<b>Melanie Cervantes</b>
(b. 1977)

<i>Melanie Cervantes (born in Harbor City, CA) is a Xicana artist and activist based in the Bay Area.</i> 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie_Cervantes

Light the Way for the Spirits of the Ancestors
2019
Serigraphy print
76.2 x 55.9 cm
Self Help Graphics & Art, Los Angeles, United States
https://www.selfhelpgraphics.com/prints-2010-2020/melaniecervantesdod2019-b8pkx?rq=melanie%20cervantes

 

46th Annual Día de Los Muertos Commemorative Print Light the Way for the Spirit of the Ancestors, depicts an elder, a reflection of a familiar face, a tia or a grandmother, holding the symbolic candle that lights the way for the ancestors. The marigold, or Cempasúchitl, in the background is the iconic flower found on all the altars. While there is no text in the work, the symbolism and choice of colors are indicative of the rooted ritual, conveying the spirit and tradition of the Día de Los Muertos ceremony.

https://www.selfhelpgraphics.com/blog/2019/10/10/melanie-cervantes-and-the-making-of-the-2019-dia-de-los-muertos-commemorate-print 

Gerard van Honthorst
(1592 - 1656)
 

Gerard "Gerrit" van Honthorst  was a Dutch Golden Age painter who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the Italian nickname Gherardo delle Notti ("Gerard of the Nights"). Early in his career he visited Rome, where he had great success painting in a style influenced by Caravaggio. Following his return to the Netherlands he became a leading portrait painter. Van Honthorst's contemporaries included Utrecht painters Hendrick ter Brugghen and Dirck van Baburen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_van_Honthorst

Christ Before the High Priest
C. 1617
Oil on canvas
272 x 183 cm
National Gallery, London
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/gerrit-van-honthorst-christ-before-the-high-priest

 

 The painting depicts a scene from the canonical gospels concerning the Passion of Jesus, specifically Jesus's questioning by the Jewish religious authorities. 
The gospels describe how, after his initial capture, Jesus was brought before Caiaphas – a high priest in the Jewish Sanhedrin. Honthorst depicts the moment that Caiaphas asks Jesus if he truly claims to be God. 

Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen
(1503 - 1559)
 

Jan Cornelisz. Vermeyen, also known as Juan del Mayo (c. 1503 – 1559) was a Dutch painter, printmaker and tapestry designer. He is known for his portraits, history scenes and genre subjects. He worked in Mechelen and elsewhere, chiefly as a portraitist for the governors of the Habsburg Netherlands, Archduchess Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary. He also served the Emperor Charles V whom he accompanied on his military campaign to Tunis of 1535.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Cornelisz_Vermeyen

The Marriage at Cana
C. 1530
Oil on panel
66.5 x 85 cm
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/The-Marriage-at-Cana--a9c70d5ad88d3ab49630a44168906608

 

In this night scene – a novelty in painting at the time – Vermeyen succeeded in creating a dramatic effect. Candlelight plays over the faces and casts dark shadows. For the flames, Vermeyen used gold leaf. He was well ahead of his time: only around 1600 did the nocturn as a genre become more widely known through the Italian artist Caravaggio.

George Romney
(1734 - 1802)
 

George Romney was an English painter. He was the most fashionable artist of his day, painting many leading society figures – including his artistic muse, Emma Hamilton, mistress of Lord Nelson.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Romney_(painter

The artist’s brother James holding a candle
1761
Oil on canvas
35.6 x 25.4 cm
Lakeland Arts - Abbot Hall Art Gallery and Museum, Kendal, United Kingdom

Romney’s younger brother James (1745-1807) was sixteen years old when this oil sketch was executed. He later became a colonel in the East India Company.

Jean-Baptiste Santerre
(1651- 1717)

Jean-Baptiste Santer was a French painter and draughtsman of the Style Louis XIV, known for his history paintings, portraits, and portrait-like genre subjects. Considerably influenced by Italian masters of the Bolognese school as well as his French contemporaries, Santerre nonetheless made an original contribution in his art, being among the first French painters to bring Netherlandish influences. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Santerre

Jeune Fille lisant une lettre à la bougie (Young Girl reading a letter by candlelight)
C. 1700
Oil on canvas 
64 x 79 cm
The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
https://www.pushkinmuseum.art/reference/classifier/people/1725.php?lang=en

Jacob Jordaens 

(1593 - 1678)
 

Jacques (Jacob) Jordaens was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and a designer of tapestries and prints. He was a prolific artist who created biblical, mythological, and allegorical compositions, genre scenes, landscapes, illustrations of Flemish sayings and portraits. After the death of Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, he became the leading Flemish Baroque painter of his time. Unlike those illustrious contemporaries he never travelled abroad to study the Antique and Italian painting and, except for a few short trips to locations elsewhere in the Low Countries, he resided in Antwerp his entire life. He also remained largely indifferent to Rubens and van Dyck's intellectual and courtly aspirations. This attitude was expressed in his art through a lack of idealistic treatment which contrasted with that of these contemporaries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Jordaens

The Holy Family
1625 - 1630
Oil on canvas
113  × 118 cm
Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu, Romania

Jordaens recreates an intimate family atmosphere, no doubt stemming from his own life, in terms of the figures, clothes and furniture displayed in the painting. The two candles heighten the visual effect of the painting; they are artificial light sources, creating a strong contrast, deepening shadows and throwing the shapes of the characters into deep relief. The religious character of the painting resides exclusively in the figure of the infant Saint John the Baptist, who alone bears clearly identifiable religious attributes: the staff ending in a cross piece, the belted camelhair shirt. Also, clearly significant, is the character’s reaction to the touch of the hand of Jesus, a trance-like state that foreshadows his future prophetic role. The figure of Saint John the Baptist also helps to identify precisely the other characters in the painting: the Virgin Mary, the infant Jesus and Saint Joseph, bending protectively over the group. The figure to the right of the painting in the upper tract is Elisabeth, mother of John the Baptist; both Elizabeth and the Virgin Mary carry a candle, symbolizing the blessing of the special grace of motherhood, bestowed upon them. 
©Dana Roxana Hrib, European Art Gallery Guidebook, Second edition, Sibiu 2011.

Merry Christmas! 

Georges de La Tour 
1593 - 1652)
 

Georges de La Tour was a French Baroque painter, who spent most of his working life in the Duchy of Lorraine, which was temporarily absorbed into France between 1641 and 1648. He painted mostly religious chiaroscuro scenes lit by candlelight. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_de_La_Tour

The New-born
c. 1640
Oil on canvas
76 × 91 cm
Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes, Rennes, France
https://images.grandpalaisrmn.fr/ark:/36255/04-513953