumbarton Oaks Cameo of two Emperors. Visiting the Exhibition Age of Spirituality was a ‘Christmas gift’ I will never forget! Many years later… many ‘Exhibitions’ later, I am still surprised and excited when I stand in front of small ‘gems’ like the Dumbarton Oaks Cameo…

According to James D. Breckenridge, the Dumbarton Oaks Cameo presents… two male busts carved in dark stone against an opaque white background. The man on the left of the cameo is frontal, with head turned right, bearded and mustached; his chlamys is fastened at his left shoulder – apparently an arbitrary choice of the gem cutter – with a round brooch. The man on the right appears younger – beardless and without moustache; he is slightly behind his senior and slightly lower. Whereas the older man’s hair and beard are in short curls, his hair is in wavy strands. Pupils and irises of both men are incised. https://books.google.gr/books?id=efLuB7QPDm8C&printsec=frontcover&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Unfortunately, it is not clear who the depicted men are. The roughly incised inscription DIOCL(etianus) MAXim(ianus) AVG(ustus) on the gold plaque at the back of the gem, the style of execution and details of its iconography, identify, by the majority of scholars, the Cameo portraits, as a product of the Tetrarchy, and subsequently, the depicted men as members of it. Taking into added consideration that the Dumbarton Oaks gem is cut from a larger work, it is highly plausible that the original gem might have shown all four Tetrarchs.

Back in 1956, Richter suggested Diocletian and Maximian as the represented Tetrarchs, and James D. Breckenridge put forward the names of Maximianus Herculeus and Maxentius. Interestingly, Dumbarton Oaks expert J. Hanson, sets forth the popular, among experts, identification of the two presented leaders as Diocletian and Galerius, who jointly ruled the Eastern half of the Empire from 293 to 305, and the two Western tetrarchs on the lost/missing section, as Maximian and Constantius Chlorus. https://books.google.gr/books?id=efLuB7QPDm8C&printsec=frontcover&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false and http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info?query=Portfolios%20%3D%20%223671%22&sort=0&page=466

For a Student Activity on the Cameo of two Emperors, please… Check HERE!

Busts of Two Emperors, late 3rd century – early 4th century, Chalcedony on Gold, 3.5 cm x 4.3 cm, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC, USA
http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info?query=Portfolios%20%3D%20%223671%22&sort=0&page=466

**Map of the Roman Empire, The Period of Tetrarchy**, around 293 AD https://sites.rhodes.edu/coins/imperial-imagery-tetrarchy

Eros and the Bee

February 13, 2023

by admin 16th century Art 1821-Greek Independence Day Art Mythology Northern Renaissance Renaissance Student Activities Worksheets

**Lucas Cranach the Elder,** c. 1472-1553
**Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey**, 1530, Oil on Panel, 38 x 58 cm, Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark
https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KMSsp719

A wicked bee once filching Eros stung, / As from hive unto hive the sly god flew. / Looting the flower-sweet honeycombs among; / With finger-tips all pierced he cried and blew /
His hand, and stamped upon the ground with pain, / And vaulted in the air; to Aphrodite / Sadly he came commencing to complain, / “Although the bee is small his wound is mighty.” / Then said his mother smiling, “Are you not / A creature small just like the bee, I pray? / But ne’ertheless it must not be forgot— / The cruel wounds you deal—how great are they!” Idyll XIX, Eros, and the Bee, attributed to the ancient Greek Poet Theocritus of the 3^rd century BC, is the source of inspiration for a number of paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder depicting an alluring Venus, and Eros, a stolen piece of honeycomb in hand, stung by Bees. My favourite version, in the SMK Art Museum in Denmark, is expecting us to probe and explore… http://nicholasjv.blogspot.com/2009/11/sweetness-of-honey-and-sting-of-bees.html

Venus with Cupid as a honey thief was probably one of the most successful mythology-inspired compositions created by the German artist of the Renaissance period Lucas Cranach the Elder. Scholars suggest there are twenty versions of the same theme, dated between 1527 and 1545, painted by the artist, his workshop, or followers of his theme and style.

**Lucas Cranach the Elder,** c. 1472-1553
**Cupid complaining to Venus**, c. 1526–27, Oil on Panel, 81.3×54.6 cm, National Gallery, London, UK
**Venus and Cupid as Honey Thief,** 1527, on beech wood, 83×58.2 cm, Güstrow Castle, Germany
**Venus and Cupid, the Honey Thief,** 1529, Oil and Tempera on Beech Wood, 38.1×23.5 cm, Cook collection, National Gallery, London UK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_complaining_to_Venus

**Lucas Cranach the Elder,** c. 1472-1553
**Venus and Cupid,** 1531, Oil on Panel, 51×35 cm, Fondation Bemberg, Toulouse, France
**Venus and Cupid, the Honey Thief,** circa 1537, Oil on Lime Panel, 50.1×34.4 cm,
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany
**Venus with Cupid as a Honey Thief against a Black Background,** 1537, Oil on Lime Panel, 175.4×66.3 cm, Bavarian State Painting Collections, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, Germany
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_complaining_to_Venus

These paintings depict the same two figures, Venus, the Greek Goddess of beauty and love in glorious nudity, and her son, Eros, god of love as well, holding a stolen piece of honeycomb, stung by bees, and in obvious pain. My favourite painting of Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey is exhibited in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Denmark and combines all the important elements of the composition.

In the upper, left corner of the painting in Denmark, a sign with a reference to Idyll XIX of Theocritus clearly explains the theme. “As Cupid was stealing honey from the hive / A bee stung the thief on the finger / And so do we seek transitory and dangerous pleasures. / That are mixed with sadness and bring us pain.” The wording does not reproduce Theocritus’ exact Greek text, but rather a Latin epigram based on the poem. Painted on a cream-coloured ‘panel’ on the upper left side of the painting, the epigram is related to the work of the great German humanist Philipp Melanchthon. with whom Cranach was closely connected in producing illustrations for Luther’s Bible translation. (A short but comprehensive presentation of Philipp Melanchthon’s contribution to Humanism in Germany… Melanchthon: A German Humanist by A. Pelzer Wagener, The Classical Weekly, Vol. 22, No. 20 (Mar. 25, 1929), pp. 155-160 (6 pages). I particularly like his point of view that Greek and Latin should be studied side by side by all who sought to grasp the substance of the involved rather than its shadow”. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4389299?read-now=1&seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents) https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KMSsp719

**Lucas Cranach the Elder,** c. 1472-1553
**Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey (Detail)**, 1530, Oil on Panel, 38 x 58 cm, Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark
https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KMSsp719

Examining Cranach’s painting at SMK, depicting Venus, Eros, and the landscape that surrounds them, I see, compared to the rest of Cranach’s paintings of the same theme. elegance and grace, an understated sense of humor, and a subtle mood of morality. The Landscape, in a true Norther European Renaissance tradition, is glorious, lush, and detailed. It invites you to examine the luxurious foliage, the city reflections on the depicted water, and the travelers’ mannerisms. Eros, a blond toddler with blue wings, ever so charming, is displaying his surprise and pain with gusto. Venus looks at the viewer, and laughs, explaining to him that the effect is comparable to the wounds he himself inflicts on all those struck by his arrows. What a painting to consider Love, Euphoria, and Heartache!

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

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Posts in category: Worksheets

Giorgone’s Madonna Cook

The Bersha Procession

May Day on Corfu by Charlambos Pachis

Lekythos in the Canellopoulos Museum

Flora

Holy Thursday – Μεγάλη Πέμπτη

April by Lucien Pissarro

GIOVANNI BELLINI Influences croisées

Cameo of two Emperors

Eros and the Bee