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Murals On The Street: Orphans!

9/25/2023

Many times I come across some really nice mural or hand painted sign out there that I want to share! So that is what
Murals On The Street
is all about.

But some times I can’t find a signature or attribution or tag
(at least one I can read or decipher),
These are Orphans! So…
If anyone claims their artwork, mural, throw-up, trophy, hand-painted sign, or can give me the attribution of a piece, I will happily post a blog on the artist and showcase their work!

Here's a fun one I found...
in Eagle Rock, California!

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“Bishop Bakery, 1922” mural by Janet Essley

9/18/2023

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“Bishop Bakery, 1922”
by
Janet Essley
1998 / 8' x 24’
125 North Main Street,
Bishop Art Supply

Since the 1850’s, Basque sheepherders have trailed their flocks in the area. The shepherds taught their time-honored recipe for a thick-crusted, tasty bread to Bob and Louisa Schoch, the owners of the Bishop Bakery. The original “Sheepherders’ Bread from the Pyrenees country was baked in brick ovens and lasted several weeks without spoiling.

Janet Essley’s Murals

“I enjoy commissioned work for the unexpected artistic journeys and the new friendships to which they lead. Research for commissions has led me to study topics as diverse as traditional Coptic design and cellular physics. While painting outdoor murals I have watched the sun rise descend down the peaks of the Sierras, been scolded by Osprey, serenaded with Mexican ballads, and been honored with the stories evoked in passers-by. Collaboration with sponsors, site owners, and observers is a unique process that joins me to the community in new and exciting ways.

I create murals for businesses, mural societies, hospitals and clinics, schools, and for environmental and faith-based organizations.” -Janet Essley,

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Last Judgment, Ceiling Mural 1572-9: Giorgio Vasari / Vincenzo Borghini, / Federico Zuccari

9/4/2023

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When I was researching my post for Giorgio Vasari’s Birthday recently, I came across this interesting article on a ceiling mural collaboration by Giorgio Vasari, Vincenzo Borghini, and Federico Zuccari of the Last Judgement for Brunelleschi’s dome in the Florence cathedral, which had remained unfinished after Brunelleschi’s death in 1446.
The walls of the dome, which should have been covered by resplendent gold according to Brunelleschi project, were whitewashed.(!)

Last Judgment, 1572-9, Florence: Duomo.

It was the Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici who had the idea to paint the dome’s interior. In 1572, he commissioned Giorgio Vasari to paint frescoes on the dome of the Florence cathedral; Vasari was flanked by Vincenzo Borghini, who worked to the iconographic subjects and added other themes taken from Dante‘s Divine Comedy.

VASARI’s LAYOUT
The closest graphic text to follow was based on the mosaics in the Baptistery, divided into rows placed one on top of the other.

The Florence Baptistery, also known as the Baptistery of Saint John, the patron saint of Florence.

As a great admirer of Michelangelo, Vasari also drew inspiration from thewww.florenceinferno.com/the-last-judgement-michelangelo/ Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel.
As a result, the dome (4,000 square meters) was divided into six concentric rows placed one above the other, inside of which were arranged groups of figures separate from each other due to the division of the dome into eight vertical segments.

Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel.

Giorgio Vasari's subjects were carefully matched up along the the dividing lines of rows and segments so that the theological pattern could be followed vertically and horizontally.
Starting from the false central lantern at the top of the dome, surrounded by 24 venerable old men from the Apocalypse, each segment is decorated with the four following themes: an angelic chorus with the instruments of the Passion, a series of Saints and Elect, a triad of figures representing a Gift from the Holy Ghost, and a region of Hell dominated by deadly Sin.
In the eastern segment, opposite the central nave, the four themes become three to make space for the great Christ in Glory placed between the Madonna and St. John above the three Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity), and followed under by the allegorical figures of Time and the Triumphant Church.

ZUCCARI’s LAYOUT
Vasari died on June 27, 1574, two months after the death of Cosimo I, when he had carried out only one third of the work. Although he had not completed the drawings for the four segments of the cupola and some sketches for the scenes of Hell, the new Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici called upon Federico Zuccari, an artist from Urbino, to complete the work.
Work on the frescoes started again on August 30, 1576.
Zuccari, well known in Roman circles, didn’t like Vasari’s style and tried as much as he could to affirm his own originality.
He stopped using Vasari’s method of “fresco” painting, preferring the “dry” or secco method, which was simpler but more perishable, and he changed the physiques of the painted characters, the costumes, the stylistic language, and the color range.
He boycotted the executive delicacy of Vasari, made of subtle color changes, reflections, polished descriptions of ornaments, which are difficult to pick out at such a distance, opting for a painting method that was weak in quality but of great effect, a technique he learned to use for theatrical backdrops.
He portrayed a lively gallery of contemporary personalities among the Elect: his Medici patrons, the Emperor, the King of France, Vasari, Borghini, Giambologna, other artists, and even himself as well as many of his friends and relatives.
As for the Christ in Glory, for which Vasari had left drawings inspired by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, Zuccari preferred to follow the models used by Raffaello (Raphael), which were more in harmony with the sanctimonious rulings of the Council.

The Triumph of Galatea (1513) by Raphael, which decorates the walls of the Villa della Farnesina in Rome

However, his masterpiece in the cupola will always be his crude rendering of Hell, with its powerful devils inspired by Luca Signorelli’s frescoes in the cathedral of Orvieto, the shameless bodies of the damned, the violent gestures, and the red glow of blood that vividly brings out the dark colors of the composition to life.

Luca Signorelli’s frescoes in the cathedral of Orvieto,

When he finally completed the frescoes in 1579, having also carried out several other interventions and changes on the parts painted by Vasari, Zuccari celebrated the event by preparing a commemorative medallion. However, this did not spare him from the criticism of the Florentines.
The frescoes in the Cupola have never been popular in the city if compared with their counterparts in the interior of the cathedral: they are extremely difficult to look at because they are so removed from the viewer, placed in a dark spherical vault, and they have become increasingly obscured over the centuries by dirt.
However, these frescoes were scrupulously restored between 1978 and 1985, and it is now possible to re-evaluate them and appreciate the power of the cycle and its importance in Florentine art history.
This enormous space allows for an interesting comparison between two different ways of interpreting art rather than an antagonism between two painters: on the one hand we have Vasari, a “conservative” painter and follower of a Tuscan tradition that had been passed down directly from the Middle Ages; on the other, Zuccari, who “imported” the methods of the Roman painter-contractors to Florence, which were based on a poor executive quality but a grandiose final effect.

Articles from:
Florence Inferno
Florence Inferno is a blog about the Florentine mysteries, symbols, and places that are mentioned in Dan Brown’s novel Inferno,

And:

"Since you have made it this far…
Here is a link to a few of my modest ceiling murals from my virtual portfolio that I was fortunate to have been commissioned to paint." -RQ

http://www.artandsoulproductions.com/ceiling-murals--domes.html

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...to Roberto's Blog!

‘Duit-On-Mon
-Dai-Luna-Prime’

  Roberto has been pestering the ‘Marketing’ staff here at Art and Soul for some time now to get together with ‘Research and Development’ to come up with a fun way for him to share all the great work out there of all the many other talented muralists and artists he's been "influenced by" over the years. ‘Sales’ was totally against the idea! ("How could that possibly improve the bottom-line?!"). ‘Marketing’ remains split, as usual ("We need more data"). ‘R&D’ thought it might be a fun way to "show off a little", and to showcase all those great ideas they keep finding out there on the internet. ‘HR’ said it might be a good way to keep 'The Crew' distracted ("Since they are all so bored since Covid hit, and Roberto is spending more and more time in his studio working on all those silly little easel paintings").
'The Crew' said: ’'Sure, We've got nothing else going on …but only if we get to share stuff about technique, materials, and equipment." ‘Receivables’ said: "It obviously won’t make more work for us, so why not!". 'Legal' said: "No Way! You are NOT going to reveal where you steal all your ideas from!" (Although Roberto values their legal advice, He rarely listen’s to their hysterics anyway). So... here we are! Welcome!

‘Duit-On-Mon-Dai-Luna-Prime’
     "As the title implies, I will post once a Month (on the first Monday, more or less). Feel free to leave a family friendly comment. Dialogue and praise is encouraged. Creativity, passion and wonder should be expected. Politics and personal grievances hopefully kept to private emails. And please… no Whining! and no sales pitches either (you can make your own damn blog for that).
   I expect to start becoming a little more savvy with all this social media stuff, but for now ‘Bookmark’ my website and check back every once in a while. I hope you will find it interesting. Don’t be too persnickety over my whimsical spelling and creative punctuations either, my Editorial Department is not what it used to be… I am seriously understaffed these days."
Peace and Love...
-Roberto Quintana, WFA

Murals On The Street: Orphans!

“Bishop Bakery, 1922” mural by Janet Essley

Last Judgment, Ceiling Mural 1572-9: Giorgio Vasari / Vincenzo Borghini, / Federico Zuccari

...to Roberto's Blog!

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