10 works, Today, September 2nd, is the Martyrs of Nicomedia's day, their story illustrated #245

Albrecht Dürer, (1471–1528)

20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia

Martyrdom of ten thousand Christians, c. 1508

Oil on panel

Height: 99 cm (38.9 in); Width: 87 cm (34.2 in)

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

Albrecht Dürer (21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528) was a painter, printmaker and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was still in his twenties, due to his high-quality woodcut prints. He was in communication with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, and from 1512 he was patronized by emperor Maximilian I.

His vast body of work includes engravings, his preferred technique in his later prints, altarpieces, portraits and self-portraits, watercolours and books. The woodcuts, such as the Apocalypse series (1498), retain a more Gothic flavour than the rest of his work. His well-known engravings include the Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), Saint Jerome in his Study (1514) and Melencolia I (1514), which has been the subject of extensive analysis and interpretation. His watercolours also mark him as one of the first European landscape artists, while his ambitious woodcuts revolutionized the potential of that medium.

Dürer's introduction of classical motifs into Northern art, through his knowledge of Italian artists and German humanists, has secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance. This is reinforced by his theoretical treatises, which involve principles of mathematics, perspective and ideal proportions. More on Albrecht Dürer

The 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia refers to victims of persecution of Christians in Nicomedia, Bithynia (Izmit, Turkey) by the Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian in the early 4th century AD.

Unknown artist

20,000 martyrs of Nicomedia, c. 985

Te burning of a church that held numerous Christians

Miniature Minology of Vasily II, Vatican Library, Rome

The 20,000 martyrs of Nicomedia, including: Glycerius, Zeno, Theophilus, Dorotheus, Mardonius, Migdonius, Indes, Gorgonius, Peter, Euthymius, and the virgins Agape, Domna, and Theophila

According to various martyrologies and menologion, the persecution included the burning of a church that held numerous Christians on Christmas Day.

Unknown artist

Maximinus Thrax, 235-238 CE
I have no further description, at this time

At the turn of the fourth century, the Roman emperor Maximian (284-305) was growing increasingly angry over the spread of Christianity throughout the Empire. Even members of his court had been revealed as secret Christians.

Unknown artist

St. Domna of Nicomedia
I have no further description, at this time

The pagan priestess Domna was living in Maximian’s palace and had secretly become intrigued by the teachings of Christianity. She went secretly to Bishop Anthimus, who was the successor to Saint Cyril, and received holy Baptism. Domna soon began helping the poor, and even secretly distributed food from the imperial kitchens to the needy.

Bernardo Cavallino

Saint Agatha, c. 1640s

Oil on canvas

27 1/8 × 22 1/4 inches (68.9 × 56.5 cm)

Detroit Institute of Arts

Bernardo Cavallino (1616–1656) was an Italian painter and draughtsman. He is regarded as one of the most original painters active in Naples during the first half of the 17th century. 

Born in Naples, his paintings are some of the more stunningly expressive works emerging from the Neapolitan artists of his day. Little is known about his background or training. Of eighty attributed paintings, less than ten are signed. He worked through private dealers and collectors whose records are no longer available.

One of his masterpieces is the billowing proletarian Blessed Virgin at the Brera Gallery in Milan. Passive amid the swirling, muscular putti, this Neapolitan signorina delicately rises from the fog, the updated Catholic baroque equivalent of a Botticelli's Venus. His The Ecstasy of St Cecilia exists both as cartoon (Museo di Capodimonte, Naples)[2] and final copy in the Palazzo Vecchio of Florence. Finally, his Esther and Ahasuerus hangs in the Uffizi Gallery.

He is thought to have died during the plague epidemic in 1656. More on Bernardo Cavallino

When the chief eunuch of the palace found out about the food, he had Domna put in jail in hopes that she would confess. Domna feigned insanity and she was subsequently released. She then somehow managed to leave the imperial court while Maximian was off to war. The abbess Agatha dressed Domna in men’s clothing, cut her hair and sent her to a monastery.

Unknown artist

Triumph of Maximian

Triumph of Titus

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

I have no further description, at this time

A reconstructed relief panel from the original on the Arch of Titus, Rome, c. 81 CE. The scene, showing the triumph of Titus, is carved in three-quarter view and has Titus riding a four-horse chariot (quadriga) and shows him being crowned by a personification of Victory. The goddess Roma stands in front, holding the bridle of one of the horses. The two figures to the right of the chariot are personifications of the people of Rome (naked torso) and the Senate (wearing a toga). 

Upon his return from battle, emperor Maximian ordered that a search be made for the former pagan priestess. The soldiers found the monastery, razed it to the ground, and threw all the sisters into prison. Maximian’s rage against Christians continued to grow as he saw more and more of his citizens converting to the new religion.

Maximian commanded the presbyter Glycerius be arrested for trial. Unable to force Saint Glycerius to stop confessing his belief in the teachings of Christ, Maximian ordered him to be burned to death.

Maximian gave orders to destroy Christian churches, to burn service books, and to deprive all Christians of their civil rights.

This event took place when the emperor Maximian returned with victory over Ethiopians in 304 AD. It happened after they had refused to sacrifice to idols during Christmas Mass in order to thank gods for the victory he had acquired. Later Maximian and his soldiers entered the church and told the Christians they could escape punishment if they renounced Christ. 

Unknown artist

Hieromartyr Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia, and those with him, captured and tortured to death, c. 985

Miniature Minology of Vasily II, Vatican Library, Rome

The Christian priest Glycerius answered that the Christians would never "renounce their faith, even under the threat of torture". Maximian ordered him to be burned to death. Those who had not been burned in the church were captured and tortured to death. 

Theophanes the Greek

Saint Anthimos from Nicomedia
Frescoes of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior

Novgorod, Russia

Theophanes the Greek (c. 1340 – c. 1410) was a Byzantine Greek artist and one of the greatest icon painters of Muscovite Russia, and was noted as the teacher and mentor of the great Andrei Rublev.

Theophanes was born in Constantinople. After studying art and philosophy at the University of Constantinople, he moved to Novgorod in 1370, and in 1395 to Moscow. His style is considered unsurpassed in expression achieved by almost mono-colored painting. Some of his contemporaries observed that he appeared to be "painting with a broom", in reference to the bold, broad execution in some of his finest frescos, which are unique in the larger Byzantine tradition. Theophanes was described by the Muscovites as "learned in philosophy", a reflection on his broad education and erudition. The balance of mathematical harmony in line and shape, wed to a master's use of an earthtone palette and precious gold leaf, evokes a spirituality that is immensely powerful, and speaks to the genius of this relatively unknown painter. More on Theophanes the Greek 

The bishop Anthimos who had escaped burning in the church was captured and beheaded.

The former pagan priestess Domna had been hiding in a cave during this persecution, and she managed to survive the holocaust. She discovered the remains of three of her new Christian friends who had been martyred, and gave them a decent burial, even burning incense at their gravesite and offering prayers there.

Giovanni da Milano

Domna was beheaded at the order of the Emperor

La degollación de Santa Catalina" (1530)

I have no further description, at this time

Giovanni da Milano (Giovanni di Jacopo di Guido da Caversaccio) was an Italian painter, known to be active in Florence and Rome between 1346 and 1369.

 

His style is, like many Florentine painters of the time, considered to be derivative of Giotto's. Vasari misidentified him as a student of Taddeo Gaddi, a noted Giotto protégé.

 

Hailing from Lombardy, the earliest documentation shows Giovanni in Florence on October 17, 1346, under the name Johannes Jacobi de Commo, listed amongst the foreign painters living in Tuscany. More Giovanni da Milano

She was reported to the imperial authorities when she was seen praying at the site, and was arrested. She was beheaded at the order of the Emperor. The atrocities of Nicomedia have never been forgotten, and are commemorated to this day in churches all over the Orthodox world. More on Martyrs of Nicomedia

Unknown artist

20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia

I have no further description, at this time

The top two parts depict various prominent saints, as well as the “Not Made by Hands” image of Jesus at the very top.

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