Italy 2019 The Adoration of the Magi

The Adoration of the Magi is an unfinished early painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo was given the commission by the Augustinian monks of San Donato in Scopeto  in Florence in 1481, but he departed for Milan the following year, leaving the painting unfinished. It has been in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence since 1670.

The Virgin Mary and Child are depicted in the foreground and form a triangular shape with the Magi kneeling in adoration. Behind them is a semicircle of accompanying figures, including what may be a self-portrait of the young Leonardo (on the far right). In the background on the left is the ruin of a pagan building, on which workmen can be seen, apparently repairing it. On the right are men on horseback fighting and a sketch of a rocky landscape.

The ruins are a possible reference to the Basilica of Maxentius, which, according to medieval legend, the Romans claimed would stand until a virgin gave birth. It is supposed to have collapsed on the night of Christ's birth. (In fact it was not even built until a later date.) The ruins dominate a preparatory perspective drawing by Leonardo, which also includes the fighting horsemen. 

The palm tree in the center has associations with the Virgin Mary, partly due to the phrase "You are stately as a palm tree" from the Song of Solomon, which is believed to prefigure her. Another aspect of the palm tree can be the usage of the palm tree as a symbol of victory for ancient Rome, whereas in Christianity it is a representation of martyrdom—triumph over death—so in conclusion we can say that the palm, in general, represents triumph. 

The other tree in the painting is from the carob family; the seeds from this tree are used as a unit of measurement for valuable stones and jewels. It is therefore associated with crowns, suggesting Christ as the king of kings or the Virgin as the future queen of heaven, as well as that this is nature's gift to the newborn Christ. 

As with Michelangelo's Doni Tondo, the background is probably supposed to represent the Pagan world supplanted by the Christian world, inaugurated by the events in the foreground. The artist uses bright colors to illuminate the figures in the foreground of the painting. 

The Virgin and Child are, in fact, painted yellow, the color of light. The trees are painted blue, an unusual color for trees of any kind. On the right side, the most credible self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci as a 30-year-old can be seen, according to several critics. 

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci

The Last Supper ( Il Cenacolo ) is a mural painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1495–1498, housed in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. 

The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with the Twelve Apostles, as it is told in the Gospel of John – specifically the moment after Jesus announces that one of his apostles will betray him.

26 Jun 1969

15 Jun 1981

4 April 1998

25 Jan 2013

1 Jan 2016

Italy : Michelangelo's Works

1971 stamp depicting Michelangelo's
portrait by Daniele da Volterra

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti  Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. 

Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspired by models from classical antiquity and had a lasting influence on Western art. Michelangelo's creative abilities and mastery in a range of artistic arenas define him as an archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and elder contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci. Given the sheer volume of surviving correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences, Michelangelo is one of the best-documented artists of the 16th century. He was lauded by contemporary biographers as the most accomplished artist of his era.

Michelangelo achieved fame early. Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, were sculpted before the age of 30. 

David   23 Mar 2014

Pietà      31 Dec 1954

Pietà    5 June 1970

The Genius of Victory     29 Apr 1974

Although he did not consider himself a painter, Michelangelo created two of the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and The Last Judgment on its altar wall. His design of the Laurentian Library pioneered Mannerist architecture. 

29 May 2020

28 June 1975

8 Apr 1994

3 Dec 1975

At the age of 71, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan so that the Western end was finished to his design, as was the dome, with some modification, after his death.

16 July 2010

 David with the Head of Goliath 1609-1610

Italy : Madonna

9 June 2001

The Madonna di Senigallia is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Piero della Francesca, finished around 1474. It is housed in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, in the Ducal Palace of Urbino.

25 October 2000

Madonna in a Rose-Garden (Madonna del Roseto) is a glazed terracota by Luca della Robbia, an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence.  Currently in Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence

8 August 2000

Madonna col Bambino is an tempera on wood by Carlo Crivelli, finished in 1489.  Displayed in Francesco Podesti Civic Art Gallery.

10 Nov 1983

The Sistine Madonna, also called the Madonna di San Sisto, is a oil painting by the Italian artist Raphael. The painting was commissioned in 1512 by Pope Julius II for the church of San Sisto, Piacenza, and probably executed c. 1513–1514. The canvas was one of the last Madonnas painted by Raphael.

10 Nov 1983

The Madonna della Seggiola or The Madonna della Sedia is an oil on panel Madonna painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael, executed c. 1513–1514, and housed at the Palazzo Pitti Collection in Florence, Italy. 

20 Oct 1966

Madonna Enthroned, also known as the Ognissanti Madonna or Madonna Ognissanti, is a painting in tempera on wood panel by the Italian late medieval artist Giotto di Bondone, now in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, Italy.

Italy 2000 Holy Year "Life of Jesus"

 

Adoration of the Shepherds, 1485 by Domenico Ghirlandaio ( 1488-1494 )

Adoration of the Shepherds, was painted  as the alterpiece of the Sassetti chapel. It is in this painting that he particularly shows his indebtedness to the Portinari Altarpiece. The shepherds, among whom is a self-portrait of the artist, are portrayed with a realism that was an advance in Florentine painting at that time. The altarpiece is still in position in Santa Trinita, surrounded by the six frescoes depicting the Life of St. Francis of which it became the centrepiece. On either side are portraits of the kneeling donors, and although the figures are in fresco on the wall, they occupy the same position and relationship to the central scene of the Adoration that the donors do on the outer panels of the Portinari triptych

Baptism and Temptations of Christ, 1582 by Veronese ( Paolo Caliari 1528-1588 )

This painting, once part of a large decorative cycle, depicts two rarely associated episodes from the Gospels, linking them visually with a series of diagonal lines stretching from the angel upper left and guiding the observer’s eye towards the right-hand side of the composition, where Devil seeks to  tempt Christ in the wilderness. The painter’s true protagonist is the landscape in the centre, with its magnificent light effects achieved with rapid brushstrokes fading towards Jerusalem in the distance.

Last Supper, 1486 by Domenico Ghirlandaio ( 1488-1494 )

Ghirlandaio painted the Last Supper of Jesus three times in separate fresco paintings in or near Florence.  the most famous one, painted in the refectory of the Convent of the Ognissanti.

The Last Supper shows images of Jesus and the Apostles sitting around a pronent dining table in the shape of a U. Disciples converse, and both Judas and John lean toward Jesus, as is tradition. Jesus is shown near the center, with his right hand raised and index and middle fingers together, which is an archetypal gesture of bestowed blessing. There is an illusion that the room within this piece is receding or moving back into the space.

Lamentation, c1305 by Giotto di Bondone  ( 1267-1337 )

Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ) is a fresco painted c.1305 by the Italian artist Giotto as part of his cycle of the Life of Christ on the interior walls of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. 

In the painting, the body of the crucified Christ has been lowered from the cross and laid on the ground, surrounded by his grieving mother and disciples. His head is held by Mary, his mother, and his feet by Mary Magdelene. John the Apostle throws his arms wide in despair. To the right, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea wait to prepare the body to be laid in a tomb. 

The Resurrection, 1460s by Piero della Francesca ( 1415-1492 )

Piero was commissioned to paint the fresco for the Gothic-style Residenza, the communal meeting hall. This was used solely by Conservatori, the chief magistrates and governors, who, before starting their councils, would pray before the image.  Placed high on the interior wall facing the entrance, the fresco includes an allusion to the name of the city (meaning "Holy Sepulchre"), derived from the presence of two relics of the Holy Sepulchre carried here by two pilgrims in the 9th century. Della Francesca's 'Christ' is also featured on the town's coat of arms.

Jesus is in the centre of the composition, portrayed in the moment of his resurrection. His stern, impassive figure rises over four sleeping soldiers, representing the difference between the human and the divine spheres (or the death, defeated by Christ's light). The landscape, immersed in the dawn light, has also a symbolic value: the contrast between the flourishing young trees on the right and the bare mature ones on the left alludes to the renovation of men through the Resurrection's light.

Italy 1998 The Last Supper

Renaissance Art - The Last Supper ( Il Cenacolo ) is presumed to have been started around 1495–96 and was commissioned as part of a plan of renovations to a Dominican monastery in Santa Maria delle Grazie, by Leonardo's patron Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. 

The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with his apostles, as it is told in the Gospel of John.  Leonardo has depicted the consternation that occurred among the Twelve Disciples when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him.

4 April 1998 : The 500th Anniversary of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci

Italy 1971 Sistine Chapel's Ceiling by Michelangelo

The Sistine Chapel ceiling was painted between 1508 and 1512. The ceiling is a flattened barrel vault supported on twelve triangular pendentives that rise from between the windows of the chapel. 

The commission, as envisaged by Pope Julius II, was to adorn the pendentives with figures of the twelve apostles. Michelangelo, who was reluctant to take the job, persuaded the Pope to give him a free hand in the composition. The resultant scheme of decoration awed his contemporaries and has inspired other artists ever since. The scheme is of nine panels illustrating episodes from the Book of Genesis, set in an architectonic frame. On the pendentives, Michelangelo replaced the proposed Apostles with Prophets and Sibyls who heralded the coming of the Messiah.

6 March 1971

Vatican City 1991 Sistine Chapel "Lunettes of the Ancestors of Christ"

The Sistine Chapel Ceiling And Lunettes mural was originally painted 500 years ago. Michelangelo's fresco masterpiece was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV and took four years to complete. The center panels of the Sistine ceiling depict nice scenes from the Book of Genesis. They are surrounded by crescent-shaped areas, or lunettes, with tablets listing ancestors of Christ and accompanying figures.

Michelangelo painted the Forefathers of Christ listed at the beginning of the Gospel of St Matthew (Matthew 1: 1-17), which, starting from Abraham, gives the names of forty forefathers of Christ, shown here not so much as historical images but as symbolic figurations of mankind caught in various attitudes and above all in its formation into family units. 

Numerous attempts to link the names written on the labels to the personages shown have not permitted them to be identified with any certainty.

This collectible set of twelve Vatican City postage stamps was issued to honor the restoration of the Sistine Chapel. Images depicted on the stamps show details from "Lunettes of the Ancestors of Christ" by Michelangelo.

Issue date: April 9, 1991

Size of each stamp: 34 x 29 mm

Colors: Multicolor

Emission: Definitive

Perforation: 11¼

Printing: Photogravure

Vatican City 1964 Sistine Chapel

 Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti  Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. 

The Sistine Chapel ceiling was painted between 1508 and 1512. The ceiling is a flattened barrel vault supported on twelve triangular pendentives that rise from between the windows of the chapel. 

The commission, as envisaged by Pope Julius II, was to adorn the pendentives with figures of the twelve apostles. Michelangelo, who was reluctant to take the job, persuaded the Pope to give him a free hand in the composition. The resultant scheme of decoration awed his  contemporaries and has inspired other artists ever since. The scheme is of nine panels illustrating episodes from the Book of Genesis, set in an architectonic frame. On the pendentives, Michelangelo replaced the proposed Apostles with Prophets and Sibyls who heralded the coming of the Messiah.