Houdiakoff, Andrei, 1895-1985]]> Hudiakoff, Andrei, 1894-1985]]> Houdiakoff, Andrei, 1895-1985]]> Hudiakoff, Andrei, 1894-1985]]> Romanticism in art.]]>
The Temptation of Saint Anthony portrays the supernatural temptation faced by Saint Anthony the Great while in the Egyptian desert. The scene depicted bears some resemblance to Benjamin-Constant's (Jean-Joseph-Benjamin Constant) Odalisque.]]>
The temptations of St. Anthony, according to Domenico Morelli.

The temptations of Sant'Antonio by Domenico Morelli is an oil on canvas that has always intrigued me a lot. The artist finished the painting around 1878 , but before reaching the end of the painting M. made a whole series of studies and drawings that highlight how much this topic interested him, it is true that in one of the first versions of the work the saint was leaning against the rock with his arms wide open (a sort of reference to the crucifixion).

In all likelihood, the Italian artist took as a reference point La temptation de Saint-Antoine , by Gustave Flaubert of 1874, even if in reality there are no precise documents that certify this possible source. The painting, sent in 1878 , to the French merchant Goupil to be presented at the Universal Exposition in Paris today is located at GNAM (National Gallery of Modern Art) in Rome.

Who was the saint? St. Anthony was the founder of anchorite monasticism (characteristic of monks who live in isolation dedicating themselves to prayer and contemplation) and St. Anthony during his long life was tempted and beaten by the devil on several occasions, but with his tenacity and faith , he always managed to emerge victorious and strengthened in spirit. In this oil on canvas Morelli painted precisely the moment of maximum emotional transport of the saint in the grip of temptation .

All this takes place in a cave (a kind of cave) completely bare. The saint is seated and lives in the bare stone which, seen in this way, gives a feeling of cold and frost, despite the brilliant light that radiates from the right and that invests the saint and the temptation lying beside him.

Saint Anthony sits crouched with his legs curled up and pulled towards his torso. His hands tightly grip his chest, as if to keep under control the incessant tremor of the torture that grips his body. The face is framed by a kind of white hood, from which emerges a gaunt face where an expression of complete loss is printed .

The open mouth in a scream that seems unable to be heard and the wide open eyes , lost in the void, are the expression of the torment that overwhelms this man enclosed in his most total painful solitude, represented in the arduous attempt to fight and resist carnal temptation .



The torment , or temptation, sent to the saint by the devil is on his right, where female bodies in movement can be seen from under a heavy straw mat . On the far left (ours) we see a woman's face coming out of the mat and two others emerge from the dark background of the cavern.

In the foreground, near the saint, there is another female figure , with solid and florid breasts. The face is half hidden by the figure of the crouching saint, but that mouth open in a sensual smile, the red hair and the gold jewelry that adorn the figure are the naked and raw sensuality that puts a strain on the soul and the body. of the saint himself.

The pictorial technique of Morelli, a romantic painter, is characterized by a full-bodied and rapid drafting of the color that builds the figures and objects present in the canvas (also interesting is the presence of a sort of lectern / desk carved into the rock that can be seen at the extreme right - our- of the saint). A full-bodied and material painting very close to Delacroix.

When the painting was presented in France, it sparked conflicting reactions for the atmospheres put in place characterized by a perfect blend of realism and symbolism, mystical tension and eroticism that reminded a little of Bernini's Transverberation of Saint Teresa , which in a pill of previous art I defined an example of sacred eroticism.



Domenico Morelli, born in Naples in July 1823, was the adopted son of Francesco Soldiero and Maria Giuseppa Mappa. Only in 1848 Domenico Soldiero added the surname Morelli, which he then adopted as the only one. M. began attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples in 1836, producing works of a romantic setting and ideal, with numerous medieval influences. In 1848 he won a competition which allowed him to go to study in Rome where, after having taken part in the riots of 1848, he was imprisoned for a short period. In 1850 he visited Florence and here he received his first public recognition for his work The Iconoclasts . In 1855 he participated, together with Francesco Saverio Altamura and Serafino De Tivoli, in the Universal Exposition in Paris and, returning to Florence, participated in the debates of Macchiaioli on pictorial realism. An involvement that led him to take on a less academic style where realism and late romanticism merged . In the sixties of the nineteenth century he was appointed consultant of the national museum of Capodimonte bringing new acquisitions of works and contributing to the management of art collections. In 1868 M. obtained the teaching chair at the Academy (where he had studied), turning his attention to religious, mystical and supernatural themes. Between the '70s and' 80s he painted paintings having oriental scenes as subject, although he had never been in those places, thus entering the current of Italian orientalists who included painters such as Alberto Pasini, Roberto Guastalla, Federico Faruffini, Eugenio Zampighi, Pompeo Mariani, Giuseppe Molteni and others. From 1899 until his death in 1901, M. was director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples.]]>
Unkown]]> Morelli, Domenico, 1823-1901]]>
Currie, Lynn]]> Art, Abstract--United States.]]>
(from: https://localwiki.org/hsl/Ray_Ridabock)

"Married: Nancy Hough Ridabock

Children: a daughter, Joan Ridabock (Mrs. George W.) Crossman

Raymond Budd Ridabock was an internationally known, award winning painter who lived, painted and taught in Saranac Lake until 1955. His family owned Ridabock & Company, a fancy dress uniform company in Brooklyn, established in 1849, and later engaged in banking in Stamford, Connecticut. He graduated from the Kings School in Stamford and attended Williams College. He was a devoted outdoorsman, enjoying water sports especially swimming and boating, and an outstanding collegiate athlete. After college he began working in the family banking business, commuting daily from Stamford to New York City. The course of his life was changed by the diagnosis of tuberculosis in 1927. From 1927 through 1940, he made repeated trips to Saranac Lake for long stretches of recovery. 1 When he was well enough, he returned to Stamford and his work in banking. However, he relapsed often and soon his nearly full-time effort at recovery severely limited his working.

While recuperating in Saranac Lake, he had time for introspection and solitude and his curious nature made him open to new ideas and he studied architecture by correspondence course. Amy Jones, a WPA muralist employed by the Saranac Lake Study and Craft Guild, introduced him to watercolor painting and found him an enthusiastic student.2 His first show was held at the Adirondack Piano Store on Broadway in the early 1940s. He also became a teacher in the Saranac Lake Study and Craft Guild. Mr. Ridabock's home and studio were located at 31 Helen St (pre-911 address) on Helen Hill. He served as president of the Saranac Lake Art League in 1943-44. In the 1950s he studied with Xavier Gonzalez in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Gonzalez encouraged him to pursue alternate avenues, such as abstraction, and to pursue new opportunities in other styles and mediums.3

In the 1950s, Ridabock flourished as an artist, receiving many accolades. In 1953 one of his paintings was selected for an exhibition held at the Berlin Academy of Art in Germany. His painting "Fisherman's Delight", a casein and watercolor seaside scene, was one of thirty four selected from a New York City competition held at the Caravan Gallery.4 In April 1955 his work took first place at the Museum of Fine Arts Show in Springfield, Massachusetts. "Fisherman's Warning" was described as "moderately abstract". Ray Ridabock's art was eclectic and experimental: he painted traditional landscapes as well as impressionistic paintings. He exhibited at fifty national shows and won prizes in New York City; Newark, New Jersey; Utica, New York; and Wilmington, Delaware. His work was seen throughout the United States in Maryland, Alabama, and Miami, Florida. In 1958 at the National Academy Galleries in New York City he received his most prestigious award, the Medal of Honor of Audubon Artists, for his painting "Out of the Blue."5

Ray Ridabock was similar to many patients who came to Saranac Lake for the cure: he cured, he a built new life and a new career and contributed to the community. Unfortunately, according to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, "the strange antics of the State Bureaucracy" resulted in the dismantling of the Guild's educational courses, and Ridabock no longer had a steady teaching job. Although he sold some of his artwork, Saranac Lake was too far from the major art markets. His wife, Nancy, had her own employment losses. In 1954, when the Trudeau Sanatorium closed she lost her job.6 In 1955 Ridabock and his wife left Saranac Lake for Sandy Hook, Connecticut. The Saranac Lake Free Library owns three of his paintings."]]>
Ridabock, Raymond B., 1904-1970]]>
Luckenbill, Darr]]> Wanzer, Ida Mae]]> Powell, J.M.?]]> St. Patrick's Cathedral (New York, N.Y.)]]> Nicholson, Harold O.]]> Hanson, William G.]]> Image]]>