Unknown Artist - Satire on Celibacy [c.1600-49]

Unknown Artist - Satire on Celibacy [c.1600-49], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam - Oil on panel, 29.7 x 41.5 cm]

Unknown Artist - Saint Simeone Piccolo, Venice [c.1738]

Unknown Artist - Saint Simeone Piccolo, Venice [c.1738], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This view across the Grand Canal shows the façade of St. Simeone Piccolo (the church was completed in 1738). The painting is a pendant (the name given to one of two paintings conceived as a pair) to the Grand Canal Facing Santa Croce, Venice. In spite of their inscriptions the two paintings are considered to be pastiches in the manner of Canaletto.

[Oil on canvas, 38.8 x 47 cm]

Unknown Artist - The Visitation [c.1630]

Unknown Artist - The Visitation [c.1630], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The scene shows the visit made by the Virgin Mary to her elder cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with her son John the Baptist. This episode is described in the New Testament, and immediately follows the visit to Mary of the angel announcing her own miraculous conception of the Son of God.

This painting was at one time ascribed to Murillo, but the use of ultramarine pigment makes it unlikely to have been painted in Spain, and it may be by a French or north Italian artist. The composition is similar to that in Palma Vecchio's treatment of the same subject painted in the early 1520s (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum).

[Oil on canvas, 113.6 x 218 cm]

Unknown Artist - The Grand Canal Facing Santa Croce [after 1738]

Unknown Artist - The Grand Canal Facing Santa Croce [after 1738], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

To the right of the Grand Canal is the church of Santa Croce. Further in the distance are the dome of Saint Simeone Piccolo and, beyond, the campanile of Saint Geremia. The composition for this work may be derived from part of an engraving by Visentini. 

[Oil on canvas, 38.8 x 46.3 cm]

Unknown Artist - An Old Woman Peeling Pears [after 1640s]

Unknown Artist - An Old Woman Peeling Pears [after 1640s], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

To the right of the woman is a greyhound, and to the left objects that include earthenware and brass pots and cauliflowers. The furniture in the background recurs in David Teniers 'An Old Peasant Caresses a Kitchen Maid in a Stable.' This composition was probably inspired by Teniers's style of the 1640s. It is reminiscent of a work by the artist's brother Juliaen Teniers the Younger.

[Oil on canvas, 48.6 x 66.5 cm]

Unknown Artist - An Old Man holding a Pilgrim-Bottle [c.1650s]

Unknown Artist - An Old Man holding a Pilgrim-Bottle [c.1650s], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

A pilgrim bottle could be attached by cords to the waist of a traveller or pilgrim. The subject may be the Greek philosopher Democritus, who is often shown grinning, worldly wise, at a globe that represents the world. Once thought to be Spanish, a recent attribution to Pietro Bellotti (1627 - 1700) has been proposed.

[Oil on canvas, 112.5 x 91.5 cm]

Unknown Artist - Woman at a Window [c.1510-30]

Unknown Artist - Woman at a Window [c.1510-30], originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Scholars had already changed their minds about the Italian Renaissance painting ‘Woman at a Window’ several times. Was it a portrait by Palma Vecchio, showing the artist’s daughter? Or even a painting by Lorenzo Lotto? In 1978 a routine restoration revealed a secret lying underneath the paint. Suspected damages to the under-layer in the woman's brown hair prompted further investigation. But as the subsequent conservation report found, this was not a damaged under-layer at all. It was the original painting.

It was now clear that ‘Woman at a Window’ had been covered with a later repainting. Conservators removed the repainting stage by stage, revealing a woman with a radically altered appearance. Far from being a demure brunette, she was a seductive blonde. Her jawline had been softened, her breasts less discreetly veiled, and even her eyes had lost their sultry edge. The painting that was revealed was hardly a likely portrait of an artist’s daughter. It might even be a courtesan. Nor does the painting look much like a work by Palma Vecchio. It is now attributed to an unknown Italian artist.

[Oil on wood, 51.4 x 41.6 cm]

Unknown Artist - The Last Supper

I thought you might be interested in this 16th century copy of the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci. The copy is currently housed in the Hermitage Museum.

[Oil on canvas, 77 x 132 cm]

Unknown Artist - The Death of the Virgin [c.1500]

The subject of this painting is the Death of the Virgin, the mother of Jesus. The painter turned the Virgin's deathbed into a human drama with the apostles each responding in their own way to her death. It was painted around the year 1500 in Utrecht or Amsterdam. The artist's name is no longer known: which is why the painter is referred to as the Master of the Amsterdam Death of the Virgin.

In a sombre room, the Virgin Mary lies on her deathbed. The twelve followers of her son Jesus are making preparations for her immanent departure. John, at the head of the bed, places a candle in Mary's hand. Next to him, Peter, is about to sprinkle Holy Water with an aspergillum. On the left, two men have a bowl of incense at the ready. Some are deep in thought, others are reading the Bible. This portrayal is not based on the Bible, but on a story in a medieval book of Golden Legend: when she felt death approaching, the Virgin Maria summoned her child and his followers to be present at her deathbed. The Angel Gabriel ordered all the apostles to go to the house where Mary lay dying.

[Oil on panel, 58 x 78 cm]