Judith Beheading Holofernes, Caravaggio

Judith Beheading Holofernes was painted in 1598-99 by Caravaggio in the studio of his father. Now this painting is on the  Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica at Palazzo Barberini, in Rome.

Caravaggio

This painting is 144 cm x 195 cm. It shows a dead general (Holofernes) beheaded by Judith, the woman who seduced him in less than one night. This painting provoked reactions of horror and surprise to the visitors from its first headquarters, as Caravaggio managed to give the work of great realism and rawness. Juditt is shown standing majestic and unmoved, while her maid, who gives her the sword, is nervous and waiting for what might happen.

Judith Beheading Holofernes

It has a Baroque style. The Baroque is often thought of as period or artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, and music. The style began around 1600 in Rome, Italy and spread to most of Europe.

The beheading of Holofernes was a favourite subject of the age, depicted by such names as Donatello, Sandro Botticelli, Andrea Mantegna, Giorgione, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Lucas Cranach the Elder, among many others. Caravaggio's approach was, typically, to choose the moment of greatest dramatic impact, the moment of the decapitation itself.

Sources:

- http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_y_Holofernes_%28Caravaggio%29

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Beheading_Holofernes_%28Caravaggio%29

- http://www.artecreha.com/Iconograf%C3%ADa/judith-y-holofernes.html

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque

- https://www.google.es/imghp?hl=es&tab=wi&ei=NzZuVMGGE4mgyQSmjIL4Bg&ved=0CAQQqi4oAg

THE NIGHT WATCH, REMBRANDT

The Night Watch

Rembrandt van Rijn

The Night Watch is a painting made by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn in 1642. It was painted with oil painting on canvas. Its sizes are 363 x 437 cm. Rembrandt  received the commission to paint The Night Watch for the Kloveniersdoelen, the guild hall that housed the Amsterdam civic guard company of musketeers. 

The work shows Captain Frans Banning Cocq and his lieutenant, Willem van Ruytenburgh, surrounded by sixteen of their men, other people were added later.

It is present in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. In 1715 it was cut to make it smaller, we can know its real sizes because there are some copies of the painting. It has also suffered different vandalism attacks but it has been successfully restored. 

Original sizes of the painting

Rembrandt didn’t use a single painting technique, as we can see in The Night Watch, there are elements worked in detail while others seem to be painted quickly. Rembrandt used chiaroscuro’s technique in his paintings with its emphasis on the mysterious, evocative qualities of shadow.

Here we can see some features of this painting:

The Night Watch’s action wasn’t happening during the night and so that wasn’t its original title. When the critics and the public attached that word to the painting, the canvas had become very darkened by dirt and layers of varnish and it seemed to be at night. Its original title was Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenhurch.

Sources:

http://www.theartwolf.com/self-portraits/images/self-portrait-rembrandt-big.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/The_Nightwatch_by_Rembrandt.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Nachtwacht-kopie-van-voor-1712.jpg

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/rembrandt-the-night-watch.html

http://www.rembrandthuis.nl/en/rembrandt/belangrijkste-werken/de-nachtwacht

http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/rembrandt's_night_watch.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watch 

Adoration of the Magi by Rubens

It was made by Rubens (Germanic painter, he was  born in 1577 and he died in 1640) painted in 1609 and designed to inaugurate and celebrate the Twelve Years' Truce, also the painting was commisioned by Matthias Yrsselius. The painting describes the scene in which Christ is visited by the Magi, that ofered him three different gifts (gold, incense and myrrh).

 The painting method of Rubens in this painting were:
- The revelation of the author's technique (especially in the details of the painting).
To do this, Rubens use some methods like painting with a brush stained with pigments to represent the highlights in some specific points of the painting (around the eyes and in the hair).
- The reinforcement in some aspects of the painting.
To reinforce the things that he considered more important he used the end of the brush, making marks in the wet paint because he wanted to include the sensation of movement.

Rubens was outstanding in portraits, landscapes, histories and religious pictures because of the energy he imposed.
He was considered the most respected painter in his era in Europe because he could transmit the exact idea he wanted to say in his paintings. The method that he used to transmit his ideas are the myths that summaries the knowledge of the ancient peoples about the behaviour and the emotions of the human beings.

Source: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Paul_Rubens

Features of the painting:
- It is an oil painting.
- The use of warm colours to stand out some important points in the painting.
- It describes a dialogue by the painter with himself.
- The colour predominates in the painting, and it enters the ruins of an ancient scene.
- There are some important details, like the presentation of Christ made by Mary to the Magi.
- The inclusion of many people in the photo apart Christ, Mary and the Magi (servants, soldiers, horses and two angels at the top).
- The huge predominance of colour over drawing, as we can appreciate, because there isn't any aspect or point in the painting that is draw, all is painted.
- The lapse of concentration in the center on the painting and the attention in Mary and Christ.
- The appearance of a symbolic meaning in the painting (ancient column).
- This ancient column refers to the desvatate palace of David.
Rubens didn't paint on purpose, this has a biblical sense, because in the Bible is written that the column is a symbol which means that the Messiah was born.

Source: http://imgarcade.com/1/adoration-of-the-magi-rubens-1609/

Information sources: 

http://www.kmska.be/en/collectie/highlights/Aanbidding_koningen.html

http://www.wallacecollection.org/whatson/treasure/22

https://www.museodelprado.es/en

THE DEATH OF THE VIRGIN

The death of the Virgin was painted in 1606 by Michelangelo da Caravaggio. This painting was made probably in Italy. This painting was commissioned by Laerzio Cherubini for his chapel in Santa Maria della Scala church, in Rome. This painting belonged to Vicenzo Gonzaga and later it was bought by Charles I of England and later it belonged to Everhard Jabach and in 1671, Louis XIV bought this painting.

The dimensions of this painting are 369 cm length and 245 cm width. This painting is made over oil on canvas. The colours that Caravaggio used in this painting are dark colours. At present, this painting is in the Louvre Museum, in Paris.

The main part of the painting is Virgin Mary. She’s represented as a dead woman. Caravaggio represents this with a lot of realism. Around the Virgin, there are the apostles and Mary Magdalene.

                                 

This was Caravaggio’s most troubled painting. One of the reasons was that people said that he take as model a death prostitute.        

Source:       http://arte.laguia2000.com/pintura/la-muerte-de-la-virgen-caravaggio

Source: https://tigrepelvar3.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/por-que-la-muerte-de-la-virgen-de-caravaggio-es-una-obra-maestra/

 Source:      http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muerte_de_la_Virgen_%28Caravaggio%29

 Image Source: http://www.allartclassic.com /pictures_zoom.php?p_number=25&number=CAM018

Altarpiece of San Esteban Salamanca (José de Churriguera)

The Altarpiece of San Esteban Salamanca (José de Churriguera) was a grandiose altar made by José 

Benito Churriguer, whose construction required more than four thousand pieces of wood, 

inagurating  the 18th-century Baroque architecture in Spain. It was designed in 1693 a, by Churriguera who had become famous in Salamanca in 1689 with his design of a huge catafalque for the funeral ceremony of Dona 

Doña María Luisa de Borbón,  Charles II's wife. José belonged to a family of Salamanca architects who 

enriched their city with some very fine monuments.

The San Esteban altarpiece is the first example of the so 18th-century  called Baroque style "entallador", which

obtains its effects from the rhythm of the decorated surface, supported by a robust, monumental 

structure.

The work of José de Churriguera, crowning the head of the church, has six large twisted columns, covered with decorative foliage.

In the center there is a tabernacle conceived as a pavilion, flanked by a pair of columns on each side, and between those  two columns at the edges stand niches that harbour the sculptures of St. Dominic of Guzmán and St. Francis of Assis, attributed to the designer of the altarpiece. Centered above there is a painting by Claudio Coello whose theme is the martyrdom of St. Stephen. Everything is covered with gold and richly decorated, resulting in one of the most monumental Spanish Baroque altarpieces.

                                               

We can fin it in the Convento de San Esteban is a Dominican monastery situated in the Square of the Council of Trent in the city of Salamanca.

Baroque architecture like to excite and draw the people's attention. These are the main Baroque features in this monument:

                                                                                                                                                                                       - The use of the curved line in both building structures and decoration.                                                                                                                                              -Emphasizes the use of Solomonic columns, which are spiraling, and gives a sense of mobility.                                                                                                      - The use of lighting effects in buildings through concave convex movement                                                                                                                                           - The abundance of decoration and ornaments on the facades and interiors.                                                                                                                                             - Riches of materials, especially in churches, to produce a sense of luxury Baroque architecture like to excite and draw the people's attention.

                                                                                           Source:
                                                     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convento_de_San_Esteban,_Salamanca

Born in Madrid in 1650. Jose Simon Churriguera  and his sons José Benito, Joaquin and Alberto. were a family of architects and sculptors active in Castile during the 17th and 18th centuries. Churriguera Joseph Simon was born into a family of artists and where his son José Benito Churriguera, the chief sculptor and architect of  the family, to which the name of 

style 'churrigueresco' is due to be born applies to work performed by him and some of his brothers, in which recharging is essentially decorative and dominant over the supporting elements to the point of hiding them in some cases  One of his first works was the altarpiece of the church in the Convent of San Esteban (Salamanca), whose structure would be inherited by the majority of Spanish churches. In 1687, he won the contest for making the catafalque for Queen Marie Louise of Orleans, wife of Charles II. In 1709 he began his most ambitious work, in the municipality of New Baztán in the east of Madrid

commissioned by the banker Juan de  Goyeneche. 

This urban work included a church, a palace, housing for the 

workers, a factory, offices and an industrial glass oven. He died in Madrid in 1725.                                              

Portrait of José de Churrigera

 Source: http://josera-blogdesociales.blogspot.com.es/2010/06/jose-simon-churriguera-barcelona-madrid.html             

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convento_de_San_Esteban,_Salamanca

http://www.wga.hu/html_m/c/churrigu/salamanc.html

http://josera-blogdesociales.blogspot.com.es/2010/06/jose-simon-churriguera-barcelona-madrid.html

http://enclavedearteblog.blogspot.com.es/2011/04/arte-barroco-i-arquitectura.html

http://www.arteespana.com/churrigueresco.htm

Architecture and Painting

ARCHITECTURE: THE ROYAL PALACE OF MADRID

The Royal Place of Madrid. was made by the architects Francesco Sabatini, Filippo Juvara, José Segundo de Lema, Giambattista Sacchetti in 1738.

Chronology:

It was built from 1738 to 1892.

Type of building and function:

It’s a royal palace where the king lived. At the moment the kings live in the Zarzuela’s palace so they use the Royal Place for state ceremonies .

Materials used:

They used bricks, stones (granitic, limestone and sylex) and differents gypsums.

Exterior of the palace:

-The main facade of the Palace consists of a two-story rusticated stone base, from which rise Tuscan and Composite pilasters framing the windows of the three main floor. The upper storeys floors is hidden behind a cornice which encircles the building and is capped with a large ballustrade. The ballustrade was adorned with a series of statues of saints and kings, but these were relocated elsewhere under the reign of Charles III to give the building a more classical appearance. The restoration of the facade in 1973 returned some sculptures, partially restoring the appearance of Sachetti's design.

Statues of Philip V, Maria Luisa of Savoy and Elisabeth Farnese, and that of Ferdinand VI and his wife Barbara of Portugal. Also found flanking both sculptural series an allusion to Zodiac of the Greeks occupied spaces on the southern front.

Many of the sculptures that adorned the palace at the time of Ferdinand VI are the work of Juan Domingo Olivieri and his workshop. He was also the creator of many of the masks and other allegorical figures of Greek mythology, that now occupy less visible locations.

Main features:

It has Solomonic columns, oval and floor plans and it has games of lights and shadows.

Additional information: Influence on other palaces, like the one in la Granja, Segovia.

Source:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palacio_Real_de_Madrid

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arquitectura_de_Madrid

My history of art encyclopedia.

Pictures:

http://www.arteespana.com/franciscosabatini.htm

http://www.viajejet.com/palacio-real-%E2%80%93-madrid/

PAINTING: THE MONSTER

The monster is a painting made by Juan Carreño de Miranda. The monster was Eugenia Martínez Vallejo. This painter made two drawings of this woman: “Eugenia Martínez Vallejo dressed” and Eugenia Martínez Vallejo undressed”. It was painted more or less in 1680. It was commissioned by Charles II. The painting’s size is 165 cm x 107 cm and now this painting is in the Prado Museum, Zarzuela Palace in Madrid. The main materials are oil painting on canvas. The painting is an example of Baroque art because it represents the nature's rarity and the attraction by people with a physical or psychological defect. The women represented in the painting is physically or mentally disabled. She was only 10 years old and she had an hormonal disorder. In this work she is represented as girl who has an excessive size, probably caused by the hormonal disorder. Its main features are: use of oil painting, predominance of colour over drawing, use of warm colours (red), contrast of light and shadow and realism. Since this moment the personal disability was introduced in the paintings for example in Goya’s paintings. Don Diego de Acedo did the same as Juan Carreño de Miranda.

Pictures:

Sources:

http://arkeologia.blogspot.com.es/2010/09/eugenia-martinez-vallejo-la-nina_16.html

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carre%C3%B1o_de_Miranda

Christ embracing Saint Bernard (Francisco Ribalta)

PAINTING: Christ embracing Saint Bernard, (Ribalta)

Author:

Ribalta minimizes the color to do an almost monochromatic scene. Light from left shoulder causes white habit and anatomy of Christ, resulting in countless shades of ivory that cause an almost sculptural aspect. The chiaroscuro effect shows the influence of Caravaggio's work Ribalta, who also seems to be inspired by Sebastiano del Piombo images for the powerful figure of Christ. This picture was painted for the Certosa Portaceli, around Valencia, and probably it be the most beautiful work of Francisco Ribalta few did throughout his life. Illustrates like no other Spanish plastic painting in his period, the delivery mystical Christian soul to Christ served with a placidity and a intensity without former.

Work:

This work is one of the most beautiful of Spanish Baroque painting and gives a perfect idea of the prevailing deeply religious mentality in the period. In this work you can see Christ sitting hugging St. Bernard, a monk with great faith, while kneeling. If we analyze the painting we can see the presence of gloomy, dark background where you can barely see the faces of angels, the light bulb that illuminates the body of Christ and of the monk and the play of shadows is spectacular. It is an oil on canvas painting, texture and color as they reveal simple humble and friendly characters. You can feel the simplicity of form and in composition, the presence of naturalism.

Bibliography:

- https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/galeria-on-line/galeria-on-line/obra/cristo-abrazando-a-san-bernardo/

- http://historia-arte-dioses.blogspot.com.es/2013/02/cristo-abrazando-san-bernardo-espana.html

- https://arte2bac.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/francisco-ribalta-cristo-abrazando-a-san-bernardo/

The Bearded Woman by Ribera

This painting was made by Ribera in 1631. It formed part of the Foundation Marries Ducal of Medinaceli and actually is conserved in the hospital of Tavera in Toledo. It was made in oleo with the dimensions of 196x127 centimetres.

With respect to the festures in painting of the Baroque art this picture has almost all: painted in oil, colour over drawing, use of warm colours,contract with light and shadow, realism and complex compositions.

In this picture the woman was giving the baby of sucking. And the woman´s husband was behind them. There were some headstone that have written a large incription that was entitled "The great miracle of the nature" but in latin.

In this picture we can see a woman, Magdalena Ventura, and her husband. Magdalena was invited to the royal palace of Naples by Fernando Afán de Ribera and Téllez-Girón, duque of Alcala and viceroy of Naples, when he known her existence to be portrayed. It was made in five days and we know its date because the ambassador of Venice describe his visit to this palace in a letter the 11 of February of 1631 during the picture was making up.

http://www.fundacionmedinaceli.org/coleccion/fichaafondo.aspx?id=la-mujer-barbuda

This painting was made by José de Ribera who was born in Játiva in Spain. He was a Spanish painter who was developed his life and degree in Italy especially in Naples. His other name was "Giuseppe Ribera" and his nickname was "Lo Spagnoletto".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jusepe_de_Ribera

To find the information I use:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jusepe_de_Ribera

http://www.fundacionmedinaceli.org/coleccion/fichaafondo.aspx?id=la-mujer-barbuda

http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/v2/obras/10774.htm

https://es.noticias.yahoo.com/blogs/arte-secreto/la-ins%C3%B3lita-mujer-barbuda-ribera-

114351003.html

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_mujer_barbuda_%28Magdalena_Ventura_con_su_marido%29

The Conversion of Saint Paul

The conversion of Saint Paul

(By the Italian painter Caravaggio)

Caravaggio was born as Michelangelo Merisi in Italy around 1571. He was orphaned at age 11 and apprenticed with a painter in Milan. He moved to Rome, where his work became popular for the tenebrism technique he used, which used shadow to emphasize lighter areas. His career, however, was short-lived. Caravaggio killed a man during a brawl and fled Rome. He died not long after, on July 18, 1610.

source:http://search.iminent.com/SearchTheWeb/v6/3082/toolbox/Result.aspx#q=Caravaggio%20autorretrato&s=images&p=1

This painting was made in 1600-1601 and it is in the Odescalchi Balvi Collection, in Rome.his paint was commissioner by a Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi.

This painting was made by oil and cypress wood, the dimension were 237cm x 189cm (93in x 74in), and at present continued to stay in the same localization.

source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conversion_of_Saint_Paul_(Caravaggio)#mediaviewer/File:The_Conversion_of_Saint_Paul-Caravaggio_(c._1600-1).jpg

In this painting have a religious significance, It represent when saul(before call Paul) whent to persecute Christians but he failed down of his horse and became blind, when he has a vision of Christ when he became to see, he started to believe in Good, And he tried to represent this relat of the Biblia in this painting.

In the painting we can see:

-  Four men and a horse

- in the left of the painting we can see a man with a hat, and armature with wapons like a heroe who tried to help the other man, next to him there are a man on the floor whit his hands on his ayes he had a big bear and brown , and he is almost naked. In the center of the paint we can see a brown horse wich its too nervous. In the right courner there are two men. One had a black t-shirt , and the other its like an angel who tried top stop the other man. this painting have all the backgound in black and the figures of the mens and the horse are in bright colours.

webs: http://www.biography.com/people/caravaggio-9237777

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conversion_of_Saint_Paul_(Caravaggio)

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/bar_cvggo_conv.html

Church of Saint'Ivo alla Sapienza, Borromini

This church was commissioned by the Pope Urban VIII. It was built between 1642 and 1660 in Rome. It's made of gypsum and stucco. 

The church has an hexagonal floor plan in the center of the church. The floor plan was adapted because before it existed a palace before. Borromini built a dome with convex and concave lines.

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SantIvo_Drawing_09.jpg

Souce: https://azukarillo.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/cupula-de-santivo-alla-sapienza-de-borromini/

The facade is totally convex and there is a patio surrounded by columns. In the facade you can see a lot of small windows.

Source: http://www.paradoxplace.com/Perspectives/Rome%20&%20Central%20Italy/Rome/Rome_Churches/SantIvo_alla_Sapienza/Sant_Ivo.htm

We can observe many of the Baroque features in this building: predominance of movement, interest in surprising or moving the audience by provoking feelings in them, use of symbols...

Sources:

• http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sant'Ivo_alla_Sapienza
  
• http://masarteaun.blogspot.com.es/2011/04/borrominisant-ivo-alla-sapienza-1642-50.html
  
• http://www.monografias.com/trabajos16/barroco-exponentes/barroco-exponentes.shtml#D
  
• http://wiki.ead.pucv.cl/index.php/Sant%27Ivo_alla_Sapienza