Jerónimo Vich y Valterra (1459-1535) was Spain’s ambassador to Rome between 1506 and 1521, under the reigns of Ferdinand the Catholic and Charles V. Vich commissioned Sebastiano del Piombo to paint a triptych whose central panel with the Lamentation over the Body of Christ is now at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. One of its sides bears Christ’s Descent into Limbo and is also at t
Juan Francisco Alfonso de Pimentel Ponce de León, 10th Count and 7th Duke of Benavente (1584-1652), is portrayed more than half length with a whole host of attributes that confirm is supreme military rank in the Spanish army. In addition to gentleman-in-waiting to Phillip IV, he was appointed captain general in charge of frontier defense during the Portuguese uprising (1641) and participate
This work was first recorded in 1641 as a work by Titian belonging to the Duke of Medina de las Torres in Naples. It was, however, attributed to Giorgione for centuries until Wilhelm Schmidt again attributed it to Titian in 1904. Most specialists now share Schmidt’s opinion, except for Charles Hope, who considers it the work of an artist yet to be determined, and Paul Holberton, who believes it to
This New Testament scene depicts the Descent from the Cross of Christ´s body (Matthew 28, 57-61; Mark 15, 42-47; Luke 23, 50-55; John 19, 38-42). Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus and Saint John the Evangelist remove the nails and take down the Holy Body, while Mary Magdalene laments at his feet and the Virgin is consoled by other holy women. This is considered one of Correa´s finest works. The balan
Marinus has depicted the Virgin nursing the Child in a domestic interior. Both figures are shown without halos, turning the representation into an image of the tender relationship between a mother and her child in the viewer’s own time and place. This iconography already appeared in the early fifteenth century and was used especially for images intended for private devotion. During the later Middl
Since the moment when it was decided that the present work is by Raphael but that the sitter is not Antonio Granvela, art historians have expended considerable efforts on identifying the sitter.The most credible candidates would seem to be Cardinal Bendinello Suardi (painted by Del Piombo,Washington, National Gallery of Art), and even more probably Cardinal Giovanni Alidosi (depicted on a medal an
Christ returned to life, triumphant alongside the sarcophagus that held his body for three days after his death on Golgotha, was a frequent subject in Correa´s work. The retable for the convent of the Poor Clares in Griñon (Madrid), dated around 1532-1534, shaped its essential compositional structure, with Christ at the center over a stone staircase bearing the sarcophagus and flanked by so
In his Metamorphoses Ovid recounts the torments of the Giant Tityus, whose punishment for having attempted to rape the goddess Leto was to have two vultures devouring his continually regenerating liver for eternity. This work is Titian´s own late repetition of the original, painted by him for Mary of Hungary as part of a series of Furies. It was conceived as a warning for those who dared to challe
Totally surrounded by crosses, Christ accepts his penitence. He is followed by a young woman in the same pose wearing a wreath of flowers and identified as the Christian Soul. While this work is undoubtedly by a French artist, no convincing suggestion as to its attribution has been made to date.
Christ appears above a rainbow with his feet resting on the globe of the Earth and his arms raised. He is flanked by Mary and Saint John the Baptist, and besides them, the twelve apostles. Two trumpeting angels announce the Last Judgement, which ties in with the lower scene of the resurrection of the dead and their reward or punishment for earthly acts. This representation of Christ resurrected as
On his deathbed, Saint Bernard is visited by the Virgin Mary, who places her right hand on his chest. She is accompanied by Saint Laurence and Saint Benedict. Two Bernadine Monks witness the scene from the background. In 1773, Antonio Ponz mentioned this composition, which he located in the cloister of the monastery of de Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias (Pelayos de la Presa, Madrid). A
The authorship, dating and iconography of this work are all controversial. It was described as being by Titian in the Libro de entregas of the Escorial in 1593, an opinion maintained by Sigüenza but not by Cassiano dal Pozzo, who attributed it in 1626 to Giorgione, and it was described as such in 1839 when it entered the Museo del Prado. However, since Crowe and Cavalcaselle, it has been attr
The painting is a faithful visualisation of Genesis 30, 9-19 in which Eve is blamed for accepting the forbidden fruit (although the type of fruit is not stated, Titian follows tradition and opts for an apple) and there is a reference to a second tree, a fig, whose leaves are used by Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness. Although we do not have a definite date for this painting, nor do we know the
A former owner of this impressive drawing believed it to be from the hand of the Bolognese painter Bartolomeo Bagnacavallo, who, according to Vasari, travelled to Rome together with Biagio Pupini (active between 1511 and 1551) when Raphael was active there, from 1508 to 1520. The precise nature of Bartolomeo´s association with Raphael remains elusive: he is often referred to as his pupil, as in th
Gabriele Finaldi was the first to point out that the seated pope seems to be Pius V (Ghislieri), the Dominican, pro-Spanish pontiff who reigned from 1566 to 1572. As Cardinal Ghislieri, he held the office of grand inquisitor under the two previous pontiffs, Paul IV and Pius IV. Comparison of the visage and physique of the pope in the drawing with those in the many surviving portraits of Pius V sho
These two drawings, mounted together, carry a traditional attribution to Baglione (c.1575-1643/44), which is surely incorrect, if one compares the style which that of the St. Jerome in the Prado (D01532). The handling seems more reminiscent of certain drawings by the Parnese Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli (1500-1569).
These two drawings, mounted together, carry a traditional attribution to Baglione (c.1575-1643/44), which is surely incorrect, if one compares the style which that of the St. Jerome in the Prado (D01532). The handling seems more reminiscent of certain drawings by the Parnese Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli (1500-1569).
The fine pen lines and carefully modulated passages of wash are characteristic of Samacchini´s highly disciplined, if not somewhat academic, style of drawing. A similar tightness of execution is found in many of his other pen-and-wash drawings, for example his finished pen-and-wash compositional study for the Coronation of the Virgin with Saints in the Gabinetto dei Disegni of the Uffizi, Florence