stlukesguild
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Over on WC we often posted our favorite works of art related to Christmas and/or any of the Winter Holidays. This image just popped up on my Facebook feed and as a huge admirer of Botticelli, I couldn't believe it wasn't already in my files:
This portrait of the Virgin comes from the painting, The Virgin & Child with St. John and Angel. The paintings is attributed to the studio of Botticelli... but the composition and the handling of egg tempera as well as such exquisite elements as the portrait of Mary and the angel suggests Botticelli had a large role in the creation of this painting.
Barely a handful of Geertgen Tot Sint Jans' paintings survived the religious wars in the Netherlands. This Nativity has long been an absolute favorite of mine.
Correggio is another underrated artist. His Holy Night, like Sint Jans' Nativity, makes a masterful use of light.
Giorgione was one of the most innovative painters of the Renaissance. His so-called Dresden Venus was arguably the first true nude in Western Art without a Biblical/Mythological narrative. Several of his other paintings have been called "poetries" as it seems as if the artist had invented his own narratives. Giorgione would have rivaled Titian, Bellini, and Veronese among the Venetian masters had he not died so young. For a good many years a reproduction of this Adoration of the Shepherds hung in my bedroom. I never fail to spend time with it whenever I visit the National Gallery in Washington.
My last selection for the time being is Gennady Spirin's 12 Days of Christmas. Spirin is a marvelous illustrator known especially for his illustrations of Children's books. He was born in Russia and moved to the US with the collapse of the Soviet Union. His depiction of The Nutcracker was selected by Saks Fifth Avenue as the centerpiece of their famous Christmas display in 1997 and 1998.
This portrait of the Virgin comes from the painting, The Virgin & Child with St. John and Angel. The paintings is attributed to the studio of Botticelli... but the composition and the handling of egg tempera as well as such exquisite elements as the portrait of Mary and the angel suggests Botticelli had a large role in the creation of this painting.
Barely a handful of Geertgen Tot Sint Jans' paintings survived the religious wars in the Netherlands. This Nativity has long been an absolute favorite of mine.
Correggio is another underrated artist. His Holy Night, like Sint Jans' Nativity, makes a masterful use of light.
Giorgione was one of the most innovative painters of the Renaissance. His so-called Dresden Venus was arguably the first true nude in Western Art without a Biblical/Mythological narrative. Several of his other paintings have been called "poetries" as it seems as if the artist had invented his own narratives. Giorgione would have rivaled Titian, Bellini, and Veronese among the Venetian masters had he not died so young. For a good many years a reproduction of this Adoration of the Shepherds hung in my bedroom. I never fail to spend time with it whenever I visit the National Gallery in Washington.
My last selection for the time being is Gennady Spirin's 12 Days of Christmas. Spirin is a marvelous illustrator known especially for his illustrations of Children's books. He was born in Russia and moved to the US with the collapse of the Soviet Union. His depiction of The Nutcracker was selected by Saks Fifth Avenue as the centerpiece of their famous Christmas display in 1997 and 1998.
