Christ Among the Children

Title: Christ Among the Children

Artist: Emil Nolde

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 86.8 x 106.4 cm

Date: 1910

Location: The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Emil Nolde has created a canvas with three dominate forms: the bright colorful splendor of the right half, the color contrast between both halves of the canvas, and the dominating shape in the center. The gaze is first drawn to the right, with the remarkable tones of full red and bright orange. The prevailing mood is one of amusement and pure joy. This is underlined by the rich gesturing of the children, arms held high. The bright colors stand in contrast to the darkness of the left side which is occupied by five men with quiet skepticism on their faces. The center is held by the solid back of the figure of Jesus, painted in deep green blue tones, who turns to the merry children and the two mothers with their infants.

The connection between Jesus and the children is indicated not only by the fact that one child has arms flung around Jesus’ neck, but also by the color and quality of the opened eyes, singular in the picture with white sclera, representing a formative intention. The bright eyes of the child reflect the relationship with Christ. This light does not remain limited to the children and mothers, however, as is casts a glow across the faces of the adults on the left side. They have the choice, to remain in the dark area or to seize the possibility of stepping fully into the light. But Nolde directs the primary line of sight unmistakably on the attentive children, and thus on the message of Jesus as recorded in Mark 10:15-16 “‘verily I say to you, whoever may not receive the reign of God, as a child -- he may not enter into it;’ and having taken them in his arms, having put his hands upon them, he was blessing them.”

Emil Nolde (7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists and a member of Die Brücke, an influential group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905. He is considered to be one of the great oil painting and watercolor painters of the 20th century, known for his vigorous brushwork and expressive choice of colors.

Wedding at Cana

Title: Wedding at Cana

Artist: Mattia Preti

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 203 x 226 cm

Date: c. 1655

Location: National Gallery, London.

The subject, from the New Testament (John 2:1-11), is the scene of Christ's first miracle when he turned water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana. Mary had learned that the hosts had run out of wine, and advised the servants to do whatever Jesus told them. “Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.’ They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.”

Preti was much influenced by Veronese and frequently painted pictures of feasts. Christ is seated at the right; next to him is his mother, Mary, who had told the servants to do Christ's bidding. The flow of this painting is almost fluid, or dreamlike, as the eye follows along the red-clothed arm, to the goblet, and along the head and arm, and down to the stone jars, and to Jesus who gently glows.

Mattia Preti (February 24, 1613 - January 3, 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. Probably before 1630, Preti joined his brother Gregorio (also a painter), in Rome, where he became familiar with the techniques of Caravaggio and his school as well as with the work of artists like Guercino and Rubens. Based in Naples from 1653, he became acquainted with Veronese's works in Venice and Modena. This banqueting scene probably dates from shortly before 1660, and was very probably commissioned by Caspar de Roomer, the hugely wealthy Flemish merchant who lived in Naples.

Annunciation

Title: Annunciation

Artist: Andrea del Sarto

Medium: Oil on wood

Size: 96 x 189 cm

Date: 1528

Location: Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence.

In the New Testament, the Annunciation is narrated in the Gospel of Luke 1:26-38. The text reads “the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’" And so began the conversation where Mary is told of her conception of Christ, but when she asks the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?” she is told “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”

Del Sarto's painting is reported to have originally been in the form of a lunette, but was transformed to a rectangle at an unknown period. Regardless, in a supremely poetic range of changing colors, from yellow to pink to lilac to purple, The Annunciation expresses Andrea del Sarto's new taste. In this mature painting he no longer favors the intense and highly charged palette of the preceding years, but chooses delicate harmonies, without dissonances, and refined accords which give the composition a new balance, more quiet and refined than before. Gabriel is shown holding the traditional lily stalk signifying Mary's religious mind, the leaves her humility, the white petals her virginity and it's scent her divinity.

Andrea del Sarto (1486 – 1531) was an Italian painter from Florence, whose career flourished during the High Renaissance and early-Mannerism. Though highly regarded by his contemporaries as an artist "senza errori" (i.e., faultless), he is overshadowed now by equally talented contemporaries like Raphael. He was the best painter (as opposed to draughtsman) in 16th-century Florence, and had more feeling for tone and colors than any of his contemporaries south of Venice.

Temptation of Christ

Title: Temptation of Christ

Artist: Ary Scheffer

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 345 x 241 cm

Date: 1859

Location: Musee du Louvre, Paris.

As recorded in the Gospel of Luke 4:5-8 “Then the devil took Jesus and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant. The devil said to Jesus, ‘I will give you all these kingdoms and all their power and glory. It has all been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. If you worship me, then it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered, "It is written in the Scriptures: 'You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.' "

Ordered for the gallery of Luxembourg in 1849, started before 1851 and not yet delivered by 1858, this large canvas occupied the ten last years of the life of Scheffer. He made many adjustments in size and scale to this composition, with exception of the face of Christ. Scheffer’s Christ is confident and regal in his bearing, lording above the devil who, despite his slight resemblance to an angel, scampers about his feet; a decidedly different interpretation of Christ than the social realism of other late 19^th century artists like Kramskoi and Ge.

Ary Scheffer (10 February 1795 - 15 June 1858), French painter of Dutch extraction, was born at Dort on the 10th of February 1795. After the early death of his father, a poor painter, Ary was taken to Paris and placed in the studio of Guérin by his mother, a woman of great energy and character. He was active for almost all his career in Paris, and his work became quite popular in his lifetime, but is now often considered sentimental. After 1846, he ceased to exhibit. His strong ties with the royal family caused him to fall out of favor when, in 1848, the Second Republic came into being. Shut up in his studio, he produced many paintings that were only exhibited after his death.

The Fall of the Damned

Title: The Fall of the Damned

Artist: Dieric Bouts, the Elder

Medium: Oil on wood

Size: 115 x 69.5 cm

Date: 1450

Location: Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille.

Two paintings, one representing Hell and the other Paradise, were long believed to be part of a triptych of the Last Judgment by Bouts, which has unfortunately not survived. However, recent research has shown that this is not the case, and The Fall of the Damned was created as a work to stand in its own right. If you look at the faces on some of the demons you'll see them staring back, briefly pausing the torment in order to gaze back with gleeful bravado at whoever might be watching. Not only was the depiction of Hell and the Last Judgment approved from the theological point of view of frightening the flock of Christ back to the path of righteousness, it also allowed artists an unusual kind of freedom to paint their most horrific imaginings.

The Christian doctrine of hell derives from the teaching of the New Testament. For example, as described in Matthew 13:49-50: “This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Little else is said about the nature of Hell in the New Testament which allows for a wide range of interpretations. Christian thought ranges from the standard medieval depiction preferred by Bouts and his contemporaries, to the more modern view expressed where Hell is not so much a place where God imprisons man, as a place where man, by misusing his free will, chooses to imprison himself. As such, the wicked are not deprived of the love of God, but by their own choice they experience as suffering what the saints experience as joy. The love of God becomes an intolerable torment for those who have not acquired it within themselves.

Dieric Bouts, also spelled Dirk, Dierick and Dirck (born circa 1410/1420, died 1475) was an Early Netherlandish painter. Very little is actually known about Bouts' early life, but he was greatly influenced by Jan van Eyck and by Rogier van der Weyden, under whom he may have studied. He is documented in Leuven in 1457 and worked there until his death in 1475

St Margaret Mary Alacoque Contemplating the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Title: St Margaret Mary Alacoque Contemplating the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Artist: Corrado Giaquinto

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 171 x 123 cm

Date: c. 1765

Location: Private collection

Margaret Mary Alacoque (22 July 1647 – 17 October 1690) is rarely represented in art. She was a French Roman Catholic nun and mystic, who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in its modern form, and the bleeding heart is chosen by Giaquinto as her symbol in this painting. This canvas exemplifies Giaquinto's painting technique perfectly. His dazzling brushwork is especially evident in the glowing vision of the Sacred Heart, which is skillfully rendered in the transparent layers of delicately colored glazes that are the hallmark of Giaquinto's mature style.

Margaret Mary was born at Lhautecour, France, and from early childhood was described as showing intense love for the Eucharist, preferring silence and prayer to childhood play. After her First Communion at the age of nine she secretly practiced severe corporal mortification (including carving the name "Jesus" into her chest as an adolescent) until paralysis confined her to bed for years. At the end of this period, having made a vow to the Blessed Virgin to consecrate herself to religious life, she was instantly restored to perfect health. In the convent she received several revelations of the Sacred Heart. The visions revealed to her the form of the devotion, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. After Margaret Mary's death, on 17 October 1690, the devotion to the Sacred Heart was fostered by the Jesuits and the subject of controversies within the Church. The practice was not officially recognized till 75 years after her death.

Corrado Giaquinto (b. 1703, Molfetta, d. 1766, Napoli) was an Italian Rococo painter. In 1755 Giaquinto moved from Rome to Madrid where he achieved great academic honors (appointed director of the Academia de San Fernando) as well as professional ones (as supervisor of the royal tapestry manufactory in Madrid). Giaquinto had great influence on Spanish painters, particularly the young Goya. In 1762 he returned Naples where his work influenced Neapolitan artists.

Descent from the Cross

Title: Descent from the Cross

Artist: Rosso Fiorentino

Medium: Oil on wood

Size: 375 x 196 cm

Date: 1521

Location: Pinacoteca Comunale, Volterra.

As described in John 19:38-39, after Jesus had died by crucifixion Joseph of Arimathea, who had secretly been a follower of Jesus, asked Pilate for his body. With Pilate's permission Joseph, accompanied by another follower named Nicodemus, came and took the body away. Such a simple description is fraught with emotions, and has been a rich source of artistic inspiration for generations.

This painting is not simply conceived as a means of describing forms, but as a means of stating ideas. The light is not normal illumination, nor even a poetic evocation: the scene is lit as if by lightning against a somber sky. The figures are frozen in their attitudes and even in their thoughts, while the great limp body of the dead Christ, livid green with reddish hair and beard, dangles perilously as his dead weight almost slips from the grasp of the men straining on precarious ladders. The figures below have simple and forceful expressions of quiet grief, with powerful expressions hinted at by hidden faces.

Giovanni Battista di Jacopo (1494-1540), known as Rosso Fiorentino (meaning "the Red Florentine" in Italian), or Il Rosso, was an Italian Mannerist painter, in oil and fresco, belonging to the Florentine school. His masterpiece is generally considered to be the Descent from the Cross altarpiece in the Pinacoteca Comunale di Volterra. In this, and other early paintings, he departed from the milder conventions of traditional classicism and High Renaissance art. In doing so he helped launch the style known as Mannerism in 16th-century Italy, in which artists created exaggerated scenes with attenuated figures and disturbing colors.