14 Works, August 22nd. is Orazio de Ferrari's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #199

Orazio De Ferrari 

The rape of the Sabine women, c. 1640

Oil on canvas

Height: 180 cm, Width: 244 cm

Private collection

The Rape of the Sabine Women is an episode in the legendary history of Rome, traditionally dated to 750 BC, in which the first generation of Roman men acquired wives for themselves from the neighboring Sabine families. The English word rape is a conventional translation of the Latin raptio, which in this context means "abduction" rather than its prevalent modern meaning in English language of sexual violation. The story provided a subject for Renaissance and post-Renaissance works of art that combined a suitably inspiring example of the hardihood and courage of ancient Romans with the opportunity to depict multiple figures, including heroically semi-nude figures, in intensely passionate struggle. More on the rape of the Sabine women

The work constitutes a very relevant testimony of Orazio De Ferrari's production, both for its undoubted executive quality, and for the presence of the painter's monogram combined with the date 1640, an element which allows us to have a precise chronological reference not only for the dating of the canvas itself, but more generally for the reconstruction of the artist's mature production. Recently considered "a masterpiece of great scenic impact and coloristic exuberance, reminiscent of Rubens and Van Dyck", the composition emerges, in the context of the "profane" production by Orazio De Ferrari, destined to embellish the paintings of the Genoese nobility, for its theatricality the layout of the episode, linked to the foundation of Rome. More on this painting

Orazio de Ferrari (1606–1657) was an Italian artist, active in the Baroque period, born in Voltri, a suburb of Genoa. de Ferrari was a pupil of Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo. He was a member of the family of Genoese artists, with surnames de Ferrari, which also included Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari and Gregorio De Ferrari. During the 17th century, he painted murals in the chapel and many of the state rooms of the Royal Palace in Monaco.

Orazio de Ferrari, 1605 - 1657

Susanna and the Elders

Oil on canvas

115 x 145 cm.

Private collection

A fair Hebrew wife named Susanna was falsely accused by lecherous voyeurs. As she bathes in her garden, having sent her attendants away, two lustful elders secretly observe the lovely Susanna. When she makes her way back to her house, they accost her, threatening to claim that she was meeting a young man in the garden unless she agrees to have sex with them.

She refuses to be blackmailed and is arrested and about to be put to death for promiscuity when a young man named Daniel interrupts the proceedings, shouting that the elders should be questioned to prevent the death of an innocent. After being separated, the two men are questioned about details of what they saw, but disagree about the tree under which Susanna supposedly met her lover. In the Greek text, the names of the trees cited by the elders form puns with the sentence given by Daniel. The first says they were under a mastic, and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to cuthim in two. The second says they were under an evergreen oak tree, and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to saw him in two. The great difference in size between a mastic and an oak makes the elders' lie plain to all the observers. The false accusers are put to death, and virtue triumphs. More about Susanna

Typical large format depiction of the student of Andrea Giovanni Ansaldo (1584-1638). Another scene with Susanna and the Elder by him, however in portrait format composition is held at the Museo Nacional de San Carlos in Mexico City (See below).

Orazio de Ferrari  (1606–1657)

Susana and the Elders

Oil on canvas

Museo Nacional de San Carlos

Orazio de Ferrari (Voltri 1606-1657 Genoa)

Adam and Eve mourning the death of Abel,

Oil on canvas

56 7/8 x 75 5/8 in. (144.5 x 194.5 cm.)

Private collection

The mourning over the body of Abel appears in the several of the Biblical Apocrypha which were popularly widespread in the seventeenth century. Orazio de Ferrari, who spent the majority of his career in Genoa painted a number of versions of the subject. Two of these appear to be copies, with slight variations, of the present composition made in Ferrari’s studio. Another picture, with a slightly more complex arrangement of figures, presenting Adam no longer in prayer but with his arms outspread, leaning over the body of his son, is now preserved in a private collection in Milan.

The dark background of the scene with the figures illuminated in a strongly accented light, casting deep shadows in some areas. Likewise, the foreshortened body of Abel as a means of creating a greater depth within the composition, though, of course, Ferrari choses to present Abel with his head closest to the viewer, thus heightening the dramatic and emotional intensity of the scene. Though the life of Orazio de Ferrari is only intermittently documented, it is believed that he visited Naples sometime toward the end of the 1630s, after which his paintings begin to show a clear knowledge of the naturalist, Caravaggesque manner prevalent in the city. More on this painting

Orazio de Ferrari (Voltri 1605-1657 Genoa)

Capture of Samson

Oil on canvas

cm. 177 x 229

Ascoli Piceno, Civic Art Gallery of Palazzo dell'Arengo

According to the Bible, Samson, whose strength came from his hair, was shorn by his duplicitous lover, Delilah, and then set upon by the Philistines, who bound and blinded him.

Orazio de Ferrari (Voltri 1605-1657 Genoa)

David and Abigail

Oil on canvas

55 7/8 x 71½ in. (142 x 182.5 cm.)

Private collection

The subject of the painting is taken from the Old Testament (I Samuel 25), which recounts an episode during David's exile in the Judean desert. When a rich local farmer refused to give sustenance to David and his band of outlaws, they threatened to punish him. However, the farmer's wife, Abigail, took to David a peace offering of food and drink which was graciously received. When Abigail's husband found out about this, he suffered a stroke and died, after which David took the widow as his wife. More on this painting

Orazio de Ferrari (Voltri 1605-1657 Genoa)

Esther and Ahasveros

Oil on canvas

90.5x103 cm

Private collection

Esther is described in all versions of the Book of Esther as the Jewish queen of a Persian king Ahasuerus. In the narrative, Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, refuses to obey him, and Esther is chosen for her beauty. The king's chief adviser, Haman, is offended by Esther's cousin and guardian, Mordecai, and gets permission from the king to have all the Jews in the kingdom killed. Esther foils the plan, and wins permission from the king for the Jews to kill their enemies, and they do so. Her story provides a traditional background for Purim, which is celebrated on the date given in the story for when Haman's order was to go into effect, which is the same day that the Jews killed their enemies after the plan was reversed. More on Esther

Orazio de Ferrari (Voltri 1605-1657 Genoa)

Esther before Ahasuerus

Oil on canvas

cm 167 x 200

Private collection

Esther, appears before her husband, King Ahasuerus of Persia, in order to stave off a massacre of the Jewish people, breaking with court protocol and thereby risking death. Rather than turn to historical recreation, contemporary theater informed how Ferrari conceived this dramatic scene, in which Esther faints before the king grants her request. More on Esther

Orazio de Ferrari (Voltri 1605-1657 Genoa)

The adoration of the shepherds

oil on canvas

67.5 by 92.5 cm .; 26 5/8 by 36 1/2 in.

Private collection

The Adoration of the Shepherds, in the Nativity of Jesus in art, is a scene in which shepherds are near witnesses to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, arriving soon after the actual birth. It is often combined in art with the Adoration of the Magi, in which case it is typically just referred to by the latter title. The Annunciation to the Shepherds, when they are summoned by an angel to the scene, is a distinct subject. More on The Adoration of the Shepherds

Orazio de Ferrari (Voltri 1605-1657 Genoa)

Adoration of the shepherds

Oil on canvas

cm 125x155

Private collection

Attributed to Orazio de Ferrari  (1606–1657)

Christ and the Adulteress, c. late 1650s

Oil on canvas

 46 x 55.5 in

McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College

Jesus and the woman taken in adultery is a passage found in the Gospel of John.

In the passage, Jesus was teaching in the temple after coming from the Mount of Olives. A group of scribes and Pharisees confronts Jesus, interrupting his teaching. They bring in a woman, accusing her of committing adultery, claiming she was caught in the very act. They tell Jesus that the punishment for someone like her should be stoning, as prescribed by Mosaic Law. Jesus begins to write something on the ground using his finger. But when the woman's accusers continue their challenge, he states that the one who is without sin is the one who should cast the first stone at her. The accusers and congregants depart realizing not one of them is without sin either, leaving Jesus alone with the woman. Jesus asks the woman if anyone has condemned her and she answers no. Jesus says that he, too, does not condemn her, and tells her to go and sin no more. Jesus and the woman taken in adultery

Ferrari shows in his first tests the close stylistic relationships with the master and the influence of the chromaticism of Pietro Paolo Rubens, as evidenced in the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, made in 1630 for the Church of Saints Nicolý and Erasmus of Voltri. These inflections changed during maturity and after a likely trip to Rome and Naples in the thirties, when the dark sensibilities lead Orazio Ferrari to an intense naturalism, in similitude with Gioacchino Assereto. These aspects can be seen very well in the Cenacles preserved respectively in Our Lady of the Mount and in the Sacristy of San Siro, where one observes a meticulous and pleased characterization of the apostles. More on Orazio de Ferrari

Orazio de FERRARI (Voltri 1606 - Genoa 1657)

The Assembly of the Gods

Oil on canvas

269 x 249 cm

Private collection

The Assembly of Gods is a fifteenth-century dream vision poem by an unknown author.

The scene shows Olympus overhung by Apollo in his chariot. Among the main gods represented, from left to right, we can discover Mars with his shield, Mercury holding his caduceus, Bacchus crowned with a vine, Venus and Cupid, Juno and Jupiter seated, behind them, then at the right end, Helmeted Minerva with the owl. Below, Neptune, with his trident, is shown in the left corner and Hercules holding his club on the opposite side.

By her insistent gesture Venus implores Jupiter to help her son Aeneas and the Trojans whose fleet is in danger near Carthage, and we can clearly see a sailboat lost in the storm at the bottom of our composition. More on this painting

Orazio de Ferrari (Voltri 1605-1657 Genoa)

Latona Turning the Lycian Peasants into Frogs, c. 1642

Oil on canvas

Private collection

The painting represents an episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses (VI, 337-381), according to which Latona, with the divine twins Apollo and Diana, the fruit of her relationship with Jupiter, fleeing from Juno's wrath, arrives after a long pilgrimage to Licia and, exhausted by the heat, approaches a lake with little water in order to drink the fresh water; but some peasants who were picking wickers prevent it by muddying the water. Then Latona, who had begged them in vain to let her drink, to punish them for their arrogance and insolence turns them into frogs. More on this painting

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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18 Works, Today, May 20th. is Edward Armitage's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #138

Edward Armitage (1817–1896)

Herod's Birthday Feast, c. 1868

Oil on canvas

H 155 x W 277 cm

Guildhall Art Gallery

Whether or not the dancer is Salome performing the dance of seven veils in order to secure the beheading of John the Baptist, any image of dancing in the presence of Herod brings to mind the extraordinarily popular fin-de-siecle subject of Salome, the epitome the sexual, destroying woman for the Decadents of the '90s and those influenced by them. This well-covered dancer strikes one as the opposite of the nude woman who appears in Pierre Bonnaud’s Salome or in Oscar Wilde’s play and Beardsley's illustrations for it. More on this painting

Edward Armitage RA (20 May 1817 – 24 May 1896) was an English Victorian-era painter whose work focused on historical, classical and biblical subjects.

Armitage's art training was undertaken in Paris, where he enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in October 1837. He studied under the history painter, Paul Delaroche, who at that time was at the height of his fame. Armitage was one of four students selected to assist Delaroche with the fresco Hémicycle in the amphitheatre of the Palais des Beaux-Arts, when he reputedly modelled for the head of Masaccio. Whilst still in Paris, he exhibited Prometheus Bound in 1842, which a contemporary critic described as 'well drawn but brutally energetic'.

Edward Armitage RA (1817 - 1896)

Caesar's first invasion of Britain

Lithograph

38.8 x 57.2 cm

 Science Museum Group

Caesar's first invasion of Britain: Caesar's boat is pulled to the shore while his soldiers fight the resisting indigenous warriors.

Edward Armitage RA (1817 - 1896)

Cartoon The Spirit of Religion

Engraving

Cartoons in Westminster Hall

Edward Armitage RA (1817 - 1896)

Personification of the Thames and of English rivers, from Windsor Forest

Oil on canvas

Poets Hall, Parliament, London, UK

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) wrote the poem Windsor Forest , on which this painting is based, in the form of a classical pastoral, modelled on Virgil and Ovid. It enjoyed great popularity with supporters of the Tory party, because he took the opportunity to celebrate the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. More on this painting

Edward Armitage RA (1817 - 1896)

The Death of Marmion, c. 1842

Oil on canvas

41 x 32 cm

I have no further description, at this time

Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field is a historical romance in verse of 16th-century Britain by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1808. 

The poem tells how Lord Marmion, a favourite of Henry VIII of England, lusts for Clara de Clare, a rich woman. He and his mistress, Constance De Beverley, forge a letter implicating Clare's fiancé, Sir Ralph De Wilton, in treason. Constance, a dishonest nun, hopes that her aid will restore her to favour with Marmion. When De Wilton loses the duel he claims in order to defend his honour against Marmion, he is obliged to go into exile. Clare retires to a convent rather than risk Marmion's attentions.

Constance's hopes of a reconciliation with Marmion are dashed when he abandons her; she ends up being walled up alive in the Lindisfarne convent for breaking her vows. She takes her revenge by giving the Abbess, who is one of her three judges, documents that prove De Wilton's innocence. De Wilton, having returned disguised as a pilgrim, follows Marmion to Edinburgh where he meets the Abbess, who gives him the exonerating documents. When Marmion's host, the Earl of Angus is shown the documents, he arms De Wilton and accepts him as a knight again. De Wilton's plans for revenge are overturned by the Battle of Flodden. Marmion dies on the battlefield, while De Wilton displays heroism, regains his honour, retrieves his lands, and marries Clare. More on The Death of Marmion

In 1843 Armitage returned to London, where he entered competitions for the decoration of the new Palace of Westminster, the old Houses of Parliament having been destroyed by fire in 1834. To organise and oversee this project, a Royal Commission had been appointed in 1841, the President of which was Queen Victoria's new Consort, Prince Albert. Competitions were held for appropriate designs ('cartoons'), with a number of leading artists commissioned to take part. The first competition entries were unveiled in Westminster Hall in the summer of 1843 and attracted considerable attention from the public. Armitage's cartoon, The Landing of Julius Caesar in Britain (See above), secured one of the three first prizes of £300. He won a further prize in 1845 in a subsequent Westminster competition for his cartoon The Spirit of Religion (See above). Although neither of these cartoons was executed in fresco, Armitage did execute two frescoes in the Poets' Gallery off the Upper Waiting Hall: The Thames and its Tributaries (also referred to as The Personification of the Thames) (1852) (See above), from the poetry of Alexander Pope; and The Death of Marmion (1854) (See above), from Sir Walter Scott's poem. Unfortunately frescoes were ill-suited to the atmosphere of 19th-century London, and many started to disintegrate almost as soon as they were completed.

Edward Armitage RA (1817 - 1896)

The Battle of Meeanee, 17 February 1843, c. 1847

Oil on canvas

396.2 x 579.1 cm

The Royal Collection Trust

A life size view along the length of the British line during the Battle of Meanee. Sir Charles Napier's victory over the Amirs with a force little more than a tenth the size of his adversaries' completed the annexation of Sind; Hyderabad fell to Napier's forces two days later.

In the foreground men of a flank company of the 22nd Cheshire Regiment are shown charging the mass of Baluchi warriors in the dried-up bed of the River Fullaillee. The mounted figures on the river bank are, according to tradition, Lt.-Col. William Pattle, commanding the 9th Bengal Light Infantry; Lt.-Col. J. L. Pennefather, commanding the 22nd; Major P. McPherson, Military Secretary to Sir Charles Napier; Sir Charles Napier; Ali Akhbar, an interpreter. In the distance is the village of Kattree, on which the Baluchis' right rested. More on this painting

Armitage won one of the first-class premiums in 1847 for his oil painting The Battle of Meanee (See above), which was subsequently purchased by Queen Victoria. In this battle, General Sir Charles Napier brought the provinces of Sindh under the dominion of Great Britain, an account of which was written by his brother, Sir William Napier. Armitage consulted both brothers for detailed information on the battle and he used sketches of the locality lent by Sir Charles. However, the painting was the subject of much controversy, with doubts expressed that the war had been justified. The 1847 The Art Union review concluded with the following: "Notwithstanding the great ability displayed by Mr. Armitage in this production, which of its class, has never been excelled in England, we cannot but regret that he did not select a theme more purely historical - one more honourable to our nation than the slaughter of thousands - of whom, after all, we were the oppressors". Thackeray, writing in Punch under the pseudonym of Professor Byles, also disapproved of the subject-matter: "With respect to the third prize - a Battle of Meeanee - in this extraordinary piece they are stabbing, kicking, cutting, slashing, and poking each other about all over the picture. A horrid sight! I like to see the British lion mild and good-humoured ... not fierce, as Mr. Armitage has shown him."

Edward Armitage RA (1817 - 1896)

The Festival of Esther, c. 1865

Oil on canvas

1200 mm x 1830 mm

Royal Academy of Arts

Esther, wife of the Persian King Ahasuerus, concealed the fact that she was Jewish from her husband. The king's chief minister, Haman hated Esther's adoptive father, Mordecai. In order to kill him he convinced Ahasuerus to issue a decree of execution against the Jews. On discovering this Esther held a banquet where she revealed that she was Jewish and pleaded for her people.

The King briefly left the banquet and returned to find Haman kneeling before the queen. Believing that he was attempting to seduce Esther, Ahasuerus had Haman executed. The Jews established a new annual festival on the 14th day of the month of Adar (February/March) known as 'Purim' or 'The Festival of Esther'.

In his painting Edward Armitage, R.A. shows the angry King ordering Haman to his death. Haman begs Esther for mercy, as guards cover his head and drag him from the royal table. Mordecai stands behind the table looking down upon the treacherous Haman. The queen's pale skin and white costume denote her regal status and her innocence. More on this painting

Edward Armitage (1817–1896)

The Death of Nelson, c. 1848

Oil on canvas

H 163 x W 230 cm

Britannia Royal Naval College

As one might expect in British public collections, Horatio Nelson does particularly well, with many contradictory depictions of the Admiral’s heroic death on shipboard at Trafalgar. Edward Armitage’s 1848 The Death of Nelson – is a sort of Regency secular pieta, with Nelson stripped down to his underclothes

In 1848 Armitage exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy when he showed two paintings, Henry VIII and Catherine Parr, and Trafalgar (also known as The Death of Nelson) (See above). He continued to send contributions most years until his death. These included Retribution (1858) (See below), Esther's Banquet (1865) (also known as Festival of Esther) (See above), The Remorse of Judas (1866) (See below), Herod's Birthday Feast (1868) (See top), A Deputation to Faraday (1871), Julian the Apostate (1875) (See below), Pygmalion's Galatea (1878) (See below), Meeting of St. Francis and St. Dominic (1882), Faith (1884) (See above), The Siren (1888) (See below), and a portrait of his brother The late T.R. Armitage, M.D., the Friend of the Blind (1893).

Edward Armitage (1817–1896)

Retribution, c. 1858

Oil on canvas

H 269.2 x W 289.5 cm

Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds Museums and Galleries

Retribution, in which Armitage allegorized the suppression and punishment of the Indian 'Mutiny' by Great Britain in 1857. This was painted after details of the massacre of British soldiers, women and children had been circulated by the press. The Illustrated London News of 1859 described Retribution thus: "Britannia, represented of colossal proportions, has seized the assassin tiger by the throat, and is about to plunge her sword into its heart ... The melancholy results of the mutiny, which have spread mourning through so many homes, are typified in the figures of prostrate victims, with debris of books, etc., scattered around."

Edward Armitage  (1817–1896)

Julian the Apostate presiding at a conference of sectarians, c. 1875

Oil on canvas

H 174.6 x W 271.8 cm

Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Julian (331 – 26 June 363) was Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplatonic Hellenism in its place, caused him to be remembered as Julian the Apostate by the Christian Church. More on Julian

Edward Armitage  (1817–1896)

Pygmalion's Galatea, c. 1872

Oil on canvas

120 x 67cm (47 1/4 x 26 3/8in)

Pygmalion is a legendary figure of Cyprus in Greek mythology who was a king and a sculptor. He is most familiar from Ovid's narrative poem Metamorphoses, in which Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved. More on this painting

Armitage was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1867 and a full member in 1872, and in 1875 he was appointed Professor and Lecturer on painting. His lectures to the Royal Academy were published as Lectures on Painting (London and New York, 1883).

On 3 February 1853 Armitage married Catherine Laurie Barber, also an artist. They were among the first artists to settle in the St John's Wood area of London, and their friends included other artists in the neighbourhood.

Edward Armitage (1817–1896)

The Siren, c. 1888

Oil on canvas

H 114.3 x W 162.5 cm

Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds Museums and Galleries

The art dealer Ernest Gambart sent Armitage to the Crimea in 1855 to make on-the-spot sketches for battle pictures including The Stand of the Guards at Inkerman and The Heavy Cavalry Charge at Balaclava, which were shown at Gambart's French gallery in London in the spring of 1856, along with a drawing The Bottom of the Ravine at Inkerman which was also exhibited at the Royal Academy. This was from a sketch made on the spot in March 1855, four months after the battle. It shows the corpses of soldiers revealed by the melting snow, still lying where they fell the previous November but now surrounded by spring flowers. The Athenaeum of 24 May 1856 considered Armitage's drawing 'speaks to us in a more dreadful whisper of the horrors of war than all the peace speeches ever made'.

Edward Armitage (1817–1896)

Souvenir of Scutari, c. 1857

Oil on canvas

H 122 x W 183 cm

Laing Art Gallery

Armitage returned home from the Crimea in September 1855, having taken an extended tour that included stops at Scutari and Bursa, where he made a number of sketches. From one of these, he painted Souvenir of Scutari (See above) which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1857 (now in Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle) and which shows a group of veiled Turkish women at leisure in public gardens on the Asian side of the Bosporus.

Edward Armitage

Dawn of the first Easter Sunday, c. 1872

Oil on canvas

1275 x 1935 mm

Auckland Art Gallery 

The Resurrection. Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Edward Armitage

The Remorse of Judas, c. 1866

Oil paint on canvas

1276 × 2013 mm

Tate

Armitage was one of the main exponents of public art in Britain, having trained in Paris under the historical painter Paul Delaroche. This ambitious religious painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1866 and immediately afterwards was presented by the artist to the National Gallery. It depicts the passage in St Matthew when the repentant Judas offers back the thirty pieces of silver to the high priests who are shown turning their backs on him with disdain. A vulture flies overhead as a symbol of blood and ill-omen, adding to the portentous nature of the scene. More on this painting

Edward Armitage (1817–1896)

The Christian Martyr, c. 1863

Oil on canvas

H 114.3 x W 152.4 cm

Glasgow Museums Resource Centre

The vast majority of Christian martyrdoms have no independent historical confirmation. From a number of different clues it is clear that stories of martyrdom were fabricated - some in the first millennium, the vast majority in the High Middle Ages. These fabricated stories were custom made for their audience, and what went down best were stories of steadfast martyrs, entirely innocent and virginal, dreadfully abused by monstrous and vindictive pagans. These martyrs suffered a vast range of tortures. They survived long after any normal person would have died, suffering unspeakable agonies. Often God miraculously turned the tortures against the evil perpetrator, who usually died in front of his victim. A massively disproportionate number of these victims were nubile young women whose suffering included being stripped and humiliated. With the benefit of modern knowledge it is easy to identify sadomasochistic tendencies in these stories and associated art. More on Christian martyrdoms

Edward Armitage (1817–1896)

The Woman Taken in Adultery, after 1860

Oil on canvas

H 165.1 x W 275.6 cm

Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection

Jesus and the woman taken in adultery –  is a famous passage found in the Gospel of John, that has been the subject of much scholarly discussion.

Jesus has sat down in the temple to teach some of the people. A group of scribes and Pharisees confront Jesus, interrupting his teaching session. They bring in a woman, accusing her of committing adultery, claiming she was caught in the very act. They ask Jesus whether the punishment for someone like her should be stoning, as proscribed by Mosaic Law. Jesus first ignores the interruption, and writes on the ground as though he does not hear them. But when the woman's accusers continue their challenge, he states that the one who is without sin is the one who should cast the first stone. The accusers and congregants depart, leaving Jesus alone with the woman. Jesus asks the woman if anyone has condemned her. She answers that no one has condemned her. Jesus says that he, too, does not condemn her, and tells her to go and sin no more. More on Jesus and the woman taken in adultery

A number of Armitage's sketches from the Crimea were reproduced in the Illustrated London News and The Graphic, including Lord Raglan and Sir Edmund Lyons, General Bosquet, Captor of Malakoff Tower, General Trochu and Before Sebastopol, Zouaves Making Gabions.

Other decorative work includes part of the terracotta frieze, The Triumph of Art and Letters, (See below) at the Royal Albert Hall, where Armitage contributed two of the sixteen sections (Princes, Art Patrons and Artists and A Group of Philosophers, Sages and Students) (See below). He also contributed to what was referred to as the Kensington Valhalla at South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum), when he was responsible for depicting Benozzo Gozzoli.

Edward Armitage (1817–1896)

The Triumph of Arts and Letters – Philosophers, Sages and Students, c.1869–1870

 (frieze for Royal Albert Hall)

Pen, ink & watercolour on paper

H 32 x W 259 cm

Royal Albert Hall

Edward Armitage (1817–1896)

Detail; The Triumph of Arts and Letters – Philosophers, Sages and Students, c.1869–1870

 (frieze for Royal Albert Hall)

Pen, ink & watercolour on paper

H 32 x W 259 cm

Royal Albert Hall

The work was to be one of Edward Armitage's two contributions to the enormous terracotta mosaic frieze running around the whole façade, below the dome of the building. The part shown here shows less than half of the twenty-three figures in the section. This small part not only gives an idea of the heroic scale of the enterprise but is of special interest because it shows students being taught by Sir Richard Owen (on the far right), who gestures towards a fossil specimen. The fact that one of these students is a young woman is also significant, as women students were only now entering academe (see Armitage 148). Two other young women can be seen here, one by the chemistry table and one curtseying to receive an award. More on this painting

After retiring from the Royal Academy in May 1894, Armitage spent some time in Royal Tunbridge Wells for the benefit of his health. He lodged at Mount Edgcumbe House, where he died on 24 May 1896 of apoplexy and exhaustion following pneumonia. He is buried in Hove Cemetery. More on Edward Armitage

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.