The iconography of 'Madonna and Child' and 'Venus and Cupid' in the most representative works exhibited in the following museums of Europe: The State Hermitage Museum - Victoria and Albert Museum - Museo di Capodimonte - Museo del Prado

The iconography of ‘Madonna and Child' and 'Venus and
Cupid‘ in the most representative works exhibited in the
followingmuseums of Europe:
- The State Hermitage Museum
- Victoria and Albert Museum
-Museo di Capodimonte
-Museo del Prado
A tour in Art between
‘sacred and profane love’

Presentation
This series of lectures in English, takes the title "A tour between sacred and the profane love".
Practically, will be compared the iconographic theme of ‘Madonna and Child’ with ‘Venus and
Cupid’ through the description of its most representative works exhibited in five important
museums of Europe: The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Victoria and Albert
Museum in London, the Capodimonte Museum in Naples and the Prado Museum in Madrid.
Before watching the individual artworks, it will make a brief historical sketch about the origin
and structure of these museums. The works that will be analyzed are mainly paintings,
oscillating chronologically between the eleventh and the nineteenth century, but will also the
description of art objects of different types (sculptures, bronzes, applied arts, etc.).
For each work examined, before its description it will proceed with a brief biographical
introduction of the author if it is known.

The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg

The Hermitage is the largest museum of Russia. It ranks among the four largest
museums of the world, such as the Louvre in Paris, the National Gallery in London
and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The collections here number a little
less than three million items: paintings, sculptures, object of applied art, etc.
For many travelers, it is the main reason to visit the city on the Neva, and its vast
collections could theoretically take days if not weeks to explore. Most visitors,
however, will wish to pack as much as possible into one morning or afternoon at
the Hermitage.
The Hermitage complex consists of five historic interconnected buildings: the
Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage, the Hermitage Theater,
and the New Hermitage. The largest and most impressive of which is the Winter
Palace, which alone contains over 1000 rooms, 1700 doors, 1900 windows, and
100 staircases.
This vast palace, an imposing symbol of imperial might and prestige, was the
official residence of the Romanov Tsars from 1762 until the revolution in 1917.

The collections are divided into seven departments: the department of primitive
civilization, of Antiquity, of Russian culture, two departments of oriental culture
and art, a very rich department of West-European culture and art, and a section
of numismatics, where coins, medals and orders are on display.
It is ironic that the Hermitage derives its name from the French word “ermitage”,
meaning the 'abode of a hermit'. But this humble word takes us back to the
collection's origins. In 1764, Empress Catherine the Great had the so-called Small
Hermitage built as an adjunct to the Winter Palace with the purpose of creating a
suitable retreat in which to peacefully admire her rapidly expanding art
collection.
Catherine, who acquired not simply individual paintings but entire collections
with an avidity hard to surpass, thereby laid the foundations for this great
museum, which was assiduously supplemented by a number of her successors.

The oldest of the five buildings is the Winter Palace of the Royal family. It was
being built since 1754 to 1762 to the design of the Italian architect Bartolomeo
Rastrelli, who was an exponent of the Russian baroque style.
But there was the fire in the palace in 1837. It raged for three days and after it only charred
walls remained, so what we see today is the nineteenth century building restored after the
fire by the architects Vasilij Petrovič Stasov, Aleksandr Pavlovič Brjullov and some others, in
keeping with the architectural styles fashionable in the late 1830s and the following years.
The exterior was restored to its original design but the majority of the interiors
were redecorated in the late Classical or Eclectic styles. Only two rooms in the
palace were restored to their original design.
Bartolomeo Rastrelli Vasilij Petrovič Stasov Aleksandr Pavlovič Brjullov

Jordan Staircase at the Winter Palace

Field Marshall Room

Small Throne Room

St. George Hall

in to The State Hermitage
Museum in St. Petersburg:
“The Virgin and Child”

Madonna and Child
(Mid-13th century)
Unknown artist

This plaque with the Madonna and Child was
probably created in France in the school of
Limoges in Mid-13th century, and it’s a work that
reflects well the skill in medieval age for the
production of applied arts.
The materials of which it’s made is copper,
enamel, sardonyx and glass, worked with several
technique: forged, chased, carved, engraved,
filigreed, champleve enamel, with gilding
applied Arts.
The artist's name is unknown.

Madonna with Child
(14th century)
Tino di Camaino

Tino di Camaino (c. 1280 – c. 1337) was an Italian
sculptor. Born in Siena, the son of the architect
Camaino di Crescentino, he was a pupil of Giovanni
Pisano, whom he helped work on the facade of the
Cathedral of Siena.
Later Tino followed his master to Pisa, where in 1311
he became responsible for the work on the Cathedral.
Four years later he executed the funerary monument of
Emperor Henry VII; subsequently he executed similar
works in Siena and Florence, including the famous
tomb of the Bishop Orso at Santa Maria del Fiore and
the tomb of Gastone della Torre in the museum of
Santa Croce.
From 1323 he worked in Naples, under King Robert of
Anjou. Again he executed several funerary monuments,
including those of Catherine of Austria in San Lorenzo
Maggiore and Queen Mary of Hungary in Santa Maria
Donnaregina. Other works are in Badia Cava dei Tirreni
he died in Naples around 1337.

This sculpted marble it comes from the
Stroganov Palace Museum (1928). Classified as
work by the early fourteenth century in the
inventory of the museum, it was later Tino
attributed to the last phase of his career.
Like to the "Madonna" of London and Glens
Falls on a stylistic and typological, by them is
distinguished by the size, almost coinciding with
the "Virgin" of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena
triptych, as well as for a significant iconographic
variation.
Child, instead of cross affectionate gaze of the
Mother, he turns to his left, suggesting the
presence of a third person, almost certainly a
buyer accompanied by a half holy figure. If the
induction is Exact, relief, originally cuspidated
ended, was configured in the form of a triptych.

St Luke Drawing the Virgin
15th century
Rogier Van der Weyden

Rogier van der Weyden (1399 or 1400 - 18 June 1464) was
an Early Netherlandish painter. His surviving works consist
mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces and commissioned
single and diptych portraits. While his life was generally
uneventful, he was highly successful and internationally
famous in his lifetime.
His paintings were exported – or taken – to Italy and Spain,
and he received commissions from, amongst others, Philip
the Good, Netherlandish nobility and foreign princes. By the
latter half of the 15th century, he had eclipsed Jan van Eyck
in popularity.
However his fame lasted only until the 17th century, and
largely due to changing taste, he was almost totally
forgotten by the mid-18th century. His reputation was
slowly rebuilt during the following 200 years; today he is
known, with Robert Campin and van Eyck, as the third (by
birth date) of the three great Early Flemish artists ('Vlaamse
Primitieven'), and widely as the most influential Northern
painter of the 15th century.

Van der Weyden worked from life models, and
his observations were acute, yet he often
idealised certain elements of his models' facial
features, and they are typically statuesque,
especially in his triptychs.
All of his forms are rendered with rich, warm
colourisation and a sympathetic expression,
while he is known for his expressive pathos and
naturalism.
His portraits tend to be half length and half
profile, and he is as sympathetic here as in his
religious triptychs.
Van der Weyden used an unusually broad range
of colours and varied tones; in his finest work
the same tone is not repeated in any other area
of the canvas; even the whites are varied

The subject of this painting is taken from a 6th-century
legend of Greek origin, according to which St Luke was
the first ever to draw a portrait of the Virgin Mary.
Artists saw Luke as the patron of their art. Rogier van der
Weyden set the action in an open loggia. To the left, at the
foot of a throne, sits the Virgin, feeding the Christ Child.
The throne, hinting at her future status as the Queen of
Heaven, is decorated with sculptural figures of Adam
and Eve, indicating that Christ and the Virgin will atone
for their Original Sin.
Opposite the Madonna, St Luke has sunk respectfully to
his knees as he seeks to capture her appearance. The
artist manages to convey both Luke's trembling
reverence and his concentration on his drawing.
Behind St Luke we can just see a bull and a book, both
traditional attributes of the Apostle Luke. Two figures
contemplating the landscape from the battlements
possibly represent Joachim and Anna, the Virgin's
parents.

The Benois Madonna
(1478-1480)
attributed to Leonardo da Vinci

In an exhibition organized by the journal Starye Gody, the Curator of the
Picture Gallery of the Imperial Hermitage, Ernst Liphart, identified one
work as an early piece by Leonardoda Vinci.
The painting belonged to the family of the notable St Petersburg
architect Leonty Benois, whose wife had inherited it from her father, the
merchant Alexander Sapozhnikov. An inventoryof paintings belonging to
the this merchant is now in the State Archives for the Astrakhan region,
wherethefirstrecord isdevotedtothisworkbyLeonardo.
In 1912 Maria Benois decided to sell the painting and sent it abroad;
the London antiquarian Duveen offered 500.000 francs for it but the
Russian public launched a drive to raise funds to purchase the
masterpiece for the HermitageMuseum.
Maria Benois eventually consented to sell the painting to the Russian
government for the sum of just 150.000 roubles as a goodwill gesture
andin1914 theBenoisMadonnawasaddedtotheHermitagecollection.
During the very early years of his output Leonardo favoured the subject
of the Madonna and Child. He produced several paintings on this theme
alongwithanumberofsketchesandalarge numberofdrawings.

His works showed mother and child in precious private moments
and focused on the emotions between them; it was Leonardo's
aim that the subjects looked natural.
The complexity and detail of these paintings set new standards, yet
they are lesser known than his other works. Upon first examination
the Benois Madonna (also called the Madonna of the Flower), is a
gay painting with obvious affection shining from the Madonna's
girlish face.
Further study shows an aspect of grief and reminder of death
hidden within the artwork in the form of a flower of the Cruciferae
family depicting a cross.
This painting was named after the 19th-century from artist Leon
Benois, which he inherited from his father in law and presented to
the Hermitage Museum.
It is widely accepted that this is an authentic Leonardo though not
all experts have been complimentary about it. Dating Leonardo's
early works, or proving authenticity, is particularly difficult.
This picture was probably painted somewhere between 1475-1480
when it is recorded that Leonardo produced several Virgin Marys,
though it has been heavily over painted since that time.

A note made by Leonardo on a drawing suggests that the Benois
Madonna may be one of two Virgins started in the final months of
1478, the other being the Madonna with the Carnation.
Even is Leonardo was still at Verrocchio's workshop these may be the
first figures he conceived and realised in total independence from his
master. In any work attributed to Leonardo it is necessary to
examine what may make the piece doubtful.
With Benois Madonna it is in details like the ears which are simply
too inaccurate for a man who paid an almost meticulous attention to
anatomy. The Child almost floats in the lap of the Virgin while her
smile is almost impressionistic, not typical of Leonardo.
Also lacking is the fine attention to the draperies and one might
query why there is no landscape through the window. Scholars
discovered the painting in 1909 among the works of various artists
being held in private collections.
Tsar Nicholas II then acquired it for the Heritage in 1914 after which
the attribution of this work to Leonardo was almost immediate and
unanimous, while it is now questioned. Originally painted on wood,
it was transferred to canvas when it entered the Hermitage, during
which time it was severely damaged.

The Litta Madonna
(1480-1490)
attributed to Leonardo da Vinci

The Litta Madonna is named after a noble Milanese
family (Litta family) who owned the painting for centuries
and from CountAntonio Litta it was acquiredin 1865.
While it is generally accepted that the work is by
Leonardo, some aspects of the painting have led various
experts to speculate that it could be a collaboration
between Leonardo and one of his pupils Giovanni
Antonio Boltraffio or even a product of his workshop.
Certainly the landscape in the background is not the
standard model so recognizable in Da Vinci's, Madonna
of the rocks, Mona Lisa and St Jerome.
The tilt of the Madonna's head is typical of Leonardo
and there also exists a drawing of this portion of the
painting which is definitely by his hand but its
attribution to Leonardo has been a great source of
controversy.
However Leonardo's stunning sketches of infants
provide evidence of the master hand in at least some
parts of the work.

The hard outlines of the Madonna and Child are often
sited as evidence that the painting is a product of the
workshop rather than by the hand of Leonardo.
However the medium used was Tempera, which was
perhaps not as suited to the subtle sfumato effects
achieved by Leonardo when he was working in oils.
There is little doubt he had a hand in the unsigned Litta
Madonna, but it is awkwardly composed and more than likely
wascompletedbyhispupilBoltraffio,around1480-1490.
However, scholars who have studied the painting point
out that the Christ Child bears little resemblance to
others Leonardo produced.
It is therefore likely that Leonardo designed the pose for
this work - and completed the Virgin's head - with the
rest of the painting being completed by another artist,
perhaps Boltraffio, under the supervision of the master.

Madonna with Child
(1490)
Bartolomeo Vivarini

Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo Vivarini (c. 1432 – c.
1499) was an Italian painter, known to have
workedfrom 1450 to 1499.
Bartolomeo's brother Antonio and his nephew
(also possibly his pupil) Alvise were also painters.
He learned oil painting from Antonello da
Messina, and is said to have produced, in 1473,
the first oil picture done in Venice. Housed in the
basilica of San Zanipolo, it is a large altar-piece in
nine divisions, representing Augustine and other
saints.
Most of his works, however, are in tempera. His
outline is always hard, and his colour good; the
figures have much dignified and devout
expression.
As "vivarino" means in Italian a goldfinch, he
sometimes drew a goldfinch as the signature of
his pictures. The most important Museum of the
world holdingworks by Bartolomeo Vivarini.

Madonna with Child
(15-early 16 century)
Andrea della Robbia (workshop)

Born in Florence, he was the nephew of Luca della
Robbia, that his brother's son Marco, as he was
skilled in the technique of polychrome glazed
pottery, invented by his own uncle.
He led to great diffusion the art of glazed
earthenware becoming the master of workshop
inherited from his uncle.
Unlike the famous predecessor, it was not exactly a
sculptor and was inspired by more contemporary
painting and sculpture, as the workshop of
Verrocchio and his pupils.
His works, often in two colors white / blue, are
scattered in churches and palaces in all of Tuscany
and Umbria. He had five brothers and three children,
including the most talented Giovanni della Robbia
successfully continued the activities of the workshop
family's.

The Constable
Madonna
(1502–1504)
Raphael Sanzio

Raphael entered the history of Italian art as the
"genius of harmony". The ideals of the High
Renaissance were best embodied in his works.
The Conestabile Madonna is one of the early
works by the master. Despite his still unformed
style, the picture is remarkable for its superb
composition, the beauty of the linear rhythms,
the nobility of the colour harmonies and the
perfection of the images - everything which was
to be developed to such heights in Raphael's
mature work.
The transparency of the spring landscape in the
distance is in harmony with the image of Mary -
young and beautiful like the world which
surrounds her.

The painting is still in its original frame,
decorated with grotesque ornament and
evidently made to a design by Raphael
himself.
The painting portrays the Madonna holding
the Child while reading a book. In 1881, when
the picture was moved to canvas, it was
discovered that in the original version the
Madonna contemplated a pomegranate
(symbol of the Passion) instead of the book.
Its name comes from the Conestabile family of
Perugia, from whom it was acquired by
Alexander II of Russia in 1871. The Tsar
presented it to his consort, Maria
Alexandrovna. Since then, the painting has
been on exhibit in the Hermitage Museum of
St. Petersburg.

Madonna with Child
(1515 ca.)
Giovanni di Pietro named ‘Lo Spagna’

Giovanni di Pietro, named "the
Spaniard" in Italian (died c. 1529), was
a painter of the High Renaissance,
active in central Italy (Umbria).
His name was Giovanni di Pietro, but
he was known as ‘Lo Spagna’ because
he was born in Spain.
After Raphael, he was a main pupil and
follower of the Umbrian painter
Perugino, whose style his paintings
develop.
He should not be confused with Pietro
di Giovanni D'Ambrogio, the brother of
the Siennese painter Vecchietta in
Siena.

Madonna with Child
(1520 ca.)
Giampietrino

Giovan Pietro Rizzoli, sometimes curly or Rizzi, said
Giampietrino (... - ...), it was an Italian painter, active
between 1508 and 1549 in Milan, Leonardo Da Vinci's
pupiland memberof the Lombard school.
Giampietrino was a very productive painter of large
altarpieces, Madonnas, holy women in half figure, and
mythological women. For a long time, the true identity of
the artist was unknown; he was only known as a so-called
"Giampietrino" whose name appeared in lists of the
members of Leonardo'sstudio.
Giampietrino has been consider as a talented painter who
contributed substantially to the distribution of the late style
of Leonardo da Vinci. He copied numerous masterpieces by
Leonardo, as well as leaving behind numerous capable
original compositions of his own. Many of his works are
preservedinmultipleversionsofthesamesubject.
Also in this painting of the Hermitage, the artist, for the
atmosphere of the landscape in the background and the
figure of the Madonna and Child, shows great adhesion to
the Leonardo art.

Madonna and Child with
Mary Magdalene
(1560 ca.)
Tiziano Vecellio

Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576),
known in English as Titian, was an Italian painter, the
most important member of the 16th-century Venetian
school.
He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno (in
Veneto, Republic of Venice). During his lifetime he was
often called da Cadore, taken from the place of his
birth.
During the course of his long life, Titian's artistic
manner changed drastically but he retained a lifelong
interest in color.
While his mature works may not contain the vivid,
luminous tints of his early pieces, their loose
brushwork and subtlety of tone are without
precedent in the history of Western painting. He was
notedfor his mastery of colour.

This painting by Titian, was produced during this step
recognized as the latest fashion of the artist (1549-
1576)'s.
This last phase is characterized by a design that no
longer exists, the coloring is muted and plays on the
range of brown and ocher, the brush strokes are
quick,sketchy,color is thickand pasty's.
This technique so revolutionary and incomprehensible
to the contemporaries of Titian ago, according to
many, a precursor of expressionist artists of the
twentiethcentury.
What is certain, however, is that the last Titian is
significantly ahead of its time, the point of reference
for all the teachers that will be after him, Rubens and
Rembrandt to Diego Velázquez until the nineteenth
centuryby Delacroix.

Madonna and Child in the
Garland of flowers,
(about 1618)
Jacob Jordaens and Andries Daniels

Andries Daniels (c. 1580 – after 1640) was a Flemish
painter of flower still lifes who played an important
role in the development of the genre of garland
paintings in Antwerp.
Garland paintings are a special type of still life
developed in Antwerp by artists such as Jan Brueghel
the Elder, Hendrick van Balen, Frans Francken the
Younger, Peter Paul Rubens and Daniel Seghers.
They typically show a flower garland around a
devotional image or portrait. This genre was inspired
by the cult of veneration and devotion to Mary
prevalent at the Habsburg court (then the rulers over
the Southern Netherlands) and in Antwerp generally.
Garland paintings were usually collaborations
between a still life and a figure painter.

Daniels collaborated with other artists such as
Frans Francken the Younger and Jacob Jordaens,
who would paint the devotional images while
Daniels painted the flowers and flower garlands in
the picture.
Together with Frans Francken, he further
developed the genre of garland paintings, creating
many special forms, among them garlands around
medallions with the decades of the rosary.
This work of the Hermitage Museum is an example
of a collaborative garland painting he made with
Jacob Jordaens is the Garland of Flowers with
Virgin and Child.

Madonna with Child
(First half of the 17th century)
Simon Vouet

Simon Vouet was the creator of a ‘grand style’ of
painting which became well established in the
court of Louis XIV. In addition to large canvases, he
also painted small "salon" works which
demonstrated his mastery of colour.
One such work is his Madonna with Child, which
formerly was in one of the famous Paris
collections, that of Baron Pierre Crozat. This
composition by Vouet was so well known and
popular that it was reproduced a number of times
by him and his workshop.
Around ten versions are known to exist in various
museums around the world. In this regard there
has been speculation that the Hermitage painting
could be either the original or a copy done in the
workshop.
However, the high quality of the painting allows us
to say that this canvas was painted by Vouet
himself.

The facial features of the Virgin in the Hermitage
painting, just like those in the Madonna with a Curtain,
painted in the same year, remind us of the profile of the
artist's wife Virginie da Vezzo,who diednot long before.
It may be that Vouet painted both canvases in her
memory. Despite the small dimensions, the canvas
produces the impression of a monumental work, and this
feeling is strengthened due to the presence in the
compositionofthecolumn,againstwhichtheVirginleans.
The figure of the Madonna seems to be chiseled from a
monolithic stone. Notwithstanding all the external
majesty of the image, the artist strives to emphasize the
spiritualclosenessof the Madonnaand the Child.
The Child plays with the folds in the bodice of the dress,
pulls at the face and lips of His mother, Who, with a light,
slightly sad smile permits Him these amusements. She
does not try to distance Herself from Him. Her pose is
relaxed and Her state of mind is pacified.

in to The State Hermitage
Museum in St. Petersburg:
“The Venus and Cupid”

Venus and Cupid
(1509)
Lucas Cranach the Elder

The painting was the earliest known North European
depiction of the nude goddess of love (previously only Eve
had been shown naked), as well as Cranach's first painting
on a subjectborrowedfrom Classical mythology.
It combines an interest in Italian Renaissance art with the
strict religious morals of German humanism. The Latin
inscription, probably made by some of Wittenberg’s
humanists who befriended the artist, inform, "Ward off
with all your strength Cupid's love of voluptuousness, / Or
else Venus will takepossession of your blindedsoul“.
Cranach rejected a complex colour scheme, placing the
emphasis on the modelling of the bodies, which stand out
majestically against the black background. The only bright
spots are the turquoise beads around Venus's neck and the
red ones of Cupid.
Venus's elongated proportions and the distinctive fluent
lines anticipate the images characteristic of the artist’s later
works. ‘Venus and Cupid’ represents a masterpiece of the
early period of Cranach’screative work.

Venus with two Cupids in front
of a mirror
(1560ca)
Titian workshop

ThisworkisacopyofapaintingcreatedbyTitianinthe1550swhen
he was past seventy. However, these years, as well as the preceding
quarterofacenturywerethemostcreativeperiodinTitian'slife.
Venus with a Mirror became some sort of an answer to the dispute
between the artistic schools of Florence and Venice about
precedence of painting or sculpture. The theme itself, the ancient
goddess of love with her son Cupid, did not lend itself to varying
interpretations.
Theartistsetsforthhisidealofbeautypolemicizingwithclassicalart
butatthesametimeshowinghisknowledgeofancientsamples.
Titian's Venus is derived from two Greco-Roman prototypes. Her
hands repeat the gesture of the famous marble statue of Praxiteles,
Aphrodite of Cnidus, however, unlike it, the goddess in the painting
is not quite nude but draped up to her thighs. This is the
characteristic feature of Venus Genetrix, the most famous example
ofwhichistheLouvre'sVenusofBorghese.

To assert the precedence of painting over sculpture,
Titian introduced into his composition an object that was
since long used for this purpose, the mirror.
Venus is depicted almost in profile; the reflection of her
face in the mirror, slightly blurred, looks like a portrait in
a rectangular frame, ''a painting in a painting'', an
innovation tobe often used by subsequent painters.
Titian thought very high of his Venus with a Mirror and
did not want to sell it while he was alive. He kept the
painting to himself as a prototype for many variants (as
this of the Hermitage) and replicas made in the 1560s
both by himself and his assistants (not of his own
reproductions survive).

Venus and Cupid
(1600 ca.)
Hendrik van Balen and Jan Brueghel the Elder

Hendrick van Balen (1574 or 1575 in Antwerp -
17 July 1632 in Antwerp) was a Flemish
Baroque painter and stained glass designer.
He played an important role in the renewal of
Flemish painting in the early 17th century and
was one of the teachers of Anthony van Dyck.
This painting by Hendrick van Balen, is a
collaboration with the Flemish painter Jan
Brueghel the Elder prolific author of still life
(often made of flowers) and landscapes and in
fact many of his works have been carried out
in collaboration with other artists.
Often the human figures painted by other
artists, as in this case, have been integrated in
the landscapes, flowers and still life paintings
by Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Venus sucking Cupid
(1610 ca.)
Lavinia Fontana

Lavinia Fontana (August 24, 1552 – August 11, 1614)
was an Italian painter. She is regarded as the first
woman artist, working within the same sphere as her
male counterparts,outside a court or convent.
She was the first woman artist to paint female nudes,
and was the main breadwinner of a family of 13. Lavinia
was the daughter of the Mannerist painter Prospero
Fontana, in whose workshop he could take, beside his
father's teachings, to a wide range of painting
experiencesEmilian,Venetian,LombardandTuscany.
Lavinia Fontana obtain soon fame as a portrait, standing
out especially for the accuracy of the details, such as
clothing and hairstyles, in the female figures. But, unlike
other artists, Lavinia was not monotonous and his work
oftenmeetevenmythological,biblicalandsacred.
Through the protection of Pope Gregory XIII, Lavinia
performed countless works for the entourage of the
papal court (Roman nobility and diplomatic missions)
wasknownas"thePontificalpainter."

Venus and Cupid
(1617)
Paulus Moreelse

Moreelse was born and lived whole his life in
Utrecht. He was a pupil of the Delft portrait
painter Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, who had
himself beena pupilof Anthonievan Blocklandt.
He took a study-trip to Italy, where he received
many portrait commissions. Back in Utrecht, in
1596 he became a member of the zadelaarsgilde
(Saddler's guild), which then embraced the
paintersas well.
In 1611, along with Abraham Bloemaert, he was
one of the founders of a new painters' guild, called
"St. Lucas-gilde", and became its first deken.
Moreelse was a well known portrait painter who
received commissions from right across the Dutch
Republic.
His earliest work dates to 1606. Other than
portraits, he also painted a few history paintings in
the Mannerist style and in the 1620s produced
pastoralscenesof herders and shepherds.

Venus and Cupid by Paulus Moreelse, painted
in 1617, is an example of a mythological
painting which demonstrates the technique of
oil on canvas.
Mythological paintings, were categorized
within historical paintings and therefore the
most prestigious by the French Académie de
peinture et de sculpture.
They depict a mythological scene rather than a
specific, static subject, such as a portrait.
They are often large in size incredibly detailed.

Venus, Faun and Putti
(early 1630s)
Nicolas Poussin

In the mid-1630s Poussin produced lyrical canvases on
mythological subjects. The Hermitage painting is devoted to
one of the favourite themes in 17 th-century art, the fight
between exalted and common love, which the artist treats in a
highlyoriginalmanner.
Poussin presents the ancient goddess of love in the guise of
Venus Pandemos, the embodiment of earthly love. In
Antiquity, and later in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Venus
Pandemos was depicted flying through the heavens on a goat
thatsymbolizedbasepassions.
The goddess sits on a she-goat to travel the skies in the
company of cupids. At her feet a cupid crowned with a laurel
wreath is having the upper hand in a fight with a little satyr.
Figures of fighting putti reveal the main meaning of the
depiction:common lovethatVenusservesis,in theguise ofthe
satyr,beingdiscomfited.
That is why the goddess is looking unhappily at the combat,
anticipating itsoutcome.Suchatreatmentof thesubject wasin
accord with the elevated ideals of an artist who believed that
exaltedloveshouldreignintheworld.

Cupid unfastening the belt
of Venus
(1788)
Sir Joshua Reynolds

This is an autograph version of Reynolds's famous
picture of 1784, painted for Lord Carysfort (now
Tate Gallery,London).
Carysfort, who visited Russia on a number of
occasions, asked the artist to make the copy as a
gift for Prince Grigory Potyomkin. In this work of
charming but sensual intimacy - Reynolds
originally suggested it should be called "Half
Consenting" - the goddess of beauty and love,
Venus, is a coquettish young woman, hiding her
face from immodestlooks with her arm.
Mischievous Cupid is pulling at the end of the blue
silk ribbon which encircles her waist, looking
attentively up at his mother to watch her reaction.
It is possible that the model for the original
painting was Emma, Lady Hamilton, famous as the
mistress of Lord Nelson.

Venus consoling Cupid
stung by a bee
(1802)
Benjamin West

Benjamin West, born in America, settled in
London at the age of 25 and went on to become
court painter and President of the Royal Academy,
making him the first American artist to gain an
internationalreputation.
He painted a number of works on the subject of
Venus and Cupid between 1797 and 1814, basing
himselfon an ode by Anacreon,Injured Cupid.
Stung by a bee, Cupid complains to his mother,
Venus, who embraces her child and at the same
time smilingly reprimand him that his injury, is
nothing to that which he can cause with his
arrows.
Venus's cold, Neoclassical profile contrasts with
the pretty andsomewhateffeminate Cupid.

Venus and Cupid,
(1857)
Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña

Diaz de la Pena, a Spaniard by origin and a
prominent representative of the Barbizon School,
produced pictures mainly on Oriental subjects.
Was born in Bordeaux to Spanishparents.
His idyllically pastoral paintings depicting Venus
and Cupid were a great successat the Paris Salons.
The sentimental and lyrical treatment of the
subject and the peculiarities of the artist's
painterly manner betray the influence of the Old
Masters and his predecessors, such as Correggio
and Prud'hon.
It was no accident that the artist's contemporaries
called him the "Barbizon Correggio". Diaz's
compositions with large figures are marked by
subtle modelling of forms, soft chiaroscuro, rich
colourscheme and velvety painttexture.

known, was probably a devotional image displayed by
its owner in a private oratory or possibly above the
owner's bed. It is adapted from a print of 1499 by the
German Master, Martin Schongauer. The design source
for the chapel in which the Virgin and Child appear to
stand is a 1499 engraving by Mair von Landshut. The
enamel cannot therefore have been made earlier than
these print sources and is likely to date from 1500 or
shortly thereafter. The bird, here a parrot, but more
often shown as a goldfinch, is thought to symbolise the
human soul, alluding to Christ's future role as Saviour of
humanity.
The earliest painted enamels of the sixteenth century
bear much similarity to images in contemporary
illuminated manuscripts. The subject matter is similar
and they employ the same stylistic techniques as
illuminations, such as the use of gold highlights,
especially for the clothes and drops of enamel to suggest
jewels. It is thought that some artists, such as the
painter of this plaque, worked in both art formsVam
Master of the Baltimore and Orleans Triptychs (maker)
Painted enamel on copper with paillons (foil-backed translucent enamel areas) and gilding, in gilt copper frame

Victoria & Albert Museum in London

The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's
largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5
millionobjects.
The V&A has its origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851, with which Henry Cole, the
museum's first director, was involved in planning; initially it was known as the Museum
of Manufactures, first opening in May 1852 at Marlborough House, but by September
had been transferred to Somerset House.
At this stage the collections covered both applied art and science. Several of the exhibits
from the Exhibition were purchased to form the nucleus of the collection. By February
1854 discussions were underway to transfer the museum to the current site and it was
renamed as the South Kensington Museum.
In 1899 the museum was renamed to honor the Queen Victoria and her husband Albert. The
V&A has since grown to now cover some 12.5 acresand and 145 galleries. Its collection spans
5000 years of art, from ancient times to the present day, in virtually every medium, from the
culturesofEurope,NorthAmerica,AsiaandNorthAfrica.
The Victoria & Albert Museum in London

The holdings of ceramics, glass, textiles, costumes, silver, ironwork, jewellery, furniture,
medieval objects, sculptures, prints and printmaking, drawings and photographs are among
thelargestandmostcomprehensiveintheworld.
The museum possesses the world's largest collection of post-classical sculpture, the holdings
of Italian Renaissance items are the largest outside Italy. The departments of Asia include art
fromSouthAsia,Japan,China,KoreaandtheIslamicworld.
The EastAsian collectionsareamongthe bestinEurope, with particularstrengthsinceramics
and metalwork, while the Islamic collection, alongside the Musée du Louvre and
MetropolitanMuseumofArt,NewYork,isamongstthelargestintheworld.
Like other neighbouring institutions, including the Natural History Museum and Science
Museum, the V&A is located in what is termed London's "Albertopolis", an area of immense
cultural,scientificandeducationalimportance.
Since 2001, the Museum has embarked on a major £150m renovation program which has
seen a major overhaul of the departments including the introduction of newer galleries,
gardens, shops and visitor facilities. Following in similar vein to other national UK museums,
entrancetothemuseumhasbeenfreesince2001.

Henry Cole, the museum's first director

Main entrance

The John Madejski Garden

The entrance staircase

Medieval and Renaissance Galleries

V&A Cafe

in to The Victoria & Albert
Museum of London:

Virgin and Child,
1480 ca.
Carlo Crivelli

Carlo Crivelli (ca. 1430-1495) was probably born
in Venice where he may have been the pupil of
Jacopo del Fiore or Giambono but his style shows
also the influence of the school of Squarcione in
Padua, especially his pupils: Mantegna, Marco
Zoppo and Giorgio Schiavone. He had to flee
Venice quite soon in his career and was living by
1465 in Zara in Dalmatia (now Zadar, Croatia),
then a province of the Venetian Republic. By
1483 he had settled in Ascoli Piceno, the largest
city in the southern Marches, where he died in
1495.
This painting is a small devotional picture
showing a Madonna and Child embraced,
standing before a parapet. The Madonna wears a
lavish gilded stucco mantle in the Gothic fashion
and stands before a dark red embroidered cloth
of honour with on top a swag of fruits. In the
background is a distant hilly landscape with
green trees on the left and a leafless tree on the
right, enlivened by the deep blue hues of the sky.

Fruits and flowers in this composition
enclose Christian symbolic meanings alluding
to the life of Christ and are not therefore
mere decorative devices. Pictures of this kind
were very popular in the 15th century and
appear to constitute an important part of
Crivelli’s oeuvre. Characteristic of Crivelli's
art are the very neat and pronounced
contours and the minimal albeit sharp
shadowing. The golden-light palette
enlivened by hues of deep blue in the sky
and the pale carnation as well as the very
elongated almost boneless hands may have
been inspired by Netherlandish art. The very
elaborate Virgin's mantle of gilded stucco
(like in the Bergamo Madonna) witnesses
Crivelli's taste for lavish costumes and
intricate textile patterns but also betrays a
somewhat archaic feature characteristic of
the Gothic art.

The Virgin and Child
1450-1475 ca.
copy from a Donatello model

This stucco relief features a composition that
enjoyed great popularity in the 15th century,
known as the Verona Madonna, after a
version in stucco (formerly pigmented) on the
outside of a house at the corner of the Vicolo
delle Fogge in Verona. The surviving casts
depend from a model by Donatello that is
likely to have been produced during his stay at
Padua, probably between 1447 and 1453. The
weathered condition of the present version
suggests that it was also a street Madonna.
The model was probably designed specifically
for reproduction. The most common variant of
the Verona Madonna was produced in large
numbers in terracotta.

The Virgin and Child, relief in stucco (cast). The
Virgin is shown in half-length facing to the
right. She wraps the Child's head in her cloak
with her left hand, and rests her right hand on
his thigh. His head is against her cheek. The
surface of the relief is substantially abraded.
This relief is known as the Verona Madonna
after a version that remains in situ, fixed high
on the external wall of a house on the Vicolo
delle Fogge in Verona. It is thought to have
been designed by Donatello during his stay in
Padua, probably between 1447 and 1453, and
was perhaps intended specifically for
reproduction. It was a very popular design in
the fifteenth century and numerous copies of
this relief survive (with slight variations) in
terracotta, stucco, and wood.

Virgin with the Child and two angels
1877
Ansiglione (copy from Fra Filippo Lippi, born 1401
- died 1473)

This is a type of print called chromolithograph
and it’s a copy dated 1877 of the painting by Fra
Filippo Lippi of the Madonna and Child in the
Uffizi, Florence. The image shows the Virgin with
the Child supported by two angels - the one in
the foreground looks out towards the viewer.
There is a rocky landscape in the background.
This print was produced for the Arundel Society.
The subjects, to be reproduced for subscribers to
the Society, were chosen by a council who
favoured Italian decorative and narrative fresco
cycles of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.
Artists were employed to copy these works of
art. The watercolours they produced were
examined and selected by the council and then
forwarded to the printers. This print was
produced for the Arundel Society.

The subjects, to be reproduced for
subscribers to the Society, were chosen by a
council who favoured Italian decorative and
narrative fresco cycles of the 14th, 15th and
16th centuries. Artists were employed to
copy these works of art. The watercolours
they produced were examined and selected
by the council and then forwarded to the
printers. By the time of the Society's eventual
closure in 1897 over 200,000
chromolithographs had been circulated.
Regular members would have been in
possession of a large number of prints and for
this reason many examples found their way
into school rooms, churches and village halls
where they can still be found today.

Virgin and Child
2nd half 15th century
Benedetto da Maiano

This relief appears to have been moulded from an
unidentified original in the style of Benedetto da
Maiano. Analogies with the Virgin and Child above
the altar of Santa Fina (Collegiata, San Gimignano),
completed prior to 1475, suggest a dating in the
1470s.
Images of the Virgin and Child were found in
virtually every noble household in 15th-century
Florence. They acted as a focus for personal
devotion and were thought to protect the family
from harm.
Images of the Virgin and Child were believed to
have talismatic and protective properties. Some
compositions, particularly those associated with
miracle-working images, became very popular and
were widely reproduced.
Relief depicts the Virgin with head downturned,
holding the Child at her right side. He stands, with
right hand raised in benediction, on a semicircular
segment of cloud.

Virgin and Child with a parrot
ca. 1500
Master of the Baltimore and Orleans

This small enamelled plaque by the Master of
the Baltimore and Orleans Triptychs, whose
real name is not known, was probably a
devotional image displayed by its owner in a
private oratory or possibly above the owner's
bed. It is adapted from a print of 1499 by the
German Master, Martin Schongauer. The
design source for the chapel in which the
Virgin and Child appear to stand is a 1499
engraving by Mair von Landshut. The enamel
cannot therefore have been made earlier than
these print sources and is likely to date from
1500 or shortly thereafter. The bird, here a
parrot, but more often shown as a goldfinch,
is thought to symbolise the human soul,
alluding to Christ's future role as Saviour of
humanity.

The Virgin is shown half-length, facing three-
quarters to her right. She holds a green parrot
in her right hand which bites the Christ-child's
raised finger. She has jewels (paillons) on the
collar of her purple dress and on the nimbus
behind her head and her crown which she
wears over a coif. She also wears a blue cloak,
while the Christ-child wears a green robe. A
wooded landscape is seen in the distance
behind her, through the arches of a Gothic
chapel. The Christ-child stands on part of the
Virgin's cloak which rests on a stone ledge.
Two columns rise either side of the ledge and
support an elaborate carved stone arch. The
design source for the chapel is an engraving of
the Virgin and Child and St. Anne by Mair von
Landshut, 1499.

Virgin and Child,
ca. 1455-1460
Donatello

In the course of his long career, Donatello carved
and modelled several Madonna reliefs and
designed a great number of other compositions
which were reproduced in an extensive series of
casts.
This large terracotta relief is very likely to be
Donatello's original model for a series of casts. The
relatively formal relation of the praying Virgin to
the Child, the serious expression on her face and
the tightly wound headdress place this design in
the years after Donatello's return from Padua,
around the time of the Chellini Madonna (1456).
Some details of this particular relief also feature in
other Madonna designs of the same period,
showing how Donatello, once interested in this
particular kind of composition, explored it in
several variations.

Dontello (b. ca. 1386 - 1466) was an early
Renaissance sculptor and artist from Florence, who
became well known for his bas-relief works, which
already incorporated perspective illusionism. He was
the most imaginative and versatile of the early
Renaissance artists, famous for his rendering of
human character and for his dramatic narratives.
Historical significance: The attribution and date of
this relief have been the subject of much debate.
Most scholars now consider it an autograph work by
Donatello, possibly executed around 1455-60 (Avery
2001, dates it to about 1430-40). The relatively
formal relation of the praying Virgin to the Child, the
serious mood of her face and the tightly wound
headdress place this design in the years after
Donatello's return from Padua and in vicinity to the
Chellini Madonna.

The Vrigin and Child
ca. 1450-60
Filippo Lippi and Pesellino Imitator

Pesellino (Francesco di Giovanni, ca. 1422-
1457) son of the painter Stefano di Francesco
was the grandson of the more famous
Florentine painter Pesello who trained him. By
the early 1440's he joined Fra Filippo Lippi's
workshop and in 1453 he went into
partnership with Piero di Lorenzo Prates and
Zanobi di Migliore. His reputation grew in the
mid-15th century and brought him the
commissions of large-scale painting.
Fra Filippo Lippi (ca.1406-1469) was a friar at
the Carmelite monastery of S Maria del
Carmine in Florence and one of the leading
painters in Renaissance Florence in the
generation following Masaccio. Vasari, who is
almost the only source for Lippi's early career,
stated that his style was formed on Masaccio's
Brancacci Chapel frescoes in S Maria del
Carmine. Botticelli was his pupil.

This painting is a 15th-century copy of a composition
attributed to Pesellino, who produced together with
the painter Fra Filippo Lippi popular Virgin and Child
compositions, most likely intended for the private
market as devotional images. In this painting, the
Child and the Virgin are associated with the
pomegranate, a symbol for the forthcoming
resurrection of Christ.
This painting is one of the many compositions based
of the same design deriving from a Madonna and
Child attributed to Pesellino (Francesco di Giovanni,
ca.1422-1457) formerly in the Aynard collection, Lyon
(present whereabouts unknown).
The Child's face is indeed very close to Fra Filippo
Lippi's facial type in such picture as Madonna and
Child while the Virgin's face relates to both Filippo
Lippi (ca.1406-1469) and Pesellino (Francesco di
Giovanni, ca. 1422-1457). Lippi also did many similar
compositions representing half-length Virgin and the
Child standing in front of her on a parapet.

in to The Victoria & Albert
Museum of London:
“Venus and Cupid”

Venus admonishing Cupid
1555-1565
Giovanni Battista Castello

This tapestry probably belonged to a set of sixteen, though
some are now untraceable. The subject is Venus
admonishing Cupid, from the story of Cupid and Psyche, as
related by the Latin author Lucius Apuleius in the Golden
Ass. The V&A has two other tapestries from the set: Venus
seeking vengeance on Psyche and Psyche's Punishment in
Venus's Service. The story was a favourite pictorial theme
during the Renaissance.
The tapestry shows Venus reproaching her son, Cupid, for
his affair with Psyche. The Goddess is seen entering from
the left gesturing forcefully in an accusatory fashion, her
billowing drapery accentuating the dynamism of her pose.
In contrast, Cupid reclines on a bed with a chastised
expression, his hand over his heart and his bow and quiver
laid aside.
The design for this tapestry, executed by Giovanni Battista
Castello (1509-1569), and in the National Galleries of
Scotland, shows Venus in a greater state of undress,
indicating that when the tapestry came to be woven, the
composition was altered to allow an extra fold of fabric to
cover her form, resulting in a more modest display.

Venus and Cupid
ca. 1600-1605
Antonio Susini

The model for this statuette representing Venus
and Cupid was attributed potentially to Antonio
Susini (1558-1624)i by Anthony Radcliffe (1978),
and the comparatively poor cast suggests a later
production.
Susini was one of Giambologna's principal
assistants before setting up his own workshop in
1600 at the Via de' Pilastri. He specialised in the
production of bronze statuettes, many being
reproducitons of antique statues or of
Giambologna's designs, but he also produced
work on his own account. He seems to have been
active in Gaimbologna's Borgo Pinti workshop by
1580.Venus is standing resting her right foot, from
which she is taking a thorn, on a triangular
pedestal. Cupid beside her, standing and holding
her arm and looking up to her. Dark brown patina.
On a contemporary base, triangular, with cherub
heads, of wood covered with gesso and gilded.

Venus Chastising Cupid
early 17th century
Agostino Carracci

Agostino Carracci (1557-1602) was born in Bologna and
was an apprentice to Prospero Fontana (1512-1597). He
subsequently trained under the engraver and architect
Domenico Tibaldi (1541-1583) and under the sculptor
Alessandro Menganti (1531-c. 1594). He may also have
been a pupil of Bartolomeo Passarotti (1529-1592). He
ran an important workshop in Bologna together with
his cousin Lodovico (1555-1619) and his brother
Annibale (1560-1609), with whom he founded about
1585 the Accademia degli Incamminati. Agostino
produced mainly history paintings and engravings. He
went to Rome with his brother in 1594 for the
decoration of the Palazzo Farnese. He left in autumn
1599 and went to Parma where he died in 1602.
This painting is an early copy after an engraving by
Agostino Carracci, executed ca. 1590. It shows Venus in
the middle of the composition chastising Cupid, who is
blindfold and carried on the back of a putto while
another on the left is weeping with a hand in his back, a
gesture that suggests he also had been chastised.

The scene is set in a mountainous landscape
with a tall tree on the right. Agostino Carracci
was a prolific and successful engraver whose
compositions were much appreciated as
witnessed by this early copy. According to
mythological accounts, and especially to
Herodotus' Cosmogony, Cupid was blinded by
Folly, thus embodying the blind passion which
characterises love. He also embodies two
different aspects of love, both profane
(Anteros) and sacred (Eros). The subject
depicted here has traditionally been
interpreted as the punishment of physical
love, an iconography relating to Renaissance
Neoplatonism, a philosophy in which the dual
aspect of love plays a significant role.
This theme was also treated by Annibale
Carracci in the Galleria Farnese, Rome, the
decoration of which celebrates profane love

Venus and Cupid
ca. 1600-1625
Unknow artist
(France or Holland possibly made)

Group in bronze. Venus, naked, is
seated with her feet crossed on a
mantle spread over the ground,
half reclining against a rock and
embracing Cupid with her right
arm; he is standing, looking up into
her face, holding a bracelet (?) in
his right hand and touching her
neck with his left. Dark brown
patina over pale bronze with
reddish patches.

Venus and Cupid
ca. 1718
David Le Marchand

This ivory group depicting Venus and Cupid was
made by David le Marchand in England, ca. 1700-
1720, perhaps after 1718. The subject of Venus and
Cupid was popular among wood and ivory carvers
from the Renaissance onwards since the subject
provides the opportunity of rendering sensuous
nudity and demonstrating one's knowledge of
antiquity. However this group is a relatively rare type
of work by Le Marchand, who specialised in
portraits.
David Le Marchand (1674-1726) was famed for his
ivory carvings, particularly his portraits. He was a
native of Dieppe, France, and came from a
Huguenot, or Protestant, family. With the Revocation
of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and the consequent
persecution of non-Catholics, he had to flee France.

He was next recorded in Edinburgh in 1696,
where he is documented as receiving
official permission to open a shop and take
on apprentices.
He was in London by 1700, when he started
to achieve a reputation for his portraits.
Despite his wide circle of important patrons
and his evident success, Le Marchand
apparently died in poverty, though the
exact reasons for this are unknown.
He is recognised as the most distinguished
ivory carver to have worked in England in
the early 18th century, a period when the
art enjoyed a popularity unknown since the
Middle Ages.

Venus and Cupid
ca. 1839
John Gibson

This may be the Venus and Cupid relief
exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1839.
However, he is known to have executed more
than one version of the subject, and another
is housed at the Royal Academy, Burlington
House. Gibson spent most of his working life
in Rome, and had studied in Canova's studio.
Two versions of Venus and Cupid are listed by
Lady Eastlake in her work on Gibson of 1870:
one in the ownership of the Marquis of
Albercorn and another owned by Howard
Galton Esq. of Hadzor (Eastlake 1970, p. 253).
The present piece may be one of these. Two
versions are in the Royal Academy, one in
marble and another in plaster painted so to
imitate terracotta.

Gibson (1790-1866) was apprenticed to
Messrs Franceys, the Liverpool firm of
statuaries and later removed to Rome where
he received instruction from Canova and
Thorwaldsen. Elected A.R.A in 1833 and RA in
1838. He became the leading English sculptor
of his generation working in the neo-classical
style and was famous for such works as the
Tinted Venus, Pandora, Mars and Cupid and
Psyche and Zephers. He also executed public
statues and busts. He bequeathed his
property on his death to the Royal Academy.
This oval marble relief depicts Venus, who is
seated on a rock in left profile and draws
Cupid on to her lap and is about to kiss his
lips. She is naked, save for drapery over lap
and legs. She wears a bracelet on her left
wrist. At her feet lie a bow and quiver.

National Museum of Capodimonte in Naples

Museum of Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand
Bourbon palazzo in Naples. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and
decorative art, with several important works from other Italian schools of painting, and some
importantancientRoman sculptures.It is one of the largest museumsin Italy.
The vast collection at the museum traces its origins back to 1738. During that year King Charles
VII of Naples and Sicily (later Charles III, king of Spain) decided to build a hunting lodge on the
Capodimonte hill, but then decided that he would instead build a grand palace, partly because
his existing residence, the Palace of Portici, was too small to accommodate his court, and partly
because he needed somewhere to house the fabulous Farnese art collection which he had
inherited from his mother, Elisabetta Farnese, last descendant of the sovereign ducal family of
Parma. Over the years the palace was enlarged and filled with more art. In 1787, on the advice of
JacobPhilipp Hackert,a laboratoryfor the restorationof paintingswas created.
When the Parthenopaean Republic was declared in 1799, Ferdinand fled to Palermo on board
Nelson's Vanguard, taking the most valuable items from the museum with him. What remained
was looted by the French troops of General Championnet who were billeted there during the
shortlife of the Republicin 1799.

Later on during the ten years of French reoccupation (1806 to 1815), the art collection was
transferred to the Naples National Archaeological Museum. When King Ferdinand returned
from Sicily in 1815, he employed many painters and sculptors to work on the redecoration of
the palace . It was finally completed in 1840, and a gallery housing contemporary art was
added.
After the palace passed in 1861 to the House of Savoy, further pieces were added to the art
collections, appointing Domenico Morelli as consultant for new acquisitions. They also added
an extensive collection of historic firearms and other weapons. In 1866, the boudoir of Maria
Amalia of Saxony was transferred to Capodimonte from the Palace of Portici, and in 1877 a
Roman age marble floor was broughtin from a Roman villa on Capri.
After the end of the monarchy, the palace became purely a national museum in 1950, with
many of the exhibits being returned from the National Museum. The first and second floors
house the Galleria Nazionale (National Gallery), with paintings from the 13th to the 18th
centuries including major works by Simone Martini, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Masaccio,
Lorenzo Lotto,GiovanniBellini, Giorgio Vasari,El Greco,JacobPhilipp Hackertand many others.

The museum is by far the best place to see paintings of the Neapolitan School, often under-
appreciated by the wider world, with large holdings of Jusepe de Ribera, Luca Giordano, the
Neapolitan Caravaggisti and many others (see List of works in the Galleria Nazionale di
Capodimonte).
Much of the ground floor is taken up by part of the magnificent Farnese collection of classical,
mostly Roman, monumental sculpture, which survives here and in the Naples National
Archaeological Museum largely intact. Elsewhere in the palace the royal apartments are
furnished with antique 18th-century furniture and a collection of porcelain and majolica from
the various royal residences
King Charles VII of Naples and Sicily Jacob Philipp Hackert Domenico Morelli

in to Capodimonte Museum:

Madonna of Humility
second half of the XIV century
Roberto de Odorisio

This painting is the Madonna of Humility by
Roberto de Odorisio (circa 1335 - Naples, after
1382); he was a Italian painter and one of the
leaders of the Neapolitan painting of the
fourteenth century. Few biographical
information we have on this Neapolitan
painter. Recent studies have convincingly put
back the artistic work of Roberto to the
second half of the fourteenth century, thus
excluding its direct relationship with the
presence of Giotto in Naples. His cultural
background of the artist, which in any case
was influenced by the paintings executed in
Naples by Giotto and especially by Maso di
Banco, is not free from a thorough knowledge
of the Sienese painting (Simone Martini and
Lorenzetti brothers).

Madonna and Child with Two Angels
1468-1469
Sandro Botticelli

The Madonna and Child with Two Angels is a
painting in tempera on wood by Sandro
Botticelli, dating to 1468-1469. The painting
was initially attributed to Lippi, but after more
detailed studies have allowed us to assign it to
Botticelli. The date is not known precisely, but
some details such as the type of faces, suggest
that the work dates back to the Fortress
period, around 1470. The composition is
derived from the example of Filippo Lippi (as
Lippina of 1465), with Mary holding the baby
in her lap, supported by two angels, but also
from the Madonna del Verrocchio's milk, a
few years before. In the background, beyond a
tall marble parapet, it opens a rocky landscape
dotted synthetically; the composition is then
developed for scalar plans, conducting a
mediation between the theoretical space
made from the perspective plane and the real
one made up of the characters in the
foreground.

By Filippo Lippi also stem the dominance of
the outline and vibrant drapery, even if the
forms appear more gently now merged with
more complex attitudes of his works. The
bright color incisive chiaroscuro and bronze
tone comes from the example of Antonio
Pollaiuolo, and the physiognomy of the Child
is now customized and not follow the example
of Verrocchio as in the immediately preceding
works.
The characters' tone is serious, thoughtful,
absorbed in her beauty and tinged with
melancholy, as is typical of Botticelli's
production. The head of the Virgin, from the
chin appuntinto, comes from the example of
Verrocchio and closely resembles those of the
Madonna in Glory with Seraphim, the
Eucharist Madonna, the Madonna della Loggia
or fortress, all dating at the time.

Madonna and Child
1490
Perugino

The panel arrived in Naples as a result of
complex historical events of 1799 and
attributed alternately to Raphael and
Perugino in the old inventories, was brought
back, in the early decades of the nineteenth
century, under the Vannucci. It is a
composition prepared by Perugino and
replicate repeatedly, often with the help of his
flourishing workshop, becoming emblematic
image of his artistic production. The Madonna
is sitting on the rocks with the Child on her left
leg, which clings to his thumb; on the bottom,
divided into two groups, one sees the
procession of the Magi. In 2014 the painting
was subjected to restoration that has given
back the ancient splendor.

Madonna of the Veil
1535
Sebastiano del Piombo

Sebastiano del Piombo was one of the
most important artists in Italy in the first
half of the 16th century, active in Venice
and Rome. His early, Venetian, paintings
are reminiscent of Giovanni Bellini and
to a lesser extent of Giorgione. With his
move to Rome in 1511 he came under
the influence of Raphael and then of
Michelangelo, who supplied him with
drawings. After the death of Raphael
(1520) he was the leading painter
working in Rome and was particularly
noted as a portrait painter. In his finest
works, such as the Piete (1513; Viterbo,
Mus. Civ.) and the Flagellation (1516-24;
Rome, S Pietro in Montorio), there is a
remarkable fusion of the Venetian use of
colour and the grand manner of central
Italian classicism. This Madonna with the
veil is a china oil painting .

Madonna of the cat
ca. 1520
Giulio Romano

The figures in the painting are Mary
and Jesus, and Elizabeth and John
(the Baptist) in a particularly realistic
interior. In the background there is
maybe the S. Joseph figure while in
the foreground, a wooden cradle and
a basket containing sewing tools and
a book. To the right, a she cat. Zuffi
points out that the only figure in the
painting that looks directly at the
viewer is the cat, "...crouching
vigilantly to the right." He goes on:
The magnetism of this animal--only
apparently marginal and extraneous
to the overall design of the
composition--justifies the title by
which the painting is traditionally
known. The Madonna's surely are at
risk, especially if Baby Jesus were to
crawl over and pull the cat's tail.

Holy Family with the infant St. John
ca. 1528
Parmigianino

The Holy Family with St. John the Baptist is a
tempera painting on canvas by Parmigianino,
dated to about 1528. The scene represents the
Rest on the Flight to Egypt, where, according
to the apocryphal gospels Jesus met the little
saint John. The scene shows the baby asleep
on a stone covered with a sheet, an allusion to
the death and the deposition on the shroud,
his head on a red pillow. The vigil Mary, who
also caresses the Baptist who, holding the
cross made of reeds, appears behind the child
on the left. Further away you see that Joseph
is reading a thick book on his feet. Interesting
natural notations are in the background, with
a large tilted trunk infested by fungi, while on
the left opens a synthetic landscape with a
town in the mountains. The attribution to
Parmigianino is almost undisputed, while the
dating has ignited controversy among
scholars, with fluctuations between 1524 and
1530.

Venus and Cupid
ca. 1560
Hendrick van den Broeck

Venus and Cupid is an oil painting on panel by
Hendrick van den Broeck, by Michelangelo
Buonarroti drawing, dated to around 1560. Venus
lies in the entire length of the painting, bust
raised on a blue cloth and the head rotated to kiss
Cupid, her son and lover, who comes from behind,
weaving her with his arm that turns her face by
covering the neck and leg covering, in part, the
pubis. Venus grabs the arrow that Cupid holds in
his hand, perhaps an allusion to love deceptions,
they point to even the two masks attached to the
bow of Cupid on the left, close to other symbolic
elements: a dying phantom in a dark box and a
basin filled with roses. At the center is an opening
landscape.
Obvious is the derivation in Michelangelo's
sculptural forms of Venus and in the complicated
position of the lovers, caught in unnatural twists.

Sleeping Venus with
Cupid and Satyr
1663
Luca Giordano

Luca Giordano (1634-1705) was a Neapolitan
painter, active mainly in Naples, Florence, Madrid
and Rome. It is also known by the nickname "Luke
Fapresto" ("Luke hurry"), the nickname given to him
while he was working in the church of Santa Maria
del Pianto in Naples, when he painted in just two
days of cruising canvas. The nickname was, however,
also given for his amazing speed of copying the great
masters of the sixteenth century, including Raphael
and Annibale Carracci, but also looking to Giovanni
Lanfranco and Pietro da Cortona. He first trained
with his father, the Neapolitan painter Antonio
Giordano. A defining moment in the formation of his
art was when, around 1650, he came to work in the
workshop of Giuseppe Ribera, who at the time was
the leading figure of the Neapolitan artistic scene.
"Lo Spagnoletto," as he was known in Naples, came
indeed from Spain and had settled in Naples, then a
Spanish possession, before 1620.

During the nine years Luca spent working under Ribera
his art became very much shaped by the Spanish
master to the point that his early works have been
often confused. He was fully converted to the current
style in Naples, a dramatic tenebrism. This use of
strong chiaroscuro was derived from Caravaggio, whose
1606 passage in Naples had left a defining mark. But
Ribera's tenebrism was not the only influence absorbed
by the young Luca. A trip to Rome around 1652, along
with visits to Bologna, Parma, and Venice, exposed him
to such masters as Titian, Correggio, Veronese, and
Tintoretto. In this painting, executed after the Venetian
experience, they highlight just veiled transparencies of
color to a painting of fast sliding touch. In addition, it is
possible to observe a change in the artist's expressive
register, which leads to a sort of recovery of a "lost
poetic age" through mythological and allegorical
themes, and this work is characterized a certain
emotional composure. Obvious is the reference to the
famous sensual Titian prototypes of Sleeping Venus.

Venus, Cupid and Mars
1663
Luca Giordano

This is an oil painting on canvas by Luca
Giordano dating back to 1663, discrete
bill, which does not constitute a work of
primary importance of the Jordan. The
Neapolitan artist, in fact, sees his artistic
life characterized by fluctuating quality of
productions, these numerous and, most
likely, the bill dependent on the
"thickness" of its customer.
The contours of the painting figures are
very approximate pagination of the scene
and the same is compressed and not
perfectly balanced. Also the canvas
presents excessive light points that
disarmonizzano composition.

The Prado Museum houses the most comprehensive collection of Spanish painting in the world.
Start the visit in the 11th century, contemplating the Mozarabic murals from the Church of San
Baudelio de Berlanga. Then move on to the canvases painted by Bartolomé Bermejo, Pedro
Berruguete, Juan de Juanes or Luis de Morales to trace a timeline from Spanish-Flemish Gothic
painting to the Renaissance. The galleries devoted to El Greco display some of his most notable
workssuchasTheKnight withhis Handonhis Breast and The HolyTrinity.
The Spanish Golden Age is represented through works by Ribera, Zurbarán and Murillo, which
explain the context that triggered Velázquez's work. His most important paintings Las Meninas
and The Seamstresses are also on display here. Featuring works from the 18th and 19th
centuries, the Goya galleries include the tapestry cartoons he created for the Royal Tapestry
Factory, to the Black Paintings he painted on the walls of his house La Quinta del Sordo (Deaf-
Man's Villa).
The shift from Medieval art to the Renaissance could not be explained without Italian painting,
which also had a very strong influence on Spanish Baroque art. The most notable works from the
Quattrocento (14th century) are from Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Antonello da Messina and several
of Raphael's virgins justify the classicist splendour of the Cinquecento (15th century), and the
canvases by Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese are some of the Prado Museum's most acclaimed
treasures. The different paths travelled by Italian Baroque art are clearly visible in artworks by&
Caravaggio, GuidoReni and AnnibaleCarracci.
Prado Museum

The Prado Museum opened for the first time on November 10, 1819. Thanks to the
determination of Isabella of Braganza, married to King Ferdinand VII, the building that Juan de
Villanueva had initially designed to house the Natural History Cabinet finally accommodatedan
important part of the royal collections. Years of private donations and acquisitions enlarged the
museum'scollection.
During the Spanish Civil War, the artworks were protected against possible bombings by sacks
of sand and were stored in the basement of the museum. Then, following the
recommendations of the League of Nations, the collection was taken first to Valencia and then
to Geneva, although the paintings were quickly returned to Madrid when the Second World
War broke out.
The former Villanueva building accommodates a good part of the painting, sculpture and
decorative arts collections. Right behind it, around the Cloister of Los Jerónimos, architect
Rafael Moneo constructed a series of galleries that accommodate temporary exhibitions,
restoration workshops, an auditorium, a café, a restaurant and offices. El Casón del Buen
Retiro, once the dance hall of the former Palace of El Buen Retiro, is also part of the museum.
The building currentlyaccommodatesa libraryand a reading room for researchers.
Prado Museum

The collection currently comprises around 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints
and 8,200 drawings, in addition to a large number of other works of art and historic
documents. By 2012 the Museum will be displaying about 1,300 works in the main
buildings, while around 3,100 works are on temporary loan to various museums and
official institutions. The remainder are in storage.
The building that is now the home of the Museo Nacional del Prado was designed in 1785
by the architect Juan de Villanueva on the orders of Charles III to house the Natural History
Cabinet. Nonetheless, the building's final function was not decided until the monarch's
grandson, Ferdinand VII, encouraged by his wife, Queen María Isabel de Braganza, decided
to use it as a new Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculptures.
The Royal Museum, which would soon become known as the National Museum of Painting
and Sculpture, and subsequently the Museo Nacional del Prado, opened to the public for
the first time in November 1819. It was created with the double aim of showing the works
of art belonging to the Spanish Crown and to demonstrate to the rest of Europe that
Spanish art was of equal merit to any other national school.
Prado Museum

King Charles III Juan de Villanueva
Prado Museum

Garland with the Virgin and
Child, van Balen
Ca. 1621
Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hendrick

An elaborate garland of flowers, fruit and
animals frames a painting representing the
Virgin Mary with the Christ Child on her right
arm and a crown of flowers in her left hand.
Paintings of the Virgin framed with garlands
were prized in the Flemish world, where they
served as a response to the Protestant Reform
that negated the validity of representations of
the Virgin or of saints. Brueghel responded to
Catholic collectors' need for votive images of
Mary, placing her inside garlands, where he
showed his capacity to depict natural motives.
Thus he joined religious images with painting
that was very pleasing to the eye. Hendrick
van Balen, Brueghel's customary collaborator,
painted the figures, basing them on models
from Rubens. This work was probably sent to
Madrid by the Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia
around 1620-1630, although there is no clear
documentation of it until 1794, when it hung
in Madrid's Royal Palace.

The Virgin and Child, named ‘Durán Virgin’
1435 – 1438
Rogier van der Weyden

This painting probably reached Spain during the
fifteenth century. The earliest known owner was
the Infante Luis (1727-1785), youngest son of
Philip V. In the inventory of his possessions, taken
in 1797, it was listed as by Dürer. It passed to his
descendants and was sold on 23 March 1899 at
the Palacio de Boadilla to Pedro Fernández Durán
(1846-1930), who bequeathed his collection to
the Prado. The picture is so obviously similar to
the Miraflores Triptych (Berlín, Staatliche
Museen, Gemäldegalerie) and the Prado Descent
from the Cross that its attribution to Rogier van
der Weyden, made in 1931, has never been
doubted.
The Virgin is seated within a niche of grey stone,
probably semi-circular in section. The base of the
niche continues into a curved projection with a
decorated base. It is not obvious how the Virgin
and Child can enter or leave their niche; they are
isolated there like polychromed statues.

Her robe of red cloth has a lining of green silk, turned back
at the cuffs and hem. Her underdress, of purple velvet
cloth of gold, is trimmed with white fur. It would have
been subtly ostentatious to wear so rich a textile beneath
a robe. The Virgin`s semi-circular mantle, of the same red
cloth as her robe, is decorated along the edges with
embroidery in gold thread and pearls. Both her feet are
visible in the lower left corner. The Child, wearing a white
shirt, is turning the pages of a manuscript written on
parchment. There is a blue initial B but the rest of the text,
in black and red, was never legible. It was created,
according to the usual practice of Rogier and his
contemporaries, by painting patterns of horizontals
crossed by short verticals and dragging the wet paint with
dry brushes. The book is presumably the Old Testament.
Numerous copies and versions of the Durán Virgin show
that it was admired all over Europe, especially in France
and Spain. Relatively few of these versions would have
been copied directly from the original; most would have
been taken from preliminary drawings or record copies.
The earliest datable copy is by an illuminator working in
Paris between1443/4 and 1450.

The Virgin of the Rosary
1650 - 1655
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo,

In 1836, the English critic John Ruskin lavished praise
on Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s technique and
identified the uniqueness of his approach: It is true
that his Virgins are never such goddess-mothers as
those of Correggio or Raphael, but they are never
vulgar: they are mortal, but into their mortal features is
cast such a light of holy loveliness, such a beauty of
sweet soul, such an unfathomable love, as renders
them occasionally no unworthy rivals of the
imagination of the higher masters. Ruskin’s
appreciation is a fit description of the particular Virgin
in this marvelous example of a devotional painting by
the preeminent seventeenth-century Spanish painter
of Seville. In this work the artist creates a strikingly
beautiful pair of figures whose serene poses and
serious facial expressions project an aura of sadness
withoutsentimentality.
The Virgin is seated on a stone bench holding the Christ
Child, who stands with one foot on his mother’s left leg
and the other on the bench. He is beyond infancy, tall
enoughto be at eye level with his mother.

Murillo was a member of the Confraternity of the Rosary, a
society dedicated to the worship of the Virgin Mary, and as
a devotional painting, The Virgin of the Rosary was created
to serve as a visual aid to a viewer engaged in praying the
rosary. Indeed, the rosary is at the center of the
composition. The Virgin of the Rosary is a fine example of
Murillo’s early style. The figures are painted with careful
modeling to achieve solidity as well as grace and beauty.
With her heart-shaped face, delicate lips and nose, and
dark, limpid eyes, this Virgin is the image of holy loveliness.
The artist employed a variety of brushstrokes to define
textures. Mother and Child are brightly illuminated against
a dark background, displaying the tenebrismo (the strong
contrast of light and dark) characteristic of this period in the
artist’s oeuvre. Murillo was a master of vibrant color: The
Virgin’s saturated red dress is a striking complement to the
brilliant blue mantle draped over her lap. The earliest
record of this work is its acquisition by Charles IV in 1788.
Murillo was a popular painter with the monarchs of the
new Bourbon dynasty when the Court was based in Seville,
and a number of his works were purchased for the royal
collection.

The Virgin of the Chair
1624 - 1625
Guido Reni

Sitting on a sumptuous chair, the Virgin tenderly
contemplates the nude Christ child, whose expression is
pensive and informal. Above them, two cherubs crown
Mary. Michelangelo’s sculpture, the Madonna of Bruges
has been mentioned as a possible influence, as both
combine a carefree Christ child with a solemn mother.
After Bolognese classicism went out of fashion in the
second half of the 19th century, this work was looked
upon with some scorn. Pérez Sánchez, for example, who
knew the Museo del Prado’s collection of Italian painting
very well, affirmed: Today, it is not so esteemed and it
can be seen as a lesser, second-rate work that may well
have been painted largely by the artist’s workshop. In
1980, a restoration required by this painting’s delicate
state of conservation removed the old repainting that
had hidden its quality, leading to a radical change of
opinion. Since then, no one has doubted its authorship
and it is again considered a work by Reni. Guido Reni
trained at the studio of Denys Calvaert and later, in 1594,
he entered the Accademia founded in Bologna by the
Carracci, studying there for four years.

In 1601 he settled in Rome, where he painted for outstanding
patrons, including the Borghese family. He maintained contact
with painters from the Carracci’s circle. His rebellious character
and his failure to meet his deadlines for certain works, as well as
numerous gambling debts, led to quarrels with some of his
clients, including the pope. He developed a pictorial style
influenced by classical sculpture and by Raphael, with severe
forms and vibrant colors. Particularly striking are his female
religious figures, who turn their eyes imploringly toward heaven
and were later copied by innumerable artists. His final works are
characterizedby monochromatictonalitiesand unfinishedforms.
There is no concrete information about when Madonna with a
Chair entered Spain’s Royal Collection, but it was already there
during the reign of Philip IV, who sent it to decorate the
monastery at El Escorial. It appeared in the Prior’s meeting hall
there in 1660 and was seen and praised by Hieronymite monk
Francisco de los Santos in 1667. In 1772, it is also mentioned by
Antonio Ponz, author of a Spanish travelogue with significant
information about art. In 1837, it was moved to the Museo del
Prado from the Royal Palace in Madrid, where it had been since
at least 1811.

Nursing Virgin
ca. 1565
Luis De Morales

These works (P944 and P7948) embody a more
decorous variation of the breastfeeding
Madonna, a reference to the succour afforded
by the Virgin to all believers. Morales designed
a composition which avoids both the
representation of Mary’s nude breast and
explicit lactation. With both hands, Mary holds
a Child who seeks maternal consolation, lifting
the veil with one hand and touching the
modestly covered breast with the other. The
compositional sources that have been
suggested for this are linked above all with the
arrangement of the Child, engaged with his
back to the viewer in an intimate gestural
dialogue with Mary, which may have a model
in the print by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) of
The Holy Family with the Dragonfly, of about
1495. A relationship has also been pointed out
with the alabaster bas-relief of the Madonna
and Child at Badajoz Cathedral, attributed to
Desiderioda Settignano(c. 1428-1464).

The numerous versions of Morales’s composition that
have come down to us show considerable popularity for
this image, a delicate object destined for private devotion
and linked with the Marian icons of the Byzantine
tradition. The smallest version, kept in London, is also on
oak and shows a very similar pictorial treatment, with care
taken over the minute details of the hair, the
transparencies of the veil and the soft transitions of light
and shadow. The London panel, like the version from the
former Bosch collection, shows the Virgin’s left hand
uncovered, not hidden behind any part of the cloth
covering the Child, and with the fingers extended
upwards. In these two Prado panels, as in nearly all the
known versions, the fingers are bent slightly downwards,
and part of the Child’sclothfalls overher hand.
Fernando Marías described it as a charming and moving
painting that seeks the viewer’s empathy, but incorporated
withinitisapremonitorythoughtof thecausesand destiny
of Christ’s humanisation [...]. It is perhaps one of the finest
examples in Morales’s art of depiction of detail and the
expressionofasentimentalspirit.

The Virgin with the Child
ca. 1520
attributed to Gerard David

Mary is depicted over half-length,
standing with her child in her arms, beside
an arch with gothic tracery and landscape
in the background. The Christ Child plays
with the coral beads of a rosary his
mother wears, but he looks out at the
viewer, rather than at her. This detail,
along with Mary´s pensive expression and
the flowers in the vase, alludes to the
future passion of Christ, which the
painting foreshadows. While this work´s
characteristics point to the style of Gérard
David, some aspects are foreign to him,
such as the trompe l´oeil frame with
tracery and the lanscape, which is
associated with works by Simon Bening. It
belonged to Felipe II, who sent it to El
Escorial in 1577.

in to Capodimonte Museum:
“Venus and Cupid”

Venus and Cupid
1807
José Ginés

This is one of the key works of this sculptor, probably
considered the best and most beautiful neoclassical
building and one of the most representative of Spanish
neoclassicism. The work, also known as Venus marble,
belonging to the royal collection and commissioned by
King Carlos IV, was located in the "house of the Casino de
Aranjuez", designed, apparently, to a source in the Casa
del Labrador . He remained deposited in the Academy of
San Fernando as indicated by the memorial to the
sculptor himself presented to the Academy in July 1814
"to save her from the violence of the enemy"; in 1894 it
passed to the Museum of Modern Art, and later
deposited in the Municipal Museum of San Telmo in San
Sebastian in 1911, until his recent return to the
permanent collections of the Prado. This sculpture
reflects its artistic quality and excellent modeling domain,
so it is a work of great elegance, severity forms and
smoothness of surface, abstract art and refined his
artistic maturity.

In short, it embodies the neoclassical taste for
the nude as always rested main iconographic
theme and serene beauty seeking purpose,
which does not express feelings but seeks
idealized classical canon, and focuses on the
marble as a material greater nobility. It shows
the versatility of the sculptor able to sculpt
statues of outstanding works of great delicacy as
the present one, which contrasts with their
faculties for dramatic expressiveness and
heartbreaking scenes as all the Massacre of the
Innocents which took ten years of work and for
which he is also well known. These capabilities
were recognized with appointments as honorary
sculptor of camera in 1794 (King satisfied after
processing of all the Massacre), plasterer's Royal
Palace in 1799, academician of merit in 1814 and
director of the Academy in 1817.

Venus and Cupid
XVII century
Vicente Salvador Gómez

Spanish painter. Probably he formed in the
workshop of Jerónimo Jacinto de Espinosa and was
influenced by Pedro Orrente, seen in the paintings
executed in 1665 for the chapel of San Vicente Ferrer
Convent of Santo Domingo de Valencia, and "The
Virgin appearing to San Alberto Magno "(Museo de
Bellas Artes de Valencia San Pio V). It seems that he
traveled to Italy, where he met perspectives and
architectural compositions circle Roman Viviano
Codazzi and dynamic environment Genoese figures
Valerio Castello. This influence can be seen in the
"Liberation of San Pedro" (Museum of San Carlos,
Mexico) and the "cleansing of the temple" (which
belonged to the collection of Manuel Godoy and
was bought by the Prado in 1979). Appointed
director of the Academy of Santo Domingo de
Valencia in 1670, prepared a "primer and paint
fundamental rules", which was never printed and
which texts are known.

The iconography of 'Madonna and Child' and 'Venus and Cupid' in the most representative works exhibited in the following museums of Europe: The State Hermitage Museum - Victoria and Albert Museum - Museo di Capodimonte - Museo del Prado

The iconography of 'Madonna and Child' and 'Venus and Cupid' in the most representative works exhibited in the following museums of Europe: The State Hermitage Museum - Victoria and Albert Museum - Museo di Capodimonte - Museo del Prado

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The iconography of 'Madonna and Child' and 'Venus and Cupid' in the most representative works exhibited in the following museums of Europe: The State Hermitage Museum - Victoria and Albert Museum - Museo di Capodimonte - Museo del Prado