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Jacopo Bassano's Last Supper

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Jacopo Bassano's Last Supper Jacopo Bassano’s Last Supper (1542) NOTE THAT THE ESSAY REFERS TO THE ABOVE PHOTO Jacopo Bassano’s painting version of the The Last Supper presents an alternative approach to those of his contemporaries, while simultaneously incorporating various elements popular among the Venetian movement of his age. Though inspired from the older and more well-known masterpiece rendering of The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci, and despite the fact that Bassano himself was part of the Venetian School, his painting in a matter of speaking both steals and lets lie many aspects popular in this movement of artists. The Last Supper was painted as a typical oil painting with the same materials as the rest of the Venetian artists and painters of the 1800s; a small note may be made concerning the fact that Venice offered a moisture factor and thus required durable materials. An interesting note about the reaction to the colors of his masterpiece by 19th century artists may be mentioned to shed light concerning the materials and coloring of this piece. Thus, they painted over these original colorings with colors more suited to their 19th century aesthetic tastes. It wasn’t until a more recent restoration that Bassano’s shadings and lightings became apparent. This is important because lighting was a principle of the Venetian School, of which Bassano contradicted by molding his works to a heavier style of Mannerism. Many details are striking about this painting, especially in light of the painting, which inspired Leonardo’s version of this point in Christ’s life. In contrast to the linear, smooth lining and organization of the twelve apostles present in the masterpiece of Da Vinci, the artwork of Bassano expresses a more disorganized scene. It is a scene that can be argued in many aspects to conform more to the realistic approach of the fishermen’s gathering. However, as far as the realism of this painting, that was not by even the slightest degree to be the complete purpose of this work. Culturally speaking, this painting obviously does not accurately express the true appearance of the historic scene. The authentic chair and table are not reflective of Jewish culture in the 1800s, so it can be accurately stated that Bassano aimed for a slightly more symbolic meaning than a realistic portrait of this time in these thirteen men’s lives. Keith Christianson surmised this by saying “Bassano’s works can be called a prelude to the revolution of realism championed by Caravaggio… At the same time, Bassano is acutely aware of the expectations of style and his figures are always carefully posed.” To overview the disciples and Jesus from left to right, it is observable that two of the disciples in the top left corner of the painting are conversing between each other, the one farthest to the left wears a sort of iridescent pink and the other an emerald green. These two colors are commonly used throughout this painting. Both of these two illustrate the implied movement throughout this painting with their heavy gesturing motions. The two disciples below them are separated from each other. The bottom one who wears a pink top similar to one of the aforementioned characters converses not with the disciple in black above him, but discusses with the man in the slightly darker green top directly across the table. The pink shirted man’s stare and hand gestures are serious and somewhat bewildered, a theme common to the majority of the people in this scene. The man in the black above him, however, he speaks to no one. He sips from a cup of red wine without a glance at anything but the table. It is almost certain that this darker clothed man who stares downward into his drink is the betrayer himself, the disciple Judas Iscariot. An old man in tan clothing may be grouped in the same vicinity as these two, though he is set apart in some regards by his somewhat odd posture and by the knife held in his right hand. The next two, Jesus and the redheaded disciple seem to form the center of the painting. However, how Jacopo Bassano depicts this differs in manner of portrayal from his contemporaries, in that Jesus is behind someone and almost in the background, yet at the same time presenting great meaning and being part of the central focus point of the painting. Intriguingly, Jesus wears the same color of outer garment as Judas on top of his pink undergarment. The darkness of Christ’s hair highlights the heavenly light illustrated behind his head, a symbolic touch referring to his Divinity popular at the time. He stares surreally forward and fingers a platter with a lamb’s head on it, a symbolism of his being a sacrifice as the “lamb of God” for humanity. Now the redheaded disciple is interesting here. Staring down sorrowfully at the table, we see a less fisherman looking man without a beard, a striking standout from the rest of the men in this room. This is most likely the disciple John who was nearly always portrayed in a manner similar to this painting by other artists as a beardless, perhaps more boyish figure. Art critic, Lisa Shea, speculates that it is possible for this disciple to be a woman; however, this claim is practically false considering the background of the artist as well as the historical context of this scene depicted. Further to the right, the three next disciples are older looking, with one staring towards the left end of the picture. The other two seem to be conversing minimally while staring sadly off in contemplative gazes. One stares downward towards the ground. The other gazes somewhat in the direction of the viewer with the same sorrowful eyes. The other two farthest to the right of the painting display similar postures, with one staring downward and another who is obscured by him stares forward almost directly at the viewer, and as aforementioned, the bottom right disciple discusses with the one directly opposite to his person across at the table’s end. Some miscellaneous details include the water jar and basin at the feet of the disciples. These objects are references to Jesus washing the feet of his followers. The wine glass is shimmered through producing a red tint on the white tablecloth. As a quick comparison between Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper and Jacopo Bassano’s Last Supper, it is observable how the settings are different in these two works. Da Vinci paints the scene with the setting of an open building during the day. Bassano used nocturnal settings for many of his paintings, and for his version of The Last Supper, he employed the same aspect. Even though the room is presumably closed, the dark lighting gives a nocturnal feeling to the scene and also contributes to the mood of this image. The darker lighting highlights, in a manner of speaking, the dark time at this moment when Jesus foretells and declares that one of his disciples present at the table will betray him to the death for which he came to earth. Overall, the painting represents a Mannerist phase in Bassano’s life. However, the question to be asked may be what the Mannerist movement in Renaissance art was, as opposed to the current techniques in Venetian naturalism. Mannerism, according to artistic writer Shelley Esaak, is a term referring to the years ranging between the death of Raphael and the beginning of the Baroque period, which commenced around 1600. Ross Finnochio, a member of the Department of European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, states that Mannerism was dubbed with such a name due to the fact that the characters in such paintings were “mannered” to emphasize “complexity and virtuosity” which opposes it to Naturalism. The much later works of Michelangelo actually took on this artistic style, and the Venetian school also had what has been described by Shelley Esaak as a, “brief fling with Mannerism.” However, Ross Finnochio has referenced Andrea del Sarto as essentially the beginning of the movement, calling him the “first generation of Mannerist painters in Florence.” Yet, the Mannerist movement soon moved far beyond Florence. Approximated around the midpoint of the century is the time that it hit an upward trend in European artistic fashion. Ross Finnochio also names two painters and appoints them as representatives for much of the movement; he names Jacopo Tintoretto and Parmigianino as perhaps the main artists of this style. The Venetian school began approximately during halfway through the 15th century, thus around a half century before Mannerism. There were two families that were the overall pioneers of the movement. These families were the Bellini and the Vivarini. During these grand Renaissance times, Venice and Florence were both major cities in the art industry. As kings in their fields, these two cities reigned tremendous influence over the rest of European art. Thus, the Venetian School was by no means a small, un-influential sect of artists. Once these two families commenced this school, other artists began rolling in the dough so to speak, most especially with the arrival of their first extremely big name in the person of Giorgione, who himself ushered in Venetian painting in this century as well as inspiring many others, the likes of which include Titian, Lotto, and Tintoretto. According to Shelley Esaak, the Venetian school played a greater role than any other group of artists in their use of oil paintings as a medium for their prolific and popular works. Simply and pithily put, the main focus of the Venetian school was light.
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