© 2021 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Sandro Botticelli’s Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel from c. 1480, sold at Sotheby’s this past Thursday, January 28th with a hammer price of $80 ($92.2 million with the buyer’s premium). For a good article about the auction, including information about … Continue reading
Sandro Botticelli, Detail of Venus, c. 1490, Oil on canvas, Galleria Sabauda, Photo via Wikimedia Commons
If you are in Boston anytime before July 9th, make the time to see the exhibition, “Botticelli and the Search for the Divine” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Sandro Botticelli is today, as he was during his lifetime, … Continue reading
Michelangelo, Moses from the Tomb of Pope Julius II, 1512, San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome, Artwork in the Public Domain
The Italian Renaissance Master Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born on this day in 1475. He arguably is one of the greatest artists of all time. Before anything else, Michelangelo was a sculptor, his finest achievements in painting and architecture also having a … Continue reading
Suor Plautilla Nelli, The Lamentation, 1550, oil on canvas, Museum of San Marco, Florence, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
On March 8, 2017, the Uffizi in Florence will dedicate an exhibition to the earliest known female Renaissance painter, Suor Plautilla Nelli. This is part of an initiative of the museum’s new director, Eike Schmidt, to highlight work by women … Continue reading
Piero di Cosimo,
The Discovery of Honey, c. 1499,
oil on panel, 31.2” x 50.6”,
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Don’t miss the retrospective exhibition of works by Piero di Cosimo, Florentine Renaissance master, at the National Gallery of Art. The last time there was an exhibition of Piero di Cosimo’s work in the United States was 1938. Piero di … Continue reading
Michelangelo, David, 1501-1504, Carrara marble, 17’, Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, Photo by Rico Heil via Wikimedia Commons, GNU Free Documentation License.
This week, Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Michelangelo’s 17-foot tall, marble sculpture of the Old Testament figure David has weak ankles and is on the verge of collapsing. The National Research Council found cracks in the marble on the … Continue reading
Michelangelo, Jonah from the Sistine Chapel ceiling, 1508-12, fresco painting, The Vatican, Rome, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Prefiguration (Noun) The representation of an Old Testament figure as a type or foreshadowing of a New Testament figure. Michelangelo painted an image of Jonah just above the high altar on the Sistine Chapel ceiling because he prefigures Jesus in … Continue reading
Michelangelo, Pietà, 1498-1499, marble, 68.5
Pietà (noun) A representation of a sorrowful Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Jesus, usually found in sculpture. The most famous example was sculpted by Michelangelo in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome for the French cardinal Jean de Billheres. The Pietà was an unusual … Continue reading
© 2012 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Linear Perspective (noun) A technique for creating an illusion of three-dimensional space in two-dimensional artwork that was invented by Filippo Brunelleschi during the early Italian Renaissance. In a work of art that uses this system to create space, all straight … Continue reading
© 2012 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
We can learn a great deal by looking at the same subject in art as it is represented over time. The similarities and differences speak volumes as to the true intentions of the artist and his or her cultural reality. … Continue reading
Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Holy Family with St. John the Baptist (the Doni Tondo), c. 1506, tempera on panel, 47 1/2
“Good painting is the kind that looks like sculpture.” Michelangelo Buonarroti
Gianlorenzo Bernini, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, 1645-1652, marble, life-size, Coronaro Cahpel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. Photo from Flickr available under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
This is a little awkward. This spiritual event looks like something altogether different.