Titian´s first contribution to the Camerino d´Alabastro was prompted by the death in October 1517 of Fra Bartolommeo from whom Alfonso d´Este had commissioned a Worship of Venus one year previously and for which Fra Bartolommeo submitted a sketch. In April 1518, Titian received instructions on the subject matter and format of the work along with a drawing, probably that by Fra Bartolommeo. In Octo
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
Bosch thus shows how man, irrespective of his social class or place of origin, is so possessed by the desire to enjoy and acquire material possessions that he allows himself to be deceived or seduced by the Devil. Thus the artist proposes that we should renounce earthly goods and the delights of the senses in order to avoid eternal damnation. The painting offers an exemplum of a different type to
In 1604 in his biography of Mor, Karel van Mander referred to the artist’s trip to London in 1554, where he was sent on the orders of Charles V to paint Mary Tudor (1516–1558), and to the success of the resulting work.1 The queen is depicted seated, almost full-length, following Raphael’s portrait of Julius II of 1512 (London, National Gallery), and that of Juana of Aragon of 1518 (Paris, Mus&eacu
The Virgin Mary visits her cousin, Elisabeth, who is pregnant with Saint John, as told in the New Testament (Luke 1, 39-45). That is the moment when the Virgin sings the Magnificat. The two figures can be told apart by their age. Mary is depicted as a young woman while Elizabeth, on the left, is almost an old woman, which emphasizes the miracle of her pregnancy, as the Bible texts have it. The sce
The first verified Spanish documentation of Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist or Madonna of the Rose, c. 1517, dates from 1657. In 1642 Wenceslaus Hollar engraved this composition after a painting belonging to Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, one of the present work’s probable owners. However, there were copies of the work in Spain in the sixteenth century, including no less t
Francesco Donato, ambassador to Spain (1504), England (1509) and Florence (1512), maintained Venice’s neutrality in the war between Charles V and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, and contributed to the peace treaty with Soliman. Elected Doge at the age of 77, he remained in office until his death in 1553. The identification of the sitter is based on the existence of two versions of the portrait: in
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
Traditionally attributed to Nicolò dell´Abate (c. 1512-1571). In the elegantly classical arrangement of the composition, the drawing shows knowledge of the work of Giuseppe Porta, called Salviati (c. 1520-c.1575), but the handling seems nearer to that of Bernardino India, or a close associate. The figures in the background sport curls of hair that are exactly similar to India´s trademark qu
Although clearly not from the hand of Nicolò dell´Abate (1509 or 1512-1571), the composition reflected by this drawing seems Emilian, and there are slight echoes of the style of the Parmese Jacopo Bertoia (1544-1573/74).
Formerly attributed to the Emilian painter and draughtsman Prospero Fontana (before 1512-1597). IN a note on the modern museum mount, dated 1981, J. A. Gere rightly suggested that this is by the Veronese, Bernardino India. The paper has been extended at the bottom and to the left, presumably by the artist, since some of the contours of the drawing are carried over into these areas.
This is one of the drawings in the Prado carried out by one or more of Michelangelo’s associates, possibly copied from original studies by the master himself. Along with the two drawings by Michelangelo himself, these three studio drawings have stayed together from at least as early as the eighteen century, when they were all in the Martelli collection in Florence.Although Michelangelo did not run
Collectors and connoisseurs have long admired the powerfully executed, often large-scale drawings by Bartolomeo Passarotti. His finished pen studies, such as Head of a figure (Testa di una figura), 1560-70, were especially sought after by collectors. In these, Passarotti perfected what may be termed the fish-net style of tight, highly finished tonal crosshatching, which had been pioneered in Rapha
Although the style of drawing is characteristic of Bandinelli, the majestic pose indeed echoes figures by Michelangelo on the Sistine ceiling, which he painted in 1508-1512. While the noble head and copious drapery recall the Prophets, the placement of the muscular body is more suggestive of the youthful ignudi.Michelangelo´s work also springs to mind in the handling of the red chalk in the
References to Antiquity are one of the distinctive elements of Luis Paret’s drawings, both in those specifically focused on classical themes, like the one analysed herein, as well as in those in which Roman motifs serve as ornamentation in other types of compositions. 1758 marked a turning point in the Spanish art scene; it was then that the Academia de San Fernando began to send its first boarder
The Pseudo-Vitellius was one of the busts most frequently copied and borrowed by Renaissance artists, at a time when it was believed to be a portrait of the Emperor Vitellius, who reigned briefly from 17 April to 22 December 69 AD. In fact, it dates from the period of Hadrian (117–138 AD).The only known Roman copy (Venice, Museo Archeologico) was discovered in 1505 during excavations sponsored by
A vessel comprising three pieces of rock crystal. The body takes the form of an ancient urn of circular cross-section with two winged female busts, sculpted from the body itself, emerging by way of handles from a concave neck. It sits on a fluted base that, like the lid, has recently been identified. A complex scene occupying the central section of the body reflects a tableau typical of Milanese p