1.
Hermitage Museum
–
The State Hermitage Museum is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums in the world, it was founded in 1754 by Catherine the Great and has open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of only a small part is on permanent display. The collections occupy a complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya, the museum has several exhibition centers abroad. The Hermitage is a state property. Since July 1992, the director of the museum has been Mikhail Piotrovsky, of the six buildings in the main museum complex, five, namely the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage and Hermitage Theatre, are open to the public. The entrance ticket for foreign tourists more than the fee paid by citizens of Russia. However, entrance is free of charge the first Thursday of every month for all visitors, the museum is closed on Mondays. The entrance for visitors is located in the Winter Palace. A hermitage is the dwelling of a hermit or recluse, the word derives from Old French hermit, ermit hermit, recluse, from Late Latin eremita, from Greek eremites, literally people who live alone, which is in turn derived from ἐρημός, desert. Originally, the building housing the collection was the Small Hermitage. Today, the Hermitage Museum encompasses many buildings on the Palace Embankment, apart from the Small Hermitage, the museum now also includes the Old Hermitage, the New Hermitage, the Hermitage Theatre, and the Winter Palace, the former main residence of the Russian tsars. In recent years, the Hermitage has expanded to the General Staff Building on the Palace Square facing the Winter Palace, the Western European Art collection includes European paintings, sculpture, and applied art from the 13th to the 20th centuries. It is displayed, in about 120 rooms, on the first, drawings and prints are displayed in temporary exhibitions. Since 1940, the Egyptian collection, dating back to 1852 and it serves as a passage to the exhibition of Classical Antiquities. A modest collection of the culture of Ancient Mesopotamia, including a number of Assyrian reliefs from Babylon, Dur-Sharrukin, the collection of Classical Antiquities occupies most of the ground floor of the Old and New Hermitage buildings. Its floor is made of a marble mosaic imitating ancient tradition, while the stucco walls
Hermitage Museum
–
Winter Palace
Hermitage Museum
–
The Hermitage Museum complex. From left to right: Hermitage Theatre – Old Hermitage – Small Hermitage – Winter Palace (the "New Hermitage" is situated behind the Old Hermitage).
Hermitage Museum
–
Egyptian Hall
Hermitage Museum
–
The Pavilion Hall
2.
The Procuress (Dirck van Baburen)
–
The Procuress is the name given to a number of similar paintings by the Dutch Golden Age painter Dirck van Baburen. The painting is in the Caravaggiesque style of the Utrecht school, the painting shows three figures, a prostitute on the left, the client in the middle and the procuress on the right pointing to her palm to indicate that she is expecting payment. The client is holding a coin between his fingers as he puts his arm around the prostitute, who is playing a lute, the painting is an example of the popular genre known as Bordeeltjes, or brothel scenes. The cropped, close-up figures close to the plane against a flat blank background are typical of Utrecht Caravaggism. There are at least three versions of the painting, the versions in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston are attributed to Dirck van Baburen or his studio. One copy of the painting was owned by Maria Thins, mother-in-law of Johannes Vermeer, a copy owned by the Courtauld Institute in London has been identified as the work of the forger Han van Meegeren. This was featured in the episode of the BBC TV series. One of these paintings was owned by Vermeers mother-in-law, and it may have been an influence on one of his own paintings on a similar subject. It also appears in the background of two of Vermeers later paintings, The Concert and Lady Seated at a Virginal, in both of these later paintings the blatant lust depicted by Baburen is contrasted with the genteel, but erotically charged, middle-class world occupied by Vermeers women. The contrast between the images may also imply a more general association between music and love, Vermeer sets up a series of contrasts between his own delicate, restrained style and Baburens vulgar realism. According to Michael Wayne Cole and Mary Pardo this represents Vermeers own move away from such low-life subjects, the older, cruder style of Baburen is relegated to the background, eclipsing it with the more modern kind of genteel subject that Vermeer would soon paint exclusively. In 1960, Geoffrey Webb presented a version of the painting to the Courtauld Institute, at the end of the Second World War, he had been an allied officer in Europe investigating art works looted by the Nazis. He believed it was a fake painted by Han van Meegeren, in his own defense, van Meegeren claimed that the painting had been bought in an antique shop by his wife. A spokesperson for the stated that they were surprised by the results. Following this, the BBC TV programme Fake or Fortune conducted a further investigation, the resulting film was first shown July 2011. Philip Mould and Fiona Bruce traveled to Amsterdam where they obtained samples of the used by van Meegeren. These included a resin which turned out to be Bakelite. The use of Bakelite had the effect of hardening the paint, chemical analysis showed Bakelite in the Courtauld painting, thus confirming that it was a modern forgery
The Procuress (Dirck van Baburen)
–
The Procuress
The Procuress (Dirck van Baburen)
–
Vermeer's
Lady Seated at a Virginal, in which The Procuress hangs on the wall behind the figure
3.
Maria Thins
–
Maria Thins was the mother-in-law of Johannes Vermeer and a member of the Gouda Thins family. In 1622 she married Reynier Bolnes, a prominent and prosperous brickmaker, in 1635 the marriage deteriorated, her sister found her crying in bed after her husband had beaten her. The couple moved to house, where Wouter Crabeth had lived. There Bolnes had his dinner in the front room, together with his son, while he refused to talk to her, at one time her daughter Cornelia was locked up by her father and in 1641 Maria Thins decided to move to Delft, where her brother lived. Her husband refused to divorce her, but in 1649 she received a sum of money from him. Her daughter Cornelia died in 1643, in 1653 Catharina married Johannes Vermeer in Schipluiden but it is not exactly known when the couple moved in at her rather spacious house on Oude Langendijk. Vermeer had his atelier on the front side of the second floor, Maria Thins apparently played an important role in their life. She was a devotee of the Jesuit order in the nearby Catholic Church, and their third son was called Ignatius, after the founder of the Jesuit Order. It is not known if the children were baptized in the Catholic Church, in 1664 her son Willem, a jobless bachelor, was locked up in an institution after an argument with his mother, and for attacking his pregnant sister with a stick. In 1665 Maria Thins was entrusted with her sons property and she was not required by law to limit his share to the legal minimum, but she mentioned that he had been calling her names since his youth. In 1672 Maria Thins got into difficulties, her land near Schoonhoven was flooded to prevent the French army crossing the Dutch Water Line. In 1675, when Vermeer went on several trips for his mother-in-law, first to Gouda, when her husband had died. There Vermeer borrowed money by using her name. Shortly thereafter Vermeer suffered what was referred to as a frenzy, in the words of his wife and she attributed this to stress caused by all their financial difficulties. After Vermeers death, Maria Thins stated that she used her income to support the struggling painter. For her help she received The Art of Painting, one of the finest, most mysterious and famous paintings in the history of Western Art. In 1676 she lived in the Hague but moved back to Delft where, upon her death, she was buried in the Protestant Old Church on 27 December 1680, the burial record states that she died as the widow of Rijnier Bolnes. Her daughter Catharina moved to Breda, Catharina Bollenes received Holy Oil, according to the records of the Roman Catholic parish of St Joseph, before being buried on 30 December 1687
Maria Thins
–
Dirck van Baburen,
The Procuress, 1622, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The painting was owned by Maria Thins, mother-in-law of
Johannes Vermeer, who reproduced it within two of his own paintings.
4.
Johannes Vermeer
–
Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. Vermeer was a successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime. He evidently was not wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death, Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, and frequently used very expensive pigments. He is particularly renowned for his treatment and use of light in his work. Vermeer painted mostly domestic interior scenes and he was recognized during his lifetime in Delft and The Hague, but his modest celebrity gave way to obscurity after his death. He was barely mentioned in Arnold Houbrakens major source book on 17th-century Dutch painting, since that time, Vermeers reputation has grown, and he is now acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. Relatively little was known about Vermeers life until recently and he seems to have been devoted exclusively to his art, living out his life in the city of Delft. Until the 19th century, the sources of information were some registers, a few official documents. John Michael Montias added details on the family from the city archives of Delft in his Artists and Artisans in Delft, Johannes Vermeer was baptized in the Reformed Church on 31 October 1632. His father Reijnier Janszoon was a worker of silk or caffa. As an apprentice in Amsterdam, Reijnier lived on fashionable Sint Antoniesbreestraat, in 1615, he married Digna Baltus. The couple moved to Delft and had a daughter named Geertruy who was baptized in 1620, in 1625, Reijnier was involved in a fight with a soldier named Willem van Bylandt who died from his wounds five months later. Around this time, Reijnier began dealing in paintings, in 1631, he leased an inn, which he called The Flying Fox. In 1635, he lived on Voldersgracht 25 or 26, in 1641, he bought a larger inn on the market square, named after the Flemish town Mechelen. The acquisition of the inn constituted a financial burden. When Vermeers father died in October 1652, Vermeer took over the operation of the art business. In April 1653, Johannes Reijniersz Vermeer married a Catholic girl, the blessing took place in the quiet nearby village of Schipluiden. Vermeers new mother-in-law Maria Thins was significantly wealthier than he, according to art historian Walter Liedtke, Vermeers conversion seems to have been made with conviction
Johannes Vermeer
–
Detail of the painting
The Procuress (c. 1656), considered to be a
self portrait by Vermeer.
Johannes Vermeer
–
Delft in 1652, by cartographer
Willem Blaeu
Johannes Vermeer
–
A row of houses on the
market in
Delft, with the inn Mechelen, but made circa 1730 by Leonard Schenk after a drawing by
Abraham Rademaker
Johannes Vermeer
–
The Jesuit Church on the Oude Langendijk in Delft, 1700–1725, brush in gray ink, 13.2 × 20.2 cm, Delft, Archief Delft
5.
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands in 5500 BC
Netherlands
–
Flag
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands in 500 BC
Netherlands
–
An oak figurine found in
Willemstad, North Brabant (4500 BC).
6.
Painting
–
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, Painting is a mode of creative expression, and the forms are numerous. Drawing, gesture, composition, narration, or abstraction, among other aesthetic modes, may serve to manifest the expressive, Paintings can be naturalistic and representational, photographic, abstract, narrative, symbolistic, emotive, or political in nature. A portion of the history of painting in both Eastern and Western art is dominated by motifs and ideas. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action, the term painting is also used outside of art as a common trade among craftsmen and builders. What enables painting is the perception and representation of intensity, every point in space has different intensity, which can be represented in painting by black and white and all the gray shades between. In practice, painters can articulate shapes by juxtaposing surfaces of different intensity, thus, the basic means of painting are distinct from ideological means, such as geometrical figures, various points of view and organization, and symbols. In technical drawing, thickness of line is ideal, demarcating ideal outlines of an object within a perceptual frame different from the one used by painters. Color and tone are the essence of painting as pitch and rhythm are the essence of music, color is highly subjective, but has observable psychological effects, although these can differ from one culture to the next. Black is associated with mourning in the West, but in the East, some painters, theoreticians, writers and scientists, including Goethe, Kandinsky, and Newton, have written their own color theory. Moreover, the use of language is only an abstraction for a color equivalent, the word red, for example, can cover a wide range of variations from the pure red of the visible spectrum of light. There is not a register of different colors in the way that there is agreement on different notes in music. For a painter, color is not simply divided into basic, painters deal practically with pigments, so blue for a painter can be any of the blues, phthalocyanine blue, Prussian blue, indigo, cobalt, ultramarine, and so on. Psychological and symbolical meanings of color are not, strictly speaking, colors only add to the potential, derived context of meanings, and because of this, the perception of a painting is highly subjective. The analogy with music is quite clear—sound in music is analogous to light in painting, shades to dynamics and these elements do not necessarily form a melody of themselves, rather, they can add different contexts to it. Modern artists have extended the practice of painting considerably to include, as one example, collage, some modern painters incorporate different materials such as sand, cement, straw or wood for their texture. Examples of this are the works of Jean Dubuffet and Anselm Kiefer, there is a growing community of artists who use computers to paint color onto a digital canvas using programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, and many others. These images can be printed onto traditional canvas if required, rhythm is important in painting as it is in music
Painting
–
The
Mona Lisa, by
Leonardo da Vinci, is one of the most recognizable paintings in the world.
Painting
–
Chen Hongshou (1598–1652), Leaf album painting (
Ming Dynasty)
Painting
–
Circus Sideshow (
French: Parade de cirque),
Georges Seurat, 1887–88
Painting
–
Cave painting of aurochs, (
French: Bos primigenius primigenius),
Lascaux,
France,
prehistoric art
7.
Utrecht School
–
Adam Elsheimer, also in Rome at the same time, was probably also an influence on them. Back in Utrecht, they painted mythological and religious subjects and genre scenes, such as the card-players. It had previously been the centre, after Haarlem, of Northern Mannerist painting in the Netherlands. The brief flourishing of Utrecht Caravaggism ended around 1630 and they left a legacy, however, through their influence on Rembrandts use of chiaroscuro and Gerrit Dous niche paintings
Utrecht School
–
Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan by
Dirck van Baburen (1623) Oil on canvas, 202 x 184 cm.
Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam
Utrecht School
–
Matthias Stomer The
Adoration of the Shepherds, ca. 1635-40, Oil on canvas, 44 5/8 x 63 5/8 in. (113.5 x 161.5 cm.),
North Carolina Museum of Art
Utrecht School
–
Dutch Caravaggisti
8.
Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan
–
Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan is an oil painting of 1623 by Dirck van Baburen of the Utrecht School, and an example of Baroque chiaroscuro. The painting represents a tale from Greco-Roman mythology, mercury, the messenger of the gods, watches the club-footed blacksmith god, Vulcan, punish the bold and cunning Titan Prometheus for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mortals. Prometheuss punishment is to be bound to a rock and to have his liver consumed daily by an eagle, the painting mysteriously has two signatures, the first is a clear signature below the right-hand shoulder of Prometheus. During a restoration of the painting, a signature was discovered at the lower left by his hand. Prometheus is associated with the Greek creation myth in that, in versions, he creates humans from clay
Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan
–
Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan
9.
Wijk bij Duurstede
–
Wijk bij Duurstede is a municipality and a city in the central Netherlands. Cothen Langbroek Wijk bij Duurstede Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Wijk bij Duurstede,2013, the city is located on the Rhine. At Wijk bij Duurstede, the Kromme Rijn branches off, the name Wijk bij Duurstede means Village near Duurstede. Duurstede is the name of the nearby castle/ruin, also called Dorestad, Wijk bij Duurstede is located at the place where Dorestad used to be, an important Frisian trade settlement during Carolingian times, that was pillaged around 850 by the Vikings. Wijk bij Duurstede has the only drive-through wind mill in the world, the mill is often confused with the mill that was made famous by Ruisdaels 1670 painting The windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede. That mill however no longer exists, at the market place of Wijk bij Duurstede is one of the few church towers in the Netherlands with a flat roof, so built because the bishop couldnt afford to build a spire. Inside the tower a picture displays the planned construction of the tower, the tower was supposed to become higher than the Domtoren in Utrecht. Wijk bij Duurstede received city rights in 1300, media related to Wijk bij Duurstede at Wikimedia Commons Official website
Wijk bij Duurstede
–
Aerial view of Wijk bij Duurstede
Wijk bij Duurstede
–
Wijk bij Duurstede
Wijk bij Duurstede
–
Wijk bij Duurstede, street to the churchtower
Wijk bij Duurstede
–
Wijk bij Duurstede, kasteel Duurstede
10.
Utrecht (city)
–
Utrecht is the capital and most populous city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the corner of the Randstad conurbation and is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands with a population of 330,772 in 2014. Utrechts ancient city centre features many buildings and structures several dating as far back as the High Middle Ages and it has been the religious centre of the Netherlands since the 8th century. It lost the status of prince-bishopric but remains the religious center in the country. Utrecht was the most important city in the Netherlands until the Dutch Golden Age, Utrecht is host to Utrecht University, the largest university in the Netherlands, as well as several other institutions of higher education. Due to its position within the country, it is an important transport hub for both rail and road transport. It has the second highest number of events in the Netherlands. In 2012, Lonely Planet included Utrecht in the top 10 of the world’s unsung places, a series of such fortresses was built after the Roman emperor Claudius decided the empire should not expand north. To consolidate the border the limes Germanicus defense line was constructed along the branch of the river Rhine. These fortresses were designed to house a cohort of about 500 Roman soldiers, near the fort settlements would grow housing artisans, traders and soldiers wives and children. In Roman times, the name of the Utrecht fortress was simply Traiectum, Traiectum became Dutch Trecht, with the U from Old Dutch uut added to distinguish U-trecht from Maas-tricht. In 11th-century official documents it was Latinized as Ultra Traiectum, around the year 200, the wooden walls of the fortification were replaced by sturdier tuff stone walls, remnants of which are still to be found below the buildings around Dom Square. From the middle of the 3rd century Germanic tribes regularly invaded the Roman territories, around 275 the Romans could no longer maintain the northern border and Utrecht was abandoned. Little is known about the next period 270–650, Utrecht is first spoken of again several centuries after the Romans left. Under the influence of the realms of the Franks, during Dagobert Is reign in the 7th century. In ongoing border conflicts with the Frisians this first church was destroyed, by the mid-7th century, English and Irish missionaries set out to convert the Frisians. The pope appointed their leader, Willibrordus, bishop of the Frisians, the tenure of Willibrordus is generally considered to be the beginning of the Bishopric of Utrecht. In 723, the Frankish leader Charles Martel bestowed the fortress in Utrecht, from then on Utrecht became one of the most influential seats of power for the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands
Utrecht (city)
–
Aerial view of the
Dom Tower in the city centre
Utrecht (city)
–
Many of the features in
Blaeu 's 1652 map of Utrecht can still be recognised in the city center
Utrecht (city)
–
The
Dom tower, with – to the left behind it – the remaining section of the
Dom church. The two parts have not been connected since the collapse of the nave in 1674.
Utrecht (city)
–
Prince Maurits in Utrecht, 31 July 1618
11.
Utrecht Guild of St. Luke
–
The Utrecht Guild of Saint Luke refers to two artist collectives in Utrecht, the old Catholic Zadelaarsgilde dating from the Middle Ages, as well as the newer Sint Lucas Gilde established in 1611. The first collective was for a number of trades that were connected to the art industry, the second collective was founded for the oil painters after the Protestant Reformation. The Zadelaarsgilde fell under the patron saint Luke the Evangelist and the St. Eloyen guild fell under Saint Eligius, like other Dutch cities, Utrecht required membership in the guilds in order to sell wares falling under those guilds. In the 14th century, the Utrecht saddlemakers, painters, sculptors, book illustrators, and bookbinders were all united in the Zadelaarsgilde. In those days oil painters were just as likely to paint on parchment or harness as on wooden panels or sculptures. Utrecht in the Middle Ages was the largest city in the Northern Netherlands, capital of the Bishopric of Utrecht, with each passing of an archbishop, a new archbishop would be appointed who brought his own artisans to town. Utrecht was thus an important art center and saw many innovations in the arts in general over the centuries. The smiths were split into guilds, one for the gold- and silversmiths under St. Eligius, all three guilds existed well before the 14th century and were led by two dekens, and they were associated with different churches. During the course of the 17th century this slowly changed, in 1639 the oil painters were again reorganized into the Schilderscollege, which effectively forced out the sculptors. In 1717 the city changed the formula from a guild to a society. The task of the society was mostly the running of the school called the Stadstekenacademie that had been held in the St. Hieronymusschool since 1696. In 1814 the name changed again, and it became the Painting and Drawing Society Kunstliefde, the title means love of art and the members tended to apply themselves to the fashionable art of imitating the Dutch masters from the 17th century. Today the society is housed on Nobelstraat 12a in Utrecht. de Hooch
Utrecht Guild of St. Luke
–
Abraham Bloemaert painted this
feast of the gods at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis in 1638.
Utrecht Guild of St. Luke
–
Plaque in memory of the Smith's guild in the
Buurkerk (now the
Museum Speelklok)
12.
Paulus Moreelse
–
Paulus Moreelse was a Dutch painter, mainly of portraits. Moreelse was born and lived most of his life in Utrecht and he was a pupil of the Delft portrait painter Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, who had himself been a pupil of Anthonie van Blocklandt. He took a study-trip to Italy, where he received many portrait commissions, back in Utrecht, in 1596 he became a member of the zadelaarsgilde, which then embraced the painters as well. In 1611, along with Abraham Bloemaert, he was one of the founders of a new painters guild, called St. Lucas-gilde, Moreelse was a well known portrait painter who received commissions from right across the Dutch Republic. His earliest known work dates to 1606, other than portraits, he also painted a few history paintings in the Mannerist style and in the 1620s produced pastoral scenes of herders and shepherds. He belonged to the generation as Abraham Bloemaert and Joachim Wtewael. His version of Diana and Callisto was engraved by Jan Saenredam, in 1618, when the anti-remonstrants came to power in Utrecht, he was expelled from the council. Moreelse was also active as an architect, building Utrechts Catharijnepoort and he taught at Utrechts tekenacademie, and among his many pupils was Dirck van Baburen. On his death, he was buried in the Buurkerk in Utrecht
Paulus Moreelse
–
Self-portrait (c.1630)
Paulus Moreelse
–
Girl at a mirror, (1632)
Paulus Moreelse
–
Portrait of Maria van Utrecht, 1615, 109 x 80,5 cm (
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).
Paulus Moreelse
–
Venus and Cupid, 1617
13.
Rome
–
Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
Rome
Rome
Rome
Rome
14.
David de Haen
–
David de Haen, was a Dutch Caravaggesque painter and draughtsman, active in Rome between 1615 and 1622. According to the Dutch Golden Age biographer Arnold Houbraken, David de Haen was born in Rotterdam, Houbraken got this information from the Flemish biographer Cornelis de Bies Het Gulden Cabinet and did not have any other information about him and his date of birth or death. Houbraken, however, erred about this birth in Rotterdam and mixed his birth details up with those of another artist also named David de Haen who was born in Rotterdam, but did not go to Rome. He was in born in Amsterdam and moved to Rome at a young age where he would remain the rest of his life. He worked with Dirk van Baburen in Rome on the decoration of the chapel of the Pietà in the church of San Pietro in Montorio. In 1619 and the spring of 1620 de Haen and van Baburen were living in the house in the Roman parish of SantAndrea delle Fratte
David de Haen
–
Self portrait (1617-1619), oil on canvas, 65.8 x 51 cm,
private collection
15.
Caravaggio
–
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian painter active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1592 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, in scarcely a year or so’s sojourn in Naples, he rapidly established himself once more as the most prominent painter, exploiting high-ranking connections. It was not long before these connections gave him an opening to travel on in 1607 to Malta, governed by the Order of Knights Hospitallers, Caravaggio probably hoped that the Knights would provide a channel whereby he could obtain a pardon from the Papacy. Once more his talents made an instant impression, along with the support of noble patrons and his hopes dashed, he contrived to escape and flee once, which before the end of 1608 led to his cancellation from the rolls of the Order. He made for Syracuse in Sicily, where he was received as a guest by a friend from his Roman days, the painter’s face was disfigured and rumours started to circulate of his death. Various commentators have formulated opinions about his state from works supposedly executed at this period. In fact, Caravaggio’s end is shrouded in mystery, mystery that is rendered only denser by conflicting hypotheses, some speak of a natural death from a persistent fever, others of an assassination by emissaries of the Knights of Malta. The loss of the paintings put the deal and his future in doubt, there is evidence that dogged by a serious fever, he was tended by a local religious confraternity near Porto Ercole, then in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, but succumbed. His death was certified by them as taking place on 18 July 1610, if the story to this point is exact, it is likely he was buried in a paupers’ common grave. As to the place, though this continues to be contested. Famous while he lived, Caravaggio was forgotten almost immediately after his death, despite this, his influence on the new Baroque style that eventually emerged from the ruins of Mannerism was profound. The 20th-century art historian André Berne-Joffroy claimed, What begins in the work of Caravaggio is, quite simply, modern painting. Caravaggio was born in Milan where his father, Fermo, was an administrator and architect-decorator to the Marchese of Caravaggio. His mother, Lucia Aratori, came from a family of the same district. In 1576 the family moved to Caravaggio to escape a plague which ravaged Milan, Caravaggios mother died in 1584, the same year he began his four-year apprenticeship to the Milanese painter Simone Peterzano, described in the contract of apprenticeship as a pupil of Titian. Following his initial training under Simone Peterzano, in 1592 Caravaggio left Milan for Rome, in flight after certain quarrels, in Rome, where there was a demand for paintings to fill the many huge new churches and palazzos being built at the time. It was also a period when the Church was searching for an alternative to Mannerism in religious art that was tasked to counter the threat of Protestantism. Caravaggios innovation was a radical naturalism that combined close observation with a dramatic, even theatrical
Caravaggio
–
Chalk portrait of Caravaggio by
Ottavio Leoni, circa 1621.
Caravaggio
–
Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (c.1595)
Caravaggio
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The Musicians, 1595–1596,
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York.
Caravaggio
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Basket of Fruit, c. 1595–1596, oil on canvas,
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana,
Milan.
16.
Bartolomeo Manfredi
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Bartolomeo Manfredi was an Italian painter, a leading member of the Caravaggisti of the early 17th century. Manfredi was born in Ostiano, near Cremona, no documented, signed works by Manfredi survive, and several of the forty or so works now attributed to him were formerly believed to be by Caravaggio. Manfredi died in Rome in 1622, gerard Seghers was one of his pupils. Peter Robb, M ISBN 0-312-27474-2 ISBN 0-7475-4858-7 Helen Langdon, Caravaggio, A Life ISBN 0-374-11894-9 Farquhar, wornum, ed. Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters, by a lady. Woodfall & Kinder, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London, bartolomeo Manfredis St John the Baptist and its Mezzotint
Bartolomeo Manfredi
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Tavern Scene with a Lute Player by Bartolomeo Manfredi
Bartolomeo Manfredi
–
Mars Chastising Cupid,
Art Institute of Chicago. Once attributed to Caravaggio, a typical Caravaggesque painting of the type popularised by Manfredi
Bartolomeo Manfredi
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Cain Kills Abel, oil painting by Bartolomeo Manfredi, c. 1600,
Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna)
Bartolomeo Manfredi
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Apollo and Marsyas, oil painting by Bartolomeo Manfredi, 1616-1620,
Saint Louis Art Museum
17.
Vincenzo Giustiniani
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Vincenzos father, Giuseppe Giustiniani, had been the last Genoese ruler of the Aegean island of Chios, which had been a family possession for centuries. In 1566 the island was lost to the Ottomans, and Vincenzo and his elder brother Benedetto were taken by their father to Rome, Giuseppe Giustiniani became a banker, and by his death in 1600 was financier to the Vatican and one of the richest men in Rome. Vincenzo Giustiniani followed his father into the business, while Benedetto entered the Church. Both brothers were art patrons, and the collection they established became one of the most important in its age. Giustiniani followed interests in other fields, writing essays in architecture, music, and art, as well as on such practical matters as hunting, travel. The collection itself was broken up at the beginning of the 19th century, when the king of Prussia acquired over 160 paintings, today the Berlin Gemäldegalerie houses 43 paintings from the Giustinani collection, while other works are to be found in Potsdam’s Neues Palais and Bildergalerie Sanssouci. Further examples can be seen in the National Gallery, London, the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, more paintings from the collection have been traced to collections and museums in Europe and the United States
Vincenzo Giustiniani
–
Vincenzo Giustiniani in a portrait by
Nicolas Régnier (c. 1630)
Vincenzo Giustiniani
–
The Giustiniani head of Apollo (now in the
British Museum)
18.
Scipione Borghese
–
Scipione Borghese was an Italian Cardinal, art collector and patron of the arts. A member of the Borghese family, he was the patron of the painter Caravaggio and his legacy is the establishment of the art collection at the Villa Borghese in Rome. Originally named Scipione Caffarelli, he was born in Artena, the son of Francisco Caffarelli and his father ran into financial difficulties, so Scipiones education was paid for by his maternal uncle Camillo Borghese. Upon Camillos election to the papacy as Pope Paul V in 1605, he conferred a cardinalship on Scipione and gave him the right to use the Borghese name. In the classic pattern of papal nepotism, Cardinal Borghese wielded enormous power as the Popes secretary, on his own and the Popes behalf he amassed an enormous fortune through papal fees and taxes, and acquired vast land holdings for the Borghese family. Scipione received many honours from his uncle, in each of these offices the cardinal received stipends. His income in 1609 was about 90,000 scudi, with his enormous wealth, he bought the villages of Montefortino and Olevano Romano from Pier Francesco Colonna, Duke of Zagarolo for 280,000 scudi. As Cardinal Nephew, Borghese was placed in charge of both the internal and external affairs of the Papal States. In addition, Paul V entrusted his nephew with the management of the finances of both the papacy and the Borghese family, Borghese aroused a great deal of controversy and resentment by utilizing numerous gifts from the papal government to fund Borghese family investments. Exploiting his authority as Cardinal Nephew, he often compelled owners to sell their holdings to him at substantial discounts, Borghese thus ensured that the fortunes of the family were not permanently dependent on ecclesiastical office. Cardinal Scipione Borghese died in Rome in 1633 and is buried in the Borghese chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore, contemporaries commented on the near-public scandals that resulted on occasions from Scipiones possible homosexuality, reflected in his taste for collecting art with strong homoerotic overtones. In 1605, Scipione allegedly angered his uncle the pope by bringing Stefano Pignatelli, to whom Scipione was closely attached, Scipione subsequently fell into a long and serious sickness, and only recovered when Pignatelli was allowed to come. The pope decided to keep a check on Pignatelli and had him ordained, indeed, the Italian historian Lorenzo Cardella notes that Pignatelli was cleared twice by the Roman Inquisition of having improper influence on Cardinal Borghese. Borghese took special interest in the development of the extensive gardens undertaken by artists at his Roman residences, the Palazzo Borghese on the Quirinal. Both these influential gardens featured innovative elements such as waterfalls, and they incorporated dense groves of trees, during the Ludovisi papacy the major focus of Borghese’s ecclesiastical patronage was on commemorative projects. The first was the embellishment of the Caffarelli chapel in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, the second was the massive timber catafalque decorated with life-size plaster figures designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, erected in Santa Maria Maggiore. Borghese’s first work after entering the Sacred College where he studied was the building and decoration of the chapels of St. Andrew. For Borghese to complete such a project declared his devotion to the city’s Christian heritage, the restoration of San Sebastiano fuori le mura, a church built under Constantine housing the greatest collection of relics known at the time
Scipione Borghese
–
Scipione Borghese
Scipione Borghese
–
The Villa Borghese
Scipione Borghese
–
San Crisogono
Scipione Borghese
–
Apollo and Daphne, Bernini commission (Galleria Borghese, Rome)
19.
San Pietro in Montorio
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San Pietro in Montorio is a church in Rome, Italy, which includes in its courtyard the Tempietto, a small commemorative martyrium built by Donato Bramante. The Church of San Pietro in Montorio was built on the site of an earlier 9th-century church dedicated to Saint Peter on Romes Janiculum hill, according to tradition, it was the site of his crucifixion. In the 15th century, the ruins were given to the Amadist friars, a branch of the Franciscans, founded by the Blessed Amadeus of Portugal. Commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain and it is a titular church, whose current title holder, since 1 March 2008, is Cardinal James Francis Stafford. The church is decorated with artworks by prominent 16th- and 17th-century masters, the first chapel on the right contains Sebastiano del Piombos Flagellation and Transfiguration. Michelangelo, who had befriended Sebastiano in Rome, supplied figure drawings that were incorporated into the Flagellation, the second chapel has a fresco by Niccolò Circignani, some Renaissance frescoes from the school of Pinturicchio, and an allegorical sibyl and virtue attributed to Baldassarre Peruzzi. The fourth chapel has a fresco by Giorgio Vasari. The ceiling of the chapel contains another fresco, the Conversion of St. Paul. The altarpiece is attributed to Giulio Mazzoni, while the monument of Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte, Cardinal Giovanni Maria Del Monte. Until 1797, Raphaels final masterpiece, the Transfiguration graced the high altar, the altar currently displays a copy by Cammuccini of Guido Renis Crucifixion of St. Peter. The last chapel on the left contains a Baptism of Christ, attributed to Daniele da Volterra, a pupil of Antoniazzo Romano frescoed the third chapel with the Saint Anne, Virgin, and Child. Dirck van Baburen, a figure of the Dutch Caravaggisti, painted the Entombment for the Pietà Chapel. Baburen worked with another Dutch artist, David de Haen in this chapel, the two other paintings, The Mocking of Christ and The Agony in the Garden are variously attributed to either or both of the artists. The second chapel on the left, the Raimondi Chapel, was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and it includes Francesco Barattas Saint Francis in Ecstasy and sculptures by Andrea Bolgi and Niccolò Sale. Rory ODonnell, Lord Tyrconnell, died in 1608, his brother Cathbharr and Hugh, the cause of death in all cases was fever, probably malaria. Their tombs are covered with marble inscribed slabs with coloured borders, crests and they are about 12 feet from the altar on the left as you face it and are normally covered by a carpet. Hugh ONeill, Earl of Tyrone, himself died in 1616 and was buried in the church with much less solemnity, the original simple tombstone was lost in about 1849, but the text of the short inscription was copied, D. O. M. In 1989, Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich laid a new plaque with the same inscription in approximately the original place
San Pietro in Montorio
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San Pietro in Montorio
San Pietro in Montorio
–
The Tempietto within a narrow courtyard.
San Pietro in Montorio
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Francesco Baratta. Saint Francis in Ecstasy, c. 1640. Raimondi Chapel, San Pietro in Montorio.
San Pietro in Montorio
–
Facade of San Pietro in Montorio, with entrance to the cloister at right.
20.
Bentvueghels
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The Bentvueghels were a society of mostly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome from about 1620 to 1720. They are also known as the Schildersbent, the members, which included painters, etchers, sculptors and poets, all lived in different parts of the city and came together for social and intellectual reasons. The group was known for its drunken, Bacchic initiation rituals. These celebrations, sometimes lasting up to 24 hours, concluded with group marching to the church of Santa Costanza, there they made libations to Bacchus before the porphyry sarcophagus of Constantina, which was considered to be his tomb because of its Bacchic motifs. A list of its members may still be seen in one of this churchs side chapels and this practice was finally banned by Pope Clement XI in 1720. Although predominantly made up of Flemish and Dutch artists, a few members were admitted, including Joachim von Sandrart. Despite the rowdy nature of these initiations, a quality was maintained. Also Cornelis de Bruijn wrote about the rituals he had to undergo in 1674 and made some engravings, the Bentvueghels were frequently at odds with Romes Accademia di San Luca, which had the purpose of elevating the work of artists above that of craftsman. For this reason, before setting off for Italy, artists would first try to become members in their local Guild of St. Luke so they would have papers to show on arrival. Travel to Italy became a rite of passage for young Dutch, often encompassing a difficult and in many cases dangerous journey, artists would spend years getting to Italy, using their artistic talents to pay their way. Many never made it all the way to Italy, and many never attempted the trip back once they got there, on arrival, many artists were therefore fairly established thanks to their work experience done along the way. However, equally many were still young and unknown, traditionally, the low-brow qualities of the Bentvueghels activities have been emphasized over their intellectual and artistic pursuits. Artists such as Pieter van Laer, however, belonged to both organisations, whenever possible, he gives the nickname or bent of the painter in his biographical sketches. The original members of the group were depicted in a series of drawings made around 1620. Among those appearing in the drawings are Cornelis van Poelenburch, Bartholomeus Breenbergh, Dirck van Baburen, Paulus Bor, Cornelis Schut and Simon Ardé. Upon initiation, members were given aliases that were often classical gods and heroes, such as Bacchus, Cupid, Hector, Meleager, Cephalus, Pyramus, Orpheus, sometimes, however, the aliases were witty or semi-obscene in keeping with the general activities of the society. Some of the information here is taken from the corresponding Dutch article about the Bentvueghels, haskell, Francis, Patrons and Painters, Art and Society in Baroque Italy, Yale University Press,1980. ISBN 0-300-02537-8 Kilian, Jennifer M. Jan Baptist Weenix, Grove Art Online, the Bentvueghels, Bande Académique, in IL60, Essays Honoring Irving Lavin on his Sixtieth Birthday, ed. Marilyn Aronberg Lavin
Bentvueghels
–
Anonymous, ca 1660,
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam – Initiation of a Bentvueghel in Rome, where the new member receives his nickname or " Bent "
Bentvueghels
–
Anonymous drawing in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. From left to right: Joost from The Hague (bent-name Schotsen trommel),
Cornelis (Poelenburgh) from Utrecht (bent-name Satier),
Wouter (Crabeth) from Gou (bent-name Almanack),
Tyman (Cracht) from Emster (bent-name Botterkull) and Peter from
Leiden (bent-name Ram).
Bentvueghels
–
Bentvueghels in a Roman Tavern, by Pieter van Laer
21.
Genre works
–
Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, and street scenes. Such representations may be realistic, imagined, or romanticized by the artist, some variations of the term genre art specify the medium or type of visual work, as in genre painting, genre prints, genre photographs, and so on. Rather confusingly, the meaning of genre, covering any particular combination of an artistic medium. Painting was divided into a hierarchy of genres, with painting at the top, as the most difficult and therefore prestigious. But history paintings are a genre in painting, not genre works, the following concentrates on painting, but genre motifs were also extremely popular in many forms of the decorative arts, especially from the Rococo of the early 18th century onwards. Single figures or small groups decorated a huge variety of such as porcelain, furniture, wallpaper. Genre painting, also called genre scene or petit genre, depicts aspects of life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. A work would often be considered as a genre work even if it could be shown that the artist had used a known member of his family. In this case it would depend on whether the work was likely to have intended by the artist to be perceived as a portrait—sometimes a subjective question. The depictions can be realistic, imagined, or romanticized by the artist, because of their familiar and frequently sentimental subject matter, genre paintings have often proven popular with the bourgeoisie, or middle class. Genre themes appear in all art traditions. These were part of a pattern of Mannerist inversion in Antwerp painting, giving low elements previously in the background of images prominent emphasis. The generally small scale of these paintings was appropriate for their display in the homes of middle class purchasers. Often the subject of a painting was based on a popular emblem from an Emblem book. The merry company showed a group of figures at a party, other common types of scenes showed markets or fairs, village festivities, or soldiers in camp. In Italy, a school of painting was stimulated by the arrival in Rome of the Dutch painter Pieter van Laer in 1625. He acquired the nickname Il Bamboccio and his followers were called the Bamboccianti, whose works would inspire Giacomo Ceruti, Antonio Cifrondi, jean-Baptiste Greuze and others painted detailed and rather sentimental groups or individual portraits of peasants that were to be influential on 19th-century painting. Spain had a tradition predating The Book of Good Love of social observation and commentary based on the Old Roman Latin tradition, practiced by many of its painters and illuminators
Genre works
–
The Idle Servant; housemaid troubles were the subject of several of
Nicolaes Maes ' works
Genre works
–
Peasant Dance, c. 1568, oil on wood, by
Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Genre works
–
Merry company, by Dirck Hals
Genre works
–
Interior with woman by
Wybrand Hendriks
22.
Hendrick ter Brugghen
–
Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen was a painter at the start of Dutch Golden Age painting and a leading member of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio–the so-called Utrecht Caravaggisti. Along with Gerrit van Hondhorst and Dirck van Baburen, Ter Brugghen was one of the most important Dutch painters to have influenced by Caravaggio. No references to Ter Brugghen written during his life have been identified and his father Jan Egbertsz ter Brugghen, originally from Overijssel, had moved to Utrecht, where he was appointed secretary to the Court of Utrecht by the Prince of Orange, William the Silent. He had been married to Sophia Dircx, in 1588 he became bailiff to the Provincial Council of Holland in The Hague, where Hendrick was born. The earliest brief reference to the painter is in Het Gulden Cabinet of Cornelis de Bie, another short account is found in the Teutsche Academie by Joachim von Sandrart, where he is referred to as Verbrug. Here we learn that he studied with Abraham Bloemaert, a Mannerist painter, Sandrart also refers to the painters tiefsinnige, jedoch, schwermütige Gedanken in seinen Werken. From this unsure footing, the artists son Richard ter Brugghen sought to rehabilitate his fathers reputation as a painter in the early 18th century and he secured a letter, dated 15 April 1707, from Adriaen van der Werff in Rotterdam, attesting to his appreciation of Hendricks work. Later that year, on 5 August 1707, Richard presented the government council of Deventer with four paintings of the Evangelists, to be hung in the Town Hall as a permanent memorial to his father. An engraving, in all likelihood commissioned by Richard ter Brugghen from Pieter Bodart and this would certainly mean that he never met Caravaggio in Rome, that artist had fled Rome on a murder charge in 1606. However, it is certain that he was the only Dutch painter in Rome during Caravaggios lifetime, by 1614, Ter Brugghen was in Milan, on his way home. On 1 April 1615, Thyman van Galen and Ter Brugghen are witnesses before the court in Utrecht and he is already listed as a member of the Utrecht painters guild in 1616, and on 15 October of that year he married Jacomijna Verbeeck, his elder brother Jans stepdaughter. Ter Brugghen died in Utrecht on 1 November 1629, possibly a victim of the plague, the family had been living in the Snippenvlucht. Ter Brugghens last child of eight, Hennickgen, was four months later on 14 March 1630. He certainly studied Caravaggios work, as well as that of his followers–the Italian Caravaggisti–such as Orazio Gentileschi, Caravaggios work had caused quite a sensation in Italy. Other Italian painters who had an influence on Ter Brugghen during his stay in Italy were Annibale Carracci, Domenichino, upon returning to Utrecht, he worked with Gerard van Honthorst, another of the Dutch Caravaggisti. Ter Brugghens favourite subjects were half-length figures of drinkers or musicians and he carried with him Caravaggios influence, and his paintings have a strong dramatic use of light and shadow, as well as emotionally charged subjects. Even though he died young, his work was received and had great influence on others. His treatment of subjects can be seen reflected in the work of Rembrandt
Hendrick ter Brugghen
–
Pieter Bodart's Portrait of Henric Ter Brugghen (1708), engraving after a lost drawing by
Gerard Hoet, 15.8 x 10.6 cm
Hendrick ter Brugghen
–
Bacchante with an Ape (1627), 100 x 90 cm,
Getty Museum,
Los Angeles
Hendrick ter Brugghen
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Christ Crowned with Thorns (1620), 240 x 207 cm,
Statens Museum for Kunst,
Copenhagen
Hendrick ter Brugghen
–
The Supper at Emmaus (1621), 109 x 141 cm,
Sanssouci Picture Gallery,
Berlin
23.
Gerard van Honthorst
–
Gerard van Honthorst was a Dutch Golden Age painter who became especially noted for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickname Gherardo delle Notti. Early in his career he visited Rome, where he had great success painting in a style influenced by Caravaggio, following his return to the Netherlands he became a leading portrait painter. Honthorst was born in Utrecht, the son of a painter, and trained under his father. Having completed his education, Honthorst went to Italy, where he is first recorded in 1616 and he was one the artists from Utrecht who went to Rome at around this time, all of whom were to be deeply influenced by the recent art they encountered there. They were named the Utrecht caravaggisti, the other three were Dirk van Baburen, Hendrick ter Bruggen and Jan van Bijlert. In Rome he lodged at the palace of Vincenzo Giustiniani, where he painted Christ Before the High Priest, now in the National Gallery, Giustiniani had an important art collection, and Honthorst was especially influenced by the contemporary artists, notably Caravaggio, Bartolomeo Manfredi and the Carracci. He was especially noted for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, cardinal Scipione Borghese became another important patron, securing important commissions for him at San Silvestro Della Mariro, Montecompatri, and at Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome. He also worked for Cosimo II de Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Honthorst returned to Utrecht in 1620, and went on to build a considerable reputation both in the Dutch Republic and abroad. In 1623, the year of his marriage, he was president of the Guild of St. Luke in Utrecht and he soon became so fashionable that Sir Dudley Carleton, then English envoy at The Hague, recommended his works to the Earl of Arundel and Lord Dorchester. In 1626 Honthorst hosted a dinner for Rubens, and painted him as the honest man sought for, through her he became known to Charles, who invited him to England in 1628. He painted a more intimate group portrait of The Four Eldest Children of the King of Bohemia, in which the two eldest are depicted as Diana and Apollo. After his return to Utrecht, Honthorst retained the patronage of the English monarch, painting for him, in 1631, at around the same time he painted some pictures illustrating the Odyssey for Lord Dorchester, and some showing incidents of Danish history for Christian IV of Denmark. He also painted a portrait of the kings daughter Countess Leonora while she was in the Hague and his popularity in the Netherlands was such that he opened a second studio in the Hague, where he painted portraits of members of the court, and taught drawing. His brother Willem van Honthorst was also a portrait painter, many of Willems paintings were previously misattributed to Gerrit due to the similarity if their signatures. Willem was a pupil of Abraham Bloemaert, and was taught by his own elder brother. In 1646 he went to Berlin, where he became painter to Louise-Henriette. He returned to Utrecht in 1664, Honthorst is often referred to as Gherardo delle notti by modern Italians. However, the nickname does not actually appear in any known Italian sources dating before Honthorsts death and it was only in the 18th century that the nickname Gherardo delle notti came into widespread use
Gerard van Honthorst
–
Gerard van Honthorst - Granida and Daifilo
Gerard van Honthorst
–
Gerard van Honthorst in
Het Gulden Cabinet p 165
Gerard van Honthorst
–
The Concert, 1623,
National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)
Gerard van Honthorst
–
The Matchmaker, showing the use of Carravagesque
24.
Utrecht Caravaggism
–
Adam Elsheimer, also in Rome at the same time, was probably also an influence on them. Back in Utrecht, they painted mythological and religious subjects and genre scenes, such as the card-players. It had previously been the centre, after Haarlem, of Northern Mannerist painting in the Netherlands. The brief flourishing of Utrecht Caravaggism ended around 1630 and they left a legacy, however, through their influence on Rembrandts use of chiaroscuro and Gerrit Dous niche paintings
Utrecht Caravaggism
–
Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan by
Dirck van Baburen (1623) Oil on canvas, 202 x 184 cm.
Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam
Utrecht Caravaggism
–
Matthias Stomer The
Adoration of the Shepherds, ca. 1635-40, Oil on canvas, 44 5/8 x 63 5/8 in. (113.5 x 161.5 cm.),
North Carolina Museum of Art
Utrecht Caravaggism
–
Dutch Caravaggisti
25.
Museum Speelklok
–
Museum Speelklok is a museum in Utrecht, The Netherlands. It has a collection of playing musical instruments, most of which still work. Among the instruments on display are music boxes, musical clocks, pianolas, barrel organs, the word speelklok means musical clock. Over the years the museum has become popular nationwide and also internationally, the museums restoration workshops are a leader in their field, and are known for their excellent standards. The museum had its origins in an exhibition of mechanical organs, the great success of this led to the creation of a permanent national museum dedicated to mechanical musical instruments. In 1984 the museums present housing in the central medieval Buurkerk was officially opened by Queen Beatrix, for its 50-year Jubilee in 2006 the museum held a special exhibition, Royal Music Machines
Museum Speelklok
–
Replica of a 1598 musical clock by Nicholas Vallin, that plays its music on 13 bells
Museum Speelklok
–
Plaque in memory of the
Smith's guild in the
Buurkerk (near the museum reception desk)
26.
Constantijn Huygens
–
Sir Constantijn Huygens, Lord of Zuilichem, was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was secretary to two Princes of Orange, Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist Christiaan Huygens. Constantijn Huygens was born in The Hague, the son of Christiaan Huygens, secretary of the Council of State. Constantijn was a child in his youth. His brother Maurits and he were educated partly by their father, when he was five years old, Constantijn and his brother received their first musical education. They started with singing lessons, and they learned their notes using gold colored buttons on their jackets and it is striking, that Christiaan senior imparted the modern system of 7 note names to the boys, instead of the traditional, but much more complicated hexachord system. Two years later the first lessons on the viol started, followed by the lute, Constantijn showed a particular acumen for the lute. Constantijn also had a talent for languages and he learned French, Latin and Greek, and at a later age Italian and English. He learned by practice, the way of learning techniques. Constantijn received education in maths, law and logic and he learned how to handle a pike, in 1614 Constantijn wrote his first Dutch poem, inspired by the French poet Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, in which he praises rural life. In his early 20s, he fell in love with Dorothea, however their relationship did not last, in 1616, Maurits and Constantijn started studies at Leiden University. Studying in Leiden was primarily seen as a way to build a social network, shortly after, Maurits was called home to assist his father. Constantijn finished his studies in 1617 and returned home and this was followed by six weeks of training with Antonis de Hubert, a lawyer in Zierikzee. In the Spring of 1618 Constantijn found employment with Sir Dudley Carleton, in the summer, he stayed in London in the house of the Dutch ambassador, Noël de Caron. During his time in London his social circle widened and he learned to speak English. In 1620, towards the end of the Twelve Years Truce, he travelled as a secretary of ambassador François van Aerssen to Venice and he was the only member of the legation who could speak Italian. In December 1621 he left with another delegation, this time with the aim of requesting support for the United Provinces, returning after a year, there was yet another trip to England in 1624. In 1619 Constantijn came into contact with Anna Roemers Visscher and with Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Huygens exchanged many poems with Anna
Constantijn Huygens
–
Constantijn Huygens (1623)
Constantijn Huygens
–
Drawing of the Zee-straet
27.
The Entombment of Christ (Caravaggio)
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A copy of the painting is now in the chapel, and the original is in the Vatican Pinacoteca. The painting has been copied by artists as diverse as Rubens, Fragonard, Géricault, on 11 July 1575, Pope Gregory XIII issued a bull confirming the formation of a new society called the Oratory and granting it the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella. Two months after the bull, the rebuilding of the church commenced, envisaged in the planned reconstruction of the Chiesa Nuova, as it became known, was the dedication of all the altars to the mysteries of the Virgin. The Entombment was probably planned and begun in 1602/3, the chapel in which the Entombment was to be hung, was dedicated to the Pietà, and was founded by Pietro Vittrice, a friend of Pope Gregory XIII and close follower of Filippo Neri. The Capella della Pietà occupied a position in the Chiesa Nuova. The chapel, placed in the nave of the Chiesa Nuova, was conceded to Vittrice in June 1577. Indeed, on 1 September 1604, it is described as new in a document recording that it had paid for by Girolamo Vittrice, Pietros nephew. Girolamo Vittrice had a connection with Caravaggio, in August 1586 he married Orinzia di Lucio Orsi, the sister of Caravaggios friend Prospero Orsi. Aurelio, in turn, was a mentor to the young Maffeo Barberini. The painting was admired and written about by such critics as Giulio Mancini, Giovanni Baglione, Gian Pietro Bellori. The painting was taken to Paris in 1797 for the Musée Napoléon, returned to Rome, as the viewers eye descends from the gloom there is, too, a descent from the hysteria of Mary of Clopas through subdued emotion to death as the final emotional silencing. Unlike the gored post-crucifixion Jesus in morbid Spanish displays, Italian Christs die generally bloodlessly, as if emphasizing the dead Christs inability to feel pain, a hand enters the wound at his side. His body is one of a muscled, veined, thick-limbed laborer rather than the usual, John the Evangelist, identified only by his youthful appearance and red cloak supports the dead Christ on his right knee and with his right arm, inadvertently opening the wound. Nicodemus grasps the knees in his arms, with his feet planted at the edge of the slab, Caravaggio balances the stable, dignified position of the body and the unstable exertions of the bearers. While faces are important in painting generally, in Caravaggio it is important always to note where the arms are pointing, skyward in The Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus, towards Levi in The Calling of Saint Matthew. Here, the dead Gods fallen arm and immaculate shroud touch stone, in some ways, that was the message of Christ, God come to earth, and mankind reconciled with the heavens. As usual, even with his works of highest devotion, Caravaggio never fails to ground himself, in the center is Mary Magdalene, drying her tears with a white handkerchief, face shadowed. Tradition held that the Virgin Mary be depicted as eternally young, but here Caravaggio paints the Virgin as an old woman
The Entombment of Christ (Caravaggio)
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The Entombment of Christ
The Entombment of Christ (Caravaggio)
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Michelangelo 's
Pietà (1498–1499),
St. Peter's Basilica,
Vatican City.
The Entombment of Christ (Caravaggio)
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Michelangelo's Florentine Pietà (1547–1553), Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
The Entombment of Christ (Caravaggio)
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Raphael's Depostion (1507),
Galleria Borghese, Rome
28.
Vatican Museums
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The Vatican Museums are the museums of the Vatican City and are located within the citys boundaries. The museums contain roughly 70,000 works, of which 20,000 are on display, and currently employ 640 people who work in 40 different administrative, scholarly, Pope Julius II founded the museums in the early 16th century. The Sistine Chapel, with its ceiling decorated by Michelangelo and the Stanze di Raffaello decorated by Raphael, are on the route through the Vatican Museums. In 2013, they were visited by 6 million people, which combined makes it the 6th most visited art museum in the world, there are 54 galleries, or sale, in total, with the Sistine Chapel, notably, being the very last sala within the Museum. It is one of the largest museums in the world, in 2017, the Museums official website and social media presence was completely redone, in accord with current standards and appearances for modern websites. Pope Julius II sent Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo Buonarroti, who were working at the Vatican, on their recommendation, the pope immediately purchased the sculpture from the vineyard owner. The pope put the sculpture of Laocoön and his sons on public display at the Vatican exactly one month after its discovery, the Museum Christianum was founded by Benedict XIV, and some of the Vatican collections formed the Lateran Museum, which Pius IX founded by decree in 1854. The Museums celebrated their 500th anniversary in October 2006 by permanently opening the excavations of a Vatican Hill necropolis to the public, on 1 January 2017 Barbara Jatta became the Director of the Vatican Museums, replacing Antonio Paolucci who had been director since 2007. The art gallery was housed in the Borgia Apartment until Pope Pius XI ordered construction of a proper building, the new building, designed by Luca Beltrami, was inaugurated on 27 October 1932. The museum has paintings including, Giottos Stefaneschi Triptych Olivuccio di Ciccarello, Opere di Misericordia Raphaels Madonna of Foligno, Oddi Altarpiece, the group of museums includes several sculpture museums surrounding the Cortile del Belvedere. The museum takes its name from two popes, Clement XIV and Pius VI, the pope who brought the museum to completion, Clement XIV came up with the idea of creating a new museum in Innocent VIIIs Belvedere palace and started the refurbishment work. Pope Clement XIV founded the Pio-Clementino museum in 1771, and originally it contained the Renaissance, the museum and collection were enlarged by Clements successor Pius VI. Today, the museum works of Greek and Roman sculpture. Some notable galleries are, Greek Cross Gallery, with the porphyri sarcophagi of Constance and Saint Helen, daughter and mother of Constantine the Great. Sala Rotonda, shaped like a miniature Pantheon, the room has impressive ancient mosaics on the floors, Gallery of the Statues, as its name implies, holds various important statues, including Sleeping Ariadne and the bust of Menander. It also contains the Barberini Candelabra, Gallery of the Busts, Many ancient busts are displayed. Cabinet of the Masks, The name comes from the mosaic on the floor of the gallery, found in Villa Adriana, along the walls, several famous statues are shown including the Three Graces. One wove the thread of life, second nurtured it, third cut it. The center piece is Belvedere Torso, revered by Michelangelo and other Renaissance men, sala degli Animali, So named because of the many ancient statues of animals
Vatican Museums
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Sculptures above the entrance of museums
Vatican Museums
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Spiral stairs of the Vatican Museums, designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1932.
Vatican Museums
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The New Wing, Braccio Nuovo built by Raphael Stern
Vatican Museums
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The
Prima Porta Augustus
29.
Borghese Gallery
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The Galleria Borghese is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the building was integrated with its gardens. The Galleria Borghese houses a part of the Borghese collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese. The Villa was built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese himself, who used it as a villa suburbana, other paintings of note include Titians Sacred and Profane Love, Raphaels Entombment of Christ and works by Peter Paul Rubens and Federico Barocci. The Casina Borghese lies on the outskirts of seventeenth-century Rome, by 1644, John Evelyn described it as an Elysium of delight with Fountains of sundry inventions, Groves and small Rivulets of Water. Evelyn also described the Vivarium that housed ostriches, peacocks, swans and cranes, in 1808, Prince Camillo Borghese, Napoleons brother-in-law, was forced to sell the Borghese Roman sculptures and antiquities to the Emperor. The result is that the Borghese Gladiator, renowned since the 1620s as the most admired single sculpture in Villa Borghese, the Borghese Hermaphroditus is also now in the Louvre. The Borghese villa was modified and extended down the years, eventually being sold to the Italian government in 1902, along with the entire Borghese estate and surrounding gardens, the Galleria Borghese includes twenty rooms across two floors. The main floor is devoted to classical antiquities of the 1st–3rd centuries AD. In addition, several portrait busts are included in the gallery, including one of Pope Paul V, the second Scipione Borghese portrait was produced after a large crack was discovered in the marble of the first version during its creation. Official website Amor sacro e amor profano Description of the painting, Roman Map of the area with related services
Borghese Gallery
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Galleria Borghese
Borghese Gallery
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Sacred and Profane Love by Titian. c. 1514
Borghese Gallery
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Truth Unveiled by Time by Bernini. c. 1645-1652
Borghese Gallery
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Apollo and Daphne by Bernini. c. 1622
30.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
Berlin
Berlin
Berlin
Berlin
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