The Sun, the Moon, and an Eclipse: Observations on "The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John", by Hendrick Ter Brugghen

Nickel, Helmut

doi:10.1086/met.42.20320677

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Ter Brugghen's Painting and The Plague In Utrecht1

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Cited by 2 publications

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“…An ash-gray atmosphere predominates the right side of the composition and resembles the similarly tinted background in ter Brugghen's Crucifixion, which Helmut Nickel associated with an annular solar eclipse that occurred in the Netherlands on May 21, 1621. 58 Ter Brugghen likely witnessed this event, when the dark disk of the moon obscured most of the sun but for a "ring of fire, " which cast a seemingly supernatural light. The resulting strange coloring of the heavens resembles the eerie light of Saint Sebastian's execution in ter Brugghen's painting and points to the sky as a possible source of the disease (fig.…”

Section: Ter Brugghen's Painting and The Plague In Utrechtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ter Brugghen’s Saint Sebastian Tended by Irene

Hedquist¹

2017

JHNA

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Section: Ter Brugghen's Painting and The Plague In Utrechtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ter Brugghen’s Saint Sebastian Tended by Irene

Hedquist¹

2017

JHNA

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Symbolism and discovery: eclipses in art

Blatchford

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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There is a fascinating tradition of depicting solar eclipses in Western art, although these representations have changed over time. Eclipses have often been an important feature of Christian iconography, but valued as much for their biblical significance as for the splendour of the physical event. However, as Western culture passed through the Renaissance and Enlightenment the depictions of eclipses came to reflect new astronomical knowledge and a thirst for rational learning well beyond the confines of the church and other elites. Artists also played a surprisingly important role in helping scientists in the nineteenth century understand and record the full phenomena of an eclipse, even as the advent of photography also came to solve a number of scientific puzzles. In the most recent century, artists have responded to eclipses with symbolism, abstraction and playfulness. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Atmospheric effects of solar eclipses stimulated by the 2015 UK eclipse’.

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The Sun, the Moon, and an Eclipse: Observations on "The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John", by Hendrick Ter Brugghen

Cited by 2 publications

References 1 publication

Ter Brugghen’s Saint Sebastian Tended by Irene

Ter Brugghen’s Saint Sebastian Tended by Irene

Symbolism and discovery: eclipses in art

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