Francisco Ribalta - Christ Embracing St. Bernard Clairvaux

Christ embracing St. Bernard Clairvaux - 1625

Prado Museum - Madrid - Spain

Francisco Ribalta was a spanish painter of the Baroque period, mostly of religious subjects. He reached the pinnacle of his mature style with his painting "Christ Embracing St. Bernard" which transformed the Spanish Baroque and which I find very beautiful once it reflects de Resurrection of Christs in a very original way
"Christ breaks down the wall of death, and in Him there resides the fullness of God, which is life, eternal life".
In doing so, Ribalta discards  Mannerist conventions for a new type of naturalism and so he became Valencia’s leading artist set a course for Spanish art that paved the way for masters such as Velázques, Zurbarán, and Rivera. With its virile realism, Christ Embracing St. Bernard archives a synthesis of naturalism and religiosity that defined the art of the seventeenth-century Counter Reformation. Playing off rapturous limpness against divine strength, and the human against the transcendent, the painting shows both a scene of devout piety and of distinctly human interaction. The corporality of Christ’s body (descended from the Cross), as well as the careful attention to the draping of St. Bernard’s habit (juxtaposed with the almost nude and suspended body of Christ), give a sense of intimacy and weighty presence to a mystical vision. In its introspective and expressive depiction of deep religious experience, the painting proposes a redemptive vision of mankind. The sculptural modeling and dramatic chiaroscuro that define the two figures – against a stark background in which two others are barely visible – recall Italian tenebrists such as Caravaggio . Although it is uncertain whether Ribalta ever visited Italy, the painting reflects many of the features of the Italian Baroque, and is most likely drawn from a replica of Caravaggio alterpiece Ribalta is known to have copied.
Source: Net, João Ribas - Prado Museum

Leonardo da Vinci - The Last Supper

The Last Supper - 1498

Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie - Milan - Italy

For centuries this spectacular mural has been seen as one of the world's finest paintings and perhaps the greatest expression of its creator, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), who played a leading role at the forfront of the Italian Renaissance - the flourishing of the learning that peaked in the sixteenth century. His genius lay in an inventive curiosity that embraced both art and sciences. The Last Supper is the perfect synthesis of Leonardo's talent. Cleverly situated and conceived, it looks down from its lofty position on the north wall of the Convent of Santa Maria's refectory. As the diners sat down to eat, Christ and his twelve disciples cast their inspiring spiritual presence over the pious individuals beneath, Leonardo subtly highlights Christ's status in the group by painting his figure slightly larger and framed against the light of the window. He introduces human drama to the mural by choosing to illustrate the point when the disciples ask Christ who would betray him. Each disciple is shown reacting in a way that reveals much about them without resorting to the symbolism forced by his contemporaries. Da Vinci painted this mural on a dry plaster, which allowed him to work it as a whole, rather than having to finish one section at a time as was norm with traditional wet-plaster frescoes. Sadly, decay set in early because medium was less durable. Two early copies of The Last Supper are known to exist, presumably the work of Leonardo's assistant. The copies are almost the size of the original, and have survived with a wealth of original detail still intact. This bold experimentation, along with his pioneering grasp of composition, light, and perspective, are among the reasons da Vinci achieved an eminence that has lasted across centuries.

About the significance of the attitude and position of the Apostles:
From left to right: Bartholomew, James, son of Alphaeus and Andrew form a group of three, all are surprised. Judas Iscariot, Peter and John form another group of three. Judas is wearing green and blue and is in shadow, looking rather withdrawn and taken aback by the sudden revelation of his plan. He is clutching a small bag, perhaps signifying the silver given to him as payment to betray Jesus, or perhaps a reference to his role within the 12 disciples as treasurer. He is the only person to have his elbow on the table and his head is also horizontally the lowest of anyone in the painting. Peter looks angry and is holding a knife pointed away from Christ, perhaps foreshadowing his violent reaction in Gethsemane during Jesus' arrest. The youngest apostle, John, appears to swoon. Jesus Apostle Thomas, James the Greater and Philip are the next group of three. Thomas is clearly upset; James the Greater looks stunned, with his arms in the air. Meanwhile, Philip appears to be requesting some explanation. Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot are the final group of three. Both Jude Thaddeus and Matthew are turned toward Simon, perhaps to find out if he has any answer to their initial questions.
Source: Ann Kay - Da Vinci and Wikipedia

Caspar David Friedrich - Wonderer Above the Sea of Fog

Wonderer Above the Sea of Fog - 1818

Kunsthalle Hamburg - Hamburg - Germany

The sublime power of nature was a dominant theme in Caspar David Friedrich (1774 – 1840) paintings and this work is a perfect example of how the landscape of his native Germany was a source of inspiration, although Friedrich's personal history might also explain the omnious tensions between beauty and terror in his representation of nature. When he was a child, he was skating with his brother on the frozen Baltic sea when the ice cracked. Casper slipped and his brother died trying to save him. Friedrich's adult depression led to a suicide attempt in Dresden. After he tried to slit his own throat, he was always wore a beard to hide the scar. The relationship between trauma and inspiration is evident in Friedrich's statement:

"The painter should paint not only what he has in front of him, but also what he sees inside himself. If he sees nothing within, then he should stop painting what is in front of him".

A frightening, raging sea crashes in front of the lone, elegant figure. A young man, who stands upon a rocky precipice, is back to the viewer, wrapped in a dark green overcoat, and grips a walking stick in his right hand. His hair is caught in the wind and we may wonder what he gazes at, out there, on a garish landscape covered in a thick sea of fogin. We will never know what he was thinking about. This utterly arresting painting, which Friedrich produced the year he married, could express his own personal struggle to tame his surging emotions for the sake of his young bride. Friedrich, only began painting with oils after the age of thirty. He demonstrates a profound understanding of the medium in the depths of dark color he employs to execute his emotionally wrenching imagery. Both Friedrich's life and art are marked with an overwhelming sense of loneliness. This becomes more apparent in his later works, from a time when friends, members of his family and fellow pioneers of early romanticism began to either become distant from him or die. Art historians and some of his contemporaries attribute the melancholy in his art to the losses suffered during his youth to the bleak outlook of his adulthood, while Friedrich's pale and withdrawn appearance helped reinforce the popular notion of the "taciturn man from the North". Events corrupted Friedrich's legacy when Adolf Hitler chose to appropriate one of his paintings Two Men Contemplating the Moon (1830-35) for use as a Nazi propaganda. Despite that anachronistic connection, the mystical, melancholic beauty of his landscapes has endured and thankfully we are here to appreciate them as they deserve.
Sources: Anne Hildyard and Wikipedia

Rembrandt van Rijn - Self-portrait with Saskia

Self-portrait with Saskia - 1635

Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister - Dresden

I find this a delightful painting. It’s a portrayal of an utter happiness; it cheerfully expresses Rembrandt van Rijn 's joy in his marriage. He holds Saskia on his knee and raises a glass to us. Funny is that Saskia’s expression betrays a certain embarrassment at the rather vulgar laughter of her husband. Rembrandt met the twenty-year-old Saskia at the home of Hendrick van Uylenburch, his associate and dealer. She was a close relative of van Uylenburch. On the dead of her father, who had been burgomaster of Leeuwarden, she had left the province of Friesland in order to settle in Amsterdam. A love affair developed between the young artist and the cultured, florid, and rather timid girl. Saskia and Rembrandt, defying the guarded reaction from her tutor and relatives, became officially engaged on June 5, 1633. Arrangements for the marriage were made, with Rembrandt’s mother dithering for a long time before giving her consent. Finally on July 22, 1634, Rembrandt and Saskia, were married, having chosen to return to Saskia’s native Friesland for the wedding. Rembrandt and Saskia enjoyed a mutually affectionate relationship, based on imagination, fun, and sensual fulfillment. Thanks to his successful marriage and consistently high fees he earned as a painter and engraver, Rembrandt became a wealthy man almost overnight, on a par with highly respected professionals and members of high society. In 1635, at the age of 29, he was able to move to an elegant dwelling on the banks of the Amstel. For Rembrandt, a miller’s son, the marriage also involved a considerable rise in his social status. Soon he would become famous at the Court at The Hague. He was thus to receive many aristocratic commissions, although the fees were not always settled promptly. Regarding this happy painting some critics have seen this happy couple as also a parable of the prodigal son, who squandered his father’s fortune on improper revelry. However the genuine happiness expressed by the painting seems to contradict any possible intention to moralize.

Source: Stefano Zuffi - The Great Dutch Master 

Agnolo Bronzino - Eleanor of Toledo with her son Giovanni

Eleanor de Toledo with her son Giovanni - 1545

Galleria degli Ufizzi - Florence

Agnolo di Cosimo, also known as Agnolo Bronzino (1503–1572), was an italian mannerist painter from Florence. He became famous after receiving the Medici patronage in 1539, when he was one of the many artists chosen to execute the elaborate decorations for the wedding of Cosimo I de Medici , Grand Duke of Tuscany, with Eleanor of Toledo, age 17, daughter of Don Alvarez de Toledo Viceroy of Naples. Don Alvarez, ruled Naples harshly upon the orders of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain and besides being his second cousin he was also one of his most trusted lieutenants. The marriage, between Cosimo and Eleanor, became highly attractive for the Medicis for a variety of reasons. First, Eleanor’s royal Castilian ancestors and relations with the Habsburgs provided the Medici with the royal blood they had lacked till then. Secondly, this association began the process of placing The Medici on the same footing as other European sovereigns and gave Cosimo a relief on the struggle he was endeavour in order to solidify and strengthen not only the Florentine State but also his own position as its leader . Through her father Eleanor also provided the Medici a powerful link to Spain, at that time ultimately in control of Florence.

I’ve been reading about Eleanor’s (Toledo 1522 – Pisa 1562) interesting life lately and it has fascineted me the way she became an influencial consort in the Court of Tuscany. Despite her initial unpopularity as a Spaniard, she turned to be loved by her people, founded many churches, encouraged the arts and became patron to many of the most notable artists of her time. Eleanor also revelead interest in business and agriculture helping to expand and increase the profitability of the vast Medici estates, serving as regent of Florence during her spouse absences, establishing her position as the first modern first lady. I saw Bronzino’s painting, for the first time, in Florence, at the Galleria degli Uffizzi and I became fascinated by her distinct and noble bearing and her stunning dress. Bronzino, was the court painter to Cosimo for most of the Duke’s long reign. His chillingly refined treatment of subjects is typical of the Mannerist esthetics. Eleonor’s portrait is a stunning example of the uncompromising detail and clarity which caractherized Bronzino’s work, and the portrait of Eleanor, dated 1546 is no exception. I found fascinating the dress. Luxurious and elegant with a fabric stylistically choosen for a spanish Duchess which influence, surely, affected fashion at that time.

As Joe A. Thomas quotes: “The costume and fabric are given such importance that the painting almost becomes still life. The image of Eleanor in this dress became the equivalent of her state portrait and was repeated in various copies (one of them at the Wallace Collection, in London). This elegant garment would not have been an everyday wear. Eleanor may have chosen her favourite, most elegant gown in which to be memorialized in her portrait. We know that this was a special gown to her not only because she was depicted in it in her portraits, but also because she was buried in it. When the Medici tombs were opened in the nineteenth century, Eleanor’s otherwise unidentified body was recognized because she was wearing this exact dress”.

Eleanor and Cosimo had 11 children and 2 of their sons, Francesco and Ferdinando, reigned as grand Dukes of Tuscany. The child in the picture is believed to be her second male son, Giovanni, who later became Bishop of Pisa and Cardinal.

Source: Joe A. Thomas and Wikipedia