Monday, July 10, 2017

Tempera Paintings

Félix Vallotton
Misia at her dressing table
1898
tempera on cardboard
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Arnold Böcklin
Odysseus and Polyphemus
1896
tempera and oil on panel
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Giuseppe Cades
Alexander the Great refuses water
1792
encaustic (tempera with wax) on canvas
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

"At this point a noble deed of Alexander's, perhaps his noblest, should not, it seems to me, be forgotten, whether it was performed in that region or even earlier among the Paropamisadai (as some have reported).  The army was marching across the sands in the already scorching heat, as it had to cover the distance to a source of water that lay ahead.  Alexander himself, though badly afflicted with thirst, was nevertheless leading the way on foot, so that the other soldiers might bear their toils more lightly, as they generally do when hardship is shared equally.  Then some of the light-armed troops who had split off from the army to search for water found a shallow gully in which there was a small, scanty spring.  After taking pains to collect the water, they went in haste to Alexander as though bearing some great treasure; when they drew near him, they poured the water into a helmet and took it to the king.  Alexander is said to have received it and praised the men who had brought it, but then to have taken it and poured it out in the sight of all.  And the army was so encouraged by this gesture that one would have guessed that everyone had drunk the water that Alexander had poured out.  For this deed, a testament to his endurance and his leadership, I especially commend Alexander."

"So the sick were left behind, along with those who were exhausted or could not bear the heat or lack of water.  And there was no one to transport them or to stay and take care of them; as the march was conducted in great haste, the needs of individuals had to be neglected out of concern for the army as a whole.  Some men were also overcome by sleep while on the march, since the men generally marched at night.  Later, when they arose, those who were still able to do so followed in the army's tracks, and those few were saved, but most perished in the sand like men who fell overboard at sea."

– from the Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian, translated by Pamela Mensch and published in The Landmark Arrian (Pantheon Books, 2010)

Lucas van Valckenborch
Winter landscape with snowfall near Antwerp
1575
tempera and oil on panel
Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt

Lucas Cranach the Elder
Venus
1532
tempera and oil on panel
Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt

Bernardino Fungai
The Beloved of Enalus sacrificed to Poseidon and spared
ca. 1510-16
tempera and oil on panel
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Pietro Perugino
St Francis of Siena
ca. 1505-07
tempera on panel
Lindenau Museum, Altenburg

Pietro Perugino
St Margaret of Antioch
ca. 1505-07
tempera on panel
Lindenau Museum, Altenburg

Giovanni Bellini and workshop
Madonna and Child with St John the Baptist
ca. 1490-1500
tempera and oil on panel
Indianapolis Museum of Art

Antoniazzo Romano
Madonna and Child with Donor
1480
tempera on panel
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Hans Memling
Portrait of a Man with a Pink
1475
tempera on panel
Morgan Library, New York

Sandro Botticelli
Judith with the head of Holofernes
ca. 1464-75
tempera on panel
Cincinnati Art Museum

Andrea Mantegna
St Mark the Evangelist
ca. 1450
tempera and oil on canvas
Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt

Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi
Adoration of the Magi
ca. 1440-60
tempera on panel
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Giotto
Madonna and Child
ca. 1320-30
tempera on panel
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC