Martydom of St Processo and St Martiniano was executed for an altar of the right transept of St Peter's Basilica. The references to the Martyrdom of St Erasmus, painted by Poussin for a nearby altar, are clear, so much so that the two works were considered at first as being in competition with one another.
Contemporaries acknowledged that the purely Caravaggio style painting (due to its realism and the particular use of light) of Valentin exceeded that of Poussin in naturalism, force, richness and harmony of colour.
The painting was commissioned by the Congregation of St Jerome of Charity for the church of the same name in Via Giulia in Rome. The Bolognese painter came to the city in 1602 at the request of Annibale Carracci, with whom he worked in the Farnese Gallery.
The Communion of St Jerome constitutes his first important recognition in Rome and largely excited the enthusiastic approval of his contemporaries, who considered it among the masterpieces of Italian art. The subject, which is quite rare, is that of St Jerome who, by now ninety years of age, on the point of death wants to take his last communion surrounded by his disciples and St Paula. Domenichino took his inspiration from a painting with the same subject by his master Agostino Carracci ten years previously.
St Helen, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine (306-337 A.D.), is shown sleeping, seated, with her head resting on her hand. Sacred history attributes to her the vision – or rather the dream – that led her to find the true Cross, materialised and supported by a winged cherub. The iconography is not especially traditional for Venetian art, where the Saint is usually shown standing by the cross.
The large altarpiece of Madonna with Child and Saints was painted for the church of S. Niccolò della Lattuga in Campo dei Frari at the Lido of Venice (better known as St Niccolò dei Frari).
It was purchased by pope Clement XIV for the pontifical palace of the Quirinale (1770 circa) in Rome, where it appears to have never been exhibited. It was however in S. Pietro in Montorio and in 1797 it was brought to Paris. Since 1820 it has been in the Vatican Art Gallery of Pius VII.
Originally arched (i.e. curved in the upper part, where the dove of the Holy Spirit was portrayed) shows the Virgin with the Child Jesus and angels on the clouds. Below are the Saints Catherine, Nicholas, Peter, Anthony, Francis and Sebastian in prayer. This masterpiece shows the full maturity of Titian who, having overcome the early teachings of Bellini and Giorgione, now appears as an independent and fully established artist in his own right.
The altarpiece illustrates two episodes narrated in succession in the Gospel according to Matthew: the Transfiguration above, with Christ in glory between the prophets Moses and Elijah, and below, in the foreground, the meeting of the Apostles with the obsessed youth who will be miraculously cured by Christ on his return from Mount Tabor.
As Raphael's last painting, it appears as the spiritual testament of the artist. The work is considered in his biography, written by the famous artist and biographer of the 16th century, Giorgio Vasari, as "the most famous, the most beautiful and most divine".
The Crowning of the Virgin was originally painted for the altar of the Oddi Chapel in the church of S. Francesco al Prato in Perugia. In the upper part of the composition, among angel musicians, Christ crowns the Virgin, while in the lower part the Apostles – among whom are St Thomas, with the girdle which he had received as a gift from the Virgin – are arranged around the tomb. The tomb contains flowers in place of the Virgin who has ascended to heaven.
This was an early work of Raphael’s and has been recognised for its closeness in style to that of his maestro Perugino. The predella illustrates three episodes from Christ's infancy: the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi and the Presentation in the Temple.
This unusually shaped table (round with a rectangular base) came from the oratory of the church of S. Gregorio Nazianzeno in Rome. The depiction is of the last Judgement, divided into five overlapping phases, each with an explicative text in Latin.
Starting from the top, in the first phase we see Christ between cherubs and angels; in the second phase Christ is before an altar between two angels and the twelve Apostles. In the third, more complicated phase, there are three scenes: on the left St Paul guides the Elect, in the centre the Virgin and St Stephen intercede for the Holy Innocents and on the right are three Works of Mercy (Dress the naked, Visit the imprisoned, Give the thirsty drink).
The fourth band illustrates the Resurrection of the Dead. Finally, on the base of the table we find Hell and Heavenly Jerusalem with the Virgin praying among the Elect. Before its walls are portrayed the donors (identified by a text): the abbess Costanza and the nun Benedetta.
St Jerome in the Wilderness is one of the most enigmatic works of the great Tuscan painter da Vinci. It is an unfinished painting depicting 4th century Christian apologist St Jerome in the Syrian Desert, where he lived as a hermit.
The composition of the painting is innovative for the oblique trapezoid form of the figure of the saint. The angular forms contrast with the sinuous form of the lion which transcribes an “S” across the bottom of the painting. The form of St Jerome prefigures that of the Virgin Mary in the Madonna of the Rocks. The anatomy of the saint relates to a page of anatomical drawings of the shoulder girdle.
The Entombment of Christ was revolutionary in its counter-reformation time, with its highly naturalistic reconstruction of a gospel event. Even near contemporary critics of Caravaggio and his style, such as Baglione and Bellori, admired this painting greatly
A diagonal cascade of mourners and cadaver-bearers descend to the limp, dead Christ and bare stone. The painting is not a moment of transfiguration, but of mourning. Unlike the gored post-crucifixion Jesus in morbid Spanish displays, Italian Christs die generally bloodlessly, and slump in a geometrically challenging display. As if emphasizing the dead Christ's inability to feel pain, a hand enters the wound at his side.
