1.
Peter Paul Rubens
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Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish/Netherlandish draughtsman and painter. He is widely considered as the most notable artist of Flemish Baroque art school, the catalogue of his works by Michael Jaffé lists 1,403 pieces, excluding numerous copies made in his workshop. His commissioned works were mostly history paintings, which included religious and mythological subjects and he painted portraits, especially of friends, and self-portraits, and in later life painted several landscapes. Rubens designed tapestries and prints, as well as his own house and he also oversaw the ephemeral decorations of the royal entry into Antwerp by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand in 1635. His drawings are mostly extremely forceful but not overly detailed and he also made great use of oil sketches as preparatory studies. For altarpieces he painted on slate to reduce reflection problems. Rubens was born in the city of Siegen to Jan Rubens and he was named in honour of Saint-Peter and Paul, because he was born on their solemnety. His father, a Calvinist, and mother fled Antwerp for Cologne in 1568, after increased religious turmoil and persecution of Protestants during the rule of the Spanish Netherlands by the Duke of Alba. Jan Rubens became the adviser of Anna of Saxony, the second wife of William I of Orange. Following Jan Rubens imprisonment for the affair, Peter Paul Rubens was born in 1577, the family returned to Cologne the next year. In 1589, two years after his fathers death, Rubens moved with his mother Maria Pypelincks to Antwerp, religion figured prominently in much of his work and Rubens later became one of the leading voices of the Catholic Counter-Reformation style of painting. In Antwerp, Rubens received a Renaissance humanist education, studying Latin, by fourteen he began his artistic apprenticeship with Tobias Verhaeght. Subsequently, he studied under two of the leading painters of the time, the late Mannerist artists Adam van Noort. Much of his earliest training involved copying earlier works, such as woodcuts by Hans Holbein the Younger. Rubens completed his education in 1598, at time he entered the Guild of St. Luke as an independent master. In 1600 Rubens travelled to Italy and he stopped first in Venice, where he saw paintings by Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto, before settling in Mantua at the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga. The colouring and compositions of Veronese and Tintoretto had an effect on Rubenss painting. With financial support from the Duke, Rubens travelled to Rome by way of Florence in 1601, there, he studied classical Greek and Roman art and copied works of the Italian masters
2.
Antwerp Cathedral
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The Cathedral of Our Lady is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium. Todays see of the Diocese of Antwerp started in 1352 and, in Gothic style, its architects were Jan and Pieter Appelmans. It contains a number of significant works by the Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens, as well as paintings by such as Otto van Veen, Jacob de Backer. The belfry of the cathedral is included in the Belfries of Belgium, where the cathedral now stands, there was a small chapel of Our Lady from the 9th to the 12th century, which acquired the status of parish church in 1124. During the course of the century, it was replaced by a larger Romanesque church. In 1352, construction was begun on a new Our Lady’s church which would become the largest Gothic church in the Netherlands, in the beginning, it was to be provided with two towers of equal height. In 1521, after nearly 170 years, the new church of Our Lady was ready, the south tower reached only as far as the third string course. During the night of 5–6 October 1533, the new church was gutted by fire. The completion of the tower was therefore delayed, which led to its ultimate postponement. Moreover, the church only became cathedral of the bishopric of Antwerp in 1559 but lost this title again from 1801 to 1961, during the Iconoclasm of 20 August 1566, Protestants destroyed a large part of the cathedral interior. Later, when Antwerp came under Protestant administration in 1581, a number of treasures were once again destroyed, removed or sold. The restoration of Roman Catholic authority came in 1585 with the fall of Antwerp, in 1794 the French revolutionaries who conquered the region plundered Our Lady’s Cathedral and inflicted serious damage. Around 1798, the French administration intended to demolish the building but after each blow, in 1816, various important works of art were returned from Paris, including three Rubens masterpieces. And over the course of the 19th century, the church was restored and refurnished. Between 1965 and 1993, a restoration took place. At the beginning of the 15th century, the choir started developing an active musical life, and as a result. Johannes Ockeghem, one of the most important composers of the 15th century, served here as a vicar-singer in 1443, from 1725 to 1731 Willem de Fesch served as Kapelmeester followed from 1731 to 1737 by Joseph-Hector Fiocco. Lesser known, but locally important figures, such as Jacobus Barbireau and Andreas Pevernage, the churchs one finished spire is 123 metres high, the highest church tower in the Benelux
3.
Triptych
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A triptych is a work of art that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works, the middle panel is typically the largest and it is flanked by two smaller related works, although there are triptychs of equal-sized panels. The form can also be used for pendant jewelry, despite its connection to an art format, the term is sometimes used more generally to connote anything with three parts, particularly if they are integrated into a single unit. The triptych form arises from early Christian art, and was a standard format for altar paintings from the Middle Ages onwards. Its geographical range was from the eastern Byzantine churches to the Celtic churches in the west, renaissance painters such as Hans Memling and Hieronymus Bosch used the form. Triptych forms also allow ease of transport, from the Gothic period onward, both in Europe and elsewhere, altarpieces in churches and cathedrals were often in triptych form. One such cathedral with an altarpiece triptych is Llandaff Cathedral, the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, Belgium, contains two examples by Rubens, and Notre Dame de Paris is another example of the use of triptych in architecture. One can also see the form echoed by the structure of many stained glass windows. Although strongly identified as a form, triptychs outside that context have been created, some of the best-known examples being works by Hieronymus Bosch, Max Beckmann. The then highest price paid for an artwork at auction was $142.4 million for a 1969 triptych, Three Studies of Lucian Freud. The record was broken in May 2015 by $179.4 million for Pablo Picassos 1955 painting Les Femmes d’Alger, the format has migrated and been used in other religions, including Islam and Buddhism. Likewise, Tibetan Buddhists have used it in traditional altars, a photographic triptych is a common style used in modern commercial artwork. The photographs are arranged with a plain border between them. The work may consist of images that are variants on a theme
4.
Flanders
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Flanders is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium, although there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, language, politics and history. It is one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, the demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming, while the corresponding adjective is Flemish. The official capital of Flanders is Brussels, although Brussels itself has an independent regional government, in historical contexts, Flanders originally refers to the County of Flanders, which around AD1000 stretched from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the area was made two political entities, the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region. These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a cultural mandate, covers Brussels. Flanders has figured prominently in European history, as a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Belgium was one of the centres of the 19th century industrial revolution, geographically, Flanders is generally flat, and has a small section of coast on the North Sea. Much of Flanders is agriculturally fertile and densely populated, with a density of almost 500 people per square kilometer. It touches France to the west near the coast, and borders the Netherlands to the north and east, the Brussels Capital Region is an enclave within the Flemish Region. Flanders has exclaves of its own, Voeren in the east is between Wallonia and the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in the consists of 22 exclaves surrounded by the Netherlands. It comprises 6.5 million Belgians who consider Dutch to be their mother tongue, the political subdivisions of Belgium, the Flemish Region and the Flemish Community. The first does not comprise Brussels, whereas the latter does comprise the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels, the political institutions that govern both subdivisions, the operative body Flemish Government and the legislative organ Flemish Parliament. The two westernmost provinces of the Flemish Region, West Flanders and East Flanders, forming the central portion of the historic County of Flanders, a feudal territory that existed from the 8th century until its absorption by the French First Republic. Until the 1600s, this county also extended over parts of France, one of the regions conquered by the French in Flanders, namely French Flanders in the Nord department. French Flanders can be divided into two regions, Walloon Flanders and Maritime Flanders. The first region was predominantly French-speaking already in the 1600s, the latter became so in the 20th century, the city of Lille identifies itself as Flemish, and this is reflected, for instance, in the name of its local railway station TGV Lille Flandres. The region conquered by the Dutch Republic in Flanders, now part of the Dutch province of Zeeland, the significance of the County of Flanders and its counts eroded through time, but the designation remained in a very broad sense. In the Early modern period, the term Flanders was associated with the part of the Low Countries
5.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
6.
Italian Renaissance
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The term Renaissance is in essence a modern one that came into currency in the 19th century, in the work of historians such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt. The French word renaissance means Rebirth, and the era is best known for the renewed interest in the culture of classical antiquity after the period that Renaissance humanists labeled the Dark Ages. Though today perhaps best known for Italian Renaissance art and architecture, the period saw major achievements in literature, music, philosophy, Italy became the recognized European leader in all these areas by the late 15th century, and to varying degrees retained this lead until about 1600. This was despite a turbulent and generally disastrous period in Italian politics, the European Renaissance began in Tuscany, and centred in the city of Florence. It later spread to Venice, where the remains of ancient Greek culture were brought together, the Renaissance later had a significant effect on Rome, which was ornamented with some structures in the new allantico mode, then was largely rebuilt by humanist sixteenth-century popes. The Italian Renaissance peaked in the century as foreign invasions plunged the region into the turmoil of the Italian Wars. However, the ideas and ideals of the Renaissance endured and spread into the rest of Europe, setting off the Northern Renaissance, the Italian Renaissance is best known for its cultural achievements. Accounts of Renaissance literature usually begin with Petrarch and his friend, famous vernacular poets of the 15th century include the renaissance epic authors Luigi Pulci, Matteo Maria Boiardo, and Ludovico Ariosto. 15th century writers such as the poet Poliziano and the Platonist philosopher Marsilio Ficino made extensive translations from both Latin and Greek, the same is true for architecture, as practiced by Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, Andrea Palladio, and Bramante. Their works include Florence Cathedral, St. Peters Basilica in Rome, yet cultural contributions notwithstanding, some present-day historians also see the era as one of the beginning of economic regression for Italy. By the Late Middle Ages, Latium, the heartland of the Roman Empire. Rome was a city of ancient ruins, and the Papal States were loosely administered, and vulnerable to external interference such as that of France, and later Spain. The Papacy was affronted when the Avignon Papacy was created in southern France as a consequence of pressure from King Philip the Fair of France, in the south, Sicily had for some time been under foreign domination, by the Arabs and then the Normans. Sicily had prospered for 150 years during the Emirate of Sicily, in contrast Northern and Central Italy had become far more prosperous, and it has been calculated that the region was among the richest of Europe. The Crusades had built lasting trade links to the Levant, the main trade routes from the east passed through the Byzantine Empire or the Arab lands and onwards to the ports of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. Luxury goods bought in the Levant, such as spices, dyes, moreover, the inland city-states profited from the rich agricultural land of the Po valley. From France, Germany, and the Low Countries, through the medium of the Champagne fairs, land and river trade routes brought goods such as wool, wheat, and precious metals into the region. The extensive trade that stretched from Egypt to the Baltic generated substantial surpluses that allowed significant investment in mining, thus, while northern Italy was not richer in resources than many other parts of Europe, the level of development, stimulated by trade, allowed it to prosper
7.
Baroque
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The style began around 1600 in Rome and Italy, and spread to most of Europe. The aristocracy viewed the dramatic style of Baroque art and architecture as a means of impressing visitors by projecting triumph, power, Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases, and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence. However, baroque has a resonance and application that extend beyond a reduction to either a style or period. It is also yields the Italian barocco and modern Spanish barroco, German Barock, Dutch Barok, others derive it from the mnemonic term Baroco, a supposedly laboured form of syllogism in logical Scholastica. The Latin root can be found in bis-roca, in informal usage, the word baroque can simply mean that something is elaborate, with many details, without reference to the Baroque styles of the 17th and 18th centuries. The word Baroque, like most periodic or stylistic designations, was invented by later critics rather than practitioners of the arts in the 17th, the term Baroque was initially used in a derogatory sense, to underline the excesses of its emphasis. In particular, the term was used to describe its eccentric redundancy and noisy abundance of details, although it was long thought that the word as a critical term was first applied to architecture, in fact it appears earlier in reference to music. Another hypothesis says that the word comes from precursors of the style, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and he did not make the distinctions between Mannerism and Baroque that modern writers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted into the 18th century. Long despised, Baroque art and architecture became fashionable between the two World Wars, and has remained in critical favour. In painting the gradual rise in popular esteem of Caravaggio has been the best barometer of modern taste, William Watson describes a late phase of Shang-dynasty Chinese ritual bronzes of the 11th century BC as baroque. The term Baroque may still be used, usually pejoratively, describing works of art, craft, the appeal of Baroque style turned consciously from the witty, intellectual qualities of 16th-century Mannerist art to a visceral appeal aimed at the senses. It employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, germinal ideas of the Baroque can also be found in the work of Michelangelo. Even more generalised parallels perceived by some experts in philosophy, prose style, see the Neapolitan palace of Caserta, a Baroque palace whose construction began in 1752. In paintings Baroque gestures are broader than Mannerist gestures, less ambiguous, less arcane and mysterious, more like the stage gestures of opera, Baroque poses depend on contrapposto, the tension within the figures that move the planes of shoulders and hips in counterdirections. Baroque is a style of unity imposed upon rich, heavy detail, Baroque style featured exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint, and even a kind of artistic sensationalism. There were highly diverse strands of Italian baroque painting, from Caravaggio to Cortona, the most prominent Spanish painter of the Baroque was Diego Velázquez. The later Baroque style gradually gave way to a more decorative Rococo, while the Baroque nature of Rembrandts art is clear, the label is less often used for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in this trend, while continuing to produce the traditional categories
8.
Caravaggio
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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
9.
Tintoretto
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Tintoretto was an Italian painter and a notable exponent of the Renaissance school. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed Il Furioso and his work is characterized by its muscular figures, dramatic gestures, and bold use of perspective in the Mannerist style, while maintaining color and light typical of the Venetian School. His real name Comin was discovered by Miguel Falomir of the Museo del Prado, Madrid, Comin translates to the spice cumin in the local language. Tintoretto was born in Venice in 1518, as the eldest of 21 children and his father, Giovanni, was a dyer, or tintore, hence the son got the nickname of Tintoretto, little dyer, or dyers boy, which is anglicized as Tintoret. The family originated from Brescia, in Lombardy, then part of the Republic of Venice, older studies gave the Tuscan town of Lucca as the origin of the family. In childhood Jacopo, a painter, began daubing on the dyers walls, his father, noticing his bent. This was supposedly towards 1533, when Titian was already fifty-six years of age, active disparagement also was not wanting, but it passed unnoticed by Tintoretto. The latter sought for no further teaching, but studied on his own account with laborious zeal, he lived poorly, collecting casts, bas-reliefs etc. and practising by their aid. His noble conception of art and his personal ambition were evidenced in the inscription which he placed over his studio Il disegno di Michelangelo ed il colorito di Tiziano. Now and afterwards he very frequently worked by night as well as by day, the young painter Andrea Schiavone, four years Tintorettos junior, was much in his company. Tintoretto helped Schiavone gratis in wall-paintings, and in many subsequent instances he worked also for nothing, the two earliest mural paintings of Tintoretto—done, like others, for next to no pay—are said to have been Belshazzars Feast and a Cavalry Fight. These are both long since perished, as are all his frescoes, early or later, the first work of his to attract some considerable notice was a portrait-group of himself and his brother—the latter playing a guitar—with a nocturnal effect, this also is lost. It was followed by some subject, which Titian was candid enough to praise. For the Scuola della Trinità he painted four subjects from Genesis, up till 2012, The Embarkation of St Helena in the Holy Land was attributed to his contemporary Andrea Schiavone. But new analysis of the work has revealed it as one of a series of three paintings by Tintoretto, depicting the legend of St Helena And The Holy Cross, the error was uncovered during work on a project to catalogue continental European oil paintings in the UK. The Embarkation of St Helena was acquired by the V&A in 1865 and its sister paintings, The Discovery Of The True Cross and St Helen Testing The True Cross, are held in galleries in the US. Towards 1546 Tintoretto painted for the church of the Madonna dellOrto three of his works, the Worship of the Golden Calf, the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple. He took the commission for two of the paintings, the Worship of the Golden Calf and the Last Judgment, on a cost only basis in order to make himself better known and he settled down in a house hard by the church
10.
Michelangelo
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Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime, he has since described as one of the greatest artists of all time. A number of Michelangelos works of painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence and he sculpted two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, before the age of thirty. As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library, at the age of 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peters Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan so that the end was finished to his design, as was the dome, with some modification. Michelangelo was unique as the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive, in his lifetime he was often called Il Divino. One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, the attempts by subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelos impassioned and highly personal style resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance. Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, at the time of Michelangelos birth, his father was the Judicial administrator of the small town of Caprese and local administrator of Chiusi. Michelangelos mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena, the Buonarrotis claimed to descend from the Countess Mathilde of Canossa, this claim remains unproven, but Michelangelo himself believed it. Several months after Michelangelos birth, the returned to Florence. There Michelangelo gained his love for marble, as Giorgio Vasari quotes him, If there is good in me. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, as a young boy, Michelangelo was sent to Florence to study grammar under the Humanist Francesco da Urbino. The young artist, however, showed no interest in his schooling, preferring to copy paintings from churches, the city of Florence was at that time the greatest centre of the arts and learning in Italy. Art was sponsored by the Signoria, by the merchant guilds and by patrons such as the Medici. The Renaissance, a renewal of Classical scholarship and the arts, had its first flowering in Florence, the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti had laboured for fifty years to create the bronze doors of the Baptistry, which Michelangelo was to describe as The Gates of Paradise. The exterior niches of the Church of Orsanmichele contained a gallery of works by the most acclaimed sculptors of Florence – Donatello, Ghiberti, Andrea del Verrocchio, and Nanni di Banco. The interiors of the churches were covered with frescos, begun by Giotto. During Michelangelos childhood, a team of painters had been called from Florence to the Vatican, among them was Domenico Ghirlandaio, a master in fresco painting, perspective, figure drawing, and portraiture who had the largest workshop in Florence at that period
11.
Christ
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Jesus, also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ, was a Jewish preacher and religious leader who became the central figure of Christianity. Christians believe him to be the Son of God and the awaited Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament, Jesus was a Galilean Jew who was baptized by John the Baptist and subsequently began his own ministry, preaching his message orally and often being referred to as rabbi. He was arrested and tried by the Jewish authorities, and was crucified by the order of Pontius Pilate, Jesus debated fellow Jews on how to best follow God, performed healings, taught in parables and gathered followers. After his death, his followers believed he rose from the dead, and his birth is celebrated annually on December 25 as a holiday known as Christmas, his crucifixion is honored on Good Friday, and his resurrection is celebrated on Easter. The widely used calendar era AD, from the Latin anno Domini, most Christians believe Jesus enables humans to be reconciled to God. The Nicene Creed asserts that Jesus will judge the living and the dead either before or after their bodily resurrection, the great majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, the second of three persons of a Divine Trinity. A minority of Christian denominations reject Trinitarianism, wholly or partly, in Islam, Jesus is considered one of Gods important prophets and the Messiah. Muslims believe Jesus was a bringer of scripture and was born of a virgin but was not the Son of God, the Quran states that Jesus himself never claimed divinity. To most Muslims, Jesus was not crucified but was raised into Heaven by God. Judaism rejects the belief that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, arguing that he did not fulfill Messianic prophecies, a typical Jew in Jesus time had only one name, sometimes supplemented with the fathers name or the individuals hometown. Thus, in the New Testament, Jesus is commonly referred to as Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus neighbors in Nazareth refer to him as the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, the carpenters son, or Josephs son. In John, the disciple Philip refers to him as Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth, the name Jesus is derived from the Latin Iesus, a transliteration of the Greek Ἰησοῦς. The Greek form is a rendering of the Hebrew ישוע, a variant of the earlier name יהושע, the name Yeshua appears to have been in use in Judea at the time of the birth of Jesus. The 1st century works of historian Flavius Josephus, who wrote in Koine Greek, the etymology of Jesus name in the context of the New Testament is generally given as Yahweh is salvation. Since early Christianity, Christians have commonly referred to Jesus as Jesus Christ, the word Christ is derived from the Greek Χριστός, which is a translation of the Hebrew משיח, meaning the anointed and usually transliterated into English as Messiah. Christians designate Jesus as Christ because they believe he is the Messiah, whose arrival is prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, in postbiblical usage, Christ became viewed as a name—one part of Jesus Christ—but originally it was a title. The term Christian has been in use since the 1st century, the four canonical gospels are the only substantial sources for the life and message of Jesus. Acts of the Apostles refers to the ministry of Jesus
12.
Foreshortening
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Perspective in the graphic arts is an approximate representation, on a flat surface, of an image as it is seen by the eye. If viewed from the spot as the windowpane was painted. Each painted object in the scene is thus a flat, scaled down version of the object on the side of the window. All perspective drawings assume the viewer is a distance away from the drawing. Objects are scaled relative to that viewer, an object is often not scaled evenly, a circle often appears as an ellipse and a square can appear as a trapezoid. This distortion is referred to as foreshortening, Perspective drawings have a horizon line, which is often implied. This line, directly opposite the viewers eye, represents objects infinitely far away and they have shrunk, in the distance, to the infinitesimal thickness of a line. It is analogous to the Earths horizon, any perspective representation of a scene that includes parallel lines has one or more vanishing points in a perspective drawing. A one-point perspective drawing means that the drawing has a vanishing point, usually directly opposite the viewers eye. All lines parallel with the line of sight recede to the horizon towards this vanishing point. This is the standard receding railroad tracks phenomenon, a two-point drawing would have lines parallel to two different angles. Any number of vanishing points are possible in a drawing, one for each set of lines that are at an angle relative to the plane of the drawing. Perspectives consisting of parallel lines are observed most often when drawing architecture. In contrast, natural scenes often do not have any sets of parallel lines, the only method to indicate the relative position of elements in the composition was by overlapping, of which much use is made in works like the Parthenon Marbles. Chinese artists made use of perspective from the first or second century until the 18th century. It is not certain how they came to use the technique, some authorities suggest that the Chinese acquired the technique from India, oblique projection is also seen in Japanese art, such as in the Ukiyo-e paintings of Torii Kiyonaga. This was detailed within Aristotles Poetics as skenographia, using flat panels on a stage to give the illusion of depth, the philosophers Anaxagoras and Democritus worked out geometric theories of perspective for use with skenographia. Alcibiades had paintings in his house designed using skenographia, so this art was not confined merely to the stage, Euclids Optics introduced a mathematical theory of perspective, but there is some debate over the extent to which Euclids perspective coincides with the modern mathematical definition
13.
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
14.
Chiaroscuro
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Chiaroscuro is an oil painting technique, developed during the Renaissance, that uses strong tonal contrasts between light and dark to model three-dimensional forms, often to dramatic effect. The underlying principle is that solidity of form is best achieved by the light falling against it, artists known for developing the technique include Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt. It is a mainstay of black and white photography and these in turn drew on traditions in illuminated manuscripts going back to late Roman Imperial manuscripts on purple-dyed vellum. Such works used to be called chiaroscuro drawings, but are often described in modern museum terminology by such formulae as pen on prepared paper. Chiaroscuro woodcuts began as imitations of this technique, when discussing Italian art, the term sometimes is used to mean painted images in monochrome or two colours, more generally known in English by the French equivalent, grisaille. The term broadened in meaning early on to cover all strong contrasts in illumination between light and dark areas in art, which is now the primary meaning. The invention of these effects in the West, skiagraphia or shadow-painting to the Ancient Greeks, traditionally was ascribed to the famous Athenian painter of the fifth century BC, Apollodoros. Chose her place to sit for that purpose in the alley of a goodly garden. In drawings and prints, modelling chiaroscuro often is achieved by the use of hatching, washes, stipple or dotting effects, and surface tone in printmaking are other techniques. Chiaroscuro woodcuts are old master prints in woodcut using two or more blocks printed in different colours, they do not necessarily feature strong contrasts of light and they were first produced to achieve similar effects to chiaroscuro drawings. Other printmakers to use the technique include Hans Wechtlin, Hans Baldung Grien, in Germany the technique achieved its greatest popularity around 1520, but it was used in Italy throughout the sixteenth century. Later artists such as Goltzius sometimes made use of it, in most German two-block prints, the keyblock was printed in black and the tone block or blocks had flat areas of colour. In Italy, chiaroscuro woodcuts were produced without keyblocks to achieve a different effect. Manuscript illumination was, as in areas, especially experimental in attempting ambitious lighting effects since the results were not for public display. The development of compositional chiaroscuro received an impetus in northern Europe from the vision of the Nativity of Jesus of Saint Bridget of Sweden. Hugo van der Goes and his followers painted many scenes lit only by candle or the light from the infant Christ. As with some later painters, in their hands the effect was of stillness, strong chiaroscuro became a popular effect during the sixteenth century in Mannerism and Baroque art. Divine light continued to illuminate, often rather inadequately, the compositions of Tintoretto, Veronese, tenebrism was especially practiced in Spain and the Spanish-ruled Kingdom of Naples, by Jusepe de Ribera and his followers
15.
Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp)
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The Cathedral of Our Lady is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium. Todays see of the Diocese of Antwerp started in 1352 and, in Gothic style, its architects were Jan and Pieter Appelmans. It contains a number of significant works by the Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens, as well as paintings by such as Otto van Veen, Jacob de Backer. The belfry of the cathedral is included in the Belfries of Belgium, where the cathedral now stands, there was a small chapel of Our Lady from the 9th to the 12th century, which acquired the status of parish church in 1124. During the course of the century, it was replaced by a larger Romanesque church. In 1352, construction was begun on a new Our Lady’s church which would become the largest Gothic church in the Netherlands, in the beginning, it was to be provided with two towers of equal height. In 1521, after nearly 170 years, the new church of Our Lady was ready, the south tower reached only as far as the third string course. During the night of 5–6 October 1533, the new church was gutted by fire. The completion of the tower was therefore delayed, which led to its ultimate postponement. Moreover, the church only became cathedral of the bishopric of Antwerp in 1559 but lost this title again from 1801 to 1961, during the Iconoclasm of 20 August 1566, Protestants destroyed a large part of the cathedral interior. Later, when Antwerp came under Protestant administration in 1581, a number of treasures were once again destroyed, removed or sold. The restoration of Roman Catholic authority came in 1585 with the fall of Antwerp, in 1794 the French revolutionaries who conquered the region plundered Our Lady’s Cathedral and inflicted serious damage. Around 1798, the French administration intended to demolish the building but after each blow, in 1816, various important works of art were returned from Paris, including three Rubens masterpieces. And over the course of the 19th century, the church was restored and refurnished. Between 1965 and 1993, a restoration took place. At the beginning of the 15th century, the choir started developing an active musical life, and as a result. Johannes Ockeghem, one of the most important composers of the 15th century, served here as a vicar-singer in 1443, from 1725 to 1731 Willem de Fesch served as Kapelmeester followed from 1731 to 1737 by Joseph-Hector Fiocco. Lesser known, but locally important figures, such as Jacobus Barbireau and Andreas Pevernage, the churchs one finished spire is 123 metres high, the highest church tower in the Benelux
16.
Antwerp
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Antwerp is a city in Belgium, the capital of Antwerp province in the region of Flanders. With a population of 510,610, it is the most populous city proper in Belgium and its metropolitan area houses around 1,200,000 people, which is second behind Brussels. Antwerp is on the River Scheldt, linked to the North Sea by the Westerschelde estuary, the Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, ranking second in Europe and within the top 20 globally. Antwerp has long been an important city in the Low Countries, the inhabitants of Antwerp are nicknamed Sinjoren, after the Spanish honorific señor or French seigneur, lord, referring to the Spanish noblemen who ruled the city in the 17th century. The city hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics, according to folklore, notably celebrated by a statue in front of the town hall, the city got its name from a legend about a giant called Antigoon who lived near the Scheldt river. He exacted a toll from passing boatmen, and for those who refused, he severed one of their hands, eventually the giant was killed by a young hero named Silvius Brabo, who cut off the giants own hand and flung it into the river. Hence the name Antwerpen, from Dutch hand werpen, akin to Old English hand and wearpan, a longstanding theory is that the name originated in the Gallo-Roman period and comes from the Latin antverpia. Antverpia would come from Ante Verpia, indicating land that forms by deposition in the curve of a river. Note that the river Scheldt, before a period between 600 and 750, followed a different track. This must have coincided roughly with the current ringway south of the city, however, many historians think it unlikely that there was a large settlement which would be named Antverpia, but more something like an outpost with a river crossing. However, John Lothrop Motley argues, and so do a lot of Dutch etymologists and historians, aan t werp is also possible. This warp is a hill or a river deposit, high enough to remain dry at high tide. Another word for werp is pol hence polders, historical Antwerp allegedly had its origins in a Gallo-Roman vicus. Excavations carried out in the oldest section near the Scheldt, 1952–1961, produced pottery shards, the earliest mention of Antwerp dates from the 4th century. In the 4th century, Antwerp was first named, having been settled by the Germanic Franks, the name was reputed to have been derived from anda and werpum. The Merovingian Antwerp was evangelized by Saint Amand in the 7th century, at the end of the 10th century, the Scheldt became the boundary of the Holy Roman Empire. Antwerp became a margraviate in 980, by the German emperor Otto I, in the 11th century Godfrey of Bouillon was for some years known as the marquis of Antwerp. In the 12th century, Norbert of Xanten established a community of his Premonstratensian canons at St. Michaels Abbey at Caloes
17.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
18.
The Descent from the Cross (Rubens)
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The Descent from the Cross is the central panel of a triptych painting by Peter Paul Rubens in 1612–1614. It is still in its place, the Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp, Belgium. The subject was one Rubens returned to again and again in his career and this particular work was commissioned on September 7,1611, by the Confraternity of the Arquebusiers, whose Patron Saint was St. Christopher. Although essentially Baroque, the oil on panel piece is rooted in the Venetian tradition, in its composition and use of light, the triptych recalls Caravaggios Roman period. One of Savior’s feet comes to rest on the shoulder of the Magdalene. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, placed midway on ladders so as to each other, form. The Virgin, standing at the foot of the tree, extends her arms towards her Son, Salome, kneeling. On the ground are seen the superscription and a basin where the crown of thorns. The crowd, always elated by the spectacle of torture, has departed from Golgotha as daylight fades, in 1794, Napoleon removed this painting and The Elevation of the Cross and sent them to the Louvre. After his defeat, they were returned to the cathedral in 1815, in addition to the original work for Antwerp, Rubens painted two other versions exploring the same theme. In Ouidas novel A Dog of Flanders the main characters Nello and it serves as the climax of the story, as they both sneak inside the Antwerp Cathedral on a freezing Christmas Eve to witness the beauty of the painting. The next day they are frozen to death in front of the triptych. Jaffé, M. Catalogo completo di Rubens, martin, John R. Rubens, The Antwerp Altarpieces - The Raising of the Cross and the Descent from the Cross - Norton Critical Studies in Art History
19.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
20.
Ouida
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Ouida was the pseudonym of the English novelist Maria Louise Ramé. Maria Louise Ramé was born at Bury St Edmunds, England and her mother, Susan Sutton, was a wine merchants daughter, her father was from France. She derived her pen name from her own childish pronunciation of her given name Louise, why, the inhabitants are driven to ringing their own doorbells lest they rust from lack of use. She moved into the Langham Hotel, London in 1867, there, according to the hotel promotional materials, she wrote in bed, by candlelight, with the curtains drawn and surrounded by purple flowers. She ran up huge hotel and florists bills, and commanded soirees that included soldiers, politicians, literary lights, many of her stories and characters were based upon people she invited to her salons at The Langham. Ouida was described by William Allingham in his diary of 1872 as of short stature, with a sinister, clever face, for many years Ouida lived in London, but about 1871 she moved to Italy. In 1874, she settled permanently with her mother in Florence, at first she rented an apartment at the Palazzo Vagnonville. She lived in Bagni di Lucca for a period, where there is a plaque on the outside wall. She declared that she never received from her publishers more than £1600. for any one novel, in The Massarenes she gave a lurid picture of the parvenu millionaire in smart London society. This book was greatly prized by Ouida, and was successful in terms of sales. Thenceforth she chiefly wrote for the leading magazines essays on social questions or literary criticisms, as before, she used her locations as inspiration for the setting and characters in her novels. The British and American colony in Florence was satirised in her novel, Ouida considered herself a serious artist. She was inspired by Byron in particular, and was interested in artists of all kinds. Sympathetic descriptions of tragic painters and singers occurred in her later novels and her work often combines romanticism with social criticism. In her novel, Puck, a talking dog narrates his views on society, views and Opinions includes essays in her own voice on a variety of social topics. She was a lover and rescuer, and at times owned as many as thirty dogs. Although successful, she did not manage her money well and she continued to live in Italy until her death on 25 January 1908, at 70 Via Zanardelli, Viareggio, of pneumonia She is buried in the English Cemetery in Bagni di Lucca, Italy. During her career, Ouida wrote more than 40 novels, childrens books and collections of short stories, in 1863, when she was 24, she published her first novel, Held in Bondage
21.
A Dog of Flanders
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A Dog of Flanders is an 1872 novel by English author Marie Louise de la Ramée published with her pseudonym Ouida. It is about a Flemish boy named Nello and his dog, in Japan and Korea the novel has been a childrens classic for decades and was adapted into several Japanese films and anime. Since the 1980s, the Belgian board of tourism caught on to the phenomenon, there is a small statue of Nello and Patrasche at the Kapelstraat in the Antwerp suburb of Hoboken, and a commemorative plaque in front of the Antwerp Cathedral donated by Toyota. In 19th century Belgium, a boy named Nello becomes an orphan at the age of two when his mother dies in the Ardennes and his grandfather Jehann Daas, who lives in a small village near the city of Antwerp, takes him in. One day, Nello and Jehann Daas find a dog who was almost beaten to death, due to the good care of Jehann Daas, the dog recovers, and from then on, Nello and Patrasche are inseparable. Since they are poor, Nello has to help his grandfather by selling milk. Patrasche helps Nello pull their cart into town each morning, Nello falls in love with Aloise, the daughter of Nicholas Cogez, a well-off man in the village, but Nicholas doesnt want his daughter to have a poor sweetheart. Although Nello is illiterate, he is talented in drawing. He enters a junior drawing contest in Antwerp, hoping to win the first prize,200 francs per year, however, the jury selects somebody else. Afterwards, he is accused of causing a fire by Nicholas and his life becomes even more desperate. Having no place to stay, Nello wishes to go to the cathedral of Antwerp, on the night of Christmas Eve, he and Patrasche go to Antwerp and, by chance, find the door to the church open. The next morning, the boy and his dog are found frozen to death in front of the triptych and it inspired film and anime adaptations, including the 1975 animated TV series Dog of Flanders which reached an audience of 30 million viewers on its first broadcast. In Belgium the story is more obscure, only in 1987 did it receive a Dutch translation, this happened after the tale was adapted into a story of the popular comic book series Suske en Wiske. Since then, monuments were raised to commemorate Nello and Patrasche to please tourists, in 2007 Didier Volckaert and An van Dienderen directed a documentary about the international popularity of the story, Patrasch, A Dog of Flanders - Made in Japan. It researches all available film adaptations of the story and interviews several British, American, clark and starring David Ladd as Nello. A Dog of Flanders,2011, Minoto Studios For its authentic 19th century buildings, the Open Air Museum of Bokrijk, Flanders was used as scenery for the 1975 and 1992 anime and the 1999 film. None of the versions, excluding the 1997 Japanese movie. In Snow Prince, the boy and the dog are found frozen to death under a tree, in one of the film versions, Nello and his dog go the village church, where the pastor covers them with a woolen blanket, thus saving their lives
22.
Leda and the Swan (Peter Paul Rubens)
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Peter Paul Rubens was a well known artist during the Baroque era. He completed hundreds of works in various mediums—many were famous at the time, but there are also many works of art that people don’t know much about. One of these works is his painting Leda and the Swan and he painted two versions of this subject. The first was completed in 1601 and the second was completed in 1602, Rubens was heavily influenced by Michelangelo. He was introduced to his work on his journey to Italy, Rubens decided to go to Rome to make copies of paintings and further his studies of Italian art from the leading Italian artists of the previous century, later termed the Renaissance. In Rome, he encountered Michelangelo’s version of Leda and the Swan, even though Michelangelo’s version does not exist today, copies of it do. A copy of Michelangelo’s original work was done by Rubens, Rubens would have been familiar with Michelangelo’s Leda. His version is considered a prototype for Rubens’s two works, Rubens’s 1601 Leda, was modeled after Michelangelo’s Leda. The placement of the body is similar as is its twisting posture. Even the positioning of the fingers is mirrored, the swan is caressing the female in exactly the same way. The actual figure of the female varies drastically between Rubens’s style and Michelangelo’s style, Michelangelo typically depicted women in a masculine way. Muscles are more defined and the bodies look hard. Michelangelo’s body proportions are a little skewed, Rubens’s women, on the other hand, are extremely curvaceous and are much softer. The hair is loose and not as styled. The body proportions seem more realistic in Rubens’s two works, though Rubens’s two works are very similar, they do differ. In his first depiction, the brushstrokes are looser, it is not as detailed, there is less landscape, no elaborate headpiece, the colors are muted, and the drapes are green. The 1601 painting was supposed to be in a painted ellipse that cut off the left elbow. Today it is in a rectangular format along with the 1602 painting, a common Renaissance and Baroque theme is females that are abducted or seduced by divinities
23.
Heraclitus and Democritus (Rubens)
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Heraclitus and Democritus is a 1603 painting by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. It is now held in the National Sculpture Museum in Valladolid and it shows the ancient Greek philosophers Heraclitus and Democritus. Rubens produced the work as a commission for Francisco Gómez de Sandoval Rojas y Borja and it passed through several collections, ending up in that of the Syrian oil magnate Akram Ojjeh. After Ojjehs death, it was sold to the Spanish Ministry of Culture for 175,000,000 pesetas in December 1999 via Christies of London
24.
Virgin and Child (Rubens)
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The Virgin and Child is a painting by Rubens, commissioned in 1604 and completed between 1608 and 1621. It was seized by France in 1803 and is now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts Tours and it was commissioned by Anne Antheunis, widow of Alexander I Goubau, grand almoner of Antwerp, shortly after her husbands death. She intended is as an ex voto for their joint funeral monument, then in Italy, Rubens only began the work on his return to Flanders in 1608, including a posthumous portrait of Alexandre-Jean and one of Anne from life. It was complete by 1621, the date of Annes death
25.
The Fall of Phaeton (Rubens)
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The Fall of Phaeton is a painting by the Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens, featuring the ancient Greek myth of Phaeton, a recurring theme in visual arts. Rubens chose to depict the myth at the height of its action, the thunderbolts provide the light contrast to facilitate the display of horror on the faces of Phaeton, the horses and other figures while preserving the darkness of the event. The butterfly winged female figures represent the hours and seasons, who react in terror as the night, the great astrological circle that arches the heavens is also disrupted. The assemblage of bodies form an oval in the center, separating dark. The bodies are arranged so as to assist the viewer’s travel continually around that oval, Rubens painted The Fall of Phaeton in Rome and the painting was probably reworked later around 1606/1608. It has been housed in the National Gallery of Art since 5 January 1990, Rubens also painted other Greek mythological subjects, such as The Fall of Icarus, Perseus Freeing Andromeda, and The Judgement of Paris
26.
The Circumcision (Rubens)
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The Circumcision is an oil on canvas painting of the Circumcision of Jesus by Peter Paul Rubens, produced in 1605 during his stay in Rome. It is now in the Chiesa del Gesù e dei Santi Ambrogio e Andrea church in Genoa and it was commissioned by Marcello Pallavicino, vestryman of the Casa Professa of Jesuits in Genoa. It is mainly influenced by Mantuan paintings from the court of Vincenzo Gonzaga, G. Bertelli, G. Briganti, A. Giuliano, Storia dellArte Italiana, vol. 3, p.299, Roma 2009, Edizioni Scolastiche Bruno Mondadori
27.
Portrait of Marchesa Brigida Spinola-Doria
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The Portrait of Marchesa Brigida Spinola-Doria is an oil painting by Peter Paul Rubens, dating to 1606. It is now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington and it was commissioned by Marquess Giacomo Massimiliano Doria, of Genoa, and shows his wife shortly after their wedding in 1605, she came from the equally prominent Spinola family. He died in 1613 and she remarried another Doria and it has been cut several times on each side, removing the garden shown in the background and the lower part of the figure. The overall dimensions of the painting are now 152 by 98 centimetres after the original was reduced in size during the 19th century. Rubens completed a pen and brown ink study for the painting, details removed include the bottom of the Marchesas floor-length wedding gown as the painting has been cut just below her knees and the architecture that formed the backdrop. Writing in The Burlington Magazine in 1951, Christopher Norris indicated the sketch portrayed an older than the 22-year-old Marchesa. In the painting the Marchesa is placed in an opulent setting to convey luxury, adorned with jewels, she wears a satin and lace dress with a broad ruff round her neck. Light is used to emphasise the draping of her wedding gown. It subsequently became the property of Marchessa Brigida Spinola-Dorias second husband, probably in 1625 and it remained in the family until given to relatives of Rati Opizzone. By 1848 it was held in Paris by Simon Horsín-Déon, four years later, in 1854, the portrait was in London and sold several times before being purchased by the Samuel H. Kress foundation in 1957 who donated it to the National Gallery of Art in 1961. First exhibited in 1952 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art when it was likely in the ownership of the Duveen Brothers, since 1961 it has regularly been featured in exhibitions
28.
Adoration of the Magi (Rubens, Madrid)
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For other treatments of this subject by the same artist, see Adoration of the Magi. The Adoration of the Magi is a painting by the Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens and he first painted it in 1609 and later gave it a major reworking between 1628 and 1629 during his second trip to Spain. It is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid and it is one of many works on the subject by Rubens - others include those of 1616-17 and 1624. Towards the end of 1608 Antwerp was preparing to receive the peace delegates negotiating an end to the war between Spain and the Dutch Republic and their negotiations were to be held in Antwerp City Hall between 28 March and 9 April 1609 and resulted in the Twelve Years Truce. He had returned to Antwerp and was already the citys most notable painter and he was paid 1,800 florins for the commission. The theme of the commission was an allusion to the benefits the city hoped to gain from peace, there is also a study for the whole work in a private collection in London, which allows its original appearance to be reconstructed. The town magistrates presented the painting to Calderón, but in 1621 he fell into disgrace and was executed, in 1623 Philip IV of Spain purchased the painting from the sale of Calderóns collection and installed it in his Royal Alcázar of Madrid. In September 1628 Rubens travelled to Spain for the second time and he had been summoned there to inform the king about his peace negotiations with Britain, but was also able to rework the painting while he was there. Francisco Pacheco relates in his work El arte de la pintura changed some things in his painting of the Adoration of the Magi that was in the palace. This amounted to a complete re-working, with details modified, strips added to the top and right hand edges. It was later installed in the Royal Palace of Madrid and he went to the Museo del Prado. In 2004, the painting underwent a complete restoration, catalogue entry Article on the painting in the Enciclopedia online del Prado. The painting in the Prados online gallery, Article on the painting on the Centro Virtual Cervantes. The painting on the Prado website, El Siglo de Rubens en el Museo del Prado. Catálogo Razonado de Pintura Flamenca del Siglo XVII, barcelona / Madrid, Editorial Prensa Ibérica, S. A. / Museo Nacional del Prado. Museo del Prado, Catálogo de las pinturas, Madrid, Ministerio de Educación y Cultura
29.
Samson and Delilah (Rubens)
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Samson and Delilah is a painting by the Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens which is currently on display in the National Gallery. It dates from about 1609 to 1610, two preliminary copies of the painting also exist today, an ink and wash drawing on paper, and an oil sketch on wood panel. The oil sketch is currently on display in the Cincinnati Art Museum, the painting depicts an episode from the Old Testament story of Samson and Delilah. Samson was a Hebrew hero known for fighting the Philistines, having fallen in love with Delilah, who has been bribed by the Philistines, Samson tells her the secret of his great strength, his uncut hair. Without his strength, Samson is captured by the Philistines, Rubens portrays the moment when, having fallen asleep on Delilahs lap, a young man cuts Samsons hair. Samson and Delilah are in a room, which is lit mostly by a candle held by an old woman to Delilahs left. Delilah is depicted with all of her clothes, but with her breasts exposed and her left hand is on top of Samsons right shoulder, as his left arm is draped over her legs. The man snipping Samsons hair is crossing his hands, which is a sign of betrayal, philistine soldiers can be seen in the right-hand background of the painting. The niche behind Delilah contains a statue of the Venus, the Goddess of love, notably, Cupids mouth is bound, rather than his eyes. This statue can be taken to represent the cause of Samsons fate, the old woman standing behind Delilah, providing further light for the scene, does not appear in the biblical narrative of Samson and Delilah. She is believed to be a procuress, and the adjacent profiles of her and Delilah may symbolise the old womans past, the painting was originally commissioned by Nicolaas II Rockox, Lord mayor of Antwerp, Belgium, for his Rockox House. In addition to being a patron, Rockox was a personal friend of Rubens. The painting was intended to be placed above a 7-foot mantleshelf. The painting was sold for charity when Rockox died in 1640. In 1700, a panel named Samson and Delilah was bought by Prince Johann Adams Andreas I and this painting was likely Rubens painting. The painting was sold in 1880 in Paris, where it was later found by Ludwig Burchard in 1929. Eventually, the painting sold at auction in 1980 at Christies, purchased by the National Gallery, there has been some doubt cast over the attribution of the painting to Rubens, led by the artist and scholar of Fayum portraits Euphronsyne Doxiades. The painting was attributed to the Dutch painter Gerard van Honthorst
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Honeysuckle Bower
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The Honeysuckle Bower is a self-portrait of the Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens and his first wife Isabella Brant. They wed on 3 October 1609, in St. Michaels Abbey, Antwerp, the painting is a full-length double portrait of the couple seated in a bower of honeysuckle. They are surrounded by love and marriage symbolism, the honeysuckle, additionally, Rubens depicts himself as an aristocratic gentleman with his left hand on the hilt of his sword. Media related to Honeysuckle Bower by Peter Paul Rubens at Wikimedia Commons Web Gallery of Art
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Massacre of the Innocents (Rubens)
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The first, measuring 142 x 182 cm, was painted after his return to his native Antwerp in 1608, following eight years spent in Italy. The first version painted by Rubens dates from around 1611–12, at the end of the seventeenth century, the painting became part of the Liechtenstein Collection in Vienna, Austria, along with another Rubens painting, Samson and Delilah. The Forchondt brothers sold both paintings to Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein whom they knew through his father Karl Eusebius, Prince of Liechtenstein around 1700. The paintings were given the Liechtenstein family seal and are recorded in the collection until the 19th century, under that attribution it remained until it was sold to an Austrian family in 1920. It was subsequently loaned in 1923 to Stift Reichersberg, a monastery in northern Austria, in 2001, the painting was seen by George Gordon, an expert in Flemish and Dutch paintings at Sothebys in London. He was persuaded that it was indeed a Rubens by its characteristics and style to the Samson. The work was sold at auction at Sothebys, London on July 10,2002 for £49.5 million to Canadian businessman and art collector Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet. These influences are seen in painting through the sheer drama and emotive dynamism of the scene. There is also evidence of the use of chiaroscuro and he also used ecorche figures - anatomical statues with the skin removed-to study how the body was made. At the time of Rubens first painting on the subject Antwerp had been involved in only a few years before- a conflict temporarily frozen by the truce of 1609. In one year alone over 8000 citizens had been killed by Calvinists, Antwerp however remained a Catholic stronghold and became a leading centre of Counter Reformation thought. Towards the end of his life, between 1636 and 1638, Rubens painted a version of the Massacre of the Innocents. This version was acquired by the Alte Pinakothek, Munich by 1706, a copy of this later version was made as an engraving in 1643 by Paulus Pontius. BBC News article on the auction ART4 2-DAY article
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Prometheus Bound (Rubens)
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Prometheus Bound is an oil painting by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. It shows the punishment of Prometheus, the painting was first started between 1611 and 1612, and was completed by 1618, with the eagle painted by the specialist animal painter Frans Snyders. For a long time Rubens kept it in his own personal collection and it is now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania. It is based on the Greek play, Prometheus Bound, katherine Crawford Luber, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Handbook of the Collections, p.174
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The Four Philosophers
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The Four Philosophers is a 1611-12 painting by Peter Paul Rubens. It is now held in the Galleria Palatina of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence and it also features in the 1772 painting The Tribuna of the Uffizi by Zoffany. Beginning from left to right it shows Peter Paul, Philip Rubens, Justus Lipsius, in the background is Peter Pauls bust of Seneca, now believed to be a copy of an imaginary Hellenistic portrait of the Greek poet Hesiod. Marco Chiarini, Galleria palatina e Appartamenti Reali, Sillabe, Livorno 1998
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The Four Continents
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The Four Continents, also known as The Four Rivers of Paradise, is a painting by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, made in the 1610s. It depicts the female personifications of four continents sitting with the personifications of their major rivers – the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile. Europe is shown on the left, Africa in the middle, Asia on the right and America behind it, the tigress, protecting the cubs from the crocodile, is used as a symbol of Asia. The personification of the Danube holds a rudder, the bottom part of the painting shows several putti. Artist Elizabeth McGrath proposed a different interpretation of the figures on the painting, believing them to be nymphs instead. McGrath also suggested different river names, the Tigris instead of the Danube and the Euphrates instead of the Río de la Plata, arguing that those names also appear in Christian exegesis
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Portrait of a Commander
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Portrait of a Commander or A Commander Being Dressed for Battle is a portrait of an unknown man in plate armour, normally attributed to Peter Paul Rubens. In July 2010 it was sold for £9 million by Christies after Sothebys turned it down, in December 2011, the portrait was placed on loan with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The painting, done in oil on panel, measures 48.25 ×38 3/8 in and it depicts a military commander, as shown by his baton, being dressed by pages. The identity of the commander is unknown, although Charles V, Cornelis van der Geest, the Christies cataloguer felt that the commander appears too idealized to be an actual person. The painting has been praised for its crisp and intense hue, if by Rubens, it would have been painted around 1613. It was sold at the end of the Christies estimate of between £8m and £12m to Konrad Bernheimer for £9 million. For more than 100 years, it was attributed to the School of Porbus and it was not attributed to Rubens until after World War II. According to Brian Sewell, it is an uncomfortable Rubens and the attribution doesnt quite ring true, a panel of academics employed by Christies examined the portrait and ultimately concluded that the painting is a genuine Rubens
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The Crowning of the Virtuous Hero
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The Crowning of the Virtuous Hero is a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, painted between 1613 and 1614. Unsigned, it was commissioned by the St George Guild of Archers in Antwerp for their hall and is now in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister within the Schloss Wilhelmshöhe in Kassel. It shows an ancient Roman general being crowned by Nike with laurels of victory and treading underfoot a bound barbarian, to his right is a genius of Harmony, who presents him with a bound bundle of arrows. The figure on the right is intended as the guardian of religion. Behind the altar is a red and white tricolour, referring to the house of Habsburg. William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel acquired the painting between 1730 and 1760 to add to his collection of Dutch paintings at the Schloss Bellevue in Kassels Oberneustadt or upper new town. In 1813 general Czerniczew forced Jerome Bonaparte to flee and negotiations began for the return of this, jacob Grimm played an instrumental part in gaining the return of the Rubens, which occurred in December 1815. Between 1878 and 1943, the painting was in the Neue Galerie at the Schloss Bellevue, in 1943 the painting was moved to a store elsewhere - Kassel was a target for Allied bombing and the Schloss Wilhelmshöhe was severely damaged. In 1956 the painting was moved to headquarters of the Landesmuseum until in April 1974 it returned to Kassel. Georg Westermann Verlag, Braunschweig 1982, S. 38-45 Eduard Brauns, a. Bernecker Verlag, Melsungen 1971, S.20 u.21 Friedhelm Häring Hans, Joachim Klein, DuMont Kunst- Reiseführer Hessen. Auflage 1988, S.56 Jürgen Weishaupt, Kasseler Kostbarkeiten, Verlag Thiele & Schwarz, Kassel 1981, S.8 u.66
