Annunciation with Two Kneeling Donors
Artist: Fre Filippo Lippi
1441-5
Painting
The Virgin Mary has been interrupted in her prayers and has risen to receive the visitation of the Archangel Gabriel who offers her a sheaf of lilies. The two unidentified men in contemporary dress kneel in the right foreground. The room is richly adorned and replete with architectural details such as arches and Corinthian columns. Mary is painted in her ultramarine robe and with her right hand keeps her place in her missal. She is shown at this moment to accept the lilies from Gabriel which implies that the latter has already delivered the news that she will bear the son of God. The lily in Christian theology symbolized (among other things) Easter and therefore Lippi here is conflating the birth and death of Jesus, as well as the resurrection after his crucifixion. To mark the moment, the holy spirit flies in from the left in the guise of a dove.
This Tempera on panel is in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome
Apotheosis of Saint Ignatius
Artist: Andrea Pozzo
1685 - -94
Painting
This fresco depicts the triumph of St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits, shown left of center in his grey cassock extending toward Christ, who holds a cross in the middle. All the light in the fresco comes from Christ, emphasized both by the golden swirling center and the gradually darkening color palette in the figures at a greater distance. The ray then breaks into four diagonal rays, representing the light of Christianity reaching the four continents of the world, and symbolizes the missionary work of the Jesuits. Also depicted are many Biblical warriors with their foes including David and Goliath, Jael and Sisera, Samson and the Philistines, and Judith and Holofernes. This innovative choice of subject matter reflected the militant Catholicism of the Counter-Reformation and the apostolic zeal of the Jesuits, seeing themselves as "warriors" for the faith.
This Fresco is in the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius, Rome, Italy
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287