The Savior

Title: The Savior

Artist: Henry Ossawa Tanner

Medium: oil on canvas mounted on plywood

Size: 74 x 55 cm

Date: c 1900-05

Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Luke 23:8-12: When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.

Like a terminally ill patient, Jesus knows that death is around the corner. Our mortality is a frightening thing. Jesus faces it by doing what he always did: he took his concerns to God in prayer. Jesus walks into his valley of the shadow of death through the heavenly courts of God's presence.

The story of Christ’s crucifixion occupied Henry Ossawa Tanner’s mind throughout his career. The Savior shows Jesus meditating as he waits for his crown of thorns and purple robe, in which he would be mocked as the “King of the Jews.” Tanner portrayed him as a real person in contemplation and prayer rather than as an idealized figure. But the yellow color in his face and outlining his profile is like a glowing light that suggests Christ’s uniqueness as a spiritual being, able to transcend flesh and blood.

Henry Ossawa Tanner (Pittsburgh, PA 1859 - Paris, France 1937) was an African American artist who earned international acclaim for his religious paintings. His father was a prominent minister and his mother a former slave who escaped the South through the Underground Railroad. At age eleven, Tanner decided to become an artist, and nine years later the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts accepted him, the only African American out of two hundred students. Throughout his life Tanner kept close ties with his native country and was proud of his contributions as a black American, but chose to live in France, where he felt that his race mattered less to other artists and critics.

Raising of Lazarus

Title: Raising of Lazarus

Artist: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Medium: oil on canvas

Size: 380 x 275 cm

Date: 1608-09

Location: Museo Nazionale, Messina.

John 11:38-44: Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

Lazarus was the patron of the wealthy Genoese merchant Giovanni Battista de' Lazzari, to whom Caravaggio was contracted to paint an altarpiece in the church of the Padri Crociferi for a fee of a thousand scudi, more than double any Caravaggio had received previously. Most of Caravaggio's religious subjects emphasize sadness, suffering and death. But in this painting he dealt with the triumph of life, and in doing so created the most visionary picture of his career.

As in several paintings from this period of Caravaggio's career, he has set the scene against blank walls that overwhelm the actors, who are laid out like figures on a frieze. As is usual with Caravaggio, light becomes an important element in the drama, picking out crucial details such as Lazarus's hands - one lax and open to receive, the other reaching towards Christ - and the wonder-struck faces of the onlookers. Some of these people may have been modeled on members of the community, but at this stage Caravaggio did not have time to base himself wholly on models and relied on his memory - the whole design is based on an engraving after Giulio Romano, and his Jesus is a reversed image of the Christ who called Matthew to join him. There is a remarkable contrast between the flexible bodies of the grieving sisters and the near-rigid corpse of their brother. Jesus is the resurrection and the life and in the darkness through him the truth is revealed.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, (1571, Caravaggio - 1610, Porto Ercole) was an Italian artist active between 1593 and 1610. He was the first great representative of the Baroque school of painting, noted for his intensely emotional canvases and dramatic use of lighting. The Resurrection of Lazarus was created during a period when Caravaggio was on the run, having fled authorities in Rome after a violent incident in 1606. The works of Caravaggio's flight, painted under the most adverse of circumstances, show a subdued tone and a delicacy of emotion that is even more intense than the overt dramatics of his earlier paintings. Famous and extremely influential while he lived, Caravaggio was almost entirely forgotten in the centuries after his death. Only in the 20th century was his importance to the development of Western art rediscovered.

St Roch

Title: St Roch
Artist: Bernardo Strozzi
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 78 x 67 cm
Date: c. 1640
Location: Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice.

Saint Roch or Rocco, lived c.1348 – c. 1376, was a Christian saint, a confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August. Among his many accolades is his distinction as the Patron Saint of dogs. Legend has that upon coming to Italy during an outbreak of the plague, St Roch ministered untiringly to the sick and at Piacenza he himself finally fell ill. He was expelled from the town and withdrew into the forest, where he made himself a hut of boughs and leaves. There he would have perished had not a dog belonging to a nobleman supplied him with bread and licked his wounds, healing them. The nobleman, following his hunting dog that carried the bread, discovered Saint Roch and became his acolyte.

This painting is a representative example of the picturesqueness of Bernardo Strozzi's work with its vivid chromatic effects developed from examples of Rubens's school. Here, a healed St Roch looks heavenward in thanks, while his canine savior rests dutifully at his side, loaf of sustaining bread at the ready. Salvation can come from many sources, from any of God’s creatures, no matter how common or unassuming.

Bernardo Strozzi (b. 1581, Genova, d. 1644, Venezia) was an Italian painter, the most important exponent of the rich vein of Genoese art in the seventeenth century. He entered the Capuchin Order in about 1597, hence his nicknames, Il Prete Genovese (the Genoese priest) and Il Cappuccino (the Capuchin). The sensuous richness of his style was influenced by Rubens (who worked in Genoa), but his work is highly distinctive, with an air of refinement and tenderness that recalls Van Dyck (who also worked in Genoa). The Ligurian school was molded through its contacts first with Rubens, which led to him using rich, thick colours applied with wide brushstrokes, and later with Van Dyck, whose refined elegance added its own influence. Strozzi's interpretation of these trends was highly original and combined with his thorough knowledge of other currents in art, from the Lombard school to the diffusion of Caravaggio's style.

Miracle of the Snow: Foundation of Santa Maria Maggiore

Title: Miracle of the Snow: Foundation of Santa Maria Maggiore

Artist: Masolino da Panicale

Date: c. 1428-1432

Size: 144 x 76 cm

Location: Museo di Capodimonte, Naples.

This painting, part of the altar depicting the Miracle of the Snow, was painted between 1428 and 1432 by Masolino da Panicale for the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome. It has since been removed and can now be seen in the National Gallery of Capodimonte, Naples. To commemorate the Miracle of the Snow, every August 5th a cascade of white petals descends from the coffered ceiling onto the altar place during the religious festivities.

This painting commemorates the foundation of the Santa Maria Maggiore in the center of Rome. Legend says that between the 4th and the 5th of August of 352, Pope Liberius and Giovanni, a rich Roman gentleman, dreamed of Mother Mary asking them to build a church devoted to her on the Esquilino hill, one of the famous Seven Hills of Rome. The virgin also told them that at the place chosen to build the church it was going to snow. Generally, snow is extremely rare in Rome, even in the coldest seasons, so the following morning when a rectangle of snow was discovered on the Esquilino hill during the hottest month of the Roman Summer, it was regarded as miraculous. People crowded to see the patch of snow, which persisted despite the heat. As soon as the plot for the building had been staked out, the snow melted, and the first major church in Rome in honor of Mary was erected in it’s place.

There has been some speculation among “UFOlogists” that this event was actually a phenomenon of extraterrestrial origin. In fact, this “Miracle of the Snow” is likened to another event that occurred at 2.30 pm, 27 October 1954: several discs were reported flying in the sky over Florence, and left in their strange passage "flakes", white and “cotton-like”. The substance was quick to disintegrate if held in the hand. Nearly sixty years later the case on the Florence phenomenon remains unresolved. Speculation links these two events, and there are those who maintain that this is why Masolino’s clouds are not depicted like normal clouds, lacking any vaporous contours, but are all clearly delineated, almost disc-like in their appearance.

Masolino da Panicale (c. 1383, Panicale in Valdelsa - c.1447, Florence) was a Florentine painter of the early Renaissance, whose real name was Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini. His versatile painting incorporated his feeling for decorative color with strong modeling and spatial organization. He was admitted in 1423 to the apothecaries' guild in Florence, in which painters were enrolled, and was soon commissioned to paint the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence. These were continued by his pupil Masaccio upon Masolino's departure in 1427 for Hungary.

St Joseph and the Infant Jesus

Title: St Joseph and the Infant Jesus

Artist: Jusepe de Ribera

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 126 x 100cm

Date: 1632

Location: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

St. Joseph, also known as Joseph of the House of David, Joseph the Betrothed, or Joseph the Worker is the husband of the Virgin Mary, the foster father of Jesus, and head of the Holy Family. Joseph is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches. The gospels describe Joseph as a "tekton" (τεκτων); traditionally the word has been taken to mean "carpenter", though the Greek term is much less specific. It cannot be translated narrowly; it evokes an artisan with wood in general, or an artisan in iron or stone. Very little other information on Joseph is given in the Gospels, but the little there is describes well enough who he was: "a righteous man" (Matthew 1:18).

In this intimate painting, St. Joseph, bathed in a gentle golden light that falls from above, holds a flowered staff. According to apocryphal sources, suitors for the Virgin Mary’s hand were to present rods to the high priest of the Temple. When Joseph’s rod bloomed, he was identified as her betrothed. Here he is accompanied by the Christ Child, who offers him a basket with carpentry tools, alluding to his step-father’s profession. St. Joseph, as patron Saint of fathers, serves as an example about the importance of commitment to marriage, the family, and the importance of living an unstained moral life.

Jusepe (or José) de Ribera (January 12, 1591 - September 2, 1652), was a Spanish painter, etcher, and draughtsman, active for all his known career in Italy, where he was called 'Lo Spagnoletto' (the Little Spaniard). Little is known of his life before he settled in Naples in 1616, which at the time was a Spanish possession. Naples was then one of the main centres of the Caravaggesque style, and Ribera is often described as one of Caravaggio's followers. Ribera’s work, however, tends to be much more individualistic than that of most Caravaggesque artists, particularly in his vigorous and scratchy handling of paint. Similarly, though he undoubtedly painted some powerful pictures of typically Caravaggesque themes, he was equally capable of great tenderness, and his work is remarkable for his feeling of individual humanity.

Inferno 29 - Mohammed

Title: Inferno 29 - Mohammed

Artist: Salvador Dali

Medium: Block print

Size: 33 x 26 cm

Date: 1960

Location: Book illustration

Dante Alighieri (c.1265, Florence – September 14, 1321, Ravenna), commonly known as Dante, was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. In Italy he is known as il Sommo Poeta (the Supreme Poet) or just il Poeta. His Divine Comedy, originally called Commedia by the author and later nicknamed Divina by Boccaccio, is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature. Written between 1308 and Dante’s death in 1321, the poem's imaginative and allegorical vision of the Christian afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church. Further, it helped establish the Tuscan dialect as the Italian standard.

The encounter with Mohammed takes place in the eight circle of Hell, the circle of fraud. Mohammed is punished in the ninth ditch of this circle, among the sowers of religious, political and familial discord who are 'split', or mutilated, by a devil's sword. As Mohammed explains to Dante, the devil is standing somewhere in the background at a fixed point of the circular ditch, thrusting with his sword at the damned who have to pass in front of him. The wounds which they receive heal while the damned proceed on their way, only to be stricken again when the damned have to face the devil again. Mohammed explains the general arrangement of the punishment of the place, and suggests also a specific sense of this punishment, by associating a bodily 'splitting' with the 'splitting' of community. Unlike other sinners in this canto, Mohammed does not make any remarks about his earlier life and does not relate any specific deed for which he is punished. It has caused some consternation that Dante places Mohammed at this specific place in Hell, and not in the sixth circle with the heretics and heresiarchs in their red-hot glowing tombs. But some commentators have pointed out that this punishment in a place deeper in hell implies a more severe condemnation. And this more severe condemnation does not imply an exculpation from the less grave sin of heresy, because according to the general rule each soul is punished at the place of his (or her) gravest sin.

To celebrate Dante’s 700th birthday, Salvador Dali was commissioned by the Italian government in 1951 to create a set of illustrations for the Divine Comedy. However, the reception of Dali's project in Italy was extremely negative, since it did not seem appropriate for a Spanish (rather than Italian) painter, much less an irreverent Surrealist and sometime fascist sympathizer, to illustrate a commemorative edition of the greatest Italian poet's masterpiece to be published by the State Press. Regardless, Dali produced a masterpiece of his own, and the set of watercolors with their range of artistic styles demonstrates that Dali was one of the greatest artists of the century. The series consists of 100 illustrations - one print for each canto plus one cover image, and were produced as engravings in the years 1959 to 1963 in Paris, commissioned by Joseph Foret. Woodcut experts Raymond Jacquet and Jean Taricco worked for many years under Dali’s guidance to transfer his visions to the medium. Several blocks (frequently referred to as “wood” blocks, although they were actually a resin-based matrix) - one for each color – had to be made for each image, and more than 3,000 blocks were necessary to complete the whole engraving process.

The Coronation of Mary

Title: The Coronation of Mary

Artist: Enguerrand Charonton

Medium: Oil on panel

Size: 183 x 220 cm

Date: 1454

Location: Hospice, Villeneuve-les-Avignon.

Mary, Queen of All Saints, usually referred to by Christians as the Virgin Mary or Saint Mary, was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee. The New Testament describes her as the mother of Jesus Christ, and that she conceived her son miraculously by the agency of the Holy Spirit while still a virgin. A number of important doctrines concerning Mary are held by Christian churches. Some Christian denominations, including the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, believe that Mary lived a sinless life, offer prayers to God through Mary and venerate her as intercessor and mother of the church. Most Protestants, however, do not follow these devotions.

Queen of Heaven is a title given Mary by mainly Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox Churches, to whom the title is a consequence of the First Council of Ephesus in 431, where the Virgin Mary was proclaimed Theotokos, literally, the "God-bearer", or "Mother of God". Catholic teaching on this subject is expressed in the papal encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam, which states that Mary is Queen of heaven because her son Jesus is King of Israel and heavenly king. In Hebrew tradition the mother of the king is queen. The title Queen of Heaven has long been a Catholic tradition, included in prayers and devotional literature, and seen in Western art from the High Middle Ages, long before it was given more formal status by the Church.

In this depiction of the Coronation of Mary, the decorative figure of the Virgin, floating in gold and red brocade in the middle distance, is flanked by God the Father and by Jesus, both depicted as men of the same age, with the same facial characteristics and clothes. On their right and left a multitude of smaller figures of the blessed angels, young children, monks, bishops, kings and popes, and the common folk adore the heavenly scene before them. Below, in a long miniature scene, Christ is raised up on high on the cross with the donor kneeling at its foot. The Madonna is perhaps the most typically French creature in mediaeval French painting, a lovely woman with narrow eyes, a delicate face and slightly long nose. There are innumerable details in this painting which charm, and the mastery of the individuality of each of the human characters, the skill in the creation of the landscape, and great fusion of these numerous elements commands admiration.

Enguerrand Charonton (or Quarton), (c. 1410, Laon, - 1461, Avignon) was a French painter. Though his career is unusually well documented for a provincial artist of his date, there are only two extant works that are certainly by him. These are the Virgin of Mercy (1452), and the Coronation of the Virgin (1454) in the Muse de l Hospice at Villeneuve-les-Avignon. They are both highly impressive works, uniting Flemish and Italian influence and having something of the monumental character of the sculpture of Charonton’s region.