05 works, Today, October 25th, is Saint Tabitha's day, her story illustrated #296

Sarah Beth Baca

Saint Tabitha

Private collection

Sarah Beth Baca, a Houston-based painter, works with acrylic, oil, collage, and mixed media illustrations. Her current series titled Full Image, Women of the Bible, brings together watercolor and ink work to brightly illustrate imaginative half portraits-each piece evokes deep meaning and symbolism as it reimagines the lives of women whose stories have been overlooked or misunderstood. Her studies in theology, gender equality, racial reconciliation, and community development have influenced the themes of her paintings.

Sarah Beth has engaged churches and faith organizations with her art throughout her career. From her launch pad at Houston Baptist University, she has gone on to paint on church stages, organize group art exhibits in churches, and collaborate on community art projects. Her portraits of women of the Bible are used frequently around the world to illustrate sermons and Bible studies, and her art is collected worldwide. More on Sarah Beth

Tabitha is the Aramaic translation of the Greek name “Dorcas,” which means gazelle. Today, one specific species of gazelle found throughout Palestine is known as the dorcas gazelle.

Tabitha, living in the port city of Joppa (modern-day Jaffa, near Tel Aviv), is the only woman in the New Testament who is plainly called a “disciple.”

Isaac van Swanenburg, (1537–) 

Spinning, warping and weaving, between 1594 and 1596

Museum De Lakenhal,  Leiden, Netherlands

Isaak Nicolai or Isaac Claesz van Swanenburg (1537 – 1614 in Leiden) was a Dutch Renaissance painter and glazier active in Leiden and Gouda. He was a city council member from 1576 and became mayor of Leiden five times.

Swanenburg was a very good painter, whose paintings hung in various council buildings of Leiden. According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History, Swanenburg was in Antwerp studying with Floris for 6–8 years in his youth, and settled in Leiden after his training in 1565. He briefly fled to Hamburg for a year during the Siege of Leiden, but had returned by 1574. He kept a large and respected workshop in Leiden, for oil- and glass painting. He was buried in the Pieterskerk, Leiden. More on Isaac van Swanenburg

Dorcas specialized as a weaver and manufactured tunics and garments, which she would sell and from these proceeds she supported the poor, widows and orphans. It seems that she was a woman of standing within the community, and was completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving. It is likely that she was a woman of some means, given her ability to help the poor.

Masolino da Panicale, (1383–1447)

Sermon of St. Peter, 1426-27

Fresco

255 x 162 cm

Masolino Brancacci Chapel, Florence, central Italy

Masolino da Panicale, see below

While the Apostle Peter was out spreading the gospel, and he arrived in Lydda of Palestine, it happened that Dorcas fell ill and died. And though she was ready for burial, it became known that Peter was in Lydda. 

Masolino da Panicale, (1383–1447)

The Healing of Tabitha, c. 1420s

Fresco

Masolino Brancacci Chapel, Florence, central Italy

Masolino da Panicale (born 1383, Panicale, near Perugia, Romagna—died probably 1440–47, Florence) was a painter who achieved a compromise between the International Gothic manner and the advanced early Renaissance style of his own day and who owes his prominence in the history of Florentine art not to his innovations but to his lyrical style and his unfailing artistry.

In 1423, Masolino joined the Florentine guild Arte dei Medici e Spezial, which included painters as an independent branch He spent many years traveling, including a trip to Hungary from September 1425 to July 1427. He was selected by Pope Martin V, on the return of the papacy to Rome in 1420, to paint the altarpiece for his family chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, and later by Cardinal Branda da Castiglione to paint the Saint Catherine Chapel in the Basilica of San Clemente, Rome. In the interim, he collaborated with his younger colleague, Masaccio, to paint the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, which were much admired by fellow artists throughout the fifteenth century. He painted a cycle of 300 famous historical figures in the Orsini Palace in Rome about 1433-4 and also worked in Todi. He spent his later years, after 1435, working for Cardinal Branda Castiglione in Castiglione Olona. More on Masolino da Panicale

Then two were sent to plead with Peter to come to Joppa. When he arrived he went upstairs to the room in which they kept the body of Dorcas. Peter was moved, and without saying anything, after sending everyone outside the room, he knelt and prayed fervently. Then he said: "Tabitha, rise up." And indeed the dead woman resurrected! This was received with immense joy by all those in attendance.

After this Tabitha lived many years, "always doing good works and acts of charity." Death found her again in old age. And so this benevolent woman departed in peace and with joy. More on Saint Tabitha

Philip Galle, (1537–1612) 

Maarten van Heemskerck  (1498–1574)

St Peter Raising Tabitha at Joppa, c. 1575

Engraving process

Height: 213 mm (8.3 in); Width: 275 mm (10.8 in)

Royal Library of Belgium

Philip (or Philips) Galle (1537 – March 1612) was a Dutch publisher, best known for publishing old master prints, which he also produced as designer and engraver. He is especially known for his reproductive engravings of paintings. More on Philip Galle

Maerten van Heemskerck or Marten Jacobsz Heemskerk van Veen (1 June 1498 – 1 October 1574) was a Dutch portrait and religious painter, who spent most of his career in Haarlem. He was a pupil of Jan van Scorel, and adopted his teacher's Italian-influenced style. He spent the years 1532–6 in Italy. He produced many designs for engravers, and is especially known for his depictions of the Wonders of the World. More on Maerten van Heemskerck

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and 365 Saints, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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