I'm Kenney Mencher. I'm an artist who left a tenured professorship in 2016 to pursue making art full time. This blog is about art, art history, with a emphasis on human rights. I make homoerotic art featuring bears, otters & other gay wildlife.
Showing posts with label baroque painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baroque painting. Show all posts
Thursday
Friday
17th C Baroque Art Vermeer cc
In terms of its rendering and physical form, the style of this painting most resembles the works of Caravaggio. There’s a strong sense of light and shadow also referred to as chiaroscuro. It is a close up portrait and it is extremely realistic. It is most likely painted in something called ala prima, which basically means without it underdrawing and painted directly wet into wet. Where this work differs the most Caravaggio is in the painters use of colors that are referred to as nonlocal colors. In Caravaggio’s painting is a palette of colors that we would call earth toned, which are all there is hues of browns. If you compare the flesh color of Vermeer’s painting to Caravaggio’s you can see that Vermeer includes colors such as green and some purples in the flesh tones whereas Caravaggio paints everything as shades of browns or oranges. Caravaggio’s palette is restrained and only uses the hues that are in the brown family, but Vermeer has all of the hues (colors) such as blue, green, yellow and purple.
Study with me here: https://www.udemy.com/user/kenneymencher/
Thursday
17th C Baroque Art Velasquez cc
This is a painting everyone should know about even though it’s not really in the top 10 of images that people know from art history. Probably Velasquez’s other paintings are more famous however, this painting possesses all of the things that a student or someone wants to learn about Baroque art should know about the style of Baroque painting that stems from the painter Caravaggio.In terms of how the painting looks, for example its physical properties such as light, color, texture, and composition. Velasquez is pretty much unmatched in terms of his handling of light and shadow that is sometimes referred to as chiaroscuro. The term chiaroscuro literally translates from Italian into light and shadow or dark and light. If you look at the sphere that’s been shaded by a computer you can see that the qualities of light such as the highlight, transitional tones, core shadow, reflected light are all there in Velasquez is painting in several places. If you look at the jug in the foreground you can see that contains all of these elements. Most importantly it also possesses the reflected light right next to the old man’s left hand in the lower right-hand corner of the picture. Lights or wraps around the jug and transitions into that core shadow. Velasquez also has a little scuff in the pot where the highlight is.
The other thing about how Velasquez handles light is that even the heads and the features that are rounded such as fingers which you think about it are cylinders, all obey or conform to the passage of light coming from the upper left-hand corner and raking across the picture from left to right. This creates a sort of dramatic almost cinematic kind of light. This is where moviemakers get their ideas of spotlighting. He also does something with the light which is that some figures are in the background and are not hit by the spotlight. The old man and the young boy reaching for the glass of water are in the spotlight and the art historical term for this is called tenebrism which means in Italian murky or spotlight. This kind of makes the focus of attention the thing that’s in the center of the spotlight but not the center of the entire composition. The glass of water at the old man is handing to the young boy is the thing that is the center of the composition and everything seems to radiate from that. Light is what makes it the center of attention and the focus of the composition but also it seems like there’s a sort of half of jugs and light up to the little boys face and then up to the early old man’s face.
One of the other physical things about the paint is that if you can see this painting in person you would see that close to where ever the light hits the most highlights, Velasquez thickens up the paint and this is called an impasto. This kind of echoes how light feels and so the more opaque paint makes it feel like more light is actually hitting. So texture is an important part of showing how light and shadow work together and this creates more of an illusion than just leaving the paint surface on textured for the same thickness throughout.
The last thing that Velasquez does in terms of physical form is that he uses what’s called a reduced palette. If you notice there are no bright primary colors. Primary colors are red ,blue and yellow. In fact Velasquez doesn’t even include secondary colors such as orange, green, and purple. Instead he uses what are called tertiary colors which are just Browns. Sometimes because they are brown they are referred to as birth colors. Mainly because the paint was made from ground up iron oxides found in soil for example burnt sienna, comes from the Italian city of Sienna, umber is a color that comes from the city of Umbria. When she is making something look kind of like it’s blue, please be aware that your computer screen is not accurately showing color, Velasquez uses charcoal and oil mixed up to make his black and that gray is closer to blue in the spectrum than it is a warm color like an orange birth or a warm color such as burnt sienna which is reddish orange.
Probably the last important element in this painting is how well Velasquez paints a clear glass of water. I the teacher once you said that the way to paint or the way to see if the picture was a really good painter was to see how they painted a clear glass of water. In a way this is a virtuosic kind of exercise. The reflection and prism affect of how the glass in the water interact create all these abstract shapes that can sometimes make it confusing to paint. You can see that Velasquez masters this and he probably got this idea by looking at Caravaggio’s paintings.
The second most important thing about how this painting is really a fantastic example of Baroque painting is that it contains all of the messages and symbols that are Baroque painter would have to include to please his clients. Velasquez.like many of the other Baroque painters such as Rembrandt Caravaggio incorporate real people into their paintings and this is sometimes referred to as John run elements. He uses live models for the most part paint from and they are real people. He includes other elements that are considered genre elements such as everyday items from the 17th century in which he works such as the clothing, the ceramics, and even hairstyles. This makes the patron you were connect to the painting more.
The last genre element which is also a semblance often use as both in every day and possibly also a Catholic Christian religious meaning. The older man is actually kind of the street beggar who sells glasses of water that he filters in the pots that you see in the foreground. Part of this is that he goes to the wells in the center of town and then takes the water other places where it’s inconvenient to find glasses of water any charges of minimal amount, probably a quarter in today’s money, and the little boy who is somewhat wealthy, look at his collar white shirt, is doing God’s work by providing charity in the form of buying glass of water from the old beggar man. So in a way the glass of water represents purity and also charity.
There is another interpretation of this painting that it’s the three ages of man. Young boy, middle-aged man, and old man. However, I don’t think that that is really accurate I think it makes more sense that it’s just a genre scene of everyday life in which Christian teachings can be enacted.
Something you might want to look into is cool Velasquez was, the context surrounding his life because he has an interesting biography in which he sort of was connected to the right kind of society to make his career. He married bosses daughter and you can also climb the social ladder and became an advisor to the King of Spain who he was great friends with and probably this was because he sat painting portraits of the King and was able to converse with him.
For more texts and videos to help you get through art history:
Study with me here: https://www.udemy.com/user/kenneymencher/
17th C Baroque Art Caravaggio_cc
Caravaggio (1569-1609)
Michelangelo Meresi CaravaggioBoy Being Bitten by a Lizard c1600oil on canvasItalian Baroque
Michelangelo Meresi CaravaggioBoy Being Bitten by a Lizard c1600oil on canvasItalian Baroque
Tenebrism means using light as a spotlighting effect in a murky or dark scene.
ala prima-directly onto canvas; paints directly form life
ala prima-directly onto canvas; paints directly form life
chiaroscuro
Form: This allegorical portrait incorporates a low key or earth toned palette combined with a very close point of view. Caravaggio demonstrates a good mastery of the human face as well as chiaroscuro .
According to the Brittanica,
chiaroscuro (from Italian chiaro, "light"; scuro, "dark"), which is technique employed in the visual arts to represent light and shadow as they define three-dimensional objects.
Caravaggio also uses an intense spotlight on his face while the rest of the picture plane is murky surrounding him. This is called tenebrism and it is a way of creating a focus on a particular element in a work and also gives the work a sense of heightened drama.
The painting also feels like an immediate kind of "snapshot" of a young boy dressed in neoclassic clothing caught at the instance when a lizard bites his fingers. The immediacy of the painting is complimented by the direct gaze and the facial expression of the figure. This painting appears to be painted directly from life without using any previous studies or drawings. This is called ala prima- (in the first) which means painting directly from observation onto canvas.
This painting also demonstrates Caravaggio's skill beyond his ability to paint the human form. The clear vessel of water is what is referred to as an artist's conceit or concetto (italian for conceit) because painting a transparent vessel is one of the harder things to paint. Caravaggio also has a fine command of painting drapery.
Even though the figure in this painting is placed in the visual center of the picture plane the light which rakes in from the upper left hand corner creates a strong diagonal across the picture plane. The use of a diagonal in the composition of the picture plane is a very Baroque device.
Iconography: Caravaggio was a rather outrageous and controversial man. Many of his paintings demonstrate a rebellious and often ribald sense of humor. This is an allegorical portrait of lust. The young boy is probably the type of young man that Caravaggio held as the object of his desire. Young male prostitutes were fairly common in cities during this time (as they are now) and it has been suggested by some sources that Caravaggio was a homosexual and a pederast. The lizard hanging from the boy's finger may represent the cost of the lust and the cherries may be a reference to the concepts concerning "forbidden fruit" or possibly even virginity.
Context: Caravaggio was an,
Italian baroque painter, who was the most revolutionary artist of his time and the best exemplar of naturalistic painting in the early 17th century. Originally named Michelangelo Merisi, Caravaggio was born September 28, 1573, in the Lombardy hill town of Caravaggio, from which his professional name is derived. Orphaned at age 11, he was apprenticed to the painter Simone Peterzano of Milan for four years. At some time between 1588 and 1592, Caravaggio went to Rome and worked as an assistant to Giuseppe Cesari, also known as the Cavaliere d'Arpino, for whom he executed fruit and flower pieces (now lost). Caravaggio's personal life was turbulent. He was often arrested and imprisoned. He fled Rome for Naples in 1606 when charged with murder. Later that year he traveled to Malta, was made a knight, or cavaliere, of the Maltese order. In October of 1608, Caravaggio was again arrested and, escaping from a Maltese jail, went to Syracuse in Sicily. He died on the beach at Port'Ercole in Tuscany on July 18, 1610, of a fever contracted after a mistaken arrest.
source of quote http://www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Caravaggio.html
Caravaggio, Basket of Fruit c. 1597The painting also feels like an immediate kind of "snapshot" of a young boy dressed in neoclassic clothing caught at the instance when a lizard bites his fingers. The immediacy of the painting is complimented by the direct gaze and the facial expression of the figure. This painting appears to be painted directly from life without using any previous studies or drawings. This is called ala prima- (in the first) which means painting directly from observation onto canvas.
This painting also demonstrates Caravaggio's skill beyond his ability to paint the human form. The clear vessel of water is what is referred to as an artist's conceit or concetto (italian for conceit) because painting a transparent vessel is one of the harder things to paint. Caravaggio also has a fine command of painting drapery.
Even though the figure in this painting is placed in the visual center of the picture plane the light which rakes in from the upper left hand corner creates a strong diagonal across the picture plane. The use of a diagonal in the composition of the picture plane is a very Baroque device.
Iconography: Caravaggio was a rather outrageous and controversial man. Many of his paintings demonstrate a rebellious and often ribald sense of humor. This is an allegorical portrait of lust. The young boy is probably the type of young man that Caravaggio held as the object of his desire. Young male prostitutes were fairly common in cities during this time (as they are now) and it has been suggested by some sources that Caravaggio was a homosexual and a pederast. The lizard hanging from the boy's finger may represent the cost of the lust and the cherries may be a reference to the concepts concerning "forbidden fruit" or possibly even virginity.
Context: Caravaggio was an,
Italian baroque painter, who was the most revolutionary artist of his time and the best exemplar of naturalistic painting in the early 17th century. Originally named Michelangelo Merisi, Caravaggio was born September 28, 1573, in the Lombardy hill town of Caravaggio, from which his professional name is derived. Orphaned at age 11, he was apprenticed to the painter Simone Peterzano of Milan for four years. At some time between 1588 and 1592, Caravaggio went to Rome and worked as an assistant to Giuseppe Cesari, also known as the Cavaliere d'Arpino, for whom he executed fruit and flower pieces (now lost). Caravaggio's personal life was turbulent. He was often arrested and imprisoned. He fled Rome for Naples in 1606 when charged with murder. Later that year he traveled to Malta, was made a knight, or cavaliere, of the Maltese order. In October of 1608, Caravaggio was again arrested and, escaping from a Maltese jail, went to Syracuse in Sicily. He died on the beach at Port'Ercole in Tuscany on July 18, 1610, of a fever contracted after a mistaken arrest.
source of quote http://www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Caravaggio.html
Oil on canvas, 46 x 64 cm
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan
Italian Baroque
Form: This is a still life painting which is painted from an extraordinary point of view. The basket and its contents are depicted from eye level. The virtuosity of how realistically the surfaces and details of the basket, its contents, the moisture on the fruit and even the hints of decay are expressions of Caravaggio's skills. It's interesting to note that this is often referred to as the completely dedicated still life painting of its kind since Pompeii (79 CE).
Iconography: Paintings like this one depicting fruit is symbolic of the pleasures of every day life and perhaps of the delicacies one might desire. Fruit was not available all year and it is one of the fleeting pleasures. The depictions of fruit and other delicacies, such as Herakleitos' Unswept Floor (fig 6-58) are references to the wealth of the patron and the skill of the artist.
The depictions of the decay caused by the worms in the apple and on the leaves may be a memento mori. That although these are delicacies and treasured parts of enjoying life, sometimes such things are transitory and fleeting.
For the rest of the text and more videos
Monday
Art History Velázquez
Velázquez 1599-1660
Pope Innocent X (the Tenth) 1650
oil on canvas
c. 1650
Oil on canvas, 141 x 119 cm
Galleria Doria-Pamphili, Rome
Spanish, Baroque
Form: First and foremost Velázquez is a portrait painter who demonstrates his ability to capture the likeness of his sitters. One can see that he does this by looking at the range of portraits of King Philip and how the likeness of his faces are consistent throughout his images. This portrait demonstrates a good mastery of the human face as well as chiaroscuro although in his portraits he tend to use more frontal lighting. His brushstrokes are visible in this painting and the paint is laid in thick impastos. Velázquez is particularly well known for his "quick" and showy brushstrokes that look almost unfinished when viewed up close. The calligraphic brushwork is also a type of conceit or concetto (italian for conceit) often referred to as a bravura handling of paint or bravura brushstrokes. Velázquez also has a fine command of painting drapery.
Mention has often been made of the chromatic unity of this portrait, in which the red flesh tones, the red cape, the red camauro, and the armchair of red velvet against the backdrop of a red door create such a dramatic effect that, if the pope were to open his mouth, even his saliva would be blood red. This marvelously orchestrated profusion of crimson tints - sometimes, as in the cape, with cold reflections as if "lit by neon" - undoubtedly derives from the example of Titian, while the representation of the contrasting white gown certainly harks back to Veronese, the only sixteenth-century Venetian painter who knew how to handle this difficult "non-colour." A man of power, bolt upright, depicted in magenta, an aggressive and vital colour, that together with white symbolizes creation.
http://www.wga.hu/html/v/velazque/07/0711vela.html
Iconography and Context:
"He was tall in stature, thin, choleric, splenetic, with a red face, bald in front with thick eyebrows bent above the nose [...], that revealed his severity and harshness...". These were the words used by Giacinto Gigli in 1655 to describe the pope (Giovanni Battista Pamphilj [1574-1655], made a cardinal in 1629 and elected to the throne on September 16, 1644), adding that "his face was the most deformed ever born among men." Justi and later Morelli considered his head "the most repugnant... of all the Fisherman's successors" and "insignificant, indeed vulgar," with an expression similar to "that of a cunning lawyer." And yet this ugly and sullen man was paradoxically the subject of one of the most admired portraits of the seventeenth century, and perhaps of all time. The portrait of Pope Innocent X is by common consent one of the world's supreme masterpieces of portraiture, unsurpassed in its breathtaking handling of paint and so incisive in characterization that the pope himself said the picture was 'troppo vero' (too truthful).
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/v/velazque/1641-50/08innoce.html
According to the Brittanica,
This portrait, which has long been Velázquez' most famous painting outside Spain, was copied innumerable times and won him immediate and lasting renown in Italy. In 1650 he was made a member of the Accademia di San Luca (Academy of St. Luke) and of the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon, Rome's two most prestigious organizations of artists. The portrait earned for him the Pope's support for his application for membership of the most exclusive Spanish military order, though the difficulties arising from the fact that he was not of noble birth were so great that he did not receive the habit of the Order of Santiago until 1659. "Second Italian journey." Britannica 2001 Standard Edition CD-ROM. Copyright © 1994-2001 Britannica.com Inc. December 26, 2002
oil on canvas 42"x31.75" Wellington Museum London Spanish Baroque
Form: This genre scene/portrait incorporates a low key or earth toned palette combined with a very close point of view. Velázquez demonstrates a good mastery of the human face as well as chiaroscuro . He also uses an intense spotlight on the faces and clothing creating hard edges where the contours of the figures meet the dark background while the shadowed sides of the figures seem to merge with the background. The brushstrokes are more visible in this painting and the paint is laid in thick impastos. Velázquez is particularly well known for his "quick" and showy brushstrokes that look almost unfinished when viewed up close. The calligraphic brushwork is also a type of conceit or concetto (italian for conceit) often referred to as a bravura handling of paint or bravura brushstrokes. The clear vessel of water, as in Caravaggio's Boy Being Bitten by a Lizard, is a concetto because painting a transparent vessel is one of the harder things to paint. Velázquez also has a fine command of painting drapery. Velázquez is really quite masterful in his depiction chiaroscuro and understanding of the physics of light. Compare the clay vessels to the chiaroscuro sphere and you will see this. He also uses light to establish a rhythm in which the figure of the water seller in the foreground is the most brightly lit and as the figures recede into the background the light diminishes. The figures and the vessels in this painting are placed in such a way that they echo the light which rakes in from the upper left hand corner and this compliments the strong diagonal across the picture plane. The use of a diagonal in the composition of the picture plane is a very Baroque device.
Iconography: Water sellers in Italy and Spain were people who would carry water around in clay jugs that would filter the water and provide it with some flavor. Since water was at times a little ways away to a fountain the water seller served a convenience almost similar to our modern day paper boys or itinerant window washers. This painting is a genre scene that is not just a snapshot of daily life but also meant as kind of memento mori because the water seller is providing a momentary pleasure and a reminder of one's place in the cosmic scheme of things. The water seller with his humble occupation as a kind of upscale beggar allows us to give charity and therefore satisfy some of the basic tenets of Christianity.
Diego Velázquez Las Meninas 1656
Oil on canvas 10'5''x9'
Located in Museo del Prado, Madrid
Spanish Baroque
Form: First and foremost this painting is a portrait and Velázquez demonstrates his ability to capture the likeness of his sitters. One can see that he does this by looking at the range of portraits of Margarita and how the likenesses of her faces are consistent throughout his images.
This massive oil painting contains life size figures. Velázquez clearly demonstrates that he has a command on all the technical tricks and gimmicks that have been developed in the last 300 years of painting. He a mastery over portraiture, perspective, chiaroscuro, tenebrism, demonstrates the depiction of human anatomy and drapery. All this and he goes a bit beyond it with some tricks concerning the mirror in the background and the placement of the figures in the picture plane.
The brushstrokes are more visible in this painting and the paint is laid in thick impastos. Velázquez is particularly well known for his "quick" and showy brushstrokes that look almost unfinished when viewed up close. The calligraphic brushwork is also a type of conceit or concetto (italian for conceit) often referred to as a bravura handling of paint or bravura brushstrokes.
If you look in the far background you can see that there appears to be a painting of a man and a woman. This is the King and Queen however, it is not a painting. Notice that it's glowing a bit. That's because it is really supposed to be a mirror.
This computer image pulls the mirror image out and shows you what the King and Queen may have been posing like.
What Velázquez was doing was demonstrating his ability to think about form, content, and visual illusion in one continuous manner. The scene that Velázquez is really painting is what the King and Queen see as they pose for their portrait. The image on the right shows how that works.
Diego Velázquez Las Meninas 1656
Oil on canvas 10'5''x9' Located in Museo del Prado, Madrid
Spanish Baroque
"Our first feeling is of being there. We are standing just to the right of the King and Queen, whose reflections we can see in the distant mirror, looking down an austere room in the Alcazar (hung with del Mazo's copies of Rubens) and watching a familiar situation. The Infanta Dona Margarita doesn't want to pose. She has been painted by Velázquez ever since she could stand. She is now five years old, and she has had enough. But this is to be something different; an enormous picture, so big that it stands on the floor, in which she is going to appear with her parents; and somehow the Infanta must be persuaded. Her ladies-in-waiting, known by the Portuguese name of meninas, are doing their best to cajole her, and have brought her dwarfs, Maribarbola and Nicolasito, to amuse her. But in fact they alarm her almost as much as they alarm us, and it will be some time before the sitting can take place. So far as we know, the huge official portrait was never painted.
"After all that has been written about the nature of art, it seems rather absurd to begin by considering a great picture as a record of something that really happened. I can't help it. That is my first impression, and I should be slightly sceptical of anyone who said that they felt anything else. Of course, we do not have to look for long before recognizing that the world of appearances has been politely put in its place. The canvas has been divided into quarters horizontally and sevenths vertically. The meninas and the dwarfs form a triangle of which the base is one-seventh of the way up, and the apex is four-sevenths; and within the large triangle are three subsidiary ones, of which the little Infanta is the centre. But these and other devices were commonplaces of workshop tradition. Any Italian hack of the seventeenth century could have done the same, and the result would not have interested us. The extraordinary thing is that these calculations are subordinate to an absolute sense of truth. Nothing is emphasised, nothing forced. Instead of showing us with a whoop of joy how clever, how perceptive or how resourceful he is, Velázquez leaves us to make all these discoveries for ourselves. He does not beckon to the spectator any more than he flatters the sitter. Spanish pride? Well, we have only to imagine the Meninas painted by Goya, who, heaven knows, was Spanish enough, to realise that Velázquez' reserve transcends nationality. His attitude of mind, scrupulous and detached, respecting our feelings and scorning our opinions, might have been encountered in the Greece of Sophocles or the China of Wang Wei.
"It seems almost vulgar to ask what he was like, he so carefully effaced himself behind his works; and in fact it is chiefly from them that we must deduce his character. Like Titian, he shows no signs of impulsiveness or non-conformity, and like Titian, his life was apparently one of unbroken success. But there the likeness ends. He lives at a different temperature. We read of no passions, no appetites, no human failings; and equally there are no sensuous images burning in the back of his mind. When he was quite a young man he achieved once or twice a poetic intensity of vision, as in his Immaculate Conception, but this passed, as it so often does; or perhaps I should say that it was absorbed into his pursuit of the whole.
"He was born in 1599, and commended himself to the King as early as 1623. Thenceforward he rose steadily in the Court service. His all-powerful patron, the Count-Duke of Olivares, was dismissed in 1643, and in the same year Velázquez was promoted to be a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, an Assistant Superintendent of Works and, in 1658, to the horror of the official classes, he was invested with the Order of Santiago. Two years later he died. There is evidence that the royal family regarded him as a friend, yet we read of none of the cabals and jealousies which distorted the lives of Italian painters of the same date. Modesty and sweetness of character would not have been enough to protect him. He must have been a man of remarkable judgement. His mind was occupied almost entirely with problems of painting, and in this, too, he was fortunate, for he had formed a clear idea of what he wanted to do. It was extremely difficult, it took him thirty years of steady work;, and in the end he achieved it.
"His aim was simply to tell the whole truth about a complete visual impression. Italian theorists, following antiquity, had claimed that this was the end of art as early as the fifteenth century; but they had never really believed it; in fact, they had always qualified it by talking about grace, grandeur, correct proportions and other abstract concepts. Consciously or unconsciously they all believed in the Ideal, and thought that art must bring to perfection what nature had left in the raw. This is one of the most defensible theories of aesthetics ever proposed, but it had no appeal to the Spanish mind. 'History', said Cervantes, 'is something sacred because it is true, and where truth is, God is, truth being an aspect of divinity.' Velázquez recognised the value of ideal art. He bought antiquities for the royal collection, he copied Titian, he was the friend of Rubens. But none of this deflected him from his aim, to tell the whole truth about what he saw.
"To some extent this was a technical problem. It is not very difficult to paint a small inanimate object so that it seems real. But when one begins to paint a figure in its setting 'Oh alors!' as Degas said. And to paint a whole group on a large scale in such a way that no one seems too prominent, each is easily related to the other, and all breathe the same air: that requires a most unusual gift.
"As we look about us, our eyes proceed from point to point, and whenever they come to rest they are focussed in the centre of an oval pool of colour which grows vaguer and more distorted towards the perimeter. Each focal point involves us in a new set of relations; and to paint a complex group like the Meninas, the painter must carry in his head a single consistent scale of relations which he can apply throughout. He may use all kinds of devices to help him do this - perspective is one of them - but ultimately the truth about a complete visual impression depends on one thing, truth of tone. Drawing may be summary, colour drab, but if the relations of tone are true, the picture will hold. For some reason truth of tone cannot be achieved by trial and error, but seems to be an intuitive - almost a physical - endowment, like absolute pitch in music; and gives, when we perceive it, a pure and timeless pleasure.
"Velázquez had this endowment in the highest degree. Every day I look at Las Meninas I find myself exclaiming with delight as I recognize the absolute rightness of some passage of tone, the grey skirt of the standing menina, the green skirt of her kneeling companion, the window recess on the right, which is exactly like a Vermeer of the same date, and above all, the painter himself, in his modest, yet confident, penumbra. Only one figure makes me uneasy, the humble-looking attendant (known as a guardadamas) behind Maribarbola, who looks transparent; but I think he has suffered from some early restoration; and so has the head of the standing menina, Dona Isabel de Velasco, where the shadows are a little too black. Otherwise everything falls into place like a theorem in Euclid, and wherever we look the whole complex of relations is maintained.
"One should be content to accept it without question, but one cannot look for long at Las Meninas without wanting to find out how it is done. I remember that when it hung in Geneva in 1939 I used to go very early in the morning, before the gallery was open, and try to stalk it, as if it really were alive. (This is impossible in the Prado, where the hushed and darkened room in which it hangs is never empty.) I would start from as far away as I could, when the illusion was complete, and come gradually nearer, until suddenly what had been a hand, and a ribbon, and a piece of velvet, dissolved into a salad of beautiful brush strokes. I thought I might learn something if I could catch the moment at which this transformation took place, but it proved to be as elusive as the moment between waking and sleeping.
"Prosaically minded people, from Palomino onwards, have asserted that Velázquez must have used exceptionally long brushes, but the brushes he holds in the Meninas are of normal length, and he also carries a mahlstick, which implies that he put on the last delicate touches from very close to. The fact is that, like all transformations in art, it was not achieved by a technical trick, which can be found out and described, but by a flash of imaginative perception. At the moment when Velázquez' brush turned appearances into paint, he was performing an act of faith which involved his whole being.
"Velázquez himself would have repudiated such a high-flown interpretation. At most he would have said that it was his duty to satisfy his royal master with a correct record. He might have gone on to say that in his youth he had been able to paint single heads accurately enough in the Roman manner, but that they seemed to him lacking in life. Later he had learnt from the Venetians how to give to his figures the appearance of flesh and blood, but they did not seem to be surrounded by air. Finally, he had found a means of doing this too, by broader strokes of the brush, but how precisely this came about he could not tell.
"This is usually the way in which good painters speak about their work. But after two centuries of aesthetic philosophy we cannot leave it at that. No reasonable person can still believe that imitation is the end of art. To do so is like saying that the writing of history consists in recording all the known facts. Every creative activity of the human race depends on selection, and selection implies both a power to perceive relationships and the existence of a pre-established pattern in the mind. Nor is this activity peculiar to the artist, scientist or historian. We measure, we match colours, we tell stories. All through the day we are committed to low-grade aesthetic activities.
"We are being abstract artists when we arrange our hair brushes, impressionists when we are suddenly charmed by a lilac shadow, and portrait-painters when we see a revelation of character in the shape of a jaw. All these responses are wholly inexplicable and remain unrelated until a great artist unites and perpetuates them, and makes them convey his own sense of order.
Diego Velázquez Las Meninas 1656
Oil on canvas 10'5''x9' Located in Museo del Prado, Madrid
Spanish Baroque
"With these speculations in mind I return to the Meninas and it occurs to me what an extraordinarily personal selection of the facts Velázquez has made. That he has chosen to present this selection as a normal optical impression may have misled his contemporaries, but should not mislead us. There is, to begin with, the arrangement of the forms in space, that most revealing and personal expression of our sense of order; and then there is the interplay of their glances, which creates a different network of relationships. Finally there are the characters themselves. Their disposition, which seems so natural, is really very peculiar. It is true that the Infanta dominates the scene, both by her dignity for she has already the air of one who is habitually obeyed and by the exquisite beauty of her pale gold hair. But after looking at her, one's eye passes immediately to the square, sullen countenance of her dwarf, Maribarbola, and to her dog, brooding and detached, like some saturnine philosopher. These are in the first plane of reality. And who are in the last? The King and Queen, reduced to reflections in a shadowy mirror. To his royal master this may have seemed no more than the record of a scene which had taken his fancy. But must we suppose that Velázquez was unconscious of what he was doing when he so drastically reversed the accepted scale of values?
"As I stand in the big Velázquez room of the Prado I am almost oppressed by his uncanny awareness of human character. It makes me feel like those spiritualistic mediums who complain that they are being disturbed by 'presences'. Maribarbola is such a disturbing element. While the other protagonists in the Meninas, out of sheer good manners, take their parts in a sort of
au vivant, she affronts the spectator like a blow from a muffled fist; and I remember the strange and poignant relationship which Velázquez had with all the dwarfs and buffoons whom he painted. No doubt it was part of his duties to record the likenesses of these Court favourites, but in the main Velázquez room of the Prado there are as many portraits of buffoons as there are of the royal family (nine of each). Surely that goes beyond official instructions and expresses a strong personal preference. Some of his reasons may have been purely pictorial. Buffoons could be made to sit still longer than royal persons, and he could look more intensely at their heads. But was there not also the feeling that their physical humiliations gave them a reality which his royal sitters lacked ? Take away the carapace of their great position, and how pink and featureless the King and Queen become, like prawns without their shells. They cannot look at us with the deep questioning gaze of Sebastian de Morra or the fierce sullen independence of Maribarbola. And I begin to reflect on what would happen to Las Meninas if Maribarbola had been removed and a graceful young lady of the Court put in her place. We should still feel that we were there; the colour would be as subtle, the tone as scrupulously correct. But the temperature would have dropped: we should have lost a whole dimension of truth."
also called "The Topers" and "The Rule of Bacchus"
1628 Oil on canvas 5'6''x7'6''
Located in Museo del Prado, Madrid
Form: Velázquez is one of those artists who does it all. In this image he incorporates genre scene elements with his skills as a portrait painter. Iconography: The iconography of this painting is reference to classical arcadian ideas although image is "classical" it seems to me to be an almost sarcastic or moralizing way in which to depict it. This painting seems almost to be a warning against hedonism.
The theme this story that this painting portrays is a bacchanal.
According to Webster's,
bac.cha.na.lia n, pl bacchanalia [L, fr. Bacchus] (1591) 1 pl, cap: a Roman festival of Bacchus celebrated with dancing, song, and revelry 2: orgy 2, 3 -- bac.cha.na.lian adj or nContext: This painting also demonstrates that Velázquez was a "Renaissance Man" in his familiarity with classical mythology and his ability to play with those themes.
"Velázquez painted this picture of Bacchus surrounded by eight drinkers for Philipp IV who hung it in his summer bedroom. The painting is not only unique in his oeuvre, but is very rare indeed in Spanish painting as a whole, which does not generally have the drinking scenes so familiar in Flemish and Netherlandish painting. Drunkenness was regarded in Spain as a contemptible vice and "borracho" (drunkard) was the most scathing of insults. At the royal court, it seems to have been considered highly entertaining to invite low-lifers from the comedy theatres and inebriate them for the amusement of the ladies. But what kind of a Wine God is this we see, crowning his followers with ivy, said to cool the heat of wine, and consorting with peasants who grin out of the painting and clearly find the spectator, that is to say the king, a very funny sight indeed? The authority of the god whose presence delights them lends them a sense of majesty as well. And in view of the delightful travesty of royal honours in which Bacchus is indulging, they too have turned the tables and are laughing in the faces of those who would laugh at them. Is this Bacchus merely a myth born of wine, an embodiment of those lowly joys which the nobleman snubs? Or is the god a courtier having precisely the kind of fun at which the ladies liked to laugh? As only Caravaggio before him, Velázquez has portrayed Bacchus (or rather Dionysos) as the God of the mask, the theatre and disguise."
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/v/velazque/1621-30/11topers.html
apoc.ry.pha n pl but sing or pl in constr [ML, fr. LL, neut. pl. of apocryphus secret, not canonical, fr. Gk apokryphos obscure, fr. apokryptein to hide away, fr. apo- + kryptein to hide--more at crypt] (14c) 1: writings or statements of dubious authenticity 2 cap a: books included in the Septuagint and Vulgate but excluded from the Jewish and Protestant canons of the Old Testament b: early Christian writings not included in the New Testament apoc.ry.phal adj (1590) 1: of doubtful authenticity: spurious 2 often cap: of or resembling the Apocrypha syn see fictitious -- apoc.ry.phal.ly adv -- apoc.ry.phal.ness n
ar.ca.di.an adj, often cap (1589) 1: idyllically pastoral; esp: idyllically innocent, simple, or untroubled 2 a: of or relating to Arcadia or the Arcadians b: of or relating to Arcadian Ar.ca.di.an n (1590) 1 often not cap: a person who lives a simple quiet life 2: a native or inhabitant of Arcadia 3: the dialect of ancient Greek used in Arcadia
According to the Brittanica,
Modern Greek ARKADHÍA, mountainous region of the central Peloponnesus of ancient Greece. The pastoral character of Arcadian life together with its isolation partially explains why it was represented as a paradise in Greek and Roman bucolic poetry and in the literature of the Renaissance. The region is not exactly coextensive with the present-day nomós (department) of Arkadhía, which extends on the east to the Gulf of Argolis. The capital of the nomos is Trípolis.
¹bra.vu.ra n [It, lit., bravery, fr. bravare] (1757) 1: a musical passage requiring exceptional agility and technical skill in execution 2: a florid brilliant style 3: a show of daring or brilliance ²bravura adj (1920) 1: marked by an ostentatious display of skill 2: ornate, showy
chiaroscuro
chiar.oscu.ro n, pl -ros [It, fr. chiaro clear, light + oscuro obscure, dark] (1686) 1: pictorial representation in terms of light and shade without regard to color 2 a: the arrangement or treatment of light and dark parts in a pictorial work of art b: the interplay or contrast of dissimilar qualities (as of mood or character) 3: a 16th century woodcut technique involving the use of several blocks to print different tones of the same color; also: a print made by this technique 4: the interplay of light and shadow on or as if on a surface 5: the quality of being veiled or partly in shadow According to the Brittanica,
Chiaroscuro (from Italian chiaro, "light"; scuro, "dark"),
technique employed in the visual arts to represent light and shadow as they define three-dimensional objects.
Some evidence exists that ancient Greek and Roman artists used chiaroscuro effects, but in European painting the technique was first brought to its full potential by Leonardo da Vinci in the late 15th century in such paintings as his "Adoration of the Magi" (1481; Uffizi, Florence). Thereafter, chiaroscuro became a primary technique for many painters, and by the late 17th century the term was routinely used to describe any painting, drawing, or print that depends for its effect on an extensive gradation of light and darkness.
"chiaroscuro." and Britannica 2001 Standard Edition CD-ROM. Copyright © 1994-2001 Britannica.com Inc. November 19, 2002.
genre n [F, fr. MF, kind, gender--more at gender] (1770) 1: a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content 2: kind, sort 3: painting that depicts scenes or events from everyday life usu. realistically he.do.nism n [Gk hedone pleasure; akin to Gk hedys sweet--more at sweet] (1856) 1: the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life 2: a way of life based on or suggesting the principles of hedonism -- he.do.nist n -- he.do.nis.tic adj -- he.do.nis.ti.cal.ly adv
im.pas.to n, pl -tos [It, fr. impastare] (1784) 1: the thick application of a pigment to a canvas or panel in painting; also: the body of pigment so applied 2: raised decoration on ceramic ware usu. of slip or enamel -- im.pas.toed adj
neo.clas.sic or neo.clas.si.cal adj (1877): of, relating to, or constituting a revival or adaptation of the classical esp. in literature, music, art, or architecture -- neo.clas.si.cism n -- neo.clas.si.cist n or adj
oeu.vre n, pl oeuvres [F oeuvre, lit., work, fr. L opera--more at opera] (1875): a substantial body of work constituting the lifework of a writer, an artist, or a composer
rib.ald n [ME, fr. MF ribaut, ribauld wanton, rascal, fr. riber to be wanton, of Gmc origin; akin to OHG riban to be wanton, lit., to rub] (13c): a ribald person ²ribald adj (1508) 1: crude, offensive <~ language> 2: characterized by or using coarse indecent humor syn see coarse
ten.e.brism n, often cap [L tenebrae darkness] (1954): a style of painting esp. associated with the Italian painter Caravaggio and his followers in which most of the figures are engulfed in shadow but some are dramatically illuminated by a concentrated beam of light usu. from an identifiable source -- ten.e.brist n or adj, often cap
according to the Brittanica,
"in the history of Western painting, the use of extreme contrasts of light and dark in figurative compositions to heighten their dramatic effect. (The term is derived from the Latin tenebrae, "darkness.") In tenebrist paintings the figures are often portrayed against a background of intense darkness, but the figures themselves are illuminated by a bright, searching light that sets off their three-dimensional forms by a harsh but exquisitely controlled chiaroscuro . The technique was introduced by the Italian painter Caravaggio (1571?-1610) and was taken up in the early 17th century by painters influenced by him, including the French painter Georges de La Tour, the Dutch painters Gerrit van Honthorst and Hendrik Terbrugghen, and the Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán."
1) How is Velasquez a Caravaggisti?
What specific formal elements does he share and how are they expressed?
2) Describe the iconography used through out this painting.
3) How does Velasquez play with perspectives and points of view?
Saturday
Baroque Art: Caravaggio
Caravaggio (1569-1609)
Caravaggisti- a follower of Caravaggio
 Boy Being Bitten by a Lizard c1600 oil on canvas Italian Baroque Tenebrism means using light as a spotlighting effect in a murky or dark scene. ala prima-directly onto canvas; paints directly form life | Form: This allegorical portrait incorporates a low key or earth toned palette combined with a very close point of view. Caravaggio demonstrates a good mastery of the human face as well as chiaroscuro . According to the Brittanica, chiaroscuro (from Italian chiaro, "light"; scuro, "dark"), which is technique employed in the visual arts to represent light and shadow as they define three-dimensional objects. Caravaggio also uses an intense spotlight on his face while the rest of the picture plane is murky surrounding him. This is called tenebrism and it is a way of creating a focus on a particular element in a work and also gives the work a sense of heightened drama. The painting also feels like an immediate kind of "snapshot" of a young boy dressed in neoclassic clothing caught at the instance when a lizard bites his fingers. The immediacy of the painting is complimented by the direct gaze and the facial expression of the figure. This painting appears to be painted directly from life without using any previous studies or drawings. This is called ala prima- (in the first) which means painting directly from observation onto canvas. This painting also demonstrates Caravaggio's skill beyond his ability to paint the human form. The clear vessel of water is what is referred to as an artist's conceit or concetto (italian for conceit) because painting a transparent vessel is one of the harder things to paint. Caravaggio also has a fine command of painting drapery. Even though the figure in this painting is placed in the visual center of the picture plane the light which rakes in from the upper left hand corner creates a strong diagonal across the picture plane. The use of a diagonal in the composition of the picture plane is a very Baroque device. Iconography: Caravaggio was a rather outrageous and controversial man. Many of his paintings demonstrate a rebellious and often ribald sense of humor. This is an allegorical portrait of lust. The young boy is probably the type of young man that Caravaggio held as the object of his desire. Young male prostitutes were fairly common in cities during this time (as they are now) and it has been suggested by some sources that Caravaggio was a homosexual and a pederast. The lizard hanging from the boy's finger may represent the cost of the lust and the cherries may be a reference to the concepts concerning "forbidden fruit" or possibly even virginity. Context: Caravaggio was an, Italian baroque painter, who was the most revolutionary artist of his time and the best exemplar of naturalistic painting in the early 17th century. Originally named Michelangelo Merisi, Caravaggio was born September 28, 1573, in the Lombardy hill town of Caravaggio, from which his professional name is derived. Orphaned at age 11, he was apprenticed to the painter Simone Peterzano of Milan for four years. At some time between 1588 and 1592, Caravaggio went to Rome and worked as an assistant to Giuseppe Cesari, also known as the Cavaliere d'Arpino, for whom he executed fruit and flower pieces (now lost). Caravaggio's personal life was turbulent. He was often arrested and imprisoned. He fled Rome for Naples in 1606 when charged with murder. Later that year he traveled to Malta, was made a knight, or cavaliere, of the Maltese order. In October of 1608, Caravaggio was again arrested and, escaping from a Maltese jail, went to Syracuse in Sicily. He died on the beach at Port'Ercole in Tuscany on July 18, 1610, of a fever contracted after a mistaken arrest.
|
 Caravaggio, Basket of Fruit c. 1597 Oil on canvas, 46 x 64 cm Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan Italian Baroque | Form: This is a still life painting which is painted from an extraordinary point of view. The basket and its contents are depicted from eye level. The virtuosity of how realistically the surfaces and details of the basket, its contents, the moisture on the fruit and even the hints of decay are expressions of Caravaggio's skills. It's interesting to note that this is often referred to as the completely dedicated still life painting of its kind since Pompeii (79 CE). Iconography: Paintings like this one depicting fruit is symbolic of the pleasures of every day life and perhaps of the delicacies one might desire. Fruit was not available all year and it is one of the fleeting pleasures. The depictions of fruit and other delicacies, such as Herakleitos' Unswept Floor (fig 6-58) are references to the wealth of the patron and the skill of the artist. The depictions of the decay caused by the worms in the apple and on the leaves may be a memento mori. That although these are delicacies and treasured parts of enjoying life, sometimes such things are transitory and fleeting. |
 Conversion of St. Paul- 1601 by Caravaggio Italian Baroque | Form: This painting is typical of Caravaggio's style and exhibits all the hallmarks of it. Here we see heightened tenebrism and chiaroscuro as well as an ambiguous use of space. Caravaggio almost always pushes al his figures up against the front of the picture plane and creates an ambiguous and unrecognizable environment. For Caravaggio the background and environment are often unimportant and some critics have charged that he didn't bother with the background or had trouble unifying his composition and so just create a well of darkness to unify it. In this image Saul of Tarsus, the saint-to-be, is represented flat on his back, his arms thrown up, while an old servant appears to maneuver the horse away from its fallen master. The horse fills the picture as if it were the hero, and its explicitness and the angle from which it is viewed might betray some irreverence on the part of the artist for this subject. One critic who objected to the intertangling of the limbs of the horse and figures called the painting an "accident in a blacksmith's shop." Caravaggio used real people for his models and so the clothing and faces incorporate a strong genre element. Iconography: Light in Caravaggio's paintings is an icon of God's power and of enlightenment. Caravaggio seems to literally be translating the imagery from the Bible. According to Acts Chapter 27, Paul describes, |
- 6
- "On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me.
- 7
- I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'
- 8
- I replied, 'Who are you, sir?' And he said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.'
- 9
- My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me.
- 10 I asked, 'What shall I do, sir?' The Lord answered me, 'Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything appointed for you to do.'
- 11 Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light, I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus.
- 12 "A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,
- 13 came to me and stood there and said, 'Saul, my brother, regain your sight.' And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him.
- 14 Then he said, 'The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice;
- 15 for you will be his witness 2 before all to what you have seen and heard.
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/acts/acts22.htm#v3
Context: Caravaggio's Conversion of Paul, was considered scandalous because in it he devotes so much of the canvas to the horse's rear. Visually he is literally "mooning" the audience. Observers also found Paul's prone position and the intermingling of his limbs with the horses somewhat objectionable.
- Also see Acts Chapter 9
For full text of the passage go here: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/acts/acts9.htm
 Caravaggio (1569-1609) Calling of St. Matthew- 1597-1601, Oil on canvas, located in the Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi. Italian Baroque  St. Matthew Cycle (Contarelli Chapel) c1602 Rome,St.Luigi dei Francesi The paintings in situ. Italian Baroque | Form: Even though the figures in this painting are arranged in a band across the front of the picture plane, the light which rakes in from the upper right hand corner creates a strong diagonal across the picture plane. The use of a diagonal in the composition of the picture plane is a very Baroque device. From "Caravaggio", by Alfred Moir: "The subject traditionally was represented either indoors or out; sometimes Saint Matthew is shown inside a building, with Christ outside (following the Biblical text) summoning him through a window. Both before and after Caravaggio the subject was often used as a pretext for anecdotal genre paintings. Caravaggio may well have been familiar with earlier Netherlandish paintings of money lenders or of gamblers seated around a table like Saint Matthew and his associates. "Caravaggio represented the event as a nearly silent, dramatic narrative. The sequence of actions before and after this moment can be easily and convincingly re-created. The tax-gatherer Levi (Saint Matthew's name before he became the apostle) was seated at a table with his four assistants, counting the day's proceeds, the group lighted from a source at the upper right of the painting. Christ, His eyes veiled, with His halo the only hint of divinity, enters with Saint Peter. A gesture of His right hand, all the more powerful and compelling because of its languor, summons Levi. Surprised by the intrusion and perhaps dazzled by the sudden light from the just-opened door, Levi draws back and gestures toward himself with his left hand as if to say, "Who, me?", his right hand remaining on the coin he had been counting before Christ's entrance. "The two figures on the left, derived from a 1545 Hans Holbein print representing gamblers unaware of the appearance of Death, are so concerned with counting the money that they do not even notice Christ's arrival; symbolically their inattention to Christ deprives them of the opportunity He offers for eternal life, and condemns them to death. The two boys in the center do respond, the younger one drawing back against Levi as if seeking his protection, the swaggering older one, who is armed, leaning forward a little menacingly. Saint Peter gestures firmly with his hand to calm his potential resistance. The dramatic point of the picture is that for this moment, no one does anything. Christ's appearance is so unexpected and His gesture so commanding as to suspend action for a shocked instant, before reaction can take place. In another second, Levi will rise up and follow Christ - in fact, Christ's feet are already turned as if to leave the room. The particular power of the picture is in this cessation of action. It utilizes the fundamentally static medium of painting to convey characteristic human indecision after a challenge or command and before reaction. "The picture is divided into two parts. The standing figures on the right form a vertical rectangle; those gathered around the table on the left a horizontal block. The costumes reinforce the contrast. Levi and his subordinates, who are involved in affairs of this world, are dressed in a contemporary mode, while the barefoot Christ and Saint Peter, who summon Levi to another life and world, appear in timeless cloaks. The two groups are also separated by a void, bridged literally and symbolically by Christ's hand. This hand, like Adam's in Michelangelo's Creation, unifies the two parts formally and psychologically. Underlying the shallow stage-like space of the picture is a grid pattern of verticals and horizontals, which knit it together structurally. "The light has been no less carefully manipulated: the visible window covered with oilskin, very likely to provide diffused light in the painter's studio; the upper light, to illuminate Saint Matthew's face and the seated group; and the light behind Christ and Saint Peter, introduced only with them. It may be that this third source of light is intended as miraculous. Otherwise, why does Saint Peter cast no shadow on the defensive youth facing him?" |
Matthew
Chapter 9
- 1
- 1 He entered a boat, made the crossing, and came into his own town.
- 2
- And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Courage, child, your sins are forgiven."
- 3
- At that, some of the scribes 2 said to themselves, "This man is blaspheming."
- 4
- Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said, "Why do you harbor evil thoughts?
- 5
- Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?
- 6
- 3 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" --he then said to the paralytic, "Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home."
- 7
- He rose and went home.
- 8
- 4 When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to human beings.
- 9
- 5 6 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him.
- 10 While he was at table in his house, 7 many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples.
- 11 The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher 8 eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
- 12 He heard this and said, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. 9
- 13 Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' 10 I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."
- http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/matthew/matthew9.htm
- Almost the the same account is given in Luke 5:27 http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/luke/luke5.htm
 Caravaggio St. Matthew and the Angel Italian Baroque |  Caravaggio, Inspiration of St. Matthew Italian Baroque | Form: Although only a black and white reproduction survives the image entitled St. Matthew and the Angel, we know that originally would have looked very similar in color and value structure to the Inspiration of St. Matthew. Some major differences do exist however. The point of view is quite different in both as is the costuming and the interaction of the two figures. In the image on the left, Matthew is bare legged, entwined with the angel in a transparent gauze like gown and his facial expression is rather dumb. Although the viewer is placed in a vantage point from above, the viewer is still confronted with the bare feet of the saint as they project out into the foreground. The image on the right is just the opposite in almost every way. Iconography: The iconography of this scene concerns itself with an image in which Matthew composes his gospel long after the death and ascension of Jesus. Matthew is described as having received divine inspiration and guidance for his account from an angel. Nevertheless, the angel in the left hand image is guiding Matthew's hand in a rather provocative manner. This manner, coupled with the bare legs and befuddled almost senile expression on the saints face is what ultimately led to this image being rejected by the patrons. Caravaggio then painted its replacement the Inspiration of St. Matthew. Context: It is precisely this kind of irreverence and rebellious "thumbing his nose" at the patron that both earned Caravaggio his notoriety as well as his infamous reputation. |
| Caravaggio St. Matthew and the Angel Italian Baroque |  Dutch Baroque | Form: As in the last comparison only a black and white reproduction survives the image entitled St. Matthew and the Angel, we know that originally would have looked very similar in color and value structure to the the painting by Rembrandt. Rembrandt painted his image more than 50 years after Caravaggio painted his but Rembrandt's portrait of the saint follows many of the same schema as Caravaggio. Both use tenebrism as a way of creating a focus on St. Matthew and to heighten the drama. In this way and for this reason, Rembrandt, and other artists who copy Caravaggio's style are often referred to as caravaggisti which literally means a follower of Caravaggio. Iconography: Rembrandt depicts Matthew in a similar manner to Caravaggio however, in his depiction Matthew is not as aware of the angel as in either one by Caravaggio. Rembrandt also incorporates and element of the genre imagery in his work. Matthew looks like one of the Jews that he might have known in Amsterdam and Rembrandt also attempts to authenticate the Persian or middle eastern quality of the image by providing Matthew with a turbine. Context: Many artists, including Rembrandt, Velázquez, Gentileschi and others took their cue form the works of Caravaggio and we refer to them all as Caravaggistis. |
 Italian Baroque | This is another one of those paintings that Caravaggio got in trouble for. This is an apochryphal story concerning the death of Mary. In Caravaggio's depiction of the dead saint he depicts her in a very real way. Her feet are dirty, her body and hair are disheveled and her skin is past an white. Her appearance is so "life like" or really "death like" because Caravaggio used the corpse of a prostitute that the authorities had pulled from the Tiber river in Rome as his model. |
al.le.go.ry n, pl -ries [ME allegorie, fr. L allegoria, fr. Gk allegoria, fr. allegorein to speak figuratively, fr. allos other + -egorein to speak publicly, fr. agora assembly--more at else, agora] (14c) 1: the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence; also: an instance (as in a story or painting) of such expression 2: a symbolic representation: emblem 2 apoc.ry.pha n pl but sing or pl in constr [ML, fr. LL, neut. pl. of apocryphus secret, not canonical, fr. Gk apokryphos obscure, fr. apokryptein to hide away, fr. apo- + kryptein to hide--more at crypt] (14c) 1: writings or statements of dubious authenticity 2 cap a: books included in the Septuagint and Vulgate but excluded from the Jewish and Protestant canons of the Old Testament b: early Christian writings not included in the New Testament
apoc.ry.phal adj (1590) 1: of doubtful authenticity: spurious 2 often cap: of or resembling the Apocrypha syn see fictitious -- apoc.ry.phal.ly adv -- apoc.ry.phal.ness n
ar.ca.di.an adj, often cap (1589) 1: idyllically pastoral; esp: idyllically innocent, simple, or untroubled 2 a: of or relating to Arcadia or the Arcadians b: of or relating to Arcadian Ar.ca.di.an n (1590) 1 often not cap: a person who lives a simple quiet life 2: a native or inhabitant of Arcadia 3: the dialect of ancient Greek used in Arcadia
According to the Brittanica,
Modern Greek ARKADHÍA, mountainous region of the central Peloponnesus of ancient Greece. The pastoral character of Arcadian life together with its isolation partially explains why it was represented as a paradise in Greek and Roman bucolic poetry and in the literature of the Renaissance. The region is not exactly coextensive with the present-day nomós (department) of Arkadhía, which extends on the east to the Gulf of Argolis. The capital of the nomos is Trípolis.
genre n [F, fr. MF, kind, gender--more at gender] (1770) 1: a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content 2: kind, sort 3: painting that depicts scenes or events from everyday life usu. realistically he.do.nism n [Gk hedone pleasure; akin to Gk hedys sweet--more at sweet] (1856) 1: the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life 2: a way of life based on or suggesting the principles of hedonism -- he.do.nist n -- he.do.nis.tic adj -- he.do.nis.ti.cal.ly adv
neo.clas.sic or neo.clas.si.cal adj (1877): of, relating to, or constituting a revival or adaptation of the classical esp. in literature, music, art, or architecture -- neo.clas.si.cism n -- neo.clas.si.cist n or adj
pas.to.ral adj [ME, fr. L pastoralis, fr. pastor herdsman] (15c) 1 a (1): of, relating to, or composed of shepherds or herdsmen (2): devoted to or based on livestock raising b: of or relating to the countryside: not urban c: portraying or expressive of the life of shepherds or country people esp. in an idealized and conventionalized manner <~ poetry> d: pleasingly peaceful and innocent: idyllic 2 a: of or relating to spiritual care or guidance esp. of a congregation b: of or relating to the pastor of a church -- pas.to.ral.ly adv -- pas.to.ral.ness n ²pastoral n (1584) 1 a: a literary work (as a poem or play) dealing with shepherds or rural life in a usu. artificial manner and typically drawing a contrast between the innocence and serenity of the simple life and the misery and corruption of city and esp. court life b: pastoral poetry or drama c: a rural picture or scene d: pastorale 1b 2: crosier 1 3: a letter of a pastor to his charge: as a: a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese b: a letter of the house of bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church to be read in each parish
ped.er.ast n [Gk paiderastes, lit., lover of boys, fr. paid- ped- + erastes lover, fr. erasthai to love--more at eros] (ca. 1736): one that practices anal intercourse esp. with a boy -- ped.er.as.tic adj -- ped.er.as.ty n
rib.ald n [ME, fr. MF ribaut, ribauld wanton, rascal, fr. riber to be wanton, of Gmc origin; akin to OHG riban to be wanton, lit., to rub] (13c): a ribald person ²ribald adj (1508) 1: crude, offensive <~ language> 2: characterized by or using coarse indecent humor syn see coarse
ten.e.brism n, often cap [L tenebrae darkness] (1954): a style of painting esp. associated with the Italian painter Caravaggio and his followers in which most of the figures are engulfed in shadow but some are dramatically illuminated by a concentrated beam of light usu. from an identifiable source -- ten.e.brist n or adj, often cap
according to the Brittanica,
"in the history of Western painting, the use of extreme contrasts of light and dark in figurative compositions to heighten their dramatic effect. (The term is derived from the Latin tenebrae, "darkness.") In tenebrist paintings the figures are often portrayed against a background of intense darkness, but the figures themselves are illuminated by a bright, searching light that sets off their three-dimensional forms by a harsh but exquisitely controlled chiaroscuro . The technique was introduced by the Italian painter Caravaggio (1571?-1610) and was taken up in the early 17th century by painters influenced by him, including the French painter Georges de La Tour, the Dutch painters Gerrit van Honthorst and Hendrik Terbrugghen, and the Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán."
trompe l’oeil - (French: "deceive the eye"), in painting, the representation of an object with such verisimilitude as to deceive the viewer concerning the material reality of the object. This idea appealed to the ancient Greeks who were newly emancipated from the conventional stylizations of earlier art. Zeuxis, for example, reportedly painted such realistic grapes that birds tried to eat them. The technique was also popular with Roman muralists. Although trompe l’oeil never achieved the status of a major artistic aim, from the early Renaissance on, European painters occasionally fostered illusionism by painting false frames out of which the contents of a still life or portrait appeared to spill, or by creating window-like images suggesting actual openings in the wall or ceiling. (Brittanica)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)