John the Baptist was a Judaean preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early 1st century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist Christian traditions, Saint John by certain Catholic churches, and Prophet Yahya in Islam. He is sometimes alternatively referred to as John the Baptiser.
The Massacreof the Innocents is an incident in the Nativity narrative of the Gospel of Matthew (2:16–18) in which Herod the Great, king of Judea, orders the execution of all male children who are two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Christians venerate them as the first Christian martyrs, but a majority of Herod biographers, and "probably a majority of current biblical scholars" consider the story fabricated or unhistorical.
The biblical Magi —also known as the Three Wise Men, Three Kings, and the Three Magi—were distinguished foreigners in the Gospel of Matthew and Christian tradition. They are said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They are regular figures in traditional accounts of the nativity celebrations of Christmas and are an important part of Christian tradition.
Aniello Falcone was an Italian Baroque painter, active in Naples and noted for his painted depictions of battle scenes. Some sources refer to him as Ancillo Falcone.
The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings or Visitation of the Wise Men is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and worship him. It is related in the Bible by Matthew 2:11: "On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another path".
Caspar van Wittel or Gaspar van Wittel, known in Italian as Gaspare Vanvitelli or Gasparo degli Occhiali, was a Dutch painter and draughtsman who had a long career in Rome. He played a pivotal role in the development of the genre of topographical painting known as veduta. He is credited with turning topography into a painterly specialism in Italian art.
Gaspar de Crayer or Jasper de Crayer was a Flemish painter known for his many Counter-Reformation altarpieces and portraits. He was a court painter to the governors of the Southern Netherlands and worked in the principal cities of Flanders where he helped spread the Rubens style.
Pieter Bodding van Laer was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He was active in Rome for over a decade and was known for genre scenes, animal paintings and landscapes placed in the environs of Rome.
The beheading of John the Baptist, also known as the decollation of Saint John the Baptist or the beheading of the Forerunner, is a biblical event commemorated as a holy day by various Christian churches. According to the New Testament, Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee under the Roman Empire, had imprisoned John the Baptist because he had publicly reproved Herod for divorcing his first wife and unlawfully taking his sister-in-law as his second wife Herodias. He then ordered him to be killed by beheading.
Gaspar Roomer was a prominent Flemish merchant, banker, art patron and art collector who was active in Naples in the 17th century.
Leonaert Bramer, also Leendert or Leonard, was a Dutch painter known primarily for genre, religious, and history paintings. Very prolific as a painter and draftsman, he is noted especially for nocturnal scenes which show a penchant for exotic details of costume and setting. He also painted frescos—a rarity north of the Alps—which have not survived, as well as murals on canvas, few of which are extant. Bramer is one of the most intriguing personalities in seventeenth-century Dutch art.
Domenico Gargiulo called Micco Spadaro was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in Naples and known for his landscapes, genre scenes, and history paintings.
Andrea Vaccaro was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Vaccaro was in his time one of the most successful painters in Naples, a city then under Spanish rule. Very successful and valued in his lifetime, Vaccaro and his workshop produced many religious works for local patrons as well as for export to Spanish religious orders and noble patrons. He was initially influenced by Caravaggio, in particular in his chiaroscuro and the naturalistic rendering of his figures.
The Feast of Herod is a bronze relief sculpture created by Donatello circa 1427. It was made for the font of the Siena Baptistery of San Giovanni in Italy. It is one of Donatello's earliest relief sculptures, and his first bronze relief. The sculpture is noted for Donatello's use of perspective. The piece is 60 by 61 centimeters.
The Feast of Herod refers to the episode in the Gospels following the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, when Salome presents his head to her parents. The account in the Book of Mark describes Herod holding a banquet on his birthday for his high officials and military commanders, and leading men of Galilee. At this banquet, Herod's daughter dances before Herod, who is pleased and offers her anything she asks for in return. The girl asks her mother what she should request, and she is told to demand the head of John the Baptist. Reluctantly, Herod orders the beheading of John, and John's head is delivered to her, at her request, "on a platter."(Mark 6:17–29)
Balthazar, also called Balthasar, Balthassar, and Bithisarea, was according to Western Christian tradition one of the three biblical Magi along with Caspar and Melchior who visited the infant Jesus after he was born. Balthazar is traditionally referred to as the King of Arabia and gave the gift of myrrh to Jesus. In the Catholic Church, he is regarded as a saint.
Jan van den Eynde or Vandeneynden was a prominent Netherlandish merchant, banker, art collector, and patron of the arts. He was brother to Flemish merchant, art collector and art dealer Ferdinand van den Eynde, and father of the latter's namesake Ferdinand van den Eynde, Marquess of Castelnuovo. Van den Eynde's granddaughters were Elisabeth van den Eynde, Princess of Belvedere and Baroness of Gallicchio and Missanello, and Jane (Giovanna) van den Eynde, Princess of Galatro and Sonnino.
Princess Giovanna van den Eynde was a member of the Van den Eynde family, Marchioness of Castelnuovo by birth, and the Princess consort of Galatro and Sonnino. She was the daughter of Ferdinand van den Eynde, 1st Marquess of Castelnuovo, son of the magnate Jan van den Eynde, and Olimpia Piccolomini, of the House of Piccolomini. Through her marriage to Giuliano Colonna, Giovanna became a member of the House of Colonna, and the first Princess of Sonnino. Through his marriage to her, Giovanna's husband acquired the title of Marquess of Castelnuovo.
The Banquet of Absalom is an oil on canvas painting by Mattia Preti, created in c. 1660–1665, now in the Museo nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples. It illustrates a passage from chapters 13 and 14 of 2 Samuel in the Old Testament, in which King David's son Absalom avenges the rape of Absalom's sister Tamar two years earlier by inviting her rapist Amnon to a feast, getting him drunk and then killing him.
Belshazzar's Feast is a circa 1660-1665 oil on canvas painting by Mattia Preti, now in the Museo nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples. It shows a scene from chapter 5 of the Book of Daniel.
