This work by an unknown 17th-century Italian painter beautifully unfolds the message of unmerited grace offered to mankind by a holy God.
Category Archives: M&G Collection Online
Bust of an Unknown Saint
France, 14th century
Below the image, click play to listen.
The Resurrection with Feasts
Tempera on panel
Unknown Russian
18th century
Russian icons have been part of M&G’s collection since our inaugural opening in 1951. Our founder, Dr. Bob Jones Jr., collected these uniquely symbolic works along with the Old Masters throughout the decades, including this interesting panel acquired in 1996—the year before his passing.
The central scene is surrounded by twelve smaller scenes identified by inscriptions and portraying the twelve major ecclesiastical feasts of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which are celebrated throughout the year. This type of icon is referred to as a calendar icon—a suitable focus as we turn the page on the New Year and a year in which M&G celebrates our 75th anniversary.
An image like this is read from left to right. Beginning with the top row (left corner), the illustrated events are:
- The Nativity of the Virgin: observed September 8
- The Presentation of Mary in the Temple: observed November 21
- The Annunciation: celebrated March 25
- The Nativity of Christ: celebrated Christmas Day, December 25
- The Presentation of Christ in the Temple: celebrated February 2
- The Baptism of Jesus: celebrated January 6
- Entry into Jerusalem: celebrated on Palm Sunday
- The Transfiguration: celebrated August 6
- The Ascension: celebrated 40 days after Easter
- The Holy Trinity (for Trinity Sunday, known as Pentecost): celebrated 50 days after Easter
- The Exaltation of the Cross: observed September 14
- The Dormition of Mary: observed August 15
Finally, the centerpiece features the victorious, resurrected Christ, which is celebrated on Easter Sunday. All of the other feasts lead up to or follow this great event. Additionally, the central image includes a number of elements from the Harrowing of Hell as described in the apocryphal book of Nicodemus (part II).
Observe the incredible amount of detail crowded into this central scene! Just below the risen Christ, He is shown again as standing triumphant over Hell (represented here as the realm of the dead) with the broken gates underfoot. On the left, He welcomes Adam and Eve and other Old Testament saints in a procession of people exiting the red mouth of Hell (lower left with a few visible teeth) toward the entrance of Paradise on the top right. To the right of Christ are Abel (murdered by Cain), Kings David and Solomon, and John the Baptist led by the good thief crucified with Christ, who is showing his cross to Enoch and Elijah as justification for his entrance into Paradise.
The lower right corner pictures the Biblical narrative of Jesus walking on the water to the disciples in the boat and Peter sinking after his failed attempt to stride the waves. On the top left, Peter peers into the empty tomb discovering the burial garments. Just below him are the angels led by Michael the archangel helping protect the procession of saints to Paradise.
Like the Western European audiences who viewed Old Master paintings, so the Byzantine and later Greeks and Russians were largely illiterate, relying on the pictures at church for scriptural understanding and church teachings. An icon like this one would have been made personally for the home of the devout. In a traditional Russian home, families would place their icons on a special shelf in a corner, known as the “beautiful corner.” By including an icon of the annual feasts in the display, every day would be lived in light of Christ’s victory over sin, Satan, and death.
Erin R. Jones, M&G Executive Director
Published 2026
St. Gabriel the Archangel
Unknown Pre-Raphaelite, 19th century
Below the image, click play to listen.
Pair of Angels with Candlesticks
Glazed terracotta, c. 1500
Benedetto Buglioni (attributed to)
Florence, 1459/60 – 1521
Italian Renaissance masters like Donatello, Cellini, and Michaelangelo created magnificent sculptures chiseled from stone, carved from wood, or cast in metal. These methods were time-consuming and costly. In the early 1440s, Luca della Robbia, a stone sculptor in Florence, was able to cut the time and cost of sculpture production by developing techniques for tin-glazed terracotta. In addition to achieving the magnificent detail found in the expensive materials, he produced vibrant, permanent colors in his sculptures which other media could not duplicate. Also, he designed multiple modified pieces from molds, which greatly reduced production time and cost.
As a businessman, Luca della Robbia managed a large workshop, where he produced high quality, tin-glazed terracotta pieces and preserved the secrecy of his formulas and techniques. His nephew, Andrea della Robbia inherited both Luca’s workshop and secrets. He became an outstanding sculptor, creating pieces beyond his uncle’s capabilities. (Andrea’s sons, Giovanni and Girolamo, also became sculptors and practiced the family’s secrets. Girolamo accepted the king of France’s invitation to Paris in 1517, where he made M&G’s terracotta busts of French nobility.)
Benedetto Buglioni
The son of a sculptor, Benedetto Buglioni was born in Florence in 1459/60. He probably studied under Andrea del Verrocchio (Leonardo da Vinci’s teacher) and learned terracotta sculpting as a pupil in the della Robbia workshop of Luca and later Andrea. According to Giorgio Vasari, a contemporary artist and historian, Benedetto learned the “secret of glazed earthenware” from a female servant “who came out of the house of Andrea della Robbia.”
In his early 20s, Benedetto opened his own terracotta workshop in Florence. For unknown reasons, from 1487 to 1490, he and his brother produced terracotta works in Perugia, a city about 100 miles from Florence. Returning to Florence, the Buglioni brothers opened their own workshop and became della Robbia’s chief competitors. High quality, tin-glazed terracotta was extremely popular, and there were plenty of commissions for both workshops.
In time Benedetto was recognized as a master artist. His clients included major churches, important civic groups, and wealthy patrons, including the Medici family. His standing in the artistic community is recognized by the fact that he served on the committee which determined the placement of Michelangelo’s monumental David.
Terracotta Angel Candlesticks
The Eucharist or Communion is a Christian sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ at the final supper before His crucifixion. He shared bread and wine with His disciples and told them the bread represented His body and the wine, His blood. His followers were to partake of the bread and wine as a reminder of His sacrifice and its eternal significance.
In Roman Catholic churches, the elements of the Eucharist are kept in a tabernacle, a locked and decorative box, built into the wall or placed on the altar. As part of the Catholic Mass, candles on either side of the tabernacle are lit. Traditionally, the candles are reminders that Christ is the light of the world and the church.
M&G’s angels probably held candles on either side of a tabernacle. These angels may have been part of a matching tabernacle and angel set, or they may have been used with a tabernacle made of other materials. There are few Renaissance terracotta tabernacles still in existence, and very few of those still have their original angel candlesticks. Of the existing Renaissance terracotta angel candlesticks, most lack tabernacles and some even lack their partner angel.
M&G’s terracotta candlesticks are a typical height—roughly 22 inches; however, their design details vary greatly. Some Renaissance angel candlesticks stand, others kneel. Some wear robes, stoles, surpluses, sashes, jewelry, or belts; others have intricate collars, cuffs or hems. Some are barefoot, some wear sandals, and others wear shoes. Many have wings, and some, like M&G’s, were designed wingless.
M&G’s Pair of Angels with Candlesticks began as a piece of wood wrapped in wet cloths. A molded clay body was formed around the cloths. The body then received a head, arms, hands, feet, clothing details, and candle holder. Some of these additions were based on standard clay molds, and others were hand-sculpted from raw clay. When the sculpture was complete and the clay set, the wood and cloths were removed, leaving a hollow center, necessary for proper drying and firing.
The head and hands of M&G’s angels are not glazed; these areas are the color of baked clay. A tin oxide glaze was painted over all the areas to be glazed and then fired, leaving a beautiful white as seen in the angels’ collars and sleeves. Next, a blue cobalt and a yellow lead glaze were painted over the white. When fired again, the glazes fused with the terracotta, became enameled, and their colors permanent.
Renaissance sculptors rarely signed their works. If found, contracts and payment records can establish who created larger objects; however, smaller works are most often associated with a particular workshop based on style, quality, and the figure’s individual details. Experts agree that M&G’s angels can be attributed to Benedetto Buglioni and his workshop.
Although these angels no longer serve during church services, they do speak to us of the craftmanship of Renaissance tin-glazed terracotta masters. They may also cause us to think of those who saw them in the warm glow of their candles more than 500 years ago.
William Pinkston, retired educator and M&G volunteer
Suggested Reference
Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence by Marietta Cambareri, with contributions by Abigall Hykin and Cortney Harris
Published 2025
In this lovely Adoration of the Shepherds we see one of the worshipers playing a musical instrument–an instrument used for village celebrations during the painter’s lifetime.
While this artist’s paintings are well represented in Spain, rarely is he found outside his native country. M&G’s Pentecost is considered the finest example of Juan de Juanes’ work in America.
The Triumph of David
Oil on canvas, c. 1630s
Jacopo Vignali
Florentine, 1592-1664
Italian art scholar Howard Hibbard once observed, “Florentine seventeenth-century art has a fascination and beauty worthy of our attention: it is a sensuously colorful and romantic school of painting, sometimes even magical or mystical.” The Museum & Gallery’s Triumph of David by Jacopo Vignali is a case in point. Described as one the most “poetic and sensitive” of the Florentine painters, Vignali began his career at 13 under the tutelage of Matteo Rosselli. In his early twenties he joined several other noteworthy artists in the decoration of the Casa Buonarotti—the most important commission in Florence at that time. By his early thirties, he was not only a member of the Academy but also one of the leading artists in Florence.
Rosselli’s superb tutelage provided Vignali with the technical and artistic skills necessary for his later success. However, as Vignali’s style matured, he became more eclectic, incorporating Counter-Mannerism with the grandeur, drama, and emotional intensity of the emerging Baroque aesthetic. This diversity is clearly apparent in The Triumph of David.
Seventeenth-century paintings on the life of David had been prevalent since the 15th century when the innovative, stunning sculptures of Donatello, Verrocchio, and later Michelangelo elevated this biblical figure into a civic symbol. Interestingly, our M&G painting was originally attributed to Vignali’s teacher Rosselli. Joan Nissman notes: “The answer to this problem of attribution, as Del Bravo suggests, seems to be that it is an early work painted while Vignali was still under the influence of his master. Vignali, in this painting, shares his master’s solid and smooth technique as well as his concern for details of costume.” However, a comparison of Rosselli’s treatment of the subject [fig. 1] with Vignali’s highlights why Carlo del Bravo’s attribution of the work to Vignali (rather than Rosselli) has now won general acceptance.
fig. 1 THE TRIUMPH OF DAVID, Matteo Rosselli
Notice that in Rosselli’s rendering we see the coloration, composition, and scale indicative of the classical Baroque style popularized by the Carracci. In contrast, Vignali’s more dynamic composition, vivid coloration, and careful use of scale reflect his mature style which favored the integration of Counter-Mannerist techniques with the dramatic realism of Baroque naturalism. For example, High Mannerist paintings were often characterized by strained poses, distortion of the human form, crowded compositions, garish coloration, and unusual (sometimes bizarre) elements of scale.
In this scene, however, Vignali manipulates these common characteristics to create a “restrained” but equally dramatic effect. For example, the composition is “crowded” but the poses elegant, the figures without distortion. The coloration is vivid but not garish, carefully integrated to create focus and highlight the triumphant mood of the scene (e.g., David’s bright red stockings draw the eye to Goliath’s head while the bright red sleeves of the woman’s costume create an implied horizontal line that guides the viewer’s eye back to the hero’s face).
Vignali also carefully manipulates scale. The extreme elongation of the sword and the enormous head of Goliath subtly serve to reinforce the power of the biblical narrative. Scripture notes that Goliath was about 9 feet tall, and although we are not told specifically how much his sword weighed, we do know that the head of his spear weighed about 15 pounds! In addition, the soft modeling of the faces, the contemporary dress, and the morbidly gruesome severed head highlight Baroque naturalism’s penchant not just for realism but also for the “bizarre and strident” (David Steel).
Although Vignali’s contributions to the early Baroque period are significant, he remains less well-known than either his teacher Matteo Rosselli or his most famous student Carlo Dolci. Joan Nissman attributes this lack of name recognition to the fact that, unlike Roselli and Dolci, the great seventeenth-century Florentine biographer, Filippo Baldinucci, did not write of Vignali’s life. Regardless, this work has long been praised as one of the finest treatments of The Triumph of David ever produced.
Donnalynn Hess, Director of Education
Works Cited:
Steel, David, Baroque Paintings from the Bob Jones University Collection. North Carolina Museum of Art.1984.
Hibbard, Howard and Nissman, Joan, Florentine Baroque Art from American Collections. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1969.
Published 2025
Processional Crucifix
Limoges, France, early 13th century
Below the image, click play to listen.
The Trial of Queen Catherine
Oil on canvas, 1880; signed lower left
Laslett John Pott, RBA
English, 1837–1898
The Victorian period is known for its diverse richness as an era of scientific and technological innovation, industry, the development of the novel, the rise of the middle class, incredible social reforms, the expansion of the British empire, and . . . the golden age of English painting.
For us to appreciate the breadth and influence of art during the time, Denys Brook-Hart writes, “the galaxy of artistic talent and endeavour which rose to its peak in the 19th century in Britain had not previously been rivalled in any other country or period. For proof of sheer quantity one needs only to mention the 25,000 professional artists who exhibited in London alone. For quality it is amply sufficient to quote the names of Turner and Constable in their places at the head of a long list of distinguished and truly marvellous artists, many of whom had the rank of genius.”
While being a member and/or an exhibitor of the Royal Academy (founded during King George III’s reign) was considered the height of honor, many other art societies developed before and during Victoria’s rule to train and exhibit artists. Approved by King George IV in 1824, the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) was organized and began to exhibit annually. Painter Laslett John Pott later became an elected member.
Pott was a child prodigy. Biographers Clare Erskine Clement and Laurence Hutton relate that he “drew cleverly when not more than five years old.” His skill, particularly as a history painter, gave him opportunity to exhibit at least 40 paintings at London’s Royal Academy, beginning in 1860 when he was only twenty-three and including M&G’s painting, The Trial of Queen Catherine in 1880.
Here, Pott conflates two parts of the historical telling into one scene. According to the eyewitness account of Cardinal Wolsey’s gentleman-usher and biographer George Cavendish, Catherine was called to appear before the Legatine Court at Blackfriars where Henry sat upon a canopied dais to watch. Rather than addressing the court, which she felt would legitimize their purpose, she made a rational and impassioned appeal on knee to her seated husband only, then arose, curtsied to the king, and left the hall. The council summoned her to return, but she refused on the grounds that they had already decided against her. Cavendish recounts that later Wolsey met with Catherine for further discussion; however, she strongly and loudly rebuked him for his action motivated by political ambition.
The painting dramatizes the nobility of Catherine of Aragon. She holds her skirt as if she has just risen from kneeling and is preparing to leave after she finishes confronting those from church and state who would declare her marriage of twenty-four years to Henry VIII void—namely, Cardinal Wolsey (standing at the table) and the pope’s emissary, Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio (seated).
Catherine, the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, had married Arthur, heir to England’s throne, when she was fifteen. Four months later she was a widow. When she married the next heir to the throne, Henry, she was twenty-three, he only eighteen. Her primary duty as queen, to produce a male heir, was tragically unsuccessful; although she bore six children, none except Mary lived longer than a few months.
Henry argued that the marriage was null since he had violated church law by marrying his brother’s widow, although the pope had granted approval for the marriage. Now desperate for a male heir and enamored with the young Anne Boleyn, the king pressured Wolsey and Campeggio to convince Catherine to agree to their demands. After her refusal, Henry took matters into his own hands and declared himself, not the pope, head of the Church in England, annulled the marriage, and married Anne (who only produced a daughter—Elizabeth). Of course, Henry in pursuit of a male heir found reasons to escape his marriage to Anne, then Jane Seymour, and three subsequent wives.
Erin R. Jones, Executive Director
Sources:
Johnson, Jane. Works Exhibited at the Royal Academy of British Artists 1824-1893 and the New English Art Club 1888-1917w: An Antique Collectors’ Club Research Project. 1974
Erskine, Clara and Hutton, Laurence. Artists of the Nineteenth Century and Their Works. A Handbook Containing Two Thousand and Fifty Biographical Sketches. Boston, 1875
Graves, Algernon. A Dictionary of Artists Who Have Exhibited Works in the Principal London Exhibitions of Oil Paintings from 1760 to 1880. 1884.
Published 2025
