17 Works, January 2nd. is Piero di Cosimo's day, his art, illustrated with footnotes #259

Cosimo Rosselli  (1439–1507) 

Descent from Mount Sinai, circa 1480

Fresco

Height: 350 cm (11.4 ft) Width: 572 cm (18.7 ft)

Sistine Chapel

In the upper part is Moses kneeling on Mount Sinai, with a sleeping Joshua nearby: he receives the Tables of the Law from Yahweh, who appears in a luminescent cloud, surrounded by angels. In the foreground, on the left, Moses brings the Tables to the Israelites. In the background is camp of tents, with the altar of the golden calf in the middle; the Israelites, spurred by Aaron, are adoring it: the position of some of them, painted from behind, was usually used for negative characters, such as Judas Iscariot in the Last Supper. Once seeing that, Moses, in the center, gets angry and breaks the Tables on the ground. The right background depicts the punishment of the idolatrous and the receiving of the new Tables. Joshua, in the blue and yellow, appears with Moses. More on this painting

Piero di Cosimo (2 January 1462[1] – 12 April 1522), also known as Piero di Lorenzo, was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. He is most famous for the mythological and allegorical subjects he painted in the late Quattrocento; he is said to have abandoned these to return to religious subjects under the influence of Savonarola, the preacher who exercised a huge sway in Florence in the 1490s, and had a similar effect on Botticelli. The High Renaissance style of the new century had little influence on him, and he retained the straightforward realism of his figures, which combines with an often whimsical treatment of his subjects to create the distinctive mood of his works.

Piero di Cosimo, 1462-1521

Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs, c. 1490

Panel, 71 x 260 cm

National Gallery, London

The battle depicted takes place between the Lapiths and the Centaurs at the wedding feast of Pirithous. Pirithous, king of the Lapith, had long clashed with the neighboring Centaurs. To mark his good intentions Pirithous invited the Centaurs to his wedding to Hippodamia. Some of the Centaurs, over-imbibed at the event, and when the bride was presented to greet the guests, she so aroused the intoxicated centaur Eurytion that he leapt up and attempted to carry her away. This led not only to an immediate clash, but to a year-long war, before the defeated Centaurs were expelled from Thessaly to the northwest. More on  the Battle of the Centaurs against the Lapiths

Vasari has many stories of his eccentricity, and the mythological subjects have an individual and quirky fascination. He trained under Cosimo Rosselli, whose daughter he married, and assisted him in his Sistine Chapel frescos.

Piero di Cosimo  (1462–1522)

Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci, c. 1490

Tempera on panel

Height: 570 mm (22.44 in); Width: 420 mm (16.53 in)

Condé Museum

This Florentine painting from the Quattrocento is one of the most famous masterpieces of the Condé museum. Painted around 1490, the portrait known as Simonetta Vespucci has never ceased to intrigue art historians. The young and beautiful mistress of Giuliano de Medici, "the idol of Florence", who posed for Botticelli, died of consumption at the age of twenty-three in 1476 and her lover would have had this portrait painted in memory of her. But it is not certain that we are in the presence of the portrait of Simonetta, because the inscription which names her at the bottom of the painting is perhaps later. Moreover, if this portrait represents Simonetta well, it is then a posthumous portrait, because Piero di Cosimo was only fifteen years old when he died.

It could rather be the Cleopatra with the serpent around her neck. However, the iconography does not correspond to Cleopatra, represented with the serpent biting her breast.

The depiction of a woman with a naked bust is unusual for a 15th century portrait. It can also be an ideal portrait, a Neoplatonic allegory of death, symbolized by the serpent which bites its tail, which leads to beauty. The funeral interpretation of the painting is reinforced by the black clouds and the dead tree which appear in front of Simonetta, on the left, while on the right, the trees have leaves and the sky is blue. More on this painting

The son of a goldsmith, Lorenzo di Piero, Piero was born in Florence and apprenticed under the artist Cosimo Rosseli, from whom he derived his popular name and whom he assisted in the painting of the Sistine Chapel in 1481.

Piero di Cosimo, 1462-1521

The Finding of Vulcan on Lemnos, c. 1495-1505

Oil and tempera on canvas

Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford

Vulcan (Greek Hephaestus) in Greek and Roman mythology was the god of fire, and the blacksmith who forged the weapons of many gods and heroes. He was the educator of the primitive man, and taught him the proper use of fire. He was the son of Jupiter and Juno. He was married to Venus who made a cuckold of him. He was crippled as a result of being thrown down to earth from Olympus by Jupiter in a fit of anger.

When Vulcan was thrown down from Olympus, he landed on the island of Lemnos in the Aegean where he was looked after by the inhabitants. He is shown being helped to his feet by one of a band of nymphs. More on this painting

Piero di Cosimo  (1462–1522)

Vulcan and Aeolus, circa 1490

 (or The Return of New Life to Lemnos)

Tempera and oil on canvas

155.5 × 166.5 cm (61.2 × 65.5 in)

National Gallery of Canada

Inspired by Classical authors, Piero imagined the dawn of civilization, when humanity lived in harmony with Nature. The horse has been tamed, metal-working invented, and men build a primitive house from rough tree trunks. It was painted at a time of fascination with the exotic: the figures’ partial nudity, and the giraffe and camel would have suggested other lands and cultures to Piero’s contemporaries. While the setting is fully conceived, the exact subject remains uncertain, but likely shows the story of Vulcan, the blacksmith god, who taught man craft. Frame: carved wood, painted and partly gilded. Italy, late 16th – early 17th century. More on this painting

For ancient Greeks, the island of Lemnos sacred to Hephaestus, god of metallurgy, who—as he tells himself in Iliad I.590ff—fell on Lemnos when Zeus hurled him headlong out of Olympus. There, he was cared for by the Sinties, according to Iliad, or by Thetis, and there with a Thracian nymph Cabiro (a daughter of Proteus) he fathered a tribe called the Kaberoi. Sacred initiatory rites dedicated to them were performed in the island. Its ancient capital was named Hephaistia in the god's honour. More on Lemnos

In the first phase of his career, Piero was influenced by the Netherlandish naturalism of Hugo van der Goes, whose Portinari Triptych (now at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence) helped to lead the whole of Florentine painting into new channels. From him Cosimo acquired the love of landscape and the intimate knowledge of the growth of flowers and of animal life. The manner of Hugo van der Goes is especially apparent in the Adoration of the Shepherds, at the Berlin Museum.

Piero di Cosimo, 1462-1521

Venus, Mars, and Cupid, c. 1505

Oil on panel

72 x 182 cms | 28 1/4 x 71 1/2 ins

Staatliche Museen, Berlin | Germany

Despite the different datings they have been given the two panels (Death of Procris (See below) , and Venus and Mars) may have formed part of a cycle illustrating themes from ancient mythology. The long shape of the panels suggest that they may have decorated a cassone chest.

Another aspect of Piero's artistic personality is his ability to infuse his subjects with wit and fantasy. The subject matter is sensual in nature, with Cupid nestling beside Venus' breast near a long-eared rabbit, a symbol of sexual excess. The black and white birds down below seem to symbolize the lovers, Venus and an exhausted Mars asleep on the ground.

This panel may have been painted as part of a suite of marital furniture, such as a bedstead, hope chest, or frieze. More on this painting

Piero di Cosimo, 1462-1521

The Death of Procris

Oil on panel

65 x 183 cms | 25 1/2 x 72 ins

National Gallery, London | United Kingdom

A nymph lies on a patch of grass in the foreground, blood streaming from wounds on her throat and hand. A satyr, half man and half goat, kneels next to her, mourning her death. A dog sits at her feet, balancing the stooping figure of the satyr and seemingly mourning as well. More dogs appear at the lakeside in the background.

It has been suggested that this painting depicts an episode from the Metamorphoses, an influential poem by the ancient Roman writer Ovid. If this is the case, then the beautiful nymph would be Procris, who was accidentally killed by her husband Cephalus. A fifteenth-century adaptation of the Metamorphoses added the satyr, which is not mentioned by Ovid.

The painting’s dimensions suggest that it was part of furniture or inserted into wooden panelling. Piero di Cosimo specialised in the production of such paintings, known as spalliere. More on this painting

Cephalus was married to Procris, a daughter of Erechtheus, an ancient founding-figure of Athens. One day the goddess of dawn, Eos, kidnapped Cephalus when he was hunting. The resistant Cephalus and Eos became lovers, and she bore him a son. However, Cephalus always pined for Procris, causing a disgruntled Eos to return him to her, making disparaging remarks about his wife's fidelity. 

Once reunited with Procris after an interval of eight years, Cephalus tested her by returning from the hunt in disguise, and managing to seduce her. In shame Procris fled to the forest, to hunt. In returning and reconciling, Procris brought two magical gifts, an inerrant javelin that never missed its mark, and a hunting hound, Laelaps that always caught its prey. The hound met its end chasing a fox (the Teumessian vixen) which could not be caught; both fox and the hound were turned into stone. But the javelin continued to be used by Cephalus, who was an avid hunter.

Procris then conceived doubts about her husband, who left his bride at the bridal chamber and climbed to a mountaintop and sang a hymn invoking Nephele, "cloud". Procris became convinced that he was serenading a lover. She climbed to where he was to spy on him. Cephalus, hearing a stirring in the brush and thinking the noise came from an animal, threw the never-erring javelin in the direction of the sound – and Procris was impaled. As she lay dying in his arms, she told him "On our wedding vows, please never marry Eos". Cephalus was distraught at the death of his beloved Procris, and went into exile. More on Cephalus and Procris

Piero di Cosimo, 1462-1521

Perseus Frees Andromeda, c. 1513

Tempera grassa on wood

70 x 120 cm

Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

In the centre of the composition, Perseus is dealing with the sea monster that is about to attack Andromeda, daughter of the King of Ethiopia, offered as a sacrifice to placate the monster's ire. The monster had been unleashed by Poseidon, angry with the boastful Cassiopeia, Andromeda's mother. Perseus is shown twice more in the painting, when he sees the dragon and the young sacrificial victim, while flying through the skies on his winged sandals, when he celebrates the liberation of Andromeda, who will become his bride. In the composition, the jubilation of Andromeda's father and the laughing crowds, shown on the right, contrasts with the desperation of the family at the destiny of the young princess in the scene on thee left.

The subject of the painting, derived from the Ovid's Metamorphoses illustrates the story of a famous couple from Greek mythology and seems right for the destination of the panel, painted as part of the furnishings for a nuptial room, most likely that of Filippo Strozzi the younger and Clarice de' Medici in Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, on which cabinet maker Baccio d'Agnolo was working in 1510-1511. The artist, Piero di Cosimo, an eccentric, imaginative Florentine painter, working above all to make the narration clean and the improbably musical instruments or eastern costumes of the subjects credible, rather than evoking the drama of the story, also diluted by the reassuring view of the sea in which the enormous monster is swimming, almost bathing in a pond. More on this painting

He journeyed to Rome in 1482 with his master, Rosselli. He proved himself a true child of the Renaissance by depicting subjects of Classical mythology in such pictures as Venus, Mars, and Cupid, The Death of Procris (See above), the Perseus and Andromeda series (See above), at the Uffizi, and many others. Inspired to the Vitruvius' account of the evolution of man, Piero's mythical compositions show the bizarre presence of hybrid forms of men and animals, or the man learning to use fire and tools. The multitudes of nudes in these works shows the influence of Luca Signorelli on Piero's art.

Piero di Cosimo

The Visitation with Saint Nicholas and Saint Anthony Abbot, c. 1489/1490

Oil on panel

184.2 x 188.6 cm (72 1/2 x 74 1/4 in.)

The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

The central scene of the eccentric Florentine artist Piero di Cosimo's Visitation depicts the meeting of the Virgin Mary and the elderly Saint Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. Saint Nicholas on the left, identified by his attribute of three gold balls alluding to his charity towards the daughters of an impoverished nobleman, and Saint Anthony Abbot on the right, identified by his cane, bell and ever-present pig, sit in the foreground as studious witnesses to the event. Additional scenes relating to the birth of Christ are depicted in the background: the Annunciation painted on a distant church wall, the Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds on the left, and the Massacre of the Innocents in the middle ground. More on this painting

Piero di Cosimo

The Nativity with the Infant Saint John, c. 1495/1505

Oil on canvas

(diameter): 145.7 cm (57 3/8 in.)

The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

In this Nativity, among the largest of Piero’s roundels, was likely intended for devotional use in a private palace or in the more public setting of a local confraternity or guildhall. Mary kneels in adoration of the infant Christ, who rests on a blue mantle, his head supported by a pillow of wheat that evokes the Eucharist. Also present to venerate the incarnate Jesus are an angel and the young John the Baptist, who clutches a reed cross and regards the Christ child with touching solemnity.

Piero’s narrative vision encompasses details sublime and mundane, from the symbolic rose and bud, rocks, and dove beside Christ to the half-ruined stable in the background with its niche of kitchen utensils. Jesus’s father, Joseph, descends the building’s wooden stairs in the cautious manner of an aged man. He is attended by angels bearing flowering branches to celebrate the Child’s birth. In the distance at left, the three Magi traverse a serene landscape whose rolling contours perfectly complement the tondo’s shape. More on this painting

Piero di Cosimo (Italian, Florence 1462–1522 Florence)

The Young Saint John the Baptist, ca. 1480–82

Tempera and oil on wood

11 1/2 x 9 1/4 in. (29.2 x 23.5 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Saint John the Baptist is one of the patron saints of Florence, where representations of him as a youth enjoyed a special popularity in the fifteenth century. In its format and profile depiction of the saint, this picture resembles contemporary marble reliefs, but the soft modeling reflects Piero's awareness of Netherlandish painting. More on this painting

John the Baptist (sometimes called John in the Wilderness; also referred to as the Angel of the Desert) was the subject of at least eight paintings by the Italian Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610).

 

The story of John the Baptist is told in the Gospels. John was the cousin of Jesus, and his calling was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. He lived in the wilderness of Judea between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, "his raiment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey." He baptised Jesus in the Jordan.

According to the Bible, King Herod's daughter Salome requested Saint John the Baptist's beheading. She was prompted by her mother, Herodias, who sought revenge, because the prophet had condemned her incestuous marriage to Herod. More John the Baptist

Piero di Cosimo, 1462-1521

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Sts. Peter, John the Baptist, Dominic, and Nicholas of Bari

Tempera and oil on panel

69 3/4 in. x 47 in. x 5 in. (177.2 x 119.4 x 12.7 cm)

Saint Louis Art Museum

In a lifelike rendering, this large panel portrays a sacra conversazione (holy conversation) where saints surround the Madonna and Child in a unified pictorial space. Piero di Cosimo’s approach is far removed from the compartmentalized divisions in Lorenzo di Nicolo’s altarpiece elsewhere in this gallery. Here, Saint Peter presents the kneeling Saint Dominic (left) while Saint John the Baptist announces Christ’s ministry, and Saint Nicholas kneels in devotion (right). The three smaller panels, called a predella, depict scenes from the lives of Saints Dominic, John, and Nicholas. The Pugliese coat of arms adorns the frame, identifying the Florentine family who commissioned the work for its private chapel. More on this painting

Piero di Cosimo, 1462-1521

St Mary Magdalene, c. 1490-95

Tempera on panel

72 x 53 cm

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome

St Mary Magdalene is identified by her profile and the halo, her long hair and jar of ointment. The jar alludes to the visit of the Magdalene and the pious women to the sepulcher on Easter morning. Having reached the place where the body of Jesus would be embalmed with perfumed oils, they found the sepulcher empty and were the first to bear witness to the Resurrection. The long hair with which the Magdalene is generally depicted actually derives from an erroneous interpretation of the Gospel, arising from a confusion between the Magdalene with the nameless prostitute who, repenting of her sins, shed tears on Jesus's feet and dried them with her own hair.

Piero di Cosimo's painting, however, includes details that go beyond the traditional depiction of the saint, drawing on the artist's own time: the style of her dress, the open book and the lady's pose, like the architecture framing her, draw directly on the portraiture of the 1400s. In fact, it cannot be excluded that the painting may actually have been commissioned by or for a lady named Maddalena, who wished to be portrayed as the saint whose name she bore.

The painting is notable for its extremely refined execution, particularly striking in the pictorial surface and definition of the details. In these ways, Piero di Cosimo reveals his profound understanding and appreciation of the formal values of Flemish painting. More on this painting

During his lifetime, Piero acquired a reputation for eccentricity—a reputation enhanced and exaggerated by later commentators. Reportedly, he was frightened of thunderstorms, and so pyrophobic that he rarely cooked his food; he lived on a diet of hard-boiled eggs, which he prepared 50 at a time while boiling glue for his artworks. He also resisted any cleaning of his studio, or trimming of the fruit trees of his orchard; he lived, wrote Vasari, "more like a beast than a man".

If, as Vasari asserts, he spent the last years of his life in gloomy retirement, the change was probably due to preacher Girolamo Savonarola, under whose influence he turned his attention once more to religious art. The death of his master Roselli may also have affected Piero's morose elder years. The Immaculate Conception with Saints, at the Uffizi, and the Holy Family, at Dresden, illustrate the religious fervour to which he was stimulated by Savonarola.

Piero di Cosimo (Italian, Florence 1462–1522 Florence)

A Hunting Scene, ca. 1494–1500

Tempera and oil transferred to Masonite

27 3/4 x 66 3/4 in. (70.5 x 169.5 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This picture and its companion (also in The Met's collection) (See below) reimagine the early history of humankind and are among the most singular works of the Renaissance. Their inspiration was the fifth book of De Rerum Natura by the Epicurean poet and philosopher Lucretius (ca. 99–55 B.C.). A manuscript of Lucretius’s work was discovered in 1417 and published in Florence in 1471–73. Lucretius believed that the workings of the world can be accounted for by natural rather than divine causes, and he put forward a vision of the history of primitive humanity and the advent of civilization that was much discussed in Renaissance Florence—and beyond. More on this painting

Piero di Cosimo (Italian, Florence 1462–1522 Florence)

The Return from the Hunt, ca. 1494–1500

Tempera and oil on wood

27 3/4 x 66 1/2 in. (70.5 x 168.9 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This picture and its companion (also in The Met's collection) (See above) reimagine the early history of humankind and are among the most singular works of the Renaissance. Their inspiration was the fifth book of De Rerum Natura by the Epicurean poet and philosopher Lucretius (ca. 99–55 B.C.). A manuscript of Lucretius’s work was discovered in 1417 and published in Florence in 1471–73. Lucretius believed that the workings of the world can be accounted for by natural rather than divine causes, and he put forward a vision of the history of primitive humanity and the advent of civilization that was much discussed in Renaissance Florence—and beyond. More on this painting

With the exception of the landscape background in Rosselli's fresco of the Sermon on the Mount, in the Sistine Chapel, there is no record of any fresco work from his brush. On the other hand, Piero enjoyed a great reputation as a portrait painter: the most famous of his work is in fact the portrait of a Florentine noblewoman, Simonetta Vespucci (See above), mistress of Giuliano de' Medici. According to Vasari, Piero excelled in designing pageants and triumphal processions for the pleasure-loving youths of Florence, and gives a vivid description of one such procession at the end of the carnival of 1507, which illustrated the triumph of death. Piero di Cosimo exercised considerable influence upon his fellow pupils Albertinelli and Bartolomeo della Porta, and was the master of Andrea del Sarto.

Piero di Cosimo (Italian, 1462–1522)

The Discovery of Honey by Bacchus, c. about 1499

Oil on panel

79.2 x 128.4 cm (31 3/16 x 50 9/16 in.)

Worcester Art Museum

In this allegorical setting the mythological figures of Bacchus and Ariadne, in the right foreground, are accompanied by satyrs and maenads who make noise to attract a swarm of bees to settle in a hollow tree. The result is the discovery of honey, considered a step forward in the history of civilization which is symbolized in the background by the juxtaposition of an idyllic view of a town (on the left) and a wild and forbidding landscape (on the right). More on this painting

Piero di Cosimo

The Misfortunes of Silenus, c. 1500

Oil on panel

80.1 x 129.3 cm (31 9/16 x 50 7/8 in.)

Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University

This panel, along with a companion showing the Discovery of Honey, was probably commissioned as a nuptial gift to adorn the bedchamber in the Florentine palace of Giovanni Vespucci and his bride; both panels are described by the artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari in his Life of Piero di Cosimo. Wasps (vespe in Italian) adorned the family’s coats of arms, and the scenes were certainly chosen as humorous but cautionary tales for the newlyweds. The story is based on passages from Ovid’s Fasti, where Silenus, looking for honey, climbs on the back of his donkey to reach into the hollow of a tree. Inside, he discovers a wasp’s nest, setting off a series of misfortunes: the branch on which he was leaning breaks, and he falls from his donkey, is kicked by an ass, and is stung by the wasps he disturbed. At the left of this panel, Bacchus and Ariadne watch as Silenus’s stings are treated with mud. 

The paintings in the Worcester and Harvard Art Museums shared a common provenance until the “Discovery of Honey” (See above) was sold in 1937 to the Worcester Art Museum and the “Misfortunes of Silenus” was sold in 1940 to the Fogg Art Museum. The Fogg Art Museum purchased the painting directly from Mrs. Douglas. More on this painting

Vasari gave Piero's date of death as 1521, and this date is still repeated by many sources, including the Encyclopædia Britannica. However, contemporary documents reveal that he died of plague on 12 April 1522. He is featured in George Eliot's novel Romola. More on Piero di Cosimo

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14 Works, December 20th. is Józef Unierzyski's day, his art, illustrated with footnotes #252

Józef Unierzyski  (1863–1948)

Józef Unierzyski/ Decent from the Cross, c. 1887

Oil on canvas

Height: 151 cm (59.4 in); Width: 277 cm (109 in)

National Museum in Kraków

The Descent from the Cross is considered his best, most stylish and effective work, which - as it was written - "among the gray and quite sterile painting production in those years [...] must have become an event in Krakow's painting relations. Criticism fell into admiration, master Matejko was pleased to testify that a work so widely received with applause came out of his masterpiece ".

Unierzyski, with the academic correctness of the drawing and composition, presented a scene in which Jesus has already been taken down from the cross and is lying on a white shroud - similar to the scenes depicting the mourning. What draws attention in the painting is a mood that combines harmony, peace and sentiment, with an appropriate accent of drama obtained through a slightly exaggerated theatricality of gestures. More on this painting

Józef Unierzyski (20 December 1863, Milewo - 29 December 1948, Kraków) was a Polish painter. From 1891, he served as a Professor of drawing at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków.

He began his studies at the School of Drawing in Warsaw Thanks to a scholarship from the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, granted in 1883, he was able to continue his studies in Munich and Italy, where he attended the "Scuola libera" and the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. When he returned to Poland, he studied at the School of Fine Arts with Jan Matejko. Later, he would marry Matejko's daughter, Helena.

Józef Unierzyski

Self-portrait with harpies

Oil on canvas

Masovian Museum in Płock

Harpies were the spirits of sudden, sharp gusts of wind. They were known as the hounds of Zeus and were despatched by the god to snatch away people and things from the earth. Sudden, mysterious dissappearances were often attributed to the Harpyiai. More on Harpies

Józef Unierzyski

Self-portrait with Vena

Polonia Art

I have no further description, at this time

Józef UNIERZYSKI (1863-1948)

Self-portrait among muses

Oil on board

23.5 x 32 cm

Private collection

Józef Unierzyski
Homage to Upper Silesia, c. 1931

Oil on canvas

Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Katowice

This subject matter emphasized the establishment of the Silesian Voivodeship as an autonomous part of the Republic of Poland and the establishment of a new diocese, the main patron of which was the Mother of God, as well as the relationship with the state restored in 1918. 

Unierzyski illustrated not only the portrait of the spiritual community that the parish always constitutes, but also what was important for the state and province at that time. Hence the banners: red with a white eagle - symbolizing Poland, and blue with a golden eagle - Upper Silesia, history - in the "Mighty Virgin", where Mary and the Child, surrounded by angels, "defend Jasna Częstochowa" and defeat the infidels symbolized by Turks, Swedes, but and Bolshevik or contemporary times...  More on this painting

Józef Unierzyski

Zaraza/ Plague, c. 1887

Oil on canvas

80×161,5 cm

Płock, Muzeum Mazowieckie

He became a Deputy Assistant at the School in 1889 and became an Assistant in 1891. Six years later, he was approved as a Professor. In the academic years 1895/96 and 1908/09, he operated his own drawing school. He voluntarily retired in 1909. During World War I, he taught night classes on commission.

Józef UNIERZYSKI (1863-1948)

Madonna

Pastel

47,5 x 31,5 cm

Private collection

ózef Unierzyski

LITTLE MUSICIANS BEFORE MADONNA WITH THE CHILD

Oil, canvas

90 cm x 75.5 cm

Private collection

Unierzyski remained faithful to religious theme by creating large-format paintings intended for churches - images of saints, Stations of the Cross, a series of "Marian" paintings for St. Mary's Church in Katowice (1928-1930).

Although the artist lived in the times of shaping new trends and trends in art, he remained indifferent to them, maintaining his work in the style and spirit of nineteenth-century academic painting. More on this painting

Józef UNIERZYSKI

Jawnogrzesznica/ Harlot, c. 1920

Oil on canvas

91 x 132cm

Private collection

Jesus and the woman taken in adultery is a famous passage found in the Gospel of John 7:53-8:11, that has been the subject of much scholarly discussion. In the passage, 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 an adulteress, and invite Jesus to pass judgment upon her: should she be stoned, as Moses taught, or not? Jesus first ignores the interruption, and writes on the ground as though he does not hear them. But after the religious leaders continue their challenge, he states that the one who is without sin is the one who should cast the first stone. The religious leaders depart, leaving Jesus and the woman in the midst of the crowd. Jesus then asks the woman if anyone has condemned her. When 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

Józef Unierzyski

Queen of Peace, c. 1928

Oil on canvas

 Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Katowice

Józef Unierzyski

Virgin Most Powerful, c. 1931

Oil on canvas

Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Katowice

Mary and the Child surrounded by angels descend from the ramparts of Jasna Góra, the main Polish Marian sanctuary, which became famous for its defense against the Swedes in 1655, towards the figures of the enemies of the Church and Poland huddled on the ground—the Muslims Turk and Tatar, a Protestant Swede and a Bolshevik. The defense of the Catholic faith was presented as a destiny of the nation, particularly beloved by the Mother of Christ. More on this painting

Józef UNIERZYSKI (1863-1948)

Genre scene

Oil on canvas

100.5 x 126 cm,

Private collection

Throughout his career, he painted in a modified Academic style and remained unimpressed by Modernism. He painted works in a variety of types; including portraits, historical scenes and religious subjects, but also created works with mythological, allegorical and symbolic content.

Jozef Unierzyski

Before an Inn, c. 1891

Oil on canvas

132 x 191cm

National Museum, Warsaw

Józef UNIERZYSKI (1863-1948)

Pomona - Woman with a Tray of Fruit, circa 1935

Oil on canvas

80 x 84 cm

Private collection

His most familiar painting, "Zdjęcie z krzyża" (picture or photograph with the Cross, a post-crucifixion scene), from 1887, is on display at the National Museum, Kraków (see above). His works may also be seen at the National Museum, Warsaw, and the Bielsko-Biała Museum and Castle, among others. Several locations have his religious murals, notably including a Marian Cycle of six panels at St. Mary's Church, Katowice. More on Józef Unierzyski

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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29 Works, December 14th. is Károly Lotz's day, his art, illustrated with footnotes #250

Károly Lotz, (1833, Homburg vor der Höhe - 1904, Budapest)

Dobozy and his Wife, c. 1880s

Oil on cardboard

22.4 × 28.3 cm

Hungarian National Gallery

According to contemporary writings, Mihály Dobozi was most likely a noble soldier from Doboz who participated in the Battle of Marót, where Hungarian army formed of serfs and the local gentry fleeing the Turkish invaders entrenched themselves in a cart fortress in a small settlement in the Gerecse Valley. The cart camp was captured by the Turks, and the resisters were put to the sword.

Mihály Dobozi cut himself out of the enemy's ring and, grabbing his wife, Ilona Farmosi, onto his horse, fled. When the pursuing Turkish horsemen almost caught up with the couple, at the behest of his wife not to fall into the hands of the enemy and to save his wife's honor, he stabbed his beloved, and he himself turned to face the Turks, who slaughtered him. More on Michael Dobozi

Lotz Károly Antal Pál, or Karl Anton Paul Lotz (16 December 1833 – 13 October 1904) was a German-Hungarian painter.

Károly Lotz, (1833, Homburg vor der Höhe - 1904, Budapest)

Stud in a Thunderstorm, c. 1862

Oil on canvas

126,5 x 191,5 cm

Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

This is a herd of mares, foals and young horses which are traditionally kept on the Hungarian puszta, and belonging to one of the many studs. The herdsman is usually mounted, but here he is without a horse. His dog stays close to him. Two groups of horses gather around the waterpump. On the background at the right, a troika is arriving, maybe to pick up the herdsman. More on this painting

On returning home from Vienna where he had studied, the young Lotz looked at the Hungarian landscape and people with a fresh eye. His observations were way ahead of his age. Although his paintings depicting the landscape of the Great Hungarian Plains during a  storm were still rooted in Romanticism, their emotional charge, variegated compositional methods and, most of all, their realistic colours justified Lotz's personal ambitions. 

"Stud in a Thunderstorm", painted in 1862, is an excellent example of these qualities. His depiction of the clouds whirling in the depth of the space, his felicitous rendering of the horses and his ability to capture the feeling and unique world of the people of the flatlands could not be matched by any of his contemporaries. More on this painting

Károly Lotz  (1833–1904)

Storm (Storm in the Puszta), circa 1862

Oil on cardboard

Height: 16 cm (6.2 in); Width: 24 cm (9.4 in)

Private collection

Károly Lotz, (1833, Homburg vor der Höhe - 1904, Budapest)

Twilight, c. 1870

Oil on canvas

47,5 x 61 cm

Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

Lotz studied in Vienna under Karl Rahl and his works show the effect of the great Renaissance masters, Raphael in particular. In the early phase of his art he did some significant representations of native scenery such as the Great Hungarian Plain and the life of the peasants.

The setting sun hidden behind a cloud lights up the landscape of the plain, catching the shepherd and his herd in the foreground and the gleaming surface of the water. The bucolic atmosphere of landscape, the little cottage in the trees in the background and the silence of Nature preparing for rest give great intimacy to this painting by Lotz. More on this painting

Karoly Lotz

Resting shepherds

Oil on canvas

20x30 cm

Private collection

Károly Lotz, (1833, Homburg vor der Höhe - 1904, Budapest)

Peasants Dancing, c. 1860

Oil on canvas

Height: 94.5 cm; Width: 125.5 cm

Hungarian National Gallery

Lotz was born in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany, the 7th and youngest surviving child of Wilhelm Christian Lotz and Antonia Höfflick. His father was a valet of Prince Gustav zu Hessen-Homburg at the time when the prince was representing Austria at the Congress of Vienna, which among other matters dealt with the House of Hessen-Homburg's rights of sovereignty over Hessen-Darmstadt. The sudden death of the young Baron von Sinclair, chargé d'affaires, forced W. C. Lotz temporarily into the rôle. While in Hungary in 1815 he made the acquaintance of the 13-year-old Antonie Hoefflich, whom he married three years later. She gave birth to 8 children, of whom Karl was the youngest.

Károly Lotz, (1833, Homburg vor der Höhe - 1904, Budapest)

Hussar Officers at Camp, c. 1857

Oil on canvas

106 x 171 cm

Historical Picture Gallery, Hungarian National Museum, Budapest

In the center of the painting Count József Bethlen can be seen on the white horse. At his left Count István Esterházy holding his sword and Baron Frigyes Podmaniczky with cigar. Behind the white horse stands Count Dénes Almásy. More on this painting

Count József Bethlen became Prince of Transylvania from 1613 to 1629 and Duke of Opole from 1622 to 1625. He was also King-elect of Hungary from 1620 to 1621, but he never took control of the whole kingdom. Bethlen, supported by the Ottomans, led his Calvinist principality against the Habsburgs and their Catholic allies. More on Gabriel Bethlen

Count István Esterházy de Galántha was a member of the wealthy Hungarian Esterházy family, eldest son of Palatine Nicholas Esterházy.

His father received the title of Count in 1626 by Emperor-King Ferdinand II, therefore his descendants also could make use of title. Count István died in 1641, when his father was still alive. His younger brother Ladislaus became head of the family in 1645. More on Count István Esterházy

W. C. Lotz died in 1837 and Antonie moved the family to Budapest. Karl attended the Piaristengymnasium, where, although Calvinist, he was awarded a scholarship for his exceptional academic performance. He began his artistic career as a pupil of the Hofkapellmeister Destouches, then in the academy of the Venetian master Jakab Marastoni (1804–1860). Later he was a pupil of the historical painters Henrik Weber (1818–1866) in Budapest and Carl Rahl (1812–1865) in Vienna.

Karoly Lotz

Venus (Kornélia)

Kornélia Lotz was the artist's wife

Oil on cardboard

65 x 25 cm

Private collection

Estimated for 14 644 EUR - 21 966 EUR in Dec 2016

Károly Lotz, (1833, Homburg vor der Höhe - 1904, Budapest)

Amor and Psyche, c. 1902

Oil on canvas

142 x 112 cm

Private collection

Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from Metamorphoses, written in the 2nd Century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis. It concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyche and Cupid, and their ultimate union in a sacred marriage. Although the only extended narrative from antiquity is that of Apuleius, Eros and Psyche appear in Greek art as early as the 4th century BC. The story's Neoplatonic elements and allusions to mystery religions accommodate multiple interpretations, and it has been analyzed as an allegory and in light of folktale, Märchen or fairy tale, and myth. More on Cupid and Psyche

Karoly Lotz

Temptation (Leda)

Oil on canvas

40 x 24 cm

Private collection

Estimated for 3 417 EUR - 5 370 EUR in Oct 2023

Leda, in Greek legend, usually believed to be the daughter of Thestius, king of Aetolia, and wife of Tyndareus, king of Lacedaemon. She was also believed to have been the mother (by Zeus, who had approached and seduced her in the form of a swan) of the other twin, Pollux, and of Helen, both of whom hatched from eggs. Variant legends gave divine parentage to both the twins and possibly also to Clytemnestra, with all three of them having hatched from the eggs of Leda, while yet other legends say that Leda bore the twins to her mortal husband, Tyndareus. Still other variants say that Leda may have hatched out Helen from an egg laid by the goddess Nemesis, who was similarly approached by Zeus in the form of a swan.The divine swan’s encounter with Leda was a subject depicted by both ancient Greek and Italian Renaissance artists; Leonardo da Vinci undertook a painting (now lost) of the theme, and Correggio’s Leda (c. 1530s) is a well-known treatment of the subject. More on Leda and The Swan

Karoly Lotz

Triumphant Neptune, c. 1892

Oil on canvas

75 x 176,5 cm

Private collection

Sold for  €22,222 EUR in Dec 2017

Neptune is the god of freshwater and the sea in Roman religion. He is the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon. In the Greek tradition, Neptune is the brother of Jupiter and Pluto; the brothers preside over the realms of heaven, the earthly world, and the underworld. Salacia is his wife.

Depictions of Neptune in Roman mosaics, especially those in North Africa, were influenced by Hellenistic conventions. Neptune was likely associated with freshwater springs before the sea. Like Poseidon, Neptune was also worshipped by the Romans as a god of horses as Neptunus Equester (a patron of horse-racing). More on Neptune

Karoly Lotz

Niobe with her Children, c. 1884

Oil on canvas

78 x 47 cm

Private collection

Estimated for €2,000 EUR - €4,000 EUR in Jun 2016

This oil painting shows a mythological scene from Ovid's Metamorphoses. It is a study for a fresco in the auditorium of the Opera House in Budapest (1884). The depiction illustrates the dramatic killing of Niobe’s sons and daughters. The wife of the Theban king Amphion was so proud of her many children (seven sons and seven daughters ) that she dared to surpass the Titan Leto, whereupon Leto asked her son and daughter, Apollo and Arthemis , to kill the sons and daughters of Niobe with bow and arrow in one day. In the opera literature, the subject of Niobe is often quoted, which testifies to the connection of the present study. In his mythological topics, Károly Lotz oriented to the masters of the Venetian Baroque, such as Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Thus, it is primarily the dramatizing baroque language that Lotz overtook in his works. More on this painting

Karoly Lotz

Venus and Cupid

Oil on wood

20*12 cm

Private collection

Venus and Love/ Venus and Cupid. Different tales exist about the origin of Venus and Cupid. Some say that Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, had a love affair with Mars, the god of war. Out of this relationship, Cupid was born. 

Cupid has attributes from both of his parents. Like his mother he is considered to be the god of love, or more precisely, the god of falling in love. He is portrayed as an innocent little child with bow and arrows. He shoots arrows to the heart, and awakening a love that you’re powerless to resist.

Venus and Cupid are often shown in intimate poses, reflecting the unique love between mother and child. More on Venus and Love

Karoly Lotz

Thalia, c. 1880

Oil, canvas

180x108 cm 

Private collection

In Greek mythology, a Charis or Grace is one of three or more minor goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity, and fertility, together known as the Charites or Graces. The usual list, from youngest to oldest is Aglaea ("Splendor"), Euphrosyne ("Mirth"), and Thalia ("Good Cheer"). In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, the "Graces". In some variants, Charis was one of the Graces and was not the singular form of their name.

The Charites were usually considered the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, though they were also said to be daughters of Dionysus and Aphrodite or of Helios and the naiad Aegle. Other possible names of their mother by Zeus are Eurydome, Eurymedousa, and Euanthe. Homer wrote that they were part of the retinue of Aphrodite. The Charites were also associated with the Greek underworld and the Eleusinian Mysteries.

The river Cephissus near Delphi was sacred to them. More Three Graces

Károly Lotz  (1833–1904)

Sappho (Contemplation), circa 1880

Oil on canvas

Height: 94 cm (37 in); Width: 74 cm (29.1 in)

Private collection

Sappho (c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an archaic Greek poet from the island of Lesbos. Sappho's poetry was lyric poetry, and she is best known for her poems about love. 

Little is known of Sappho's life. She was from a wealthy family from Lesbos. Ancient sources say that she had three brothers; the names of two of them are mentioned in the Brothers Poem discovered in 2014. She was exiled to Sicily around 600 BC, and may have continued to work until around 570.

Sappho's poetry was well-known and greatly admired through much of antiquity, and she was among the nine lyric poets deemed major by scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria. Today, Sappho's poetry is still considered extraordinary, and her works have continued to influence other writers up until the modern day. Outside of academic circles, she is perhaps best known as a symbol of same-sex desire, particularly between women.  More on Sappho

Károly Lotz Homburg von der Höhe Lotz

The Muse

Oil on wood

21 × 14.8 cm

Private collection

Muse, in Greco-Roman religion and mythology, any of a group of sister goddesses of obscure but ancient origin, in Boeotia, Greece. They were born in Pieria, at the foot of Mount Olympus. Very little is known of their cult, but they had a festival every four years at Thespiae. They probably were originally the patron goddesses of poets, although later their range was extended to include all liberal arts and sciences—hence, their connection with such institutions as the Museum (Mouseion, seat of the Muses) at Alexandria, Egypt. There were nine Muses as early as Homer’s Odyssey, and Homer invokes either a Muse or the Muses collectively from time to time. More on Muses

Together with Rahl he worked on numerous commissions. Later he started on his own original works, first as a romantic landscape artist in scenes of the Alföld (the Hungarian lowland plain), and then as a creator of monumental murals and frescos in the style of the Venetian master Tiepolo.

Károly Lotz (Hungarian, 1833–1904)

Outlaw

Oil on board

20.5 x 11.5 cm. (8.1 x 4.5 in.)

Private collection

Estimated for  Ft600,000 HUF - Ft800,000 HUF in Dec 2019

Károly Lotz (Hungarian, 1833–1904)

Outlaws

Oil on canvas

28 x 41 cm. (11 x 16.1 in.)

Private collection

Estimated for 240,000 HUF in Dec 2015

Károly Lotz Homburg von der Höhe Lotz

Galloping Outlaw, c. 1857

Oil on canvas

Height: 58.0 cm; Width: 92.0 cm

Hungarian National Gallery 

After various works in Budapest he became active in Vienna. He laid out plans for a grandiose palace, and completed murals commissioned by the Abbot of Tihany Abbey for his abbey church on the shore of Lake Balaton. He became known for his portraits and nudes, for which both his wife and his daughters posed. Lotz found married bliss only at the age of 58, when he married the widow Jacoboy, the former wife of his brother Paul Johann Heinrich, who had died in 1828. From then on he signed his works Károly Jacoboy-Lotz.

Károly Lotz, (1833, Homburg vor der Höhe - 1904, Budapest)

Portrait of Kornélia Lotz, c. 1890s

Kornélia Lotz was the artist's wife

Oil on canvas

68,5 x 55,5 cm

Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

Károly Lotz  (1833–1904)

Madonna with Kornélia Lotz

Kornélia Lotz was the artist's wife

Oil on wood

10 x 17 cm

Private collection

Estimated for 1 464 EUR - 2 441 EUR in Oct 2013

Károly Lotz  (1833–1904)

Kornélia Lotz

Kornélia Lotz was the artist's wife

Oil on cardboard

Height: 20 cm (7.8 in); Width: 54 cm (21.2 in)

Private collection

Károly Lotz  (1833–1904)

Cornelia Lotz in Black, c. 1896

Kornélia Lotz was the artist's wife

Oil on canvas

Height: 163.8 cm (64.4 in); Width: 82 cm (32.2 in)

Hungarian National Gallery

Károly Lotz turned to portrait painting more intensely in the 1890s. His model was primarily his foster daughter Kornélia. Practically, his portraits of Kornélia form a series, in which she embodies a bathing nymph and goddess, a bacchante and grand lady, an innocent virgin and a serious woman, all at the same time. From Lotz’ portraits, it is hard to make out what Kornélia was actually like – we just take her as the changeable woman standing for the type of ideal female at the turn of the century. It is fascinating that the modern female personality shines through even the old-fashioned, historicist milieu of the Kornélia portraits, in anticipation of the great female types of the 20th century. The narrow standing format of this portrait of Kornélia in a black dress, the graceful harmony of the mirror frame in the background with the subtly swaying forms of the model already point to the forms of art nouveau, the colour scheme predominated by black also being in line with the tendencies around the turn of the century. More on this painting

Károly Lotz

Károly Lotz, Portrait of Kornélia Lotz with Golden Locket, c. 1900s

Kornélia Lotz was the artist's wife

Watercolor

186 × 132 mm

Szépművészeti Múzeum

Károly Lotz  (1833–1904)

Spring (Portrait of Ilona K. Lippich), c. 1894

Daughter of Gusztáv Koronghy Lippich, head of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, wife of János Szalay from Almás

Oil on canvas

Height: 113 cm (44.4 in); Width: 81.5 cm (32 in)

Hungarian National Gallery

In 1882 Lotz was appointed Professor at various art academies in Budapest, and in 1885 he became dean of a newly established department for women painters. He was an honorary member of the Academy of Pictorial Arts in Vienna.

Lotz Karoly

Vision (Towards the Light)

Oil, cardboard on board

61,5x46 cm

Private collection

His last important public commission was the "Apotheosis of the Habsburg Dynasty", a huge ceiling fresco in the Habsburg Room of the newly rebuilt Royal Palace, that he painted in 1903, one year before his death. Lotz was already seriously ill when he worked on the fresco. The "Apotheosis" followed the traditions of Baroque court painting and the work was praised by contemporary critics. The fresco survived the war unscathed, but it was destroyed in the 1950s.

Attributed to Karl Karoly Lotz (Hungarian, German, 1833 - 1904)

Nude Woman

Oil on canvas

31 1/2 x 24 inches / 79 x 60 cm

Private collection

Estimated for $2,700 USD - $3,000 USD in Apr 2020

Károly Lotz, (1833, Homburg vor der Höhe - 1904, Budapest)

Bathing Woman, c. 1901

Oil on canvas

180 x 70 cm

Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

Painting nudes was one of the favourite genres of Károly Lotz, especially during the 1890s he painted several nudes. His female nudes are generally very sensuous, with natural beauty radiating from their gestures. This particular nude is a little abstract; her posture, the cape over the shoulder, and the black stone vessel are reminiscent of the cool grace of Ingres's nudes. More on this painting

Károly Lotz, (1833, Homburg vor der Höhe - 1904, Budapest)

After the Bath, c. 1880

Oil on canvas

128 x 97 cm

Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

He died in 1904 in Budapest. As a "Prince of Hungarian Artists" he was given a state funeral and interred inside a memorial. His pictures, drawings and sketches were donated to the State of Hungary and are now in the Szépművészeti Múzeum. Several Hungarian cities have streets named after him, there are Hungarian stamps bearing his likeness, and there is a bust in the National Museum in Budapest. More on Károly Lotz

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, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at  deviantart and Aaroko

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.

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.