MET at NYC - 5/4/07

Artwork by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)

Deborah R. Pratt

Professor Jerome Nevins May 7, 2007

AH251: The Museum Experience

The Martyrdom of St. Barbara, ca. 1510
Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, 1472–1553)
Oil on wood; Overall 60 3/8 x 54 1/4 in. (153.4 x 137.8 cm); painted surface 59 3/8 x 53 1/8 in. (150.8 x 134.9 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1957 (57.22)

While I was at the Museum we started out on the side with the European sculptures, which I really wasn't interest in. Proceeded to ask a guard for directions to the European Paintings. She said once you pass the pillars you'll see a lot of stairs, take those to the second floor. when I saw all the stairs I started to turn around, but I figured I needed the exercise. Once we arrived what an amazing site!!

Unfortunately, when we were there we didn't get a chance to see the redesign and reinstallation of the Museum’s superb collection of classical art is nearing completion. The New Greek and Roman Gallerieswhich opened up on April 20, 2007. This project was a 15-year project and returning thousands of works from the Museum’s permanent collection to public view. There will be works from 900 B.C. and the early fourth century A.D. Unlike us, hopefully you will get a chance to go.

I focused on a few paintings, but I noticed my attention was drawn to two of Lucas Cranach the Elder's paintings. He was a German painter, etcher and woodcut designer. His named was derived from Kronach in southern Germany, presumably his place of birth. He was born at Kronach, and learned about the art of drawing from his father. Really don't know much his early years, but eventually settled in Vienna. In Vienna, Cranach he painted religious subjects, but wasn't very religious. While he was in Wittenberg, he befriended Martin Luther and became close friends with him. He died on October 16, 1553 at Weimar. His house still stands, and he is commorated as an artist by the Lutheran Church on April 6th.

Cranach had three sons, all artists: John Lucas Cranach (died at Bologna, 1536), Hans Cranach sketchy life history about him, and Lucas who was born in 1515 (died in 1586) . His sons Hans and Lucas followed his style and continued the family workshop.

I decided to write about "The Martyrdom of St. Barbara". This painting was done on oil wood. I really enjoy color so this captured my attention. Red symbolizes wealth or death. In this picture it symbolizes death. Lucas captures the light and dark and contrast is beautiful. This is really sad, because there is a man standing over this lady with a sword, and it looks like he is getting ready to decapitate her. The true story according legend is Saint Barbara was executed by her father when she refused to recant her Christian faith. The four sinister-looking witnesses may be the Roman authorities who tortured Barbara in an attempt to persuade her to sacrifice to pagan gods. This was painted in 1510 and was for the Rehm family of Augsburg.

Here are some other pictures that were taken. I already wrote about Judith with the head of Holofernes, by Orazio Gentileschi. With both pictures the background is black. This time I found another picture, and it's by Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, 1472–1553), Oil on wood; 35 1/4 x 24 3/8 in. (89.5 x 61.9 cm), Rogers Fund, 1911 (11.15).

I also found that I was drawn to Italian artists. The were a lot of colors and very detailed, and bright. The picture below is by Giovanni Batista Tieplo, Italian Venetia 1696-1770 and is called "The Battle of Vercallae, oil on canvas.

The battle has been identified tentatively as the great victory of Gaius Marius over fierce Teutonic tribes in Lombardy in 101 B.C. The tribes of the Cimbri had crossed the Alps near Trent and invaded the Veneto, whose mild climate and delicacies reputedly sapped their strength. Their defeat saved Rome from conquest. The picture—a masterpiece of Tiepolo's early maturity—is from a series of ten canvases painted about 1725–1729 to decorate the main room of the Ca' Dolfin, Venice."

The Battle of Vercellae, 1725–29
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venetian, 1696–1770)\Oil on canvas; Irregular painted surface, 162 x 148 3/8 in. (411.5 x 376.9 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1965 (65.183.3)

Fantastic Landscape
Francesco Guardi (Italian, Venetian, 1712–1793)
Oil on canvas; Irregular, 61 1/4 x 74 1/2 in. (155.6 x 189.2 cm)
Gift of Julia A. Berwind, 1953 (53.225.3)

This picture is called Scenes from the Story of the Argonauts, cassone panel, Biagio di Antonio (Italian, Florentine, active 1446–1516)
Tempera on wood, gilt ornaments; Overall 24 1/8 x 60 3/8 in. (61.3 x 153.4 cm); painted surface 19 5/8 x 56 in. (49.8 x 142.2 cm)
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1909 (09.136.1)

Luca Signorelli and Workshop, active by 1470 died 1523. The assumption of the Virgin with Saints Michael and Benedict. Oil and Gold on Wood.

The picture was painted for the Olivetan convent of Saint Michael in Signorelli's native city of Cortona. Signorelli clearly designed the altarpiece, and he must also have painted the Virgin and Saint Benedict as well as the vanquished figure of Satan, which are executed with great vigor. The altarpiece seems to date from the late 1480s. Much of the picture is abraded. The figures of angels have especially suffered, but the Virgin and Saint Benedict are relatively well preserved. The frame, partly resurfaced, is of the 16th century.

The Assumption of the Virgin with Saints Michael and Benedict, altarpiece, late 1480s
Luca Signorelli and Workshop (Italian, Tuscan, active by 1470, died 1523)
Oil and gold on wood; 67 1/4 x 51 3/4 in. (170.8 x 131.4 cm)
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1929 (29.164)

The Penitence of Saint Jerome, triptych, ca. 1518
Joachim Patinir (Netherlandish, active by 1515, died 1524)
Oil on wood; Shaped top: central panel, overall, with engaged frame, 46 1/4 x 32 in. (117.5 x 81.3 cm); each wing, overall, with engaged frame, 47 1/2 x 14 in. (120.7 x 35.6 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1936 (36.14a–c)

A milestone in the history of European landscape painting, this intact altarpiece may have been made for a church in south Germany. Its outside wings show Saint Sebald, patron saint of Nuremburg, and Saint Anne with the Virgin and Christ Child. Following Netherlandish tradition, large-scale sacred figures dominate the foreground: Christ, who is baptized in the Jordan River, Saint Jerome, and Anthony the Hermit (shown with the monsters that assailed him). The true subject of the picture, however, is Patinir's splendid panoramic landscape, which the viewer is encouraged to travel through visually in the manner of a pilgrimage.

Hope you enjoy as much as I did!!

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