01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Juan de Borgoña's Adoration of the Magi, with Footnotes - #212

Juan de Borgoña
Adoration of the Magi
Oil on cradled panel
48 3/4 by 56 in.; 124 by 142.2 cm.
Private collection

The Adoration of the Magi (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: A Magis adoratur) is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and worship him. More on the Adoration of the Magi

Juan de Borgoña (c. 1470–1536), was a High Renaissance painter who was born in the Duchy of Burgundy, probably just before it ceased to exist as an independent state, and was active in Spain from about 1495 to 1536. His earliest documented work was painted in 1495 for the cloister of the Cathedral of Toledo. Borgoña’s compositions are well balanced with finely drawn figures in elegant, tranquil poses. They are set either against open spaces leading on to craggy landscapes or against gold embroidered drapery. He brought the Quattrocento form of paintings into Castile.

He is not to be confused with another painter Joan de Burgunya or Borgunya who was active in Catalonia between 1510 and 1525. More on Juan de Borgoña




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01 Work, Interpretations of Olympian deities, Jacob de Backer's Paris Being Admitted to the Bedchamber of Helen, with footnotes #38

Jacob de Backer (Flemish, active 1545–1600)
Detail; Paris Being Admitted to the Bedchamber of Helen, c. about 1585/1590
Oil on canvas
119.4 × 171.5 cm (47 × 67 1/2 in.)
J. Paul Getty Museum

Paris is a mythological figure in the story of the Trojan War. He appears in numerous Greek legends and works of Ancient Greek literature such as the Iliad. In myth, he is prince of Troy, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, and younger brother of Prince Hector. His elopement with Helen sparks the Trojan War, during which he fatally wounds Achilles. More on Paris

Jacob de Backer (Flemish, active 1545–1600)
Paris Being Admitted to the Bedchamber of Helen, c. about 1585/1590
Oil on canvas
119.4 × 171.5 cm (47 × 67 1/2 in.)
J. Paul Getty Museum

Helen was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and considered in Greek myth to be the most beautiful woman in the world. She was married to Menelaus, King of Sparta. When the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen and carried her off to the city of Troy, the Greeks responded by mounting an attack on the city, thus beginning the Trojan War. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and the brother of Menelaus, led an expedition of Greek troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris's insult. After the deaths of many heroes, including the Greeks Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and Paris, the city fell to the ruse of the Trojan Horse. The Greeks slaughtered the Trojans and desecrated the temples More on Helen

Jacob de Backer (c. 1555 – c. 1591) was a Flemish Mannerist painter and draughtsman active in Antwerp between about 1571 and 1585. Even though he died young at the age of 30, the artist was very prolific and an extensive body of work has been attributed to him. Art historians are not agreed on how many of these works are autograph or the product of a workshop. The works attributed to the artist or his workshop are executed in a late-Mannerist style clearly influenced by Italian models. More on Jacob de Backer





Please visit my other blogs: Art CollectorMythologyMarine ArtPortrait of a Lady, The OrientalistArt of the Nude and The Canals of VeniceMiddle East Artists365 Saints365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at  deviantart and Aaroko

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10 Paintings, RELIGIOUS ART - Interpretations of the Bible! by The Old Masters, With Footnotes # 47

Religious art is a visual representation of religious ideologies and their relationship with humans. Sacred art directly relates to religious art in the sense that its purpose is for worship and religious practices. According to one set of definitions, artworks that are inspired by religion but are not considered traditionally sacred remain under the umbrella term of religious art. More on Religious art 

Raphael, 1483 – 1520
The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, c. 1515-1516
Bodycolour on paper on canvas
320 × 390 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Pope Leo X commissions Raphael to design ten draperies for the lower parts of the walls of the Sistine Chapel. In 1515-16 Raphael creates the cartoons for the wool and silk draperies to be manufactured in Pieter van Aelst's workshop in Brussels. Seven cartoons survive today, and are kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Four draperies show scenes from the life of Peter, the other six of Paul's.

This cartoon shows the Lake of Gennesaret, better known as Lake Tiberias or the Sea of Galilee. Peter, still known as Simon at the time, has been fishing all night, but has caught nothing. Jesus asks Peter if he can address a crowd from his boat. Afterwards Jesus tells Peter to throw out his nets, which he does. When he hauls them back in, he is stunned to find them full of fish. Peter immediately joins Jesus, soon after followed by his mates James and John. More on this painting

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (April 6 or March 28, 1483 – April 6, 1520), known as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.
Raphael was enormously productive, running an unusually large workshop and, despite his death at 37, leaving a large body of work. Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace. The best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura. After his early years in Rome much of his work was executed by his workshop from his drawings, with considerable loss of quality. He was extremely influential in his lifetime, though outside Rome his work was mostly known from his collaborative printmaking. More Raffaello

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, Milan or Caravaggio, 1571–1610 Porto Ercole)
The Denial of Saint Peter, c. 1610
Oil on canvas
37 x 49 3/8 in. (94 x 125.4 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Denial of Saint Peter. Standing before a fireplace, the apostle Peter is accused of being a follower of Jesus. The pointing finger of the soldier and the two fingers of the woman allude to the three accusations recounted in the Bible as well as to Peter's three denials. The composition is reduced to essentials. The soldier's helmet is taken from a precise model of the early sixteenth century, thus breaking down the fiction of an imagined past. More The Denial

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, Milan or Caravaggio 1571–1610 Porto Ercole)
The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, c. 1610
Oil on canvas
Height: 154 cm (60.6 in). Width: 178 cm (70.1 in).
Palazzo Zevallos, Naples

Saint Ursula (Latin for "little female bear") is a Romano-British Christian saint. Because of the lack of definite information about her and the anonymous group of holy virgins who accompanied her and on some uncertain date were killed at Cologne, they were removed from the Roman Martyrology and their commemoration was omitted from the General Roman Calendar when it was revised in 1969.

Her legend, probably not historical, is that she was a princess who, at the request of her father King Dionotus of Dumnonia in south-west Britain, set sail to join her future husband, the pagan governor Conan Meriadoc of Armorica, along with 11,000 virginal handmaidens. After a miraculous storm brought them over the sea in a single day to a Gaulish port, Ursula declared that before her marriage she would undertake a pan-European pilgrimage. She headed for Rome with her followers and persuaded the Pope, Cyriacus, and Sulpicius, bishop of Ravenna, to join them. More Saint Ursula

According to legend, Saint Ursula traveled with her eleven thousand virgins to Cologne, where the chief of the Huns besieging the city fell in love with her. When she rejected his advances, he killed her with an arrow. In this depiction, Caravaggio places the two figures improbably close to each other, maximizing the contrast between their expressions: Ursula’s perplexed gaze at the agent of her martyrdom; the tyrant’s conflicted reactions of rage and guilt. Caravaggio includes himself as a spectator, straining for a glimpse, while another figure thrusts his hand forward in an abortive effort to prevent the saint’s execution. The exaggerated contrasts between dark and light seem not merely a dramatic device but a symbolic allusion to sin and redemption, death and life. More on this painting

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (29 September 1571 in Caravaggio – 18 July 1610) was an Italian painter active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1592 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on Baroque painting.
Caravaggio trained as a painter in Milan under Simone Peterzano who had himself trained under Titian. In his twenties Caravaggio moved to Rome where there was a demand for paintings to fill the many huge new churches and palazzos being built at the time. It was also a period when the Church was searching for a stylistic alternative to Mannerism in religious. Caravaggio's innovation was a radical naturalism that combined close physical observation with a dramatic use of chiaroscuro which came to be known as tenebrism (the shift from light to dark with little intermediate value).
He gained attention in the art scene of Rome in 1600 with the success of his first public commissions, the Martyrdom of Saint Matthew and Calling of Saint Matthew. Thereafter he never lacked commissions or patrons, yet he handled his success poorly. He was jailed on several occasions, vandalized his own apartment, and ultimately had a death sentence pronounced against him by the Pope after killing a young man, possibly unintentionally, on May 29, 1606. He fled from Rome with a price on his head. He was involved in a brawl in Malta in 1608, and another in Naples in 1609. This encounter left him severely injured. A year later, at the age of 38, he died under mysterious circumstances in Porto Ercole in Tuscany, reportedly from a fever while on his way to Rome to receive a pardon.
Famous while he lived, Caravaggio was forgotten almost immediately after his death, and it was only in the 20th century that his importance to the development of Western art was rediscovered. More on Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Attr. To François Venant
Crucifixion between the two thieves
Oil on oak panel
34 13/16 X 47 5/8 IN. 88,5 X 121 CM
Private collection

Estimate for €4,000 - €6,000 in Oct 2018

François Venant was a Dutch painter; born in Midellburg in 1591 , buried in Amsterdam on17 March 1636.

François Venant was part of a group of artists called pre-rembranesques, that is to say painters before Rembrandt.

17th century French school,
Christ in front of Pilate
Oil on canvas
92 1/8 X 87 IN. 234 X 221 CM
Private collection

Sold for 5,460.00 € in Mar 2017

John 18:28-40. Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor Pilate. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 

17th-century French art is generally referred to as Baroque, but from the mid to late 17th century, the style of French art shows a classical adherence to certain rules of proportion and sobriety uncharacteristic of the Baroque as it was practiced in Southern and Eastern Europe during the same period.

In the early part of the 17th century, late mannerist and early Baroque tendencies continued to flourish in the court of Marie de' Medici and Louis XIII. Art from this period shows influences from both the north of Europe and from Roman painters of the Counter-Reformation. Artists in France frequently debated the merits between Peter Paul Rubens and Nicolas Poussin.

There was also a strong Caravaggio school represented in the period by the candle-lit paintings of Georges de La Tour. The wretched and the poor were featured in an almost Dutch manner in the paintings by the three Le Nain brothers. In the paintings of Philippe de Champaigne there are both propagandistic portraits of Louis XIII' s minister Cardinal Richelieu and other more contemplative portraits of people in the Jansenist sect. More 17th-century French art 

Gortzius Geldorp, LEUVEN 1553 - 1618 COLOGNE
THE VIRGIN IN PRAYER
Oil on oak panel
62.8 x 47.8 cm.; 24 5/8  x 18 7/8  in
Private collection

Estimated for €3,500 EUR - €4,000 EUR in Dec 2022

Gortzius Geldorp (1553–1618) was a Flemish Renaissance artist who was active in Germany where he distinguished himself through his portrait paintings. Geldorp was born in Leuven. Geldorp first learned to paint from Frans Francken I and later from Frans Pourbus the Elder.

Geldorp became court painter to the Duke of Terra Nova, Carlo d'Aragona Tagliavia, whom he accompanied on his trips. He travelled to Cologne with the Duke who was participating in peace negotiations with the Dutch Republic. Geldorp stayed in the city while remaining a companion of the Duke on his travels. In 1610 Geldorp took over the seat of Barthel Bruyn the Younger on the city council of Cologne. Geldorp was a successful portrait painter working for the aristocracy and other prominent patrons. More Gortzius Geldorp

Andrea Vaccaro, NAPLES 1604 - 1670
THE PENITENT MAGDALENE
oil on canvas, 
oval 89 x 73.5 cm.; 35 x 29 in.
Private collection

Mary Magdalene provides a lens to view the role of the feminine in religion and culture over the centuries. She has been variously portrayed as a wealthy benefactress to Jesus and his followers, as a prostitute, as an apostle, as an ascetic, as a contemplative, and as Jesus' companion. In these various roles, she is viewed as an individual, and her individuality allows an exploration of the feminine in Christianity. Her life is reflected not only in the New Testament descriptions of her but also in the Gnostic Book of Mary and the Gnostic Gospels found at Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt. In the New Testament Gospels, she is identified as the privileged person who found the empty tomb and to whom the resurrected Christ first appeared. Earlier in the Christian Bible, she is described as among the wealthy women who provided material support for Jesus' teaching. In the Book of Mary, she is said to be the most beloved among the disciples and is described there as the female apostle. In the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Gospels, she is referred to as a leader who went forth along with the other disciples in the Book of Thomas and as companion to Jesus in the Book of Philip. More Mary Magdalene

Andrea Vaccaro (baptised on 8 May 1604 – 18 January 1670) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Vaccaro was in his time one of the most successful painters in Naples, a city then under Spanish rule. Very successful and valued in his lifetime, Vaccaro and his workshop produced many religious works for local patrons as well as for export to Spanish religious orders and noble patrons. More Andrea Vaccaro

Guido Cagnacci,  (1601–1663)
Martha blames Mary for her Vanity, c. after 1660
Oil on canvas
229 × 266 cm (90.2 × 104.7 in)
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena

This is no ordinary representation of Mary Magdalene, who became a follower of Christ and later, a saint. Traditionally shown holding a skull and contemplating her morality, here she lies almost naked on the ground, begged by her virtuous sister Martha to abandon her sinful life of vice and luxury. Virtue, a blond-haired angel, chases out Vice, a devil who bites his hand in anger as he turns for a last look at the Magdalene. The painting is a celebration of the triumph of virtue over vice, but Cagnacci takes obvious pleasure in describing worldly temptations – in particular, the attention he lavishes on the expensive costume, beautiful shoes, and jewellery scattered across the floor. More on Martha blames Mary for her Vanity

Guido Cagnacci, (January 19, 1601 – 1663) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, who produced many works characterized by their use of chiaroscuro and their sensual subjects. Cagnacci was born in Santarcangelo di Romagna, near Rimini. He worked in Rimini from 1627 to 1642. After that, he moved to work in Forlì, where he would have been able to observe the paintings of Melozzo.

In Rome he may have had an apprenticeship with the elderly Ludovico Carracci in Bologna. His initial output includes many devotional subjects. But moving to Venice under the name of Guico Baldo Canlassi da Bologna, he dedicated himself to private salon paintings, often depicting sensuous naked women from thigh upwards. In 1658, he traveled to Vienna, where he remained under patronage of the Emperor Leopold I. He died in Vienna in 1663. More Guido Cagnacci 

Unknown
Unknown woman, formerly known as Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, 
circa 1535
National Portrait Gallery

Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (14 August 1473 – 27 May 1541), was born August 14, 1473. She was the Countess of Salisbury and she was distantly in line for the throne of England. Being a possible successor to the throne called for danger. She was only three years old when her mother died and a few years later her father died as well.

When Margaret was about eighteen years old, she married a distant relative, Sir Richard Pole. Her marriage was a happy one. She had five children; one of them became a cardinal and later, Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1505, Margaret was widowed.

Then, years later, she became godmother and governess to Princess Mary, daughter of to King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. When King Henry wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon, Margaret’s son, Cardinal Reginald Pole, spoke out against the decision. The entire Pole family was against the divorce.

The king found this insulting and threatening. Because the family was against his decision, they were exiled from the court and stripped of their titles. No longer was Margret a governess to the young princess.

Eventually, she was taken to the Tower of London. And two years later, she was beheaded. Two of her sons would soon die for the same cause.

On December 29, 1886, she was beatified by Pope Leo XIII along with other English martyrs. Her feast day is May 28, the day she died in 1541. She was around seventy years old.  More Blessed Margaret Pole





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01 Work, Interpretation of the bible, Donato Creti's The Penitent Magdalene, with Footnotes - #211

Donato Creti
 "The Penitent Magdalene" 
Oil on canvas
Size: 24” inches wide by 29” inches high 
I have no further description, at this time

Mary Magdalene,  literally translated as Mary the Magdalene or Mary of Magdala, is a figure in Christianity who, according to the Bible, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers. She is said to have witnessed Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Within the four Gospels she is named more than most of the apostles. Based on texts of the early Christian era in the third century, it seems that her status as an “apostle" rivals even Peter's.

The Gospel of Luke says seven demons had gone out of her. She is most prominent in the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, at which she was present. She was also present two days later when, she was, either alone or as a member of a group of women, the first to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. John 20 and Mark 16:9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.

During the Middle Ages, Mary Magdalene was regarded in Western Christianity as a repentant prostitute or promiscuous woman, claims not found in any of the four canonical gospels. More Mary Magdalene

Donato Creti (24 February 1671 – 31 January 1749) was an Italian painter of the Rococo period, active mostly in Bologna.

Born in Cremona, he moved to Bologna, where he was a pupil of Lorenzo Pasinelli. He is described by Wittkower as the "Bolognese Marco Benefial", in that his style was less decorative and edged into a more formal neoclassical style. It is an academicized grand style, that crystallizes into a manneristic neoclassicism, with crisp and frigid modeling of the figures. Among his followers were Aureliano Milani, Francesco Monti, and Ercole Graziani the Younger. Two other pupils were Domenico Maria Fratta and Giuseppe Peroni. More on Donato Creti




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21 Works - RELIGIOUS ART - Paintings from Norse mythology, with footnotes - #1

Peter Nicolai Arbo
Detail; The wild Hunt of Odin, c. 1872
Oil on canvas
Width: 240.5 cm, Height: 166 cm
The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design

The participants in the wild hunt of Odin were ghosts and the restless souls of the dead. According to Norwegian folklore they were led by Sigurd Fåvnesbane (Sigurd Dragon-slayer), with the troll witch Gyro Ryssetova (Gudrun Horse-tail) as the rear guard. The long midwinter nights were filled with supernatural creatures and danger.  

Peter Nicolai Arbo based his monumental painting The Wild Hunt of Odin on Norse mythology, archaeological excavations and the National Romantic poetry of the day. A major inspiration was Johan Sebastian Welhaven’s eponymous poem, whose opening line is “Through the nightly air stampedes a train of frothing black horses”. More on this work

For Peter Nicolai Arbo info please see below

Before there was soil, or sky, there was only the gaping abyss, Ginnungagap. This chaos of perfect silence and darkness lay between the homeland of elemental fire, Muspelheim, and the homeland of elemental ice, Niflheim.

Frost from Niflheim and flames from Muspelheim crept toward each other until they met in Ginnungagap, the ayss. Amid the hissing and sputtering, the fire melted the ice, and the drops formed themselves into Ymir, the first of the godlike giants. Ymir was a hermaphrodite and could reproduce asexually; when he sweated, more giants were born.

File:Treated NKS audhumla.jpg
A Norse mythology image from the 18th century Icelandic manuscript "NKS 1867 4to", now in the care of the Danish Royal Library.

Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard, (1743–1809)
Auðumbla, Date 1790
37 × 45.5 cm (14.6 × 17.9 in)
Statens Museum for Kunst

In Norse mythology, Auðumbla is a primeval cow. The primordial frost jötunn Ymir fed from her milk, and over the course of three days she licked away the salty rime rocks and revealed Búri, grandfather of the gods and brothers Odin, Vili and Vé. The creature is solely attested in the Prose Edda, composed in the 13th century by Icelander Snorri Sturluson. Scholars identify her as stemming from a very early stratum of Germanic mythology, and ultimately belonging to larger complex of primordial bovines or cow-associated goddesses. More on Auðumbla

Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard (September 11, 1743 – June 4, 1809) was a Danish neoclassical and royal history painter, sculptor, architect, and professor of painting, mythology, and anatomy at the New Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Abildgaard had studied at the Academy from 1764 to 1767, then worked there as apprentice, and moved to Rome in 1772–1777, where he studied sculpture, architecture, decoration, frescoes and murals. He returned to the Academy in Copenhagen, promoted to professor in 1778, and elected as Academy Director during 1789–1791 and 1801–1809. He was also assigned as a royal artist/decorator during 1780 to 1805. Abildgaard was married twice, in 1781 and 1803. More on Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard


As the frost continued to melt, a cow, Audhumbla, emerged from it. She nourished Ymir with her milk, and she, in turn, was nourished by salt-licks in the ice. Her licks slowly uncovered Burii, the first of the Aesir tribe of gods. Buri had a son named Bor, who married Bestla, the daughter of the giant Bolthorn. The half-god, half-giant children of Bor and Bestla were Odin, who became the chief of the Aesir gods, and his two brothers, Vili and Ve...

Yggdrasil

At the center of the Norse spiritual cosmos is an ash tree, Yggdrasil, which grows out of the Well of Urd. The Nine Worlds are held in the branches and roots of the tree. 


The name Askr Yggdrasils means “the ash tree of the horse of Yggr.” Yggrmeans is also the byname of Odin. The horse of Odin is Sleipnir. 

The tree as a means of transportation between worlds is a common theme in Eurasian shamanism. Odin rides Sleipnir up and down Yggdrasil’s trunk and through its branches on his frequent journeys throughout the Nine Worlds. 

File:Odin riding Sleipnir.jpg
Odin riding Sleipnir
18th-century Icelandic manuscript

In Norse mythology, Sleipnir is an eight-legged horse

File:Odin and Sleipnir - John Bauer.jpg
John Bauer (1882–1918)
Odin and Sleipnir
The Nine Worlds:
Midgard, the world of humanity

Midgard, also called Manna-Heim (“Home of Man”), in Norse mythology, the Middle Earth, the abode of mankind, made from the body of the first created being, the giant Aurgelmir (Ymir). According to legend, the gods killed Aurgelmir, rolled his body into the central void of the universe, and began fashioning the Midgard. Aurgelmir’s flesh became the land, his blood the oceans, his bones the mountains, his teeth the cliffs, his hair the trees, and his brains (blown over the earth) became the clouds. Aurgelmir’s skull was held up by four dwarfs, Nordri, Sudri, Austri, and Vestri (the four points of the compass), and became the dome of the heavens. The sun, moon, and stars were made of scattered sparks that were caught in the skull.

Edward Robert Hughes
Dream Idyll (A Valkyrie), c. 1902
Gouache and pastel on paper (stretched paper)
Height: 109.5 cm (43.1 in); Width: 79 cm (31.1 in)
Private collection

Sold for 866,500 USD in October 2009

Against an indigo sky, a nubile rider grasps the black wings of a flying steed, her body gleaming in the moonlight, her golden tresses let loose in the wind as she peers down at the stony structures of a city built along a river many miles below.  Is this a goddess of antiquity, a fairy, a captured princess?  This allusive, seductive, strange, Symbolist scene by Edward Robert Hughes immediately captivated audiences upon its 1902 exhibition at the London's Royal Watercolor Society.  As The Builder's exhibition review exclaimed, "among the larger works of the year is one of importance, both in style and execution.  It represents a kind of work seldom undertaken in water-colour and seldom seen at... the Society.  This is Mr. E. R. Hughes' large and striking picture entitled 'A Dream Idyll'" (The Builder, p. 544). More on this painting

Edward Robert Hughes RWS (5 November 1851 – 23 April 1914) was an English painter who worked prominently in watercolours. He was influenced by his uncle, and eminent Pre-Raphaelite, Arthur Hughes. Having settled on his career choice, Edward Hughes attended Heatherley's in London to prepare himself for the chance of auditioning for the Royal Academy School. Hughes became a student at the Royal Academy School in 1868. While Pre-Raphaelitism played an influential part in shaping Hughes work, Aestheticism is also seen in his paintings.

Edward Hughes is widely known for his works Midsummer Eve and Night With Her Train of Stars yet he built a career as a portrait painter to the upper classes. In addition to being an accomplished artist himself, Edward Hughes was also a studio assistant to the elder artist and Pre-Raphaelite William Holman Hunt. Hunt himself suffered from glaucoma. Two of the paintings that Hughes worked on with Hunt were The Light of the World, and The Lady of Shalott. On his own he experimented with ambitious techniques and was a perfectionist.

Hughes held several important offices within the artistic community over his life time such as becoming a member of the Art Workers Guild in 1888, and was on their committee from 1895–1897. He was elected to Associate Membership of The Royal Water Colour Society (ARWS) on February 18, 1891.

Edward Hughes moved to St Albans, Hertfordshire, where he was later stricken with appendicitis; he died after surgery on April 23, 1914 in his home. More on Edward Robert Hughes

Midgard is situated halfway between Niflheim on the north, the land of ice, and Muspelheim to the south, the region of fire. Midgard is joined with Asgard, the abode of the deities, by Bifrost, the rainbow bridge.

Asgard, Old Norse Ásgardr, in Norse mythology, the dwelling place of the gods, comparable to the Greek Mount Olympus. Legend divided Asgard into 12 or more realms, including Valhalla, the home of Odin and the abode of heroes slain in earthly battle; Thrudheim, the realm of Thor; and Breidablik, the home of Balder.

Each important god had his own palace in Asgard, and many Germanic peoples believed that these mansions were similar in design to those of their own nobility. Asgard could be reached from earth only by the bridge Bifrost (the rainbow).

Edward Robert Hughes (1851–1914)
The Valkyrie's Vigil, c. 1906
Watercolor and gold paint on whatman paper
101.8 x 73.7 cms | 40 x 29 ins
I have no further description, at this time

Usually depicted as warlike and strong, the Pre-Raphaelite-influenced works of Frederick Sandys and Edward Robert Hughes shows them in a more delicate, feminine light.

Hughes’ Valkyrie is contemplative.  Her face is sorrowful and the misty blue overtones of the painting create a supernatural atmosphere. It is a beautiful yet somber work that indicates she does not take her duty lightly, she feels the weight of the souls she has helped to transport. More on this painting

Hughes depicts the dreadful Norse war goddess in an ethereal fairy painting: barefoot, clad in a sheer off-the-shoulder gown, and softly lit from above. Her martial aspects are de-emphasized: she tucks her helmet into the crook of her arm and holds her sword by the ricasso (the blunt section just beyond the crossguard). Of the chooser of the warrior slain in battle, of the scavenging wolf and raven, there is no trace. More on this painting

Edward Robert Hughes (1851–1914), see above


Vanaheim, the world of the Vanir tribe of gods and goddesses
I have no further description, at this time

Vanaheimr, "home of the Vanir", is the home of the Vanir, a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are masters of sorcery and magic. They are also widely acknowledged for their talent to predict the future. Nobody knows where exactly Vanaheim is located, or even how it looks like. More on Vanaheim

Arthur Rackham (1867–1939)
The Rhinegold & the Valkyrie
Brünnhilde slowly and silently leads her horse down the path to the cave,
by Richard Wagner

"Brünnhilde slowly and silently leads her horse down the path to the cave", from The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie (1910), an illustrated edition of of Richard Wagner's opera The Rhinegold, which is the first in Wagner's cycle of four music dramas titled The Ring of the Nibelung.

Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. Rackham was born in Lewisham. In 1884, at the age of 17, he was sent on an ocean voyage to Australia to improve his fragile health. At the age of 18, he worked as a clerk at the Westminster Fire Office and began studying part-time at the Lambeth School of Art.

In 1892, he left his job and started working for the Westminster Budget as a reporter and illustrator. His first book illustrations were published in 1893 in To the Other Side by Thomas Rhodes, but his first serious commission was in 1894 for The Dolly Dialogues, the collected sketches of Anthony Hope, who later went on to write The Prisoner of Zenda. Book illustrating then became Rackham's career for the rest of his life.

By the turn of the century Rackham was regularly contributing illustrations to children's periodicals. Although acknowledged as an accomplished book illustrator for some years, it was the publication of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle by Heinemann in 1905 that particularly brought him into public attention, his reputation being confirmed the following year with J.M.Barrie's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, published by Hodder & Stoughton. Rackham won a gold medal at the Milan International Exhibition in 1906 and another one at the Barcelona International Exposition in 1912. His works were included in numerous exhibitions, including one at the Louvre in Paris in 1914. More on Arthur Rackham

Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831–1892)
Dagr, c. 1874
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this time

Dagr is the son of the god Dellingr and is associated with the bright-maned horse Skinfaxi, who "draw[s] day to mankind". More on Dagr

Peter Nicolai Arbo (June 18, 1831 – October 14, 1892) was a Norwegian historical painter, who specialized in painting motifs from Norwegian history and images from Norse mythology. He is most noted for Asgårdsreien, a dramatic motif based on the Wild Hunt legend and Valkyrie, which depicts a female figure from Norse mythology. More on Peter Nicolai Arbo

James Doyle Penrose (1862-1932)
Freyja and the Necklace, c. 1890
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this time

When Freyja wanted to buy a golden necklace forged by four dwarves, she offered them gold and silver but they replied that they would only sell it to her if she would lie a night by each of them. She came home afterward with the necklace and kept silent as if nothing happened. But a man called Loki somehow knew it, and came to tell Odin. King Odin commanded Loki to steal the necklace, so Loki turned into a fly to sneak into Freyja's bower and stole it. When Freyja found her necklace missing, she came to ask king Odin. In exchange for it, Odin ordered her to make two kings, each served by twenty kings, fight forever unless some christened men so brave would dare to enter the battle and slay them. She said yes, and got that necklace back. Under the spell, king Högni and king Heðinn battled for one hundred and forty-three years, as soon as they fell down they had to stand up again and fight on. But in the end, the Christian lord Olaf Tryggvason, who has a great fate and luck, arrived with his christened men, and whoever slain by a Christian would stay dead. Thus the pagan curse was finally dissolved by the arrival of Christianity. After that, the noble man, king Olaf, went back to his realm. More on Freyja and the Necklace

Freya (Old Norse Freyja, “Lady”) is one of the preeminent goddesses in Norse mythology. She’s a member of the Vanir tribe of deities, but became an honorary member of the Aesir gods after the Aesir-Vanir War. Her father is Njord. Her mother is unknown, but could be Nerthus. Her husband, named Odr in late Old Norse literature, is certainly none other than Odin, and, accordingly, Freya is ultimately identical with Odin’s wife Frigg.

Freya is famous for her fondness of love, fertility, beauty, and fine material possessions. More on Freyja

Avery Annarose
Jotunheim, the world of the giants
I have no further description, at this time

Jotunheim (Jǫtunheimr) is the home of the jotuns (giants). They are the sworn enemies of the Aesir. Jotunheim consist mostly of rocks, wilderness and dense forests, so the giants lives from the fish in the rivers, and the animals in the forest, because there is no fertile land in Jotunheim. The whole world was created from the corpse of the first Jotun, named Ymir. It was Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve, who killed Ymir.

The Jotuns and the Aesir are constantly fighting, but it also happens from time to time, that love affairs will occur. Odin, Thor and a few others, had lovers who were Jotuns. Loki also came from Jotunheim, but he was accepted by the Aesir and lived in Asgard. More on Jotunheim

Niflheim, the primordial world of ice
I have no further description, at this time

Niflheim, Old Norse Niflheimr, in Norse mythology, the cold, dark, misty world of the dead, ruled by the goddess Hel. In some accounts it was the last of nine worlds, a place into which evil men passed after reaching the region of death (Hel). Situated below one of the roots of the world tree, Yggdrasill, Niflheim contained a well, Hvergelmir, from which many rivers flowed. In the Norse creation story, Niflheim was the misty region north of the void (Ginnungagap) in which the world was created. More on Niflheim

Mythical Creatures List
Muspelheim, the primordial world of fire
I have no further description, at this time

Muspelheim, is a hot, bright, glowing land in the south, guarded by Surt, the fire giant. In the beginning, according to one tradition, the warm air from this region melted the ice of the opposite region, Niflheim, thus giving form to Aurgelmir (Ymir), the father of the evil giants. Sparks from Muspelheim became the Sun, Moon, and stars. At the doom of the gods (Ragnarök), the sons of Muspelheim, led by Surt, will destroy the world by fire. More on Muspelheim

PlaysWithWolves, "I am an evolutionary biologist (education only) and a subway train operator (job). Born in northern Sweden as Scandinavian of Sámi and Swedish (maternal) and of Icelandic (paternal) descent, I've lived most of my life in Germany." More on  PlaysWithWolves

August Malmström  (1829–1901)
Älvalek/ Dancing Fairies, c. 1866
Alfheim, the world of the elves
Oil on canvas
height: 900 mm (35.43 in); width: 1,490 mm (58.66 in)
Nationalmuseum

Johan August Malmström (14 October 1829 – 18 October 1901) was a Swedish painter. As an artist, he was known for his country motifs often featuring children. His most widely recognized work is Grindslanten (1885) featuring a typical scene from 19th-century Sweden. Influenced by the national romanticism of Gothicismus, he also collected motives from Norse mythology. He made illustrations for publications of both Frithiofs saga and The Tales of Ensign Stål.

Malmström was a professor, and later manager at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. Malmström also worked as an illustrator for several newspapers and book publishers. Additionally, Malmström designed furniture, worked as a pattern drawer and was a designer for Gustavsberg porcelain. More on Johan August Malmström

Alfheim, "Land Of The Fairies", is one of the Nine Worlds and home of the Light Elves in Norse mythology. 

Theodor Kittelsen
Soria Moria Palace, c. 1900
Oil on canvas
Height: 46 cm, Width: 69 cm
The new National Museum, Oslo

Theodor Severin Kittelsen (27 April 1857 – 21 January 1914) wasone of the most popular artists in Norway. Kittelsen became famous for his nature paintings, as well as for his illustrations of fairy tales and legends, especially of trolls.

In 1882, Kittelsen was granted a state scholarship to study in Paris, though he would return to Munich at his own expense by the following year. In 1887, he returned to Norway for good, where he would find inspiration in the surrounding nature. He spent the next two years in Lofoten.

Kittelsen and his family settled in a home and artist studio which he called Lauvlia near Prestfoss in 1899, where he would spend his best artistic years. During this period, Kittelsen was hired to illustrate Norwegian Folktales by the Norwegian folklore collectors Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. In 1908 he was made Knight of The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. However, he was forced to sell and leave Lauvlia in 1910 due to failing health. Kittelsen was granted an artist’s stipend in 1911; he died in Jeløya in 1914. More on Theodor Severin Kittelsen

Svartalfheim, the world of the dwarves
I have no further description, at this time

Svartalfheim is the home of the dark elves. The dark elves hate the sun so they live in the murky underground. They are hideous and can be of a annoyance to the humans. More on Svartalfheim

René Heeres
Niflheim, the world of the eponymous goddess Hel and the dead

This cold, dark and misty abode of the dead is located  on the lowest level of the Norse universe. No one can ever leave this place, because of the impassable river Gjoll that flows from the spring Hvergelmir and encircles Helheim. Once they enter Helheim, not even the gods can leave. Those who die of old age or disease, and those not killed in battle, go to Helheim while those who die bravely on the battlefield go to Valhalla.

The entrance to Helheim is guarded by Garm, a monstrous hound, and Modgud. The giant Hraesvelg ("corpse eater") sits at the edge of the world, overlooking Helheim. In the form of an eagle with flapping wings he makes the wind blow. More on Niflheim

Hel is a giantess and goddess in Norse mythology who rules over Helheim, the underworld where the dead dwell. She’s the daughter of Loki and the giant Angrboða, and therefore the sister of the wolf Fenrir and the world serpent, Jormungand.  More on Hel

René Heeres is an artist that works in art, visual arts, abstract, art style, colourfull, high art, unusual art, expressive use of colours, oilpainting, oil on canvas, photography, kunst, fotografie, beeldende kunst, art for sale, kunst te koop, kunst kopen, expressionistisch, expressionistische kunst, exotic, tekeningen, tekenen, professioneel kunstenaar, drawings, outstanding art, interesting art, interessante kunst, quality art, photography, photo, blog about art, blog over kunst, contemporary art, moderne kunst, edda, eddah, Noordse mythologie, mythology,digitale fotografie, digital photography, landschaps fotografie, landscape photography. More on René Heeres

James Doyle Penrose  (1862–1932)
Idun and the Apples/ Iduna, Daughter of Svald
Oil on canvas
height: 49 in (124.4 cm); width: 69 in (175.2 cm) 
Private collection

Estimated for $30,000 USD - $50,000 USD in May 2013

In Norse mythology, Iðunn is a goddess associated with apples and youth. Iðunn is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, she is described as the wife of the skaldic god Bragi, and in the Prose Edda, also as a keeper of apples and granter of eternal youthfulness. More on Iðunn

James Doyle Penrose RHA JP (9 May 1862 – 2 January 1932) was a 
well known portrait artist, sculptor and painter of religious subjects born in County Wicklow, Ireland. He was a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. He came from a family of prosperous Quakers and was formally trained in London at two Royal Academy of Arts schools: St John's Wood Art School and the Royal College of Art in South Kensington.

Penrose left Ireland with his father and family about 1890 to settle in Hertfordshire near London. He exhibited his work regularly at the Royal Academy of Arts in London from the 1890s until 1927. He travelled extensively in Canada.

He died in Bognor Regis on Saturday 2 January 1932. More on James Doyle Penrose



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