Passion of Christ - master of Delft

Salvete Omnes,
 Christos Anesti "Χριστός ἀνέστη!"

                               ****
Happy Easter - wesołego Alleluja!
All the best to all friends, readers, aficionados, and many an accidental traveler around the world -
and the image for today - from Master of Delft - Passion of Christ:

valete
ps
today, on this Holiest day the forces of Evil attacked worshiping  Christians in Sri Lanka (Reuters link). Now the news media are saying that almost 200 were killed and close to 500 wounded, and the numbers are still growing - eg Polish Rp news. Pacem Aeternam  

XV-XVI century Gothic crucifixion

Salvete Omnes,
 another Good Friday and perhaps today is a good day to reminisce about that Crucifixion that took place in Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago.

Today I would like to share with you some late Gothic art, namely the sculptural works, from Northwestern Europe, being part of the altarpieces and objects of veneration.
From Saint Peter Church in Dortmund comes the amazing large wooden altarpiece or a retabulum (reredos) - Goldenes Wunder von Westfalen. It was made in by an Antwerp workshop,it is  the largest surviving Antwerp altar showing in detail the entire Passion of Christ.

..


..more Antwerp style retables, :

Dijon Museum retable  crucifixion












..
Pruszcz altar - detail

..
 Vienna altar

..
 saint Kornelius et Cyprian altar



.
 Louven altar


 The coming of the Reformation and the wars that followed terminated the wooden Gothic style reredo making in Antwerp.
Valete

Notre Dame i relikwiarz koronacyjny królów polskich Drzewa Krzyża Świętego

salvete Omnes,

 [in Polish]

Wczoraj rozpoczął się Wielki Tydzień i poniedziałek zakończył się ogromną tragedią:




 pożarem katedry gotyckiej Notre Dame w Paryzu, i jest to tragedia na skalę kultury światowej. 

Dla nas Polaków to bardzo ważna świątynia, gdyż w Notre Dame, a dokładnie w skarbcu, był przechowywany arcyważny skarb polskiej kultury  tzw relikwiarz alias pacyfikał koronacyjny królów polskich Drzewa KrzyżaŚwiętego, cześć skarbów koronnych bezprawnie wywiezionych ze skarbca koronnego przez Jana Kazimierza do Francji i zawłaszczonych przez Gonzagów po śmierci Wazy.

Nota bene nie tylko Prusacy niszczyli polską kulturę (przetopienie klejnotów koronnych), również francuscy rewolucjoniści zniszczyli skarby naszej kultury przetapiając te wazowskie skarby, oprócz relikwiarza, w 1793 roku

Może nadszedł czas, żeby Polska poprosiła o zwrot tego zabytku kultury polskiej?

 Zamieściłem 2 skany z artykułu o relikwiarzu.

[English]

The Holy Week has begun yesterday and it started with an ominous sign the tragic  fire and burning of the Gothic Notre Dame of Paris, France, is a disaster of gargantuan proportions and the most sorrowful world tragedy.

There are Polish accents, namely the Paris' Notre Dame Treasury contained the Polish National treasure - medieval jewel and symbol of the Polish Crown, the Polish Kings Coronation Reliquary  of True Cross - unlawfully taken from our Polish treasury by the former Polish monarch Jan Kazimierz Waza in 1667-8. 

This Reliquary was part of the ceremonial in our Polish monarchy and the most exceptional treasure. After Jan Kazimierz's death it was illegally appropriated by the Gonzaga family, his wife's sister took it , and in spite Polish protestations and demands it has been kept in France since 1668-9.
Nota bene our failed king Jan Kazimierz took unlawfully more Crown Treasures in his exodus from Polish Realms, and those were melted by the French revolutionaries in 1793 (the other evildoers - the Prussian monarchs had  our Polish Crown Jewels melted in 1810-11).

Perhaps the time has come  that  the Polish state could ask the French Republic for the return of our Crown Reliquary? 

Valete
ps
images from Wiki Commons

Paulus Potter - oriental horse

Salvete Omnes,
came across, via Wiki Commons, this very interesting painting - not large enough to study the detail - but still very interesting in my opinion, as it may show an Oriental - Polish, Turkish, Hungarian or perhaps a Syrian or Persian/Turkoman - male horse (a stallion or gelding) a beautiful golden bay,  dun or buckskin with a blaze on his intelligent face and four socks on his legs.  Both dun and buckskin (see horse colors article from Practical Horseman) were popular horse colors with our Old Polish horses - also palomino, spotted etc.
Mid-XVII century Dutch liked their horses to have their tail docked, oh, well, that was then (the British continued this practice into the XX century, unfortunately).

It is quite unusual in the Dutch XVII century paintings.

Enjoy this  bit enlarged view.

 
Valete

Sketching & stradioti

Salvete Omnes,
these Spring days I am just sketching and working on some illustration projects, but also doing more or less lots of reading and research.
Nota bene I received this book on the history of the American saddles and I am in process of studying it - fine work of research and writing, profusely illustrated with fine iconography.
Ad rem, last week I discovered prof. Stathis Birtachas's work on academia, and this fine  researcher from Greece - orea Hellada -has some interesting articles on the stradioti aka stradiots.
The late medieval Balkan Peninsula seems to have been the birthplace of the light lancer cavalry toward the end of the great Middle Ages. But more reading to be done, so stay tuned - :) .
 
And a sketch to share my ongoing fascination with the lancer horseman and his steed

Valete

Bigos et imc pan Potocki

Salvete Omnes,
[Polish]
Wacław Potocki, wielki polski  poeta Sarmatyzmu - poemat epicki Wojna Chocimska, żołnierz-weteran wojny z rebelią kozacką et al., także 'heretyk silą na wiarę katolicką nawrócony', napisał cale multum wesołych fraszek, często mniej lub bardziej ironicznych czy wręcz szyderczych.
Dziś mamy Prima Aprilis ergo czas na krotochwile:

Prima aprilis
 

Pan towarzysz husarski .. w bigosie

Konik et  muł

Koń alias Szkap Chudy

 

Mosty Nieprzyjacielowi...

Humor Polski

Usarz ... podszyty


 

valete
ps
Literatura staropolska w opracowaniach prof. Romana Krzywego - dostępną jest via academia edu.

Viking and Slavic Ornamental Design vol. 1 from WHP

Trzyglaw by Marek Hapon (Wiki Commons)

Salvete Omnes,
coming this April the American (and Australian and New Zealand as well) book stores will see the newest edition of the famous 'Viking and Slavic Ornamental Design' volume 1, by Igor Gorewicz et al, originally published by Wydawnictwo Triglav from Szczecin, Poland.

It was the ancient stronghold of Szczecin on the banks of Odra (Oder ) River in western Pomerania on the southern Baltic shores, where a thousand years ago stood many pagan temples and where among other deities the pagan Wkrzanie (Ukrani - a western Slavic tribe) worshiped Slavic god known as Trzyglaw (Triglav). The island of Wolin was the site of the famous viking-Slavic stronghold Jomsborg (Jomsviking saga), and on the island of Rugia or Rana ( Rugen) stood famous temple of Slavic god Swiatowid (Svetovid) where a 'holy' white stallion was used in the horse oracle ceremeony by the Slavic priests well into the second half of the XII century (until the Danish conquest and destruction of the Svetovid temple on the Cape Arkona in 1168AD)

Deities of Ranowie or Rugianie (Rani - western Slavic tribe) by Marek Hapon

Swiatowid by Marek Hapon

Alfons Mucha, Swiatowid worship on Rugia

Mucha's apotheosis of the Slavs

The books represent the combined 'transatlantic' effort of Winged Hussar Publishing LLC and Wydawnictwo Triglav.
Consecutive months of 2019 will see release of volume 2 and subsequently volume 3 of this great series.
sample pages of the volume


 

 
valete

Sir John Smithe - Instructions, Observations, and Orders Mylitarie

Salvete Omnes,


sir John Smithe or Smith, XVI century English gentleman and soldier, wrote  and had his military treatise published in 1594AD and reprinted in 1595 AD.

The entire book - 'Instructions, obseruations, and orders mylitarie : Requisite for all chieftaines, captaines, and higher and lower men of charge, and officers to understand, knowe, and observe' -  is available on google books for reading or download.



Inside there are some very interesting observations from a soldier who served on the Catholic sides seeing plenty of  action in Kingdom of France, Holy Roman Empire and in Hungaries (Hungarian Kingdom divided between the Ottoman  and Imperial powers) for about 20 years, finally returning to England circa 1572AD.

He wrote about lance bearing cavalry of the times: stradiots, men-at-arms, boder horse (particular to English-Scottish borderlands)light cavalry, and demi-lancers. He covered the equipment (like the estoc to be carried under rider's thigh in the manner of Turks or Hungarians), training, and tactics and many other things in his work.
I have just started reading and studying this treatise, looking forward to see much interesting information.

Valete
ps
all armor images are from Wiki Commons and these examples represent 2nd half of the XVI century uppermost crust of chivalry and armored horsemen. such armor could have been used by the winged hussars, be it in Polish-Lithuanina Commonwealth or Hungaries.

Komaniecki Art - sale

Salvete Omnes,

my friend from Poland Krzysztof Komaniecki aka Komaniecki Art put some of his creations on sale - you can inquire within directly.
 

 

 


 

 

 


Nota bene Krzysztof is a skilled model soldier sculptor.


 

 

Valete