CIMA’S CHRIST AMONG THE DOCTORS
February 26th 2022
“Christ among the Doctors”, Cima da Conegliano, c.1504, Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw. The scene is from the Gospel of Luke when the 12 year old Jesus is separated from his parents in the Temple. After three days Mary and Joseph find
CARAVAGGIO’S CRUCIFIXION OF ST PETER
February 19th 2022
“The Crucifixion of St Peter”, Caravaggio, 1602, Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. The men who are crucifying St Peter wear contemporary working clothes. In 1602, it must have seemed as if St Peter’s martyrdom was taking place in
Jacopo Bassano’s Miraculous draught of fishes
February 5th 2022
“The Miraculous Draught of fishes”, Jacopo Bassano, 1545, National Gallery of Art, Washington. Jacopo da Ponte came to be known as Jacopo Bassano because he was from Bassano del Grappa which is a small town about 65km inland from Venice.
Giotto’s Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
January 29th 2022
“The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple”, (top) and “The Betrayal of Judas” (below), Giotto, c. 1303 -5, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. In the Scrovegni Chapel scenes from the lives of Jesus and Mary are arranged in chronological order in three
Van der Weyden’s St Luke drawing the Virgin
January 22nd 2022
“St Luke drawing the Virgin”, Rogier van der Weyden, c.1435-40, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The tradition that St Luke was a healer or physican is based on Colossians 4.14. Another tradition says that he was an artist
Giotto’s Wedding at Cana
January 15th 2022
“The Wedding at Cana”, Giotto di Bondone, c.1305, Capella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padova. This is one of a sequence of scenes from the life of Christ by Giotto which adorn the walls of the Cappella Scrovegni. Often Christ and
TINTORETTO’S ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS AT SAN ROCCO
December 18th 2021
“Adoration of the Shepherds”, 1578/81, Tintoretto, Scoula Grande di San Rocco, Venice. Two women gaze upon the child from the opposite side of a hayloft. Mary raises a cloth so that they can see his face. Unusually for
CIMA’S ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, MADONNA DELL’ ORTO
December 11th 2021
St John the Baptist stands before us, surrounded by four other saints. He has the usual reed-like cross, but there is no lamb, nor is he baptising. He points upwards to the open sky above his head. This very
CRIVELLI’S SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
December 4th 2021
“St John the Baptist” from the Demidoff Altarpiece, Carlo Crivelli, 1476, National Gallery, London. Crivelli locates St John the Baptist by the water’s edge and us on the opposite bank. Behind him, the trees have been cut down but
Crivelli’s St Andrew
November 27th 2021
St Andrew is shown here by Carlo Crivelli as an old man who holds a cross and mediates on a sacred text. The flowing locks, the crows feet, the fluttering pages, the grain of the wood, the folds of his
