Bernini

Born in 1589, Bernini was a sculptor and architect in Rome.  He was a sculptor around the same level of talent that of Michelangelo Buonarroti.  Bernini sculpted many things throughout his life, and many of these sculptures were fountains.  One fountain in particular that he did is one that we saw on our Rome excursion.  This fountain is his Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, or the Fountain of the Four Rivers.  This fountain is located in Piazza Navona, in the center of the Piazza.  This fountain is that of a travertine grotto that needs to support an Egyptian obelisk.  The water flows from the grotto to the pool where there are four statues that symbolize four rivers from different continents.  These rivers include the Nile, Ganges, Plata, and the Danube River.  These statues are Baroque, in a reclined position, and their bodies twist in the typical style that baroque statues do.  I read in Gardner’s Art through the Ages that the Nile covers his face, to symbolize that they did not know the source of the river at the time, and the river Plata has coins signifying the fortune of the New World.  The statue symbolizing the Ganges is holding an ore, and the Danube is reaching up to the coat of arms of the Pope.  This fountain represents many things, of the continents of the world, and what comes of them.  It is beautiful, and very recognizably Baroque.  

Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers

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Tintoretto

                Tintoretto, born Jacopo Comin, was born in Venice in 1518.  He was the oldest or twenty one children, and Tintoretto’s father who was a dyer, or tintore, which gave reasoning for the nickname of Tintoretto, or little dyer.  Tintoretto ended up going to the Venetian School, where he learned his skill of painting.  After researching some of his works, I realized that I saw one of his paintings at the Louvre in Paris.  This painting is The Coronation of the Virgin.  I found it to be very pleasing to the eye in many ways.   This painting’s main subject is obvious to be the Virgin Mary, and it is the time in Christianity, where Mary is being accepted into the kingdom of heaven.  This painting has many subjects including bishops, saints, martyrs, and popes.  It is a beautiful painting in the way that it shows movement, and the audiences’ eye is able to skate across the canvas seeing everyone in heaven, with Mary at the highest point alongside Christ.  The scene involves her coronation, which is a beautiful moment in the stories of Mary’s life, and death.  This painting says a lot for how important Mary was in the story of Christianity.  This Baroque painting is very beautiful, with a lot of movement and color.

Coronation of the Virgin

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Giulio Romano

                                     Wiki commons: Self portrait Giuliano Romano

Romano was started out as one of Raphael’s students.  He was one that was very good at what he was learning from his teacher.  As Vasari states “there was no one who imitated Raphael more closely.”  This is a very important compliment from Vasari, because Raphael was one of the most impressive painters.  Giuliano was born in the end of the quattrocento, and died when he was middle aged.  Vasari tells us that Romano was so well liked by Raphael not only by his talent, but but his personality, confidence, and boldness.  He states that “one could not have loved him more had he been his son.”  His genius as a student was learning from his teacher some of the more difficult things in painting, like drawing in perspective, and to measure buildings, and work up plans.  Being such a good painter, once Raphael died, Romano was in charge of finishing paintings that were left unfinished.  This man was a great painter who was recognized by many for being able to paint so closely to what his teacher was able to accomplish in his own lifetime of painting.             

Michelangelo’s Pieta

            While in Rome, we had the opportunity to witness Michelangelo’s Pieta first hand.  Which is really the only way to see such a work of art.  This sculpture was finished in 1499, and is located in the massive St. Peter’s Basilica.  The scene of a Pieta is the Mary cradling Christ’s body after the crucifixion.  In this particular Pieta, sculpted out of marble by Michelangelo, it is easy to see that Mary is still young and youthful looking.  There are many points to this sculpture that show why Michelangelo was probably the most talented sculptors; like the way Mary’s clothes are draped. The drapery of Mary’s clothing, falls in such a natural way, it looks as though it could really be cloth.  What I find to be most interesting though, is Mary depicted as very beautiful and youthful, which seems to represent the significance she holds in Christianity, as the mother of the Messiah.  The detail that is entailed into this work of art is incredible; including the way that Christ’s lifeless body is sculpted.  Michelangelo captures the natural way that one could imagine Christ looked after he was crucified.  He looks as though he was starved, and his limbs are very limp.  Although no longer alive, the way that Jesus’ head is turned towards his mother’s body, it is easy to feel the love, and sadness that was felt.  In my opinion, this sculpture is an incredible feat, including so much detail, and capturing so much emotion.

Michelangelo's Pieta

St. Peter's Basillica

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Raphael

            Raphael was a different man in the way of the artists.  Vasari recognized that Raphael was not only a phenomenal painter, but a good natured person as well.  Reading Vasari on Raphael has been interesting because he states that Raphael’s had these attributes; “grace, study, beauty, modesty, and fine manners.”  These things he learned growing up in a loving environment with a loving father.  Raphael was a very studious artist, studying the works of Masaccio, Leonardo, and Michelangelo.  The things he saw in these artists’ works, “made him apply himself with great intensity.”  This quote appreciates the work it takes to become one of the four greatest artists of the Renaissance.  He was born with talent, but he had to study to make himself perfect what he wanted to do in life, which was art in different forms.  This is the interesting part of art, that Vasari really makes known, that people are not just blessed with the ability to create things like the fresco of the School of Athens; but that even the best artists of the Renaissance had to stick to studying as well.  Painting all throughout Italy was great for Raphael, who eventually was commissioned to do some works in the Vatican City, although he was not in the running to paint the Sistine Chapel, his works do not go unrecognized.  My favorite fresco that we saw in Rome is no doubt the School of Athens, which I have always just been attracted to.  It is a beautiful piece of art, and history showing many different scenes and people in one, simply a symbol of the genius of art that Vasari speaks about.

School of  Athens

Raphael

Vatican Museum

Photo: Cesilee Mazza

Michelangelo & Titian

Michelangelo

                 What is there to say about Michelanelo, other than that he was a very talented sculptor, painter, and architect.  He was born in the late quattrocento, so he began his work during the early cinquecento.  Of his many famous works, including his David, the Pieta, and his work on the Sistine chapel, one painting sticks out to me.  Now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Doni Tondo is a very beautiful painting.  It is in the style of Tondo, or circular work of art.  The subjects of this painting include the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and Christ the child.  Although this painting is of the Holy Family, it was most likely commissioned by Agnolo Doni, to honor his wedding or the birth of his first daughter.  Among the family, St. John the Baptist is there in a pool which could have been used to symbolize the baptism of Christ.  The way this painting was done includes the very popular subject of the “male nude” that Michelangelo has done in many of his works.  These nudes bring together the Pagan and Christian worlds together.  This painting a very beautiful painting that we learned about, and as a class were able to see in person at the trip to the Uffizi gallery.  The framework is very beautiful, including five heads that represent Jesus, two prophets, and two sybils.   The frame also depicts the coat of arms of both Agnolo’s family, and the family of his wife; Maddalena Strozzi. 

Michelangelo's Doni Tondo

Uffizi Gallery

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Titian

                Titian had followed, for a long time, the art of Bellini, but after sometime he changed his ideas.  After observing the method and styles of Giorgione, he as Vasari states, “abandoned the style of Giovanni Bellini.”  Giorgione had this ability to make paintings with softness, without first trying them on paper.  Titian was able to follow this and perfect it quickly.  After the death of Bellini, Titian worked to finish an incomplete scene that Bellini had left behind.  The changes he made were noticed, by the Senate who rewarded him with an office in the Fondaco de’ Teceschi.  This paid three hundred “scudi” each year.  Titian’s genius and understanding of art mostly included his understanding and talented use of color in his paintings.  He was recognized by many as a great painter.  One of the people he befriended in life was a poet named Messer Ludovico Ariosto, who once wrote in his Orlando Furioso “and Titian to whose mastery is due such glory that Urbino shares no more, and Venice shines no brighter than Cador.”  This is a compliment considering the way he states that the small town of Cadore is just as bright as Venice, because the wonderful painter Titian was from there.  There is no doubt that Titian was an amazing painter.

Titian

Self portrait

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