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Albrect Durer
1471 - 1528
Self Portrait of Albrect Durer
Albrecht Durer (May 21, 1471 - April 6, 1528) was a German painter, engraver and mathematician. He was born and died in Nuremberg, Germany and is best known as one of the greatest creators of old master prints, along with Rembrandt and Goya. His prints were often executed in series, including the Apocalypse (1498) and his two series on the passion of Christ, the Great Passion (1498-1510) and the Little Passion (1510-1511). Durer's best known individual engravings include Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), Saint Jerome in his Study (1514) and Melencolia I (1514), which has been the subject of extensive analysis and speculation. His most iconic images are his woodcuts of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1497-1498) from the Apocalypse series, the "Rhinoceros", and numerous self-portraits in oils. Durer possibly did not cut his own woodblocks but may have employed a skilled carver who followed his drawings faithfully. He painted a number of religious works in oils and made many brilliant watercolors and drawings, which through modern reproductions are now perhaps his best known works.
His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Renaissance in Northern Europe ever since.
Self Portrait (Detail)
Adam and Eve: 1504
"Among the first results of these studies, which were to engage him throughout his life, was the engraving of Adam and Eve, in which he embodied all his new ideas of beauty and harmony, and which he proudly signed with his full name in Latin, ALBERTUS DURER NORICUS FACIEBAT 1504 ('Albrecht Durer of Nuremberg made this engraving in 1504').
"It may not be easy for us to see immediately the achievement which lay in this engraving. For the artist is speaking a language which is less familiar to him than that which he used in our preceding example. The harmonious forms at which he arrived by diligent measuring and balancing with compass and ruler are not as convincing and beautiful as their Italian and classical models. There is some slight suggestion of artificiality, not only in their form and posture, but also in the symmetrical composition. But this first feeling of awkwardness soon disappears when one realizes that Durer has not abandoned his real self to worship new idols, as lesser artists did. As we let him guide us into the Garden of Eden, where the mouse lies quietly beside the cat, where the elk, the cow, the rabbit and the parrot do not fear the tread of human feet, as we look deep into the grove where the tree of knowledge grows, and watch the serpent giving Eve the fatal fruit while Adam stretches out his hand to receive it, and as we notice how Durer has contrived to let the clear outline of their white and delicately modeled bodies show up against the dark shade of the forest with its rugged trees, we come to admire the first serious attempt to transplant the ideals of the South into northern soil."
Adam and Eve: 1507
Adam
Adam (Detal): 1507
Eve
Adoration of the Magi: 1514
Adoration of the Magi(Detail)
Adoration of the Magi(Detail)
The Adoration of the Magi is the name traditionally given to the Christian subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and worship him. In the church calendar, this event is commemorated in Western Christianity as the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6). The Orthodox Church commemorates the Adoration of the Magi on the Feast of the Nativity (December 25). Christian iconography has considerably expanded the bare account of the Biblical Magi given in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (2:1-11) and used it to press the point that Jesus was recognized, from his earliest infancy, as king of the earth.
The Adoration of the Trinity - Landauer Altar: 1511
Adoration of the Trinity: 1511
Duer created this single altarpiece showing the Adoration of the Trinity, a celestial vision which forms an iconographical whole with the picture frame, for the wealthy merchant Matthaus Landaur. Duer depicted the Trinity with Christ on the Cross being supported by angels, the focal point of the heavenly gathering of saints. The crowd of martyrs on the left is led by Mary, and the group of Old Testament prophets and kings on the right by Sint John the Baptist. Clergymen and laypersons following the heads of State and Church form the lowest horizontal zone in heaven. Duer depicts himself in the earthly zone in the manner of a secondary portrait. The client is the only layperson portrayed in the group of clergymen on the left, and he is being received into the heavenly community by a cardinal. Duer prepared this detail in a portrait study.
Matthaus Landauer had gained his wealth by trading in ore, and in 1501 had founded a home for twelve old craftsmen who had fallen on hard times, to which the Chapel of All Saints was attached. In addition to the portrait of the donor, there is a second one in the painting, that of his son-in-law Wilhelm Haller.
Agnes Durer as Saint Anne: 1519
According to Christian tradition, Saint Anne (also Ann or Anna) of David's house and line was the mother of the Virgin Mary. Her name Anne is a Greek rendering of a Hebrew name, Hannah. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical Gospels. According to the apocryphal Gospel of James, Anne and her husband Joachim, after years of childlessness, were visited by an angel who told them that they would conceive a child. Anne promised to dedicate the child to God's service. Joachim and Anne are believed to have given Mary to the service of the Second Temple when the girl was three years old. Anne is a patron saint of Quebec and Brittany, and patroness of women in labor and miners.
Coat of Arms of the Durer and Holper Families: 1490
Coat-of-Arms of the Tucher and Rieter Families
Amorous Peasants
Courtyard of the Former Castle in Innsbruck with Clouds: 1494
Courtyard of the Former Castle in Innsbruck without Clouds: 1494
House by a Pond: 1496
Pond in the Woods: 1496
View of Insbruck: 1495
The View of Kalchreut: ca 1511
View of Nuremberg: 1496-97
View of Trento: 1494
Virgin and Child Before An Archway
Dream Vision: 1525
A Young Girl of Cologne and Durer's Wife
Christ as the Man of Sorrows
Young Venetian Woman
Emperor Charlemagne and Emperor Sigismund
Charlemagne: 1512
French: Charlemagne, German: Karl der Groae; Latin: Carolus Magnus, meaning Charles the Great; numbered Charles I of France and the Holy Roman Empire) (742/747 - 28 January 814) was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. He expanded the Frankish kingdoms into a Frankish Empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800, in an attempted revival of the Roman Empire in the West. His rule is also associated with the Carolingian Renaissance, a revival of art, religion, and culture through the medium of the Catholic Church. Through his foreign conquests and internal reforms, Charlemagne helped define both Western Europe and the Middle Ages.
The son of King Pippin the Short and Bertrada of Laon, he succeeded his father and co-ruled with his brother Carloman I. The latter got on badly with Charlemagne, but war was prevented by the sudden death of Carloman in 771. Charlemagne continued the policy of his father towards the papacy and became its protector, removing the Lombards from power in Italy, and waging war on the Saracens, who menaced his realm from Spain. It was during one of these campaigns that Charlemagne experienced the worst defeat of his life, at Roncesvalles (778). He also campaigned against the peoples to his east, especially the Saxons, and after a protracted war subjected them to his rule. By forcibly converting them to Christianity, he integrated them into his realm and thus paved the way for the later Ottonian dynasty.
Today he is not only regarded as the founding father of both French and German monarchies, but as the father of Europe: his empire united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Romans, and the Carolingian renaissance encouraged the formation of a common European identity. Pierre Riché reflects:
"he enjoyed an exceptional destiny, and by the length of his reign, by his conquests, legislation and legendary stature, he also profoundly marked the history of western Europe."
Emperor Sigismund: ca 1512
Sigismund (14/15 February, 1368 - December 9, 1437; Hungarian name as King of Hungary: I. Zsigmond) was Holy Roman Emperor for 4 years from 1433 until 1437. He was also one of the longest ruling Kings of Hungary reigning for 50 years from 1387 to 1437.
Emperor Maximilian I
Feast of the Rose Garlands: 1506
The Feast of the Rose Garlands was originally titled The Brotherhood of the Rosary; the painting has a truly sensational history. Durer, a painter from Nuremburg, is today considered one of the top artists of the late Gothic and Early Renaissance period. He was an exceptional individual with an unquenchable desire for knowledge. Max Dvorak, the noted art historian of the first half of the 20th century, wrote, "All of Durer's life was a quest to enrich the spiritual side of his character. He tried to use what this period of considerable spiritual stimulation and experience offered him: humanism and the Reformation, Italian and Dutch artistic concepts, theory and practice, beauty and the diversity of life and nature." Durer's desire to further his education took him to Venice in 1506. By chance, he was commissioned by the residents of the commercial center of Fondaco dei Tedeschi to create an altar painting for their parish chapel. The scene was intended to represent The Community of the Brotherhood of the Rosary with Madonna and Child. The Madonna is seated in the middle of the large composition and is bestowing rose garlands to spiritual and worldly believers, led by the Pope and Emperor designate Maxmilian I. The future emperor and Durer himself (the man with flowing hair situated in the background) arethe only subjects that can be positively identified. The others depicted in the painting may or may not have been the products of Durer's own imagination.
Feast of the Rose Garlands (Detail)
Feast of the Rose Garlands (Detail)
Feast of the Rose Garlands (Detail)
Felicitas Tucher, nee Rieter
Hans Tucher: 1499
Head of a Woman: 1520
Head Of an Angel: 1506
The Heller Altar: 1508
Jakob Fugger the Wealthy: 1518-20
Lamentation for Christ: 1500-03
The Lamentation of Christ is traditionally, scenes show the body of the dead Christ laid on a winding sheet or shroud before his tomb, while the Virgin Mary bends over him, kissing his face. Others in the scene may be variously Joseph of Arimathea, St. John, Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene and other weeping women.
Lamentaion for Christ (Detail)
Lamentaion for Christ (Detail)
Lamentaion for Christ (Detail)
Lamentaion for Christ (Detail)
Lot Fleeing with Hid Daughters from Sodom
Madonna and Child ca 1498
Madonna and Child on a Stone Bench: 1520
Madonna and Child with the Pear: 1526
Madonna of the Pear: 1512
Madonna with the Siskin: 1506
Madonna with the Siskin (Detail)
Madonna with the Siskin (Detail)
Madonna with the Siskin (Detail)
Madonna with the Siskin (Detail)
The Jacob Altarpiece: ca 1504
Job and His Wife: ca 1504
Two Musicians
The Madonna of the Carnation: 1516
The Seven Sorroes of the Virgin: ca 1496
Mother of Sorrows
The Flight into Egypt
The Martydom of the Ten Thousand
On 18 March: "At Nicomedia ten thousand holy martyrs who were put to the sword for the confession of Christ", and on 22 June: "On Mount Ararat the martyrdom of ten thousand holy martyrs who were crucified." The first entry, found in an old Greek martyrology, translated by Cardinal Sirleto and published by H.Canisius, probably notes the veneration of a number of those who gave their lives for Christ at the beginning of the prosecution of Diocletian, in 303 (Acta SS., March, II, 616). That the number is not an exaggeration is evident from Eusebius ("Hist. Eccl.", VIII, vi), Lactantius ("De morte prosecut.", xv). The entry of 22 June is based upon a legend (Acta SS., June, V, 151) said to have been translated from a Greek original (which cannot, however, be found) by Anastasius Bibliothecarius (who died in 886), and dedicated to Peter, Bishop of Sabina (? d. 1221). The legend reads: The emperors Adrian and Anoninus marched at the head of a large army to surpress the revolt of the Gadarenes and the people of the Euphrates region. Finding too strong an opponent, all fled except nine thousand soldiers. After these had been converted to Christ by the voice of an angel they turned upon the enemy and completely routed them. They were then brought to the top of Mount Ararat and instructed in the faith. When the emperors heard of the victory they sent for the converts to join in sacrifices of thanksgiving to the gods. They refused, and the emperors applied to five tributary kings for aid against the rebels. The kings reponded to the call, bringing an immense army. The Christians were asked to deny their faith, and, on refusal, were stoned. But the stones rebounded against the assailants, and at this miracle a thousand soldiers joined the confessors. Hereupon the emperors ordered all to be crucified. The Spanish version of the legend makes the martyrs Spaniards converted by St.Hermolaus, a supposed Bishop of Toledo. Many difficulties were created by the legend, it contains so many historical inaccuracies and utterly improbable details. The martyrs are not given by anyone before Petrus de Natalibus, Bishop of Equilio in 1371. The Greeks do not mention them in Menaa, Menologium, or Horologium, nor do the Copts or Armenians. Surius omitted them in the first and second edition of his "Vita Sanctorum". Henschenius the Bollandist intended to put the group among the Pratermissi. Papebroeck admitted it to the body of the work only on the authority of Radulph de Rivo (Bibl. Patrum, XXVI, Lyons, 1677, 298) and classifies the Acts as apocryphal, while Baronis takes up their defence (Annales Eccl., ad an. 108, n.2). The veneration of the Ten Thousand Martyrs is found in Denmark, Sweden, Poland, France, Spain, and Portugal. Relics are claimed by the church of St. Vitus in Prague, by Vienne, Scutari in Sicily, Cuenca in Spain, Lisbon and Coimbra in Portugal.
The Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand (Detail)
The Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand (Detail)
The Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand (Detail)
The Paumgartner Altar: ca 1503
Paumgartner Altar (Detail)
Paumgartner Altar (Detail)
Paumgartner Altar (Detail)
Paumgartner Altar (Detail)
Paumgartner Altar (Detail)e
Paumgartner Altar (Detail)
Portrait of a Cleric: 1516
Portrait of a Man: 1497-98
Portrait of a Man: 1504
Portrait of a Man with Baret and Scroll: 1521
Portrait of a Venetian Woman: 1506-07
Portrait of a Young Furlegar with Her Hair Done Up
Portrait of a Young Furlegar with Loose Hair
Portrait of a Young Girl: 1507
Portrait of Barbara Durer, Mother of Albrecht: 1490
Portrait of Durer's Father: 1490
Portrait of Durer's Father at Age 70: 1497
Portrait of Bernhard von Reesen: 1521
Portrait of Burkard von Speyer: 1506
Portrait of Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony: 1496
Portrait of Elsbeth Tucher: 1499
Portrait of Hieronymus Holzschuher: 1526
Portrait of Jakob Muffel: 1526
Portrait of Johannes Kleberger: 1526
Portrait of Michael Wolgemut: 1516
Portrait of Oswolt Krel: 1499
Portrait of Oswolt Krel: 1499 (Detail)
Portrait of a Young Man: 1506
Portrait of a Young Man: 1507
Self Portrait at 22: 1493
Self Portrait at 26: 1498
Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child: 1519
Saint Jerome: 1521
Jerome (ca. 347 - September 30, 420) is best known as the translator of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. He also was a Christian apologist. Jerome's edition of the Bible, the Vulgate, is still an important text of the Roman Catholic Church. He is recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as a canonized Saint and Doctor of the Church. He is also recognized as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church, where he is known as St. Jerome of Stridonium or Blessed Jerome. ("Blessed" in this context does not have the sense of being less than a saint, as in the West.)
In the artistic tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, it has been usual to represent him, the patron of theological learning, anachronistically, as a cardinal, by the side of the Bishop Augustine, the Archbishop Ambrose, and the Pope Gregory I. Even when he is depicted as a half-clad anchorite, with cross, skull and Bible for the only furniture of his cell, the red hat or some other indication of his rank is as a rule introduced somewhere in the picture. He is also often depicted with a lion, due to a medieval story in which he removed a thorn from a lion's paw, and, less often, an owl, the symbol of wisdom and scholarship. Writing materials and the trumpet of final judgment are also part of his iconography.
Sylvan Men with Heraldric Shield
The Apostles Philip and James: 1516
The Apostle Saint Philip
The Apostle Saint James
Both of these saints were part of the original group of Jesus' twelve apostles. Philip was one of the first apostles chosen. He was born at Bethsaida, in Galilee. Our Lord found him and said, "Follow me." Philip was so happy to be with Jesus. He wanted to share his happiness with his friend, Nathaniel. "We have found the one Moses and the prophets wrote about," Philip explained. "He is Jesus of Nazareth." Nathaniel was not at all excited. Nazareth was just a little village. It was not big and important like Jerusalem. So Nathaniel said, "Can any good come out of Nazareth?" But Philip did not become angry at his friend's answer. He just said, "Come and see." Nathaniel went to see Jesus. After he had spoken with him, he, too, became a zealous follower of the Lord.
St. James was also one of Jesus' twelve apostles. He was the son of Alpheus and a cousin of Our Lord. After Jesus ascended into heaven, James became the bishop of Jerusalem. People thought so much of him that they called him "James the Just," which means "James the Holy One." He is also called "James the Less," because he was younger than the other apostle named James. The other James was called "James the Greater" because he was older.
The saint of today's feast was very gentle and forgiving. He prayed very much. He kept begging God to forgive the people who persecuted the followers of Jesus. Even when Our Lord's enemies were putting him to death, he asked God to pardon them. St. James died a martyr in the year 62.
The Dresden Altarpiece: 1496
The Four Good Men: 1526
Saints John the Evangelist and Peter
Saint Peter
The Apostle Peter, also known as Saint Peter (from the Greek Petros, meaning "rock"), was one of the Twelve Apostles whom Jesus chose as his original disciples. His life is prominently featured in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was a Galilean fisherman assigned a leadership role by Jesus (Matthew 16:18; John 21:15-16). Many within the early Church, such as St. Irenaeu, assert his primacy among the apostles.
Christian Churches, Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Anglican Communion, consider Simon Peter a saint and associate him with the foundation of the Church in Rome, even if they differ on the significance of this and of the Pope in present-day Christianity.
Some who recognize his office as Bishop of Antioch and, later, as Bishop of Rome or Pope, hold that his episcopacy held a primacy only of honor, as a first among equals. Some propose that his primacy was not intended to pass to his successors.
Saint John the Evangelist
Saint John the Evangelist or the Beloved Disciple is traditionally the name used to refer to the author of the Gospel of John and the First Epistle of John. Traditionally he has been identified with John the Apostle. The identification with the author of the second and third epistles of John and the author of the Book of Revelation is a long-held tradition.
Christian tradition says that John the Evangelist was one of Christ's original twelve apostles; the only one to live into old age; and not martyred for his faith. John the Evangelist is associated with Ephesus, where he is said to have lived and been buried.
Saints Mark and Paul
Saint Paul
St. Paul the Apostle ("Saul of Tarsus") ("Apostle to the Gentiles") was, together with Saint Peter and James the Just, the most notable of early Christian missionaries. Unlike the Twelve Apostles, there is no indication that Paul ever met Jesus prior to the latter's crucifixion. According to Acts, his conversion took place as he was traveling the road to Damascus, and experienced a vision of the resurrected Jesus. Paul asserts that he received the Gospel not from man, but by "the revelation of Jesus Christ".
Fourteen epistles in the New Testament are traditionally attributed to Paul, though in some cases the authorship is disputed. Paul had often employed an amanuensis, only occasionally writing himself. As a sign of authenticity, the writers of these epistles sometimes employ a passage presented as being in Paul's own handwriting. These epistles were circulated within the Christian community. They were prominent in the first New Testament canon ever proposed (by Marcion), and they were eventually included in the orthodox Christian canon. They are believed to be the earliest-written books of the New Testament.
Paul's influence on Christian thinking arguably has been more significant than any other New Testament author. His influence on the main strands of Christian thought has been demonstrable: from St. Augustine of Hippo to the controversies between Gottschalk and Hincmar of Reims; between Thomism and Molinism; Martin Luther, John Calvin and the Arminians; to Jansenism and the Jesuit theologians, and even to the German church of the twentieth century through the writings of the scholar Karl Barth, whose commentary on the Letter to the Romans had a political as well as theological impact.
Saint Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist is traditionally believed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark and a companion of Peter. He also accompanied Paul and Barnabas in Paul's first journey. After a sharp dispute, Barnabas separated from Paul, taking Mark to Cyprus (Acts 15:36-40). Ironically, this separation helped bring along the creation of the Gospel of Mark. Later Paul calls upon the services of Mark, the kinsman of Barnabas, and Mark is named as Paul's fellow worker.
He is also believed to be the first Pope of Alexandria by both the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Greek Church of Alexandria, and thus the founder of Christianity in Africa. His evangelistic symbol is the lion.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
The four horsemen of the apocalypse are described in Revelation chapter 6, verses 1-8. The four horsemen are symbolic descriptions of different events which will take place in the end times. The first horseman of the apocalypse is mentioned in Revelation 6:2, "I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest." This first horseman likely refers to the antichrist, who will be given authority and will conquer all who oppose him. The antichrist is the false imitator of the true Christ, as He will return on a white horse (Revelation 19:11-16).
The second horseman of the apocalypse is spoken of in Revelation 6:4, "Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword." The second horseman refers to terrible warfare that will break out in the end times. The third horseman is described in Revelation 6:5-6, "...and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, 'A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!'" The third horseman of the apocalypse refers to a great famine that will take place, likely as a result of the wars from the second horseman. Food will be scarce, but luxuries such as wine and oil will still be readily available.
The fourth horseman is mentioned in Revelation 6:8, "I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." The fourth horseman of the apocalypse is symbolic of death and devastation. It seems to be a combination of the previous horsemen. The fourth horseman of the apocalypse will bring further warfare and terrible famines along with awful plagues and diseases. What is most amazing, or perhaps terrifying, is that the four horsemen of the apocalypse are just "precursors" of even worse judgments that come later in the Tribulation (Revelation chapters 8-9 and 16).
The Four Witches
The Judgment of Paris
The Four Witches
Since this engraving is so frequently reproduced I will only draw your attention to a few details. The grouping of the Four Witches seems to be modeled on a common Classical artistic motif, the Three Graces. We know these figures are not the Graces (Beauty, Mirth and Good Cheer) for a few reasons. The most obvious is the devil burning away merrily in the background, through the doorway on the left-hand side (think, left-hand path).
The Judgment of Paris
The Judgment of Paris is a story from Greek mythology, which was one of the events that led up to the Trojan War and (in slightly later versions of the story) to the foundation of Rome.
The Tale
It is recounted that Zeus held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (parents of Achilles). However, Eris, goddess of discord, was uninvited. Angered by this snub, Eris arrived at the celebration, where she threw a golden apple (the Apple of Discord) into the proceedings, upon which was the inscription ("for the fairest one").
Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. They asked Zeus to judge which of them was fairest, and eventually Zeus, reluctant to favor any claim himself, declared that Paris, a Phrygian mortal, would judge their cases, for he had recently shown his exemplary fairness in a contest in which Ares in bull form had bested Paris's own prize bull, and the shepherd-prince had unhesitatingly awarded the prize to the god.
Thus it happened that, with Hermes as their guide, all three of the candidates appeared to Paris on Mount Ida, in the climactic moment that is the crux of the tale. After bathing in the spring of Ida, each attempted with her powers to bribe Paris; Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia, Athena offered wisdom and skill in war, and Aphrodite, who had the Charites and the Horai to enhance her charms with flowers and song (according to a fragment of the Cypria quoted by Athenagoras), offered the love of the world's most beautiful woman (Euripides, Andromache, l.284, Helena l. 676). This was Helen of Sparta, wife of the Greek king Menelaus. Paris accepted Aphrodite's gift and awarded the apple to her, receiving Helen as well as the enmity of the Greeks and especially of Hera. The Greeks' expedition to retrieve Helen from Paris in Troy is the mythological basis of the Trojan War.
According to tradition "cow-eyed" Hera was indeed the most objectively beautiful. Hera was the Goddess of the marital order and of cuckolded wives, amongst other things. Hera was often portrayed as the shrewish, jealous wife of Zeus, who himself often escaped from her controlling ways by cheating on her with mortal and immortal women.
Aphrodite was effortlessly sexual and charming; thus her ability to sway Paris and her position as Goddess of Love were more palatable to Paris.
Athena's beauty is rarely commented upon in the myths, perhaps because Greeks held her up as an asexual being, being able to "overcome" her "womanly weaknesses" in order to become both wise and talented in war (both considered male domains by the Greeks). Her rage at losing makes her join the Greeks in the battle against Paris's Trojans, a key event in the turning point of the war.
Seen purely as a story, such as is recounted in Bulfinch's Mythology, the Judgment of Paris is simply an amoral episode in which Paris' skill for sound judgment (for which the gods approved him) is overcome by appeals to his lust; thus a lengthy and blood-soaked war revolves upon a series of apparently trivial episodes, each adding to the inertia that drives events to their inevitable and tragic conclusions.
Antwerp
Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg
Casper Sturm
Christ on the Mount of Olives
Christ on the Mount of Olives
Crucifixion
Crucifixion with Mary
Drawing of Emperor Maximilian I
Erasmus of Rotterdam
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (sometimes known as Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam) (October 27, 1466/1469 - July 12, 1536) was a Dutch humanist and theologian. His scholarly name Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus comprises the following three elements: the Latin noun desiderium ("longing" or "desire"; the name being a genuine Late Latin name); the Greek adjective (erasmios) meaning "beloved", and, in the form Erasmus, also the name of a saint; and the Latinized adjectival form for the city of Rotterdam (Roterodamus = "of Rotterdam").
Desiderius Erasmus was a classical scholar who wrote in a "pure" Latin style and enjoyed the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists." Renaissance humanists were especially learned and interested in the study of ancient languages. Using humanist techniques he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament which raised questions that would be influential in the Reformation. He also wrote The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style, and many other works.
Erasmus lived during a time when many learned people were critical of various Christian beliefs and practices. Some such critics ultimately rejected the authority of the pope and developed new theological systems. Erasmus numbered among those Reformers who consistently criticized certain contemporaneous Christian beliefs and practices but who remained intellectually committed throughout his life to a Catholic notion of church and to papal authority. He also remained committed to a Catholic notion of free will, which many Protestant Reformers rejected in favor of the doctrine of predestination. This middle road disappointed, even angered, leading Protestants, such as Martin Luther, and more fervid anti papists.
Five Nude Males
Fortune
Frederick the Wise Elector of Szxony
Head of an Old Man
Head of Saint Mark
Lamentation: 1521
Lamentation: 1522
Lucas van Leyden
Madona Nursing
Madona with the Swaddled Infant
The Mass
Portrait of an Unknown Man
Portrait of Ulrich Varnbuhler
Saint Anthony
Saint Anthony of Padua (ca. 1195 - June 13, 1231) also venerated as Saint Anthony of Lisbon, is a Catholic saint who was born in Lisbon, Portugal, as Ferdinand Martins de Bulhoes to a wealthy family and who died in Padua, Italy.
One of the most beloved of saints, his images and statues are ubiquitous. Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on January 16, 1946, he is sometimes called "Evangelical Doctor". He is especially invoked for the recovery of things lost ("Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony, please come around. Something is lost and cannot be found.").
On January 27, 1907 in Beaumont, Texas, a church was dedicated and named in honor of St. Anthony of Padua. The church was later designated a cathedral in 1966 with the formation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Beaumont, but was not formally consecrated. On April 28, 1974, St Anthony Cathedral was dedicated and consecrated by Bishop Warren Boudreaux. In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI granted St. Anthony Cathedral the designation of minor basilica. St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica celebrated its 100th anniversary on January 28, 2007.
Seventeenth century Spanish missionaries came across a small Native American community along what was then known as the Yanaguana River on the feast day of Saint Anthony and renamed the river and eventually a mission built nearby in his honor. This mission would at first become the focal point of a small community that would eventually grow in size and scope to become the city of San Antonio.
Saint Bartholomew
Bartholomew was one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus. Bartholomew comes from the Aramaic bar-Tolmay, meaning son of Tolmay (Ptolemy) or son of the furrows (perhaps a ploughman). Many have, based on this meaning, assumed it was not a given name, but a family name.
The festival of St. Bartholomew is celebrated on August 24 in the western Church and on June 11 in the Eastern churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church honors Saint Bartholomew, along with Saint Thaddeus as their patron saint. The Coptic Church remembers him on January 1.
Saint Christopher
Saint John Lamenting
Saint Philip
Saint Simon
The Peasant and his Wife at the Market
The Virgin with Two Angels and Four Saints
The Weeping Cherub
Willibald Pirckheimer
The Temptation of the Idler
The Women's Bath
Source: Web Gallery of Art
Source: Art Renewal Center
This page is the work of Senex Magister
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