G606
Venice
#5
Venice #5
Trade and Transformation in Venice
32.130.2
The Adoration of the Shepherds, Andrea Mantegna
Shortly after 1450
Hollandaise
Mantegna born in Isola di Carturo 1430/31, died in Mantua 1506
May commission by Borso d’Este, style seems responding to Netherlandish art in Ferrara.
Borso d’Este (1413-1471): First Duke of Ferrara and Moderna. Secured his titles from both Emperor Frederick III in 1452 and Pope Paul II in 1471.
Espagnole
In clothing tattered from years of labor
Virgin and Child depicted as portal between the natural and divine world: blue and gold robe extend into cloud filled with cherubs who sails around the newborn.
11.118
The Meditation on the Passion, Vittore Carpaccio
ca. 1490
Hollandaise
Old Testament prophet Job sitting on pseudo-Hebrew and across St Jerome wrote. A commentary on Book of Job.
Job: wealthy God-fearing man with a comfortable life and a large family. God discusses Job's piety with Satan. Satan rebukes God, stating that Job would turn away from God if he were to lose everything within his possession. God decides to test that theory by allowing Satan to inflict pain on Job. The rest of the book deals with Job's suffering and him successfully defending himself against his unsympathetic friends, whom God admonishes, and God's sovereignty over nature.
Veloute
St. Jerome painted before Christ; Christ’s right foot shortened to avoid overlap.
Madonna and Child with Saints Francis and Clare, Cima da Conegliano (Giovanni Battista Cima)
ca. 1510
Hollandaise
Conegliano: Provincia di Treviso, Comuni del Veneto
Francis and Clare were from Assisi. Clare, a noblewoman, drawn to Francis’s preaching; joined his order.
Building may be Basilica of Saint Clare Assisi
Painted in Cima’s late career, the work preserves Bellini’s 1480s style. No surprise a false Bellini signature was later added.
Cima
Three Saints: Roch, Anthony Abbot, Lucy
Center Abbot: patron of infectious disease
This may be for hospital Brothers of St Anthony
Roch: patron of victim of plague - point to a bubo on his leg
Lucy: patron of blind - illuminated lamp
Black pig: symbol of St Anthony
// Cima very good at animals and nature
Carlo Crivelli
MC
Symbols of good and evil throughout
apple and fly - sin
Cucumber and goldfinch - redemption and soul ??
One of Crivelli finest; Flemish influence
Background turbaned figures - mayb be Mamluks who controlled Jerusalem 1480s
Crivelli
Pieta
// a sob escaping Mary’s parted lips (Where??)
// St John Evangelist mirrors her wailing grief
// Mary M absorbs the cruelty of his wound, holding up his hand in front of an illusionistically rendered tomb
each strand of hair is rendered separately
Originally from a Gothic altarpiece that was considered Crivelli’s masterpiece (NGA L)
Marco Zoppo
Cento - Venice
Christ as the Man of Sorrow
// Hands overlap a parapet to establish a closer link with viewer-workshipper
possibly the crown of an altarpiece
Zoppo trained same studio as Mantegna in Padua, but spent most career in a Venice
One of most eccentric 15c Italian painter
// his wiry, sometimes contorted, but always expressive figures was much appreciated by humanists and patrons
Vivarini
Death if Virgin
St Lawrence and Stephen on either side
Landscape Barron left and green right - contrast death to life
Painted for the Certosa, Padua ; frame decorated with carved St Michael at top (where??)
Vivarini: From a painter family in Murano, he offers Venetian clients a more conservative style than that of Bellini - one influence by the linearity of Mantegna
Giovanni Bellini
M adorn Sleeping Child
Sleep as a reminder of eventual death and sacrifice
place on a ledge resembling an altar, doubles as a symbol of the Eucharist
Early work of Bellini - hard linear quality is indent to his brother in law, Mantegna, and Donatello (studied with in Padua)
Painting suffer a strong abrasive cleaning
Bellini
MC
parapet spectate from our everyday world
m draws us with her gaze
// a cloth of honor: a rich textile often displayed behind Mary has been pulled aside to reveal a distant landscape, where we witness the transition from dormant to verdant natures - metaphor for death and rebirth
dawn sky also a metaphor
Asymmetry composition: look ahead to the work of a Titian
Durer met Bellini in his 79s in his Venice visit: “ still the best in the art of painting”
Venetian frame of the period
\ Arabic floral on the frame
Mantegna
Holy Family with Mary M
inspire by Roman funeral relief - portray deceased family members as touchingly bonded together
For the Gonzaga Mantua
In distemper, unusual medium that is water soluble when dry