08 works, Today, December 12th, is Saint Agatha of Sicily's day, her story, illustrated #345

Andrea Vaccaro, (1604–1670)

Detail; Saint Agatha, circa 1635

Oil on canvas

Height: 128.5 cm (50.5 in); Width: 101 cm (39.7 in)

Museo del Prado, Madrid

Agatha of Sicily (c. 231 – c. 251 AD) is a Christian saint. Her memorial is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania or Palermo, Sicily. One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, Agatha was put to death during the persecution of Decius (250–253) in Catania, Sicily, for her determined profession of faith.

According to the 13th-century Golden Legend, fifteen-year-old Agatha, from a rich and noble family, made a vow of virginity and rejected the amorous advances of the Roman prefect Quintianus, who thought he could force her to turn away from her vow and marry him. His persistent proposals were consistently spurned by Agatha. This was during the persecutions of Decius, so Quintianus, knowing she was a Christian, reported her to the authorities. Quintianus himself was governor of the district.

Circle of Felice Ficherelli

Saint Agatha

Oil on canvas

74 x 64 cm

Private collection

Felice Ficherelli (30 August 1605 – 5 March 1660) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, born in San Gimignano and active mainly in Tuscany. Among Ficherelli's early patrons was Conte Bardi, who persuaded Ficherelli to move to Florence and to study with the painter Jacopo da Empoli. Empoli's influence is evident in the sumptuous fabrics seen in many of Ficherelli's works. Ficherelli was nicknamed "Felice Riposo" for his retiring nature.

There is a controversial copy of Ficherelli's Saint Praxedis, which appears to be signed by Johannes Vermeer and dated 1655. More on Felice Ficherelli

He expected her to give in to his demands when she was faced with torture and possible death, but she simply reaffirmed her belief in God by praying. With tears falling from her eyes, she prayed for courage. 

Attributed to Andrea Vaccaro, (1604–1670)

St Agatha in her cell, between 1630 and 1680

Oil on canvas

Height: 104 cm (40.9 in); Width: 127 cm (50 in)

Museo del Prado, Madrid

Please see Andrea Vaccaro below

To force her to change her mind, Quintianus sent Agatha to Aphrodisia, the keeper of a brothel, and had her imprisoned there. Agatha never lost her confidence in God.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, (1696–1770)

The Martyrdom of St Agatha, circa 1756

Oil on canvas

Height: 184 cm (72.4 in); Width: 131 cm (51.5 in)

Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1696 - 1770. Born into a wealthy and noble family in Venice, Giambattista Tiepolo was recognized by contemporaries throughout Europe as the greatest painter of large-scale decorative frescoes in the 1700s. He was admired for having brought fresco painting to new heights of technical virtuosity, illumination, and dramatic effect. Tiepolo possessed an imagination characterized by one of his contemporaries as "all spirit and fire." 

 

A gifted storyteller, Tiepolo painted walls and ceilings with large, expansive scenes of intoxicating enchantment. In breath-taking visions of mythology and religion, the gods and saints inhabit light-filled skies. His ability to assimilate his predecessor and compatriot Paolo Veronese's use of color was so profound that his contemporaries named him Veronese redivio (a new Veronese). 

 

Tiepolo's commissions came from the old established families of Italy, religious orders, and the royal houses of Spain, Germany, Sweden, and Russia. His frescoes adorn palaces, churches, and villas, and his artistic legacy consists of some eight hundred paintings, 2,400 drawings, two sets of etchings, and acres of fresco. When Tiepolo died at the age of seventy-four, a Venetian diarist noted the "bitter loss" of "the most famous Venetian painter, truly the most renowned...well known in Europe and the most highly praised in his native land." More on Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Quintianus sent for her again, argued, threatened, and finally had her imprisoned and tortured. She was stretched on a rack to be torn with iron hooks, burned with torches, and whipped. Amongst the tortures she underwent was the cutting off of her breasts with pincers. After further dramatic confrontations with Quintianus, 

Alessandro Turchi

Saint Agatha Attended by Saint Peter and an Angel in Prison

Oil on slate

H: 13 11/16 x W: 19 1/2

Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Alessandro Turchi

Agatha of Sicily cured by Saint Peter in her prison, circa 1630-1635

Oil on copper

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg

Alessandro Turchi (1578 – 22 January 1649) was an Italian painter of the early Baroque, born and active mainly in Verona, and moving late in life to Rome. He also went by the name Alessandro Veronese or the nickname L'Orbetto.

 

Turchi initially trained with Felice Riccio (il Brusasorci) in Verona. By 1603, he was working as independent painter. Turchi painted the organ shutters for the Accademia Filarmonica of Verona. When Brusasorci died in 1605, Turchi and Pasquale Ottino completed a series of their deceased master's canvases. On leaving the school of Riccio, he went to Venice, where he worked for a time under Carlo Cagliari.

 

By 1616, Turchi traveled to Rome and participated in the fresco decoration depicting the Gathering of Manna for the Sala Reggia of the Quirinal Palace. In competition with Andrea Sacchi and Pietro da Cortona, he painted some pictures in the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. In 1619, he sent an altarpiece of the 40 martyrs for the Chapel of the Innocents in the church of Santo Stefano, Verona, to hang next to paintings by Pasquale Ottino and Marcantonio Bassetti. He was much employed on cabinet pictures, representing historical subjects, which he frequently painted on black marble. 

 

In 1637, with the sponsorship of the cardinal Francesco Barberini, he became Principe or director of the Accademia di San Luca. In 1638, he joined the papal guild of artists, called the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon. He died in Rome. More on Alessandro Turchi

Giovanni Lanfranco, (1582–1647)

St Peter Healing St Agatha, circa 1614

Oil on canvas

Height: 100 cm (39.3 in); Width: 133 cm (52.3 in)

Galleria nazionale di Parma, Italy

Giovanni Lanfranco, also called Giovanni di Steffano or Il Cavaliere Giovanni Lanfranchi (born Jan. 26, 1582, Parma [Italy]—died Nov. 30, 1647, Rome) Italian painter, an important follower of the Bolognese school. He was a pupil of Agostino Carracci in Parma (1600–02) and later studied with Annibale Carracci in Rome. A decisive influence on his work, however, was not just the Baroque classicism of the Carracci brothers but the dynamic illusionism of the dome paintings in Parma by Correggio. Lanfranco translated Correggio’s 16th-century style into a Roman Baroque idiom. Soon after his arrival in Rome (1612), he painted the ceiling frescoes Joseph Explaining the Dreams of His Fellow Prisoners and Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (both 1615) in the Palazzo Mattei. The frescoes combine techniques and styles learned from Annibale Carracci and from Lanfranco’s own study of Correggio and Caravaggio. 

Lanfranco’s painting in the dome of San Andrea della Valle in Rome (1621–25) derives directly from Correggio in its virtuoso use of vigorously posed figures floating in the clouds over the spectator’s head. Lanfranco worked in Naples from 1633/34 to 1646, his best known work there being the dome of the chapel of San Gennaro in the cathedral (1641–46). He was a bitter rival of Domenichino, both in Rome and later in Naples. More on Giovanni Lanfranco

Agatha was then sentenced to be burnt at the stake, but an earthquake saved her from that fate; instead, she was sent to prison where St. Peter the Apostle appeared to her and healed her wounds.

Andrea Vaccaro, (1604–1670)

Saint Agatha, circa 1635

Oil on canvas

Height: 128.5 cm (50.5 in); Width: 101 cm (39.7 in)

Museo del Prado, Madrid

Andrea Vaccaro (baptised on 8 May 1604 – 18 January 1670) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Vaccaro was in his time one of the most successful painters in Naples, a city then under Spanish rule. Very successful and valued in his lifetime, Vaccaro and his workshop produced many religious works for local patrons as well as for export to Spanish religious orders and noble patrons. More Andrea Vaccaro

Agatha died in prison, probably in the year 251. Although the martyrdom of Agatha is authenticated, and her veneration as a saint had spread beyond her native place even in antiquity, there is no reliable information concerning the details of her death. More on Saint Agatha

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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06 works, Today, November 14th, is Philip the Apostle's day, his story illustrated #317

James Tissot,  (1836–1902)

Detail: Saint Philippe, between 1886 and 1894

Gouache over graphite on gray wove paper

28.3 × 16 cm (11.1 × 6.2 in)

Brooklyn Museum

Philip the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to New Testament. Later Christian traditions describe Philip as the apostle who preached in Greece, Syria, and Phrygia. Philip is described as a disciple from the city of Bethsaida, and the evangelist connects him with Andrew and Peter, who were from the same town. He also was among those surrounding John the Baptist when the latter first pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God.

James Tissot,  (1836–1902)

Saint Philippe, between 1886 and 1894

Gouache over graphite on gray wove paper

28.3 × 16 cm (11.1 × 6.2 in)

Brooklyn Museum

Jacques Joseph Tissot (15 October 1836 – 8 August 1902), Anglicized as James Tissot, was a French painter and illustrator. He was a successful painter of Paris society before moving to London in 1871. He became famous as a genre painter of fashionably dressed women shown in various scenes of everyday life. He also painted scenes and characters from the Bible. More on James Tissot

Philip was also a fisherman, the third man Jesus called to “Follow me”. Philip immediately recognized that Jesus had been sent from God. The first thing he did as Jesus’ newest disciple was to invite his friend, Nathanael, to come and see the Lord. Sceptical, Nathanael asked, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip replied, "Come and see."

Giovanni Lanfranco, (1582–1647)

The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, c. between 1620 and 1623

Oil on canvas

Height: 229 cm (90.1 in); Width: 426 cm (13.9 ft)

National Gallery of Ireland

Giovanni Lanfranco, also called Giovanni di Steffano or Il Cavaliere Giovanni Lanfranchi (born Jan. 26, 1582, Parma [Italy]—died Nov. 30, 1647, Rome) Italian painter, an important follower of the Bolognese school. He was a pupil of Agostino Carracci in Parma (1600–02) and later studied with Annibale Carracci in Rome. A decisive influence on his work, however, was not just the Baroque classicism of the Carracci brothers but the dynamic illusionism of the dome paintings in Parma by Correggio. Lanfranco translated Correggio’s 16th-century style into a Roman Baroque idiom. Soon after his arrival in Rome (1612), he painted the ceiling frescoes Joseph Explaining the Dreams of His Fellow Prisoners and Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (both 1615) in the Palazzo Mattei. The frescoes combine techniques and styles learned from Annibale Carracci and from Lanfranco’s own study of Correggio and Caravaggio. Lanfranco’s painting in the dome of San Andrea della Valle in Rome (1621–25) derives directly from Correggio in its virtuoso use of vigorously posed figures floating in the clouds over the spectator’s head. Lanfranco worked in Naples from 1633/34 to 1646, his best known work there being the dome of the chapel of San Gennaro in the cathedral (1641–46). He was a bitter rival of Domenichino, both in Rome and later in Naples. More on Giovanni Lanfranco

"Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" Jesus said to Philip as they faced the large crowd needing food. (The gospel says that Jesus did this to test Philip.) Philip answered, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." 

Jacopo Tintoretto, (1519–1594)

The Last Supper, between 1592 and 1594

Oil on canvas

Height: 365 cm (11.9 ft); Width: 568 cm (18.6 ft)

Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

Tintoretto's painting, a work of his final years, departs drastically from this compositional formula. The centre of the scene is occupied not by the apostles but instead by secondary characters, such as a woman carrying a dish and the servants taking the dishes from the table. The table at which the apostles sit recedes into space on a steep diagonal. Furthermore, Tintoretto's painting features a more personal use of light, which appears to come into obscurity from both the light on the ceiling and from Jesus' aureola. A host of angels hover above the scene. More on this work

Tintoretto; born Jacopo Comin, (October, 1518 – May 31, 1594) was an Italian painter and a notable exponent of the Renaissance school. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed Il Furioso. His work is characterized by its muscular figures, dramatic gestures, and bold use of perspective in the Mannerist style, while maintaining color and light typical of the Venetian School.

 

In his youth, Tintoretto was also known as Jacopo Robusti as his father had defended the gates of Padua in a way that others called robust, against the imperial troops during the War of the League of Cambrai (1509–1516). His real name "Comin" has only recently been discovered by Miguel Falomir, the curator of the Museo del Prado, Madrid, and was made public on the occasion of the retrospective of Tintoretto at the Prado in 2007. More on Tintoretto

During the Last Supper, after Jesus spoke about knowing and seeing the Father, it was Philip who said, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" 

Some ancient writers say that Philip the apostle had three daughters, yet Acts 21.8-9 mentions four daughters.

Filippino Lippi,

St Philip Driving the Dragon from the Temple of Hieropolis, c. 1487-1502

Fresco

Strozzi Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

 At the foot of the altar steps crouches the dragon that the saint is exorcising. The composed and measured perspectives that Tuscan painters preferred almost to the end of the 15th century, their regular architecture and classical rhythm are here abandoned in favour of an eclectic and deliberately confused rag-bag of architectural motifs. These are bizarrely interwoven in a way that breaks every rule. The overall effect is one of instability that also infects the groups of characters. There is a sense of unending clash between sculpture, reliefs, votive offerings, coloured statues, and lifelike details. We are seeing nothing less than the air of tension that followed the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent. More on this work

Filippino Lippi, (born c. 1457, Prato, Republic of Florence—died April 18, 1504, Florence) early Renaissance painter of the Florentine school whose works influenced the Tuscan Mannerists of the 16th century. After his father’s death, Filippino entered the workshop of Botticelli. By 1473 he had finished his apprenticeship. The style of Filippino’s earliest works stems from that of Botticelli, but Filippino’s use of line is less sensitive and subtle than Botticelli’s. In a group of paintings executed about 1480–85 he developed a harder and more individual style. Among the most notable works of this period is the Journey of Tobias (above). He was employed, along with Botticelli, Perugino, and Domenico Ghirlandaio, on the frescoed decoration of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s villa at Spedaletto and at the end of 1482 was commissioned to complete work left unfinished by Perugino in the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence. No trace of either work survives. Soon after (probably 1483–84) he was entrusted with the completion of the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel in the Carmine, which had been left unfinished on Masaccio’s death in 1428.

After his return from Rome, Filippino executed a fresco of the Death of Laocoön for the villa of Lorenzo de’ Medici at Poggio a Caiano, in which some of the decorative devices used in the Carafa Chapel are again employed, and resumed work in the Strozzi Chapel (completed 1502), the frescoes of which anticipate Tuscan Mannerism of the 16th century. More on Filippino Lippi,

According to legend, Philip was preaching in Hieropolis together with Bartholomew, and through prayer killed a large serpent in a temple devoted to serpent worship. Philip also healed many of snake bite. 

Jusepe de Ribera, (1591–1652)

The Martyrdom of Saint Philip, circa 1639

Oil on canvas

234 × 234 cm (92.1 × 92.1 in)

Museo del Prado

José de Ribera (January 12, 1591 – September 2, 1652) was a Spanish Tenebrist painter and printmaker, better known as Jusepe de Ribera. He also was called Lo Spagnoletto ("the Little Spaniard") by his contemporaries and early writers. Ribera was a leading painter of the Spanish school, although his mature work was all done in Italy. 

Longing to study art in Italy, he made his way to Rome via Parma. According to one source, a cardinal noticed him drawing from the frescoes on a Roman palace facade, and housed him. Roman artists gave him the nickname "Lo Spagnoletto".

In 1616, Ribera moved to Naples, in order to avoid his creditors.

His Spanish nationality aligned him with the small Spanish governing class in the city, and also with the Flemish merchant community, from another Spanish territory, who included important collectors of and dealers in art. His career picked up in the late 1620s, and he was accepted as the leading painter in Naples thereafter. He received the Order of Christ of Portugal from Pope Urban VIII in 1626. More on José de Ribera

Angered, the city governor and its pagan priest had Philip and Bartholomew crucified. As the two disciples were on the crosses, an earthquake knocked everyone to the ground, and Philip prayed for their safety. Seeing the earthquake abate, the people demanded that Philip and Bartholomew be released. Bartholomew survived, but Philip died. More on Philip the Apostle

El Greco, (1541–1614)

Apostle Saint Philip, between 1610 and 1614

Oil on canvas

Height: 80 cm (31.4 in); Width: 100 cm (39.3 in)

El Greco Museum

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

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.