John McCafferty

Friday 5 Dec, Dublin

Niche metalwork.

Steel codpiece, from a set of armour, German, c. 1550 (Met Museum)

I love seeing forever unfinished objects, ones that are a reminder of incompleteness:

Uncut sheet of playing cards showing the Jack of Diamonds & the Jack of Hearts, by GSC [?Gilles Savouré], probably Lyons; late 15thC.

(V&A Museum)

This plated jack (or jack-of-plate) is a 16thC stab-vest designed for low-paid foot soldiers to wear in battle.
Shaped like a modern gilet, this one is made of linen padded with wool, lined inside with c. 800 iron plates. It weighs over 10kg

England, 1575-90

(V&A Museum)

St Francis receives the Stigmata
Jan van Eyck
c. 1390-1441

(Galleria Sabauda)

Portrait of gentlewoman,
1550-1555

Agnolo Di Cosimo called Bronzino

(Galleria Sabauda)

16thC portrait of a Dominican

(Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale)

Pietro Maria Rossi, Count of San Secondo, By Parmigianino, Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, 1535-38 (Museo Nacional del Prado)

4 Dec 1630: Incorporation #otd of the Providence Island Company - Isla de Providencia (British Museum seal) heavily backed by #English puritan interests

Cosimo III de' Medici (1642–1723), Grand Duke of Tuscany
Giovanni Battista Foggini
c. 1680–82

(Met Museum)

Merrion Square Park, Dublin

4 Dec: St. Barbara, early martyr, one of the fourteen holy helpers #otd (MS/YMT)

4 Dec 1558: Bishops David Pole, Nicholas Heath, Edmiund Bonner, Gilbert Bourne & James Turberville write to new queen Elizabeth I on behalf of Catholic clergy urging her to remain loyal to Papacy #otd #NoDeal

4 Dec 1334: d. Pope John XXII at #Avignon #otd - he was controversial for his views on #Franciscan poverty & beatific vision (phgcom). A significant off-stage character in Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose

4 Dec 1679: d. Thomas Hobbes #philosopher, aged 91: his own life was neither solitary nor poor nor nasty, nor brutish nor short.

Don Andrés de Andrade y la Cal c. 1665–72 by Bartolomé Estebán Murillo (Met Museum)

Textile Fragment with a Repeating Pattern of Interlocked Tulips and Poppies
c. 1628–58

(Met Museum)

4 Dec 1595: William Whitaker, Calvinist theologian and Master of St. John's College #Cambridge dies in the Master's Lodge #otd trusting 'shortly to see God face to face' (SJC).

The Lovers
Painting by Riza-yi 'Abbasi
dated 1039 AH/1630 CE
(Met Museum)

Sarum Missal Rouen, 4 Dec 1497 Printed by Jean Richard for the English market

(Royal Collection Trust, HM CIII)

Thursday 4 Dec, Dublin

On his feast day 3 Dec, here is: The Miracles of St. Francis Xavier Peter Paul Rubens, 1617/18 This monumental painting was displayed alternately with The Miracles of St. Ignatius of Loyola on the high altar of Antwerp’s Jesuit Church (Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien)

Cauldrons over a stove, 17th century, Italian, unknown artist. An informal little slice of everyday life. (British Museum)

Portrait of Charles II as a boy (Rijksmuseum). Butter wouldn't melt ...

El Greco [Domenikos Theotokopoulos]
The Holy Family with Saint Anne and the Infant John the Baptist, c. 1595/1600

Look how Mary has her arm around Anne.

(National Gallery of Art, Washington)

This 1627 Johannes de Laet 'quick guide' to #Scotland & #Ireland is mainly excerpts from Buchanan, Boethius, Camden & Speed - but the imagery of the cover is arresting and interesting (Rijksmuseum)

Cloth of linen damask with title and style of James II c. 1685-87 (Rijksmuseum)

It is 117 cm × 90 cm.

3 Dec 1218: Pandulph, Papal Legate enters #London #otd on his second mission to #England. Perhaps best remembered nowadays through #Shakespeare, here he is in King John, Act III, Scene 4 (BM)

3 Dec 1634: b. Ezekiel Hopkins, future bishop of Raphoe, 1671 and Derry, 1681 (NPG) Best known for his commentary on the Decalogue

3 Dec: feast of St. Sualo or Solus, servant of St. Boniface, part of the #English mission to Germany, later a solitary. The village of Solnhofen still bears his name. (KBWEi at German Wikipedia) He died around 790.