Easter Sunday

Christ On The Cross is the title of this oil painting by the French artist Phillipe de Champaigne, dating back to 1655-1660. It's stark and moody, with the sky and the outline of Jerusalem rendered dark, cold, and somber. Jesus himself is illuminated as the focus, much as you might expect out of a Caravaggio painting, with that dramatic use of shadow and light.

The Christ Child And The Infant John The Baptist With A Lamb is an oil painting by the Italian Bernardino Luini done at some point between 1507-32. The motif of the two cousins together as children was a popular subject in the era- this one is inspired by the example of Leonardo da Vinci, who painted a now lost work of his own on the two embracing. Luini in fact had worked with Leonardo. During a previous visit, a docent told me that at one point, the National Gallery had a deal underway with a donor to purchase a Leonardo, but a new government came in and cancelled the deal. The painting ended up going to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, where Ginevra de' Benci is the only Leonardo on public display in North America. So to those of you who visit that Gallery, the next time you go in and see that painting, bear in mind that it should have been Canadian.

This is referred to as the Baroque Room, filled with paintings and sculptures of the period, most of them having religious subjects or taking inspiration from Greek mythology. The bust on the left of the first shot is one I've shown you before, a marble of Pope Urban VIII by Bernini. The rest of the art in this post is found in this room.

Landscape With A Woman Washing Her Feet dates to 1650, and is a painting by the French artist Nicolas Poussin. The artist tended to use mythology as a source of inspiration, but the story to this one remains elusive. Poussin portrays a man, hidden amid the bushes, spying on a young lady and her companion.

Some of you might remember this one. The Abduction of Europa dates to around 1636, by the artist Guido Reni, and shows Zeus, in the form of a bull, taking the latest object of his affections, the princess Europa, off across the sea.

I've shown this one before as well. The Return of The Prodigal Son is an oil painting by the Italian artist Salvator Rosa, done at some point between 1655-65, depicting the New Testament story's ending.

The Feast Of Absalom is an oil painting by the Italian painter Mattia Preti, dating around 1656-61. The work depicts Absalom, a son of David, condemning his incestuous brother Amnon to death for the violation of their sister Tamar, who sits between them, looking unusual in a fanciful bonnet.