Paintings on Stone: Science and the Sacred 1530–1800

February 20, 2022–May 15, 2022

Main Exhibition Galleries, East Building

 

Paintings on Stone

Science and the Sacred 1530–1800

You must know that our own Sebastianello has discovered a secret of painting on beautiful marble, which allows him to make a picture nothing less than eternal. 

These words, written on June 8, 1530, are the earliest evidence that the Venetian painter Sebastiano del Piombo (1485–1547) was painting on stone. Influenced by Sebastiano, other artists who worked in or visited Rome also started using stone supports for their small painted artworks.  

Beginning in the 1570s, first in Venice and then elsewhere, artists routinely left parts of the stone painting surface bare. Initially, they preferred dark stone, contrasting light tones against black backgrounds for visual and spiritual effects. By the mid-1590s, when more types of stone became available, painters used rocks with interesting coloration and markings, leaving some surface unpainted in order to include these natural elements in their finished designs. 

This exhibition offers an introduction to the 16th-century European practice of painting on stone surfaces. Many of the works on view showcase the creative ways that painters incorporated stone into their visual vocabulary. Early examples of paintings on stone include portraits, narratives, and religious scenes where the entire stone support is covered with paint.  

Subsequent galleries feature artists whose approach beautifully integrates the unique markings and dramatic coloration of the stone surface into their finished work. These paintings, both rich in meaning and striking in appearance, highlight a practice previously overlooked and shed new light on this aspect of European artistic culture. 

Introduction begins here. Audio guide available at slam.org/audio or scan the QR code. 

 #PaintingsOnStone | @STLArtMuseum 

 

wall photograph:  

Jacques Stella, French, 1596–1657; Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c.1629–1630; oil on jasper; 10 7/16 x 14 15/16 inches; Private collection 

 

SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO AND THE ORIGINS OF PAINTING ON STONE 

This exhibition is devoted to a highly innovative practice of painting on stone surfaces that began in 16th-century Rome. Although stone paintings were produced in the ancient Mediterranean region, and periodically in Europe from the 12th through the 15th centuries, the 16th-century practice was more consistent and widespread. The person credited with beginning to use stone supports and inspiring others to follow was the Venetian painter Sebastiano del Piombo (1485–1547).  

When Sebastiano came to Rome in 1511, he encountered a competitive atmosphere where artists Raphael and Michelangelo commanded sizable workshops. Experimentation was one way in which these artists could challenge each other. A debate was also underway, primarily between Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, as to whether sculpture or painting was the superior art form. Proponents of sculpture emphasized its greater durability, as it could be made of more lasting materials, such as stone.  

Furthermore, artists were seeking new ways to enrich the meanings of their paintings. For these reasons, in the 1520s and 1530s Sebastiano worked to perfect a technique that allowed paint to adhere reliably to stone, to create something “eternal,” as contemporary writers described it. These same writers documented artists’ use of many types of stone—marble, alabaster, porphyry, and slate—although most surviving examples from this early period were painted on slate. During these years painters usually covered the entire stone surface with pigment, as seen in most of the examples in this gallery. 

 

School of Fontainebleau, possibly Lucas de Heere 
South Netherlandish, c.1534–c.1584 

The Minions of Henry III, c.1570
oil on slate 

Many artists chose stone supports for portraiture, but this image of Henry III’s male lovers is unique in its use of a multiple-profile view. Three of the men, called his minions, were killed in 1578, and Henry grieved them deeply at their bedsides. The clothing they wear dates from the 1570s, while their hair adornments are based on styles popular nearly a century earlier. The pose hearkens back to the 1400s as well. Taken together, the pose, the hairstyles, and the use of stone as a durable support may all be intended to underscore the commemorative role of this portrait.  

Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Women’s Exchange, M1966.55 2022.21 

 

Sebastiano del Piombo 
Italian, 1485–1547 

Portrait of Ippolito de’Medici, 1530s
oil on slate 

This soldier’s elongated neck, echoed in the straight contour of his nose, creates an emphatically diagonal and simplified form. Sebastiano del Piombo’s approach makes this portrait one that conveys strength and force. Some scholars have identified the subject as Ippolito de’Medici, a member of the powerful Florentine family who ruled over the city in the 16th century. By painting the portrait on stone, the artist made the image a potent symbol of enduring power, even though the stone is not visible. 

Loaned courtesy of the Klesch Collection 2022.22

 

Leonardo Grazia, called Leonardo da Pistoia
Italian, 1502–c.1548 

Lucretia, c.1534–1541
oil on slate 

Lucretia, the wife of an ancient Roman general, was raped by a relative of her husband who, after hearing of her virtue, tested her by force. Having lost her honor, Lucretia died by suicide, and she came to be understood as an embodiment of virtue. 

Leonardo Grazia was among the earliest artists, after Sebastiano del Piombo, to use slate supports for paintings. His choice of slate may have been simply to demonstrate his skill at this new technique rather than to emphasize any specific aspect of Lucretia herself. 

Galleria Borghese, Rome 2022.23 

 

The Choice of a Surface: Canvas, Panel, or Copper 

For many, the term painting brings to mind a piece of canvas stretched on a wooden frame. In fact, textiles only came into regular use as painting surfaces around 1500. Prior to that date, portable painted images were usually made on wooden panels. Probably around 1520–1525 European artists started using thin sheets of copper as supports for their paintings, and around that same time they also began to paint regularly on stone.  

To paint the ancient Greek account of the hero Perseus, who rescued the princess Andromeda, Giuseppe Cesari used no fewer than seven different supports: canvas, panel, copper, and four types of stone. These examples on canvas, panel, and copper illustrate the different qualities of the supports. Later in the exhibition, three very different examples depicting the same story by the same artist, all painted on stone, are on view. 

According to the ancient Greek story, Andromeda’s mother had boasted that she and her daughter were more beautiful than the Nereids, sea nymphs who served Poseidon, god of the sea. Thus, the angry Poseidon sent a monster to destroy the kingdom of Andromeda’s father, King Cepheus. On the advice of an oracle, Cepheus tied his daughter to a rock to appease the monster. The hero Perseus came by, fell in love with Andromeda, and rescued her after being promised he could marry the princess. 

 

Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere d’Arpino
Italian, 1568–1640 

Perseus Rescuing Andromeda, after 1602
oil on copper 

Copper supports required far less preparation than canvas or wood. Often the copper surface was roughed up with an abrasive or metal tool to help the paint adhere more readily. Even when roughed, copper provided a very smooth surface that allowed precise, subtle brushwork. In addition, luminosity could be obtained by layers of glazing that remained on the surface and did not sink in, thus producing a richer and more enamel-like image. 

Private Collection 2022.24 

 

Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere d’Arpino
Italian, 1568–1640 

Perseus Rescuing Andromeda, c.1602
oil on canvas 

This version of the story is painted on canvas, a very practical support, given its light weight and the ability to remove the wooden frame and roll the painting for transport. Preparing canvas, however, required several steps, using different materials in order to obtain a smooth surface for applying paint.  

First, a few layers of a chalk-gesso and glue mixture were applied to fill in the weave and even out the fabric. Next, an undercoat of a single pigment, called a priming ground, was applied. Outlines of the main figurative elements were transferred or applied freehand; the approach varied according to the practice of the individual artist. Finally pigments or occasionally dyes mixed with oil were applied, sometimes one over the other, to create the visible image. 

Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, inv. 1141 2022.25 

 

Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere d’Arpino
Italian, 1568–1640 

Perseus Rescuing Andromeda, 1594/95
oil on panel 

Perhaps the most labor-intensive support, wood panels began with the seasoning and planing of the wood. Next, multiple layers of a chalk-gesso and glue mixture were applied with intermediate sandings to achieve a smooth surface. After covering the surface with an initial layer of paint, called the ground, the artist spread on a priming ground, and then proceeded to apply pigments mixed with oil to depict the subject. 

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA 2022.26 

 

possibly by Daniele da Volterra
Italian 1509–1566 

David and Goliath, c.1550
oil on slate 

This painting portrays a scene from the biblical Old Testament when David, a young shepherd, conquers the giant Goliath. Artist Daniele da Volterra was commissioned to represent this event as both a slate painting and as a sculpture to demonstrate the relative merits of painting versus sculpture. His effort contributed to the debate at that time about which was the superior art form.  

The hero David persuaded King Saul to let him fight the giant Goliath without armor. David shot a rock with his sling and hit Goliath on his forehead, wounding him. David then picked up Goliath’s sword and cut off the giant’s head. The final moments of this story have been captured in this painting, although the diminutive sword must be that of David rather than Goliath. Volterra created a second, larger slate version of this narrative that he painted on both sides (see images). This approach allowed the artist to include a second moment from the story. 

Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, inv. 1877 2022.27 

 

Giorgio Vasari
Italian, 1511–1574 

Christ in the House of Mary and Martha, 1546
oil on slate 

The Christian Gospel written by Luke describes Jesus’s visit to the house of Martha and Mary, seen here. While Martha worked to prepare a meal, Mary sat at Jesus’s feet, enraptured by his teachings. This story reminded 16th-century followers that good works were not enough; one must engage in the words of Jesus.  

Giorgio Vasari began painting on dark stone when he was creating night scenes and artworks where light penetrated a darkened space. Slate, used here, was a natural choice for a support to enhance illumination. This scene is focused on the lamp in the center, a symbol for the light of Jesus’s instruction that penetrates darkness. 

Private Collection, France 2022.28 

 

Francesco Salviati (Francesco de’Rossi)
Italian, 1510–1563  

Portrait of Benvenuto Cellini, 16th century
oil on red porphyry 

Francesco Salviati selected the form of a medal for this portrait, since its likely subject, Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571), was a noted creator of bronze medals. The front of the portrait is entirely covered with paint, but when the object is turned over, the support of red porphyry is revealed. 

In addition to producing medals, Cellini was one of the most esteemed Florentine sculptors of the 16th century. His patrons included popes, the king of France, and the Medici dukes. Salviati’s selection of porphyry as the support for this portrait may allude to Cellini’s mastery of bronze, since both porphyry and bronze were highly prized and very expensive. Some scholars have questioned whether the head represents the famed sculptor; recently, it has been argued that the portrait represents Piero Strozzi, a cousin of Catherine de’Medici. 

 Musée national de la Renaissance, E.L.C. 12877 2022.33 

 

Francesco Salviati (Francesco de’Rossi)
Italian, 1510–1563  

Portrait of Roberto di Filippo di Filippo Strozzi, possibly 1550s
oil on red and black  African “marble” 

This portrait is among the earliest examples to include visible stone, a practice that became more common in the 1570s. The decision to allow the stone support to be seen may simply acknowledge the Florentine taste for colored marbles. The Medici family, who ruled Florence at this time, favored marbles such as this.  

This marble would have been imported from Africa, and its non-European origin may allude to Strozzi’s estrangement from his birth city. The Medici, rivals of the Strozzi family, exiled Roberto di Filippo di Filippo Strozzi from Florence in 1538. The placement of the smaller circular portrait within the circular marble background creates a crescent of colored stone that recalls the three crescents in the Strozzi coat of arms (see image). 

Private Collection, Paris 2022.34 

 

Francesco Salviati (Francesco de’Rossi)
Italian, 1510–1563  

Portrait of a Man with a Gold Coin, 1535–1538
oil on slate 

The gold coin in this portrait may offer some information about this unknown subject’s character. The coin features a motto in Latin that translates, “He who dies honored lives always.” So, after his death, this man would be judged to have achieved an honorable life and would live on due to his respectable reputation. 

The owner of this portrait would have known and appreciated that it was painted on slate. For centuries slate had been used to perform a simple scratch test to verify the true content of metals. This historic role of slate, taken together with the motto, reinforces the portrait’s message: This man would be found to have lived an honorable life just as the gold coin would be found pure due to the mark it left when it was scratched across the slate’s surface. 

Trinity Fine Art Ltd., London 2022.32 

 

attributed to Girolamo Macchietti
Italian, 1535–1592 

Portrait of the Young Ferdinando de’Medici, 1570s
oil on red porphyry  

The fleshy cheeks and youthful demeanor of this face identify the subject as a young man. Since the painting was probably created in Florence between 1550 and 1600, the youth is likely Ferdinando de’Medici, the Grand Duke of Florence from 1587 until his death in 1609.  

The beautiful red porphyry support indicates he was part of an important and wealthy family. Porphyry was highly prized and very expensive. The artist left part of the stone surface bare in this portrait so that viewers could appreciate the material and recognize the importance of the subject. In the 1570s only a few artists left the bare stone visible, usually to emphasize the contrasting yellow and white paint on a dark surface to capture the effects of reflected light. Here the unpainted stone was intended to convey wealth and power.

Private Collection 2022.29 

 

attributed to Sofonisba Anguissola
Italian, c.1532–1625  

Portrait of a Young Man, c.1580
oil on slate 

The subtle skin tones and sensitive expression seen in this painting testify to Sofonisba Anguissola’s skill as a portrait painter. Her choice of stone, unique among the artist’s known work, may indicate that she intended to honor this young man and create a lasting record. Perhaps his somber, contemplative gaze is intended to reflect thoughts of death, loss, or memories.  

The inscription visible in the book comes from the opening lines of the ancient Roman orator Cicero’s book De Officis. It includes the name “Marcus” and may be a clue to the young man’s identity. 

Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc. 2022.30 

 

attributed to Agnolo di Cosimo, Il Bronzino,
Italian, 1503–1572 

Portrait of Cosimo I de’Medici, c.1560
oil on red porphyry 

Red porphyry, seen here as a support for this painting, is a stone that has a long-standing association with imperial authority. In the 1560s few artists incorporated bare stone into their work. However, its use in this portrait of one of the Medici family members was undoubtedly intended to reference their power and may explain why the stone was left unpainted. This small portrait, probably ordered by Cosimo’s son Francesco, was one of a series of family portraits that was placed in Francesco’s studiolo, a private study that he created in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. 

Abelló Collection 2022.31

 

ROME 1590–1615: VISIBLE STONE SURFACES 

Rome, the spiritual center of the Roman Catholic Church, was a vibrant artistic city experiencing a transformation in the late 1500s, following the challenge of Protestantism. Rome retained its importance as a pilgrimage center, and churches from the early Christian era (AD 200s–600s) were refurbished. Lavish church interiors, covered with wall paintings, marble surfaces, and gilded stucco, replaced more modest decorations from earlier times. This emphasis on renovation supported innovation and prompted artists to develop new stylistic tools to enhance the message of their artworks.

Due to church reconstruction, a variety of stone, in a range of colors used in architectural projects, was also available for artists to use in other ways. It was in this atmosphere that artists not only continued to paint on stone but also began to embrace the patterns and markings of the stone to enhance the visual effects and meaning of their images.

This new collaboration between the artist and the natural formations in the stone, believed to be created by God, flourished in the creative atmosphere of late 16th-century Rome. After the 1590s it became a widespread practice. Artists incorporated the patterns and colored markings of the rocks into their compositions, covering less and less of the surface with paint.

 

Orazio Gentileschi
Italian, 1563–1639

The Fall of the Rebel Angels, c.1601–1602
oil on alabaster cotognino

In this image the biblical archangel Michael, seen here with the red cross on his shield, is driving rebel angels out of heaven. Lucifer, known in Christianity as the devil, had revolted against God’s divine plan and coerced a group of angels to follow his lead.

It may have been the stone’s inherent suggestion of rocky outcroppings and the depths of earth, seen at the lower edge, that prompted Orazio Gentileschi to select this particular support for this subject. He added a transparent brown glaze in this area to represent the realm of the damned. The artist also allowed bare stone to represent the billowing clouds of heaven in the top section. The greens and blues are added pigments that do not reflect the original tonality of the stone.

Private Collection, courtesy of McClain Gallery 2022.35

 

Francesco Albani
Italian, 1578–1660

Virgin and Child Flanked by Two Angels, c.1611
oil on slate

Virgin and Child Flanked by Two Angels is one of the most straightforward and effective utilizations of visible slate as a support. Mary, mother of Jesus, wearing a blue mantle and red gown, appears in a heavenly space. She is seated on clouds and flanked by two angels, who kneel to worship the child. In images designed for devotion, artists often depicted a light-filled aura of yellows and gold to suggest the appearance of the heavenly realm.

Francesco Albani did something quite different—he left the background slate bare, making the painting’s support obvious. The stone, so easily seen, can be understood as a reference to Jesus as the rock on which the church was founded as well as an allusion to the anointing of his body after death that took place on a slab of stone.

Musei Capitolini, Rome, PC 175 2022.36

 

Orazio Gentileschi
Italian, 1563–1639

Annunciation, 1602–1605
oil on alabaster backed with slate

In this scene Orazio Gentileschi used a support of golden alabaster, visible at left, to create a light-filled space in which an angel descends. The angel is Gabriel, who visits Mary to let her know she will conceive a son, Jesus. By the late 12th century, Christian theologians used the visibility of light through a translucent surface, such as alabaster, as a metaphor for Mary’s sustained virginity after she conceived her child. In that way the alabaster support serves to enhance the meaning of this often-represented biblical subject.

The Alana Collection, Newark, Delaware 2022.37

 

Orazio Gentileschi
Italian, 1563–1639

David in Contemplation, 1611–1612
oil on lapis lazuli backed with slate

David stands beside the decapitated head of his rival. Sent by his father to bring back battle news from his brothers, David persuaded King Saul to let him fight the giant Goliath. Using a sling, David shot a rock and hit the giant on his forehead, felling him. David then picked up Goliath’s sword and cut off the giant’s head. Holding the rock in one hand and the sword in the other, David reflects on his deed.

Orazio Gentileschi painted this subject three times, once on canvas, once on copper, and this version on lapis lazuli. The panel is not a single piece of lapis, but has been pieced together. One method was to butterfly the lapis, slicing through the thickness of the stone to create two similar pieces, and then aligning two edges together. The resulting panel displays variations in the stone repeated mirrorlike, as they are to the viewer’s left of David’s right arm (see diagram and image).

Private Collection 2022.38

 

Carlo Saraceni
Italian, c.1579–1620

Episodes from the Life of Saint Catherine of Siena, c.1605–1610
oil on “Egyptian alabaster”

Painting on alabaster cotognino, or travertine, allowed the Venetian artist Carlo Saraceni the opportunity to highlight important life events of a 14th-century saint. Catherine helped to heal those afflicted with challenging illnesses, including a woman whose disease manifested in a wound. Catherine repeatedly drank from the wound to drain it. For this virtuous act, Catherine was rewarded with the invitation to drink from the laceration on Jesus’s side. These events are depicted at lower left and center right.

Throughout her life, Catherine worked to immerse herself in Jesus. The artist designed the stone panel to chart Catherine’s progression, from bottom to center right to top center, where she seems partly embedded in the stone. Saraceni used this sequence to emphasize the saint’s goal of merging with Jesus.

Courtesy of Giacometti Old Master Paintings, Rome 2022.39

 

Sigismundo Leyrer
German, 1552/53–1639

Annunciation (recto), 1594
oil on agate

Here Sigismundo Leyrer has depicted the Annunciation, the biblical event when the angel Gabriel arrived to tell Mary that she would conceive and bear a son, Jesus. The natural markings of the agate panel guided the artist’s design, as Gabriel is placed inside an oval shape surrounded by secondary angels in the curving border. God the Father, who sent the messenger Gabriel, is enclosed in a smaller oval at top left, while the dove representing the Holy Spirit appears in the smallest oval shape at upper right, hovering above Mary’s head. Mary is located in the lower right corner. Light passing through a translucent material such as agate was understood in the 16th century as a symbol of Mary’s sustained virginity after conception, allowing the stone to convey enhanced meaning.

COLECCIONES REALES. PATRIMONIO NACIONAL. Real Monasterio de la Encarnación 2022.42

 

Sigismundo Leyrer
German, 1552/53–1639

Resurrection of Christ (verso), 1594
oil on agate

Sigismundo Leyrer painted Jesus’s triumph over death as he emerged from the stone coffin on the third day after his Crucifixion. The natural lines and circular shapes of the agate provide a sense of movement and enhance the sensation of Jesus’s impending ascent into the divine realm. The darkened border of the panel represents the earthly realm, where soldiers, awakened by the splendor, react to the event. No coffin is shown in this image. This omission is unusual and may have been prompted by the fact that the painting’s stone support already refers to the receptacle for Jesus’s body. The light background that encircles Jesus suggests the bursting of earthly bounds, imbuing this image with particular power.

COLECCIONES REALES. PATRIMONIO NACIONAL. Real Monasterio de la Encarnación 2022.42

 

Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere d’Arpino
Italian, 1568–1640

Perseus Rescuing Andromeda, 1593–1594
oil on lapis lazuli

The first version that Giuseppe Cesari ever painted of this subject was a rectangular painting on slate (see image). This oval version of Perseus rescuing Andromeda, painted on lapis lazuli, was the second version the artist made of this subject. Here he changed Andromeda’s gaze and position so she looks down at the monster, and he rearranged Perseus and his horse to enter the scene from the left rather than from the right. These adjustments were dictated by the stone itself, since the diagonal crack on the lower half of the lapis lazuli existed when Cesari began the work. By shifting Andromeda’s weight from her right leg to her left, he was able to correct the position of her feet to align with the crack. The changes the artist made were clearly to his liking, since every other version (more than 12 subsequent examples are known) incorporates these changes.

Saint Louis Art Museum, Friends Fund and funds given by Mr. and  Mrs. Christian B. Peper, Museum Purchase, Phoebe and Mark Weil, the Kate Stamper Wilhite Charitable Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth F. Teasdale, the Fox Family Foundation, the John M. Olin Charitable Trust, the Scherck Charitable Foundation, the McMillan-Avery Fund of the Saint Louis Community Foundation, the Martha Love Symington Foundation, the John R. Goodall Charitable Trust, Mr. and Mrs. J. Patrick Mulcahy, Mrs. James Lee Johnson Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Knight, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Latzer, Mrs. Janet M. Weakley in honor of James D. Burke, Mrs. Ellen Langsdorf, Mr. and Mrs. William H. T. Bush, the Longmire Fund  of the St. Louis Community Foundation, Eleanor C. Johnson, Alice S. Gerdine, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Cramer, BSI Constructors, Inc., David R. Cole in memory of Opal Runzi, The G. A. Jr. and Kathryn M. Buder Charitable Foundation, Dr. and Mrs. William H. Danforth, Charles and Patricia Marshall, The Mungenast Foundation, Inc., Mariko A. Nutt, Robert Brookings Smith, The Sidener Foundation, an anonymous donor, Mr. and Mrs. William F. Schierholz, Mr. and Mrs. William C. Lortz, Sewell A. McMillan, Edith B. Schiele; Barbara Wohltman, Mr. and Mrs. Fielding Lewis Holmes, and Ruth Nelson Kraft in honor of James D. Burke; and donors to the 1999 Art Enrichment Fund 1:2000

 

Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere d’Arpino
Italian, 1568–1640

Perseus Rescuing Andromeda, 1602
oil on slate

In this later slate example the artist intended to portray the words of the ancient Roman poet Ovid, whose version of the story was widely read in the 16th century. Ovid wrote that when Perseus first spied Andromeda, he was so in awe of her beauty that he mistook her for a marble statue. The owner of the painting, likely a scholarly member of an intellectual group in Rome, would have appreciated that this statue-like Andromeda was actually made of stone. In the image she is also bound to a real stone cliff, and the Medusa head on Perseus’s shield, known to turn anyone who looked at it to stone, risks petrifying Andromeda yet again.

Berlin, Gemäldegalerie Preußischer Kulturbesitz 2022.40

 

Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere d’Arpino
Italian, 1568–1640

Perseus Rescuing Andromeda, c.1593–1594
oil on pietra paesina

Giuseppe Cesari had painted this subject twice before on lapis lazuli and slate, both on view nearby. In this version he was able to make changes that took full advantage of the pietra paesina support. Rather than emphasizing the vast watery surroundings, as in the other two examples, he left a frame of the bare stone all around the edges of the composition. This approach conveyed the sense that Andromeda was trapped at the entrance to a cave, and Perseus would have to enter the enclosure in order to rescue her.

Pajelu Collection, Europe 2022.41

 

THE QUEST FOR DARKNESS: SLATE AND OTHER BLACK STONES

When artists in Europe first consistently incorporated bare sections of stone into their compositions, they favored black stones, such as slate. This choice was due in part to the enhanced lighting effects that could be achieved with bright white or golden paint on dark surfaces. A number of artists also relied on the reflective qualities of dark polished marble that added visual power to their paintings.

Artists including Jacopo Bassano and his son Francesco were incorporating bare dark stone into their paintings by the mid-1570s. They chose dark stones to portray tragic night scenes from the last days of Jesus’s life, known as the Passion. The background enhanced the visual impact of these intimate devotional artworks. With slate, in particular, the gray tonality could also contribute to an overall somber mood.

The power of dark stone in religious paintings, however, went beyond dramatic visual effects or creating atmosphere. For Christians who used religious panels for devotional practice, the use of slate and black marble could intensify the sacred contemplative experience for the worshipper. Scenes related to the suffering, death, and mourning of Jesus that depicted him recumbent on actual stone directly recalled the slab on which Jesus’s body was prepared for burial and connected to the presence of his body in the ritual celebration of the Mass.

 

Jacques Stella
French, 1596–1657

Judith in Prayer, c.1631
oil on Belgian “marble”

This painting illustrates the Old Testament story of the widow Judith, shown kneeling, who paused to pray. Subsequently, she executed her plan to defeat the Assyrian forces besieging her city, Bethulia. Having gained entry into the enemy camp, Judith dined with their general, Holofernes. When he fell into a drunken slumber, she seized her opportunity and decapitated him with his own sword.

In the painting Judith prays before a large candlestick while Holofernes sleeps in the background with his discarded helmet and shield. In the foreground three small angels pull his sword from its protective sheath, while Judith’s maidservant is barely visible at the far left.

Jacques Stella used gold paint to define the various draperies and the details of Holofernes’s sword. The painting surface itself conveys a mirrorlike reflection, and as actual candlelight flickered across it, the golden details must have made the painted light source seem real.

Galleria Borghese, Rome, 261 2022.59

 

Alessandro Turchi
Italian, 1578–1649

Will, Intellect, and Memory, 1620s
oil on marble

This painting depicts personifications of the trio Will, Intellect, and Memory. Alessandro Turchi utilized the flaming head of Intellect to illuminate the grouping. At left, Will wears a crown, and Memory, at right, is represented as a woman with two faces. Turchi also used the bold colors of the draped robes to harmonize the composition. The woven magenta cloth on the left is echoed by the red drapery over Memory’s left arm; the pale aqua of Will’s wings turns to a deeper green in the garment fastened around Memory’s waist. Turchi used a transparent red glaze over the rose-colored fabric worn by Will to capture the sensation of the cloth’s varying colors when viewed at different angles. The artist’s choice of polished dark marble is especially interesting. When seen in regular lighting, the figures appear to float on the surface.

Private Collection 2022.58

 

Pasquale Ottino
Italian, 1578–1630

Diana and Endymion, possibly c.1620–1625
oil on slate

On this slate panel, Pasquale Ottino depicted the moon goddess Diana, who has fallen in love with the shepherd Endymion. The tale recounts how the ancient Roman king of the gods, Jupiter, had bestowed eternal youth on the shepherd Endymion, but only at the cost of eternal sleep. Diana happened upon Endymion one day. Although she was known for her chastity and presumably immune to the powers of male attraction, Diana was instantly enamored and bestowed a kiss on the sleeping shepherd. The artist used lighting creatively in this scene. The pale blue of the shepherd’s drapery and the tonal quality of the slate convey the subtle effect of moonlight. Additionally, Ottino applied lighter skin tones selectively on the bodies of both figures to accentuate the quality of nighttime illumination.

Private Collection, Courtesy Robilant & Voena, 2022.57

 

Alessandro Turchi
Italian, 1578–1649

Saint Agatha Attended by Saint Peter and an Angel in Prison, c.1640–1645
oil on slate

Saint Peter, at center, accompanied by an angel, comes to the aid of Saint Agatha. This story emphasizes Agatha’s unfaltering purity against the harsh treatment and sexual advances of a man named Quintianus. After pleading with her to worship polytheistic gods instead of following her Christian faith, Quintianus grew angry when she stoically endured punishment. He imprisoned her and ordered her breasts to be cut off, refusing her any assistance. Peter and the angel came to the prison to heal her wounds.

Few of Alessandro Turchi’s slate compositions match the technical mastery of this panel. His choice of a dark gray surface and his select use of radiant light create a sense of three-dimensional form and focus the eye on the main character.

The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, 37.552 2022.56

 

Filippo Napoletano (Filippo Teodoro di Liagno)
Italian, c.1587–1629

Conversion of Saul (recto), 1620s
oil on black “marble”

Filippo Napoletano’s scene of the Roman soldier Saul’s vision on the road to Damascus is taken from the biblical book of Acts. As Saul neared Damascus on his journey, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. Momentarily blinded, he fell to the ground and heard Jesus’s voice ask, “Why do you persecute me?”

Typically artists like Napoletano condensed this narrative by placing Saul, experiencing the force of Jesus’s apparition, on the ground beside his horse. His eyes are usually closed and a burst of light explodes above him. On this panel, however, Saul’s eyes are open. The artist allowed the dense black of the visible stone to serve as a reminder of Saul’s temporary blindness.

Robert Simon Fine Art, New York 2022.60

 

Filippo Napoletano (Filippo Teodoro di Liagno)
Italian, c.1587–1629

Conversion of Saul (verso), 1620s
oil on black “marble”

Note the chisel marks that are visible on this side of the panel. Both front and back would have been evened out with chisels or a similar tool. The front was then worked to a smoother finish, while the back remained rough.

Robert Simon Fine Art, New York 2022.60

 

Filippo Napoletano (Filippo Teodoro di Liagno),
Italian, c.1587–1629

Apparition of Saint James at the Battle of Calvijo, c.1622–1625
oil on black marble

Saint James the Greater appears on horseback in the center of this panel. He is carrying his characteristic white banner with a red cross. James was an apostle of Jesus and the subject of a popular account that described how his body floated in a boat from the Holy Land (present-day Middle East) to the northern coast of Spain. He was, thereafter, revered as a defender of Spanish lands.

A related legend of a fictional battle against the Muslims in Clavijo, in northern Spain, is depicted here. In the middle of the skirmish, Saint James appeared, ensuring the victory for the outnumbered Spaniards. Filippo Napoletano was skilled in using various types of stone supports. In the case of this painting, the patron may have requested slate specifically. Alternatively, the artist may have selected a stone support to affirm the permanence and continuity of Christian teachings into the 1500s and 1600s.

Robert Simon Fine Art, New York 2022.43

 

Leonard Bramer
Dutch, 1596–1674

The Liberation of Saint Peter, c.1625
oil on slate

Saint Peter, imprisoned by the king of Judea (present-day Israel), is led by an angel toward an unseen gate at left. Pairs of sleeping guards frame the composition, and the bottom of a circular window establishes the imposing height of the prison walls. Peter’s shackles have fallen to the floor. This story comes from the biblical New Testament Acts of the Apostles.

Leonard Bramer used the bare slate to create varied effects such as the darkness of the prison cell and the reflected glow of the torch light that illuminates the floor. He applied paint sparingly, using a brown oil glaze to define the edge of the floor and the shadows cast by the two main figures.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Harry Kahn 2022.44

 

Stefano della Bella
Italian, 1610–1664

Burning of Troy, 1634
oil on Belgian “marble”

This striking scene represents the city of Troy (in present-day Turkey) in flames. Fire and smoke are pouring out of the large gate flanked by two towers at the center of the painting. The red burst of the fire on the stairway at left and an additional blaze at far right indicate widespread destruction. A tiny crescent moon peeks through the clouds at the top.

Stefano della Bella seems to have based his depiction on no specific ancient text. He had illustrated a treatise on fireworks, and his decision to portray a city ablaze may stem from this interest. The painting demonstrates della Bella’s skill and artistry in using stone supports, as seen in the effective use of white and orange paint against the dark background. In the 17th century this picture would have been viewed with torches or by candlelight. In such a setting the flickering light would have enhanced the horror of the event.

Gallerie degli Uffizi 2022.45

 

Filippo Napoletano (Filippo Teodoro di Liagno)
Italian, c.1587–1629

Dante and Virgil in the Underworld, 1622
oil on Belgian “marble”

The main characters from Italian author Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, Virgil and Dante, peer into this scene from the left. The massive gateway at center, inspired by the Basilica of Maxentius in Rome, evokes the entrance to the underworld. As the heroes are about to enter this inferno, the red-orange flames and intense heat visible through the arched openings seem overwhelming.

Likewise, the threatening creatures, including the three-headed beast at right, the flying demons, and the sea monster devouring the head of a man at lower left, convey the misery of this place. Few other artists who depicted these scenes from Dante’s writings succeeded in capturing a sense of the fiery depths and smoldering cauldrons of hell as effectively as Filippo Napoletano.

Private Collection, Houston, TX 2022.46

 

Francesco da Ponte, called Francesco Bassano the Younger
Italian, 1549–1592

Christ on the Road to Calvary with the Veil of Saint Veronica, 1580s
oil on slate with gold highlights

Jesus is on his way to Calvary (also known as Golgotha), the site of his upcoming Crucifixion. He carries the cross, the instrument of his death, himself. He falls to his knees as he passes the house of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. Saint Veronica approaches from the left, offering him a cloth to wipe his face; this act will result in a miraculous impression of Jesus’s holy countenance.

During the 1500s devout Christians were encouraged to visualize the sufferings of Jesus. One way in which visual representations could aid in this quest was by making Jesus’s experience tactile and experiential. Artists began to emphasize Jesus’s ordeal, particularly his walk to Calvary, by emphasizing the weight of the cross. Francesco Bassano selected the point in the story where the load becomes the focus of the narrative. Bassano’s use of a stone support emphasizes the weight of Jesus’s burden.

Loaned courtesy of the Klesch Collection 2022.47

 

Alessandro Turchi
Italian, 1578–1649

The Raising of Lazarus, 1616
oil on Belgian “marble”

Presented here is a scene from the Gospel of John: Jesus’s last miracle, the revival of Lazarus, one of his followers. Hearing that Lazarus was sick, Jesus returned to the town of Bethany, near Jerusalem, but arrived late. Lazarus had already died four days earlier. Jesus commanded Lazarus to come out of his tomb.

Alessandro Turchi represented Jesus pointing toward his friend, who already shows signs of life—Lazarus sees, gestures with his left hand, and raises his right foot from the ground. Light from the left side of the painting casts shadows across Lazarus’s stomach and leg. This effect may be an intended reference to God’s presence. The stone support provides a particularly rich black background for the story. The artist most likely appreciated the fact that the marble’s reflectivity would intensify the light flooding into the scene.

Galleria Borghese, Rome, 506 2022.48

 

Jacopo da Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano
Italian, c.1510–1592

Lamentation by Candlelight, 1570s
oil on slate with gold highlights

On the ground at the base of the cross, Jesus’s lifeless body has been laid out while several attendants kneel to pray. In the foreground we see Joseph of Arimathea in red, who provided his own tomb so Jesus could be buried, Mary Magdalene with blond hair visible, and Mary who gestures with both hands toward her son.

Jacopo Bassano’s exploration of the effects of light led him to experiment with slate and black marble surfaces in his paintings of events in Jesus’s life. The artist enhanced the quality of light through the application of gold paint throughout this picture. Note the individual strokes that suggest the radiating light from the candle, the curled strands of Mary Magdalene’s hair, and the edges of the foreground vegetation.

Funds given by Opal and Arthur H. Meyer Jr.; Museum Purchase, by exchange 95:2021

 

Jacopo Ligozzi
Italian, 1547–1627

The Dead Christ Lamented by an Angel, c.1620–1627
oil on slate

Leaning against a rock that has been covered with a sheet, Jesus’s dead body sits next to a gesturing angel. An oil lamp hangs above them, providing illumination for the scene. Its light falls on Jesus’s body and the sheet, the angel’s wings, and the edge of a rocky outcropping that frames the scene on the left.

Jacopo Ligozzi designed this image for personal prayer and devotion. The sensitive lighting and slightly awkward bends of Jesus’s legs enhance the sense of sorrow. Scenes like this one from the Passion, the last events of Jesus’s life, were popular subjects for stone supports. Not only did the dark, bare stone underscore the religious tone of the imagery, but the stone could also evoke the stone slab on which Jesus’s body was prepared for burial.

Pajelu Collection, Europe 2022.49

 

Giovanni Battista Cremonini
Italian, 1550–1610

Christ Nailed to the Cross (recto), c.1595
oil on slate

On the front side of this double-sided panel, we see the final events of Jesus’s life as Roman soldiers prepare for his Crucifixion and death. Giovanni Cremonini focused on one of the most horrific parts of the punishment, the actual pounding of nails into Jesus’s hands and feet. By doing so, the artist emphasized the body of Jesus on a stone support, reinforcing an association with the later placement of Jesus’s body on the stone slab before burial. The stone itself also alludes to Jesus’s role as the foundation of the Church and the cornerstone of the faith.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, European Art Acquisition Fund 2022.61

 

Giovanni Battista Cremonini
Italian, 1550–1610

The Crucifixion (verso), c.1595
oil on slate

On the reverse side of this double-sided panel we see an image of Jesus’s Crucifixion on Mount Golgotha just outside of Jerusalem. All four Gospels tell how Jesus was led to Mount Golgotha, also known as Calvary, both terms referring to “the place of the skull.” Although at times artists continued to present more elaborate scenes with additional details of the story, here Giovanni Cremonini drew upon a tradition first developed in the eighth century, in which Mary and Saint John the Evangelist stand as witnesses to Jesus’s suffering. This simplified scene, set against the dark stone, becomes very dramatic.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, European Art Acquisition Fund 2022.61

 

Bartolomé Estebán Murillo
Spanish, c.1617–1682

The Nativity, c.1665–1670
oil on obsidian

In a darkened space, Mary and Joseph kneel in adoration of their newborn son, Jesus, bathed in light. Angels above carry a banner declaring: “Glory be to God on High and Peace on Earth.” The story comes from the Gospel of Luke, where we are told that Mary gave birth, wrapped her child, and laid him in a manger. The ox and donkey became part of the scene in the fourth century, playing a symbolic role for polytheistic and Jewish communities.

The choice of obsidian as a support for this picture reflects deep meanings associated with this material. Obsidian was sacred to the Aztecs, whose empire the Spanish conquered through their colonization of the Americas. For the Aztecs the reflectivity of obsidian suggested spiritual power, providing Bartolomé Estebán Murillo a means to underscore the religious significance of the scene. The artist has allowed the natural vertical lines in the stone to suggest heavenly glory streaming down.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Rienzi Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Masterson III, 94.1143 2022.50

 

Paolo Farinati
Italian, 1524–1606

Harrowing of Hell, c.1593
oil on slate

Through an arched stone doorway, a triumphant Jesus, with staff and banner in hand, rushes forward to assist Adam and Eve on the right. Two bearded elders, presumably Old Testament prophets, and a turbaned woman rush toward him from the left.

There is no specific biblical account detailing Jesus’s visit to purgatory, an intermediate state after physical death, to ensure salvation for the souls of people who had lived long ago. As Christian theology developed in the eighth century, an explicit statement that Jesus descended into hell emerged. One of the best-known illustrations of this event is Albrecht Dürer’s 1512 engraving (see image). Paolo Farinati, who undoubtedly knew this print, isolated the archway with easily identifiable blocks, perhaps a design developed specifically for a stone support. Knowing that the background of this painting is actual stone makes Jesus’s breaching the archway both more tangible and physical for the viewer.

Private Collection 2022.51

Albrecht Durer, German, 1471–1528; Harrowing of Hell, 1512; woodcut; Private Collection

 

Jacques Stella
French, 1596–1657

Saint Peter Healing Saint Agatha in Prison, c.1634–1635
oil on slate with gold paint, backed with slate

Saint Peter, center, tends to the injured Saint Agatha, at left. According to a 13th-century account, after Agatha refused to yield to the sexual overtures of a Sicilian official, he imprisoned her and ordered her breasts to be cut off. Peter, accompanied by an angel, gained entry to her cell and healed her.

Agatha exudes her own spiritual light, since Peter’s body does not throw shadows across her body, which would be expected given the location of the burning torch. The most dazzling section in this painting is the drapery on the angel, portrayed in a series of liquid strokes of gold paint. This approach animates the fabric and heightens the impression of divine presence. The artist did not simply rely upon his brush to define the delicacy of the drapery. He enhanced and energized the folds through impressing his own fingerprints onto the stone.

Collection of Richard and Athena Tacha Spear 2022.52

 

after Joos van Winghe
Netherlandish (active Germany), 1544–1603

Samson and Delilah (The Arrest of Samson), early 17th century
oil on slate

In the foreground, Samson, covered in blue drapery, is being stripped of his powers, while Delilah, with her white arms raised, seemingly casts a spell over him. This scene illustrates a story from the biblical book of Judges.

The Philistines were trying to capture Samson. Knowing that he had fallen in love with a woman named Delilah, they asked for her help in his capture, promising silver coins if she succeeded. After several attempts to get Samson to reveal the source of his power, he told Delilah that should his head be shaved, his power would be lost.

By isolating the essential elements of the story against the dark gray slate, the artist achieved a powerful portrayal of the graceful drama of Samson’s arrest. This effective display of posture and gesture is based on the engraving by Rafael Sadeler (see image).

Giulini Collection, Milano 2022.53

 

Agostino Masucci
Italian, 1690–1758

Our Lady of Sorrows with Two Angels, 1730s
oil on slate

Mary, mother of Jesus, stands at the center with her arms extended in grief. She stands on a small stone ledge suggestive of the entrance to a tomb. Her open hands draw attention to the two holy attendants who flank her. On the left an angel holds the crown of thorns that was used by Roman soldiers to mock Jesus’s role as a king. On the right another angel displays one of the three nails that held Jesus’s hands and feet onto the cross. The repetition of the soft aqua, rich yellow, and pale rose colors infuse the scene with visual harmony. The bare stone surface makes meaningful reference to the rock of the tomb itself as well as recalling the stone upon which the body of Jesus was laid in preparation for burial.

Pajelu Collection, Europe 2022.54

 

Marcantonio Bassetti
Italian, 1586–1630

Christ Appearing to the Virgin, 1620s
oil on slate

In this dramatic scene the risen Jesus visits his mother after his resurrection. Marcantonio Bassetti used the dark stone and the depiction of light to achieve a work of deep spirituality. As she kneels, Mary’s position and activity recall the moment she learned of her son’s incarnation, when he took human form in her womb.

By using a stone support, Bassetti further reinforced this idea of the physical body of Jesus. The choice of slate to represent Jesus after he overcame death and ascended to the heavenly realm could be understood as an allusion to the stone on which his body was prepared before burial and thus to his human journey.

Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona, inv. 4310-1B1028 2022.55

 

ANTONIO TEMPESTA AND THE MASTERS OF MARBLE AND ALABASTER

Antonio Tempesta, a Florentine artist who worked in Rome during the late 1500s, was one of the most creative practitioners of painting on alabaster, colored marbles, and dendritic stone. Tempesta routinely responded to the visual qualities of each stone, in order to achieve greater variety and the true blending of art and nature.

White marble was used sparingly for paintings on stone, and mostly in northern Europe. It provided one of the most luxurious surfaces for painted compositions. The cool white tones of marble also offered an ideal contrast for artists who wanted to portray luscious still life arrangements. Bare marble such as the gray panel infused with streaks of white, on view, could be used for both visual and tactile effects.

After slate, alabaster was the most widely used stone painting support. Alabaster often included colored rings that could refer to divine auras or halos. As seen in this gallery, it offered the opportunity to represent actual stone sculptures by painting the outlines of stone figures on the alabaster surface. It could also provide a backdrop that suggested the heavenly realm.

 

Ignaz Unterberger
Austrian, 1748–1797

Juno and Flora, c.1775–1790
oil on white marble

The central medallion of this panel features the Roman goddess Juno, queen of the gods and wife of Jupiter. She is accompanied by her emblematic peacock, while receiving a flower from the goddess Flora. This scene references a story of the birth of the god Mars.

Jupiter, in the form of a swan, had impregnated the Titan Metis, even though it was prophesied that her firstborn son would overthrow him. He swallowed her to prevent the birth, but ended up delivering their child, Minerva, when his head was split open. Juno, intending to rival Jupiter’s act of giving birth, sought advice from the goddess Flora. She obtained a magic flower and touched it to Juno’s belly, thus impregnating her with Mars. Mars appears in the roundel directly above. Below is the god Vulcan, husband to Venus and rival to Mars.

Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, 1282 2022.71

 

Ignaz Unterberger
Austrian, 1748–1797

Jupiter and Hebe, c.1775–1790
oil on white marble

In this panel the artist focused on Jupiter, king of the ancient Roman gods, with his daughter Hebe. They are depicted in the central medallion, where Hebe serves wine to her father. Above Jupiter, in the smaller roundel, the artist painted Athena, goddess of war, and directly below Jupiter are Titans, gods of an earlier generation.

By selecting white marble, Ignaz Unterberger was able to reference the many ancient sculptures of Roman gods, also made from marble (see image). In this work he used unpainted white Carrara marble to represent various motifs, such as urns, leafy swags, and sphinxlike creatures more commonly found as architectural decoration on ancient buildings. Unterberger created an interesting relationship between the colorful illusionistic inserts and the sculptural subjects formed from actual marble.

Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, 1283 2022.70

 

Simone Cantarini
Italian, 1612–1648

Pietà, c.1640
oil on alabaster

The elongated body of Jesus that Mary holds on her lap is literally supported by stone. Using alabaster cotognino as a support, Simone Cantarini gave enhanced meaning to the stone tomb and lid in the background. They symbolize Jesus’s role as the cornerstone of the Roman Catholic Church. They also evoke in a very physical way the stone upon which Jesus’s body was anointed in preparation for burial.

The artist may also have intended to remind contemporary viewers of Michelangelo’s celebrated Pietà in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome (see image), since it, too, was fashioned from stone.

COLECCIONES REALES. PATRIMONIO NACIONAL. Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial 2022.69

 

Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg
Flemish, 1637–c.1676

Jesuit Church in Antwerp, 1668
oil on marble

Antwerp’s Jesuit Church, now known as the Saint Charles Borromeo Church (in present-day Belgium), is constructed from the same type of marble as the stone slab on which the artist painted it here. The artist focused on the interior architecture and let the white stone with light gray striations show through in several areas, such as the archways, columns, and floor.

The Jesuit Church, built in Antwerp from 1614 to 1621 (see image), was celebrated especially for its innovative materials, since European marble previously had been used exclusively in Italian architecture. This church was a favored subject for Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg, who created more than a dozen images of its interior. This is the only one he painted on stone.

Rubens House Antwerp 2022.68

 

Flemish, mid-17th century, possibly follower of Hendrick van Balen I, 1575–1632

Bathsheba, c.1650
oil on alabaster laid down on slate

Set amid marble sculptures in a leisure garden, Bathsheba is approached by one of King David’s servants with a letter in his hand. The biblical king has summoned her to visit him in his palace. This fateful moment has tragic consequences. According to a story in 2 Samuel, David was enchanted by Bathsheba’s beauty, and he eventually impregnated her. In an attempt to hide this adultery, David then arranged for Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband and a general in his army, to be killed in battle.

The story of Bathsheba allowed artists to represent erotic figures. The bare skin of Bathsheba and the cold alabaster painting support introduce a tactile aspect to the scene. Also, both the architectural setting and Bathsheba’s ivory skin use the creamy white color of alabaster and blur the distinction between the image and the stone support.

Private Collection, Belgium 2022.67

 

Vincenzo Mannozzi
Italian, 1600–1658

Flora, c.1640
oil on marble

Vincenzo Mannozzi portrayed the ancient Roman goddess of flowers and gardens arrayed against a sumptuous marble background seen here. This artwork appealed to the tastes of the dukes of Florence and their court. This panel also reflects the passion for stone that prevailed in the city beginning in the late 16th century.

The choice of cool gray marble is especially effective, given its contrast with Flora’s warm coloring of reddish browns and oranges. The goddess was also related to the art of lovemaking, and Mannozzi contrasted her nude body directly against the hard marble surface, although she sits on rust-colored fabric that is drawn across her lower torso. The juxtaposition of warm skin and cold material makes the viewer intensely aware of her undressed state and adds an erotic dimension to this picture.

Haboldt-Pictura, Amsterdam 2022.66

 

Gerard van Spaendonck
Dutch (active Paris), 1746–1822

Grapes with Insects on a Marble Top, c.1791–1795
oil on marble

Set upon a marble top is a cluster of grapes with a wide variety of insects feasting on them. Gerard van Spaendonck flawlessly captured the grapes, ranging in color from mustard with crimson to bright green tones. Spaendonck specialized in creating still lifes, and 5 of his 15 paintings are on white marble, as seen here. The rest of his body of work consists of botanical studies on vellum. He was accustomed to working with such velvety backgrounds as this white marble. It may simply have been the availability of this marble panel that encouraged him to create this work of art.

The Frick Collection, New York, Gift of Asbjorn R. Lunde, 2012 2022.65

 

Antonio Tempesta
Italian, 1555–1630

Crossing of the Red Sea, c.1610
oil on brecciated limestone

Here, Antonio Tempesta captured one moment in a complex story taken from the book of Exodus. The bearded Moses, near the center of the painting, commands the parted waters of the Red Sea to flow back and overcome the pursuing Egyptians. The Red Sea is represented by the large section of salmon-colored stone that looks like water rushing diagonally and dividing the scene, while the white patches in the limestone suggest foam.

The Israelites rest, having fled to the bank at lower left. A second group takes refuge on the mottled green rocky outcropping on the right. The Egyptian army can be seen in the distance, as the wave of orange sea overcomes them. The artist’s placement of land and water was clearly dictated by the natural configurations within the stone. Tempesta produced more than a dozen examples of the crossing of the Red Sea on different stone supports, creating new compositions each time.

Szépművészeti Múzeum/Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest 2022.64

 

Antonio Tempesta
Italian, 1555–1630

Bear Hunt, c.1607–1610
oil on dendritic stone

Boar Hunt, c.1607–1610
oil on dendritic stone

In both oval landscapes the foreground is filled with hunters and hounds in pursuit of their prey. The delicate leaf forms on the branches of the trees and the shrubs in the foreground are not all painted. Some of them result from metallic deposits or dendrites within the limestone support, commonly referred to as frost patterns. The larger deposits resemble trees, while the finer veining creates the illusion of small branches and leaves.

Antonio Tempesta used these natural markings to his advantage and allowed most of the dendrites to remain visible. He began experimenting on dendritic stone early in his career. These paintings are among his first works on stone.

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Kunstkammer 2022.62, 2022.63

 

MISSOURI QUARRIES

In the 1500s and 1600s European artists used stone as a painting support as well as a material for sculpture. The availability of stone from nearby quarries or through trade from more distant sources influenced an artist’s selection of stone as a support for painting. Today artists use stone primarily for sculpture, such as the Museum’s Stone Sea, created by English artist Andy Goldsworthy using locally sourced stone (see image). In fact, Missouri has numerous rock formations and a long history of quarrying. Here is a look at one local quarry through the years.

In 1884 railroad construction uncovered a major limestone deposit near the town of Phenix in northern Greene County, in southwest Missouri. For two decades, C. R. Hunt operated the quarry as the Phenix Stone and Lime Company, and by 1913 Hunt sold the quarry to Mastin Simpso,n who renamed the establishment the Phenix Marble Company. The quarry business grew during the first three decades of the 20th century to employ hundreds of people and supply roughly 250,000 cubic feet of stone annually. The quarry’s signature Napoleon gray marble was used nationally in a variety of stately settings, such as the trading room of the New York Stock Exchange.

By 1930 the quarry had a period of dormancy due to the Great Depression (1929–1939). Shortly after, World War II (1939–1945) caused the suspension of its use, as the equipment was requisitioned and scrapped to provide raw material for the war effort. Decades later, in 2016, quarrying resumed. Today Phenix Marble Company is able to supply stone using a combination of modern mining techniques and traditional craftsmanship.

 

Contemporary images:
Starboard & Port Creative
Courtesy of Phenix Marble Company

Historical images:
Courtesy of Phenix Marble Company

 

Phenix Marble Company, Springfield, Missouri
Phenix Quarry Site, Ash Grove, Missouri 2020
drone video
duration: 1 minute, 22 seconds, looped

Courtesy of Phenix Marble Company

 

CREATIVE ADAPTATIONS AND PICTORIAL STONE

While a number of artists integrated visual qualities of the stone support into their painted compositions, the work of particular painters stands apart. Their complete mastery of the materials or the unique manner in which the stone informs their final painted image reveals extraordinary skill and vivid imagination.

Included in this gallery are outstanding examples of this work. French artist Jacques Stella learned the technique of painting on stone in Rome and arguably became its most gifted practitioner. Stella worked on the widest variety of stones and maximized the visual potential of each one to bring unexpected nuances and interpretations to the subjects he portrayed. For example, he allowed the calcite occlusions in lapis lazuli, on view in this gallery, to represent the aura of evening moonglow.

Another innovator, Giovanni Battista Vanni, mounted nearly transparent white quartz onto a piece of paint-covered slate to suggest a receding landscape setting. Others combined different stones to introduce supernatural effects and enhance the meaning of the narrative. Artists such as Pieter Lisaert and Filippo Napoletano exploited surface markings of their stone panels in highly innovative ways.

 

Jacques Stella
French, 1596–1657

Rest on the Flight into Egypt, 1629–1630
oil on jasper

Rest on the Flight into Egypt, 1629–1630
oil on pietra paesina

These two works both illustrate how Mary, Joseph, and Jesus rested when they fled to Egypt. They traveled to escape King Herod of Judea’s decree that all male infants be killed. Having stopped to rest at the base of a palm tree, Mary and Joseph refresh themselves with water from a spring that spontaneously appeared at the tree’s roots.

Jacques Stella painted on pietra paesina (landscape stone) and jasper, materials that allowed the artist to elaborate on the story. The alternating bands give both stones the visual character of undulating landscape. This setting makes a perfect backdrop for a popular related legend that describes how the family encountered a farmer who had just planted his wheat. This account states that the wheat seeds grew immediately.

Soon afterward soldiers sent by Herod arrived and asked the farmer whether he had seen the travelers. He replied, truthfully, that they came when he planted his wheat. Seeing the grown wheat, the soldiers turned back, thinking the holy family was already too far away to catch. In both pictures the artist has included the soldiers talking to the farmer.

Private Collections 2022.80, 2022.81

 

Giovanni Battista Vanni
Italian, 1599–1660

Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness, possibly 1630s
oil on white quartz backed with slate painted blue

Saint John the Baptist spent time in the wilderness for self-examination to prepare to announce Jesus’s coming. He is typically portrayed wearing an animal skin with red drapery on top. The waterfall in the distant right alludes to his role as baptizer, as John would later baptize Jesus. The lamb, an animal used in sacrifice, symbolizes Jesus’s redemptive role for his followers through his death.

This panel is the only known example of white quartz as a painting support. Stone panels were often backed with slate for added stability. Here the artist coated the slate in blue, perhaps lapis lazuli pigment, to augment the background details. Between the brown outcropping behind Saint John and the receding green and brown hillside, the translucency of the quartz makes it appear as if there is a range of distant blue mountains. The varied opacities of the stone at the top suggest a cloudy sky.

Sir Mark Fehrs Haukohl, Houston, Texas 2022.2

 

Filippo Napoletano (Filippo Teodoro di Liagno)
Italian, c.1587–1629

Sea with Galleons, c.1617–1621
oil on Alberese lineato dell’Arno or Arno-lined “jasper”)

This particular stone, a type of limestone called lineato dell’Arno, makes a perfect backdrop for naval scenes. The wavy striations in the lower half suggest rhythmic undulations of the sea. The artist, Filippo Napoletano, worked in both Florence and Rome. He probably learned to paint on stone when he was in Rome, although this type of limestone was used more frequently by Florentine artists.

The carefully observed galleons, or sailing ships, also reflect the influence of Dutch art on Napoletano, who had contact with artists from northern Europe when he was in Rome (see image). This painting retains its original frame, allowing an appreciation of how it was displayed in the early 17th century.

Museo dell’Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence 2022.79

 

French or Flemish, attributed to Louis Cousin, called Luigi Primo
Flemish, c.1606–c.1667 or 1668

Martyrdom of Saint Catherine, c.1630
oil on obsidian

The choice of this very rare stone, mahogany obsidian, emphasizes the miraculous nature of the event portrayed. The early Christian martyr Saint Catherine, seen decapitated here, was the daughter of King Costus of Alexandria. Well educated and a convert to Christianity, she outdebated a band of learned thinkers assembled by the Roman Emperor Maxentius. Enraged, he had her tortured and then beheaded.

When her head was cut off, milk poured from her neck, affirming her purity, according to belief. Dramatic red veining, seen across the top of this stone support, was an appropriate choice to communicate divine intervention, also underscored by the miracle of milk shed rather than blood.

Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Gilbreath-McLorn Museum Fund, 2009.126 2022.78

 

Pieter Lisaert
Flemish, 1595–c.1629

Adoration of the Shepherds, n.d.
oil on agate

After an angel announced the birth of Jesus, shepherds traveled to see the newborn child. This colorful agate support enhances the sense of a miraculous arrival of a new king. The striated stone removes the scene from the everyday realm and suggests the beginning of a completely new world order. The swirls within the stone communicate the heavenly aura of the angelic host.

The broken column at lower right, symbolizing the end of old practices and the institution of new ones, is made of actual stone. Most creative of all, the stone beneath the infant Jesus suggests a pile of straw, yet its overall shape recalls the form of an altar, typically made of stone. This block refers to Jesus’s eventual sacrifice and death, and the ritual of the Mass that commemorates it.

Bob P. Haboldt & Co., New York  2022.77

 

Christoph Gertner
German, c.1575–after 1623

Adoration of the Shepherds, c.1605–1610
oil on alabaster and Belgian “marble”

Christoph Gertner painted Mary and Joseph with two shepherds and a shepherdess adoring the newly born Jesus. The Gospel of Luke records that when an angel informed the shepherds of Jesus’s birth, “the glory of the Lord shone round them.” Later in that same chapter he described the presence of celestial beings as “a great throng of the hosts of heaven.”

The artist used a piece of dark “marble” joined to golden-ringed alabaster as a support. This novel combination of two types of stone emphasizes the presence of the divine in an earthly setting. Gertner communicated the shining glory and heavenly hosts here with the insertion of the translucent alabaster, which conveys the arrival of holy messengers. The dramatic gesture of the shepherd at left underscores the sense of wonder. The reflective surface of the dark limestone, known as Belgian “marble,” reinforces the suggestion of radiating divine luminescence.

Collection of Joel M. Goldfrank 2022.76

 

Johann König
German, 1586–1642

Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c.1610
oil on pietra paesina with lapis lazuli insert

Johann König inserted a piece of lapis lazuli into a panel of pietra paesina (landscape stone) to represent water, a central element of the story he was illustrating. The Bible recounts that after King Herod of Judea ordered the killing of all male children younger than two, Mary and Joseph fled with their baby, Jesus, to Egypt.

One popular legend that embellished the biblical narrative included an account of the family stopping to rest near a palm tree. There a miraculous spring formed and provided refreshment. In this image König suggested the wondrous nature of the water by using a different and very expensive stone.

Christian Museum, Esztergom, Hungary 55.406 2022.73

 

attributed to Jacopo Ligozzi
Italian, 1547–1632

Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria
oil on lapis lazuli backed with slate

In this painting an unknown artist utilized the natural coloration of the stone support to good effect. The deep blue lapis forming the background sky as well as the sumptuous and richly detailed garments suggest wealth and royalty.

The subject is the fourth-century saint Catherine of Alexandria, admired for her knowledge and devotion to Christianity and the daughter of a king. Refusing to adhere to polytheistic practice, she was challenged by the Roman Emperor Maxentius. He summoned a group of educated philosophers to debate her, and Catherine easily won, describing herself as the bride of Christ. Based on this assertion, images such as this one draw upon no narrative source. Catherine was tortured and then beheaded, becoming a celebrated early martyr, reflected in her palm frond, symbolic of martyrdom.

Gallery Kugel, Paris 2022.74

 

Jacques Stella
French, 1596–1657

Rest on the Flight into Egypt, 1629–1630
oil on lapis

According to the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus fled to Egypt to escape King Herod’s decree that all male children under the age of two be executed. Nonbiblical legends expanded the story and included an account that told how Mary grew hungry and thirsty and requested that they stop for a rest. The family paused near a palm tree, where a miraculous spring provided water and the tree bent down to offer its fruit. In this scene Joseph helps Mary down from the donkey.

Jacques Stella demonstrated exceptional creativity in his use of stone surfaces. Here he allowed the white calcite inclusion on the right to suggest moonlight and used the deep color of the stone to create a nighttime sky.

Pajelu Collection, Europe 2022.75

 

LAPIS LAZULI

Perhaps the most striking stone used as a painting support, lapis lazuli was prized in the Mediterranean world and South Asia dating back to at least 7000 BC. Although present-day sources include Russia and South America, 16th-century European artists, as those in ancient times, obtained lapis lazuli from the Kokcha River valley (in present-day Afghanistan). Traders transported the stone to Western markets over land through the Indus Valley (in parts of present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwestern India) and Middle East and then by ship across the Mediterranean Sea to Venice, an active trading port at the time.

Lapis lazuli was highly admired and highly priced, the equivalent of gold. Prior to its adoption as a painting support, European painters used it in ground form to make the coveted ultramarine pigment used for the dress of Mary, mother of Jesus, or the circles of heaven. Artists could sometimes exploit the white calcite and flecks of golden pyrite that often permeate lapis for visual effect.

 

EXPLORE DIFFERENT PAINTING SURFACES

Examine the rocks on view in this case. Geologists use the term “rocks,” and art historians use the term “stones.” Rocks similar to these specimens appear throughout the exhibition as supports for painted images. Which rock would you select to create a painting, or would you prefer a more conventional canvas or panel support?

marble

slate

porphyry

limestone

rose quartz

amethyst, also called purple quartz

jasper

pietra paesina

dendritic stone

lapis lazuli

agate

 

EXPLORE DIFFERENT PAINTING SURFACES

Examine the rocks on view in this case. Geologists use the term “rocks,” and art historians use the term “stones.” Rocks similar to these specimens appear throughout the exhibition as supports for painted images. Which rock would you select to create a painting, or would you prefer a more conventional canvas or panel support?

copper panel

unprimed wood panel

primed wood panel

primed cotton canvas

unprimed cotton canvas

 

SCIENCE AND WONDER

At times artists focused on conveying a sense of the marvelous, the wonder, and the physical and scientific aspects of their stone supports. Stones themselves were the subject of scientific inquiry in the 17th century. Collectors kept various samples and were interested in the classification and identification of different types of rock. Artists of the 17th century utilized visually complex and rare stones to underscore the idea of nature as an accomplished artist. Through their creative endeavors, human practitioners worked to showcase their collaboration with the natural world, as seen in this gallery.

There was also a fascination with natural rock formations. These included stone striations and markings found on cave walls that suggested to some 17th-century Christians the hand of the Creator rather than that of humans. This idea was of interest to Ulisse Aldovrandi (1522–1605), the first scholar to use the word “geology” to reference the scientific study of rocks. In the Greek language the root word ge means “earth” and logia means “study of” a subject. Rock, or stone, encompassed the evidence of geologic formation and yet, at times, seemed marked with miraculous imagery that could evoke a sense of wonder.

 

Pasquale Ottino
Italian, 1578–1630

Medea and Aeson, early 17th century
oil on slate

The ancient Greek sorceress Medea, barefoot and with streaming hair, tends one of a pair of altars. She has built them to rejuvenate Aeson, the father of her lover Jason, who requested she restore his father’s youth. She has placed the old man’s body on a bed of herbs and prepared a potion in a bronze cauldron, seen at the lower left. According to the poem by the ancient Roman author Ovid, when the mixture was ready, she slit Aeson’s throat, drained his old blood and replaced it with her brew until “his beard was black again, no longer gray.”

Witches and sorceresses worked by night, and the gray slate suggests a moonlit sky. Slate could also be associated with one goal of alchemy—the quest for a stone to transform base metal to gold. Dark stone was used to verify gold content. The confirmation of the presence of gold could be likened to Medea’s affirmation of Aeson’s revival.

Private Collection 2022.82

 

Michelangelo Cerquozzi
Italian, 1602–1660

Thief on a Cross, probably 1620s
oil on slate

A single figure hangs upon a cross to which his arms and legs have been tied with rope. He is presumed to be one of the two thieves crucified at Calvary (also known as Golgotha) with Jesus. One of the thieves rebuked Jesus, and the other, who repented his sins, was saved.

Michelangelo Cerquozzi represented a similar figure on canvas (see image) and included a burst of light above the thief that suggests the promise of divine salvation.  In this painting on slate, there is no such light. The cold, bare slate could refer to the lack of divine presence, indicating that this work represents the thief who did not accept the teachings of Jesus.

Kunstmuseum Basel, Gift of Dr. Hans Schneider-Christ, The Hague, 1934 2022.83

 

after Bartholomäus Spranger
Dutch, 1546–1611

Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus grows cold), c.1600
oil on slate

The ancient Roman god Bacchus, clad in fur and crowned with grape leaves, escorts the goddess Ceres. She holds a C-shaped scythe and wears a crown of wheat. They walk away from Venus, goddess of beauty, and her son, the winged Cupid, who warm themselves at a fire. This scene illustrates a second-century phrase originating with the Roman playwright Terence, “Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus” (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus grows cold). Ceres and Bacchus represent food and drink, and the words can be rephrased as “Without food and wine, desire may wane.”

This image is based on an engraving (see image) by the printmaker Jan Muller, based on a painting by Bartholomäus Spranger. In transferring this image to stone, the unknown artist expanded the background to the right, allowing for a significant area of bare slate. In the painting and the print, the composition focused on Bacchus. Here the couple stands in the middle, flanked by Venus and Cupid on the left and the empty dark stone landscape on the right. The extended slate evokes a tactile sensation related to the bare stone, a physical embodiment of the cold that will come to Venus.

Private Collection, Belgium 2022.84

 

THE HAINHOFER CABINET

Prior to European conquest and colonization of the late 15th and 16th centuries, Europeans traveled to Asia, Africa, and the Americas and brought back items unfamiliar to them. These objects included shells, jewels, gold, artifacts, feather works, specimens, and stones. Between 1625 and 1631 merchant Philipp Hainhofer of Augsburg (in present-day Germany) crafted a spectacular cabinet that he filled with all sorts of things. He designed the cabinet to display items he felt were high points of human achievement together with discoveries from the natural world. Each of its four sides was dedicated to one of the four elements—earth, fire, air, and water—and the structure displayed and stored objects that were both found in nature and crafted by human hands.

The cabinet was a complicated structure of doors behind doors, hidden compartments, surfaces to be pulled out, and sliding panels. It was a practical storage cabinet and an apparatus for amusement. The ensemble could inspire religious contemplation as well as amazement. In the 17th century artists used visually complex stones to show how nature, the most accomplished artist, worked in concert with human practitioners. Nowhere is that idea more evident than in painted stones incorporated into elaborate art cabinets, as seen here.

Hainhofer’s cabinet, now part of the Uppsala University art collection in Sweden, is noteworthy in having more than 200 painted stones, some miniature in size and others forming an entire door. Two doors as well as a writing desk from this cabinet are on display in this gallery.

 

wall photograph:

Augsburg, Germany, 17th century, commissioned and overseen by Philipp Hainhofer, German, 1578–1647
made by Ulrich Baumgartner
German, 1580–1652; and others

Collector’s Cabinet of Gustavus Adolphus, 1625–1631
overall: 94 1/2 x 38 5/8 x 33 7/8 inches
(240 x 98 x 86 cm)

Gustavianum, Uppsala University Museum, Sweden

 

from the Collector’s Cabinet of Gustavus Adolphus, 1625–1631
commissioned and overseen by Philipp Hainhofer (1578–1647) Augsburg, Germany

Two-Sided Panel from Writing Desk
(in drawer on side B of the cabinet)
ebonized wood with inlays of silver, various types of stone, and four cornerpieces
of painted limestone (pietra paesina)

recto, center painting:
Johann König, German, 1586–1642
Hercules Shooting at Nessus
oil on copper

recto, silver inlays:
attributed to Lucas Kilian, 1579–1637
Artes Liberales and Artes Mechanicae

This double-sided writing desk has a copper top and a limestone bottom. The copper panel depicts the ancient hero Hercules drawing his bow to kill the centaur Nessus. This creature, with the head and torso of a man and the legs of a horse, abducted the hero’s wife, Deianira. This story was understood to show how the untamed passions of nature, exemplified by the hybrid beast, should be held in check by human courage and virtue.

This scene is surrounded by eight cartouches with engraved silver figures depicting human endeavors in art and science. Clockwise from the upper left, these are: perspective or geometry, goldsmithing, weaving, printing, study, painting, arithmetic, and music. These various elements convey particular ideas about the achievements and virtues of human creation.

Gustavianum, Uppsala University Museum. Sweden UUK 0112 2022.93

 

from the Collector’s Cabinet of Gustavus Adolphus, 1625–1631
commissioned and overseen by Philipp Hainhofer (1578–1647) Augsburg, Germany

Two-Sided Panel from Writing Desk
(in drawer on side B of the cabinet)
ebonized wood with inlays of silver, various types of stone, and four cornerpieces
of painted limestone (pietra paesina)

verso, center painting:
Filippo Napoletano, Italian, c.1587–1629 after Jacques Callot, French, 1592–1635
Naval Battle
oil on limestone (lineato d’Arno)

verso, silver inlays:
attributed to Lucas Kilian, 1579–1637
Four Evangelists

This scene by the Florentine painter Filippo Napoletano portrays a sinking, burning naval vessel. Painted on a type of limestone called lineato d’Arno, the work features lines formed by the layers of sediment that resemble the undulating waves of the sea. This scene of human destruction is accompanied by four silver rectangles. They feature images of the evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors of the accounts of Jesus’s life. Taken together, they suggest the possibility of salvation.

Gustavianum, Uppsala University Museum, Sweden UUK 0112 2022.93

 

from the Collector’s Cabinet of Gustavus Adolphus, 1625-1631
commissioned and overseen by Philipp Hainhofer (1578–1647)
Augsburg, Germany

Two-Sided Door Panel with Inset Paintings on Stone (from side D of the cabinet)
ebonized wood and various types of stone

recto, center painting:
The Women of Weinsberg
oil on green marble (hexagonal)

The designers of this cabinet planned each element for prolonged engagement by the curious observer. A visual narrative decorates every inset stone. The largest and most visible stone forms the center of the cabinet doors and was painted on both sides.

This side illustrates a clever trick played by the women of the castle of Weinsberg (in present-day Germany). When the castle was under siege by King Conrad III (r. 1138–1152), the married women residing there negotiated a surrender that granted them the right to leave with whatever they could carry. Each took her own husband on her shoulders and carried him out, knowing that was not what had been intended. King Conrad accepted the trick, saying, “A king should always stand by his word.”

Gustavianum, Uppsala University Museum, Sweden UUK 0112 2022.92

 

from the Collector’s Cabinet of Gustavus Adolphus, 1625–1631
commissioned and overseen by Philipp Hainhofer (1578–1647)
Augsburg, Germany

Two-s=Sided Door Panel with Inset Paintings on stone (from side D of the cabinet)
ebonized wood and various types of stone

verso, center painting:
after Heinrich Bünting, German, 1545–1606
Solomon’s Temple
oil on green marble (hexagonal)

On this side the painting features the temple of King Solomon, recognized as one of the wisest leaders in the ancient world. An account in the Old Testament book of Kings told of two mothers, each with a newborn son, who lived in the same home. One of the babies died, and each woman claimed the remaining boy. They came to Solomon, who ordered the baby to be cut in two, each woman to receive half. One mother agreed to the ruling, stating that if she could not have the baby, then neither of them could. The other begged Solomon, “Give the baby to her, just don’t kill him!” The king declared the second woman the true mother, as a mother would relinquish her child if that was required to save its life. News of Solomon’s ruling gained him a reputation for wisdom. Taken together, paintings on both sides of the stone represent aspects of a good ruler.

Gustavianum, Uppsala University Museum, Sweden UUK 0112 2022.92

 

from the Collector’s Cabinet of Gustavus Adolphus, 1625–1631
commissioned and overseen by Philipp Hainhofer (1578–1647)
Augsburg, Germany

Two-Sided Door Panel with Inset Paintings on Stone
(from side B of the cabinet)
ebonized wood and various types of stone

recto, center painting:
Johann König, German, 1586–1642
Israelites Crossing the Red Sea, 1625–1631
oil on agate

This door from the back of the Hainhofer cabinet is a single slice of agate decorated on both sides. On the front the Israelites flee from Egypt, having walked through the parted Red Sea, seen on the upper portion. Below them the Egyptian ruler’s soldiers perish in the flood of water that engulfed them when they tried to follow. The use of agate perfectly embodies the idea of merging human achievement with natural forms. The artist allowed the markings of the stone to define the shore on which the Israelites seek refuge as well as the frothy waves of the sea.

Gustavianum, Uppsala University Museum, Sweden UUK 0066 2022.91

 

from the Collector’s Cabinet of Gustavus Adolphus, 1625–1631
commissioned and overseen by Philipp Hainhofer (1578–1647)
Augsburg, Germany

Two-Sided Door Panel with Inset Paintings on Stone (from side B of the cabinet)
ebonized wood and various types of stone

verso, center painting:
Johann König, German, 1586–1642
Last Judgment, 1625–1631
oil on agate

In the Last Judgment the tonal variations embedded in the stone become rocky formations of the netherworld at the bottom. The darker coloration in the lower part of the panel underscores the idea of damnation. Light-filled clouds identify the divine realm at the top.

Gustavianum, Uppsala University Museum, Sweden UUK 0066 2022.91

 

after Jacopo da Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano
Italian, c.1510–1592

Adoration of the Shepherds, early 17th century
oil on Verona “marble” backed with slate

An airborne angel, holding a band inscribed with “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” (Glory to God in the highest) looks down upon a group of three shepherds. They have come to see the newborn Jesus. This story comes from the Gospel of Luke and describes how Mary gave birth to her son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes. Later an angel came to share the news with nearby shepherds who were tending their sheep. Afterward a host of angels appeared, repeating the words written here. The artist efficiently represented both moments in the story, and by using a stone with rich, variegated coloration, evoked the wonder of a divine apparition.

Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, Martin D’Arcy, S.J. Collection 2022.87

 

after Jacopo da Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano
Italian, c.1510–1592

The Adoration of the Magi, early 17th century
oil on jasper

This work on jasper and Adoration of the Magi, adjacent, are based on the same engraving and depict the visit of the three kings to the infant Jesus. The kneeling king who has removed his crown demonstrates the homage paid by established rulers to the child who was prophesied to be a king himself.

By selecting a jasper support, the unknown artist established a natural, outdoor setting for the event.  The colorations and marking within the rock also suggest a wondrous occurrence, underscoring the idea that the newborn baby’s birth was a miraculous event.

Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, Bequest of Hedy Maria Allen, New York 2022.86

 

after Jacopo da Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano
Italian, c.1510–1592

Adoration of the Magi, early 17th century
oil on Verona “marble” backed with slate

The Gospel of Matthew tells that the baby Jesus was visited by three kings, or Magi, who “knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Jesus’s mother, Mary, sits at right holding her son on her lap; behind her stands her husband, Joseph. By the 16th century the Western European convention for depicting the three kings called for one of advanced age, another of middle-age from Africa, and a young ruler from present-day Europe.

This work, and Adoration of the Magi, adjacent, are based on an engraving (see image) that reproduced a popular painting by Jacopo Bassano. The Verona “marble” selected for this painting is unusually colorful. Its mixture of red, gray, and ocher hues confers a sense of wonder and a suggestion of divine presence. The artist made few changes from the print, but the dynamic stone background changes the impact of the scene completely.

Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, Martin D’Arcy, S. J. Collection 2022.85

 

Filippo Lauri
Italian, 1623–1694

Baptism of Christ, mid- to late 17th century
oil on amethyst, edged with gilt bronze, set in an octagonal frame of stained hardwood inlaid with jasper, chalcedony, and lapis lazuli

John the Baptist, in red, raises a shell to pour water over Jesus, who kneels before him. The Gospel of Matthew describes how Jesus came to the river Jordan seeking to be baptized by John. After John anointed him “he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’”

Filippo Lauri used amethyst coated with gold to capture the sense of the extraordinary event when the heavens opened and the voice of God was heard. Some of the gold that the artist applied to the quartz can be glimpsed directly above the wings of the angel on the far right in areas where the variegated stone is more transparent.

The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2022.88

 

probably Spanish or Italian

Adoration of the Shepherds, late 16th century
oil on agate

frame: 17th century
lindenwood (structure) and fruitwood with remnants of ebonization, lapis lazuli, and red Sicily jasper

Resplendent in her red dress and gold-trimmed drapery, Mary prays to her newborn son while Joseph and three shepherds look on. The Gospel of Luke describes how Mary gave birth, wrapped her son, and laid him in a manger. An angel came later to share the news with nearby shepherds who were tending their sheep; afterward a host of angels appeared, repeating the words that are written here, “gloria in altissimi deo” (glory to God in the highest).

This scene is enhanced by using bare stone to suggest a sky infused with divine presence. The artist also allowed the bare stone to represent the marble column and its large cubic base that stands behind Mary. Perhaps the intent was to allude to Jesus as the cornerstone of the church.

Collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art; Museum purchase in loving memory of Jeannine O’Grody with funds provided by her family and friends 2022.89

Frame: Collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art; Museum purchase with funds by Charles Scribner 2022.90

 

wall photograph:

Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg
Flemish, 1637–c.1676

Interior of the Jesuit Church in Antwerp, 1668
oil on white marble
39 x 41 inches (99 x 104.1 cm)

Rubenshuis Museum, Antwerp, Belgium