Abraham Bloemaert | Circe, 1625-1628

Author: Abraham Bloemaert (Dutch Mannerist painter🎨, ca.1564-1651);
Title: Circe;
Medium: Oil on canvas;
Dimensions: 22 1/8 x 19 ¼ in. (56.2 x 48.9 cm.)
Provenance: Private collection, England - with Salomon Lilian, Amsterdam and Geneva, where acquired by the present owner in 2006;
Current location: Christie's.

Daughter of Helios and Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, the enchantress Circe was notorious in Greek mythology for her knowledge of herbs and potions.

The story is recounted by Homer in the Odyssey (Book X): Odysseus and his companions came to the island retreat of the cruel sorceress on their journey home from the Trojan War. It was Circe’s way with travelers to offer them food laced with a magic potion that transformed them into swine.

Cornelis Cornelisz (1562-1638) | Mannerist painter

Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem - Dutch🎨 Golden Age painter and draughtsman, was one of the leading Northern Mannerist artists in the Netherlands, and an important forerunner of Frans Hals🎨 as a portraitist.

Together with Carel van Mander, Hendrick Goltzius and other artists, he started an informal drawing school that has become known in art history circles as the Haarlem Academy or "Haarlem Mannerists".

Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614) | Pittrice Manierista

Lavinia Fontana (Bologna, 24 agosto 1552 - Roma, 11 agosto 1614) è stata una pittrice Italiana del tardo Manierismo**.

Lavinia era figlia del pittore Manierista Prospero Fontana, nella cui bottega poté attingere, accanto agli insegnamenti del padre, ad una vasta gamma di esperienze pittoriche, emiliane (dal Parmigianino a Pellegrino Tibaldi), venete (Veronese, Jacopo Bassano), lombarde (Sofonisba Anguissola) e toscane.

Presso il padre poté anche frequentare i Carracci (Ludovico, Agostino e Annibale), poco più giovani, ma che non mancarono di influire su di lei.

Si narra che, ricevuta dal pittore Giovan Paolo Zappi la richiesta di sposarlo, la già attempata (25 anni) Lavinia pose la condizione di poter continuare a dipingere. Zappi accettò la cosa, tanto che rinunciò in pratica a lavorare in proprio e assunse il ruolo d'assistente della moglie.

Dutch Artists | Sitemap

Abraham Bloemaert | Circe, 1625-1628 | Christies

Before the 16th century, the Church commissioned most Netherlandish art. Artists, such as Lucas van Leyden, produced elaborate altarpieces.

After independence from Spain, the chief patrons were the merchant class.

The 17th century was a golden age in portraiture, landscape, and genre painting, producing artists of the calibre of Rembrandt, Jan Vermeer, Frans Hals, and Jacob an Ruisdael.

Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669)

Pietro da Cortona was an Italian Baroque painter and architect.

Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture. He was also an important designer of interior decorations.

Diego Velázquez | Quotes

"I would rather be the first painter of common things than second in higher art".

"Preferirei essere il primo pittore delle cose comuni piuttosto che il secondo dell'arte più alta".

"Raphael, to be plain with you, for I prefer to be candid and outspoken, does not please me at all....It is Titian that bears the banner".

Pietro da Cortona | Allegory of Divine Providence, 1633-39

"The Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power" is a fresco by Italian painter Pietro da Cortona, filling the large ceiling of the grand salon of the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, Italy.

Begun in 1633, it was nearly finished in three years; upon Cortona's return from Venice, it was extensively reworked to completion in 1639.