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Category Archives: Object of the Month.2025

Object of the Month: December 2025

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

 

Object of the Month: November 2025

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

Object of the Month: October 2025

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

Object of the Month: September 2025

Sea Captain’s Chest

Oak, Initialed and Dated: 1614

Dutch, 17th century

The Museum & Gallery’s renowned collection of art reflects timeless Truth communicated over centuries of storytelling by the most notable artists of their day. These artists sought to share transcendent spiritual realities, but each was limited to the historical “palette” available to them—levels of biblical understanding, historical and geographical knowledge, national boundaries and cultural context. While studying the artworks, we also learn of the cultural landscape of their time.

In a way that is unique in the art world, the Museum & Gallery’s important “canvasses” are not just on the walls. The nearly 150 pieces of medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque furniture expand our knowledge of the eras in which they were made and the distinctive purposes for which they were created.

Take for instance this Dutch Sea Captain’s Chest. Made from dense, rot-resistant Northern European oak, constructed with sides that splay outward as they rise toward the domed lid (in order to fit against a ship’s interior hull) and including a second, smaller compartment inside, the chest is bound with thin iron strapwork that serves as structural reinforcement, security, and decorative purposes. Engraved on the substantial lock are the year (1614), month (December) and initials of its maker or owner (CNDE). While most sailors had a small, simple sea chest, a captain’s sea chest would reflect the greater size of his responsibility, his social position, and the types of things that would be needed during an 8–10-month voyage (charts and maps, important trade documents, the sailors’ pay, and personal possessions). Such chests were a necessity, but they also came to be artworks in their own right.

This M&G chest hails from the Dutch Golden Age, which extended from the 17th through the early 18th centuries. This era witnessed an explosion of Dutch arts, trade, wealth and world standing. Rembrandt (1606-1660) and Vermeer (1632-1675) both lived in the 1600s, and they recorded the wealth and complexity of their society. Many of their patrons and subjects were astoundingly wealthy noblemen and merchants. None of this would have been possible without Dutch sea trade and the ships’ captains, who facilitated it.

The main engine of Holland’s wealth and global importance was the Dutch East India Company (or Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC). Founded in 1602 and liquidated in 1795, the VOC was the most significant of the early European trading companies operating in Asia, and a little background is in order.

In 1579 the Treaty of Utrecht united the Low Countries (the seven northern provinces) in their struggle for independence from the Spanish/Hapsburg rule, forming what would become the Republic of the United Netherlands. Even before this union the mariners and merchants of these provinces were the most prolific and successful in the region. In 1599, likely using information gained through espionage, the first Dutch fleet attempted to break Portugal’s monopoly of the Asian spice trade. The endeavor was only mildly successful financially, but it showed what might be done.

By 1602, so many Dutch companies were competing for the spice trade that the price and glut of spices in Europe became an issue. In a single act of fiat, the Dutch government amalgamated these companies into a single entity, the United Dutch East India Company. The government gave the company a monopoly on the spice trade via the Cape of Good Hope, and it would become a behemoth.

By the middle of the 1600s the Dutch East India Company would own 150 ships, have 50,000 employees worldwide, field a private army of 10,000 soldiers, and maintain outposts from the Persian Gulf to Japan. This, the world’s first truly multinational company, had the right to wage war, create new colonies, make treaties, punish and execute criminals, and coin its own money. Between 1602 and 1796—a time when a round-trip voyage from Amsterdam to Jakarta required at least 8-10 months—the Dutch East India Company conducted more than 5,000 voyages between Holland and Asia.

In a single object, M&G’s Dutch Sea Captain’s Chest embodies a Golden Age of art, exploration, and trade.  Similar chests would have been familiar to Rembrandt, Hals and Vermeer, and it’s fitting to have such a chest in the Collection. If we listen, they illumine us about both their own cultural moment and the influence that culture continues to have upon the world as we know it.

 

Dr. Stephen B. Jones, M&G volunteer

 

Resources:

Museum of Western Australia

en.unesco.org

World History Encyclopedia

 

 

Published 2025

 

Object of the Month: August 2025

Lamentation over the Dead Christ

Oil on panel, c. 1610–12

Abraham Janssens

Flemish, c. 1575–1632

 

When the word “baroque” is mentioned, there are two names that people associate with this art history movement—Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. Both artists dominated Europe with their dramatic scenes, rich colors, chiaroscuro, accomplishments, and larger-than-life personalities. In the shadow of these masters and their artistic masterpieces, other artists have done their best to imitate or infuse their own style with these titans’ techniques. One such artist is fellow countryman to Rubens, Abraham Janssens.

Janssens’s work had impressive range. Throughout his career, his subject matter included biblical, historical, and allegorical scenes as well as occasional portraits. His stylistic changes are perhaps the most interesting. The first paintings of his oeuvre would be labeled Flemish Mannerist. Then after a trip to Italy in the early 1600s, he began to adopt a more Caravaggesque approach. Finally, his work became more Rubenesque after Rubens returned home and began to command the Flemish art scene. Janssens’s shift in his different styles can be seen in one specific subject matter—the Lamentation of Christ.

The Lamentation of Christ is an extra-biblical subject that portrayed groups of people mourning around the dead Christ. As mentioned in the gospels (Matthew 27:59-61, Mark 15:46-47, Luke 23:53-56, and John 19:38-42), this group usually included His mother, Mary, and various others. It is the perfect subject matter to compare Janssens’s stylistic shift since it shows strong emotion, sculptural figures, and a dramatic biblical narrative.

First, is Janssens’s Lamentation of Christ painted between 1600 and 1604. This work shows typical Mannerist characteristics with its bright colors and elongated figures. There is emotion, but it is not the intense drama of the Baroque. Since Janssens was in Rome from 1598-1601, it is interesting to note that he did not immediately adopt Caravaggio’s style. According to 17th-century Dutch painting scholar, Justus Müller Hofstede, most of Caravaggio’s early innovations in Italian painting (ca. 1593-1598) such as half-figure compositions, still-life painting, and secularization of religious themes were already in use in Antwerp. Hofstede concludes that Caravaggio’s early pioneer work wouldn’t have impressed Janssens.

It wasn’t until 1607 that Janssens began incorporating Caravaggio’s technique. This style is wonderfully shown in the Museum & Gallery’s Lamentation Over the Dead Christ, painted between 1610-1612. There is a marked stylistic shift to baroque characteristics compared to the first Lamentation. There is a sculptural, monumental quality to his figures, which would become a trademark of Janssen’s career. The lighting is harsh and dramatic and reminiscent of Caravaggio’s best works. This Lamentation also shows an extreme depth of sorrow. The furrowed, anguished brow on Mary is a contrast to the first Lamentation’s rather passive Mary.

Finally, Janssens began adapting to a Rubenesque approach. His later The Lamentation over the Dead Christ painted in 1621-22 includes similar elements from M&G’s Caravaggesque example. However, it does not have the same harshness or extreme sorrow. You can see Rubens’s influence in the rich coloring and more dramatic movement throughout the composition. Janssens still maintains his trademark stiffness and sculptural feel to his figures. According to historian Irene Schaudies, it is Janssens’s focus on his figures looking like classical statues rather than painting from empirical observation like Caravaggio and Rubens that kept Janssens in their shadow. Nevertheless, by looking at these three paintings, one can appreciate what a master Janssens was with his different stylistic portrayals of one of the most emotive scenes in Scripture.

 

KC Christmas Beach, M&G summer art educator

 

 

Published 2025

Object of the Month: July 2025

Procession to Calvary

Oil on Panel

Otto van Veen

Flemish, c. 1556–d. 1629

 

Otto van Veen was a classically trained humanist artist or pictor doctus, a concept created by the ancient writer Horace in his Ars Poetica signifying the attempt by artists to regain the social standing of the ancients. Otto van Veen succeeded. A renowned court painter to several rulers, he led the Antwerp art scene, diminishing only when his pupil Peter Paul Rubens returned from his travels in 1608. He paid tribute to Horace by creating two series of emblematic art which coupled Horatian proverbs with an illustrative image. A Romanist painter, he continued the traditions of the church through his work, including this one in M&G’s collection.

Using the usual cast of characters—Roman soldiers, weeping women, Simon of Cyrene, and a jeering mob—van Veen pictures the procession to Calvary just outside the city gate. A woman in the foreground holds up a piece of cloth to Christ who has stumbled under the cross and brought the procession to a momentary halt. St. Veronica offers her veil to Christ to wipe his brow. Traditionally, He accepts her kindness and a likeness of His face appears on the veil when it is returned to her. Scholars debate whether the woman is named Veronica or that the replication of Christ’s “true image”—vera icon—contributed to her name. She is part of a trio of women; the others have children with them, which reminds the viewer that Christ welcomed little children to come to Him. Just slightly behind these women are Mary with clasped hands in her usual blue robe and John, already attentive to her wellbeing.

Van Veen visually divides the scene with the positioning of the cross. On one side is the sympathetic crowd; on the other is the iron hand of Rome. The right side of the panel draws the viewer’s eye to the white horse ridden by a Roman soldier and the muscular figure pulling Christ up the hill with a rope. The dress of this man and the man behind the cross who whips Simon and Christ indicates that they are not part of the military structure of Rome. Instead, they seem to be commoners employed by Rome for the occasion. Combining this fact with the intense, backward gaze of the prominent soldier on horseback creates a personal interaction between the viewer and the scene. The sinfulness of every man compels an atonement be made for a restoration of relationship with God. In the foreground, the open area at this stopping point on the way to Golgotha provides room for the viewer to be included in the picture’s events and to consider which “side” of the scene he will be part of: sympathetic or condemnatory.

 

Dr. Karen Rowe Jones, M&G board member

 

Published 2025

Additional Resources:

For additional information on an etching by N. Muxel made after Otto van Veen’s Procession click here.

To see an image of Otto van Veen’s Christ Meeting St. Veronica from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium click here.

 

 

Object of the Month: June 2025

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

Object of the Month: May 2025

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

Object of the Month: April 2025

Descent from the Cross

Polychrome and giltwood, c. 1570

Unknown Spanish, 16th century

Renaissance artists employed various media and techniques to communicate their subject matter with power and beauty. This mid- to late-16th-century giltwood and polychrome relief by an unnamed artist (likely Spanish) demonstrates both artistic mastery and devotional power. It was once part of a larger altarpiece yet communicates clearly on its own.

A relief sculpture is normally attached to a background of the same material, and the degree of projection from that surface determines the terms used. Low relief, or bas-relief, project only a little. High relief denotes significant freedom from the background and can look like the figures are about to burst free from their surrounds. Finally, in sunken relief (or intaglio), subjects are carved below the level of their surroundings.

Gilding, the decorative technique of applying a thin layer of gold on a solid surface, dates back to Egypt. Herodotus mentions the Egyptians’ skill in gilding wood and metal, and many examples of their work remain to this day. The Sumerians (with objects dating back to 2600-2400 B.C.), Ancient Chinese, Old Testament Israelites, Ancient Greeks and Romans also utilized very thin sheets of hammered gold to overlay important objects of wood, stone and metal.

To produce fine furniture or sculpture, artists first carved plain woods like pine, beech or limewood. They then added numerous layers of gesso (a type of plaster made by mixing fine chalk or gypsum with animal glue and water). Initial applications of the gesso filled imperfections in the wood, and subsequent layers built up a smooth surface that could be carved with greater detail than wood and rendered a top layer that could be gilt, painted, or otherwise decorated. The depth and crispness of this final surface indicates the craftsman’s skill.

The quality of M&G’s relief sculpture shows gilding expertise, but its polychromy adds to its power.  Polychrome (literally, “many colored”)—pigmented wood, stone or terracotta—also dates to Egypt and the process refined over time. Over the millennia artists employed a wide range of pigments, painting media, and surface applications to embellish their work, and specialization occurred.

In Spain, the production of religious sculptures was governed by designated guilds. The Guild of Carpenters carved the wood and gesso, and the Guild of Painters was responsible for all decoration. Specific terminology came to describe specific skills. After the pieces were carved, painters used flesh tones for hands, faces, and feet (a process called Encarnacion). Estofado, which means “quilted silk,” was the skill of simulating rich fabrics through the layering of gold or silver leaf.

M&G’s sculpture demonstrates mastery of all these skills in an emotionally intense representation of Jesus’ followers lowering Him from the cross. Christ is the central figure—emphasized both by His placement on a diagonal in the center and by the fact that He is the only figure painted entirely in flesh tones. Around Him gather His mother, Mary (on the right), Mary Magdalene (immediate left, her hair cascading over her shoulder), Mary’s sister, and Mary the wife of Clopas. Behind Jesus, the Apostle John (at Christ’s right shoulder) and Nicodemus (left shoulder) bear the weight of His body. To the far right, two men pry open a sarcophagus.  On the far left, stands Joseph of Arimathea, who had asked Pilate for Jesus’ body and donated both his new grave and linen to wrap Christ’s body. His headwear denotes Joseph’s status as a member of the Sanhedrin, and the striped pattern etched on its gilding matches that on the long swath of linen he is showing to the two women beside him. Taut carving of the trees, leaves, and clothing bring the scene to life and gilt patterns play across the various fabrics, the tomb, and the background plants and clouds. All of these techniques coalesce to convey the grief and dedication of Christ’s followers.

At the devotional center, as in history, is Jesus Christ—His redemptive work done, His burial imminent, and His victory over death yet to come.

 

Dr. Stephen B. Jones, M&G Volunteer

 

Bibliography

Metmuseum.org

Nationalgallery.org.uk

Hall’s Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, James Hall

Understanding Paintings: Themes in Art Explored and Explained, Alexander Sturgis and Hollis Clayson

 

 

Published 2025

Object of the Month: March 2025

Hebrew Scroll of the Book of Esther

Gazelle skin and wood

Hebrew Scroll of the Book of Ruth

Parchment on olive wood with ivory crown

The Jewish Bible, known as the Tanakh, is divided into three parts: the Law (Torah), the Prophets, and the Writings. The Writings are also in three divisions: poetry, history, and the Megillot. Synagogue worship during the five annual Jewish holidays often include reading of one of the five, short Megillot scrolls. M&G’s collection of antiquities includes two Megillot scrolls: Esther and Ruth. They are the only biblical books named for females, and both tell dramatic narratives of their heroines.

Esther

Esther, a young Jewish woman, becomes the queen of Persia when King Xerxes (or Ahasuerus) chooses her as his bride. Mordecai, Esther’s cousin and guardian, has offended the king’s chief advisor, Haman, by not bowing to him. This public insult provokes Haman to plot the annihilation of the Jewish people in Persia. When Mordecai learns of Haman’s plan, he urges Esther to use her position to save her people.

Initially Esther is reluctant. By decree, anyone entering the king’s presence without being summoned is to be put to death. Her approaching Xerxes could be fatal. Eventually she is persuaded as Mordecai says: “Who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

After three days of prayer and fasting, Esther approaches the King. He extends his golden scepter to her, sparing her life, and tells her that her petition will be granted. She invites the King and Haman to a series of banquets. At the second banquet the king repeats his offer to grant Esther’s petition. She reveals that she is a Jew and tells of Haman’s plan to kill all the Jews in Persia. The enraged king orders Haman’s execution, and it is carried out on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. The King then promotes Mordecai to Haman’s position.

The Book of Esther teaches that Divine intervention often occurs in unexpected ways. The story highlights the themes of courage, faith, justice, the reversal of evil, and the importance of standing up for one’s faith in God, even in times of peril.

After Mordecai’s promotion he writes to all the Persian Jews that they should annually “make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor” (Esther 9:22). Today the Jewish festival of Purim celebrates this deliverance of the Jews by chanting or reading aloud the Book of Esther as part of synagogue worship. M&G’s Esther scroll is just over 11 ft long, and depending on one’s pace, can take 60–90 minutes to read. During the reading many congregations participate by reciting certain verses and by using wooden noise makers (gragers) to blot out Haman’s name. Purim’s traditional celebratory meal, exchanging gifts of food, and contributions to the poor are based on Mordecai’s instructions.

Ruth

Famine causes Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons to leave Israel and live among idol-worshipers in the land of Moab. While there, the sons marry Moabite women. Eventually Elimelech and his sons die. Naomi, a grieving and bitter widow, decides to return to Bethlehem and instructs her daughters-in-law to return to their families. One does. Ruth, however, says “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God” (Ruth 1:16).

In Bethlehem, Ruth gleans in the fields of Boaz, a wealthy relative of Naomi’s late husband. Impressed by Ruth’s kindness to Naomi, Boaz insures she is protected while gathering barley in his fields. Seeing an opportunity, Naomi encourages Ruth to ask Boaz to redeem her, a legal condition that would wed her to Boaz and restore Naomi’s family property. Moved by Ruth’s character, Boaz is inclined to accept but recognizes that a closer relative has the right of redemption. When that kinsman declines to redeem her, Boaz marries Ruth.

The theme of redemption and the virtues of loyalty and faithfulness permeate the Book of Ruth. The universality of God’s providence is also demonstrated. Ruth and Boaz’s son, Obed, is the grandfather of the Jewish King David, which places Ruth, a converted Moabite, in the lineage of the Messiah.

Today many Jewish communities read the Book of Ruth during Shavuot, the two-day holiday that commemorates God giving Moses the Ten Commandments. Shavuot is celebrated during the time of harvest, which parallels the time of Ruth’s gathering barley. Ruth’s acceptance of the Jewish faith parallels the Jewish people accepting the Law delivered to them on Mount Sinai.

M&G’s Megillot Scrolls

To be read in synagogue worship, a scroll must be sefer (ritually clean), meeting a lengthy list of conditions. It must be handwritten by a qualified sofer, using a quill of a kosher bird (or other permitted instrument) with kosher ink, on parchment made of a kosher animal hide. M&G’s Esther scroll, for example, is written on gazelle skin.

Sefer scrolls may not have calligraphic flourishes, illuminations or illustrations. Such additions could distract the reader from thinking about the message of the text. Some Jewish groups, however, permit Megillot scrolls to be embellished. Sefer Esther scrolls have been illuminated with decorative borders and portraits of its characters for centuries. In some Jewish communities a modern scroll of Esther may have colorful, printed scenes of the story between handwritten panels of the Hebrew text. Both M&G’s Esther and Ruth scrolls lack calligraphic or other embellishments. They were probably commissioned for use in strict Jewish congregations.

While groups may differ regarding embellishments of the scroll, its protective coverings (a cloth mantle or a cylindrical box) and the wood dowel on which the scroll is rolled can be ornate. Costly embellishment of the non-textual parts of a scroll reflects a desire to recognize the scroll’s significance and the means of the individual or group commissioning the scroll. M&G’s Ruth scroll is mounted on an olive wood shaft with a carved ivory crown. The scroll is 8.5 ft long and could be read or chanted in about 30 minutes.

 

William Pinkston, Retired Educator and M&G Volunteer

 

Published 2025

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