Wednesday, April 2, 2025

01 Religious Icon, Central Franconian Master's Saint Margaret of Antioch, with footnotes #46

Central Franconian Master, 1436
Scene from the Life of Saint Margaret of Antioch
Oil on panel
57 x 42 cm
Private collection

Sold for USD 39,000 .- in Nov 2022

St. Margaret of Antioch, also called St. Marina, (flourished 3rd or 4th century, Antioch, Syria), virgin martyr and was one of the most venerated saints during the Middle Ages. Her story, generally regarded to be fictitious, is substantially that of the Eastern St. Marina of Antioch and is related to that of St. Pelagia of Antioch, who is also known as Margaret or Marina.

During the reign (284–305) of the Roman emperor Diocletian, Margaret allegedly refused marriage with the prefect Olybrius at Antioch and was consequently beheaded after undergoing extravagant trials and tortures. Her designation as patron saint of expectant mothers and her emblem, a dragon, are based on one of her trials: Satan, disguised as a dragon, swallowed Margaret; his stomach, however, soon rejecting her, opened, and let her out unharmed. In 1969 Margaret’s feast day, formerly July 20, was eliminated in the revised calendar of the Roman Catholic Church because it is doubtful whether she ever existed. Nevertheless, during the medieval period she ranked among the most famous saints; her voice was among those attested to have been heard by St. Joan of Arc. More on St. Margaret of Antioch

Central Franconian Master is an unknown, highly skilled painter who worked in Franconia, a region in northern Bavaria (Germany) in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. The artist was familiar with the work of his famous contemporaries Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach.




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Monday, February 3, 2025

01 Religious Icon, Theotokos of Vladimir, the holy protectress of Russia, with footnotes #45

Unknown iconographer
Theotokos of Vladimir, c. 1130 in Constantinople
Tempera on panel
104 x 69 cm
Tretyakov Gallery

Theotokos of Vladimir. About 1131 the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople sent the icon as a gift to Grand Duke Yury Dolgorukiy of Kiev. The image was kept in a monastery, until Dolgorukiy's son Andrey Bogolyubskiy brought it to his favourite city, Vladimir, in 1155. Tradition tells that the horses transporting the icon stopped near Vladimir and refused to go further. People interpreted this as a sign that the Theotokos wanted her icon to stay in Vladimir. To house the icon, the great Assumption Cathedral was built there, followed by other churches dedicated to the Virgin throughout Ukraine. However the presence of the icon did not prevent the sack and burning of the city by the Mongols in 1238, when the icon was damaged by fire. It was first restored after this, and again before 1431 and in 1512.

According to the traditional accounts the image was taken from Vladimir to the new capital, Moscow, in 1395 during Tamerlane's invasion. Vasili I of Moscow spent a night crying over the icon, and Tamerlane's armies retreated the same day. The Muscovites refused to return the icon to Vladimir and placed it in the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Moscow Kremlin.

Crediting the icon with saving Moscow in 1395 does not appear in sources until the late 15th century, and the full version of the story until accounts of 1512 and then the 1560s. By the 16th century, the Vladimirskaya was a thing of legend, and associated with the growth of Russian national consciousness based on the Muscovite state. The intercession of the Theotokos through the image was credited also with saving Moscow from Tatar hordes in 1451 and 1480. More on Theotokos of Vladimir




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Sunday, December 15, 2024

01 Religious Icon, Saint Christopher with the head of a dog, with footnotes #42

Unknown iconographer
 Saint Christopher with the head of a dog, Greece, 18. Century
Tempera on gesso, the Background gilded
27.5 cm x 22.5 cm. 
Private collection

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, certain icons covertly identify Saint Christopher with the head of a dog. Such images may carry echoes of the Egyptian dog-headed god, Anubis. Christopher pictured with a dog's head is not generally supported by the Orthodox Church, as the icon was proscribed in the 18th century by Moscow.

The roots of that iconography lie in a hagiographic narrative set during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, which tell of a man named Reprebus, Rebrebus or Reprobus (the "reprobate" or "scoundrel") being captured by Roman forces fighting against tribes dwelling to the west of Egypt in Cyrenaica and forced to join the Roman numerus Marmaritarum,. He was reported to be of enormous size, with the head of a dog instead of a man, both apparently being typical of the Marmaritae. He and the unit were later transferred to Syrian Antioch, where bishop Peter of Attalia baptised him and where he was martyred in 308. It has also been speculated that this Byzantine depiction of St. Christopher as dog-headed may have resulted from a misreading of the Latin term Cananeus (Canaanite) as caninus, that is, "canine".

The late 10th century German bishop and poet Walter of Speyer portrayed St. Christopher as a giant of a cynocephalic species in the land of Canaan who ate human flesh and barked. Eventually, Christopher met the Christ child, regretted his former behavior, and received baptism. He, too, was rewarded with a human appearance, whereupon he devoted his life to Christian service and became an Athleta Christi, one of the military saints. More on Christopher with the head of a dog




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Friday, November 29, 2024

01 Religious Icon, Christ Pantocrator, with footnotes #41

Unknown artist
Christ Pantocrator
SILVER GOLD PLATED OKLAD
9 x 7,5 cm
Private collection

In Christian iconography, Christ Pantocrator is a specific depiction of Christ. Pantocrator or Pantokrator, usually translated as "Almighty" or "all-powerful", is derived from one of many names of God in Judaism.

The Pantokrator, largely an Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic theological conception, is less common under that name in Western (Roman) Catholicism and largely unknown to most Protestants. In the West, the equivalent image in art is known as Christ in Majesty, which developed a rather different iconography. Christ Pantocrator has come to suggest Christ as a mild but stern, all-powerful judge of humanity. More on Christ Pantocrator




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Monday, October 7, 2024

01 Religious Icon, Simone Martini's Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus, with footnotes #40

Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi
Annunciation with St. Margaret (Maxima) and St. Ansanus, c. 1333
Tempera and gold on panel
305 cm × 265 cm (120 in × 104 in)
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

The work is composed of a large central panel depicting the Annunciation, and two side panels with St. Ansanus (left), and female saint, generally identified with St. Maxima or St. Margaret, in the right, and four tondos in the cusps: Jeremiah, Ezechiel, Isiah and Daniel.

The Annunciation shows the archangel Gabriel entering the house of the Virgin Mary to tell her that she will soon bear the child Jesus, whose name means "savior". Gabriel holds an olive branch in his hand, a traditional symbol of peace, while pointing at the Holy Ghost's dove with the other. The dove is descending from heaven, from the center of the mandorla of eight angels above, about to enter the Virgin's right ear. In fact, along the path of the dove, viewers see Gabriel's utterance: ave gratia plena dominvs tecvm ("Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee."). 

Mary, sitting on a throne, is portrayed at the moment that she is startled out of her reading, reacting with a graceful and composed reluctance, looking with surprise at the celestial messenger. Her dress has an arabesque-like pattern. More on this work

Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi
Detail; with St. Margaret (Maxima) and St. Ansanus

St. Maxima was a house servant and nanny to a family of imperial nobility in ancient Rome. She was given responsibility for caring for the family’s son, Ansanus, and she secretly baptized him as a child and raised him as a Christian.

When he was 19, Ansanus’ own father denounced him as a Christian during a persecution. Ansanus boldly admitted his faith, and both he and Maxima were beaten and scourged; Maxima died from these wounds. Ansanus survived, and escaped Rome and fled north. 

As he traveled, he told those he met the good news of Jesus Christ, and baptized so many people in the region near Siena that he became known as Ansanus the Baptizer. He was finally captured and beheaded by order of the emperor. More on St. Maxima and St. Ansanus

Simone Martini (c. 1284 – 1344) was an Italian painter born in Siena. He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style.

It is thought that Martini was a pupil of Duccio di Buoninsegna, the leading Sienese painter of his time. According to late Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari, Simone was instead a pupil of Giotto di Bondone, with whom he went to Rome to paint at the Old St. Peter's Basilica, Giotto also executing a mosaic there. Martini's brother-in-law was the artist Lippo Memmi. Very little documentation of Simone's life survives, and many attributions are debated by art historians. According to E. H. Gombrich, he was a friend of Petrarch and had painted a portrait of Laura. More on Simone Martini

Lippo Memmi (c. 1291 – 1356) was an Italian painter from Siena. He was the foremost follower of Simone Martini, who was his brother-in-law.

Together with Martini, in 1333 he painted what is regarded as one of the masterworks of the International Gothic, the Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus (above), probably mainly working on the two saints. He was one of the artists who worked at Orvieto Cathedral, for which he finished the Virgin of Mercy ("Madonna dei Raccomandati"). Later he followed Martini to the Papal court in Avignon, where he worked until the mid-14th century. After his return to Siena, Memmi continued to work until his death in 1356.

Memmi's famed artwork, La Madonna della Febbre was the first venerated image of the Blessed Virgin Mary granted with a Canonical coronation by a Pope on 27 May 1631. The image has long been since held miraculous and is enshrined at the Sacristy chapel of the Blessed Sacrament inside Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. More on Lippo Memmi


 

Please visit my other blogs: Art CollectorMythologyMarine ArtPortrait of a Lady, The OrientalistArt of the Nude and The Canals of VeniceMiddle East Artists365 Saints365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at  deviantart and Aaroko

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

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Saturday, June 1, 2024

05 Icons, Henry Zaidan's Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified, with footnotes #80

Henry Zaidan
Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified
AI Generation
neural.love

Mariam Baouardy (Arabic: مريم بواردي, or Mary of Jesus Crucified, 5 January 1846 – 26 August 1878), was a Discalced Carmelite nun of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Born to Palestinian Greek Catholic parents from the town of Hurfiesh in the upper Galilee, later moved to I’billin, she was known for her service to the poor. In addition, she became a Christian mystic who suffered the stigmata, and has been canonized by the Catholic Church.

Henry Zaidan
Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified
AI Generation
neural.love

Henry Zaidan
Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified
AI Generation
Available at DeviantArt

October 25th is the Feast of Our Lady of Palestine, the Patroness of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (EOHSJ).  The EOHSJ is one of just six Catholic orders recognized and protected by the Holy See. The mission of the order is to protect and preserve the presence of Christianity in the Holy Land.

Henry Zaidan
Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified
AI Generation
Available at DeviantArt

Along the Gaza border, the flowers, which look like poppies, have been crowned with their own festival. It's been a major economic engine and source of local pride for nearly two decades, bringing hundreds of thousands to a little-visited and conflict-scarred part of Palestine.

Henry Zaidan
Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified
AI Generation
nightcafe

Mariam Baouardy (Arabic: مريم بواردي, or Mary of Jesus Crucified, 5 January 1846 – 26 August 1878), was a Discalced Carmelite nun of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Born to Palestinian Greek Catholic parents from the town of Hurfiesh in the upper Galilee, later moved to I’billin, she was known for her service to the poor. In addition, she became a Christian mystic who suffered the stigmata, and has been canonized by the Catholic Church.

Her path to canonization solidified on 6 December 2014 with the recognition of a final miracle needed for her canonization. In the consistory of 14 February 2015, Pope Francis announced that she would be canonized on 17 May 2015; she was canonized at the Vatican. More on Mariam Baouardy




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Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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Tuesday, May 28, 2024

05 Icons, Henry Zaidan's Our Lady of Palestine, with footnotes #79

Henry Zaidan
Our Lady of Palestine
AI Generation
playground

October 25th is the Feast of Our Lady of Palestine, the Patroness of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (EOHSJ).  The EOHSJ is one of just six Catholic orders recognized and protected by the Holy See. The mission of the order is to protect and preserve the presence of Christianity in the Holy Land.

Henry Zaidan
Our Lady of Palestine
AI Generation
Available at DeviantArt

Our Lady was first invoked under this title by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem as he entered the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and consecrated the diocese to Mary on July 15, 1920. He asked her protection over the homeland of the Holy Family because of the ancient and growing tensions that had been threatening its people for generations.

Henry Zaidan
Our Lady Queen of Palestine
Armageddon hath trodden the virgin of Gaza as in a winepress
AI Generation
Available at DeviantArt

Along the Gaza border, the flowers, which look like poppies, have been crowned with their own festival. It's been a major economic engine and source of local pride for nearly two decades, bringing hundreds of thousands to a little-visited and conflict-scarred part of Palestine.

Mary Queen of Palestine, seated on a wooden thrown, staring ahead, Holding in her arms a model of Jerusalem, Silver oklad in relief with polychrome enamel in cloisonne decoration with stylised red poppy blossoms.

Henry Zaidan
Our Lady of Gaza
AI Generation
neural.love

The Holy Family Church of Gaza City is the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, State of Palestine. The parish includes a school which provides a Christian education to children in Gaza, and it works closely with the nearby religious congregations of the Missionaries of Charity, Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará, and the Rosary Sisters. The Missionaries of Charity care for the elderly and disabled, and the Rosary Sisters operate a school. The community is served by priests from the Institute of the Incarnate Word. More on Holy Family Church, Gazanull    

Henry Zaidan
Our Lady of Palestine
AI Generation
neural.love


Please visit my other blogs: Art CollectorMythologyMarine ArtPortrait of a Lady, The OrientalistArt of the Nude and The Canals of VeniceMiddle East Artists365 Saints365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and deviantart

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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