Stuff Jos van der Woude cares about

For more than a decade now, I shoot photos of ancient art in museums around the world. A particular favorite of mine is ancient Egyptian art. At the start of 2016 I have about 1400 photos of Egyptian art. In 2002, I started out with a simple Sony digital point-and-shoot camera, but more recently I use a professional Canon digital single reflex camera. You can take a look at the gear section (link opens in a new window) of this blog, if you are interested in the photography part.This ancient art gallery (link opens in a new window) contains a selection of these photos in chronological order of date taken. For the time being this gallery contains ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek art photos. In a few cases, when photography is not allowed in a particular museum, I have resorted to using scans. This is very unfortunate. I have tried to correctly identify all works of art in the captions using various sources. Firstly, in recent years I always take an additional photo of the label and enter this text in the caption. If a label is not available, or if I forget to shoot the label, I use art books, Wikipedia and Google. Sometimes it takes a considerable amount of time to identify a particular work of art. This form of treasure hunting is part of the fun! If things work correctly you will be able to land on the right photo page using an appropriate Google search for the work of art you are interested in. If I have it, that is. The plan is to extend this gallery with other ancient art (Byzantine and Roman) over time.

Introduction

May 4th, 2015 we visited the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden on a whim, because we read the museum would be closed for renovations, at least for the rest of the year. The Egyptian department is my favorite, so we went there first. But on the upper floor my eye caught something else. I took a photo of this strange piece of jewelry, and once back home, I researched it. Read on to find out what I discovered about this fascinating piece of jewelry...

The Gemma Constantiniana is one of the greatest cameos from classical antiquity. It was made in honour of Constantine’s victory over his rival Maxentius in AD 312. It is a large agate of two layers of grey and brown (21.1 × 29.7 cm) and shows an Emperor and his family on a chariot drawn by two centaurs trampling on fallen enemies, while a flying Victory holds a wreath. Both the style and the scene depicted point to the fourth century: Constantine the Great is pictured with his spouse Fausta, his son Crispus and his mother Helena. Comparison with Constantinian coins and a close scrutiny of the scene portrayed lead to the conclusion that this work of art was produced in the years 312—315 and served as a present on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Emperor's accession, in 315. Thus it is the aristocratic counterpart of Constantine's popular triumphal arch. The guilded frame with gems was added in the 17th century in Antwerp.

It is possible to trace at least part of the long way the cameo travelled from the Emperor's treasure house in Rome to the Rijksmueum Oudheden in Leiden, The Netherlands, mostly thanks to meticulous recordkeeping of the Dutch East India Company.

Time line of events

Date	Place	Events
315	Rome	Cameo made in honour of Constantine’s victory over his rival Maxentius in AD 312. It served as a present on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Emperor's accession, in 315
330?	Constantinople	Roman capital transferred from Rome to Constantinople, cameo probably taken there.
1204	Constantinople	4th Crusade, sack of Constantinople. Cameo taken to France?
1204-1622	France?	Unknown, probably in a monastery or church in France
1622	Antwerp	Cameo in possession of Peter-Paul Rubens, great Baroque painter and collector of ancient cameos
1628	Antwerp	Frame with gems added by Theodoor Rogiersz in Antwerp.
1628, Oct	Amsterdam	Taken to Gaspar Boudaen in Amsterdam to be sold to the Great Mogul of India.
1628, Oct 28	Texel	The Batavia under command of Francisco Pelsaert leaves Texel with the Great cameo as its most valuable item.
1629, Jun 4	Abrolhos Islands, off the coast of Western Austalia	At about 5 a.m. on 4 June 1629 the Dutch ship the Batavia, belonging to the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie - VOC), on its way to Java with 316 people on board, struck Morning Reef in the Wallabi Group of the Abrolhos Islands, about sixty kilometres off the central west coast of Western Australia.
1629, Jun 4 – Sep 17	Abrolhos Islands, off the coast of Western Austalia	Cameo in possession of the mutineers of the infamous Batavia Mutiny. In the absence of captain Pelsaert the mutineers, led by Jeronimus Cornelisz, callously murdered about 110 men, women and children, in many cases with horrific savagery and cruelty. Cornelisz never committed any of the murders himself, although he tried and failed to poison a baby (who was eventually strangled). Instead, he used his powers of persuasion to coerce others into doing it for him, firstly under the pretense that the victim had committed a crime such as theft. Eventually, the mutineers began to kill for pleasure, or simply because they were bored. He planned to reduce the island's population to around 45 so that their supplies would last as long as possible. Although Cornelisz had left the soldiers, led by Wiebbe Hayes, to die, they had in fact found good sources of water and food on their islands. Initially, they were unaware of the barbarity taking place on the other islands and sent pre-arranged smoke signals announcing their finds. However, they soon learned of the massacres from survivors fleeing Cornelisz' island. In response, the soldiers devised makeshift weapons from materials washed up from the wreck. They also set a watch so that they were ready for the mutineers, and built a small fort out of limestone and coral blocks. Cornelisz seized on the news of water on the other island, as his own supply was dwindling and the continued survival of the soldiers threatened his own success. He went with his men to try to defeat the soldiers marooned on West Wallabi Island. However, the trained soldiers were by now much better fed than the mutineers and easily defeated them in several battles, eventually taking Cornelisz hostage. The mutineers who escaped regrouped under a man named Wouter Loos and tried again, this time employing muskets to besiege Hayes' fort and almost defeated the soldiers. But Wiebbe Hayes' men prevailed again, just as Pelsaert arrived in the rescue ship the Saardam. A race to the rescue ship ensued between Cornelisz's men and the soldiers. Wiebbe Hayes reached the ship first and was able to present his side of the story to Pelsaert. After a short battle, the combined force captured all of the mutineers.
1629, Oct 2	Abrolhos Islands, off the coast of Western Austalia	Cameo retrieved from mutineers. Pelsaert decided to conduct a trial on the islands, because the Saardam on the return voyage to Batavia would have been overcrowded with survivors and prisoners. After a brief trial, the worst offenders were taken to Seal Island and executed. Cornelisz and several of the major mutineers had both hands chopped off before being hanged on October 2. Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom de Bye, were considered only minor offenders and were abandoned on the Western Australian coast, probably at the mouth of Hutt River, about 450 kilometres north of where Perth now stands. They were provided with a boat, food, toys and trinkets to trade, and a set of instructions. Thus they became the first Europeans to take up residence in Australia, and their instructions directed them to “make themselves known to the folk of this land.” Reports of unusually light-skinned Aborigines in the area by later British settlers have been suggested as evidence that the two men might have been adopted into a local Aboriginal clan. Some amongst the Amangu people of the mainland have a blood group specific to Leyden, in Holland. However, numerous other European shipwreck survivors, such as those from the wreck of the Zuytdorp in the same region in 1712, may also have had such contact with indigenous inhabitants.
1629, Dec	Batavia (Jakarta)	The remaining mutineers were taken to Batavia for trial. Five were hanged, while several others were flogged. Cornelisz's second in command, Jacop Pietersz, was broken on the wheel, the most severe punishment available at the time. A board of inquiry decided that Pelsaert had exercised a lack of authority and was therefore partly responsible for what had happened. His financial assets were seized, and he died a broken man within a year. On the other hand, the common soldier Wiebbe Hayes was hailed as a hero. The Dutch East India Company promoted him to sergeant, and later to lieutenant, which increased his salary fivefold. Of the original 341 people on board the Batavia, only 68 made it to the port of Batavia.
1632	Suratte, India	Cameo taken aboard the warship Amboina to Suratte, India for sale to governor Mirmousa. No deal.
1633	Batavia	Cameo returns to Batavia onboard the warship ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
1634, Aug	Batavia	Cameo stays in Batavia; drawings are sent to Hindoustan and Persia in order to sell it. No deal.
1636?	Gamron, Persia	Cameo sent to Gamron in Persia. No deal.
1637, Jun	Batavia	Cameo returns to Batavia.
1637, Dec	Achin, Sumatra	Bad weather forces premature return to Batavia.
1638, Feb 24	Achin, Sumatra	King of Atjeh refuses to buy the cameo.
1640	Suratte, India	Cameo taken aboard the warship Nieuw-Zeeland to Suratte, India for sale to governor Mirmousa. No deal.
1641, Apr	Batavia	Cameo returns to Batavia aboard the warship Nieuw-Zeeland.
1641 - 1647	Batavia	Cameo in store
1647	Suratte, India	Gaspar Boudaen's son comes out to the East Indies and takes it to Suratte, but he, too, fails to sell it.
1653-1656	The Netherlands	Cameo returns to the heirs of Gaspar Boudaen in the Netherlands
1656-1756	The Netherlands	Unknown
1756, Sep 11	Amsterdam, de Munt	Cameo is auctioned for fl 5500 at the Munt in Amsterdam, probably to Jacob Hop.
1783, Oct 1	Amsterdam, de Munt	Cameo is up for auction at the Munt in Amsterdam by the heirs of Jacob Hop (Pabst). No deal.
1808	Paris	Cameo is taken to Paris and a detailed drawing is made by Lacour. Cameo is almost sold to Napoleon for ff 110.000. Events in 1813 preclude a deal.
1823	Leiden	King Willem I buys the cameo for fl 50.000 from Jacob Hop’s grandson. Cameo is taken to the Royal Coin Cabinet in Leiden.
2007, May 24	Utrecht	Cameo is transferred to the Money museum in Utrecht
2014, Jan 15	Leiden	Cameo is transferred to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden

Sources

Rupert Gerritsen, Austalia's First Criminal Prosecutions in 1629, 2011

Looking back at the family photos of my youth, it seems my brother Harmen and I were inseparable. It seems strange, because when we were older we chose very different paths. Harmen liked drawing pictures and received the highest marks for them in elementary school. I liked to read books I borrowed from the public library. I went to University to study physics and later psychology. My brother Harmen was accepted at the Art Academy in Groningen.

My mother claims my brother was an adorable and sweet boy when little. From the age of 10 however, Harmen was not an easy person to get along with. We all used to say he was “a bit strange”; this label did not make interacting with him any easier; he had an uncanny way of getting on people’s bad side and make people uncomfortable; even irritated. Looking back, I realize Harmen often did not conform to informal rules of acceptable social behavior. Rules we all follow, without being aware of them most of the time. Only when someone does not follow these rules we notice something is a bit off.

Things turned a bit more worrisome when Harmen moved to Groningen. He did not seems to make any friends at school, his room always was a complete mess and he started venting really strange ideas about the world around him. After an incident in which Harmen destroyed some of my belongings while staying at my place, my father went to our family physician with Harmen. They were quickly referred to the University hospital in Groningen. Harmen stayed a while for observation and diagnosis at the clinic of prof. dr. van den Hoofdakker. Eventually he was diagnosed with an advanced case of schizophrenia and a long term stay in an institution was recommended. The first night Harmen was there, he decided he did not want to live like that and he ended his life on February 19th 1985.

Rest in Peace my dear brother. You will not be forgotten. Click on the following link to open a catalog of all known works of art by Harmen van der Woude. This opens in a new window. Works of Art by Harmen van der Woude

 

October 2013 I visited the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, Italy. After having seen many great Italian masterpieces my eye caught something different. "This is not Italian, this looks more Northern European" I mumbled to myself.

Lo and behold, it was a painting by a Dutch master called Jacob-Cornelisz van Oostsanen.  To my shame I have to admit, I had not heard of him before. I did like the painting though, and looked at it in detail. I also took a photograph and then went on to see many more Italian masterpieces ... To my great surprise a couple of months later I saw the very same painting in a large article about a new exhibition opening in both Amsterdam and Alkmaar. Here was the chance to see this painting again, apparently cleaned and accompanied by a great many other works by Van Oostsanen from all over the world. What an unique opportunity! So I went to the Amsterdam Museum to see "my painting" again. It is called "The Nativity with the Boelen family as donors". The colors were much brighter than I remembered them. This is the effect of the painting having been cleaned. This time I studied the painting in even more detail and thoroughly enjoyed doing so. In this painting Bethlehem is situated in a very Dutch looking coastal landscape. Cool!

A weekend later I went to Alkmaar to see the rest of the exhibition. The painting I liked best is on view at the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar and it is called "Noli me Tangere" (Latin: Do Not Touch Me). The colors are spectacular and the detail is unbelievable. Apart from the main scene there are many more smaller scenes in the painting. The smallest is Jesus sitting down at a table with others in one of the buildings in the city in the background. It is too small to see on this photograph! The painting just does not look like it was made in 1507. So who was Jacob-Cornelisz van Oostsanen? Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (1475-1533) is the earliest artist in Amsterdam that we know by name he was a celebrated artist in the early sixteenth century. His studio on the Kalverstraat, then already a fashionable street, developed into a highly productive workshop, taking commissions from patrons in Holland and beyond. He provided portraits and religious pictures, as well as combinations of the two, whether in print or oils. Van Oostsanen is one of the great masters from the Northern Netherlands who laid the foundation for the flourishing success of Dutch art that followed. His works show how art developed during his lifetime from the late medieval style to the early Renaissance. His taste for unexpected details and the exceptional quality of the thirty or more surviving paintings, as well as his two hundred woodcuts, are spectacular to view.

Key to understanding why Jacob-Cornelisz van Oostsanen is relatively unknown in the Netherlands today, is the fact that he lived and worked in a Roman-Catholic Amsterdam just decades before the Protestant Reformation. Protestant reformers were sharply opposed to what they considered the idolatry of the Host. In 1566 during the "Beeldenstorm" (Iconoclastic Fury) a lot of Dutch Catholic art was destroyed by militant Calvinists. On May 26, 1578 a bloodless revolution turned Amsterdam from a Catholic city into a Protestant one. The Catholic town council was expelled, and from then on Catholics were no longer allowed to worship in public. Civic authorities also dissolved the convents and monasteries, and their properties — along with all Catholic churches — were confiscated. Moveable goods, like paintings, were mosty sold to foreign buyers and thus saved from destruction. 

Please do not forget to take a look at the ceiling paintings in the St Lawrence's church, next to the museum in Alkmaar. They are recently restored and awesome! It is Jacob-Cornelisz van Oostsanen's interpretation of The Last Judgement. Shown here is a tiny detail of this vast work of art. The photograph was taken with my new Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens with an EF 1.4x III extender fitted.

The exhibition is on show until June 29, 2014 at three separate locations: The Amsterdam Museum Amsterdam, the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar and the St Lawrence’s church in Alkmaar.

Just got back from a two day trip to Verona, Vicenza and Padua. In Verona we went to the San Zeno Maggiore church in order to see the Andrea Mantegna's San Zeno Altarpiece. In and near Vicenza we saw a lot of buildings designed by Andrea Palladio and in Padua we (obviously) went to see the Giotto frescoes in the Cappella degli Scrovegni. It was a great little trip!

Last week we were in Italy again (-: . The weather was great, the food as delicious as always and we spent many hours visiting museums, churches and other interesting sites. There is a whole list of things to talk about: The Uffizi in Florence, the national museum of medieval art San Matteo in Pisa, the little mountain town of Barga with its wonderful church, the Devil’s Bridge near Lucca, the Duomo in Lucca, the list goes on. Of all things worthy to share one subject stands out: the convent of San Marco in Florence. Why, you ask? The amazing frescoes by Fra Angelico for one thing and its link to Girolamo Savonarola, reformer and heretic who eventually was tortured and hanged for his alleged crimes in the main square of Florence.

San Marco
The San Marco church and convent is now a museum. I have visited Florence five or six times and yet this was my first visit to the San Marco museum. The reason for this has partly to do with its location, it is slightly out of the way in the northern part of the inner city and in addition to this it probably is a typical place to visit after you have seen all the main attractions. Nevertheless it is a real gem for its art and place in history. The convent we see today is basically unaltered since it was build in 1437 on a site of an earlier church. The new complex was occupied by the Dominican order and sponsored by Lorenzo di Medici, who had a personal cell here to retreat into.

Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico lived in this convent from 1436–1445 and during this time he painted many frescoes on the walls of the convent. What is special about these frescoes is their intended audience and effect. Mostly frescoes and paintings were meant to educate the general public about the Holy Scriptures. The frescoes Fra Angelico painted in this convent were meant to be seen only by the friars living there. These friars were literate and were very well aware of the stories in the bible. Fra Angelico painted these meditational frescoes with the specific purpose of evoking spiritual energy, thus assisting the friars in solitary payer and contemplation. In today's terms we would say that these frescoes show and evoke real human emotion. Please take a close look at the face of the Dominican friar in the picture to the right (Click image for a larger version in a separate window). And it is just that what is so special in a work of art from 1445, heralding the coming of a new age: The Renaissance. Put in yet another way: Fra Angelico realized the advancements made by Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel and carried them further. Today, most works of art can only be seen out of their original context in a distant museum. The fact that these frescoes are still in their original places in the convent for which they were made makes them doubly special. There are not many places on Earth were you can see so much great art in its original unaltered context.

Girolamo Savonarola
Another famous inhabitant of this convent was Girolamo Savonarola. In fact he occupied Fra Angelico's cell from 1482 till his public hanging in the main square of Florence in 1498. I had read about this preacher, reformer, hertic before, but I had never really understood his significance till now. From an early age (as we know from letters to his father) he was appalled by the hypocracy of the clergy. Today we would call him a Puritan. He found his calling as a preacher when he impressed the public with his message that the Church had to change its corrupt ways. People were outright scared when he correctly predicted that a "Powerful Sword of the Lord  from the North" (King Charles VIII of France) would invade Italy and threaten Florence. The good citizens of Florence quickly austed their rulers, the di Medici's, and after that Savonarola convinced the French to bypass Florence all together and go after the real culprit instead: the Pope in Rome. For a short while Savonarola ran the city of Florence as a democratic theocracy. Depending on who's writing the account this was a paradise on earth, a haven of democracy in a corrupt world or sheer maddness reaching a climax in the carnival of 1497 where Savonarola organized troops of boys and girls to tour the city, house to house, and begged the people to give up their gauds and vanities, from cosmetics to pagan books and paintings, the worldly things that turned their hearts away from true Christian living. And soon in the great square of Florence rose a great pyramid, fifteen stories high, carnival masks, rich dresses women's ornaments, wigs, mirrors, powder puffs, rouge-pots, lip-sticks, cards and dice, perfume and cosmetics, books of poems and on magic, musical instruments, trinkets of all kinds and worldly paintings in which Greek nymphs displayed their unclothed shapes. When Savonarola attacked Pope Alexander VI directly, accusing him of debauchery, he took on an enemy too powerful to mess with. You might recognize the name of Pope Alexander VI and if you are wondering why it is because you know him from the TV series The Borgias. Yes, it is the very same Pope. The Pope excommunicated Savonarola (this did not bother him much) and threatened the Florentines with an interdict. This interdict meant in effect a trade embargo for the city of Florence. So Savonarola all of a sudden became a lot less popular with the good citizens of Florence. They forced him to shut up. But Savonarola was no the man to be shut up for long, he persisted in his ways preaching puritanism and calling for church reforms. Savonarola hinted at performing miracles to prove his divine mission, but when a rival Franciscan preacher proposed to test that mission by walking through fire, he lost control of the public discourse. Without consulting him, his confidant fra Domenico da Pescia offered himself as his surrogate and Savonarola felt he could not afford to refuse. A crowd filled the central square, eager to see if God would intervene and if so, on which side. The nervous contestants and their delegations delayed the start of the contest for hours. A sudden rain drenched the spectators and government officials cancelled the proceedings. The crowd disbanded angrily; the burden of proof had been on Savonarola and he was blamed for the fiasco. A mob assaulted the convent of San Marco. Savonarola and two friends were arrested and imprisoned. Under torture Savonarola confessed to having invented his prophecies and visions, then retracted, then confessed again. On the morning of May 23, 1498, the three friars were led out into the main square where, before a tribunal of high clerics and government officials, they were condemned as heretics and schismatics, and sentenced to die forthwith. Stripped of their Dominican garments in ritual degradation, they mounted the scaffold in their thin white shirts. Each on a separate gallows, they were hanged, while a fire was ignited below them to consume their bodies. There is a painting in the San Marco museum depicting this very scene, although not very realistically, because we know from written accounts the square was crowded with people both cheering and crying. Click on the picture to the right to open a larger version in a separate window.

Opinions
The Britannica online encyclopedia considers Savonarola a forerunner of Luther and mentions that in Worms, Germany Savonarola has a statue besides the statue of Martin Luther himself. The Catholic online encyclopedia mentions that the Pope had been very lenient and finally had to act against Savonarola to prevent a schism in the Roman Catholic Church. The statue in Worms is totally unwarranted in their view. Finally Machiavelli wrote in the Prince:"If Moses, Cyrus, Theseus, and Romulus had been unarmed they could not have enforced their constitutions for long — as happened in our time to Fra Girolamo Savonarola, who was ruined with his new order of things immediately the multitude believed in him no longer, and he had no means of keeping steadfast those who believed or of making the unbelievers to believe."

In 1982 Pope John Paul II beatified Fra Angelico and 1984 declared him patron of Catholic artists. It seems unlikely that Savonarola, Fra angelico's "cellmate" in the convent of San Marco, will be bestowed the same honor any time soon ...

This week we bought a little sculpture by Jean van der Poll. Officially it is untitled and it is listed as made in 1969. We call it "girl with ball". For the last three years this statue sat on our living room table. My wife's daughters Lisa and Janne gave it to us as a wedding present. More specifically they paid the art library's fee so that we could keep the statue for one year. For two years in a row we renewed this arrangement, because we really like it. This year they did not let us renew it again, so we bought it. I have googled the artist, but apart from a few old newspaper clippings, I did not find much. One of these clippings was an article "Metaal- en glaskunst van Jean v.d. Poll" dated October 3rd 1967 in "Utrechts Nieuwsblad". Apparently Jean van der Poll held an exhibition in Bilthoven around that date. The art critic mentions an object he calls "girl with ball". This has to be our girl! The art library has another sculpture by the same artist. Presently someone else has this work, but we have already reserved it.

UPDATE (07-05-2014): The artist contacted us and we met in his home. We showed him our two sculptures (yes, we bought the second one too) and he showed us a lot of his other work. He told us he is terminally ill and he and his wife really appreciated us coming to see him and show him his own two sculptures from so long ago. It was a memorable meeting.

This summer we revisited Tuscany, revisited Cortona and revisited the little Museo Diocesano. Actually it was only on the third or fourth visit to Cortona, last year, we discovered this little gem. On the outside it is completely unremarkable. It sits right opposite of the Cathedral in Cortona, so it is easy to locate. It is just very unremarkable, on the outside ...

On the inside it is just great. It is home to many world renowned paintings by Luca Signorelli and Fra Angelico. Two great artists of the early Italian Renaissance. Last year when we were here it was very busy and photography was strictly forbidden. This year we were almost the only ones there and it seemed they turned a blind eye to people taking photos. This allowed me to take some great shots of these superb paintings.

In one of his first true masterpieces, The Cortona Annunciation, Fra Angelico has the Virgin and the Angel say some words, like in modern cartoons. On the left, confronting Mary with a half-genuflection is the Angel, his forefinger raised in expostulation as his lips recite the sentence: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee". On the right the Virgin, her hands crossed on her breast, leans forward from her gold-brocaded seat, reciting the words of St. Luke, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word". Also note Adam and Eve, in the upper left corner, being chased out of Paradise by an angel. This painting originally stood in the church of San Domenico in Cortona. In the 19th century it was moved to the Church of Gesù in Cortona and now it resides in the Museo Diocesano, still in Cortona. See the wikipedia entry for more information on Fra Angelico (opens in a new window). Click on the thumb image below to enjoy this painting in its full glory. Please be patient, it is huge.

 

 

 

 

We like to visit museums. It is one of those things that we both really enjoy doing. It is really unfortunate that due to my wife's health we cannot do this as often - or as long - as we used or like to do. Anyway this time we visited the Cobra museum of modern art in Amstelveen near Amsterdam. It is one of those museums that we know about for ever, but have never visited before. This museum specializes in the Cobra - COpenhagen BRussels Amsterdam - art movement. The artists the museum includes work of are: Karel Appel, Corneille, Anton Rooskens, Jan Nieuwenhuys, Frida Hunziker, Piet Ouborg, Lucebert and others.


This is a painting by Jan Nieuwenhuys called Sleepwalking Cock, 1948.

As usual, I made photographs of all works of art that interested us.

Today we visited the Groninger Museum for a special exhibition of one of the 'Ploeg' painters: Jan Altink.
As usual I shot a lot of photos of the paintings.

This particular painting is called 'After the visit' and it was painted in 1925. I like it.

Believe it or not, there actually was an Avant Garde movement in the town of Drachten, The Netherlands in the beginning of the 20th century. The movement was spearheaded by two brothers, The Rinsema's, otherwise engaged as cobblers in the same town. Today we went to the museum in Drachten to see the special exhibition.

Thijs Rinsema, Flowers, little statue and book, 1943

Today we visited the Jan Sluijters exhibition in the Singer Museum , Laren. This is one of those museums we never before got around to visit. The painting which struck me most was one of a dance hall in Paris painted in 1907 called Bal Tabarin. This was one of the first dance halls were electric lights were installed to impress the clientele, I am sure.
The impression the electric lights made on the sensitive retina of the artist is shown here.

This painting, which was thought lost for hundreds of years, tells the fascinating story of a scandalous Renaissance occurrence. The protagonists are Pope Alessandro Borgia and his lover Giulia Farnese, which is the reason why this work was initially condemned to be destroyed, and then – saved only by the strength of its irresistible beauty – was simply destined to oblivion. The work re-emerges only now from this condition, thanks to an impressive series of concomitances which seem to wish to demonstrate how powerful the unpredictable influence of fate is – in determining both the human course of events and the history of art. See Baby Jesus of the Hands. I managed to take a nice photograph of the painting. Clicking on the thumb image opens a new window showing the painting in its full glory.

The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden is a fresco by the Italian Early Renaissance artist Masaccio. The fresco is a single scene from the cycle Life of Peter painted around 1425 by Masaccio, Masolino and others on the walls of the Brancacci Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. It depicts the expulsion from the garden of Adam and Eve. Three centuries after the fresco was painted, Cosimo III de'Medici, in line with contemporary ideas of decorum, ordered that fig leaves be added to conceal the genitals of the figures. These were eventually removed in the 1980s when the painting was fully restored and cleaned.

The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is a Roman building built in 425-430 AD in Ravenna, Italy. It was listed with seven other structures in Ravenna in the World Heritage List in 1996. The UNESCO experts describe it as "the earliest and best preserved of all mosaic monuments, and at the same time one of the most artistically perfect". The interior of the mausoleum is covered with rich Byzantine mosaics, and light enters through alabaster window panels. The inside contains two famous mosaic lunettes, and the rest of the interior is filled with mosaics of Christian and Apocalyptic symbols. The central bay's upper walls are decorated with four pairs of apostles, including St. Peter and St. Paul, acclaiming a giant gold cross in the center of the dome against a blue sky of yellow stars. The mausoleum is reputed to have inspired American songwriter Cole Porter to compose "Night and Day" while on a 1920s visit.