10 works, Today, October 4th, is Saint Francis of Assisi's day, his story illustrated #276

ROMANESQUE PAINTER, Italian, (active in 1220s)

St Francis of Assisi, before 1224

Fresco

Cappella di San Gregorio, Subiaco

In the Chapel of San Gregorio in the lower church at Subiaco can be found the earliest portrait of St Francis. This fresco represents him without halo and stigmata, therefore it was probably made before 1224, when he received the stigmata. More on this work

Born circa 1181, in Assisi, duchy of Spoleto, Italy, Saint Francis of Assisi began his life as a confirmed sinner. His father was a wealthy cloth merchant who owned farmland around Assisi, and his mother was a beautiful Frenchwoman. Francis was not in want during his youth; he was spoiled, indulging himself with fine food, wine, and wild celebrations. By age 14, he had left school and become known as a rebellious teenager who frequently drank, partied and broke the city curfew. He was also known for his charm and vanity.

He was expected to follow his father into the family textile business. Instead of planning a future as a merchant, he began daydreaming of a future as a knight; knights were Medieval action heroes, and if Francis had any ambition, it was to be a war hero like them. 

Pedro Subercaseaux

Francis eagerly took his place with the cavalry

I have no further description, at this time

Pedro León Maximiano María Subercaseaux Errázuriz (December 10, 1880 – Santiago de Chile, Chile, January 3, 1956) was a Chilean painter; son of the painter and diplomat Ramón Subercaseaux Vicuña. He painted many portraits about events from the history of Chile, such as the Crossing of the Andes. He painted portraits of the history of Argentina requested during the Argentina Centennial. He married Elvira Lyon Otaégui in 1907, but the Pope later annulled their marriage so that they could both get into religious orders. More on Pedro Subercaseaux

In 1202 war broke between Assisi and Perugia, and Francis eagerly took his place with the cavalry.

Francis and the men of Assisi came under heavy attack, and in the face of superior numbers, they took flight. 

Unskilled and with no combat experience, Francis was quickly captured by enemy soldiers. Dressed like an aristocrat and wearing expensive new armor, he was considered worthy of a decent ransom Francis would spend nearly a year in such miserable conditions , during which time he may well have contracted a serious disease. Also during this time, he would later report, he began to receive visions from God.

After a year of negotiations, Francis' ransom was accepted, and he was released from prison in 1203. When he came back to Assisi, however, Francis was a very different man. Upon his return, he was dangerously sick in both mind and body — a battle-fatigued casualty of war.

Baccio Maria Bacci

St Francis of Assisi and the leper, c. 1927

Oil on canvas

37.3cm × 42.0cm

Florence in the Italian

Baccio Maria Bacci (1888 - 1974) was an Italian painter of the Tuscan Novocento movement. He also published various books on contemporary art movements.

He was born in Florence, he traveled to Paris in 1908. He returned to Florence in 1910 and exhibited with Giovanni Costetti, gaining the encouragement of Emilio Cecchi, Thomas Neal, and Matteo Marangoni. During 1913-1918, he painted in a style influenced by the Futurists, with canvases titled Aeropittoriche. In his later years, he painted for a number of churches and created mosaic designs. More on Baccio Maria Bacci

One day, as legend has it, while riding on a horse in the local countryside, Francis encountered a leper. Prior to the war, Francis would have run from the leper. Viewing the leper as a symbol of moral conscience, he embraced and kissed him, later describing the experience as a feeling of sweetness in his mouth. 

Giotto di Bondone  (–1337)

Renunciation of Wordly Goods, c. 1295 Edit this at Wikidata

Fresco

Height: 230 cm (90.5 in); Width: 270 cm (106.2 in)

Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi,  Assisi, Umbria, Italy

Giotto di Bondone  (–1337), see below

In order to raise money to rebuild the Christian church, he sold a bolt of cloth from his father's shop, along with his horse. His father became furious upon learning of his son's actions and subsequently dragged Francis before the local bishop. The bishop told Francis to return his father's money, to which his reaction was extraordinary: He stripped off his clothes, and along with them, returned the money back to his father. The bishop gave Francis a rough tunic, and dressed in these new humble clothes, Francis left Assisi. 

Giotto di Bondone, 1295-1300

Christ, who told him to rebuild the Christian Church, 1297-99

Fresco

270 x 230 cm

Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi,  Assisi, Umbria, Italy

Giotto di Bondone  (–1337), see below

Francis, now in his early 20s, began turning his focus toward God. Instead of working, he spent an ever-increasing amount of time at a remote mountain hideaway as well as in old, quiet churches around Assisi, praying, looking for answers, and helping nurse lepers. During this time, while praying before an old Byzantine crucifix at the church of San Damiano, Francis reportedly heard the voice of Christ, who told him to rebuild the Christian Church and to live a life of extreme poverty. Francis obeyed and devoted himself to Christianity. He began preaching around Assisi and was soon joined by 12 loyal followers.

Giotto di Bondone, 1295-1300

The Pope approving the statutes of the order of the Franciscans

Frescoe

Le Louvre

Giotto di Bondone (1266/7 – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto, and Latinized as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Renaissance.

In his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, the late-16th century artist and art historian Giorgio Vasari describes Giotto as making a decisive break with the prevalent Byzantine style and as initiating "the great art of painting as we know it today, introducing the technique of drawing accurately from life, which had been neglected for more than two hundred years."

Giotto's masterwork is the decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, also known as the Arena Chapel, completed around 1305. This fresco cycle depicts the Life of the Virgin and the Life of Christ. It is regarded as one of the supreme masterpieces of the Early Renaissance.[4] That Giotto painted the Arena Chapel and that he was chosen by the Commune of Florence in 1334 to design the new campanile (bell tower) of Florence's Cathedral are among the few certainties of his biography. Almost every other aspect of it is subject to controversy: his birthdate, his birthplace, his appearance, his apprenticeship, the order in which he created his works, whether or not he painted the famous frescoes in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi, and his burial place. More Giotto di Bondone

In 1209 Francis led his first eleven followers to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious Order. After several days, the pope agreed to admit the group informally, adding that when God increased the group in grace and number, they could return for an official admittance.

José Benlliure y Gil  (1855–1937)

Saint Clare of Assisi is received by Francisco

I have no further description, at this time

José Benlliure y Gil (30 September 1858, Valencia – 5 April 1937, Valencia), was a Spanish painter.

He was born at Cañamelar, Valencia, studied painting under Francisco Domingo Marqués, and showed from the first such marked talent that he was sent to the Spanish school in Rome. From 1903 to 1913, he was director of the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts.

He was one of the select circle pensioned by the Spanish government for residence in Italy and executed several state orders for the decoration of public buildings. He became the leader of the Spanish art colony in Rome.

Benlliure obtained several successes in Paris, Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin with his paintings. In 1903 he assumed leadership of the Spanish Academy in Rome, a position he would keep for ten years.

In late 1919 he offered a tribute to Rome with an exhibition of 45 paintings in Madrid in the halls of the Theatre Royal. When he returned to Valencia he was appointed as honorary president of the Circle of Fine Arts in Valencia, and became director of the Museu de Belles Arts de Valencia, a position he held until 1924. He received the Grand Cross of the Crown of Italy and the Cross of Officer of the Legion of Honor from the French government. More on José Benlliure y Gil

Hearing Francis preaching in the church of San Rufino in Assisi in 1211, a young noblewoman Clare of Assisi became deeply touched by his message and realized her calling. On the night of Palm Sunday, 28 March 1212, Clare clandestinely left her family's palace. Francis received her at the Porziuncola and thereby established the Order of Poor Ladies

Br. Robert Lentz, OFM

 St. Francis and the Sultan

I have no further description, at this time

Private collection

Robert Lentz is a Franciscan friar. Besides painting many hours each day, he teaches apprentices, writes, and conducts workshops on art and spirituality.

Brother Robert was born in rural Colorado in 1946. His grandparents emigrated from tsarist Russia in the early 1900's. He studied Byzantine iconography by apprenticing himself to a master painter from the school of Photios Kontoglou in a Greek Orthodox monastery founded from Mount Athos. 

His icons reflect his experiences among the poor in this country and in the Third World, as well as his Franciscan and Russian roots. They are filled with bright colors and often depict contemporary subjects. While always striving to remain true to the essence of Byzantine iconography, he adapts traditional conventions in order to minister better to the emerging Church. His icons remain transcendent expressions of the ancient Christian Tradition, and they invite us into communion with God and the saints. More on Br. Robert Lentz

In 1219 St. Francis and Brother Illuminato accompanied the armies of western Europe to Damietta, Egypt, during the Fifth Crusade. His desire was to speak peacefully with Muslim people about Christianity. He tried to stop the Crusaders from attacking the Muslims at the Battle of Damietta, but failed. After the defeat of the western armies, he crossed the battle line with Brother Illuminato, was arrested and beaten by Arab soldiers, and eventually was taken to the sultan, Malek al-Kamil.

Unknown artist

 St. Francis and the Sultan

I have no further description, at this time

The incident was immortalized in art across Europe in the centuries after it happened. For Christians, the radical vision of fraternity and forgiveness which the saint from Assisi carried to Damietta was adapted to fit his developing spiritual reputation and the political reality of Order and the Church — especially in relationship to Islam. 

After an initial attempt by Francis and the sultan to convert the other, both quickly realized that the other already knew and loved God. Francis and Illuminato remained with al-Kamil and his Sufi teacher Fakhr ad-din al-Farisi for as many as twenty days, discussing prayer and the mystical life. When Francis left, al-Kamil gave him an ivory trumpet, which is still preserved in the crypt of the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi.

Francis was soon preaching in up to five villages per day, teaching a new kind of emotional and personal Christian religion that everyday people could understand. Francis' message was spread far and wide, and thousands of people were captivated by what they heard.

Orazio Gentileschi, (1563–1639)

The Stigmatization of Saint Francis

Oil on canvas oil on canvas

Height: 165.10 mm (6.50 in); Width: 116.20 mm (4.57 in)

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (1563–1639) was an Italian painter. Born in Tuscany, he began his career in Rome, painting in a Mannerist style, much of his work consisting of painting the figures within the decorative schemes of other artists. After 1600, he came under the influence of the more naturalistic style of Caravaggio. He received important commissions in Fabriano and Genoa before moving to Paris to the court of Marie de Medici. He spent the last part of his life at the court of Charles I of England. He was the father of the painter Artemisia Gentileschi. More on Orazio Gentileschi

In 1224 Francis reportedly received a vision that left him with the stigmata of Christ — marks resembling the wounds Jesus Christ suffered when he was crucified, through his hands and the gaping lance wound in his side. This made Francis the first person to receive the holy wounds of the stigmata. They would remain visible for the rest of his life. Because of his earlier work treating lepers, some believe that the wounds were actually symptoms of leprosy.

When his health began to decline rapidly, Francis went home. Knights were sent from Assisi to guard him and to make sure that no one from neighboring towns would carry him off (the body of a saint was viewed, at the time, as an extremely valuable relic that would bring, among many things, glory to the town where it rested).

Francis of Assisi died on October 3, 1226, at the age of 44, in Assisi, Italy.  More on Francis of Assisi

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

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

12 works, Today, September 26th, is Saint John the Evangelist's day, his story illustrated #268

El Greco, (1541–1614)

Opening of the Fifth Seal, The Vision of Saint John, from 1608 until 1614

Oil on canvas

87.5 × 76 in (222.2 × 193 cm); 88.5 × 78.5 in (224.7 × 199.3 cm)

Metropolitan Museum, New York

Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541 – 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco; Spanish for "The Greek", was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. The nickname "El Greco" refers both to his Greek origin and Spanish citizenship. The artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters.

 

El Greco was born in Crete, which was at that time part of the Republic of Venice, and the center of Post-Byzantine art. He trained and became a master within that tradition before traveling at age 26 to Venice, as other Greek artists had done. In 1570 he moved to Rome, where he opened a workshop and executed a series of works. During his stay in Italy, El Greco enriched his style with elements of Mannerism and of the Venetian Renaissance. In 1577, he moved to Toledo, Spain, where he lived and worked until his death. In Toledo, El Greco received several major commissions and produced his best-known paintings.

 

El Greco's dramatic and expressionistic style was met with puzzlement by his contemporaries but found appreciation in the 20th century. El Greco is regarded as a precursor of both Expressionism and Cubism, while his personality and works were a source of inspiration for poets and writers. El Greco has been characterized by modern scholars as an artist so individual that he belongs to no conventional school. He is best known for tortuously elongated figures and often fantastic or phantasmagorical pigmentation, marrying Byzantine traditions with those of Western painting. More on El Greco

Saint John came from Bethsaida, a poor village in Galilee. He was the son of Zebedee the fisherman and of Salome, the daughter of Joseph, the Betrothed of the Virgin Mary. Joseph had four sons by his first marriage: James, Joses, Jude, and Simon, and three daughters: Esther, Martha, and Salome. Thus, Jesus Christ our Savior was the uncle of Saint John the Theologian, since He was the half-brother of John’s mother Salome.

John and his brother James were helping their father Zebedee with the fishing when the Savior called them to follow Him and become fishers of men. John became the “beloved disciple.

Unknown artist

The last supper, Saint John  leaned on the breast of his beloved Master

I have no further description, at this time

At the Last Supper, the Lord placed him at His side, where he leaned on the breast of his beloved Master. When the Jews laid hold of Jesus, Saint John followed Him into the palace of the high priest. 

Anthony van Dyck, (1599–1641)

Christ Crucified with the Virgin, Saint John and Mary Magdalene, c. between 1617 and 1619

Oil on canvas

Height: 3.3 cm (1.2 in); Width: 2.8 cm (1.1 in)

Louvre Museum , Paris

Sir Anthony van Dyck, ( 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England, after enjoying great success in Italy and Flanders. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next 150 years. He also painted biblical and mythological subjects, displayed outstanding facility as a draughtsman, and was an important innovator in watercolour and etching. The Van Dyke beard is named after him. More Sir Anthony van Dyck

He alone remained with the Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross when the Savior was crucified. Seeing John standing by, Christ said to His mother: “Woman, behold your son!” and to John: “Behold your mother!” From that hour, John took the Virgin Mary into his own home.

Giotto di Bondone, (–1337)

Descent from the cross, c, between 1304 and 1306

Fresco

Height: 200 cm (78.7 in); Width: 185 cm (72.8 in)

Scrovegni Chapel,  Padua, Italy

St. John is wearing a red robe with open hands in the center of the screen

Giotto di Bondone (1266/7 – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto, and Latinized as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Renaissance.

In his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, the late-16th century artist and art historian Giorgio Vasari describes Giotto as making a decisive break with the prevalent Byzantine style and as initiating "the great art of painting as we know it today, introducing the technique of drawing accurately from life, which had been neglected for more than two hundred years."

Giotto's masterwork is the decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, also known as the Arena Chapel, completed around 1305. This fresco cycle depicts the Life of the Virgin and the Life of Christ. It is regarded as one of the supreme masterpieces of the Early Renaissance.[4] That Giotto painted the Arena Chapel and that he was chosen by the Commune of Florence in 1334 to design the new campanile (bell tower) of Florence's Cathedral are among the few certainties of his biography. Almost every other aspect of it is subject to controversy: his birthdate, his birthplace, his appearance, his apprenticeship, the order in which he created his works, whether or not he painted the famous frescoes in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi, and his burial place. More Giotto di Bondone

He saw Christ after His Resurrection and was commissioned with the other disciples to preach the Gospel throughout the world when. He was present also at the Lord’s Ascension into heaven and received the Holy Spirit. He remained the last of the disciples in Jerusalem, in the company of the Virgin Mary, whom he served until the time of her Dormition.

Peter Paul Rubens, (1577–1640)

Assumption of Mary, c. 1626

Oil on panel

Height: 490 cm (16 ft); Width: 325 cm (10.6 ft)

Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp

Sir Peter Paul Rubens (28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish Baroque painter. A proponent of an extravagant Baroque style that emphasized movement, colour, and sensuality, Rubens is well known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.

In addition to running a large studio in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe, Rubens was a classically educated humanist scholar and diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England.  More on Sir Peter Paul Rubens

After the Dormition of the Mother of God the Apostle John went to Ephesus and other cities of Asia Minor to preach the Gospel, taking with him his own disciple Prochorus. 

Unknown artist

They boarded a ship, which floundered during a terrible tempest

I have no further description, at this time

They boarded a ship, which floundered during a terrible tempest. All the travellers were cast up upon dry ground, and only the Apostle John remained in the depths of the sea. Prochorus, bereft of his spiritual father and guide, and he went on towards Ephesus alone.

Germán Hernández Amores, (1823–1894)

Travel of the Blessed Virgin and St. John to Ephesus after the death of Savior, c. 1862

The Virgin didn't travel with him to Ephesus!

Oil on canvas

Height: 244 cm (96 in); Width: 390 cm (12.7 ft)

Museo del Prado

Germán Hernández Amores (10 June 1823, Murcia – 16 May 1894, Murcia) was a Spanish painter who specialized in Classical, mythological, and Biblical scenes. He was one of the few artists in Spain to adopt stylistic elements from the German Nazarene movement.

He began by studying drawing with the Italian-born sculptor, Santiago Baglietto (1781-1853), at the Sociedad Económica de los Amigos del País in Murcia. Then, he studied at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, with José and Federico de Madrazo. During this time, he paid his way by doing book illustrations.

The year 1851 found him in Paris, on a scholarship from the Consejo y Comisaría de Cruzada. Two years later, he received a pension that allowed him to stay at the Academia de España en Roma. He was there until 1857 and made contact with several German painters of the Nazarene movement, which influenced his style.

In 1858, he was awarded a Second Class prize at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts. His depiction of the Virgin Mary and Saint John on their way to Ephesus received a First Class prize at the Exhibition of 1862. He would continue to participate until 1892, but won no further prizes.

Later, he became a Professor at the Escuela Superior de Pintura and, in 1892, was named a member of the Real Academia. More on Germán Hernández Amores

On the fourteenth day of his journey he stood at the shore of the sea and saw that the waves had cast a man ashore. Going up to him, he recognized the Apostle John, whom the Lord had preserved alive for fourteen days in the sea. Teacher and disciple went to Ephesus, where the Apostle John preached incessantly to the pagans about Christ. His preaching was accompanied by such numerous and great miracles, that the number of believers increased with each day.

Alonso Cano, (1601–1667)

Saint John the Evangelist and the Poisoned Cup, c. between 1635 and 1637

Oil on canvas

Height: 53.5 cm (21 in); Width: 35.5 cm (13.9 in)

Louvre Museum, Paris

The chalice held by Saint John alludes to tradition according to which St. John was handed a cup of poisoned wine, from which, at his blessing, the poison fled in the shape of a serpent.

Alonzo Cano or Alonso Cano (19 March 1601 – 3 September 1667) was a Spanish painter, architect and sculptor born in Granada. He learned architecture from his father, Miguel Cano; painting in the academy of Juan del Castillo, and from Francisco Pacheco the teacher of Velázquez; and sculpture from Juan Martínez Montañés. As a sculptor, his most famous works are the Madonna and Child in the church of Lebrija.

He was made first royal architect, painter to Philip IV, and instructor to the prince, Balthasar Charles, Prince of Asturias. The King gave him the church preferment of a canon of the Granada Cathedral, in order to take up a position as chief architect of the cathedral, where his main achievement in architecture was the façade, designed at the end of his life.

After the death of his wife he took Holy Orders. More on Alonzo Cano

During this time there had begun a persecution of Christians under the emperor Nero (56-68). They took the Apostle John for trial at Rome. Saint John was sentenced to death for his confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Lord preserved His chosen one. The apostle drank a cup of deadly poison, but he remained alive. 

Sigmund Gleismüller, (1449-1511)

Saint John on Patmos, c. 1490

Oil on canvas

Germanisches Nationalmuseum,  Nuremberg, Germany

Meister von Mörlbach or Meister des Mörlbacher Marienaltar is the emergency name for a painter of the late 15th century who was under Flemish influence. Björn Statnik identified him in 2009 with the Landshut court painter Sigmund Gleismüller.

The panels of the Annunciation altar in the church of St. Stephan in Mörlbach come from the master of Mörlbach . The panels of the Catherine Altar in the former monastery church of the Attel monastery (now the parish church of St. Michael) are ascribed to him. More on Sigmund Gleismüller

Juan de las Roelas, (Spanish, 1558–1625)Title:

The Martyrdom of Saint John the Evangelist

Oil on Canvas

147 x 105 cm. (57.9 x 41.3 in.)

Private collection

Juan de Roelas, de las Roelas or Ruela (c. 1570, in Flanders – 1625, in Olivares) was a Flemish painter whose entire documented career took place in Spain. He played a major role in the transition from Mannerist to Baroque painting in Spain.

The new findings about the prior mix-up of the biographical details of the painter with those of a Spanish monk and the lack of other documentation have made it difficult to separate and confirm the details of his life.

It is known that in 1598 he worked in Valladolid in the commemorative ceremonies for the death of king Philip II of Spain, contributing to the design of his funerary monument. He remained there until 1604, when he obtained a benefice or favour from the Count-Duke of Olivares. In the village of, Olivares, near Seville, de Roelas made several large paintings to decorate altars in and around Seville. It is reported that he moved to Madrid where he tried to obtain an appointment as painter to the royal court, but that when he failed he returned to Olivares where he died in 1625.

He had many disciples, among whom Francisco Varela from Seville and Pablo Legote from Luxembourg. More on Juan de Roelas

Later, he emerged unharmed from a cauldron of boiling oil into which he had been thrown on orders from the torturer.

After this, they sent the Apostle John off to imprisonment to the island of Patmos, for many years. Proceeding along on his way to the place of exile, Saint John worked many miracles. On the island of Patmos, his preaching and miracles attracted to him all the inhabitants of the island, and he enlightened them with the light of the Gospel. 

Domenichino, (1581–1641)

Saint John the Evangelist, c. between 1624 and 1629

Oil on canvas

Height: 259 cm (101.9 in); Width: 199.4 cm (78.5 in)

National Gallery, London

Domenichino, original name Domenico Zampieri, (born October 1581, Bologna, Papal States —died April 6, 1641, Naples), Italian painter who was a leading practitioner of Baroque classicism in Rome and Bologna.

He was trained in the academy of Lodovico Carracci and in 1602 was in Rome, where he joined the Bolognese artists at work in the decoration of the Farnese Palace. He decorated a room in the Villa Belvedere at Frascati with mythological frescoes and a chapel in the Badia at Grottaferrata...

In 1617–18 Domenichino painted for Cardinal Aldobrandini the celebrated canvas of The Hunt of Diana. This work shows that he was a sensitive colourist, and its idyllic mood departs from the arid classicism of his frescoes. Though Domenichino’s work remained in great demand, there was a reaction against the rigid classicism of his style, and in the last works that he produced in Rome he worked in a broader, less classical style. This closer approximation to the Baroque is also apparent In Naples his style was less acceptable than it had proved in Rome. More on Domenichino

Unknown artist

The Evangelist St. John with his symbol the eagle on Patmos, the devil stealing the ink-well

National Library of the Netherlands

I have no further description, at this time

After his prolonged exile, the Apostle John received his freedom and returned to Ephesus, where he continued with his activity In the year 95, the Apostle John wrote his Gospel at Ephesus. 

When it was time for the departure of the Apostle John, he went out beyond the city limits of Ephesus with the families of his disciples. He bade them prepare for him a cross-shaped grave, in which he lay, telling his disciples that they should cover him over with the soil. The disciples tearfully kissed their beloved teacher, but not wanting to be disobedient, they fulfilled his bidding. They covered the face of the saint with a cloth and filled in the grave. Learning of this, other disciples of Saint John came to the place of his burial. When they opened the grave, they found it empty. More on John the Evangelist

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

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.