Vincenzo Re

18th Century By Vincenzo Re The Pool of Bethesda Oil on Canvas

18th century

Giuseppe Antonio Pianca (Agnona di Borgosesia, Italy, 1703 - Milan, Italy, 1762) Title: Shepherd with Goat and River Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: without frame 49 x 57 cm - wit...

Cristoforo (Cristofano) Roncalli (Pomarance, Italy, 1552 - Rome, Italy, 1626) Title: Saint Catherine of Siena chooses the crown of thorns Medium: Oil on wood Dimensions: without frame 101.5 x 59.5 cm - with frame 120 x 76 cm Shaped, carved and sculpted wooden cassetta frame, partly gilded and partly ebonized wood Expertise by Marco Ciampolini and Alessandro Nesi, art historians The marvellous scene that opens before our eyes is that of Christ's apparition to Saint Catherine of Siena; she must choose between a golden crown, the symbol of earthly royalty, and a crown of thorns, the symbol of virtuous Christian sacrifice. Catherine does not hesitate to choose the crown of thorns, her life in imitation of...

Provenance: Robert Hollberton, Antigua, ca. 1841 Private Collection, New York The present painting depicts Old St. John’s Cathedral on the island of Antigua. The church was erected in the 1720s on the designs of the architect Robert Cullen. It measured 130 feet by 50 feet with north and south porches 23 x 20 ½ feet. The tower, 50 feet high with its cupola, was added in 1789. The church was elevated to the status of a cathedral, but disaster struck in the form of an earthquake that destroyed the building on 8 February 1843. A memorandum of that date relates the event: “On Wednesday, 8th February, 1843, this island was visited by a most terrific and destructive earthquake. At twenty minutes before eleven o’clock in the forenoon, while the bell was ringing for prayers, and the venerable Robert Holberton was in the vestry-room, awaiting the arrival of persons to have their marriage solemnized, before the commencement of the morning service, the whole edifice, from one end to the other, was suddenly and violently agitated. Every one within the church, after the first shock, was compelled to escape for his life. The tower was rent from the top to the bottom; the north dial of the clock precipitated to the ground with a dreadful crash; the east parapet wall of the tower thrown upon the roof of the church; almost the whole of the north-west wall by the north gallery fell out in a mass; the north-east wall was protruded beyond the perpendicular; the altar-piece, the public monument erected to the memory of lord Lavington, and the private monuments, hearing the names of Kelsick, Warner, Otley, and Atkinson, fell down piecemeal inside; a large portion of the top of the east wall fell, and the whole of the south-east wall was precipitated into the churchyard, carrying along with it two of the cast-iron windows, while the other six remained projecting from the walls in which they had been originally inserted; a large pile of heavy cut stones and masses of brick fell down at the south and at the north doors; seven of the large frontpipes of the organ were thrown out by the violence of the shock, and many of the metal and wooden pipes within displaced; the massive basin of the font was tossed from the pedestal on which it rested, and pitched upon the pavement beneath uninjured. Thus, within the space of three minutes, this church was reduced to a pile of crumbling ruins; the walls that were left standing being rent in every part, the main roof only remaining sound, being supported by the hard wood pillars.” The entrance from the southern side into the cathedral, which was erected in 1789, included two imposing statues, one of Saint John the Divine and the other of Saint John the Baptist in flowing robes. It is said that these statues were confiscated by the British Navy from the French ship HMS Temple in Martinique waters in 1756 during the Seven Years’ War and moved to the church. The statues are still in situ and can be seen today, much as they appeared in Bisbee’s painting, but with the new cathedral in the background (Fig. 1). Little is known of the career of Ezra Bisbee. He was born in Sag Harbor, New York in 1808 and appears to have had a career as a political cartoonist and a printmaker. His handsome Portrait of President Andrew Jackson is dated 1833, and several political lithographs...

Attributed to George Morland. 19th Century English Antique, Two Country farmers drinking beer in a landscape. Wonderful early 19th-century original oil on canvas. A classic 'Morland' composition as the painter was a big fan of English Pub scenes...