Gerard van Honthorst | Adoration of the Christ Child, 1619-1620

The Dutch painter Gerard van Honthorst (1590-1656) was called Gherardo delle Notti (literally Gerard of the nights) because of his peculiar compositions in nocturnal lighting influenced by Caravaggio that he met in Rome in the first decades of the 17th century.

During his stay in Italy, Honthorst met Grand Duke Cosimo II de’ Medici, who bought some of his works in 1620, among which probably this Adoration of the Child.

The divine light spread from the newborn’s body softens each feature, in particular the facial ones of the Virgin.

Gerard van Honthorst | Adoration of the Christ Child, 1619-1620 | Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Michelangelo Buonarroti | Tondo Doni, 1505-1506

Michelangelo painted this Holy Family for a Florentine merchant, Agnolo Doni, whose prestigious marriage to Maddalena Strozzi in 1504 took place in a period that was crucial for early 16th-century Florentine art.

The presence in the city of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael together, boosted the already lively Florentine art scene, which in the first decade of the century experienced a period of great cultural fervour.

Barbara Longhi (Italian Mannerist painter, 1552-1638)

Barbara Longhi was an Italian painter🎨.

She was much admired in her lifetime as a portraitist, although most of her portraits are now lost or unattributed.

Her work, such as her many Madonna and Child paintings, earned her a fine reputation as an artist.

Longhi is one of the few female artists mentioned in the second edition (1568) of Italian painter and art historian Giorgio Vasari's epic work Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Vasari writes that Longhi "draws very well, and she has begun to colour some things with good grace and manner".

But as Germaine Greer discussed in her The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work, such "haphazard" selections of women artists including Longhi rarely offered "serious criticism of their achievement".

Greer then offered her own assessment: "Barbara's output was considerable, all small pictures, remarkable for their purity of line and soft brilliance of colour" and "Barbara Longhi brings to her extremely conservative picture-making a simplicity and intensity of feeling quite beyond her mannerist father and her dilettante brother".

The Museo d'Arte della Città di Ravenna owns seven works by Barbara Longhi, as well as eleven of her father Luca's and three by her brother Francesco.

Her work is represented in the collections of the Musée du Louvre (Paris), Pinacoteca di Brera (Milan), Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Museo Biblioteca del Grappa, Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, Maryland) and Indianapolis Museum of Art, and also in the Santa Maria Maggiore (Ravenna). | © Wikipedia

Barbara Longhi (Ravenna, 21 settembre 1552 - Ravenna, 23 dicembre 1638) è stata una pittrice Italiana.

Fu stimata ritrattista, ma solo poche sue opere ci sono pervenute, in parte riconducibili all'attività svolta nella bottega del padre, dove le era affidato il compito di produrre piccole tele su tema religioso, destinate alla devozione privata.

Nacque a Ravenna, dove trascorse l'intera sua esistenza.

Era figlia di Luca (1507-1580), noto pittore manierista🎨 e di Bernardina Baronzelli.

Come suo fratello maggiore Francesco (1544-1618), ricevette le prime nozioni pittoriche nella bottega paterna.

Collaborò anche alla realizzazione di pale d'altare, entrando così in contatto con il processo di commercializzazione, che allora si svolgeva attraverso mecenati.

Completò la sua formazione nel 1570, ma i suoi legami con la famiglia e con la bottega del padre rimasero forti.

Si conosce poco della sua vita e s'ignora se si sia mai sposata.

Della sua produzione come ritrattista ci è pervenuto solo il ritratto di un Monaco Camaldolese - uno dei pochi che include una data, anche se l'ultima cifra non è del tutto leggibile (1570 o 1573?) - e unico raffigurante un soggetto maschile adulto.

Lo ha ritratto nel suo studio, vestito del saio bianco camaldolese, tra i suoi libri aperti e scritti a mano. Questo dipinto si conserva oggi al Museo d'arte della città di Ravenna.

Due sue tele di piccolo formato, a soggetto religioso, sono state da lei siglate e una è datata. Una pala d'altare a Russi è firmata per esteso e datata 1618.

La Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, oggi al Museo d'arte della città di Ravenna, proviene dal monastero di Classe in Ravenna.

Nelle Nozze di Cana, dipinto ad olio su un muro del refettorio dello stesso convento di Classe, opera di Luca Longhi del 1579-1580 poi ultimata da suo figlio Francesco, secondo la tradizione riconosciuta la donna in primo piano, rivolta verso lo spettatore, sarebbe un ritratto di Barbara Longhi. | © Wikipedia

Luca Longhi (1507-1580) | Le Nozze di Cana | particolare | Ritratto della figlia Barbara, 1580

Sebastiano del Piombo | Mannerist painter

According to Vasari, the painter Sebastiano Luciani (1485-1547), known as Sebastiano del Piombo, was born in Venice.

A musician before becoming a painter, Vasari also states that he trained with Giovanni Bellini. His early works are influenced by the style of Giorgione, as is evident in his painting of Salome (National Gallery, London).

After the premature death of Giorgione, Sebastiano moved to Rome in 1511 on the suggestion of the banker Agostino Chigi, for whom he undertook the fresco decoration of the Villa Farnesina.

Istvan Sàndorfi | Hyper-Surrealist painter

István Sándorfi (1948-2007) also known as Étienne Sandorfi, was a naturalised French painter of Hungarian origin.

He received his formal art education at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and at École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris.

He mastered what art critics now term hyperrealism. But he did so with his very own blend of Surreal elements.

Camille Pissarro | Impressionist / Post-Impressionist painter

Camille Pissarro, in full Jacob-Abraham-Camille Pissarro (born July 10, 1830, St. Thomas, Danish West Indies-died Nov. 13, 1903, Paris, France), painter and printmaker who was a key figure in the history of Impressionism.

Pissarro was the only artist to show his work in all eight Impressionist group exhibitions; throughout his career he remained dedicated to the idea of such alternative forums of exhibition. He experimented with many styles, including a period when he adopted Georges Seurat’s "pointillist" approach.

A supportive friend and mentor to influential artists such as Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, he was described by many who knew him as "Father Pissarro".

Simone Cantarini | Baroque painter

Simone Cantarini (1612-1648) was born in Pesaro, in the Marches, a region which was a crossroads for artists from many parts of Italy.

Cantarini began his artistic training quite young, probably 1623-1625, in the studio of Giovanni Giacomo Pandolfi (?1570-1640?), a painter of religious works who combined the local naturalism with the mannerist style of the late sixteenth century.

After a brief trip to Venice, Cantarini moved to the shop of Claudio Ridolfi (?1570-1644), a student of Paolo Veronese🎨 (1528-1588).

Guido Cagnacci | The Death of Cleopatra, 1645-55

Artist: Guido Cagnacci (Italian, Santarcangelo di Romagna 1601-1663 Vienna)

Date: ca. 1645-55

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 37 3/8 × 29 1/2 in. (95 × 75 cm)

Current location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue in Gallery 637

The subject, from Plutarch's Lives (1st century A.D.), is Cleopatra's suicide by an asp bite following the defeat of her beloved Mark Antony at the battle of Actium.

Allegory of painting

Artemisia Gentileschi🎨 (Italian Baroque Era painter, 1593-1652) | Self Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1638 (detail) | Royal Collection

First attested in English in 1382, the word allegory comes from Latin allegoria, the latinisation of the Greek ἀλληγορία (allegoría), "veiled language, figurative", which in turn comes from both ἄλλος (allos), "another, different" and ἀγορεύω (agoreuo), "to harangue, to speak in the assembly", which originates from ἀγορά (agora), "assembly".

Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (Italian Rococo Era painter, 1675-1741) | Allegory of Painting

As a literary device, an allegory is a metaphor in which a character, place or event is used to deliver a broader message about real-world issues and occurrences.

Allegory (in the sense of the practice and use of allegorical devices and works) has occurred widely throughout history in all forms of art, largely because it can readily illustrate or convey complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers, or listeners.

Writers or speakers typically use allegories as literary devices or as rhetorical devices that convey (semi-)hidden or complex meanings through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, or events, which together create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey.

Many allegories use personifications of abstract concepts.

François Boucher (French Rococo Era painter, 1703-1770) | Cupids Allegory of Painting

Artemisia Gentileschi (Italian Baroque Era painter, 1593-1652) | Allegory of Painting

Domenico Corvi (Italian Rococo painter, 1721-1803) | Allegory of Painting

Artemisia Gentileschi (Italian Baroque Era painter, 1593-1652) | Self Portrait as an Allegory of Painting, 1635

Johannes Vermeer🎨 (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1632-1675) | The Allegory of Painting, 1666

Johannes Vermeer (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1632-1675) | The Allegory of Painting, 1666 (detail)

Johannes Vermeer (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1632-1675) | The Allegory of Painting, 1666 (detail)

Johannes Vermeer (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1632-1675) | The Allegory of Painting, 1666 (detail)

Johannes Vermeer (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1632-1675) | The Allegory of Painting, 1666 (detail)

François Boucher (French Rococo Era painter, 1703-1770) | Allegory of Painting

Gerrit van Honthorst (Dutch Baroque Era painter, ca.1590-1656) | Allegory of painting

Rosalba Carriera (Italian Rococo Era painter, 1675-1757) | Allegory of Painting | National Gallery of Art

Artemisia Gentileschi (Italian Baroque Era painter, 1593-1652) | Self Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1638 | Royal Collection (detail)

Artemisia Gentileschi (Italian Baroque Era painter, 1593-1652) | Self Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1638 | Royal Collection

Frans van Mieris the elder (Dutch Golden Age painter, 1635-1681) | Allegory of Painting, 1661 | The Getty Museum

Frans van Mieris the elder (Dutch Golden Age painter, 1635-1681) | Allegory of Painting, 1661 (detail) | The Getty Museum

Frans van Mieris the elder (Dutch Golden Age painter, 1635-1681) | Allegory of Painting, 1661 (detail) | The Getty Museum

Francesco Trevisani (Italian Rococo Era painter, 1656-1746) | An allegory of painting

La parola allegorìa deriva dal greco antico αλληγορία, composto da ἀλλή + ἀγορεύω, letteralmente "un altro" + "parlare", vale a dire: parlare d'altro, leggere tra le righe, sottintendere qualcosa che non è espressamente indicato in un contesto determinato.

L'allegoria è quella figura retorica che esprime un concetto in altro modo (attraverso simboli).

L'allegoria è una figura retorica per cui, in letteratura, qualcosa di astratto viene espresso attraverso un'immagine concreta.

L'allegoria è spesso usata anche in altri campi artistici, dalla pittura alla scultura alle altre arti figurative.

Carlo Maratta (Italian Baroque Era painter, 1625-1713) | An allegory of Painting

Giovanni Martinelli (Italian Baroque Era painter, ca.1610-1659) | Allegory of painting | Uffizi

Simone Cantarini detto il Pesarese (Italian Baroque Era painter, 1612-1648) | Allegoria della Pittura