Art & Critique » Religious

El Greco: Saint Martin and the Beggar

elijah — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:22:13 +0000

I think that (the painting hangs in the National Gallery of Art, Washington) the saturnine mood displayed by the faces seeps into the bodies, even that of the animal. The elongated, sinewy physique of the beggar appears to be melting, flowing downwards, as if unable to resist the gloomy sentimentality of the scene. The horse’s self conscious and inward gaze becomes the third angle of the imaginary triangle that connects the three pairs of eyes; its unsure, timid stamping accords with the general mood of a tense and meaningful moment. The artist employs an interesting, perhaps slightly ironic, compositional trick by placing the animal’s hind legs near the beggars elegant lower limbs (both are bony). This irony may be the only point of emotional rest in this painting, and it is not accidentally located at the lower part of the canvas, implying the hierarchy of comedy and more serious modes of psychic experience, manifested by those faces.

St. Martin and the Beggar

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Though it is obviously the physical weight and the shape of the armor that impedes the saint in his task, a broader symbolic interpretation suggests itself: the rich, secular and earthly (the ore used for making the plates literally being extracted from the ground) garments interfere with one’s progression towards holiness, as, for instance, was exemplified by St. Francis. Correspondingly, the protagonist is indeed depicted in the process of shedding his garb, cutting off a part of his robe in order to give it away to the naked beggar. The violence of the act clashes with the serene humility of the actors, generating electrifying atmosphere — the city of Toledo, depicted in the background, serves as the ground connection for this cycle, linking the two abstracts to a particular locale and providing an essential counterbalance.

View of Toledo, circa 159…

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The blue sky enframing the figures resembles very much a liquid threatening to drown everything in an engulfing cascade. It comes to mind that perhaps this is what the horse so urgently senses — animals being very in tune with upcoming changes in nature. Regardless, the cold (and to my mind somewhat repelling) hue creates a portending sense of uneasiness and unresolved tension, and even the blazing white color of the ungulate forces us to look away — or concentrate on the vision before us by overcoming emotional distress and making some sort of a spiritual achievement. In a way, this is a very personal communication of the artist’s faith, so intimate, it is difficult to continuously witness. Though it is clear what is about to happen in terms of action, the multitude of unfinished and impending things in terms of composition and palette casts an overwhelming sense of mystery and uncertainty — making this canvas a mesmerizing piece of art.

El Greco: The Burial of the Count of Orgaz

elijah — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:55:01 +0000

That’s a pretty odd sounding name. But let’s not hold it against the owner. Though, there is indeed something orgiastic in the happenings above the funeral, and I mean that in the strict formal sense, without any cynical attempts at blasphemy. The artistic confusion taking place in the celestial scene (the painting is located in the Church of Santo Tomé, Toledo) appears like the exact opposite of the appropriately grave conduct below: disorderly, joyfully inspiring, fantastical and fanciful to the point of being bizarre. There is great sense to such distribution of imaginative chaos and order; after all, the artist may have well witnessed analogous processions, and could have had the privilege of depicting from memory, whereas the only guide for the metaphysical scene above the physical one might have been only his fantasy. And as long as he stayed within the catholic doctrinal framework, pure invention was probably encouraged.

The Burial of Count Orgaz…

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Though I am only familiar with Spanish physiognomy from literary descriptions and television, I believe that El Greco tapped into the basic pattern of facial features of people inhabiting the peninsula. Inherently pale and dark-haired, the men depicted at the gathering look characteristically Spanish; it’s difficult to determine whether the melancholia is another intrinsic quality, or simply one emanating as the naturally resulting mood of the sombre event. The artist endows his actors with local physical peculiarities — this is a normally accepted strategy, perfected by Michelangelo, who used quarry workers as models for his sculptures and paintings. Viewers would recognize the type and connect more willingly with the image. In fact, the only obvious factor linking both scenes is the physical similarity: both saints and mortals possess resembling features.

The Burial of Count Orgaz…

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The broadness and scope of the ethereal part of the painting reminds me of Hieronymus Bosch’s large scale portrayals of heaven and hell. El Greco’s rendering similarly contains numerous independent activities that cohere harmoniously into a unified devotional vision. Bosch’s wild imagination has led him to somatic inventions, but of a kind that differed stylistically from those of the south-European: where the former preferred to transplant inanimate mechanical objects, the latter elongated the flesh of his painted subjects, making their torsos and limbs exceptionally mannerist — and beyond. I think that eventually there are two paintings on this canvas (read this Wikipedia article about the piece), and the joining is optional. The overall size (460 × 360 cm) plays the crucial dividing role: it is simply impossible to visually encompass everything, and the viewer will tend to observe the piece in line with the preordained separation.

Self Portrait, Detail fro…

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El Greco: The Holy Family (with Saint Anne)

elijah — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:05:44 +0000

The first thing I noticed about this painting was St. Joseph’s hand supporting the baby’s foot: Raphael’s invention in a different variation. The second was the strange looking clouds, the gape above the Virgin’s head serving as a halo. While these features differ significantly in their specificity, they may both index El Greco’s ability to convert, reinvent and subordinate ideas, for his own particular needs. The clouds, a background element, suddenly assume the utmost role of signifying sainthood, while Raphael’s gesture becomes reincarnated to involve a different actor, a man, standing behind Mary. I think that this is an essential quality of the artist, as it reveals broad intellectual capacity — something that I found convenient to write off as secondary to El Greco’s dominant emotionalism. It seems that after all the head and the heart are together in this ploy, without any preferences.

Holy Family, Madonna Feed…

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The third thing was the gradation of skin tones. Every face has its own distinctive shade; together they create a coordinated rhythm of color, further underlined by similar distribution of hue intensity of the robes. The darker the face, the darker the garment. Perhaps the purpose of the gradation was to suggest an hierarchy between the saints on the canvas. There is another interesting feature: the eyes are all blackened, as if masked in deep shadow. This choice of palette contributes to the sense of mystery, as we stand unable to decipher the innermost feelings of the saints from their eyes. In fact, pockets of black scattered throughout the image secretly impose an atmosphere of tension, enigma and vagueness. The colder blue and white of the sky balance it only to some degree, as the violent opposition of reds and yellows with the black sets the principal tone.

Holy Family with Saint Anne

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The composition also offers a series of clashes. There are several imaginary perpendicular angles (the fourth thing): between the head of St. Joseph and the baby’s body, between his arm and his foot, St. Anne’s head and the baby, the latter and Madonna’s breast, his miniature hand and her long, scissor-like fingers (intersecting only slightly off the center of the piece). Mary’s head, in another characteristically Raphaelian tilt, becomes the central axis of the configuration; in a superb harmony of design, the compositional device unites with the notional Christian concept. Despite the general two dimensional setting, foreshortened faces add just the amount of perspective and depth needed for the beholder to perceive the image relatively easily. Still the, the setting is evidently abstract and forces the viewer to higher realms of imagination and fancy. That was the fifth, though probably not the last, thing I noticed about this painting.

Holy Family with Saint Anne

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Holy Family with Saint Anne

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El Greco: The Disrobing of Christ (El Espolio)

elijah — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 20:12:42 +0000

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.

The Disrobing of Christ, …

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But that is not to say that composition is somehow ineffective. On the contrary, it interweaves harmoniously with the main concept of color, as a sort of adornment, or mounting (the rest literally encircle Christ) — and some may find such role designation difficult to comprehend (one interesting example would be the inquisition, which even jailed the artist for putting Christ in the center, instead of high above his tormentors). The effectiveness of the composition in this case equals a reduction of sorts. It is known that color appeals to the psychic perception, whereas composition and arrangement addresses the intellectual core. Perhaps the latter is irrelevant here: the central role of palette suggests that emotional response is more adequate than any mental processing. El Greco’s preference of unblended hues also indicates his aiming at the most primal emotions.

The Disrobing of Christ, 1577-1579

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Facial expressions, particularly that of Christ himself, complements the tragic atmosphere. His countenance is unusually serene in the midst of a bustle, the white complexion already radiating the divine light of sainthood — either of inner or outer source. The haughty, mocking physiognomy of the guard wearing the green robe, transported here along with some other biblical contemporaries, in the painterly tradition of combining the historical with the modern, is a direct opposite. Shadow covers his face, implying on the darkness of the force that moves him. The foreshortened worker in the yellow, below, appears fully engrossed in his morbid task, while the two females (the two Marys?) in the lower left part observe in apprehension. Finally, the armored man to Christ’s right, gazing in melancholia at the viewer, and the two nearly mad offenders behind them describe the emotional scope of the picture from one end to another.

Raphael: The Sistine Madonna

elijah — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 18:24:20 +0000

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.

Sistine Madonna, Painted …

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Raphael (read this Britannica article on the artist) includes two little angels as a comic relief to the grave scene, in the best of theatrical traditions. These two seem ungainly in comparison to the Madonna’s stately posture, but not repulsive: on the contrary, they appeal to the viewer in a sympathetic, familiar way (the reason for their incredible popularity, even separately from the Madonna), facilitating contact with the rest of the image. The humility of the saints becomes the next preparatory psychological step to be taken in order to confront Madonna herself — for she is truly formidable here, unlike Raphael’s usual depiction. She looks straight forward and down at the viewer, self-conscious and ecstatic, mystical and tragic, qualities underlined by the eerie light surrounding her frame.(Perhaps there is some similarity to Correggio’s use of light, or vice-versa.)

Detail of the Sistine Madonna, c.1514

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Christ’s expression is polar to that of the resting angels. He looks apprehensive, his eyes and pose betraying an almost adult awareness and seriousness. While the lower babes display boredom and impatience, Christ appears caught in the moment, aware of its significance for himself, in the future, and for the devout, in the present. In fact, he may be returning the gaze here, reflecting that of the viewers’ and deliberately engaging them. All of the mentioned qualities endow the painting with unprecedented intensity. The clarity of the composition (the symmetrical arrangement of the actors) and the modest but strategical use of color make the tension even more lucid and almost palpable, almost unbearable I would say. This is a stark departure from the artist’s previous tame versions, and it signals a shift towards more complex psychological interpretations.

Raphael: The Esterhazy Madonna

elijah — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:44:55 +0000

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.

The Esterhazy Madonna

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The backs of two of the actors turn ostensibly towards the ancient past, baby Christ being protected by Mary’s frame. This immanent gesture identifies the spiritual clerical perception of the devout beholder: deny and leave the heresy behind and fully accept the holy figures in front of you as the only true divinities and saints. Once again, Mary’s head unequivocally crowns the entire composition, as if to reaffirm her ultimate precedence over other religious heads, in both meanings of the word. There is another interesting observation to be made — she, as a woman, represents the continuation of life, in this case, the life of the Catholic faith. We witness her “fertility” in the form of two small children, playing busily beside her; the dilapidated, colorless structure behind her represents the sterility and inevitable degeneration. The painting becomes a playground for a theological dispute.

Sistine Madonna, Painted …

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Conceptually, this is an even more demanding piece. Raphael imports extraneous cultural elements, sets them off against Catholic religious characters and prompts the beholder to conduct the synthesis. Though the artist guides the viewers with palette, giving only the Madonna a fully colored outfit, the complexity of the overall design is undeniable. Additionally, a strange air of mystery transpires from the painterly surface; it could be the haunting blue of the sky, or the monotonous, light brown of the hills, encircling and perhaps threatening the main event. There is an air of notional abstraction, akin to that emanating from da Vinci’s Gioconda — it could be the result of the combination between the particular central images and the distant, both physically and psychologically background. And as it often happens, the mystery only adds to the appeal of the piece as a whole.

Raphael: Madonna with a Fish

elijah — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 22:36:03 +0000

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.

Madonna with a Fish (In t…

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If we go back to the formal — and imposing — element, I think it undermines the narrative by side-stepping, and consequently weakening it. This judgment makes more sense in comparison to later, more loose and original portrayals of evangelic narratives, performed, for instance, by Caravaggio — but this is an anachronism. In contemporary milieu of existing artistic norms, this rendering manifests perfection that we are accustomed to expect from the master. He did not innovate here, but he elevated the formula to the highest, possibly unprecedented level of execution, both in technical and psychological dramatic terms. The pairing of the angel guiding Tobias reflects some of the sweetness in the interaction between Madonna and baby Christ, both children, embraced by the divine figures, extending hands, though the former with notable assistance.

The Esterhazy Madonna

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The very clean composition accords harmoniously with the palette: the lower parts of the painting are rather vacant, and the colors are correspondingly desaturated; the higher we look, the more the color gains in intensity and tone. The richness of the curtain is almost opposite to the pallid stand before the throne. These features combined can be viewed as a painterly idiom for religious purification and awareness, starting below, slow and from scratch towards loftier realms of sacrifice, up to martyrdom (Christ) and heaven (Mary, later crowned the queen of heaven). Thus the bare stand serves as an invitation for the devout viewer to commence on a spiritual journey, much like the youth holding the fish did. Admirable is the lack of hysteria and the subtlety of the call for action, reflected in the tame and ruminative expression of the lion. Raphael confidently endows surrounding subjects with that remarkable sense of calm and composure that characterize all of his Madonnas.

Raphael: Madonna of the Meadow

elijah — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:05:59 +0000

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.

Madonna on the Meadow, 15…

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I think that this pastoral variant demonstrates more life, more blood and bone, if you will. The three actors literally have the chance to breathe and the children respond to their surroundings by engaging in some kind of a game, of religious symbolical meaning nevertheless. John kneels before baby Christ, simultaneously imitating a blessing with the cross, a foreshadow of what was to come (fundamental Renaissance artistic device). The intimidating landscape adds a touch of immediacy that finds a way out in the vague smile of the Madonna. Her nearly imperceptible frowning annuls that sign of content, and together they are synthesized into a thin but constant and unsettling sense of disconcertment, which comes to dominate the painting. Only the woman’s face conveys both the carelessness of the present and the torment of the future — and it makes perfect compositional sense that her head, surrounded by the heavens, presides over the land and sea.

Madonna with a Fish (In t…

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Three levels of color cohere into a complex, but clear-cut, classic pyramidal composition: the bleak background, Madonna’s bright dress and the nearly white skin of the babies. It seems that there is no precedence, and each palette level deserves the same degree of attention — what the background lacks in color it compensates for with scope. Thus, besides the religious meaning, we are presented with the universal concept of birth, maturation, and death. The ground would conceal the remains, hinting at the vacuum left by them with its bareness. To sum up, this image substitutes therapeutic qualities manifested in Madonna del Granduca with vibrant, life affirming characteristics, being more psychologically demanding. A broader, thematically more comprehensive piece, it immerses the viewers in the multiplicity of mental and devotional experiences, being at once more spiritually realistic and challenging.

Raphael: Madonna del Granduca

elijah — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:10:59 +0000

I wonder if Raphael’s Madonnas may bring about a therapeutic effect. I am not talking about religious sympathy that some will undoubtedly experience; it’s the pure psychological influence of calm and nervous relaxation that comes to mind. As mentioned in this Wikipedia article, art is known to provoke extremely powerful emotional responses. Could it be that Raphael transferred by his work the whole notion of art it as a catalyst of intense, even shocking psychic experiences to the contrary realm of soothing comfort? Had he found a new communication channel, which works on mental frequencies below the average, as to counter the hyper sensational waves that oscillate above? In the light of general recognition and admiration of the artist’s achievements, as well as the personal opinion of yours truly, these questions arise only as rhetorical, and the answer would surely be affirmative.

Madonna Del Granduca

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As fitting to therapeutic art, this painting portrays a miniature idyll. Unconditional and idealized motherly love is probably the most appropriate theme for healing purposes: something we all need, miss and hopefully experienced. The scene immediately moves the beholder back in time, where we were held just as tenderly and carefully. But these memories are the most difficult to reconstruct, and Raphael’s version may serve as a substitute, a universal image that fills in the blanks. The painting (the artist) works both as a time machine and as the setting to where it transports all those who use it — a director and an actor — a feat of which only few, as for instance the history of cinema shows, were ever capable (only Clint Eastwood comes to mind, though this is a conceptual comparison). It is fascinating to observe how Raphael reproduced this achievement, even after taking up larger, both in size and tackled themes commissions.

Madonna in the Meadow, 15…

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But lets talk more closely about this Madonna. Classic pyramidal composition welcomes the viewer; the two heads inclined in different directions provide just the necessary variety — and feed the interest by the slight dissonance they produce. The hand supporting the baby’s buttocks is probably Raphael’s invention, which he repeated several time later. This could be the most disarming gesture I have ever witnessed in painting. It’s interesting to see that despite the privacy of the scene, the woman indeed presents her child, which responds to the viewer in a characteristic grumpy demeanor, clutching the mother’s shoulder for safety. Colors are timid and restrained, just as the her expression, which nevertheless exudes quiet confidence. Once again, the piece conveys a particular religious meaning of wholehearted acceptance — but I would go for the universal, equally powerful effect.

Giotto, Virtues and Vices: Injustice

elijah — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:12:46 +0000

Injustice is the only clearly identifiable male figure among the allegories, wearing a distinct facial hair. His eyes are covered — he is blind, and this feature is characteristic to all of the vices at one level or another. Despair is dead altogether and her eyes are closed or downcast, Anger directs her head straight up, with her eyes also closed. Idolatry appears completely blind, Inconstancy and Foolishness look away, and, finally, Envy’s vision is blocked by the symbolical snake. I think that Giotto had imagined the eyes and the gaze as the primary body part and language communicator of human beings; since humans here represent vices, the artist covers and obstructs the windows to the soul to convey the allegorical message of spiritual blindness. In a way, this set of allegories may be considered as a study in psychology, which slowly but surely pushes the religious context out.

Injustice

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I really like the head gear of the vices: they are much more stylish, original and unusual than those of the virtues. I suppose that by choice of fashion Giotto wished to comment on how inventive people can be in moral faltering, as opposed to the single straight road that leads to virtue. Originality extends further to carefully, with evident premeditation, conceptualized compositions. They are intentionally unbalanced, in a kind of stylization of bad painting practice — a subtle mockery of incompetence, a trace of irony which adds to the general atmosphere of denunciation. I think that that sort of sophistication is necessary when depicting the “bad guys,” as one cannot just dress them in a gown that says “I am evil” — though, these scenes indeed wear the sign. Still, the heartfelt naivete of the virtues transforms into a calculated design, a modification akin to that of resulting from the tasting from the tree of knowledge.

Anger

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The allegory of Injustice boasts probably the most complex composition when compared to others. There is the illusory architecture; the double hooked staff and the sword, and the man’s reliance on them; the miniature forest, implying darkness and impenetrability (referring, as Anne Mueller von der Haegen, the author of my book, claims, to the quality of judgment); ultimately, the scene shown at the lower edge is the opposite of the one in Justice (the men are lying, fighting and dismounted). All in all there are several layers that testify on the significance of the theme by their mere multitude. The results of injustice, unlike in other moral defects, directly affect those involved, and hence the wider scope in painterly representation. Simply put, the opposite of Justice requires as much attention from the artist and the viewer. The vices can prove straining to look at, and perhaps intentionally so, — but to give justice to Injustice, it is the most attractive of them all.

Art & Critique » Religious

El Greco: Saint Martin and the Beggar

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El Greco: The Burial of the Count of Orgaz

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El Greco: The Holy Family (with Saint Anne)

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El Greco: The Disrobing of Christ (El Espolio)

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Raphael: The Sistine Madonna

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Raphael: The Esterhazy Madonna

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Raphael: Madonna with a Fish

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Raphael: Madonna of the Meadow

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Raphael: Madonna del Granduca

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Giotto, Virtues and Vices: Injustice

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