Tag: Realism
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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Biblel, by Roberto Ferri, With Footnotes – #54
Our Prayer Against Evil – Deliver us From Evil-The original language of this passage has the article “the”-i.e. “deliver us from the evil”-the Evil One or Satan. The meaning here is, “deliver us from his power, his snares, his arts, his temptations.” Satan is supposed to be the great parent of evil, and to be delivered…
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01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretation the bible, Giacinto Brandi’s Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, with Footnotes – #131
Gethsemane is an urban garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. In Christianity, it is the place where Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested the night before his crucifixion. Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane refers to the events in the life of Jesus as recorded in the…
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1 Religious Icon, 19th C. St. John the Baptist & Head, with footnotes #24
A winged St. John the Baptist holding a scroll as well as his severed head on a platter, with God the Father above. The wings occupy a large part of the composition and bestow John the Baptist’s body with an otherworldly, celestial dimension. The artist painstakingly delineated the feathered wings in various neutral earthtones with…
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01 Painting, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretations by The Master of the Figdor St Eustache, With Footnotes # 70 A
Saint Sebastian (died c. 288 AD) was an early Christian saint and martyr. Sebastian had prudently concealed his faith, but in 286 was detected. Diocletian reproached him for his betrayal, and he commanded him to be led to a field and there to be bound to a stake so that archers from Mauritania would shoot arrows…
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01 Religious Icon, 19th C. Russian Icon, St. Seraphim of Sarov, with footnotes #23
St. Seraphim of Sarovblesses himself before his icon of the Mother of God hanging in the tree above. At his feet are a hat, bread sack, gloves, and axe. The strongly modeled visage as well as the perspectival background suggest that the painter was very much influenced by Western art. The borders are meticulously incised…
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08 Paintings, RELIGIOUS ART – Interpretations of the Bible! by Paul Gauguin, Louis B. Davis, Callisto Piazza, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, With Footnotes # 56
Lilith, the subject of this painting, is described in Judaic literature as the first wife of Adam. She is associated with the seduction of men and the murder of children. The depiction of women as powerful and evil temptresses was prevalent in 19th-century painting, particularly among the Pre-Raphaelites. The artist depicts Lilith as an iconic,…
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2 Religious Icon, Virgin of the Burning Bush and the Theotokos of Unburnt Bush with footnotes #22
The subject of Our Lady of the Burning Bush is based on the Old Testament prophecy of the incarnation of Christ. Such theologians as St Gregory of Nyssa and Theodoret of Cyrrhus regarded Moses’s vision of the burning bush as a symbol and prototype of the Virgin Mary and the Immaculate Conception. The iconography of…
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08 works, Today, December 28th, is The 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia’s day, their story, illustrated #360
Stroganov School is a conventional name for the last major Russian icon-painting school, which thrived under the patronage of the rich Stroganov family of merchants in the late 16th and 17th century. “Stroganov School” owes its name to frequent mentioning of the Stroganovs on the markings on the back of the icons of Yemelyan Moskvitin,…
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09 works, Today, December 25th, is Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar’s day, their story, illustrated #357
Andrea Mantegna ( c. 1431 — September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality. His flinty, metallic landscapes and somewhat stony figures give evidence…
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06 works, Today, December 24th, is Adela of Normandy’s day, her story, illustrated #356
Adela of Normandy, of Blois, or of England (c. 1067 – 8 March 1137), also known as Saint Adela in Roman Catholicism, was a daughter of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders who later became the Countess of Blois, Chartres, and Meaux by marriage to Stephen II, Count of Blois. The couple had ten children…
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09 works, Today, December 16th, is Saint Adelaide of Italy’s, day, her story, illustrated #349
Tracy L. Christianson: “I’m a self taught artist who has loved drawing people for as long as I can remember. While working as a graphic artist /designer, I did portraiture on the side. My future lead me to combining my beautiful Catholic faith and love of portraiture to drawing portraits of the saints. Each saint…
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08 works, Today, December 12th, is Saint Agatha of Sicily’s day, her story, illustrated #345
Agatha of Sicily (c. 231 — c. 251 AD) is a Christian saint. Her memorial is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania or Palermo, Sicily. One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, Agatha was put to death during the persecution of Decius (250–253) in Catania, Sicily, for her determined profession of…
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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Adriana Varejão’s Cristo, with Footnotes – #52
Crucifixion is a historical method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden beam and left to hang for several days until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It is principally known from classical antiquity, but remains in occasional use in some countries. The crucifixion of Jesus is a…
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09 works, Today, December 4th, is Saint John the Silent, يوحنا الدمشقي day, his story, illustrated #337
The city of Damascus in Syria fell to the Muslims in 635. At the time of the Caliph Abdul-Malik, responsibility for government of the Christian population was given to Sergius Mansur, a prominent Christian of the city. Sergius strove to govern in a godly way under the many disabilities imposed by the Caliph, and devoted…
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1 Religious Icon, 19th C. Russian Icon of St. Alexander Svirsky, with footnotes #21
St. Alexander Svirsky spent much of time of his life as a monk, including some period of total isolation from society. In 1506, Serapion, Archbishop of Novgorod, appointed him Hegumen of the Trinity monastery, which later became known as Alexander-Svirsky Monastery, at the place of the saint’s eremitic life between Roschinsky and Holy lakes.A rendition of…
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07 works, Today, November 19th, is the Prophet Obadiah’s day, his story illustrated #322
John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 — April 14, 1925) was an American artist, considered the “leading portrait painter of his generation” for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from…
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01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Georges Rouault’s CRUCIFIXION, with Footnotes – #49
Much of Rouault’s work remained indebted to his apprenticeship with glaziers as a teenager. The artist retained an enduring passion for this craft, and the juxtaposition of the vibrant greens, yellows and reds and the use of heavy contours resembling lead tracery reflect his early training. Rouault returns to the craft with the present work,…
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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Gabriel von Max’s The Christian Martyr, with Footnotes – #195
A martyr is a person who was killed because of their testimony of Jesus and God. In years of the early church, this often occurred through death by sawing, stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake or other forms of torture and capital punishment. At first, the term applied to Apostles. Once Christians started to undergo persecution,…
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1 Religious Icon, 18th C. Russian Icon, Christ Emmanuel, with footnotes #19
The text beneath may refer to a passage of Isaiah that Christ read in the synagogue of Nazareth, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the afflicted”. The prophet Isaiah coined the term Emmanuel which means God is with us, and this…
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08 Works, Interpretation of the bible, The Martyrdom of Saint Afra, with Footnotes – #192
In the late 3rd century, Afra’s pagan family journeyed from Cyprus to Augsburg. She was dedicated to the service of the goddess Venus, by her mother, Hilaria. She was originally a prostitute in Augsburg, and is reputed either to have run a brothel in that town or worked as a hierodule in the Temple of…
Zaidan Gallery 