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Mechanical Tortoise with Triton Winder
The artist of this brass and red enamel tortoise is unknown, but all evidence points to Augsburg, Germany due to the popularity of Kunstkammer rooms reserved for displaying rare and scientific objects. Automata were considered scientific due to the advanced mechanism that enables the tortoises' head to move in and out of his shell while Triton strikes to encourage faster momentum. -
Cameo with Noah's Ark
Allessandro Masnago was known for carving miniature narrative images into semi-precious stones for collectors of fine jewelry. This scene, featuring a line of animals on the gangway to Noah's ark, is based on a woodcut by the French book illustrator Bernard Salomon.The brooch is carved sardonyx with gold accents measuring only 2 1/2 x 3 3/8 inches. -
Period: to
Art623 Time Toast Museum Campbell-Applegate
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The Inspiration of Saint Matthew
Michelangelo Merisi / Caravaggio, painted The Inspiration of Saint Matthew as part of a commission for the Contarelli Chapel. Originally, the Angel was entangled with Matthew, seen as an uneducated peasant, in a manner than suggested direct intervention rather than divine inspiration which Cardinal Del Monte found too suggestive. In the repaint Matthew is somber with a face that lacks the emotion seen in the first version. -
Don Quixote 1605/1615
Published in two parts, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's Don Quixote follows the adventures of the nameless Hildago (later named Alonso Quixano) and his squire Sancho Panza, as Hildago attempts to revive chivalry as his sanity begins slipping away. Considered one of the most influential works of Spanish literature Don Quixote is one of the earliest examples of a canonical novel. -
L'Orfeo
L'Orfeo is an early Baroque favola that is considered the earliest surviving opera still performed in modern times. Written by Claudio Monteverdi, L'Orfeo is based on the Greek Legend of Orpheus and his descent into Hell to retrieve his deceased bride, Eurydice, and return her to the land of the living. Monteverdi took the traditional musical selection within a straight play and elongated it to make a full musical drama. -
Paradise
Denis van Alsloot's image of the Biblical afterlife in Paradise was a departure for this Flemish landscape artist from traditional scenes in nature. His transition to Biblical and Mythological figures immersed in natural surroundings led to his employment as court painter, favored by High Society collectors since his works were filled with bright colors and natural light. -
The Annunciation (1610-1630)
Italian Baroque painter, Giovanni Lanfranco uses bright colors and subtle brushwork to recreate the Annunciation in what was considered a “sunlit style” favored by his mentor Agostino Carracci. The Annunciation is considered by art scholars to be his finest work even though he is responsible for religious frescoes in Catholic churches across Italy. -
Lidded Ewer
Adam van Vianen created this silver vessel as a memorial piece for his deceased brother, Paulus. The ewer is cast in the 17th-century ornamental Auricular-style the van Vianen brothers invented. The human and animal forms contort within rippling silver are meant to mimic the stirring waters of the ocean. -
The Mother's Blessing
Dorothy Leigh's book of advice to women was groundbreaking for the time it was published. She eschewed the use of physical abuse as a form of parental control. She insisted that gentleness and a good education was the key to raising healthy children while urging men to make their wives a companion the will love until the end instead of a servant. -
Old Woman Poaching Eggs
Diego Velázquez produced many genre paintings that showed images from the daily lives of working-class people during his Seville period from 1618 to 1623. Velázquez often used family members as models in his heavily chiaroscuro- influenced paintings where a strong light source illuminates the foreground while throwing the background into almost impossible shadows. The level of realism makes this painting appear more like a photograph. -
Bouquet of Flowers on a Ledge
Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder specialized in floral still-life paintings during the Dutch Golden Age when the Netherlands became known for large-scale commercial bulb-growing. Bosschaert painted flowers prized for color, form, and astronomical value due to rarity and the expense of export to other countries. His paintings are the only remaining images of several extinct flower varietals. -
Marriage Portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen
Full sized painting
Frans Hals excelled at combining portraiture and genre painting by setting the subjects in more relaxed and natural positions. Here we see a married couple seated in a relaxed position while physically touching each other. This was a major deviation from the rigidly posed wedding paintings of the 17th Century where love was an afterthought in a marriage. -
Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes c.1623-1625
Artemisia Gentileschi's painting exemplifies Baroque Theatricality by capturing the intensity of the moment. Even if the viewer has no idea of the apocryphal story of the Jewish widow, Judith, the deep shadows created by the single, flickering candle create a dynamic tension between the painting and its viewer. This painting is a perfect example of the rich color palate Gentileschi used in all her paintings where bright colors pop against heavily shadowed backgrounds. -
Bernini's David
Gian Lorenzo Bernini's David captures the element of Baroque art where the figures project out into the viewer's space to encourage a feeling of involvement with the object. David's pose is more active with long diagonal lines, a detailed facial expression, and contraposto stance that invites the viewer to circle the sculpture to explore every angle. -
St. Peter's Basilica
Baroque architecture is the main focus of St. Peter's with the use of highly domed ceilings, colonnades, and arches to create a bold contrast between height, volume and use of void space to create massive, yet ethereally light spaces. Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's is a traditional Catholic Basilica famous as a pilgrimage location for devout Catholics all over the world. -
Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill
Pieter Claesz was a Dutch Haarlem painter whose still life paintings sought to assign a strong sense of allegorical presence to familiar things. Claaesz used the objects in this still life to represent attributes of a writer while suggesting that worldly efforts are ultimately in vain. -
The English Dancing Master : La Bourrée (Parson's Farewell)
Middle baroque music advanced the creation of tonality seen in early Baroque music by expanding on the size, range, and complexity of musical performances while helping establish operas, oratos, sonatas, and concertos. Smaller groups performed for private parties that evolved into the later 18th chamber music. Here is an example of La Bourrée: a popular middle baroque piece, performed by the Broadside Band and Jeremy Barlow. -
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee
Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt van Rijn painted the miracle of Jesus calming the storms on the Sea of Galilee from the Biblical Gospel of Mark. Utilizing the same chiaroscuro use of light to create heightened tension between the balance of Divine light and tormented seas, this masterwork is Rembrandt's only seascape. Only an empty frame marks the former location in the Museum of Boston from where this painting was stolen from in1990 -
The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds
George de La Tour depicts a company of card players in the style of Tenebrism where a pronounced chiaroscuro contrast makes the use of darkness a dominant feature. The scene is meant to be a moralizing genre painting against gambling with a heavily implied connection to the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son where temptations prove too much to bear. The cheater exposing his hand to the audience makes all viewers accessories to the crime. -
The Adoration of the Shepard
Matthias Stom reinvented the Tenebristic effect of light moving across a canvas to represent the Divine inThe Adoration of the Shepard . The Christ child is glowing from within as if radiating the light of the Divine while the shepard stares in adoration alongside Mary and Joseph. -
Various Forms of Daisy
Matthæus Merian created these floral illustrations, based on engravings by Cornelis Bloemaert, for the house of deBry. They were used in the Florilegium renovatum et auctum : an early textbook for botanical studies. Merian's illustrations have been adapted for use in later publications of scientific merit as well as artistic prints. -
View of Old London Bridge from the West (Painting)
Claude de Jongh was a Dutch Golden Age painter who traveled extensively to England to paint images of the Thames and rural landscapes. The Old London Bridge,a favorite subject of de Jongh, is immortalized in its early rural surroundings of the Thames river before the area changed into a much more industry based environment. -
Arca Musarithmica
Athanasius Kircher created several Arca Musarithmica: water powered combinatorial music composition devices, that made it possible to generate musical compositions without instruments. Kircher designed his Cassetta Mathematica to support the exploration of sound based in musical scales in conjunction with mathematical principles and astronomical readings. The device uses rotating discs housed in a wooden box to generate compositions based on which cards from the 5 categories are selected.
