FYI

Panathenaic prize amphora, ca. 525–500 b.c.; black-figure
Attributed to the Kleophrades Painter, Greek, Attic, Terracotta

H. 25 in. (63.5 cm), Rogers Fund, 1916 (16.71)

Reverse: pankration (athletic contest) and judge            Obverse: Athena

This splendid Panathenaic amphora is inscribed with the words "from the games at Athens." On one side is the figure of Athena, the presiding goddess at the Panathenaic games in Athens, and on the other side, shown here, is the pankration, the contest at which this vase was awarded as a prize. The object of the pankration, a combination of boxing and wrestling, was to bring one's opponent to the ground. A favorite trick was to seize a contestant by the leg and force him to fall backward, such as depicted here. One athlete has grasped the other's foot and is trying to throw him by placing an arm under his opponent's thigh. A trainer stands nearby, closely watching the struggle to see that all rules are properly observed

The pankration was the toughest and most dangerous of all athletic events. One could twist, strangle, hit, and pound one's opponent; in fact, the only things forbidden were biting and gouging the eyes. Injury to the competitors was unavoidable since they sought to win by all possible means, heedless of the life of their opponents.

Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Attributed to the Euphiletos Painter, Greek, Attic, Terracotta

H. 24 1/2 in. (62.23 cm), Rogers Fund, 1914 (14.130.12)

This Panathenaic amphora would have been filled with oil from the sacred olive groves in Attica, and would have been awarded as a prize to some worthy victor in one of the Panathenaic games held in Athens every four years. With its typically fat body and small neck and foot, the prize vase is, perhaps, the best example of a vase shape made to serve an official function. Each Panathenaic amphora was made according to a standardized shape and capacity of one metretes (approximately 42 quarts), and was decorated in black-figure technique. The principle decoration is always in the panels of the body of the amphora, with an armed Athena typically on the front and an illustration of the featured competition on the back.

Foot races, the earliest competitions of the Olympic games, were undertaken over varying distances. The stadion, probably the original race, was a fast sprint over one length of the track (over 200 meters), while the diaulos and the dolichos, both introduced somewhat later, covered distances of approximately 400 meters and 1,400 to 3,800 meters, respectively. The painter of this vessel has neatly fit five sprinters—five men and a youth—into the panel of the pot. Notice the wealth of incised lines depicting musculature, a preoccupation of Greek artists for centuries to come.

Orders for Panathenaic amphorae were placed with leading artists of the time. On the basis of style, this vessel has been attributed to the Euphiletos Painter. An inscription on the front of the amphora gives not only the official designation of the vase as a prize, but also the signature of the potter, Nikias, a rare occurrence on pots of this shape.

Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Source:  Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Seated in a leather chair is a middle-aged man. He seems a neat sort of person, with his short beard and bright, alert glance. His clothes are made of a black, shiny material. The ring on his index finger and his gloves reveal his wealth. This is Thomas Gresham, a merchant, in his forties. He was the financial representative of the English Crown in the Netherlands. The portrait was painted in 1564 by the Utrecht artist Anthonie Mor van Dashorst.   www.rijksmuseum.nl

Anne Ferneley is wearing a dress with a gown under which her cream-coloured sleeves can be seen. That she is a wealthy woman is obvious from the expensive fabrics and her gold jewellery. She is wearing a chain with a pomander about her waist. Little is known about many of the women portrayed in paintings. All that we know about Anne Ferneley, for example, is that she married in 1544 and died in 1596. By then she had been a widow for seventeen years.  www.rijksmuseum.nl

Philips William was the eldest son of William of Orange. But having been held hostage in Spain since the age of 14, he was passed over in favour of his half-brother of Maurice when the new stadholder was appointed. Philip William had to make do with the title Prince of Orange. Because he had been raised as a Catholic and a Spanish aristocrat the Dutch distrusted the Prince. Michiel van Miereveld portrayed him as a nobleman, dressed in the opulent fashion of a courtier. In contrast, Van Miereveld depicted Maurice, Frederick Henry and Spinola in their armour. A recurring feature in each of these portraits is a plumed helmet on a sidetable. In 1599 Philip William was made a knight in the Order of the Golden Fleece. Since the painting shows the Prince wearing the insignia of the order, it can be dated to after 1599.     www.rijksmuseum.nl

This well-dressed man eyes the viewer with a serious and self-confident expression on his face. He is portrayed from the waist up, standing in front of a balustrade, his arms resting lightly on a chair. Behind him is a red curtain with a large tassel. Beside it are the contours of a twilight landscape. This is Jan Steen's only serious self-portrait. He regularly depicted himself in his own paintings, usually in company, in a comical role, as a drunkard, a victim of deception or - as in the 'Merry family' - playing the bagpipes.   www.rijksmuseum.nl

These chestnut vases were made by Theodorus Gerardus Bentvelt, a silversmith working for the firm of Bonebakker in Amsterdam. He drew inspiration from the Gothic style. The octagonal base with lobed rim was borrowed from medieval monstrances and chalices of the Middle Ages, while the rest was his invention. This is typical of the nineteenth century love of earlier styles. Bentvelt also worked in the Dutch Renaissance style. The chestnut vase was first produced in the third quarter of the eighteenth century and was probably intended for roasted or pureed chestnuts. The curved surfaces of the round vase arose from the lobes at the base, producing a magnificent reflective effect. The only additions are a small border to the body and a natural branch of acanthus leaves on the lid.   www.rijksmuseum.nl/

In the eighteenth century French fashions were keenly followed in the Netherlands. Not least among these devotees were the Dutch cabinetmakers. In The Hague Matthijs Horrix was the leading craftsman producing furniture in the French mode. He made this commode in the Neoclassical or Louis XVI style. Typical features are the straight lines and surfaces as well as marquetry ornamentation based on ancient motifs such as the classical vase in the portrait medallion. Yet Horrix was not slavish in his devotion to French fashions. The form of the commode - with a single large door in the centre, concave sides and a gilt bronze base line - is certainly not French. Indeed, the inlay on the central door is characteristic of earlier Rococo decorations, with its irregular rock formations and flowers.  www.rijksmuseum.nl/

Here is a portrait of a small girl in a blue dress painted in 1641 by Johannes Verspronck. At this time, Verspronck was a leading portrait painter in Haarlem. 'Girl Dressed in Blue' is his most famous work and one of the best loved portraits of a child from the seventeenth century. The girl has been portrayed as a real adult. Only her child-like face betrays the fact that she cannot be more than about ten years old. In those days, young girls were dressed in the same way as their mothers. It is not known who this girl is, although we can be certain she came from a wealthy family. This can be seen from her dress decorated with gold lace, her excessive jewellery and the feather fan she is holding.    www.rijksmuseum.nl/

Maria Swartenhont was the daughter of two well-known residents of Amsterdam: Elisabeth Bas and Jochem Swartenhont. Jochem Swartenhont was a famous naval captain; later in life the couple opened a tavern together. It was a popular venue in fashionable circles: 'The Prince of Orange', on the corner of Nes and Pieter Jacobszstraat. Maria married Maerten Rey and had three children with him. She died in 1631, aged 33. Her children were then adopted and brought up by Maria's mother, Elisabeth Bas who was sixty years old and a widow by then. A counterpart to Maria's portrait exists, portraying her husband. The Rijksmuseum collection also includes portraits of her parents, her daughter Maria Rey and her son-in-law Roelof Meulenaer.   www.rijksmuseum.nl/

An unpretentious portrait of an unknown man. He was 46 years old when Jan van Scorel painted him in 1529. His age and the date are given on the frame, as if a small piece of paper is stuck there. The man is fashionably dressed in a black fur-lined tabard over a black shirt with a stiff collar and a biretta on his head. His face is turned sideways, but his eyes address the viewer. It is his direct gaze that makes the portrait so relaxed. The same effect is achieved through the subtle details such as the delicate lines around his eyes and the stubble of his beard. Jan van Scorel was the first in the Northern Netherlands to paint this type of portrait of middle-class burghers and this is one of his earliest such pictures.   www.rijksmuseum.nl/

«Все, что я делал в искусстве, — игра воображения. И у меня всегда был один идеал, одна модель — движение танца».

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Between 1710 and 1725 the basic shape of Dutch cupboards changed: cabinets on tall open supports were gradually replaced by cupboards with a base that comprised a chest of drawers. This is therefore a typical eighteenth-century cupboard. The silver mounts on the doors and drawers were the work of Dirk Froger, a silversmith in Amsterdam. In addition to the maker's mark, the silver also bears the date letter for 1764. It was around this time that the cabinet was made, probably be a cabinetmaker in Amsterdam. This cabinet would have been remarkably expensive piece of furniture. The veneer over the oak structure has been enlivened with floral designs, ribbons and rocailles in marquetry.    www.rijksmuseum.nl/

A young woman is reading a letter, around her are a table and chairs. She is illuminated by the light from what is presumably a window. On the wall behind her is a map. The artist has achieved a muted tone with his use of blues and browns. Vermeer has played here with the light and shadow. While the map and the chair cast a distinct shadow on the wall, the woman does not. It makes her stands out from the background. The subtle gradations of colour and the contrasts in this painting were already greatly admired two hundred years ago. A 1791 auction catalogue remarks on 'the pleasing effects of light and shadow'.    www.rijksmuseum.nl/

This characteristic part of Haarlem was painted by the seventeenth-century architectural painter, Gerrit Berckheyde. The river, the Spaarne, was Haarlem's main artery in the seventeenth century. On the Spaarne barges are shown loaded with cargo. The goods had to be taken to be weighed in the Weigh House, the large stone building on the corner. Heavy goods were hoisted out of the barges by crane, which can be seen beside the Weigh House. The church spire on the left belongs to the Bakenessen church. The Weigh House and the Bakenessen church still dominate views of Haarlem.    www.rijksmuseum.nl/

A lifesize bronze statue of a nude figure, depicted twisting round as he sits on a ring of fish. The man's head is turning to the right and is slightly raised as he blows on a horn-shaped shell held in his right hand. His eyes are fixed on the horn and his cheeks are puffed up as he blows; he gives it all the power and concentration he can muster. The bronze figure is a triton: a sea creature belonging to the sea god Neptune's entourage. The tritons dash over the waves and often use a shell, as here, for a horn. With the sound of their horns they could raise a storm or calm the sea.   www.rijksmuseum.nl/

Prudence is personified here in clay. She is one of the four Virtues portrayed in art as women. The other three are Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. A snake winds around Prudence's arm while in her right hand, which has broken off, she would have held a mirror. This sculpture was made in the mid-seventeenth century by Artus Quellinus, or one of his assistants. They were responsible for all the sculpture in and on the new town hall in Amsterdam, now the Palace on Dam Square. Before making the final sculpture, they first made a model, or study, in clay - terracotta.  www.rijksmuseum.nl/

The man depicted here, with the austere sideward gaze, is Cornelis Apostool. He was director of the Royal Museum when this portrait was made, in 1817. The sculptor, Paul Joseph Gabriël, presented his subject in the form of a herm bust: a head with bare neck and chest, cut vertically on four sides. This type of bust was reserved almost exclusively for portraits of artists and patrons of the arts. Originally an artist, Cornelis Apostool spent some years in Italy before pursuing a career in the civil service. Gabriël had also been to Italy, working in Rome where he came under the influence of the sculptor Antonio Canova. It was the latter's classical style that inspired this serene portrait by Gabriël.              www.rijksmuseum.nl/

These bottles, with their spherical body and their long narrow neck were a popular model in the seventeenth century, found in various shades of green and blue glass. They were a favourite object for diamond-point engravings. This was the art of scratching a picture or a text onto the surface of the glass with a diamond-tipped pen. An interesting aspect of this bottle is that the stopper has been preserved. The silver top is made of a coin bearing the head of Queen Christina of Sweden (reigned from 1632 to 1654) and the text 'REGINA CHRISTINA'. The coin is attached to the neck of the bottle with a silver mount. A lever facilitates the opening of the lid.   www.rijksmuseum.nl/

Glass engraver Willem van Heemskerckengraved this glass plate as a wedding present for his son Joost, who married Anna Coninck in December 1685. Engraved decorative letters form the monogram of the newly wedded couple in the centre of the plate. Below, the engraver inscribed 'iuste & syncere', a motto avowing justice and honesty. A suitable adage is inscribed around the rim of the plate: 'Bestand'ge, noit-besweken Trouw, Werkt lyvelijk- en ziel-behouw' (Steadfast faithfulness that does not waver is a soul and body saver).   www.rijksmuseum.nl/

A solemn figure with a direct, benign gaze, nonchalantly toying with the tassels of his collar. The man is Johannes Munter, a director of the Dutch East India Company and burgomaster of Amsterdam in 1670. Johannes Munter was a prominent figure. His importance is reflected the material used by the sculptor, Bartholomeus Eggers: that most expensive and regal of stones, marble. Munter is shown from the waist up. On the plinth is a Latin text: JOANNES MUNTER CONSULES AMSTELD. AETATIS SUAE LXIII: Johannes Munter, burgomaster of Amsterdam, in his sixty-third year.   www.rijksmuseum.nl/

A cheerful lutenist, extravagantly dressed and singing a song - a serenade - is accompanying himself on the lute, a stringed instrument that was especially popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The painting appears to capture a moment in time, as if the lutenist were caught in the middle of a song. The young man glances upward and seems entirely engrossed in his music. Or perhaps he is looking up to the object of his serenade?   www.rijksmuseum.nl/

This portrait shows a well-to-do man in his study. On the left of the foreground is a globe. On the right is a cello leaning against a chair. An open score rests on the table; on the right-hand page is the beginning of a sonata, the left-hand page bears the family coat of arms. Behind the dark curtain is a cupboard with the door open. Each shelf supports one large, leather-bound book, all the same size. Cornelis Troost has portrayed one of the Van der Mersch brothers, Pieter, Dirk or Johannes. They belonged to a Menonite family of Amsterdam. It is their coat of arms which is pictured in the music book.  www.rijksmuseum.nl

This Roman general rides his horse proudly. The mount has no saddle and the rider presses his legs against the animal's muscular flanks. In his left hand is the commander's staff: he seems about to give his troops the signal to attack. The horse is a mass of power and health. It proceeds with dignity, head held high, tail tied with ribbon. The sculptor Jacopo Tatti made this decorative, classical statue in the second half of the sixteenth century.  www.rijskmuseum.nl