Rembrandt van Rijn

The Virgin And Child With The Cat And The Snake By Rembrandt Van Rijn

circa 1654

Rembrandt van Rijn 1606-1669 Dutch Jan Uytenbogaert, Preacher of the Remonstrants New Hollstein Dutch and Flemish (Rembrandt) 153, state 4/9 Bartsch 279, state 4/6 Printed by Remb...

Lucas Cranach the Elder and Studio 1472-1553 German Moses and the Pillar of Cloud Oil on panel Moses and the Pillar of Cloud is a bold and evocative composition that showcases the signature intense color and intricate detail of Lucas Cranach the Elder’s celebrated oeuvre. The remarkable 16th-century oil on panel by Lucas Cranach and his studio captures the narrative moment when Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and encounters God manifested through a large pillar of cloud. Moses stands at the precipice of a bridge and turns back to soldiers helping to lead the group of Israelites who huddle closely together. Cranach depicts Moses with his traditional iconography, rendering the rays of light on his head which came to be interpreted as "horns" in the translation of the Bible. Using his traditional walking staff, Moses gestures toward the pillar, seemingly acknowledging that God will protect the group as they cross the bridge to the other side, leaving exile and entering a promised land. In a nod to Cranach’s Germanic locale, he renders the figures and setting in a manner that feels decisively more akin to European aesthetics than those of the Red Sea. Soldiers wear elaborate, gothic suits of armor that recall the livery of Northern European guardsmen. The terrain appears more like a European forest giving way to a sweeping valley than the arid landscape the Israelites trekked through on their journey across the Red Sea. Though still clearly recounting a story from the Old Testament, Cranach renders the cast of characters and setting in an earthly, familiar manner. This aesthetic shift speaks to Cranach’s own changing beliefs as he found himself at the center of the Protestant Reformation. After first gaining recognition in 1505 as the official painter of Frederick the Wise, Cranach established a thriving painting and print studio in Wittenberg, Germany. Cranach was renowned for his court portraits and genre paintings and was also well known for his association with the famous protestant reformer Martin Luther, then under the protection of Frederick the Wise. As Wittenberg became a bastion of new religious thought, Cranach soon befriended Luther and played an active role in creating the printed materials that proliferated throughout the Reformation...

Etching on cream laid paper mounted to a cream laid paper support, 9 x 12 7/8 inches (230 x 327 mm), thread margins. Three small areas of light skinning with one extremely small hole...

Image dimensions: 15 x 12 cm. Scène de bistrot is a black and white etching with burin interventions on paper realized by an anonymous artist, after the Flemish artist Adrian Van Ostade...