05 Works, June 4th is Saints Mary and Martha's day, their story in Paintings #155

Johannes Vermeer  (1632–1675)

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, between circa 1654 and circa 1656
Oil on canvas
Height: 1,585 mm (62.40 in); Width: 1,415 mm (55.70 in)
Scottish National Gallery 

Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer (1632 – December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime. He evidently was not wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death, perhaps because he produced relatively few paintings.

Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, and frequently used very expensive pigments. He is particularly renowned for his masterly treatment and use of light in his work.

He was recognized during his lifetime in Delft and The Hague, but his modest celebrity gave way to obscurity after his death. In the 19th century, Vermeer was rediscovered by Gustav Friedrich Waagen and Théophile Thoré-Bürger, who published an essay attributing 66 pictures to him, although only 34 paintings are universally attributed to him today. Since that time, Vermeer's reputation has grown, and he is now acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. More Vermeer

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, He came to Bethany where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. 

Joachim Beuckelaer, (circa 1533 –1575)

The well-stocked kitchen, with Jesus in the house of Martha and Mary in the background, c. Antwerp, 1566

Oil on panel

Height: 171 cm (67.3 in); Width: 250 cm (98.4 in)

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Joachim Beuckelaer (c. 1533 – c. 1570/4) was a Flemish painter specialising in market and kitchen scenes with elaborate displays of food and household equipment. He also painted still lifes with no figures in the central scene. His development of the genre of market and kitchen scenes was influential on the development of still life art in Northern Europe as well as Italy.

Beuckelaer was born in Antwerp into a family of painters. He possibly learned to paint in the workshop of his uncle, Pieter Aertsen,. Aertsen was best known for his market and kitchen scenes, genres. Beuckelaer became an independent master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1560.

Beuckelaer remained active in Antwerp throughout his career and continued to develop themes pioneered in painting by Aertsen, but arguably surpassing his presumed master in skill. The date of his death is not known with certainty but fell likely between 1570 and 1574. More on Joachim Beuckelaer

Attributed to Georg Friedrich Stettner

Christ in the house of Martha, c. 17th century

Oil on oak

91 x 146.5 cm.

Private collection

I have no information on Georg Friedrich Stettner!

She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Dieric Bouts  (circa 1420 –1475)

Christ in the House of Simon, c. 1440

Oil on panel

Height: 40.5 cm (15.9 in); Width: 61 cm (24 in)

Gemäldegalerie,  Berlin

Dieric Bouts (born ca. 1415 – 6 May 1475) was an Early Netherlandish painter, Bouts was born in Haarlem and was mainly active in Leuven (Louvain), where he was city painter from 1468. Very little is actually known about Bouts' early life, but he was greatly influenced by Jan van Eyck and by Rogier van der Weyden, under whom he may have studied. He is first documented in Leuven in 1457 and worked there until his death in 1475.

Bouts was among the first northern painters to demonstrate the use of a single vanishing point. His work has a certain primitive stiffness of drawing, and his figures are often disproportionately long and angular, but his pictures are highly expressive, well designed and rich in colour, with especially good landscape backgrounds. More on Dieric Bouts

This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair; at the House of Simon.

In speaking with Jesus, both sisters lament that he did not arrive in time to prevent their brother's death.

Jesus' response to Martha is one of teaching, calling her to hope and faith, his response to Mary is more emotional: "When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. More on Saints Mary and Martha

Jesus replies , "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die". 

Carl Bloch (1834–1890)

Raising of Lazarus by Jesus, c. 1870s

I have no further description, at this time

Carl Heinrich Bloch (23 May 1834 – 22 February 1890) was a Danish painter.

He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Art. His only interest was drawing and painting, and he was consumed by the idea of becoming an artist. He went to Italy to study art, passing through the Netherlands, where he became acquainted with the work of Rembrandt, which became a major influence on him. 

His early work featured rural scenes from everyday life. From 1859 to 1866, Bloch lived in Italy, and this period was important for the development of his historical style.

His first great success was the exhibition of his "Prometheus Unbound" in Copenhagen in 1865. After the death of Marstrand, he finished the decoration of the ceremonial hall at the University of Copenhagen. 

He was then commissioned to produce 23 paintings for the King's Chapel at Frederiksborg Palace. These were all scenes from the life of Christ which have become very popular as illustrations. The originals, painted between 1865 and 1879, are still at Frederiksborg Palace.

Bloch died of cancer on 22 February 1890. His death came as "an abrupt blow for Nordic art" according to an article by Sophus Michaelis. Michaelis stated that "Denmark has lost the artist that indisputably was the greatest among the living." Kyhn stated in his eulogy at Bloch's funeral that "Bloch stays and lives." More on Carl Bloch 

In the presence of a crowd of Jewish mourners, Jesus comes to the tomb. Over the objections of Martha, Jesus has them roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb and says a prayer. He then calls Lazarus to come out and Lazarus does so, still wrapped in his grave-cloths. Jesus then calls for someone to remove the grave-cloths, and let him go.

Mary, Martha and Lazarus, reposed in Cyprus, where Lazarus became first Bishop of Kition.

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