I am already used to the imposing sense of helplessness reemerging whenever I try to think up accolades for the masterpieces discussed on this website.The visual and technical grandeur of this painting (hanging in Toledo Cathedral, a magnificent Gothic monument — click here to see more explained photographs of Toledo Cathedral), described in numerous essays and books on El Greco (britannica full article), overwhelms, while the texts deal the final blow of futility. Blah…blah…blah. Let’s pretend I haven’t written anything yet and start afresh. The shocking red of the protagonist’s garment immediately forces the mood; color dominates the image unconditionally, with facial expressions following far behind, supplementing the psychological tension, and composition serving only a rudimentary purpose, as to not to interfere with the red solo. The latter’s explosive power is disproportionate to that of composition, marking palette as outright exotic and grotesque.
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This painting (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden) combines secular and earthly clerical elements with the divine in an ostensible theatrical interplay. The lid of the coffin of Pope Julius II forms the stage, while the tableau curtains are drawn apart to reveal the divine action. This hierarchical pastiche communicates the heavens to the devout in a known way: from the bottom of the painting — the church, along with its highest representative, — through the center, where the saints hover, — and to the top, where Mary with baby Christ on her hands treads the clouds. The myriad of seraphs in the background testifies to the transparency of the scene to both worlds, and its consequent significance to our existence here, as well as there. Perhaps the artist intended for every little alabaster face to find a counterpart in someone on the side of the beholder.
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This painting (hanging in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts) manifests a powerful classicist gist. The odd coloring of the babies, the musical instrument in the hands of one of them and the more obvious ancient architectural elements in the back, they all contribute to the thematic epochal dating. The flat hue of the children’s skin seems to have been imported from another era, and coincidentally echoes the more tinted ruins in the background. The lyre occupying the lower seated infant serves as a direct reference to deities preceding Christianity. But it would be incorrect to compare these babes with cupids or otherwise merry pagan seraphs from mythological Renaissance paintings: they demonstrate seriousness and gravity uncharacteristic of their classical counterparts. The somewhat angular, nearly grotesque composition acts as a neutralizing component, and carries the Christian message through; an exaggeration is needed to oppose, and prevail over the strong classicist motif.
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The Web Gallery of Art mentions that this piece, hanging in Muceo Nacional del Prado, is believed to had been painted by Raphael’s assistants. Though I am not in the position to contest this website or the specialists they cite, I would say that Madonna’s head and face seem very much Raphael, exhibiting the artists trademark movements and gestures. In fact, these features distinguish this work of art from the sheer multitude of similar images, where the saintly figure sits on a throne, surrounded by contextual visitors, apostles or other subordinate holy men and women. It adds a touch of that unique combination of sweeping calm and oblique concern simmering beneath the serene countenance. I would even go as far as suggesting that the mix may be translated into religious terms, respectively signifying the divine and the mortal principles. Raphael could have simply borrowed from the psychological realm to truthfully portray the clerical ideological one.
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Contrary to the previous Madonna we discussed, this one is poised against a vast landscape background, which supposedly should have undermined and diminished the intimacy of the scene in the foreground. But it is not so. Perhaps the opposite: the rather desolate meadows only emphasize the isolated coziness of the unfolding interaction between the three figures, as Madonna’s figure protects the holy babies from the outer world, serving as a safety barrier. But the background, containing a depiction of a city, adds tension, reminding the viewer of possible dangers, such as those awaiting Christ and John in populated areas where they would be tried in the future. By venturing outside the studio, Raphael confronted beholders with the uncertainties of real (more public) life and outlined the discrepancy between the worldly and the saintly. Respectively, spatial depth signifies a step towards emotional maturity and elaborates the devotional message, all the while demanding the same kind of growth from the observers.
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