Adam Elsheimer, 1603 - 1605
The Altarpiece Of The Exaltation Of The True Cross
The Digging for the Cross (bottom middle left), c. 1603 – 1605
Oil on copper
w107 x h133.6 cm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
Between 1950 and 1981, the Städel succeeded in reuniting the parts of Elsheimer’s greatest work, which was documented but presumed lost. The modern frame of this domestic altarpiece was reconstructed after sketches made in 1612. While the central panel shows the exaltation of the Cross, the six scenes around it recount the legend of the finding of the Cross by St Helena and its later return to Jerusalem by Emperor Heraclius. With their striking compositions and dramatic lighting, the panels represent special highlights of Elsheimer’s late period. More on this work
Adam Elsheimer, Elsheimer also spelled Ehlsheimer, (baptized March 18, 1578, Frankfurt am Main [Germany]—died Dec. 11, 1610, Rome [Italy]), German painter and printmaker, recognized as an important figure in the development of 17th-century landscape painting, noted especially for his atmospheric use of light.
Elsheimer studied with Philipp Uffenbach in Frankfurt, where he learned the basic techniques of German Renaissance art. He traveled to Munich and later to Venice, where he was inspired by the work of Tintoretto. Elsheimer’s works of this period explore the expressive, often mysterious effects of light. When he went to Rome in 1600, Elsheimer joined a group of artists to produce paintings of Italian classical subjects and landscapes with small figures, often overpowered by massive foliage.
Elsheimer produced small and intricate paintings on copper and many larger, more vigorous drawings. His frequent depiction of illumination by firelight and candlelight was unusual for the period. Elsheimer greatly influenced the Dutch and Italian schools, and particularly Rembrandt and Claude Lorrain. His early death had a disturbing effect on other artists of his time.
More on Adam Elsheimer
Judas Cyriacus (Cyriacus of Ancona, Cyriacus of Jerusalem, Quiriacus, Quiricus, Kyriakos); d. ca. AD 360, is the patron saint of Ancona, Italy. He is said to have been the bishop of Ancona who died or was killed during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Judah Kyriakos was the last in the desposynic line for that post, his predecessors also being descendants from the family of Jesus.
Altobello Melone, (1491–1543)
The Journey of Saint Helen to Jerusalem in Search of the True Cross
Tempera on panel
Height: 25.5 cm (10 in); Width: 46.9 cm (18.4 in)
Private collection
Altobello Melone (c. 1490–1491 – before 3 May 1543) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. His work merges Lombard and Mannerist styles. He was commissioned in December 1516 to fresco the Cathedral of Cremona, work which continued till 1518. His contract required that his frescoes be more beautiful than his predecessor, Boccaccio Boccaccino. He worked alongside Giovanni Francesco Bembo and Paolo da Drizzona.[
Melone contributed frescoes to the Cathedral of Cremona in 1516. The Lamentation in the Brera comes in all probability from the church of Saint Lorenzo in Brescia and dated 1512. The stylistic convergence with Romanino is particularly obvious, such that the contemporary Venetian Marcantonio Michiel describes the Cremonese painter as a disciple of Armanin.
Moreover, in his masterpiece frescoes, Melone aims to be an interpreter of the anticlassicismo and "expressionist" language emerging in the work of Romanino. The seven scenes realized by Altobello evince a new forcefulness – Massacre of the Innocents is emblematic and manifest in the gestures and in the grotesque transformation of the faces. More on Altobello Melone
Judas Kyriakos aided the Empress Helena, the aged mother of Constantine the Great, who travelled to Jerusalem at her son's request in finding the True Cross, which had been buried at Golgotha after the crucifixion. The location of the Holy Sepulchre was "disclosed by Judas, who helped her, but only after he had been imprisoned in a dry well for seven days without food. Judas derived his information from some documents which had come to him by paternal inheritance.
Unknown artist
The finding of the Holy Cross by Agia Eleni
I have no further description, at this time
Agnolo Gaddi, (1350–1396)
True Cross
Fresco
I have no further description, at this time
Agnolo Gaddi, (1350–1396)
Detail: True Cross
Fresco
I have no further description, at this time
Agnolo Gaddi, (born c. 1350, Florence [Italy]—died Oct. 16, 1396, Florence), son and pupil of Taddeo Gaddi, who was himself the major pupil of the Florentine master Giotto. Agnolo was an influential and prolific artist who was the last major Florentine painter stylistically descended from Giotto.
In 1369 he was employed in Rome as an assistant to his brother Giovanni, a minor painter, in the execution of frescoes for Pope Urban V in the Vatican. In the 1380s he executed his most ambitious works, a series of frescoes in the choir of Santa Croce in Florence illustrating the “Legend of the True Cross”. In these frescoes Agnolo sacrificed expression for design, and his overall concern with optical unification of the composition replaces Giotto’s concentration on figures, thereby revealing the new approach toward painting of the International Gothic style. Between 1383 and 1386 Agnolo designed medallions representing the virtues for the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, and between 1387 and 1395 his name appears as the designer or gilder of statues for the facade of the Cathedral of Florence. In 1394–96 he painted a cycle of scenes from the life of the Virgin in the Cathedral of Prato. His death in 1396 left unfinished an altar of the Crucifixion in San Miniato al Monte outside Florence. More on Agnolo Gaddi
Judas showed her where to find Golgotha. Then there was an earthquake and a smell of perfume and Judas was immediately converted to Christianity. He began to dig and, underneath three hundred years worth of debris, he unearthed three crosses.
Jean Colombe (1430–1493)
Illumination from Tres Rich Heures, Duc du Berry., c. 1410
Manuscript
294 x 210 mm
Musée Condé, Chantilly
Jean Colombe (b. Bourges ca. 1430; d. ca. 1493) was a French miniature painter and illuminator of manuscripts. He is best known for his work in Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. He is the brother of the sculptor Michel Colombe.
In 1470–1472, Colombe created the miniatures of the Hours of Louis de Laval; around 1475, he illuminated the crusader chronicles, Les Passages d'oultre mer du noble Godefroy de Bouillon, du bon roy Saint Loys et de plusieurs vertueux princes, by Sébastien Mamerot. Both works had been commissioned by Louis de Laval. Between 1485 and 1490, Jean Colombe completed the decoration of the Très Riches Heures which had been left unfinished in 1416. He executed the image for the month of November (below the zodiac arch), completed the Limbourg brothers' design for September, and retouched other images. More on Jean Colombe
But how were they to tell which one Jesus was crucified on? They brought out a dead man and held over him each of the crosses in turn. When they came to the third one, the man was miraculously restored to life.
Then, the devil appeared. He was angry because he had been cheated out of a soul. But Judas argued with him until he disappeared. After some more digging, he also found the nails that had pinned Jesus to the cross. Helena sent these nails to her son Constantine who had them fashioned into a bit for his horse.
It was necessary to demolish a temple, perhaps dedicated to Venus, that occupied the site.
Palma il Giovane, (1550–1628)
Judas Cyriacus, between 1620 and 1625
Oil on canvas
The church of Santa Maria Assunta, Venice, Italy
Iacopo Negretti (1548/50[1] – 14 October 1628), best known as Jacopo or Giacomo Palma il Giovane or simply Palma Giovane ("Young Palma"), was an Italian painter from Venice and a notable exponent of the Venetian school.
After Tintoretto's death (1594), Palma became Venice's dominant artist perpetuating his style. Outside Venice, he received numerous commissions.
Palma was born into a family of painters, he was the great-nephew of the painter Palma Vecchio ("Old Palma") and the son of Antonio Nigreti (1510/15-1575/85), a minor painter.
In 1567 Guidobaldo II della Rovere, duke of Urbino, recognized Palma's talents, supporting him for four years and sending him to Rome, where he remained until about 1572. Shedding most remnants of Roman manner after his return to Venice, Palma adopted the inescapable models and mannerisms of Tintoretto. When the master died, Palma stepped in to finish his last work, the Pietà in the Accademia. By the mid-1580s he had digested Tintoretto's versatile figure postures and thick surfaces, emphasis on light, and loose brushstroke.
He worked alongside Veronese and Tintoretto on the decorations in the Doge's Palace where he came to know fully the Venetian tradition. From 1580-90 he painted cycles of large canvases. After this he went back to official commissions at the Doge's Palace.
Palma il Giovane went on to organize his own, large studio which he used to produce a repetitive series of religious and allegorical pictures. After 1600 he painted mythologies for a small circle of intellectuals. After the death of Tintoretto in 1594, he remained one of the leading painters in the City of Venice. More on Iacopo Negretti
After assisting Helena with the finding of the True Cross, Judas Cyriacus was baptized, consecrated as bishop of Jerusalem, and martyred during the persecutions of Julian the Apostate.
Unknown artist
The martyrdom of Judas Cyriacus
I have no further description, at this time
According to the story of his martyrdom, Judas had molten lead poured into his mouth and was roasted over a fire, whilst tied to an iron bedstead. After that, he was thrown in a well full of poisonous snakes which died as soon as they touched him. Then, the emperor prepared a cauldron of boiling oil. But Judas was so happy as he got ready for his ‘bath’ that the Emperor grew angry and killed him with his sword.
Unknown author
Altar frontal from Durro (detail of martyrdom of St. Judas), c. Mid-12th century
Tempera on wood
Height: 980 mm (38.58 in); Width: 1,293 mm (50.90 in)
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya
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