DOCSLIB.ORG

The Lost Painting: the Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece by Jonathan Harr

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Lost Painting: the Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece by Jonathan Harr The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece By Jonathan Harr Please use the following list of paintings as companion works to enhance the reading of The Lost Painting . Unfortunately, the Toledo Museum of Art does not have a Caravaggio in its collection. However, there are many works and artists in the collection that can illustrate and provide a better understanding of Caravaggio’s style and influence. The first two paintings illustrate the two major styles (Renaissance and Mannerist) preceding Caravaggio’s arrival on the art scene. These paintings are helpful in putting Caravaggio’s impact in context. 1) Lorenzo Costa (1460-1535) - The Holy Family , 1510 . Gallery 19 This is an example of High Renaissance art. The Renaissance occurred roughly from the 14 th -16 th centuries. Characteristics of this style include emphasis on precise and abundant detail and linear perspective. Take note of the: expression/placement of three main figures; the handling and level of detail of the background. 2) Francesco Salviati (1510-1563) – The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist , 1540 . Gallery 22 This is an example of Mannerism (about 1520-1580). A characteristic of this style is elongated proportions emphasizing a sophisticated, artificial aesthetic. How is the positioning of the figures different from Costa’s The Holy Family ? How is the background addressed? Mannerism gave new consideration to spatial relational and figural proportion on the canvas. Keep this in mind as you view the next paintings and transition into Caravaggio’s style. The next two paintings illustrate the influence Caravaggio’s style had on artists of the time. Caravaggio did not have students but followers called the “Caravaggisti”. Look for the hallmarks of Caravaggio’s style: intense naturalism, dynamic action, keen psychological observation, dramatic use of light and dark. 3) Valentin de Boulogne (1592-1632) – Fortune Teller with Soldiers , 1620 . Great Gallery This work was thought to be a Caravaggio from roughly the 18 th century until the early 20 th century. What do you see that would cause this painting to be mistaken for a Caravaggio? 4) Hendrick Terbrugghen (1588-1629) – The Supper at Emmaus , 1616 . Great Gallery Terbrugghen was partially responsible for introducing Caravaggio’s style to Northern Europe. Terbrugghen directly references Caravaggio’s The Supper at Emmaus (see placard to side of painting). What similarities and differences do you see between Caravaggio’s style and original painting, and Terbrugghen’s take on the story? The next two paintings are by artists referenced in The Lost Painting . 5) Artemesia Gentileschi (1593-1652/53) – Lot and His Daughters , 1636-38 . Great Gallery Her father was Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639), a peer of Caravaggio’s. Orazio’s style was influenced by Caravaggio and he passed this influence onto his daughter, as seen in her earlier work. With this work we begin to see the end of Caravaggio’s influence. His style is becoming out of fashion. How does Artemesia’s evolving style now differ from Caravaggio’s style? 6) Gerard van Honthorst ( ) – The Adoration of the Shepherds , 1632 . Gallery 24 This is “Gerard of the Night” – the mistakenly attributed painter of The Taking of Christ . Like Gentileschi, earlier in his career Honthorst’s style more closely resembled Caravaggio’s. What differences do you now see in his style as compared to Caravaggio’s? What similarities do you see to Gentileschi’s? Caravaggio’s influence is ongoing. The next two items encourage you to observe and discuss how Caravaggio’s style has informed artists through the centuries. 7) Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) – Man in a Fur-Lined Coat , 1655-60 . Rembrandt is well noted for the psychological depth he created in his paintings. What other similarities do you see to Caravaggio? 8) Frank Stella (1936 - ) – Irregular Polygons TMA exhibit Frank Stella cites Caravaggio as an influence in his approach to the concept of space in his works. Caravaggio pushed the spatial boundaries of the canvas, creating the effect of figures leaving the picture plane and entering the space of the viewer. How does Stella’s work, as shown in the Irregular Polygons exhibit, display a similar effect? Edited by: Jeanne Rudski, TMA Docent, 2011 .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Italian High Renaissance (Florence and Rome, 1495-1520)
    The Italian High Renaissance (Florence and Rome, 1495-1520) The Artist as Universal Man and Individual Genius By Susan Behrends Frank, Ph.D. Associate Curator for Research The Phillips Collection What are the new ideas behind the Italian High Renaissance? • Commitment to monumental interpretation of form with the human figure at center stage • Integration of form and space; figures actually occupy space • New medium of oil allows for new concept of luminosity as light and shadow (chiaroscuro) in a manner that allows form to be constructed in space in a new way • Physiological aspect of man developed • Psychological aspect of man explored • Forms in action • Dynamic interrelationship of the parts to the whole • New conception of the artist as the universal man and individual genius who is creative in multiple disciplines Michelangelo The Artists of the Italian High Renaissance Considered Universal Men and Individual Geniuses Raphael- Self-Portrait Leonardo da Vinci- Self-Portrait Michelangelo- Pietà- 1498-1500 St. Peter’s, Rome Leonardo da Vinci- Mona Lisa (Lisa Gherardinidi Franceso del Giacondo) Raphael- Sistine Madonna- 1513 begun c. 1503 Gemäldegalerie, Dresden Louvre, Paris Leonardo’s Notebooks Sketches of Plants Sketches of Cats Leonardo’s Notebooks Bird’s Eye View of Chiana Valley, showing Arezzo, Cortona, Perugia, and Siena- c. 1502-1503 Storm Breaking Over a Valley- c. 1500 Sketch over the Arno Valley (Landscape with River/Paesaggio con fiume)- 1473 Leonardo’s Notebooks Studies of Water Drawing of a Man’s Head Deluge- c. 1511-12 Leonardo’s Notebooks Detail of Tank Sketches of Tanks and Chariots Leonardo’s Notebooks Flying Machine/Helicopter Miscellaneous studies of different gears and mechanisms Bat wing with proportions Leonardo’s Notebooks Vitruvian Man- c.
    [Show full text]
  • ART 486 / 586 Baroque Art Fall 2018
    ART 486 / 586 Baroque Art fall 2018 Instructor: Jill Carrington [email protected] tel. 468-4351; Office 117 Office hours: MWF 11:00 - 11:30, MW 4:00 – 5:00; TR after class until noon, TR 4:00 – 5:00 other times by appt. Class meets TR 9:30 – 10:45 in the Art History Room 106 in the Art Annex Building. Course description: European art from 1600 to 1750. Prerequisites: 6 hours in art including ART 281, 282 or the equivalent in history. Program Learning Outcomes (for art history majors, of which there are none in the class) 1. Foundation Skills 2. Interpretative Skills 3. Research Skills Undergraduate students will conduct art historical research involving logical and insightful analysis of secondary literature. Category: Embedded course assignment (research paper) Text: Ann Sutherland Harris, Seventeenth Century Art and Architecture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, Prentice Hall, 2e, 2008 or 1e, 2005. One copy of the 1e is on four-hour reserve in Steen Library. Used copies of the both 1e and 2e are available online; for example, on Aug. 22 there were 3 used copies of the 1st ed in acceptable condition for less than $7.19 or 7.23 and one good for $11.98 on bookfinder.com. I don’t require you to buy the book; however, you may want your own copy or share one at exam times. Work schedule: A. 2 non-comprehensive quizzes identifying works and terms, collectively worth 20% if higher than other work, 10% if lower. The extra 5% will count toward other work with the highest grade.
    [Show full text]
  • Interiors and Interiority in Vermeer: Empiricism, Subjectivity, Modernism
    ARTICLE Received 20 Feb 2017 | Accepted 11 May 2017 | Published 12 Jul 2017 DOI: 10.1057/palcomms.2017.68 OPEN Interiors and interiority in Vermeer: empiricism, subjectivity, modernism Benjamin Binstock1 ABSTRACT Johannes Vermeer may well be the foremost painter of interiors and interiority in the history of art, yet we have not necessarily understood his achievement in either domain, or their relation within his complex development. This essay explains how Vermeer based his interiors on rooms in his house and used his family members as models, combining empiricism and subjectivity. Vermeer was exceptionally self-conscious and sophisticated about his artistic task, which we are still laboring to understand and articulate. He eschewed anecdotal narratives and presented his models as models in “studio” settings, in paintings about paintings, or art about art, a form of modernism. In contrast to the prevailing con- ception in scholarship of Dutch Golden Age paintings as providing didactic or moralizing messages for their pre-modern audiences, we glimpse in Vermeer’s paintings an anticipation of our own modern understanding of art. This article is published as part of a collection on interiorities. 1 School of History and Social Sciences, Cooper Union, New York, NY, USA Correspondence: (e-mail: [email protected]) PALGRAVE COMMUNICATIONS | 3:17068 | DOI: 10.1057/palcomms.2017.68 | www.palgrave-journals.com/palcomms 1 ARTICLE PALGRAVE COMMUNICATIONS | DOI: 10.1057/palcomms.2017.68 ‘All the beautifully furnished rooms, carefully designed within his complex development. This essay explains how interiors, everything so controlled; There wasn’t any room Vermeer based his interiors on rooms in his house and his for any real feelings between any of us’.
    [Show full text]
  • The Virtuoso of Compassion Ingrid D
    The Virtuoso of Compassion Ingrid D. Rowland MAY 11, 2017 ISSUE The Guardian of Mercy: How an Extraordinary Painting by Caravaggio Changed an Ordinary Life Today by Terence Ward Arcade, 183 pp., $24.99 Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, October 7, 2016–January 22, 2017; and the Musée du Louvre, Paris, February 20–May 22, 2017 Catalog of the exhibition by Annick Lemoine and Keith Christiansen Metropolitan Museum of Art, 276 pp., $65.00 (distributed by Yale University Press) Beyond Caravaggio an exhibition at the National Gallery, London, October 12, 2016–January 15, 2017; the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, February 11–May 14, 2017 Catalog of the exhibition by Letizia Treves and others London: National Gallery, 208 pp., $40.00 (distributed by Yale University Press) The Seven Acts of Mercy a play by Anders Lustgarten, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon- Avon, November 24, 2016–February 10, 2017 Caravaggio: The Seven Acts of Mercy, 1607 Pio Monte della Misericordia, Naples Two museums, London’s National Gallery and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, mounted exhibitions in the fall of 2016 with the title “Beyond Caravaggio,” proof that the foul-tempered, short-lived Milanese painter (1571–1610) still has us in his thrall. The New York show, “Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio,” concentrated its attention on the French immigrant to Rome who became one of Caravaggio’s most important artistic successors. The National Gallery, for its part, ventured “beyond Caravaggio” with a choice display of Baroque paintings from the National Galleries of London, Dublin, and Edinburgh as well as other collections, many of them taken to be works by Caravaggio when they were first imported from Italy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Symbolism of Blood in Two Masterpieces of the Early Italian Baroque Art
    The Symbolism of blood in two masterpieces of the early Italian Baroque art Angelo Lo Conte Throughout history, blood has been associated with countless meanings, encompassing life and death, power and pride, love and hate, fear and sacrifice. In the early Baroque, thanks to the realistic mi of Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi, blood was transformed into a new medium, whose powerful symbolism demolished the conformed traditions of Mannerism, leading art into a new expressive era. Bearer of macabre premonitions, blood is the exclamation mark in two of the most outstanding masterpieces of the early Italian Seicento: Caravaggio's Beheading a/the Baptist (1608)' (fig. 1) and Artemisia Gentileschi's Judith beheading Halo/ernes (1611-12)2 (fig. 2), in which two emblematic events of the Christian tradition are interpreted as a representation of personal memories and fears, generating a powerful spiral of emotions which constantly swirls between fiction and reality. Through this paper I propose that both Caravaggio and Aliemisia adopted blood as a symbolic representation of their own life-stories, understanding it as a vehicle to express intense emotions of fear and revenge. Seen under this perspective, the red fluid results as a powerful and dramatic weapon used to shock the viewer and, at the same time, express an intimate and anguished condition of pain. This so-called Caravaggio, The Beheading of the Baptist, 1608, Co-Cathedral of Saint John, Oratory of Saint John, Valletta, Malta. 2 Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith beheading Halafernes, 1612-13, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples. llO Angelo La Conte 'terrible naturalism'3 symbolically demarks the transition from late Mannerism to early Baroque, introducing art to a new era in which emotions and illusion prevail on rigid and controlled representation.
    [Show full text]
  • Janson. History of Art. Chapter 16: The
    16_CH16_P556-589.qxp 12/10/09 09:16 Page 556 16_CH16_P556-589.qxp 12/10/09 09:16 Page 557 CHAPTER 16 CHAPTER The High Renaissance in Italy, 1495 1520 OOKINGBACKATTHEARTISTSOFTHEFIFTEENTHCENTURY , THE artist and art historian Giorgio Vasari wrote in 1550, Truly great was the advancement conferred on the arts of architecture, painting, and L sculpture by those excellent masters. From Vasari s perspective, the earlier generation had provided the groundwork that enabled sixteenth-century artists to surpass the age of the ancients. Later artists and critics agreed Leonardo, Bramante, Michelangelo, Raphael, Giorgione, and with Vasari s judgment that the artists who worked in the decades Titian were all sought after in early sixteenth-century Italy, and just before and after 1500 attained a perfection in their art worthy the two who lived beyond 1520, Michelangelo and Titian, were of admiration and emulation. internationally celebrated during their lifetimes. This fame was For Vasari, the artists of this generation were paragons of their part of a wholesale change in the status of artists that had been profession. Following Vasari, artists and art teachers of subse- occurring gradually during the course of the fifteenth century and quent centuries have used the works of this 25-year period which gained strength with these artists. Despite the qualities of between 1495 and 1520, known as the High Renaissance, as a their births, or the differences in their styles and personalities, benchmark against which to measure their own. Yet the idea of a these artists were given the respect due to intellectuals and High Renaissance presupposes that it follows something humanists.
    [Show full text]
  • The Representation of Roma in Major European Museum Collections
    The Council of Europe is a key player in the fight to respect THE REPRESENTATION OF ROMA the rights and equal treatment of Roma and Travellers. As such, it implements various actions aimed at combating IN MAJOR EUROPEAN discrimination: facilitating the access of Roma and Travellers to public services and justice; giving visibility to their history, MUSEUM COLLECTIONS culture and languages; and ensuring their participation in the different levels of decision making. Another aspect of the Council of Europe’s work is to improve the wider public’s understanding of the Roma and their place in Europe. Knowing and understanding Roma and Travellers, their customs, their professions, their history, their migration and the laws affecting them are indispensable elements for interpreting the situation of Roma and Travellers today and understanding the discrimination they face. This publication focuses on what the works exhibited at the Louvre Museum tell us about the place and perception of Roma in Europe from the15th to the 19th centuries. Students aged 12 to 18, teachers, and any other visitor to the Louvre interested in this theme, will find detailed worksheets on 15 paintings representing Roma and Travellers and a booklet to foster reflection on the works and their context, while creating links with our contemporary perception of Roma and Travellers in today’s society. 05320 0 PREMS ENG The Council of Europe is the continent’s leading human rights organisation. It comprises 47 member Volume I – The Louvre states, including all members of the European Union. Sarah Carmona All Council of Europe member states have signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights, a treaty designed to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
    [Show full text]
  • The Arts Thrive Here
    Illustrated THE ARTS THRIVE HERE Art Talks Vivian Gordon, Art Historian and Lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will present the following: REMEMBERING BIBLICAL WOMEN ARTISTS IN THEIR STUDIOS Monday, April 13, at 1PM Wednesday, May 20, at 1PM Feast your eyes on some of the most Depicting artists at work gives insight into the beautiful paintings ever. This illustrated talk will making of their art as well as their changing status examine how and why biblical women such as in society.This visual talk will show examples Esther, Judith, and Bathsheba, among others, from the Renaissance, the Impressionists, and were portrayed by the “Masters.” The artists Post-Impressionists-all adding to our knowledge to be discussed include Mantegna, Cranach, of the nature of their creativity and inspiration. Caravaggio, Rubens, and Rembrandt. FINE IMPRESSIONS: CAILLEBOTTE, SISLEY, BAZILLE Monday, June 15, at 1PM This illustrated lecture will focus on the work of three important (but not widely known) Impressionist painters. Join us as Ms. Gordon introduces the art, lives and careers of these important fi gures in French Impressionist art. Ines Powell, Art Historian and Educator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will present the following: ALBRECHT DURER and HANS HOLBEIN the ELDER Thursday, April 23, at 1PM Unequaled in his artistic and technical execution of woodcuts and engravings, 16th century German artist Durer revolutionized the art world, exploring such themes as love, temptation and power. Hans Holbein the Elder was a German painter, a printmaker and a contemporary of Durer. His works are characterized by deep, rich coloring and by balanced compositions.
    [Show full text]
  • Of Painting and Seventeenth-Century
    Concerning the 'Mechanical' Parts of Painting and the Artistic Culture of Seventeenth-CenturyFrance Donald Posner "La representation qui se fait d'un corps en trassant making pictures is "mechanical" in nature. He understood simplement des lignes, ou en meslant des couleurs, est proportion, color, and perspective to be mere instruments in consider6e comme un travail m6canique." the service of the painter's noble science, and pictorial --Andre F61ibien, Confirences de l'Acadimie Royale de Pezn- elements such as the character of draftsmanship or of the ture et de Sculpture, Paris, 1668, preface (n.p.). application of paint to canvas did not in his view even warrant notice-as if they were of no more consequence in les Connoisseurs, ... avoir veus "... apr6s [les Tableaux] judging the final product than the handwriting of an author d'une distance s'en en raisonnable, veiiillent approcher setting out the arguments of a philosophical treatise.3 Paint- suite pour en voir l'artifice." ers who devoted their best efforts to the "mechanics of the de Conversations sur connoissance de la -Roger Piles, la art" were, he declared, nothing more than craftsmen, and 300. peinture, Paris, 1677, people who admired them were ignorant.4 Judging from Chambray's text, there were a good many A of Champion French Classicism and His Discontents ignorant people in France, people who, in his view seduced ca. 1660 by false fashion, actually valued the display of mere craftsman- In Roland Freart de his 1662 Chambray published IdMede la ship. Chambray expresses special
    [Show full text]
  • No, Not Caravaggio
    2 SEPTEMBER2018 I valletta 201 a NO~ NOT CARAVAGGIO Crowds may flock to view Caravaggio's Beheading of StJohn another artist, equally talented, has an even a greater link with-Valletta -Mattia Preti. n 1613, in the small town of Taverna, in Calabria, southern Italy, a baby boy was born who would grow up to I become one of the world's greatest and most prolific artists of his time and to leave precious legacies in Valletta and the rest of Malta. He is thought to have first been apprenticed to Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, who was known as a follower and admirer of Caravaggio. His brother, Gregorio, was also a painter and painted an altarpiece for the Chapel of . the world designed and built by Preti, sometime in the 1620s Preti joined.him in the Langue of Aragon, Preti offered to do and no fewer than seven of his paintings Rome. · more wor1< on the then new and very, hang within it. They include the There he grasped Caravaggio's bareSt John's Co-Cathedral. Grand monumental titular painting and others techniques and those of other famous Master Raphael Cotoner accepted his which fit perfectly in the architecturally and popular artists of the age, including offer·and commissioned him to decorate designed stone alcoves he created for Rubens and Giovanni Lanfranco. the whole vaulted ceiling. The them. Preti spent time in Venice between 1644 magnificent scenes from the life of St In keeping with the original need for and 1646 taking the chance to observe the John took six years and completely the church, the saints in the images are all opulent Venetian styles and palettes of transformed the cathedral.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Compare and Contrast the High Renaissance Period with the Baroque Period
    Preliminary Handout: David and Goliath Summarize the story of David and Goliath: How is David significant in Medici Florence? High Renaissance Period The Baroque Period Dates of the period: Dates of the period: Locations: Locations: Influences on the period: Influences on the period: Stylistic Characteristics: Stylistic Characteristics: Compare Donatello's David, Michelangelo's David, and Bernini’s David Donatello's David Michelangelo's David Bernini’s David Date Period Material Height Nude? Contrapposto? Moment in story: David represents... Original location: Stylistic Characteristics: Short Answer Essays: Please write a concise paragraph essay answering each of the questions below. You will work in groups and do a short two-minute presentation to the class on one question. 1. Compare and contrast the High Renaissance period with the Baroque period. What are the important influences and stylistic differences? 2. What are the primary defining elements of Italian Baroque sculpture and architecture? Select one Baroque sculpture and one Baroque building in Italy and discuss how they exemplify the style. 3. Compare and contrast Donatello, Michelangelo, and Bernini's David. How does each work embody the stylistic principles of its age? 4. Describe Bernini's Apollo and Daphne. What moment does it depict in Ovid's myth? Why would the Church approve of such a work? 5. How has Bernini drawn from his knowledge of theater, writing plays, and producing stage designs to create an emotionally dramatic experience for worshipers that involve architecture, sculpture, and painting at the Cornaro chapel? 6. How is Gianlorenzo Bernini’s work typical of the Baroque period? Give several examples of his work that support your answer.
    [Show full text]
  • Jusepe De Ribera and the Dissimulation of Sight
    Jusepe de Ribera and the Dissimulation of Sight Paper abstract Itay Sapir, Italian Academy, Fall 2011 My overarching research program discusses seventeenth-century Central Italian painting as the site of epistemological subversion. In the Italian Academy project, the contribution of the Hispano-Neapolitan painter Jusepe/José de Ribera to the treatment of these issues will be analyzed. Early in his career, in his Roman years, Ribera was one of the most direct followers of Caravaggio; however, later on he evolved into a fully individual artistic personality, and developed further some of Caravaggio’s innovations. Most current research on Ribera concentrates on filling in the lacunae in the artist’s biography, on describing the change of style that arguably occurred around 1635 from darker, “naturalist” paintings to a more idealistic, classical style, and on discussing Ribera’s confused “national” character as a Spanish- born artist working in Spanish-ruled Naples to patrons both Spanish and Italian. My project will attempt to interpret Ribera’s art in terms of its epistemological stance on questions of sensorial perception, information transmission and opaque mimesis. Iconographical depictions of the senses are a convenient starting point, but I would like to show how Ribera’s pictorial interest in these issues can be detected even in works whose subject matter is more diverse. Some specific points of interest: Ribera’s depiction of figures’ eyes, often covered with thick shadows and thus invisible to the spectator’s gaze and complicating the visual network within the diegetic space of the work; sustained interest in sight deficiencies; and emphasis on haptic elements such as skin teXtures.
    [Show full text]