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Source Description
St. Helena (ca. 247-ca. 327) was the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great (ca. 288-337), who, according to tradition, christianized the Roman Empire. Helena is shown holding the True Cross (the cross on which Christ was crucified), which she is said to have discovered in Jerusalem. Her elaborate headdress and idealized, slightly masculine facial features reveal the artist's study of Michelangelo's so-called "teste divine" ("divine heads"), admired for their great beauty. Morandini and other Florentine artists of the later 16th century thought of Michelangelo as the greatest artist of all time, and they devotedly imitated his works.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
2872
label
Saint Helena
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
2872
sourceUrl
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
Saint Helena
description
St. Helena (ca. 247-ca. 327) was the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great (ca. 288-337), who, according to tradition, christianized the Roman Empire. Helena is shown holding the True Cross (the cross on which Christ was crucified), which she is said to have discovered in Jerusalem. Her elaborate headdress and idealized, slightly masculine facial features reveal the artist's study of Michelangelo's so-called "teste divine" ("divine heads"), admired for their great beauty. Morandini and other Florentine artists of the later 16th century thought of Michelangelo as the greatest artist of all time, and they devotedly imitated his works.
provenance
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 115, as Francesco Salviati]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 1575 (Renaissance)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
panel paintings
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
88.7
height
72.8
depth
1.9
dimensionsRaw
Painted surface H: 34 15/16 x W: 28 11/16 x D excluding cradle: 3/4 in. (88.7 x 72.8 x 1.9 cm)
Source extras
med
oil and tempera on panel
creator_ids
2718
collection_ids
REN
exhibition_ids
335
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
59d4c49b2f2d0bb6