Botticelli, Sandro (Filipepi, Alessandro di Mariano). Genus. 1445, Florence - d. 1510, ibid.
Sandro Botticelli is one of the most famous Florentine painters of the late 15th century. His art, designed for educated connoisseurs, imbued with motifs of Neoplatonic philosophy, was not appreciated for a long time. For about three centuries, Botticelli was almost forgotten, until in the middle of the 19th century interest in his work revived, which has not faded to this day. Writers of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. (R. Sizeran, P. Muratov) created a romantic and tragic image of the artist, which has since firmly established itself in the minds. But the documents of the late XV - early XVI centuries do not confirm such an interpretation of his personality and do not always confirm the biography of Sandro Botticelli, written by Vasari.
Self-portrait of Sandro Botticelli. Detail of the painting "The Adoration of the Magi". OK. 1475
Sandro Filipepi (this is the real name of the master) was the youngest son of the tanner Mariano Filipepi, who lived in the parish of the Church of All Saints (Ognisanti). Two Botticelli brothers - Giovanni and Simone - were engaged in trade, the third - Antonio - in jewelry. The brothers' trading activities are associated with the origin of Sandro's nickname - "botticelle" ("barrel"). However, Vasari reports that this was the name of the godfather of the artist's father, Mariano, a jeweler, to whom Sandro was sent for training. There is another version, perhaps the closest to the truth, according to which the nickname passed to Sandro Botticelli from brother Antonio, and it means a distorted Florentine word " battigello"-" silversmith.
Around 1464, Sandro entered the studio of the famous artist Fra Filippo Lippi on the recommendation of his neighbor, the head of the Vespucci family. Botticelli remained there until the beginning of 1467. There is evidence that from the spring of 1467 he began to visit the workshop Andrea Verrocchio, and from 1469 he worked independently, initially at home, and then in a rented workshop. By 1470, the first work undoubtedly belonging to Botticelli, “The Allegory of Power” (Florence, Uffizi), belongs. It was part of the Seven Virtues series (the rest are Piero Pollaiolo) for the Chamber of the Merchant Court. A student of Botticelli soon became famous later Filippino Lippi, son of Fra Filippo, who died in 1469. January 20, 1474 on the occasion of the feast of St. Sebastian in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Florence, a painting by Sandro Botticelli "Saint Sebastian" was exhibited.
In the same year, Sandro Botticelli was invited to Pisa to work on the frescoes of Camposanto. For some unknown reason, he did not fulfill them, but in the Cathedral of Pisa he painted the fresco “Ascension of Our Lady”, which died in 1583. In the 1470s, Botticelli became close to the Medici family and the “medical circle” - Neoplatonist poets and philosophers (Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola , Angelo Poliziano). January 28, 1475 brother Lorenzo the Magnificent Giuliano took part in a tournament in one of the Florentine squares with a standard painted by Botticelli (not preserved). After the failed Pazzi conspiracy to overthrow the Medici (April 26, 1478), Botticelli, commissioned by Lorenzo the Magnificent, executed a fresco over the gates of della Dogana, which led to the Palazzo Vecchio. It depicted the hanged conspirators (this painting was destroyed on November 14, 1494 after the flight of Piero de Medici from Florence).
Among the best works of Sandro Botticelli of the 1470s is the Adoration of the Magi, where members of the Medici family and persons close to them are shown in the images of oriental sages and their retinue. At the right edge of the picture, the artist also depicted himself.
Sandro Botticelli. Adoration of the Magi. OK. 1475. In the lower right corner of the picture, the artist depicted himself standing
Between 1475 and 1480 Sandro Botticelli created one of the most beautiful and mysterious works - the painting "Spring". It was intended for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco Medici, with whom Botticelli had friendly relations. The plot of this picture, which combines the motives of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, has not been fully explained so far and is obviously inspired by both Neoplatonic cosmogony and events in the Medici family.
Sandro Botticelli. Spring. OK. 1482
The early period of Botticelli's work is completed by the fresco "St. Augustine" (1480, Florence, Ognisanti Church), commissioned by the Vespucci family. She makes a couple of Domenico's compositions Ghirlandaio"St. Jerome" in the same temple. The soulful passion of the image of Augustine contrasts with the prosaism of Jerome, clearly demonstrating the differences between the deep, emotional work of Botticelli and the solid craft of Ghirlandaio.
In 1481, along with other painters from Florence and Umbria (Perugino, Piero di Cosimo, Domenico Ghirlandaio), Sandro Botticelli was invited to Rome by Pope Sixtus IV to work in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. He returned to Florence in the spring of 1482, having managed to write three large compositions in the chapel: "The Healing of a Leper and the Temptation of Christ", "The Youth of Moses" and "The Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Aviron".
Sandro Botticelli. Scenes from the life of Moses. 1481-1482
Sandro Botticelli. Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Aviron. Fresco in the Sistine Chapel. 1481-1482
In the 1480s, Botticelli continued to work for the Medici and other noble Florentine families, performing paintings on both secular and religious subjects. Around 1483 together with Filippino Lippi, Perugino and Ghirlandaio, he worked in Volterra at the villa of Spedaletto, which belonged to Lorenzo the Magnificent. The famous painting by Sandro Botticelli “The Birth of Venus” (Florence, Uffizi), made for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, dates back to 1487. Together with the previously created “Spring”, she became a kind of iconic image, the personification of both the art of Botticelli and the refined culture of the Medicaean court.
Sandro Botticelli. Birth of Venus. OK. 1485
Two of the best tondos (round paintings) by Botticelli belong to the 1480s - Madonna Magnificat and Madonna with a Pomegranate (both - Florence, Uffizi). The latter, perhaps, was intended for the audience hall in the Palazzo Vecchio.
It is believed that since the late 1480s, Sandro Botticelli was strongly influenced by the sermons of the Dominican Girolamo Savonarola, who denounced the orders of his contemporary Church and called for repentance. Vasari writes that Botticelli was an adherent of the "sect" of Savonarola and even gave up painting and "fell into the greatest ruin." Indeed, the tragic mood and elements of mysticism in many of the master's later works testify in favor of such an opinion. At the same time, the wife of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, in a letter dated November 25, 1495, reports that Botticelli is painting the Medici villa in Trebbio with frescoes, and on July 2, 1497, the artist receives a loan from the same Lorenzo for the execution of decorative paintings at the Villa Castello (not preserved). In the same 1497, more than three hundred supporters of Savonarola signed a petition to Pope Alexander VI asking him to remove the excommunication from the Dominican. Among these signatures, the name of Sandro Botticelli was not found. In March 1498 Guidantonio Vespucci invited Botticelli and Piero di Cosimo to decorate their new home on Via Servi. Among the paintings that adorned him were " History of the Roman Virginia"(Bergamo, Carrara Academy) and" History of the Roman woman Lucretia"(Boston, Gardner Museum). Savonarola was burned that same year on May 29, and there is only one direct evidence of Botticelli's serious interest in his person. Almost two years later, on November 2, 1499, Sandro Botticelli's brother Simone wrote in his diary: “Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, my brother, one of the best artists that were in these times in our city, in my presence, sitting at home by the hearth, about three o'clock in the morning, told how that day, in his boat in the house, Sandro talked with Doffo Spini about the case of Frate Girolamo. Spini was the chief judge in the trial against Savonarola.
Sandro Botticelli. Lamentation of Christ (The Entombment). OK. 1490
The most significant late works by Botticelli include the two "Deposition in the Coffin" (both after 1500; Munich, Alte Pinakothek; Milan, Poldi Pezzoli Museum) and the famous "Mystical Nativity" (1501, London, National Gallery) - the only one signed and dated work of the artist. In them, especially in "Christmas", they see Botticelli's appeal to the methods of medieval Gothic art, primarily in violation of perspective and scale relationships.
Sandro Botticelli. Mystical Christmas. OK. 1490
However, the later works of the master are not a stylization. The use of forms and techniques that are alien to the Renaissance artistic method is explained by the desire to enhance emotional and spiritual expressiveness, for the transfer of which the specifics of the real world were not enough for the artist. One of the most sensitive painters of the Quattrocento, Botticelli extremely early felt the impending crisis of the humanistic culture of the Renaissance. In the 1520s, his offensive will be marked by the addition of the irrational and subjective art of Mannerism.
One of the most interesting aspects of Sandro Botticelli's work is portraiture. In this area, he established himself as a brilliant master already in the late 1460s (“Portrait of a Man with a Medal”, 1466-1477, Florence, Uffizi; “Portrait of Giuliano Medici”, c. 1475, Berlin, State Assembly). In the best portraits of the master, the spirituality and refinement of the appearance of the characters are combined with a kind of hermeticism, sometimes closing them in arrogant suffering (“Portrait of a Young Man”, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Sandro Botticelli. Portrait of a young woman. After 1480
One of the most magnificent draftsmen of the 15th century, Botticelli, according to Vasari, painted a lot and "exceptionally well." Contemporaries highly valued his drawings, and in many workshops of Florentine artists they were kept as samples. So far, very few of them have survived, but the skill of Botticelli as a draftsman can be judged by a unique series of illustrations for the Divine Comedy. Dante. Executed on parchment, these drawings were intended for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco Medici. Dante Sandro Botticelli turned to illustration twice. The first small group of drawings (not preserved) was apparently made by him in the late 1470s, and Baccio Baldini made nineteen engravings based on it for the publication of the Divine Comedy in 1481. The most famous illustration of Botticelli to Dante is the drawing "Map of Hell" ( La mappa dell inferno).
Sandro Botticelli. Map of Hell (Circles of Hell - La mappa dell inferno). Illustration for the "Divine Comedy" by Dante. 1480s
Botticelli began to complete the sheets of the Medici code after returning from Rome, using partly his first compositions. 92 sheets have been preserved (85 in the Cabinet of Prints in Berlin, 7 in the Vatican Library). The drawings are made with silver and lead pins, the artist then circled their thin gray line with brown or black ink. Four sheets are painted with tempera. On many sheets, the ink stroke is not finished or not done at all. It is these illustrations that especially clearly make you feel the beauty of Botticelli's light, precise, nervous line.
Sandro Botticelli. Hell. Illustration for the "Divine Comedy" by Dante. 1480s
According to Vasari, Sandro Botticelli was "a very pleasant person and often liked to play a trick on his students and friends." “They also say,” he writes further, “that he loved above all those of whom he knew that they were zealous in their art, and that he earned a lot, but everything went to dust with him, because he was a poor manager and was careless. In the end, he became decrepit and incapacitated and walked leaning on two sticks ... "On the financial situation of Botticelli in the 1490s, that is, at the time when, according to Vasari, he had to give up painting and go bankrupt under the influence of Savonarola's sermons , partly allow judging documents from the State Archives of Florence. It follows from them that on April 19, 1494, Sandro Botticelli, together with his brother Simone, acquired a house with land and a vineyard outside the gates of San Frediano. The income from this property in 1498 was determined at 156 florins. True, since 1503 the master has been indebted for contributions to the Guild of St. Luke, but the record of October 18, 1505 reports that he has been fully repaid. The fact that the elderly Botticelli continued to enjoy fame is also evidenced by a letter from Francesco dei Malatesti, an agent of the ruler of Mantua, Isabella d "Este, who was looking for craftsmen to decorate her studio. On September 23, 1502, he tells her from Florence that Perugino is in Siena, Filippino Lippi is too burdened with orders, but there is also Botticelli, who "praise me a lot." The trip to Mantua did not take place for an unknown reason. In 1503, Ugolino Verino in the poem "De ilrustratione urbis Florentiae" named Sandro Botticelli among the best painters, comparing him with the famous artists of antiquity - Zeuxis and Apelles. On January 25, 1504, the master was part of a commission discussing the choice of a place to install Michelangelo's David. The last four and a half years of Sandro Botticelli's life are not documented. They were that sad time of decrepitude and inoperability that Vasari wrote about. The artist died in May 1510 and was buried on May 17 in the cemetery of the Ognisanti Church, according to the records of the "Book of the Dead" of Florence and the same book of the guild of doctors and pharmacists.
Other works by Botticelli: “Madonna and Child” (c. 1466, Paris, Louvre), “Madonna and Child in Glory”, “Madonna del Roseto” (both - 1469-1470, Florence, Uffizi), “Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist" (c. 1468, Paris, Louvre), "Madonna and Child with Two Angels" (1468-1469, Naples, Capodimonte), "St. interview" (c. 1470, Florence, Uffizi), "Adoration of the Magi" (c. 1472, London, National Gallery), "Madonna of the Eucharist" (c. 1471, Boston, Gardner Museum), "Adoration of the Magi", tondo (c. . 1473, London, National Gallery), "Discovery of the body of Holofernes", "Return of Judith to Vetilue" (both - c. 1473, Florence, Uffizi), "Portrait of Giuliano Medici" (Washington, National Gallery), "Portrait of a Young Man" (c. 1477, Paris, Louvre), Madonna and Child with Angels, Tondo (c. 1477, Berlin, State Assemblies), Lorenzo Tornabuoni and the Seven Liberal Arts, Giovanna degli Albizzi and Virtues - frescoes of the Villa Lemmi (1480, Paris, Louvre), Portrait of a Woman (1481-1482, London, private collection), Adoration of the Magi (1481-1482, Washington, National Gallery), Pallas and the Centaur (1480-1488, Florence, Uffizi), a series of four paintings based on the story of Boccaccio's story about Nastagio degli Onesti (1483, three - Madrid, Prado, one - London, private collection), "Venus and Mars" (1483, London, National Gallery), "Portrait of a Boy" (1483, London, National Gallery), Madonna and Child (1483, Milan, Poldi Pezzoli Museum), Madonna and Child and Two Saints (1485, Berlin, State Meetings), Madonna and Child and Saints ( "Pala San Barnaba"), "The Coronation of Our Lady", "Annunciation" (all - c. 1490, Florence, Uffizi), “Portrait of Lorenzo Lorenziano” (c. 1490, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy), “Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist" (c. 1490, Dresden, Old Masters Picture Gallery), "Adoration of the Child" (c. 1490-1495, Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland), "St. Augustine" (1490-1500, Florence, Uffizi), "Slander" (1495, ibid), "Madonna and Child with Angels", tondo (Milan, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana), "Annunciation" (Moscow, Pushkin Museum), "St. Jerome", "St. Dominic” (St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum), “Transfiguration” (c. 1495, Rome, Pallavicini collection), “Abandoned” (c. 1495, Rome, Rospigliosi collection), “Judith with the Head of Holofernes” (c. 1495, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), four compositions on the history of St. Zenobia (1495-1500; two - London, National Gallery, one - New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, one - Dresden, Art Gallery of Old Masters), "Prayer for the Cup" (c. 1499, Granada, Royal Chapel), "Symbolic Crucifixion" (1500-1505, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fogg Art Museum).
Literature about Botticelli: Vasari 2001. Vol. 2; Dakhnovich A.S. Creativity Botticelli and eternal questions. Kyiv, 1915; Burnson b. Florentine painters of the Renaissance. M., 1923; Grashchenkov V. N. Botticelli. M., 1960; Botticelli: Sat. creative materials. M., 1962; Paslo D. Botticelli. Budapest, 1962; Smirnova I. Sandro Botticelli. M., 1967; Kustodieva T. K. Sandro Botticelli. L., 1971; Dunaev G.S. Sandro Botticelli. M., 1977; Kozlova S. Dante and Renaissance Artists // Dante's Readings. M., 1982; Sonina T.V."Spring" Botticelli // Italian collection. SPb., 1996. Issue. 1; Sonina T.V. Botticelli's drawings for Dante's Divine Comedy: Traditional and original // A book in the culture of the Renaissance. M., 2002; Ulmann H. Sandro Botticelli. Munich, 1893; Warburg A. Botticellis "Geburt der Venus" und Frühling": Eine Untersuchung über die Vorschtellungen von der Antike in der italienischen Frührenaissance. Hamburg; Leipzig, 1893; SupinoL I disegni per la "Divina Commedia" di Dante. Bologna, 1921; Venturi A. II Botticelli interprete di Dante. Firenze, 1921; Mesnil J. Sandro Botticelli. Paris, 1938; Lipmann F. Zeichnungen von Sandro Botticelli zu Dantes Gottlicher Komödie. Berlin, 1954; Salvini R. Tutta la pittura del Botticelli. Milano, 1958; ArgonG.C. Sandro Botticelli. Geneva, 1967; in C, Mandel G. L "opera completa del Botticelli. Milano, 1967; Ettlinger L. D., Ettlinger H. S. Botticelli. London, 1976; Lightbown R. Sandro Botticelli: Compi, cat. London, 1978; Baldini U. Botticelli. Firenze, 1988; Pons N. Botticelli Cat. compi. Milano, 1989; Botticelli e Dante. Milano, 1990; Gemeva C. Botticelli Cat. compi. Firenze, 1990; Botticelli. From Lorenzo the Magnificent to Savonarola. Milano, 2003.
Based on the article by T. Sonina
(Continued - series 1)
Sandro Botticelli (Italian: Sandro Botticelli, March 1, 1445 - May 17, 1510) is the nickname of the Florentine artist Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (Italian: Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi), who brought Quattrocento art to the threshold of the High Renaissance.
Self-portrait, not finished
A deeply religious man, Botticelli worked in all the major churches of Florence and in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, but he remained in the history of art primarily as the author of large-format poetic canvases on subjects inspired by classical antiquity - “Spring” and “The Birth of Venus”.
For a long time, Botticelli was in the shadow of the giants of the Renaissance who worked after him, until he was rediscovered in the middle of the 19th century by the British Pre-Raphaelites, who revered the fragile linearity and spring freshness of his mature canvases as the highest point in the development of world art.
Born in the family of a wealthy citizen Mariano di Vanni Filipepi. Received a good education. The nickname Botticelli ("keg") passed to Sandro from his broker brother, who was a fat man. He studied painting with the monk Filippo Lippi and took over from him that passion in depicting touching motifs that distinguishes Lippi's historical paintings. Then he worked for the famous sculptor Verrocchio. In 1470 he organized his own workshop.
He adopted the subtlety and precision of lines from his second brother, who was a jeweler. For some time he studied with Leonardo da Vinci in the workshop of Verrocchio. The original feature of Botticelli's own talent is his inclination towards the fantastic. He was one of the first to introduce ancient myth and allegory into the art of his time, and he worked with special love on mythological subjects. Especially spectacular is his Venus, who swims naked on the sea in a shell, and the gods of the winds shower her with a rain of roses, and drive the shell to the shore.
The best creation of Botticelli is considered to be the frescoes he began in 1474 in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican. Presumably Botticelli was an adherent of Savonarola. According to legend, already in old age, he burned his youthful painting at the stake of vanity. The Birth of Venus was the last such painting. Diligently studied Dante; The fruit of this study was the engravings on copper attached to the edition of Dante's Inferno (Magna's edition) published in Florence in 1481.
Completed many paintings commissioned by the Medici. In particular, he painted the banner of Giuliano Medici, brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent. In the 1470-1480s, the portrait becomes an independent genre in the work of Botticelli ("Man with a Medal", ca. 1474; "Young Man", 1480s). Botticelli became famous for his delicate aesthetic taste and such works as The Annunciation (1489-1490), The Abandoned Woman (1495-1500), etc. In the last years of his life, Botticelli, apparently, left painting.
In 1504, the artist participated in the commission that determined the place for the installation of the statue of David by Michelangelo, but his proposal was not accepted. It is known that the artist's family had a house in the Santa Maria Novella quarter and income from a villa in Belsguardo. Sandro Botticelli is buried in the family tomb in the Ognissanti Church (Chiesa di Ognissanti) in Florence. According to the will, he was buried near the grave of Simonetta Vespucci, who inspired the most beautiful images of the master.
1469 Sandro Botticelli Vierge a l "Enfant et deux anges Detrempe sur panneau 100x71 cm
1470 Sandro Botticelli Vierge a l "Enfant et le petit saint Jean Detrempe sur panneau 93x69 cm Paris, musee du Louvre
Spring, (between 1477 and 1478), Uffizi, Florence
Birth of Venus, (c. 1484), Uffizi, Florence
1481 Sandro Botticelli Annonciation Fresque detachee 243x555 cm Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi
Detail
Detail
1482 Sandro Botticelli Pallas et le Centaure dst 207x148 cm Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi
1482 Sandro Botticelli Vierge en adoration devant l "Enfant avec le petit saint Jean Detrempe sur panneau 95 cm
1497 Sandro Botticelli La Calomnie Detrempe sur panneau 62x91 cm Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi
1498 Francesco Rosselli Supplice de Savonarole Detrempe sur panneau 101x117 cm Florence, Museo di San Marco
1500 Sandro Botticelli Episodes de la vie de Virginie Detrempe sur panneau 53x165 cm
1500 Sandro Botticelli Repos durant la fuite en Egypte Detrempe sur panneau 130x95 cm Paris, musee Jacquemart
Fully
In Munich's Entombment by Botticelli, the angularity and some woodenness of the figures, which make one recall a similar painting by the Dutch artist Rogier van der Weyden, are combined with the tragic pathos of the Baroque. The body of the dead Christ, with his heavily fallen hand, anticipates some of the images of Caravaggio, and the head of the unconscious Mary brings to mind the images of Bernini.
In this work, Botticelli rises to tragic heights, reaches an extraordinary emotional capacity and laconism.
The artist used a Gothic iconographic scheme - the Mother of God with the dead Christ on her knees, skillfully inscribing the group into a multi-figured composition.
Depicted against the background of a rock with a dark cave entrance and a stone sarcophagus, all the figures of the scene lean towards its center, creating a tense inner field filled with their grief and the tragedy of what happened. Their restrained but expressive gestures, intense colors of the picture - all this makes an indelible impression of a high degree of dramatic spectacle.
Mary, grieving, embraces the body of the Savior, lying on her knees - a young beautiful body with perfect proportions, as if flickering with inner light. Attention is drawn to the fallen hand of Christ, this motif, used in medieval sculpture, thanks to Botticelli, has gained a new figurative expressiveness and will henceforth become an example of a rare success in the plastic completion of the image.
The first row of the composition is formed by two symmetrical bowed figures - two Marys embracing and kissing the head and feet of Jesus. Along the edges of the sarcophagus are the Apostles: on the left, Paul with a sword in his hands, on the right, Peter with the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Some researchers attribute it to the end of the 90s; according to others, this picture arose later, in the first years of the 16th century, just like the pictures from the life of St. Zenobius.
Botticelli's heartbreaking Entombment is contemporary with Michelangelo's early Lamentation (Pieta), one of the most calm and harmonious creations of the sculptor.
Caravaggio. Position in the coffin. 1602-1604 Pinacoteca Vatican
Before us is the body of Christ and 5 figures. His body from the side of the head is held by St. John. The youngest disciple of Christ. From the side of the legs, Nicodemus holds him. A resident of Judea, a secret disciple of Christ.
In a dark blue robe - St. Mary. She extended her hand to her son's face. Saying goodbye to him forever. Mary Magdalene wipes her face from tears. And the most distant figure is Maria Kleopova. Most likely, she is a relative of Christ.
The figures are very close. They are like a single monolith. Speaker from the darkness.
Of course it's a masterpiece. But what makes this painting so outstanding?
As we can see, the composition is interesting. But not original. The master used an already existing formula. Approximately in the same position of Christ was depicted in the early 16th century. And the mannerists * half a century before Caravaggio (1571-1610)
3. Realistic people
Caravaggio depicted Saint Mary at the age of 55. It seems that she looks older than her years because of the grief that befell her. Take a look at her face. This is not an old woman, as often referred to in this picture. This is a woman in her 50s, heartbroken.
Her age is realistic. This is exactly what a woman whose son is 33 years old could look like.
The fact is that before Caravaggio, Saint Mary was portrayed as young. Thus idealizing her image as much as possible.
Annibale Carracci. Pieta. 1600 Capodimonte Museum, Naples, Italy For example, Carracci, a bit of a founder of the first art academy, followed the same trend. His holy Mary and Christ in the Pieta painting are about the same age.
4. Feeling dynamic
Caravaggio depicts a moment when men are in great tension. It is difficult for Saint John to hold the body. It's not easy for him. He awkwardly touched his fingers to the wound on Christ's chest.
Nicodemus is also at the limit of his strength. The veins in his legs bulged. It can be seen that he holds his burden to the last of his strength.
We seem to see how they slowly lower the body of Christ. Such unusual dynamics makes the picture even more realistic.
Caravaggio. Position in the coffin. Fragment. 1603-1605 Pinacoteca Vatican 5. Caravaggio's famous tenebroso
Caravaggio uses the tenebroso technique. In the background is total darkness. And the figures seem to emerge from the dim light directed at them.
Many contemporaries criticized Caravaggio for this manner. They called it "basement". But it is this technique that is one of the most characteristic features of Caravaggio's work. He was able to maximize all its advantages.
The figures acquire extraordinary relief. The emotions of the characters become extremely pronounced. The composition is even more solid.
This style became very popular thanks to Caravaggio. Among his followers, the Spanish artist Zurbaran can be distinguished.
Look at his famous painting "The Lamb of God". It is tenebroso that creates the illusion of reality. The lamb, as if alive, lies before us. Illuminated by dim light.
Francisco de Zurbaran. Lamb of God. 1635-1640 Prado Museum, Madrid Caravaggio was a reformer of painting. He is the founder of realism. And “The Entombment” is one of his greatest creations.
It was copied by the greatest masters. Which also confirms its value for world art. One of the most famous copies belongs to Rubens.
Peter Paul Rubens. Position in the coffin. 1612-1614 National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa “The Entombment” is a very sad story. But it was precisely for such plots that Caravaggio took on most often.
I think it has to do with childhood psychological trauma. At the age of 6, he watched his father and grandfather die in agony from the bubonic plague. After that, his mother went mad with grief. From childhood, he learned that life is full of suffering.
But this did not prevent him from becoming the greatest artist. True, he lived only 39 years. He died. His body disappeared without a trace. Presumably, his remains were found only 400 years later! In 2010 year. Read about it in the article.
* Mannerists - artists working in the style of Mannerism (100-year era between the Renaissance and Baroque, 16th century). Characteristic features: oversaturation of the composition with details, elongated, often twisted bodies, allegorical plots, increased eroticism. Outstanding Representatives:
|Italy| Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio |1573-1610 | «The position in the coffin» | 1602-1604 | oil on canvas | 300x203 | Pinacoteca Vatican|
“Five stood on the edge of the grave pit in such darkness, against which the deadest night would seem like transparent twilight. They were surrounded by the black silence of stopped time.
Jesus said, "It's done." And, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth. And the sun faded. The darkness of timelessness enveloped these five people, and they lowered the sixth into darkness. They lowered him not only into the cemetery dampness of freshly excavated earth - they let him go into eternal oblivion and did not know that he would rise on the third day, they said goodbye to him forever. The young woman, like the other two, also Maria, spread her arms up and out to the sides. It is a gesture torn apart by a scream. A scream comes out of her mouth - why, she is on the verge of fainting - how her eyes rolled back. And the hair is disheveled: the mourner has just tormented it. The grief of young Mary is genuine, however, it is easier for her than for others: her grief finds an outlet in movements and sounds. Next to her, a little closer to the audience is Magdalene. Her tears are not visible, her face is half-covered with a handkerchief, which she, crumpled in her hand, presses to her eyes. Magdalena hides from the rest not crying, but her love, hopeless, helpless love, which was not manifested in a single word when he was alive, and which cannot be cried out or shouted out now. She has the features of a poor city dweller, she does not look like a converted sinner, she is young and healthy, but her beauty and youth have remained unnecessary. Fate gave her a useless gift, and now she will return it to nature, drying up in repentant prayers and vigils. And one more female face - the mother of the Savior. You can’t call her Madonna in any way - she is old. According to the scripture, she is no more than fifty years old, but here she is a seventy-year-old woman. Stabat mater dolorosa…- The grieving mother stood… It is strange: at first she seems calmer than others, but how much terrible grief is in this calmness. She does not hide her face, does not avert her eyes, cannot lose consciousness. With an endless last look, the mother absorbs her son into herself - his body, his mortal nakedness, the last seconds of this body on earth. If only her gaze could actually bring the filial flesh back into the mother's womb! Her lips move slightly, but Maria does not hear her own voice. She suddenly became decrepit, suddenly, in one day, and looking at the canvas immediately understands this. The cold blue stain of the cloak, thrown over the head over a white scarf, is darker and stricter than the deepest mourning. Two men are holding the body of Jesus. Young John, like the Mother of God, peers into his face. He's tense, wrinkles forming on his forehead. At such moments, young men turn into husbands. John's hand is slipped under the shoulders of Christ, he supports the dead flesh carefully, but clumsily: his fingers touch the wound on the ribs, that terrible wound from the Roman spear that ended the suffering of Jesus on the cross. John's red cloak drags along the ground, tangling underfoot, black shadows lying in its folds. Nicodemus, in a brown tunic just above the knees, stands out with the power of his stocky figure. He grabbed Christ's legs and closed the ring of hands under his knees. Alone of all, Nicodemus looks down into the hole. The muscles of this balding, not yet old man were swollen, the veins on his tanned legs were swollen; when you look at his efforts, you feel how much dead flesh is heavier than living. The body of Christ is bloodless, however, there is no cadaverous shade in its pallor. The colors of life left him, and sharply, clearly sculpted forms remained. This high chest, broad shoulders, strong hips and legs belong not to a preacher of the word, but to a wrestler, a muscular athlete. There is no peace in the upturned face, but there is no death grimace either. People are standing on a tombstone, pushed forward at an angle, it looks like the foot of a sculptural group, but it is a real tombstone, a hole gapes under it, it smells of dampness, and a fleshy cemetery flower grows at the bottom of the picture. The figures are written in full length, close to the very front edge; it seems that the elbow of Nicodemus and the sharp edge of the stone are about to break through the canvas. Light struggles with darkness, and in the struggle they create a special tangibility, their contrast is life-giving.
“It worked,” Caravaggio thinks, standing in front of his painting. The line outlining the group mournfully slopes down. The gaze, following this broken line, descends to the face of Christ, lingers on it, here is the focus of what is happening. And now this curve will continue and close the white, helplessly fallen hand of Jesus.
An excerpt from the novel by V. Klevaev “On the eve of a beautiful day. An unfinished novel about the Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Fact Publishing House, Kyiv, 2005)
