Hey, service members and family of service members! Good news! Russia assisting in targeting you/your loved ones "does not really matter"!
Bet you're relieved to hear that.
Instead of WW3, why don't we call it the Global Special Military Operations?
And, of course, the symbolism of this beautiful rendition of the Annunciation: this church (which is now co-cathedral) was built over the “aljama” mosque, which was also built over a Visigothic cathedral, since Baza was episcopal see from the 4th century. Symbolic victory over Islam again.
Which is a pity, because two of the great Spanish Renaissance architects, Siloé and Covarrubias, were at work in this church. Check the fine stonework in the plaque over the door, and in the angels, niches, even grutteschi , the triomphal arc shape that is so characteristic of early Baroque…
This picture of another portal to the right of the previous one shows how the stone is flaking away, eating at the features and even affecting the structure. “Red” means that it needs immediate intervention. Something that is probably not happening any time soon.
Couple of reasons I wanted to visit Baza, a town 1 hour and change away from Granada. First, I read about this specific portal entering the “red” or endangered list of Hispania Nostra, since it’s literally melting away, affected by stone decay due possibly to sulphuric emissions
6 years ago almost to the day, in fact. The details are more minimalistic than neoclassical: no fillets, for instance, and no decoration on the frieze. The flat roof reminds more of a Egyptian temple than a Greek one, in fact, but I guess concrete helps you solve your surfaces any way you want.
Using Greek temples for civic institutions in democratic countries comes probably for the fact that “democratic” is a Greek word, although obviously not democratic by any current definition.
I don’t know if the square and stair case is usually this empty, but this was right before the lockdown.
The word that best describes the Sheffield City Hall is “Grandiose”. In the 1920s it was Steeltown UK and had enough money to build this place, designed by the architect Vincent Harris, very obviously a classicists that didn’t care much about a human scale to transmit power and, I guess, fairness
Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Collection, given by their family
Francis Picabia, The Spring, Saint Cloud, spring or summer 1912
https://botfrens.com/collections/14377/contents/1136056
Michelangelo's study for the Libyan Sibyl, and finished figure on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Love how much attention he devoted to her toes! Today is his day.
"Still life Reslicitando" by Remedios Varo features a surreal composition where fruits and dishes appear to orbit a centrally placed lit candle, creating a scene that defies gravity. The rich textures and mystical atmosphere are characteristic of Varo's unique blend of magic realism and imaginative storytelling in art.
Still life Reslicitando
https://botfrens.com/collections/69/contents/19562
Image of Palais de Papes in Avignon
I could get on board with the current East Wing plans being replaced with a new antipapal palace in Avignon's Palais de Papes style
Discover new perspectives on one of Spain’s most intriguing artists and the vibrant artistic networks of his time.
🔗 Learn more: meadowsmuseumdallas.org/cal/luis-mar...
#ArtHistory #RaimundoDeMadrazo #MeadowsMuseum #LuisMartinLectureSeries #ArtLectures #SpanishArt #MuseumEvents
(7/7)
Ceres is for instance in the Codex Escurialensis, which inspired many works all over Spain. But Baroque (this fountain is from the 16th century) was an age where artisans were becoming liberal artists, but guilds still regulated what was done and its price, so this might be it. Not great, but art.
What would Hera/Juno and Ceres/Demeter do in a fountain in a convent beats me. But what drew my attention is the stereotyped representation of these goddesses. From the 15th century, most artisans and many artists used pattern books and, later on, so called “emblemata” or emblems.
But that does not mean it’s not interesting. What drew my attention were the figures in the pillar that supports the second pool, and that is surrounded by representations of mythological goddesses. I only found later that this was the fountain in a cloister. Also that it’s moved around a lot.
This fountain is in Tourist Central in Granada, the Bib-rambla square, and is calles “of the Giants” due to the funny guys (or cariatids) that carry the weight of the first pool over their shoulders. Or nape of the neck, as the case might be. It’s remarkable only as a meeting place
There might be a good reason for this Neptune, too. But no idea, really.
This other painting, found elsewhere, shows said San Juan saving patients from the fire in the Hospital Real (remember the painting a few days ago?). But the composition follows clearly that of Eneas, Anquises and Ascanio by Bernini www.elestudiodelpintor.com/2015/12/come...
So, Eneas I can see
Apparently, all these motifs refer to San Juan de Dios himself, who was the founder, in Granada, of a charity order that helped patients in hospitals; as a matter of fact, the hospital is right next to the church. There’s another painting that represents Eneas, and I can see the equivalence
Aby Warburg called this “nachleben” or persistence. At the same time, the grisailles created a fence around the motif, giving it “denkraum” or “thinking space”, so that it made the gaze stop before going in or out, a separation of the profane themes in a religious space.
Remember Aby Warburg? One of the key figures in iconology, who devotes several panels to grisailles found in Ghirlandaio’s paintings at Santa Maria Novella. They had the same function they do here: introduce classical “pathosformel”, or pathos formulae, into Renaissance art, making it persist…
Today we had a book presentation for additional credit at the San Juan de Dios basilica, which is as Baroque as they come, but the write was specialist in iconography and iconology, so he chose one this grisailles for the book cover; an unusual choice, but for a good reason
I guess it would be Humilità, Humildad in Spanish.
This was holy Friday or Thursday, IIRC, when we visited, so there’s a float with a Christ of Humility (don’t know if this is the official translation, it’s the best I can come up with…). We were surprised to see a strong tradition of processions in Asturias, something that’s more traditional here.
The tower is more Romanesque, but with round before windows that might be Renaissance or even Caliphal. Strong buttresses, however, are also Romanesque.
It’s also made of local stone, a very classical future of all these buildings; the position of the tower, over the portico, is also typical.
The dictatorship’s official art after the civil war was evidently nationalist, neo-ing old architectural styles. This created, in this specific case, a very interesting mixture of neo-Romanesque and neo-pre-Romanesque which is pretty unique. Takes the central organization and portico from the latest
The church of San Pedro in Gijón has a privileged position in this promenade by the sea, in the harbor. Can be seen from almost anywhere. It’s a modern church, however, after the original one was destroyed by the pro-government militias, as many other churches and other religious heritage pieces.
The Pompeiian ‘Blue Room’: in situ detection and economic estimation of Egyptian blue pigment in an ancient domestic sacrarium | npj Heritage Science
www.nature.com/articles/s40...
