06 Works, Today, April 19th, is St. Martha of Persia's day, With Footnotes - #105

Antonio da Correggio, (1489–1534) 

Saints Peter, Martha, Mary Magdalen, and Leonard, circa 1517
Oil on canvas
Height: 172 cm (67.7 in); Width: 126 cm (49.6 in)
Metropolitan Museum of Art  

Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – March 5, 1534), usually known as just Correggio, was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sensuous works of the 16th century. In his use of dynamic composition, illusionistic perspective and dramatic foreshortening, Correggio prefigured the Baroque art of the 17th century and the Rococo art of the 18th century. He is considered a master of chiaroscuro.

In 1503–1505 he was apprenticed to Francesco Bianchi Ferrara in Modena, where he probably became familiar with the classicism of artists like Lorenzo Costa and Francesco Francia, evidence of which can be found in his first works. After a trip to Mantua in 1506, he returned to Correggio, where he stayed until 1510. To this period is assigned the Adoration of the Child with St. Elizabeth and John, which shows clear influences from Costa and Mantegna. In 1514 he probably finished three tondos for the entrance of the church of Sant'Andrea in Mantua, and then returned to Correggio, where, as an independent and increasingly renowned artist, he signed a contract for the Madonna altarpiece in the local monastery of St. Francis (now in the Dresden Gemäldegalerie). More on Antonio da Correggio

During the reign of Emperor Claudius II in the third century, St. Marinus together with his wife, St. Martha of Persia , and their sons, Audifax and Habakkuk, traveled from Persia to Rome to pray at the graves of the Ss. Peter and Paul. During this time, fierce persecutions and executions were carried out against Christians. St. Marinus and his wife and sons helped those Christians who had been locked up in the prisons, and also requested the bodies of the martyrs. At one of the jails they met and helped a prisoner named Cyrenus, since he had endured torture for his faith in Christ.

Unknown artist
St. Martha the Martyr of Persia

I have no further description, at this time

The persecutions spread, and more Christians were arrested. During this period, 260 Christians had been sentenced to dig their own graves along the Salerian Way, and were subsequently executed by archers. When they learned about these vicious murders, Marinus, his family, and Presbyter John traveled by night and reburied the bodies of the martyrs in the catacombs. 

Christians Buried in Roman Catacombs 

I have no further description, at this time

Later, they returned to the prison where Cyrenus was incarcerated, but did not find him. He had been executed the day before with his body thrown into the Tiber River. Performing their holy duty, St. Marinus and his family retrieved the remains of St. Cyrenus from the river and buried them.

Unknown artist
STs. MARIUS, MARTHA, AUDIFAX, and ABACHUM

I have no further description, at this time

For their charitable deeds, this holy family was deemed worthy to glorify the Lord by martyrdom. 

Leonhard Beck, (c. 1480 – 1542)

Saint Valentine, circa 1510

Oil on panel

Height: 118.5 cm (46.6 in); Width: 49 cm (19.2 in)

Coburg Fortress, Coburg, Germany

Leonhard Beck (c. 1480 – 1542) was a painter and designer of woodcuts in Augsburg, Germany; active as a miniaturist in Augsburg c. 1490-1512/15. He worked with his father on two Psalters for the Augsburg monastery in 1495. He was an assistant to Hans Holbein the Elder, working on a Holbein altarpiece now in the Städel in Frankfurt am Main in 1500-1501.

His most notable work came when he joined the stable of artists, most in Augsburg, used by Emperor Maximilian I for his series of self-propagandising projects in or with woodcut.

Beck is also known for a compilation of 123 woodcuts entitled the Genealogy of the House of Habsburg. The work was commissioned by Maximilian I, intended to show saintly members of his family. Some of the images show saints connected to the Abbey of Maubeuge, which apparently received a copy of the set. More on Leonhard Beck

The pagans beheaded Presbyter Valentinus, and the imperial gardener Asterius who had been converted by him. In 269, Sts. Marinus and Martha, along with their sons, were arrested and given over to torture. By order of the emperor, the men were beheaded, while St. Martha was drowned in a river.

Unknown artist
Saints Mario, Marta, Abaco and Audiface

I have no further description, at this time

The relics of the holy saints are in Rome at the Church of St. John the Hut-Dweller. More on St. Martha of Persia

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