Flemish artist Pieter Jan van Reysschoot masterfully illustrates Christ’s use of creation to teach the multitudes about God’s compassionate character.
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Old Testament Characters: The Prophet Balaam; David, King and Prophet; Solomon, King and Prophet; The Prophet Zechariah
Master of Riofrio
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St. Anthony of Padua
Oil on Canvas, 1658
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino
Cento, 1591–1666
Long before social media, opinions were influential. And, in art history, opinions have affected perspectives toward artists and their work for entire generations. One example of this is the brilliant philosopher of the Victorian era, John Ruskin, who was an art critic that championed JMW Turner, Britain’s greatest landscape painter. Ruskin preferred and praised the contemporary artists of his day such as Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites, the art prior to Raphael, and the Gothic style.
In contrast, Ruskin’s opinion about the Italian Baroque period can essentially be summed up by his reaction to one painting in the Brera Gallery in Milan by Guercino, “partly despicable, partly disgusting, partly ridiculous” (Ruskin, p.203). He classified many of the great seventeenth-century painters within what he labeled “the School of Errors and Vices” (Ruskin, pp.144-45). Such strong views influenced the collecting habits of collectors and museums in Europe and America for several decades. Consequently, Baroque artists are still recovering from the stigma; their names are not as well-known as the Renaissance masters even though their skill is of equal quality.
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino was one of the most important and talented painters of the Italian Baroque period. He hails from the region of Emilia-Romagna, born in the small town of Cento, which is close in proximity to the artistic centers in Ferrara and Bologna. He was largely self-taught (influenced by works of Ludovico Carracci and Caravaggio), although he studied with local artists Paolo Zagnani and Benedetto Gennari.
Guercino’s nickname means squint-eyed or cross-eyed possibly due to an eye condition, yet this disability didn’t seem to affect his work. Ludovico Carracci praised him in Bologna, and his “genius was recognized by the Bolognese canon Padre Antonio Mirandola, who became his earliest protector and obtained the artist’s first Bolognese commission in 1613” which established his career. “He was then patronized by the papal legate to Ferrara, Cardinal Jacopo Serra,” Duke of Mantua Ferdinando Gonzaga, and the Bolognese cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi, who later become Pope Gregory XV— summoning Guercino to Rome in 1621 (de Grazia, p.157).
Guercino study of St. Anthony of Padua from Glasgow Museums
Following the pope’s death in 1623, Guercino returned home to Cento to work, painting a wide range of subjects and drawing countless distinctive studies in red chalk and ink. As an artist, he was truly inventive, a real creative. He would put his ideas to paper very quickly and spontaneously—something his biographer Malvasia described as guizzanti, meaning “dart with a flick of a tail, as fishes” (Brooks, p.12).
Among other requests, he was asked to become official painter to the courts of England (1626) and France (1629 and 1639). After the death of his archrival Guido Reni in 1642 he moved his studio to Bologna. By the 1650s, his European patronage had tapered to more local commissions, which is when M&G’s painting was made.
St. Anthony of Padua features the thirteenth-century Doctor of the Church, who was born in Lisbon. He joined the Franciscan Order (represented by the dark brown robe and tonsure haircut) and became a close friend and follower of Francis of Assisi. He had a vast knowledge of scripture and was a gifted preacher, serving in France and Italy including Bologna and Padua, where he died. After his death, he was made the patron saint of Padua.
In art, Anthony is depicted in various scenes describing events from his life. M&G’s subject is the vision of the Virgin and infant Christ—a common theme during the Counter Reformation. The vision came while Anthony was in his room, and he is portrayed with a book (which identifies his learning), lilies (representing his purity), and a crucifix (in the shadows above the lilies).
At the time of acquisition in 1973, M&G’s founder knew that this painting was referenced in the artist’s account books—it was one of two St. Anthony altarpieces recorded. The great Guercino and Baroque specialist, Sir Denis Mahon wrote Dr. Bob, “I have no doubt whatsoever from studying the painting itself that it is an authentic late work by Guercino…. It was the lower half of a picture which had been very much bigger…. It follows that the picture is likely to have originally been a full-size altarpiece” (M&G files).
In the 1990s, Richard Townsend found that of the two St. Anthony altarpieces referenced in Guercino’s account books, one was still in Verona and the other cut in two and sold. This work remained a mystery, until recent years when Italian art historian Enrico Ghetti pieced together the history based on the confusing details in Guercino’s Book of Accounts and Malvasia’s biography. M&G’s painting was once called the Madonna and Child with Saint Anthony of Padua and paid for in 1658 by Pier Luigi Peccana (from Verona) most likely on behalf of the Marquis Gaspare Gherardini. The altarpiece used to hang in the Chapel of Saint Antony at the Capuchin church of Verona.
Ghetti Reconstruction
Ghetti suggested the painting, Madonna with Child, which was formerly in the Sgarbi collection in Italy is most likely the upper portion of our work; he has proposed a reconstruction of the dismembered altarpiece as seen here.
M&G’s painting reveals some of the standard matters art historians encounter regularly: the influence of art critics like John Ruskin, the connoisseurship of art specialists like Sir Denis Mahon, dismembered altarpieces, and confusing primary records for art scholars like Enrico Ghetti to ferret out. More importantly, this interesting work represents one of the most notable and innovative Italian painters of the seventeenth century.
Erin R. Jones, Executive Director
Bibliography
Brooks, Julian. “Characterizing Guercino’s Draftsmanship.” Guercino: Mind to Paper. Getty Publications: Los Angeles, 2006.
De Grazia, Diane. “Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Called Il Guercino.” Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington: New York, 1996.
Ghetti, Enrico. 2020. “La ricostruzione di una pala del Guercino: la Madonna col Bambino e sant’Antonio d Padova per i Cappuccini di Verona,” Storia dell’ Arte 153, Nuova Serie 1.
Ruskin, John. Modern Painters (vol. ii), ed. Edward T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn. George Allen: London, 1903.
Ruskin, John. Ruskin in Italy: Letters to His Parents, 1845, ed Harold I. Shapiro. Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1972.
Published 2025
Victorian artist, Eyre Crowe does a masterful job of recreating that moment in the town of Wittenberg, Germany that set in motion the Protestant Reformation.
Macbeth Encounters the Three Witches from Macbeth
Oil on Canvas, signed lower left
Edward Train
English, 1801-1866
During the Victorian era landscape painting became a major branch of English art, and a burgeoning preference for the genre can be seen in the Royal Academy’s mid-century exhibitions. This popularity was due in part to the wide-ranging approach of English artists to the genre. In J.M.W. Turner’s romantic imagery, John Constable’s naturalistic scenes, and William Holman Hunt’s meticulously rendered flora and fauna, Victorians perceived anew the beauty, grandeur, and stunning diversity of the natural world. Through these artists, viewers also discerned that a landscape may be far more than an appealing backdrop.
In this work inspired by Act 1, scene 3 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the landscape carries the storytelling power of the scene. The chiaroscuro, colors, swirling lines, and frenetic brushwork all “speak.” In a very real sense, Train’s landscape functions as a personified antagonist in his visual narrative.
Macbeth and Banquo, two victorious warriors, arrive upon a wind-swept heath “at set of sun.” There, three witches give them seemingly encouraging news: Macbeth is informed that he will not only become Thane of Cawdor but also “king hereafter.” Likewise, Banquo is told that his progeny will one day rule. Both men are initially suspicious of the hags’ prophecies—until an entourage arrives to confirm that King Duncan has indeed named Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. With this news Macbeth begins to toy with not only embracing but also hastening the witches’ prophecies.
Banquo warns his friend:
. . .Oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray ’s
In deepest consequence.
Act 1, scene 3, ll. 124-128
However, the “fair tidings” have already set alight Macbeth’s ambition, kindling the “horrible imaginings” that foreshadow his descent into psychological and spiritual darkness. Before days end, Macbeth (goaded by his equally ambitious wife) will murder the rightful king.
Notice how Train uses atmospheric perspective to create a foreboding sky. His loose brushwork and subtle color blending create an illusion that the lowering storm clouds hovering over the witches are fast moving toward the blood red sun. Soon, what remains of the light will be “put out,” leaving the characters in darkness. The jagged terrain further accentuates Macbeth’s and Banquo’s precarious position. The implied diagonal line connecting these warriors to the witches further heightens the suspense. Notice that the witches on the left look down on Macbeth and Banquo who are “center stage.” This slightly elevated positioning insinuates their psychic dominance. In addition, the shadowy entourage approaching in the distance foreshadows that the witches’ first prophecy will soon be fulfilled, setting in motion the “horrible imaginings” spawned by Macbeth’s musings.
Although scholars continue to debate whether Shakespeare was a Christian, most agree that the “worlds” he creates reflect a clear understanding of the moral law and the human condition. In Shakespeare’s dramas a disregard for the divine order results not only in human suffering (turbulence among men) but also in upheaval in the natural world (tempestuousness in nature). It is not by chance, therefore, that Macbeth’s temptation takes place upon a storm-tossed heath. Nor is it surprising that following the murder of King Duncan raging storms spread across the land, daylight is entombed in darkness, and Duncan’s “beauteous and swift horses have turned wild, broken their stalls, and devoured one another.”
Shakespearean scholar David Bevington says that “Macbeth is in some ways Shakespeare’s most unsettling tragedy, because it invites the intense examination of the heart of a man who is well-intentioned in most ways but who discovers that he cannot resist the temptation to achieve power at any cost.”
One final intriguing detail is the existence of a similar work by Train titled Landscape with Three Mythological Women Stopping the Roman’s Army’s Advance. This work is dated in 1865 a year before the artist’s death. Although the painting has the same setting as M&G’s Macbeth, it is from a different vantage point. Perhaps Train was exploring how vantage point might alter mood. In any case, the 1865 landscape is less poignant and evocative in its narrative power.
Donnalynn Hess, Director of Education and Bella Vita Sanders, Research Intern
Bibliography
The Complete Works of Shakespeare, David Bevington
Victorian Painting, Christopher Wood
Published in 2025
Laborers in the Vineyard
Lamb Studios
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If you enjoyed viewing this video, visit HERE to find a focused selection of short video clips featuring other M&G paintings depicting the Biblical Easter story.
Mr. Garrick in the Character of Richard III
William Hogarth
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From the Riley Collection of Works on Paper
