Jan van Eyck - The Annunciation (c. 1430-1435)
a BBC documentary
The painting in question in high-res
thanks to redditor ambrosiaceae
Source: youtube.com
Miniature of a man with a sword, clutching a severed head and standing beside the torso of the man he has decapitated.
Author: Salomon Trismosin
Title: Splendor Solis (an alchemical treatise)
Origin: Germany
Date: 1582
Language: German
Script: Gothic
Decoration: 22 full page miniatures of alchemical subjects in colours and gold with full borders
Source: bl.uk
The Last Judgment is a triptych created by Hieronymus Bosch. Unlike the alternate triptych with the same name, The Last Judgment, only a fragment of this one exists today. It resides at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
After being damaged, this fragment was heavily repainted, then the paint was removed in 1936.
Source: Wikipedia
Early history of the Circus
By the time of Queen Elizabeth I most of the earlier problems of invasion, turmoil, and isolation had been resolved and the country settled down to a more secure and prosperous life.
Wandering vagabonds were seen as a threat and laws were passed to curtail their gypsy life. Minstrels and other traveling entertainers no longer had a place in Tudor society. They were equated with “Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars”. All were subject to punishment, but performers quickly adapted to this statute and the ever changing needs of developing communities. Instead of performing on street corners and village greens, they began working in new more permanent locations designed specifically for such events.
image: Renaissance Festival 2010, MOSI Science Museum, Tampa, Florida, US. Credit - artisandelimage.
Source: hanneford.8m.com
Not FROM the Renaissance period, but bear with…
Renaissance (Fabergé egg)
The egg was made for Alexander III of Russia, who presented it to his wife, the Empress Maria Feodorovna. It was the last egg that Alexander presented to Maria.
The 1894 Imperial Egg is described on its invoice as:
Agate egg, gold mount, decorated in the Renaissance style, with diamonds, rose-cut diamonds, pearls and rubies. St. Petersburg, May 6, 1894
After its confiscation by the Provisional Government, it was sold by Antikvariat for 1,500 rubles to Armand Hammer.
Renaissance dictionary
Putto - a chubby child, male figure, usually nude and with wings, not to be mixed with Cherubs, these are of secular nature; if a putto is representing a cupid then he is called amorino
image: Raphael, Galatea (detail, 1506)
Life-size reconstruction of a renaissance dress made out of paper
(click for larger view)
Isabelle de Borchgrave, Eleanor of Toledo (and detail), 2006, inspired by a ca. 1545 portrait of Eleanor and her son Giovanni de’ Medici by Agnolo Bronzino
Netherlandish Proverbs (also called Flemish Proverbs, The Blue Cloak or The Topsy Turvy World) is a 1559 oil-on-oak-panel painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder which depicts a land populated with literal renditions of Dutch/Flemish proverbs of the day. (high-res)
The picture is overflowing with references and most of the representations can still be identified: as well you’ll see.
To even be able to tie the devil to a pillow (Obstinacy overcomes everything)
.
To bang one’s head against a brick wall (To try to achieve the impossible)
One foot shod, the other bare (Balance is paramount)
.
To bell the cat (To carry out a dangerous or impractical plan)
To be armed to the teeth (To be heavily armed)
To put your armor on (To be angry)
.
The herring does not fry here (It’s not going according to plan)
To fry the whole herring for the sake of the roe (To do too much to achieve a little)
To get the lid on the head (To end up taking responsibility)
.
To sit between two stools in the ashes (To be indecisive)
.
To crap on the world (To despise everything)
.
To be pissing against the moon (To waste one’s time on a futile endeavour)
To have toothache behind the ears (To be a malingerer)
.
To shave the fool without lather (To trick somebody)
Two fools under one hood (Stupidity loves company)
.
To toss feathers in the wind (To work fruitlessly)
.
To gaze at the stork (To waste one’s time)
.
To wipe one’s backside on the door (To treat something lightly)
To go around shouldering a burden (To imagine that things are worse than they are)
One beggar pities the other standing in front of the door (Being afraid for competition)
.
If the blind lead the blind both will fall in the ditch (There is no point in being guided by others who are equally ignorant)
.
To crap on the gallows (To be undeterred by any penalty)
.
Who knows why geese go barefoot? (There is a reason for everything, though it may not be obvious)
If I am not meant to be their keeper, I will let geese be geese (Do not interfere in matters that are not your concern)
.
To hold an eel by the tail (To undertake a difficult task)
.
To take the hen’s egg and let the goose’s egg go (To make a bad decision)
.
To have to stoop to get on in the world (To succeed one must be willing to make sacrifices)
.
To confess to the Devil (To reveal secrets to one’s enemy)
.
And you can see the rest here.
Source: s3.imagediver.org
Head of a Cleric, ca. 1450–60
Eastern France
Red sandstone
Although the sitter is not known, he is represented with the distinct individuality of a portrait, from the pulsing vein on his forehead to his deeply meditative mien. The red sandstone, like that used at Strasbourg, establishes a link to eastern France.
Source: metmuseum.org
From Varie Figure Gobbi, suite appelée aussi Les Bossus, Les Pygmées, Les Nains Grotesques (Various Hunchbacked Figures, The Hunchbacks, The Pygmes, The Grotesque Dwarfs)
Jacques Callot (French, Nancy 1592–1635)
Date: 1616–22
note: Titles of images are in image captions
Source: metmuseum.org
Gregor Baci, c. 1550
Unknown German painter
This portrait represents a Hungarian hussar Gregor Baci, who apparently survived a piercing injury with a lance to the right side of his face. The injury may have occurred during a jousting tournament or while fighting the Ottoman Turks. The painting came from the collection of Ferdinand II of Tirol (1529-1595).
Source: facebook.com
Cupid complaining to Venus
about 1525, Lucas Cranach the Elder
Cupid complains to Venus of being stung by bees when stealing a honeycomb. This is to be taken as a moral commentary; as the inscription observes: life’s pleasure is mixed with pain.
Source: nationalgallery.org.uk
Sir Thomas Wyatt
- His first court appearance was in 1516 as Sewer Extraordinary to Henry VIII
- Knighted in 1535
- Suspected of being one of Anne Boleyn’s lovers
- None of Wyatt’s poems had been published in his lifetime
- Wyatt, along with Surrey, was the first to introduce the sonnet into English
image: Portrait of Sir Thomas Wyatt, Hans Holbein the Younger
Official Vatican’s 360 virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel
(veeery zoomable, minus the tourists)
The old switcheroo
One week after Islamic militants fled Timbuktu under French bombing strikes, preservationists are deeply uncertain about how to continue protecting the city’s priceless ancient documents — a conundrum that cuts to the heart of how treasures are safeguarded through political upheaval in places where locals have little trust in government.
More at Time World.
photo: Eric Feferberg
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