Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino), Saint Francis in Ecstasy, c. 1660. Oil on canvas, 129 × 94 cm. Before us is an outstanding example of Guercino’s mature work, by one of the foremost representatives of seventeenth-century Bolognese Baroque painting. The depiction of Saint Francis at the moment of mystical illumination is rendered with […]
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A Baroque still life with a sumptuous, almost theatrical table setting: against a dark background, beneath heavy red drapery, are arranged a lobster, fish, oysters, fruit, grapes, a pumpkin, a lemon, silverware, and a painted jug. The composition is built on the contrast of precious textures — cool metal, smooth ceramics, moist shells, the matte […]
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Cristofano Allori – Saint Catherine of Siena (115 × 92 cm), early 17th century. The painting depicts the saint in a state of prayerful ecstasy. Her white monastic habit, the crown of thorns on her head, and the rosary at her waist indicate the Dominican Order and identify her as Saint Catherine of Siena. She […]
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The painting represents a floral garland with an image of the Virgin Mary – a type of religious still life characteristic of the Flemish Baroque. Against a dark background unfolds a luxuriant wreath of roses, carnations, bindweed, marigolds, irises, violets, and other flowers, painted with pronounced attention to the texture of petals and leaves and […]
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