Posted 14 years ago
cameolover
(8 items)
Cameos of saints usually have carved alongside of them the symbol that represents that saint. This is one way of identifying which saint is depicted in the art piece. Christian art usually represents St. John with an eagle, symbolizing the heights to which he rises in the first chapter of his Gospel.
Again, what a very beautyful cameo and what a handsom handwork. Very tiny hands and curls.
The are simply Gorgeous!
This portrait looks to be based on an engraving by Johann Gotthard von Muller in 1808. Johann Gotthard von Müller (born in Bernhausen, near Stuttgart, 4 May 1747; died in Stuttgart, 14 March 1830). This engraving was based on an original portrait of San Giovanni by Domenichino or Domenico Zampieri ( October 21, 1581 – April 16, 1641) an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese or Carracci School of painters. The original is in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. The painting became the property of Empress Maria Alexandrovna and in 1880, together with Raphael's Madonna and Child, it was bequeathed by the Empress to the Hermitage.
Two attributes of St John figure in the portraits: the eagle and the serpent in the chalice. The eagle and the quill symbolize the height he rose to in the first chapter of his gospel and is one of the four living winged animals found in Ezekiel. The serpent reminds one of the legend in which St. John was handed a cup of poisoned wine, from which, at his blessing, the poison rose in the shape of a serpent.
St John too is said by some to be the patron saint of painters, others say it is St Luke.
I love Cameo's their so beautiful !