This wooden church-sculpture of the Archangel St. Michael Standing on a Globe is from the Andes and dates from the 1870s. In Hebrew, Michael means “who is like God.” Mentioned three times in the Book of Daniel, Archangel Michael was considered the advocate of the Jews, coming to occupy a place in the Jewish liturgy….
Category: Religion
The Crucifixion
by Peieter Porbus (Flemish, 1523-1584). Porbus (or Pourbus) was a Dutch Flemish painter, sculptor, and cartographer, best known for his religious portraits. He worked primarily in Bruges where his paintings are housed in the Groeninge Museum. Porbus’s paintings were greatly sought after by Northern European religious institutions and schools for the clarity of his vision…
Jesus with a Crown of Thorns
from the court of Karl Couint of Maldeghem, Germany, ca. 1700. This wonderful portrait is a Germanic painting on copper depicting Christ with blood emanating from his forehead. Even the gold leaf appears to be from the early 1700s.
Nuestra Senora del Rosario Pomata
(Our Lady of Rosario Pomata), Anonymous. A wonderfully vibrant painting of the Holy Mother, attended by two knights, from the Church of Santa Clara, Ayacucho, Peru, as seen through the perspectives of both the indigenous peoples of the Andes and of Spanish Church figures. The painting is unattributed, though dates from the mid-19th century, approximately…
After Rubens
by Eastman Johnson (July 29, 1824 – April 5, 1906). Eastman Johnson was one of the nation’s most-prominent 19th century portrait painters, who particularly portrayed literary artists. Eastman was a leader within 19th-century America’s arts community and was a co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Widely recognized for his portraits of such prominent Americans…
The Flagellation
by Giulio Cesare Procaccini (Italian, 1570-1625). Beginning his career as a sculptor in Milan, Procaccini’s paintings in the following decades subsequently portrayed his sculptural gifts. His style of tense draftsmanship and deep feeling anticipated the Baroque and brought the Procaccini Academy increasing renown as a source of inspired painting and sculpture, as well as a…
Mother and Child
by Ivan Ermakov (Russian, 1875-1942). Ermakov was trained in the academic traditions of pre-Revolutionary Russian and his work revealed the national tradition of old portraiture of the Russian Empire style, focusing on historic and nostalgic themes. His painting here, of the Madonna and Child, expresses a nostalgic look during the rapidly changing world of the…
Pilgrim Wedding
by Rico Tomaso (American, 1898-1985). Tomaso began his career as a musician and met drummer Dean Cornwell, later one of America’s most accomplished illustrators. Cornwell encouraged Tomaso to move from the piano to painting and he went on to produce cover and article artwork for The Ladies’ Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post, among…
Shepherd to the Flock
by James Bama (American, 1926-). Illustration for a story in The Saturday Evening Post, February 5, 1962. Bama is an American artist known for his realistic paintings and etchings of Western subjects. His work is collected in The Western Art of James Bama (Bantam Books, 1975) and The Art of James Bama (1993). He was…
Madonna and Child
by Domenico Zampieri (or Domenichino) (Italian, 1581-1641). Domenichino was trained under Annibale Carracci and began his early work in Rome. Following a distinguished career there, he moved to Naples where he painted numerous scenes in the city’s cathedrals and churches. He was friends with Giovanni Battista Agucchi with whom he collaborated on a Treatise on…