Guercino’s Incredulity of St Thomas
April 10th 2021
Guercino sets the scene at night. Light falls from the right creating a pattern of highlights and shadows. Patches of exposed brickwork are visible on the upper left and right, suggesting that this encounter takes place before a wall.
ZURBARÁN’S CRUCIFIXION, 1627
March 27th 2021
This brightly lit figure of the dead Christ on the cross emerges out of darkness. When people saw this painting hanging in the dimly lit sacristy of the Dominican Priory of San Pablo el Real in Seville, they though
CARAVAGGIO’S DEPOSITION
March 20th 2021
Many of Caravaggio’s contemporaries considered this altarpiece to be his best work. It was painted for the Chapel of the Pietà in the Oratorians’ Chiesa Nuova in Rome. In it, Caravaggio seems to have combined two scenes. It is
GIOVANNI BELLINI’S LAMENTATION OF CHRIST
March 13th 2021
This painting is also known as “The Anointing of Christ” because it shows the dead body of Christ being anointed before burial. Joseph of Arimathea supports the body. Nicodemus holds a container of ointment while Mary Magdalene anoints the wound
EL GRECO’S PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE, LONDON
March 6th 2021
“The Purification of the Temple”, El Greco, 1600, National Gallery, London. This scene was rarely painted in its own right before the Reformation. It was shown as one of a series of scenes from the Passion. After the Council of
CARAVAGGIO’S SACRIFICE OF ISAAC
February 27th 2021
“Sacrifice of Isaac”, c. 1603, Carravaggio, Ufizzi, Florence Caravaggio shows the terrible moment when Abraham has put forth his hand and taken the knife to slay his son (Gen 22:10). But an angel on the left stays his hand and
STANLEY SPENCER’S CHRIST IN THE WILDERNESS – THE SCORPION
February 20th 2021
In a bleak wasteland, Christ sits on the bare earth and looks down at the scorpion which he holds on the palm of his right hand. He holds the scorpion most carefully, with one hand under the other. His downward
GIOVANNI BELLINI’S CHRIST BLESSING
February 13th 2021
“Christ Blessing”, Giovanni Bellini, c. 1500, Kimbell Art Museum, Forth Worth, Texas. You can view the painting in higher resolution at https://www.kimbellart.org/collection/ap-196707 The Risen Christ raises his right hand in blessing. The landscape tells us that it
MANTEGNA’S ST MARK THE EVANGELIST
February 6th 2021
This small painting of St Mark the Evangelist owes much to the Eastern tradition of icon painting. But unlike in an icon, there is a fictive stone frame with inscription written on a fictive piece of folded parchment attached.
TINTORETTO’S PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE
January 30th 2021
Tintoretto painted this altarpiece for the Chapel of the Presentation in the Venetian Church of Santa Maria dei Carmini. It was commissioned by the Confraternity of Fishmongers who were the chapel’s patrons. The frame is inscribed with the year 1548,
