 |
| Scarsellino Martyrdom of St Venantius of Camerino ca. 1595-1605 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
"Christianity also informs the numerous martyr paintings from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. These paintings typically offer us visual narratives highlighting the executions of many who would become saints, individuals who were brutally killed because they would not renounce their faith, and in fact, some who could woo followers with miracles even as they faced persecution, as in the case of St. Venantius. Scarsellino is thought to have painted Martyrdom of St Venantius of Camerino ca. 1600. The painting depicts the execution of a 15-year-old martyr in the middle of the third century. Venantius was known to have converted his captors, having been exiled by the Roman Prefect and made to live outside the city walls. He allegedly relieved the thirst of his guards by drawing water out of a stone."
– from Handbook of Death and Dying edited by Clifton D. Bryant and Dennis L. Peck (Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 2003)
 |
| Cornelis van Poelenburgh Landscape with the Flight into Egypt 1625 oil on panel Centraal Museum, Utrecht |
 |
| Pierre Mignard Christ and the Woman of Samaria 1681 oil on canvas North Carolina Museum of Art |
 |
| Bernardino Mei Crucifixion with the Virgin, St Francis, and St Agatha ca. 1650-60 oil on canvas Fondazione Musei Senesi |
"Having ability and a powerful patron from his hometown of Siena helped Bernardino Mei to rise from obscurity as a provincial artist to fame and fortune in the important city of Rome. Fabio Chigi, from a powerful Sienese family, actively supported the Sienese painter. After becoming Pope Alexander VII in 1655, Chigi summoned Mei to Rome in 1657. There Mei joined the Accademia di San Luca and regularly painted religious pictures and other subjects for the pope and his nephew, Cardinal Flavio Chigi. Inspired by contemporary Roman painting and Gian Lorenzo Bernini's sculpture, Mei had found his mature style by the 1650s. Complex rhythms and forms, whirling movement, and great expressive power marked these later works – a departure from the style he learned in Siena."
– biographical notes from the Getty Museum
 |
| Claudio Coello St Michael the Archangel 1660s oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
 |
| Bartholomeus Spranger Epitaph of Prague Goldsmith Nicolas Müller, with Risen Christ 1592-93 oil on canvas Národní Galerie, Prague |
"The Flemish artist Bartholomeus Spranger (1546-1611) was a master of Mannerism, serving a cardinal, a pope, and two Holy Roman Emperors – most notably as court painter for Rudolf II in Prague. Unlike most artists of the period, he defies classification as "Northern" or "Southern"; instead Spranger became one of the first truly international artists, achieving his greatest success in Central Europe after spending a crucial decade in Italy. Favoring an elegant style, virtuoso technique, and erotically charged subjects, he was particularly celebrated for his amorously entwined nudes. In addition, he created paintings, drawings, and prints of evocative religious and political allegories, as well as atmospheric landscapes and a few rare portraits, all of which offer an abundance of visual pleasure. Despite the widespread fame and influence he attained during his lifetime, Spranger has become an elusive and misunderstood figure."
– from a promotional blurb for Bartholomeus Spranger: Splendor and Eroticism in Imperial Prague by Sally Metzler (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014)
 |
| Tanzio da Varallo Rest on the Flight into Egypt ca. 1625-30 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
 |
| Jacob Jordaens Holy Family with Various Persons and Animals in a Boat 1652 oil on canvas Skokloster Castle, Sweden |
"At fourteen, Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678), a merchant's son in Antwerp, was apprenticed to Adam van Noort, who also taught Rubens. In 1615 he joined the artists' guild, and married Van Noort's daughter a year later. In addition to large history paintings, Jordaens produced genre paintings and portraits, as well as designs for tapestries. Unlike Van Dyck and Rubens, Jordaens was never a court painter. He survived his two rivals and became increasingly popular in the 1640s, with commissions from royal patrons, often abroad. He also produced paintings for the Orange room at Huis ten Bosch. Jordaens continued to live and work in Antwerp. He became a wealthy man and remained active until late in life. Around 1650 he converted to Protestantism, which was unusual in the Catholic Southern Netherlands."
– biographical notes from the Rijksmuseum
 |
| Lorenzo Lippi St Agatha ca. 1650 oil on canvas Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas |
 |
| Lo Spadarino Baptism of Constantine before 1652 oil on canvas Fondazione Musei Senesi |
 |
| Domenico Piola Job and his Children ca. 1650 oil on canvas Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao |
"During the second half of the seventeenth century, much of the enormous demand for the frescoed decoration of the sumptuous palaces that were still being erected by Genoa's wealthy aristocracy was satisfied by the very large, highly organized, and exceedingly busy workshop of Domenico Piola and his son-in-law Gregorio de Ferrari. A pupil of his brother Pellegro, Domenico Piola studied the works of Castiglione and Valerio Castello as well as those of Rubens and van Dyck, developing a spirited Baroque style of decoration that combines painting and stucco, and in which large numbers of gracefully posed figures are integrated into elaborate feigned architectural settings."
– from Genoa: Drawings and Prints, 1530-1800 by Carmen Bambach, Nadine Orenstein, and William Griswold (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996)
 |
| Jusepe de Ribera St Sebastian tended by Holy Women 1621 oil on canvas Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao |
 |
| Jusepe de Ribera St Sebastian 1652 oil on canvas Musée d'art moderne André Malraux, Le Havre |
"After working in Rome and Parma, Ribera settled in Naples in 1616. His art combined knowledge of the Carracci and Caravaggio with Spanish realism and vigorous scratchy brushwork. He practiced precise draftsmanship and used working-class models. His large output consisted mainly of religious works, including harrowing scenes of martyrdom that laid the foundation for the Neapolitan painting tradition one critic called "the poetry of the repulsive."
– biographical notes from the Getty Museum
 |
| Jusepe de Ribera Martyrdom of St Lawrence ca. 1620-24 oil on canvas National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne |