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Saint Apollonia was one of the virgins martyred in Alexandria (Egypt) in the third century, A.D. during the religious persecution of Christians. In this small plate on copper, the Bolognese painter captures the moment when two henchmen torture the saint, who is tied to a post, by extracting her teeth with large pliers. That explains why this tool (sometimes including teeth) is her customary attrib
Peasants or villagers hold a feast in front of a tavern or inn, recognizable by its red flag. They drink, eat and dance to the music of a bagpiper standing on a barrel. On the left, various distinguished personages, who stand out because of their different clothing, look on with a combination of curiosity and indifference. A large church in the background indicates there is a town nearby. On the b
This portrait belongs to a series of seven miniatures painted on copper. Unique within Goya’s oeuvre, they depict his son Javier and his relatives by marriage on the occasion of Javier’s marriage to Gumersinda, daughter of the drapers Miguel Martín de Goicoechea and Juana Galarza. This miniature depicts Gumersinda’s sister, Manuela Goicoechea y Galarza.
This work depicts the feast of Epiphany, as can be seen by the crown on the central figure, whose paintings show an Adoration of the Magi. According to Flemish folk tradition, in this feast, the king of the celebration is chosen by chance, being the one who finds a bean in his cake. Other Flemish artists, such as Jordaens, depicted this celebration in the same way, reflecting its most festive mome
This delicately executed cabinet painting depicts an ascent in a hot air balloon that took place in London in 1785. Although Rigaud includes the trip’s organiser and aeronautical enthusiast Vincenzo Lunardi waving with his hat, the only two people actually present were the artilleryman George Biggin and the famous actress Letitia Ann Sage, the first British woman to make a balloon flight.
The foreground display of numerous military elements, banners, drums, cuirasses and weapons, leads to a genre painting showing some soldiers resting in the background. On the left of the composition, one of the pages works to hang up the soldiers' clothes. Here, as in his other works, Teniers shows his capacity to use light to achieve a perfect representation of the qualities of the objects depict
Esta pintura ha sido relacionada con Durero (1471-1528) y con Lucas de Leiden (1494-1533). Supone un sobresaliente ejercicio de estilo que manifiesta su atenta observación de originales alemanes del siglo XV, cuya técnica Giordano intentó imitar. En ella Giordano aplicó una pincelada minuciosa y precisa de trazos cortos que reproducen con rigurosa exactitud el aspecto de los objetos, la incidencia
Scattered around the room we see a large drum and pieces of several sets of armour –one of them still on its stand– and pistols and harquebusses hanging on the wall, on which a flag is also draped. In the background, several men, perhaps soldiers in civilian clothes, are smoking and drinking. Abraham Teniers repeats, with few variants, some of the famous compositions of his brother, the famous Dav
Depictions of painting galleries became popular in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century. The exhibition of paintings and other artistic or natural objects was originally a way of manifesting the high social standing of an eminently bourgeois class with a strong desire to ennoble itself. In many cases, the paintings did not rigorously reflect the client’s collection, but served inst
Both the royal inventories and Stchavinsky (1912) identify this scene as the story of Hecuba, wife of Priam of Troy. Wichmann (1923) disagrees, believing it to be the Finding of the bodies of Hero and Leander, an interpretation supported by Valdivieso (1973), Pigler (1974), Salerno (1977-80) and Sluijter (1986). Luna (1984), however, has called attention to the inscription HECVBA / OVIDIVS./ LIB.
A group of travelers stop to rest, sitting together in the road. One of them speaks to a muleskinner, who leads a caravan of loaded mules. A very broad landscape unfolds on the left. In this painting, Brueghel offers one of his views with figures, but without any defined plot. He reveals his debt to the landscape ideas of Joost de Romper (1568-1625) by placing the figures at a bend in the road and
Christ´s dead body is taken off the Cross by Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus and Saint John the Evangelist. Among the people at his feet are the Virgin Mary, the mother of Joseph —also called Mary— as well as Salomé and Mary Magdalene, who raises her arms as a sign of her suffering. The good and bad thieves are crucified on trees. This scene follows the New Testament story of the Jesus´ desc
During the years he spent in Rome, Van Poelenburch began painting scenes of this kind with small-or medium-sized figures, in which the presence of ruins is so powerful that they could almost be said to be the main subject. In the foreground, which is slightly raised, a shepherd and a village woman engage in conversation near a herd of goats. Opening out behind them is a large space populated by nu
Esta pintura ha sido relacionada con Durero (1471-1528) y con Lucas de Leiden (1494-1533). Supone un sobresaliente ejercicio de estilo que manifiesta su atenta observación de originales alemanes del siglo XV, cuya técnica Giordano intentó imitar. En ella Giordano aplicó una pincelada minuciosa y precisa de trazos cortos que reproducen con rigurosa exactitud el aspecto de los objetos, la incidencia
A lush garland of flowers, including roses and jasmine, surrounds a grisaille bust of the Virgin Mary. The motif of the Virgin surrounded by a garland of flowers was very frequent in Baroque Flemish painting. It began with models by Jan Brueghel, “the Elder”, at the beginning of the century, and was perpetuated by other artists, such as Veerendael. The fact that the central motif is a sculpture ra
The scene here unfolds in the foreground, which is occupied by a large rocky outcrop and trees and on the right opens onto a luminous landscape enclosed by mountains in the background. The spatial transition between the dark foreground and luminous background is still somewhat awkward. In the figures the brushwork is smooth and uniform, giving the nudes a pearly appearance, whereas in the landscap
Protagoniza el mismo escenario arquitectónico, de idéntico contenido bíblico, del cobre Jesús en el atrio del Pontífice. Los personajes de la nave lateral del fondo evocan la narración, inmediatamente posterior al prendimiento de Jesús, de San Lucas: Pedro se sentó también entre ellos. Viéndole en él dijo: Éste estaba también con Él. Él lo negó, diciendo: No le conozco, mujer. Vuelto el Señor, mir
These two miniatures belong to a series of seven on copper, unique in Goya’s oeuvre. They depict the artist’s son Javier and Javier’s in-laws on the occasion of his marriage to Gumersinda, daughter of the haberdashers Miguel Martín de Goicoechea and Juana Galarza. Juana is depicted here, together with Manuela, another of their daughters, in profile.
