The Trinity Sends St. Gabriel the Archangel to Announce to Mary the Incarnation
Pietro Novelli, called Il Monrealese
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Madonna and Child
Polychrome and Stucco, c. 1400s
Antonio Rossellino
Florentine, 1427-1479
Sculptor Antonio Rossellino was born into a family of masons—the youngest of five, talented sons and learning his craft from his older brother, Bernardo. Because of his hair color, Antonio earned the name, Rossellino, which means “little redhead.”
Antonio’s most famous work was completed in 1473 for the Burial Chapel of the Cardinal Prince Jacopo of Portugal found in San Miniato al Monte in Florence.
He worked with multiple artists to design and complete the Chapel including Luca Della Robbia, the distinguished terracotta sculptor and glazer. This remarkable collaboration of artists allowed creativity and beauty to spring forth figuratively and literally from stones and dirt.
M&G’s relief sculpture of Rossellino’s Madonna and Child is representative of a popular image that was painted, carved, and sculpted repeatedly during the Renaissance period. Image fatigue has not set in; we still find the subject appealing in the same way that we enjoy a sunset’s beauty night after night.
Studying the sculpture’s tabernacle frame, we notice the words: Ave, Gratia, and Plena. The translation of which is “Hail, Full of Grace”—a greeting perhaps at the entrance of the family home or private chapel. Below the inscription are carved three fleur-de-lis and the crossed fore-legs of the lion. More than likely, this relief was made for the Morelli family, a prominent family from Florence, whose coat of arms includes the crossed fore-legs of the lion. The fleur-de-lis is the symbol of Florence, originating in the medieval era.
Both Mary and Christ are painted in their customary colors of red, blue, and white symbolizing love, faith, and purity. Mary’s fingers are delicately rendered in terracotta. Surrounding the mother and child are three, winged angel heads carved without bodies, possibly cherubim. Traditionally, angels were viewed as messengers and protectors of the righteous. How fitting for Rossellino to include angels in his portrayal of Christ considering Scripture’s promise in Psalm 91:10, 11, “For he shall command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against the stone.”
Angie Snow, M&G Educator
Published in 2019
Christ with the Roman Centurion
Oil on canvas, c. 1712, Signed with initials, lower left: J.J.
Jean Baptiste Jouvenet
French, 1649–1717
An anonymous but astute artist once said, “Creativity lives at the mercy of self-discipline; without self-discipline, creativity is just a flight of fancy.” Perhaps no one better illustrates the truth of this aphorism than painter Jean Baptiste Jouvenet. Taking in the visual textures, architectural detail, and life-like figures in his Christ with the Roman Centurion, it’s hard to believe that during the creation of the work Jouvenet’s painting hand (right hand) was in the final stage of paralysis. He began losing control of his right hand in the last decade of his life. Undeterred he trained himself to paint with his left hand and continued to work!
Jouvenet was born in Rouen, a port city on the river Seine whose skyline is still dominated by Gothic cathedral spires. He entered Charles Le Brun’s studio at twelve (1661) and a year later was admitted to the Rouen painters’ guild. Throughout his teen years he helped Le Brun, King Louis XIV’s chief arts leader, with designs and decorations for some of France’s most opulent dwellings, including the Salon de Mars at Versailles.
Jouvenet would go on to become the greatest French religious painter of his generation. Christ and the Roman Centurion highlights some of the reasons why. The work combines the opulent technique of his early training with the subtle realism of his later work. The result is a tempered emotionalism that actually enriches the dramatic power of the scene. The smaller size also indicates that it is a modello for a larger altarpiece Jouvenet painted for the church of the Récollets at Versailles. Artists like Jouvenet presented these smaller, meticulously painted versions to their wealthy patrons for final approval before completing the commissioned masterpiece.
At the end of his life Jouvenet would use his “new” painting hand to complete a group of eight paintings for the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. Like M&G’s Christ with the Roman Centurion it is signed and dated. For the cathedral, however, he departs from using his traditional initials of J.J., choosing instead to sign and date the work as follows: J. Jouvenet dextra paralyticus sinistra fecit 1716 (J. Jouvenet right palsy uses left, 1716). To read more about this grouping and to see the signature visit Notre-Dame de Paris. (The signature is clearly visible on the step in The Visitation Painting at the end of the article.)
Donnalynn Hess, Director of Education
Published in 2019
The Visitation
Johann Friedrich Overbeck
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The Ascension
Benjamin West, P. R. A.
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To learn more about the entire series to which this painting belongs, visit here.
Praying Hands
Albrecht Dürer
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The Resurrection
Gilt silver
Vasiliy Fedotovich Il’in (active 1837–57), silver maker
D. Tverskoy (active 1834–50), assay master
St. Petersburg, 1849
For nearly 70 years, the Museum & Gallery has shared with communities at home and abroad its primary focus: a collection of European Old Master paintings ranging from the 14th–19th centuries. Yet, M&G is more than paintings. The Collection includes furniture, decorative arts, textiles, and objects of art as well as Middle-Eastern antiquities with examples from the reputed British Egyptologist, Sir Flinders Petrie. Of special note and often overlooked, however, is the Russian collection, including icons from the 14th through early 20th centuries.
Unlike a Renaissance or Baroque painting of Western Europe idealizing the figures and blending realism and symbolism into the image, icons present an altogether different and somewhat mysterious approach to the same religious subjects. Frequently referred to as “otherworldly,” these meticulously executed images are rich in symbolism and create an awe and respect for the spiritual meaning of the depicted events and characters.
In this example, the icon’s composition and naturalistic qualities reflect a Western treatment of the Resurrection, rather than the painted Orthodox versions. On its face is the inscription, Voskreseniye Christovo, meaning The Resurrection of Christ. And, on the front hanger is inscribed: Christos Voskryes or Christ is Risen.
For its size of a mere 7 7/8″ x 5 5/16″, this beautiful gilt silver oval icon achieves unusual spatial depth. In the foreground is the resurrected Christ carrying the triumphal banner and two angels—one rolling the stone away from the tomb and the other holding the burial cloths. In the middle ground are the three Marys carrying the spices to the tomb on that first day of the week; and in the distance, St. Vladimir’s cross appearing in the rays of the morning sun next to the city of Jerusalem.
In addition to the fine craftsmanship and sophisticated handling of the silver, the icon bears a historically significant inscription engraved on its reverse: To the Sovereign Emperor and Autocrat of all Russians, Nikolai Pavlovitch and the Sovereign Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, on the day of the Resurrection of Christ, April 3rd, 1849. This humble offering from the peasant of Count Sheremetiev, Vasiliy Fedotov Il’in, made by his own hand.
The icon’s inscription reveals that it was a gift to Tsar Nicholas I created by a serf-artist employed by the richest Russian landowner in the 19th century, Count Dmitri Sheremetev. Historical documents reveal that the count was attending a conference for Russian nobility in April 1849, and it was on this occasion that he presented the icon to the Romanov tsar for Easter.
At the bottom there is a hallmark of crossed anchors and a scepter, which means it was made in St. Petersburg. The number 84 denotes the Russian standard content of silver. There is also a documented hallmark for the maker: ФИ, transliterated as FI for the skillful silversmith Fedot Il’yin (active 1837–1857). He began as a serf for Sheremetev, but ultimately earned his freedom and owned his own workshop. He was a master craftsman for creating church accessories and the icon oklads and lampadas.
Historically, the Sheremetev family is recognized for its generous philanthropy, particularly for its contribution and promotion of art and culture in Russia by developing artists and founding and supporting theatres, orchestras, choirs, concert halls. Dmitri, the patron of this icon, was the son of Count Nicholas Sheremetev who married his leading serf-actress Praskovia Ivanova Kovaleva, (her stage name was Zhemchugova). Dmitri’s mother died of tuberculosis 3 weeks after giving birth. Count Nicholas Sheremetev began a charitable institution—a shelter or hospital for the sick and homeless—in memory of his late wife.
As heir to his father’s fortune, he inherited some 180,000 serfs and 15,000 square miles of land. Dmitri served in the military and later married Anna Sergeyevna Sheremeteva (1810-1849), lady-in-waiting to the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Years following her death, he married again to Alexandra Melnikova Fosdick (1825-1874). He devoted himself to philanthropic work like his father—investing in hospitals, churches, orphanages, and education.
Erin R. Jones, Executive Director
Published in 2019
St. Augustine
Gaspar de Crayer
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Roman Glass
Iridescent Glass Perfume Bottle
Roman, circa 3rd-4th century AD
Iridescent Glass Vase/Jar
Roman, circa 1st-2nd century AD
Iridescent Glass Double Unguentarium
Roman, circa 3rd-4th century AD
Iridescent Glass Medicine or Perfume Jar
Roman, circa 1st-2nd century AD
Iridescent Glass Cup
Roman, circa 2nd-3rd century AD
Roman, circa 3rd-4th century AD
Iridescent Glass Vase/Jar
Roman, circa 1st-2nd century AD
Iridescent Glass Double Unguentarium
Roman, circa 3rd-4th century AD
Iridescent Glass Medicine or Perfume Jar
Roman, circa 1st-2nd century AD
Iridescent Glass Cup
Roman, circa 2nd-3rd century AD
Iridescent Glass Tear Bottle
Roman, circa 1st-2nd century AD
On loan to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC
Iridescent Glass Bowl
Roman, circa 1st-2nd century AD
On loan to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC
Iridescent Glass Medicine Bottle
Roman, circa 1st-2nd century AD
On loan to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC
Roman, circa 1st-2nd century AD
On loan to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC
Iridescent Glass Bowl
Roman, circa 1st-2nd century AD
On loan to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC
Iridescent Glass Medicine Bottle
Roman, circa 1st-2nd century AD
On loan to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC
Glass, a practical material as well as an artistic art form, was first created more than a thousand years before the Romans conquered the world. Even though the Romans did not invent the scientific process of creating glass, they are recognized as skilled craftsmen in the art.
Roman glass like the uniquely shaped forms in M&G’s Bowen Collection of Antiquities begs the viewer to study ancient glass. What makes it iridescent? What was it used for? Was it just for the wealthy?
The word iridescence is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a lustrous rainbowlike play of color caused by differential refraction of light waves (as from an oil slick, soap bubble, or fish scales) that tends to change as the angle of view changes.” M&G’s Roman glass did not begin as an iridescent piece. The iridescent effect was created by the slow decomposition of the glass over time. The alkali in the glass was drawn out and then mixed with the water within the soil in which it was buried, thus leaving colorful hues on the outside of the glass.
Roman glass bowls and bottles were used to hold precious liquids: oils, perfumes, ointments, cosmetics, medicine and perhaps tears of a grieving loved one. While some speculate that tear bottles were not actually used to capture a grieving person’s tears, Scripture gives credence to the idea in Psalm 56:8, “Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” The romance of capturing one’s tears only makes the bottle all the more mysterious and beautiful.
Roman glass was readily available and affordable for the common person to own—so prevalent, that third-century Emperor Gallienus refused to drink from a glass “because nothing was more common.” However, Emperor Tacitus who followed Gallienus’s reign “took great pleasure in the diversity and elaborate workmanship of glass.” These beautiful glass receptacles might have once been owned by a slave, plebeian, patrician, or emperor. Regardless, though, ancient examples of glass are well preserved and have turned more beautiful over time.
To view Roman glass from the Bowen Collection of Antiquities, visit The Museum of the Bible in Washington DC, where many M&G antiquities are currently on loan.
Angie Snow, Museum Educator
Published in 2019
Allegory of the Fall and Redemption of Man
Lucas Cranach, the Younger
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