Images of Istanbul: Beyoglou – Εικονες της Κωνσταντινουπολης, Μερος Πρωτο: Περα

Ο Τάϊβ συνεχιζει την προσπαθεια και μεσα στην ολη αυτη διαδικασια, που εισαι και δεν εισαι, ανεσυρα απο το ερμαριο τις φωτογραφιες που ειχα βγαλει σε μια ανοιξιατικη επισκεψη στην Κωνσταντινουπολη και επελεξα μερικες για την αναρτηση αυτη που θα εχει δυο μερη.

Μερικες βδομαδες πριν ειχα αναρτησει φωτογραφιες με χρωματα κι αρωματα, εστιαζοντας στη γαστρονομια. Σημερα ο τονος αλλαζει, εστιαζω στο αστικο τοπιο αλλα και το θρησκευτικο.

golden_horn_view

Η Κωνσταντινουπολη ειναι μια τεραστια πολη, με πανω απο 15 εκατομμυρια κατοικους. Η εσωτερικη μεταναστευση αυξανει συνεχεια τον πληθυσμο. Ειναι μια πολη αντιθεσεων, μπορεις να βρεις τα πιο συγχρονα κτιρια και εγκαταστασεις, αλλα και σχεδον πρωτογονα.

Ξεκιναω το πρωτο μερος με μια βολτα στην παληα ελληνικη γειτονια της Περα που σημερα λεγεται Μπειογλου και θα κατηφορισω αργοτερα για να περασω απεναντι στη δυτικη μερια  στο Σουλταναχμετ. Αυτο θα ειναι το δευτερο μερος.

building

Η Περα στις αρχες του 20 αιωνα εσφιζε απο ζωη και η αρχιτεκτονικη της ηταν επηρρεασμενη εντονα απο τη Δυση.

Ακομα και σημερα η γειτονια συγκεντρωνει πολλες φυλες και εθνοτητες, και ειναι γεματη χριστιανικες εκκλησιες και συναγωγες, κατι που δεν βλεπεις σε αλλες περιοχες της Πολης.

ruinplus

Η κυρια οδος που διασχιζει την Περα οδηγει στην πλατεια Ταξιμ και εχει απολα.

entrance

Μεγαλοπρεπες κατοικιες και κτιρια, που αλλα ειναι στην τριχα, και αλλα ειναι για κατεδαφιση. Αυτη η συνυπαρξη ειναι το χαρακτηριστικο της γειτονιας.

sokakΚαι σοκακια, πολλα σοκακια, απο δω κι εκει, που χανεσαι και δεν ξαναγυρνας.

fountainΚαι σχεδον κρυμμενοι, οι κρουνοι με τα μαρμαρα και τα καλλιτεχνηματα!

gateΣτα ενυπωσιακα κτηρια, υπαρχουν πυλες με καλα δουλεμενα σχεδια και επιγραφες.

BuilldingΠολλοι δρομοι ειναι γεματοι με κτηρια με αυτο το στυλ απο τον 19 αιωνα.

dishesΛιγο παραδιπλα βλεπεις αυτο και συνειδητοποιεις οτι στη γειτονια συνυπαρχουν εποχες, ταξεις οικονομικες, εθνοτητες διαφορετικες.

monumnet_taksim_squareΗ πλατεια Ταξιμ ειναι το συγχρονο κεντρο της πολης, με το μνημειο αυτο να δεσποζει και να θυμιζει στους επισκεπτες οτι η Τουρκια ειναι δημιουργημα του Ατατουρκ.

taksimsquareΣτα συνορα της πλατειας, σε αποσταση αναπνοης απο το μνημειο του Ατατουρκ, ακομα μια χριστιανικη εκκλησια μεσα στις τοσες και τοσες!

streetmusicΚατηφοριζοντας στον κεντρικο δρομο πεφτω πανω σε μουσικους. Ο ηχος ειναι μελαγχολικος και τρυφερος.

goldenhornsunsetΗ μερα τελειωσε. Μαζι της και το πρωτο μερος.

Ανασταση (Resurrection)

Σημερα γιορταζουμε την Ανασταση στην Ορθοδοξη Εκκλησια και θελω να μοιραστω μαζι σας την καλυτερη απεικονιση της Αναστασης ολων των εποχων. Στις προηγουμενες αναρτησεις για την Σταυρωση και την Αποκαθηλωση η προτιμηση μου στραφηκε στη Δυση, με την Ανασταση γυρναω στην Ανατολη, και δη την Βασιλευουσα Πολη.

Στην Μονη της Χωρας, στην Κωνσταντινουπολη υπαρχει η ωραιοτερη απεικονιση της Αναστασης που εχω δει ποτε. Για το λογο αυτο δεν θα περασω σημερα σε παραθεση πολλων εργων. Η τοιχογραφια στο παρεκκλησι της Μονης ειναι μοναδικο αριστουργημα. Θεωρειται οτι ολοκληρωθηκε στο πρωτο μισο του 14ου αιωνα. 

Ανασταση
Ανασταση

Η συνθεση ειναι μεγαλοπρεπης. Ο Ιησους ελκει τον Αδαμ και την Ευα απο τους ταφους, ενω ο Σατανας κειται στο εδαφος αλυσοδεμενος αναμεσα στα σκορπισμενα απομειναρια απο τις Πυλες του Αδη.

Το μεγαλειο της απεικονισης φαινεται στην επομενη λεπτομερεια.

Ο Αναστας Κυριος
Ο Αναστας Κυριος

Ο Ιησους περιβαλλεται απο ενα κουβουκλιο με αστερια και λαμψη λαμπρη.Το σωμα του εχει μια κλιση που αποδιδει κινηση και ενεργεια, ανεστηθη και θα αναστησει μαζι του και αλλους πολλους! 

Η γυναικα Ευα ειναι και η Μητερα του η Παναγια! 

Στην επομενη λεπτομερεια, ο Αδαμ κρατιεται απο το χερι του Ιησου. Ο Αδαμ ως σεβασμιος γερων!

Τα χρωματα ειναι απαλα, παστελ, τυπικα της Παλαιολογιας εποχης.

Αδαμ
Αδαμ

Ο Χρηστος Γιανναρας εχει αναπτυξει την πιο ενδιαφερουσα θεωρια για το νοημα της Αναστασης στην Ορθοδοξη Χριστιανοσυνη. Ειναι, λεει, η αρνηση της μονηρους υπαρξεως, η κατανικηση του θανατου δια της ενσωματωσεως εις το σωμα της εκκλησιας, που αποτελει το συνολο των πιστων που υπαρχουν οχι ως μοναδες, αλλα ως ενεργοι μετεχοντες πιστοι.  Δεν ξερω αν το απεδωσα καλα, αλλα το βρισκω πολυ αισιοδοξο και πρωτοτυπο σαν αντιληψη, και θα ηθελα να κλεισω το σημερινο αναστασιμο αρθρο με αυτη την αναφορα.

Ευχομαι σε ολους τους φιλους και περαστικους Καλη Ανασταση και Καλο Πασχα! 

Παραπομπη

“Η ανάσταση του Χριστού δεν περιγράφεται στα τέσσερα ευαγγέλια της Καινής Διαθήκης. Δίδονται μόνο οι μαρτυρίες ανδρών και γυναικών που επισκέφτηκαν τον κενό τάφο ή συναντήθηκαν με τον αναστημένο Χριστό. Γι’ αυτό άλλωστε και η βυζαντινή εικονογραφία – πλην ορισμένων περιπτώσεων που μαρτυρούν μάλλον δυτική αναγεννησιακή επίδραση – παριστάνει όχι τη σκηνή της ανάστασης αλλά τον αναστημένο Χριστό να σηκώνει από το βασίλειο του Αδη έναν άνδρα (τον Αδάμ) και μια γυναίκα (την Εύα) ως εκπροσώπους του ανθρώπινου γένους, υπογραμμίζοντας έτσι τις ανθρωπολογικές προεκτάσεις της ανάστασης. Ωστόσο το Ευαγγέλιο του Πέτρου, ένα κείμενο του 2ου αιώνα μ.Χ., δίνει μια φανταστική περιγραφή της ανάστασης παρουσιάζοντας τον Χριστό με υπεράνθρωπες, μυθικές διαστάσεις να εξέρχεται του τάφου:

«Καθώς ξημέρωνε το Σάββατο, νωρίς το πρωί ήρθε πλήθος κόσμου από την Ιερουσαλήμ και τη γύρω περιοχή, για να δουν τον σφραγισμένο τάφο. Τη νύχτα όμως κατά την οποία ξημέρωνε η Κυριακή, οι στρατιώτες είδαν τους ουρανούς να ανοίγουν και δύο άνδρες να κατεβαίνουν από ‘κεί μέσα σε λαμπερό φως και να πλησιάζουν τον τάφο. Εκείνη η πέτρα που είχε τοποθετηθεί μπροστά στην είσοδο κύλησε από μόνη της και ήρθε στο πλάι, ο τάφος άνοιξε και οι δύο νεανίσκοι μπήκαν μέσα. Οταν λοιπόν οι στρατιώτες τα είδαν αυτά,ξύπνησαν τον εκατόνταρχο και τους πρεσβυτέρους – γιατί κι αυτοί επίσης φύλαγαν τον τάφο. Και ενώ αφηγούνταν αυτά που είδαν, βλέπουν πάλι να βγαίνουν από τον τάφο τρεις άνδρες, οι δύο από αυτούς υποβάσταζαν τον ένα και τους ακολουθούσε ένας σταυρός. Των μεν δύο το κεφάλι έφτανε ως τον ουρανό, ενώ του άλλου που τον οδηγούσαν το κεφάλι ξεπερνούσε τους ουρανούς. Οταν τα είδαν αυτά ο εκατόνταρχος και οι άνθρωποί του,έσπευσαν νύχτα στον Πιλάτο αφήνοντας τον τάφο που φρουρούσαν και ανέφεραν όλα αυτά που είδαν. Είχαν μεγάλη ταραχή και έλεγαν: “Αληθινά, αυτός ήταν ο Υιός του Θεού”».”

Πηγη: Ιωαννη Καραβιδοπουλου “Τα Πάθη και η Ανάσταση στα απόκρυφα ευαγγέλια” Εφημεριδα ΤΟ ΒΗΜΑ


Deposition

Today is the day of the Deposition from the Cross. I would like to share with you some paintings on the subject that goes hand in hand with “Pieta”, but is more public. Pieta is a more private, more intimate grieving process, whereas the “Deposition” is open to the public, and manifests the drama of Humanity, as opposed to the personal drama of Mary who grieves for her child.

 

Rogier van der Weyden

Rogier van der Weyden - Deposition
Rogier van der Weyden - Deposition

Deposition (c. 1440)

Museo del Prado, Padrid, Espagna

This is one of all times favourite paintings. The colours are brilliant, the composition static and dynamic at the same time, and the painting is powerful in conveying the emotions of the tragic process. I love the golden background, this glorious light in the moment of facing and contemplating Death. The figures are life sizes, each one of them tells a story. A visit to the Prado with all of its treasures is incomplete without viewing this masterpiece of late Gothic Art. 

Raphael

 

Rafael - Deposition
Raphael - Deposition

Deposition (1508)

Galleria Borghese, Roma, Italia

Raphael’s Deposition was painted for Atalanta Baglioni in memory of her son Grifonetto, who was killed in the fighting for the dominance of Perugia, and housed in the church of S.Francesco in Perugia in 1507. It remained there for 101 years, until it was removed at night with the complicity of the priest and sent to Pope Paul V, who gave it to his nephew for his collection and it thus became the property of the Borghese family. After the Treaty of Tolentino the painting was sent to Paris in 1797. When it came back to Rome in 1816, only the central scene was returned to the Borghese collection, while the three theological virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity, remained in the Vatican Museums (the ornamentation surmounting it by Tiberio Alfani is in the National Gallery of Umbria).
This large altarpiece presents the scene like a Roman relief and is inspired by the reliefs on ancient Roman sarcophagi depicting the transportation of Meleager. It is interesting to note that in his preliminary sketch the artist has drawn Christ lying in the ground, as in the painting by Perugino, but when he executed the painting he decided on the antique form oftransportation, as seen in a relief he probably studied on the Montalvo sarcophagus in Florence (now in the Torno Collection, Milan). But the influence of Michelangelo can also be seen in the composition of Christ (cf. the Pietà, St.Peter’s) and the figure seen in the profile supporting the Madonna repeats a similar pose in the Doni Tondo (in the Uffizi, completed a year before the Deposition).
Source: Galleria Borghese Internet Site
My only problem with this painting is that Raphael managed to make everything look so beautiful, that it is hard to feel the pain and the drama in the middle of all the beauty!
Bronzino
Bronzino - Deposition
Bronzino - Deposition
Deposition (c. 1545)
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon

With Bronzino, the problem of “beauty” is even bigger, as he was a master of making everything look beautiful! You look at the little angels and it is like they are just having a good time!  And why not?  They are kids and have no idea about what is happening down there! And another point: how on Earth can everyone look so beautiful? There is no ordinary face around, all of them are glazed with beauty! Having said all that, the contrast with Christ is stark. Mary seems more puzzled than in grief, while the only grieving person in the composition is Mary Magdalen on the right side. 

 

Caravaggio 

Caravaggio - Deposition
Caravaggio - Deposition

Deposition from the Cross (c. 1604)

Pinacoteca Vaticana, Roma, Italia

The Deposition, considered one of Caravaggio’s greatest masterpieces, was commissioned by Girolamo Vittrice for his family chapel in S. Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova) in Rome. In 1797 it was included in the group of works transferred to Paris in execution of the Treaty of Tolentino. After its return in 1817 it became part of Pius VII’s Pinacoteca. 
Caravaggio did not really portray the Burial or the Deposition in the traditional way, inasmuch as Christ is not shown at the moment when he is laid in the tomb, but rather when, in the presence of the holy women, he is laid by Nicodemus and John on the Anointing Stone, that is the stone with which the sepulchre will be closed. Around the body of Christ are the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, John, Nicodemus and Mary of Cleophas, who raises her arms and eyes to heaven in a gesture of high dramatic tension.
Caravaggio, who arrived in Rome towards 1592-93, was the protagonist of a real artistic revolution as regards the way of treating subjects and the use of colour and light, and was certainly the most important personage of the “realist” trend of seventeenth century painting.

Source: Vatican Museums Online

With the master of darkness, we are now back to the depiction of the drama! Here we have real people, everyone looks in a different way and angle, the faces are dark, and Death envelopes the composition as a dark cloud.

Crucifixion II

I continue today with the second part of the Crucifixion paintings, from the 19th  to the 20th century.

Paul Gauguin

Yellow Christ (1889)

Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin

Albright-Know Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, USA

Emil Nolde

Crucifixion (1912) 

Emil Nolde
Emil Nolde

Nolde Stifftung, Seebull

On February 20, 1912, the painter Emil Nolde wrote to his friend and patron Karl Osthaus, director of the Folkwang Museum in Hagen, concerning an upcoming exhibition there, and announced a major new work:

In the last year I have created a piece consisting of nine biblical pictures that belong together.I finished it during the last few weeks. I thought that I would also send this to you forexhibition. The size of the entire piece: 240cm high, 630cm wide.

On February 28, 1912, he wrote to his long-time friend Hans Fehr about the piece, enclosing a thumbnail sketch of it that shows a large central picture of a crucifixion flanked on either side byfour paintings. Nolde identified the subjects of the eight smaller canvases in writing on thesketch: Holy Night and The Twelve-Year-Old Christ (left above), The Three Magi and TheBetrayal of Christ (left below), Women at the Tomb and Ascension (right above), Resurrectionand Doubting Thomas (right below).2 All nine canvases of this work, known collectively as TheLife of Christ, remain together today in the galleries of the Nolde Foundation, near Seebüll,Germany. 

Nolde no doubt recognized that the monumental scheme of The Life of Christ–far larger than any previous work–almost literally hinged on Crucifixion.7 For it he incorporated a symmetrical severity and a solidity of construction well beyond any earlier picture. The three crosses establish the central axis, outer boundaries, and upper edge of the composition. Nolde pushed the figures almost into a single plane very close to the picture’s surface. He reinforced the iconic effect that results with certain aspects of his primitivizing style, mainly angular forms, flat colors, and unworked surfaces….

Of the individual canvases for The Life of Christ, Crucifixion contains the most obvious traces of an interest in Northern Medieval art. Crucifixions from this period frequently include several motifs—all incorporated by Nolde. First, the tortured flesh of Christ, in the form of an emaciated body, prominent wounds, and streams of blood. Grünewald’s Crucifixion from the Isenheim Altarpiece is the best known and most extreme example of this type. Second, the followers traditionally stand to the left of the cross and display intense emotions through gesture and physiognomy, often with the Magdalene on her knees and grasping the base of the cross and the Virgin collapsing into the arms of St. John. Third, many contrast the followers on the left with an equally distinct group of executioners and mockers to the right. Nolde even imitated a convention of some Medieval art by enlarging the body of Christ for prominence.

Source: William B. Sieger, Literary Texts and Formal Strategies in Emil Nolde’s Religious Paintings

Georges Roualt 

Crucifixion (early 1920s)

Georges Rouault
Georges Rouault

Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Pablo Picasso

Crucifixion (1930)

Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso

Musee Picasso, Paris, France

Picasso in addition to the painting (oil on wood) prepared more than ten drawings with ink as “studies” on crucifixion. The Isenheim Altarpiece of Grunewald gave him inspiration and challenge.  

Marc Chagall

White Crucifixion (1938)

Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall

Art Institute of Chicago

Francis Bacon 

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion  circa 1944

Francis Bacon - Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion
Francis Bacon - Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion

Tate Gallery, London, UK

When this triptych was first exhibited at the end of the war in 1945, it secured Bacon’s reputation. The title relates these horrific beasts to the saints traditionally portrayed at the foot of the cross in religious painting. Bacon even suggested he had intended to paint a larger crucifixion beneath which these would appear.He later related these figures to the Eumenides – the vengeful furies of Greek myth, associating them within a broader mythological tradition. Typically, Bacon drew on a range of sources for these figures, including a photograph purporting to show the materialisation of ectoplasm and the work of Pablo Picasso.

Source: Tate Gallery’s website

Fragment of a Crucifixion (1950)

Francis Bacon - Fragment of a Crucifixion
Francis Bacon - Fragment of a Crucifixion

Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven

Major artists create myths around themselves or have  the ability to motivate others to do it for them. The way Francis Bacon’s work has been received is coloured by this. The view that at certain moments the person and the work sometime coincide gained increasing emphasis in Bacon’s career, culminating with the feature fi lm Love is the Devil (1998) by John Maybury. There is hardly any other artist whose world is so much a part of his work, and spicy details about his life are happily quoted by biographers and reviewers. Bacon himself refused to go into the interpretation of his paintings and after 1962 even forbid any interpretive comment in catalogues. His argument was that there was not anything to explain. Fragment of a Crucifi xion and the response to Bacon’s work give cause to think about interpretation, biography and autonomy. Do the paintings exemplify a state of mind, or can they be related to views about identity and the male body? Do they represent a post-war view on the world, in which the automation of human interaction can be heard, or do the themes deprive us of an insight into a painter ‘easy on himself’?

Source: Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven

Salvador Dali

Christ of Saint John of the Cross: Nuclear Mysticism  (1951)

Salvador Dali
Salvador Dali

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow

“The title of the painting was said to have been inspired by a drawing made by a Spanish Carmelite friar who was canonised as St John of The Cross in the 16th Century.

It was made after the saint had a vision in which he saw the crucifixion from above.

Dali painted his crucifixion scene set above the rocky harbour of his home village of Port Lligat in Spain. “

Source: BBC

Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) (1954)

Salvador Dali
Salvador Dali

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Dali commented on his painting:

“Metaphysical, transcendent cubism, it is based entirely on the Treatise on Cubic Form by Juan de Herrera, Philip the 2nd’s architect, builder of the Escorial Palace: it is a treatise inspired by Ars Magna of the Catalonian philosopher and alchemist Raymond Lulle. The cross is formed by an octahedral hypercube. The number nine is identifiable and becomes especially consubstantial with the body of Christ. The extremely noble figure of Gala is the perfect union of the develpment of the hypercubic octahedron on the human level of the cube. She is depicted in front of the Bay of Port Lligat. The most noble beings were painted by Velazques and Zurbaran; I only approach nobility while painting Gala, and noblity can only be insired by the human being.” 

Antonio Saura

Crucifixion (1959)

Antonio Saura
Antonio Saura

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Euskaleria

“Ever since I was a boy I have been obsessed with Velázquez’ Christ in the Prado in Madrid, with his face darkened by the black hair of a Flamenco dancer, with his bullfighter’s feet, with the stillness of a flesh and bone puppet transformed into Adonis. I can even see myself immersed in the hazy museum, holding my father’s hand and looking at the terrible pacific cross, which I remember as something immense”.

The constant presence of the Crucifixion between 1956 and 1996 doesn’t respond to religious belief. It is, in the artist’s own words, a way of looking at the “timeless presence of suffering”.

“Contrary to Velázquez’ Christ, in these works I thought that by giving the image a feeling of tension and protest it was possible to capture a trace of almost blasphemous humour, but there is something else. In the image of the Crucified Christ, I may have reflected my situation of man alone in a threatening universe at which it is possible to shout, although, seen from another angle, I am also interested in the tragedy of a man “not that of a god” absurdly nailed to a cross. An image which can still serve as the tragic symbol of our era”.

Source: Guggenheim Museum’s website


 

 


Crucifixion I

As Easter approaches, I want to share with you some of my favourite depictions of the drama of Christ. I will do it in two parts. In the first part I will present paintings from the 13th to the 18th century. In the second part I will present paintings after the 19th century.  In all paintings, except Cimabue and Giotto, I have inserted comments made by the museums where they are kept. In some instances, I have added also my comments in italics

Cimabue 

Crucifixion (1274)

Cimabue Crucifixion
Cimabue Crucifixion

Church of Santa Croce, Firenze

In the same church where Michelangelo is burried, you can find this masterpiece of the mentor of Giotto. The figure of Christ on the Cross has influenced Francis Bacon when he created his own Crucifixion triptych (it will be shown in Part II). It is a very intense picture. The simplicity of the palette brings out the severity of the subject. 

Giotto

Crucifixion (circa 1305)

Giotto Crucifixion
Giotto Crucifixion

Scrovegni Chapel, Padova

In stark contrast to Cimabue’s intense but minimal composition, this is a busy crucifixion, with a lot of people and angels around. The lack of intensity is its major drawback, although Giotto’s mastery of colours and composition is evident.  

Rogier van der Weyden

 The Crucifixion Triptych (circa 1440)

van der Weyden - Triptych
van der Weyden - Triptych

“The scene presented today as the wing of an altarpiece probably originates from a single panel on which the frame was only painted. At an early stage the work was sawn into three pieces so that the depictions of Mary Magdalene and St. Veronica became side-wings of a triptych. The great artistic innovation of van der Weyden may therefore have carried even greater weight in the original version: for the first time he combines all the participants – the crucifixion group, saints and benefactors – in front of a unified landscape in which the idealised view of Jerusalem appears on the horizon.”

Source: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist Mourning (circa 1460)

van der Weyden - Diptych
van der Weyden - Diptych

“The greatest old master painting in the Museum, Rogier van der Weyden’s diptych presents the Crucifixion as a timeless dramatic narrative. To convey overwhelming depths of human emotion, Rogier located monumental forms in a shallow, austere, nocturnal space accented only by brilliant red hangings. He focused on the experience of the Virgin, her unbearable grief expressed by her swooning into the arms of John the Evangelist. The intensity of her anguish is echoed in the agitated, fluttering loincloth that moves around Christ’s motionless body as if the air itself were astir with sorrow. Rogier’s use of two panels in a diptych, rather than the more usual three found in a triptych, is rare in paintings of this period, and allowed the artist to balance the human despair at the darkest hour of the Christian faith against the promise of redemption.”

Katherine Crawford Luber, fromPhiladelphia Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections (1995), p. 167.

Grunewald

The Small Crucifixion, c. 1511/1520

 

Grunewald Crucifixion
Grunewald Crucifixion

“Matthias Grünewald’s Small Crucifixion is a masterful example of that artist’s ability to translate his deep spiritual faith into pictorial form. Each individual, according to Grünewald, must reexperience within himself not only the boundless joy of Christ’s triumphs but also the searing pains of his Crucifixion.

In order to communicate this mystical belief, Grünewald resorted to a mixture of ghastly realism and coloristic expressiveness. Silhouetted against a greenish-blue sky and illuminated by an undefined light source, Christ’s haggard and emaciated frame sags limply on the cross. The details — the twisted and gnarled feet and hands, the crown of thorns, the agonized look upon Jesus’ face, and the ragged loincloth — bear strident witness to physical suffering and emotional torment. This abject mood is intensified by the anguished expressions and demonstrative gestures of John the Evangelist, the Virgin Mary, and the kneeling Mary Magdalene.

Grünewald’s dissonant, eerie colors were also rooted in biblical fact. The murky sky, for instance, corresponds to Saint Luke’s description of “a darkness over all the earth.” Grünewald, who himself witnessed a full eclipse in 1502, has recreated here the dark and rich tonalities associated with such natural phenomena.

Today, only twenty paintings by Grünewald are extant, and The Small Crucifixion is the only one of them in America.”

Source: National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

El Greco

Crucifixion (1600)

El Greco Crucifixion
El Greco Crucifixion

“A night view of Calvary with a markedly Eucharistic character. Mary Magdalene, at Christ’s feet, and three angels collecting the blood of the slain Savior, appear framed by the figures of the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist.
Light and color are used to bring dramatic intensity to the chosen subject, generating a night scene with highly contrasted colors. Some figures, such as that of Mary Magdalene, follow Italian models, recalling the artist’s training.

Along with other paintings in the Prado Museum, this was probably painted for the attic of the altarpiece in the church of the Augustine College of María de Aragón in Madrid.”

Source: Museo National del Prado

Goya

Crucifixion (1780)

Goya Crucifixion
Goya Crucifixion

“Christ is depicted on the Cross, over a black background, with four nails and a foot platform, in keeping with the tradition of seventeenth-century Spanish painting. Nevertheless, the classic concept of beauty brought to Spain by Mengs and Bayeu is also perceptible. And Goya softens the bloodiest and most dramatic aspects of this subject, bringing out the beauty of the nude body.

Goya presented this work at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in May, 1780, gaining the rank of Academician of Merit with it. The canvas was sent to the church of San Francisco el Grande, whose decoration was sponsored by the King, himself. Thus, the Academy recognized the technical qualities of this painting, as well as the orthodoxy of its image.”

Source: Museo National del Prado

As the first part is closing, it is interesting to note that in this painting it is as if Goya is shaking hands with Cimabue.

The Isenheim Altarpiece by Grunewald: Crucifixion

Today I want to present some pictures from the Isenheim Altarpiece, by the German painter Mathis Grunewald, which I consider to be one of the true Masterpieces of art in the world. I was introduced to the Altarpiece by Anne Tennant, during a lecture she gave before the opening of Hindemith’s opera “Mathis der Maler” in the Royal Opera House of London.

Isenheim is a small town near Colmar, in Alsace. The Altarpiece was commissioned by Saint Anthony’s Monastery, which was  a hospital” treating “St Anthony’s fire”, a sickness modern science now knows as ergotism, caused by eating rye bread infected by a parasitic fungus. The horrific appearance of Christ’s flesh on the altarpiece is not pure fantasy, but portrays symptoms the monks were trying to alleviate.” (remark by Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, 12 December 2007)

The Altarpiece was painted from 1513 to 1515.

Although Isenheim and Colmar are today in France, in the early 16th century they were decidedly German, and in a way the Isenheim Altarpiece is Germany’s Sistine Chapel.

Today the Altarpiece is in the Unterlinden Museum of Colmar. It was moved to Colmar after the French Revolution.

The four panels that comprise it are:

  • Crucifixion
  • Nativity and the Party of Angels
  • The Temptation of Saint Anthony, and Saint Anthony visiting Saint Paul the Hermite
  • Announciation and Resurrection

This post will focus on the Crucifixion, which is one of the most powerful and moving depiction of human drama and suffering I have seen.

The Crucifixion
The Crucifixion

On the left Mary in white is supported by John the Evangelist, while Mary Magdalene (a much smaller figure) is on her knees parying. On the right John the Baptist is pointing at a scripture.  There is no respect for analogies in this painting. There is no respect for pespective. Darkness, pain, suffering, the almost absolute cenrtainty of death dominate the picture.

Christ is dying an agonizing, slow, horrifying death. He is bloody, discolored, punctured all over, horrific marks covering his body.

The face
The face

Christ is dying and there is not redeeming feature in the painting for this horrible death! Although there are figures surrounding the cross, Christ is alone, in this empty terrain where death is the only certainty.

isenheim_crucifix

The twisted fingers have inspired many artists to depict the agony of death.

The Hand
The Hand

and the nailed feet dripping blood… forming a solid river of pain

The Feet
The Feet
Mary and John
Mary and John

Mary’s white garment and pale face contrast with the dark background.

hands
hands
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
John the Baptist
John the Baptist

Gospel of St John iii. 30: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’

In the next post I will present the Resurrection panel of the alterpiece.

Michelangelo’s Pieta: Rome and Florence

Today I would like to share with you some thoughts on two Michelangelo sculptures with the same subject: Pieta.

There is a third Michelangelo Pieta in Milan, Italy, but I will not include it in this post.

Lets begin with the definition of Pieta:

Mary with Jesus Christ’s body: a painting or sculpture of the Virgin Mary mourning over Jesus Christ’s dead body” (source: encarta)

Pieta, Rome, St Peters Basilica
Michelangelo: Pieta, Rome, St Peters Basilica

Rome Pieta

The first and more famous is the Pieta in Rome, St. Peter’s Basilica, Pieta Chapel.

Michelangelo sculpted the Rome Pieta when he was 24 years old, in 1499. Supposedly, this is the most famous sculpture in the world, and bears the signature of Michelangelo. It must be noted that Michelangelo has not signed any other of his works.

The form of the sculpture is the most common in Christianity in and after the Medieval Ages, while the style is typical of High Renaissance. Beauty to the extreme and shining marble surfaces. 

The overall feeling from the sculpture is serenity, and the controlled emotion. It is as if either the dead Christ will wake up anuy moment, so we are waiting for this to happen, or that Death is inevitable and we must find a way to cope with it without wasting a lot of energy.

The face of Jesus
The face of Jesus

The face of Jesus which we cannot see easily when we visit the chapel, more or less confirms this transient state between life and death, as if a negotiation is in progress, and Jesus takes a nap until they agree on what will happen. And what a perfect face! There is no wrinkle, not a scratch, not a single hair sticking out, only the closed eyes give an indication that this face may not be alive after all.

Mary's face
Mary's face

Mary is so young that she created a lot of comments when the Pieta was shown to the public of Rome. Michelangelo claimed that pure women never age, a statement that can be attributed to his “political” rather than artistic spirit.

She does not seem to be mourning, but coping with a difficult situation, she is almost detached from the drama, a sympathetic observer rather than the Mother of the Dead Jesus.

There is more drama in the folds of Mary’s dress than in her face.

Florence Pieta

The Florence Pieta (it is also called deposition, or the Bandini Pieta) was never finished. Michelangelo in a rage after ten years of work tried to destroy it in 1555, but he did not manage to do so. The sculpture was saved by a servant named Antonio, then bought by the Florentine Banker Bandini and repaired by one of Michelangelo’s  assistants (Cacagni). 

Pieta, Florence, Museo Duomo
Michelangelo: Pieta, Florence, Museo Duomo

The form in the Florence Pieta is not the ordinary one. There are four figures, in a complex arrangement of twisted bodies and spread arms and legs.

Mary is on her knees trying to support the body of Jesus, but she cannot manage this on her own. The bearded man (Nicodemus?) is helping her, and at the same time is becoming the tip of the pyramid of the composition.

It is clear that Mary belongs ot the “unfinished-damaged” part of the sculpture, but it does not matter a single bit! I think that the power of the sculpture is to a large extent due to this unique and moving combination of the “finished” and the “unfinished” parts. 

Christ and Mary
Jesus and Mary

There is no distance between the two faces, of Jesus and Mary. They touch and blend into a powerful pair that is full of the Drama and the Despair and the Loss.

Bearded Man
Bearded Man

The bearded man is said to be Michelangelo himself, as according to Giorgio Vasari, the artist intended to place the sculpture on his tomb. His poweful figure is providing shelter to Mary and is also supporting the body of Jesus. His face is the epitomy of sorrow and contemplation of the Drama of Death.

Pieta, Florence, Museo Duomo
Michelangelo: Pieta, Florence, Museo Duomo

From this angle we can see that the bearded man’s head is also at an angle, along with his shoulders and arms that provide to the sculpture a sense of motion that contrasts the lifeless body of Jesus. 

Jesus and Mary
Jesus and Mary

There has been a lot of research on the events surrounding this sculpture. Even IBM have been involved, in an effort to reproduce the original before it was mutilated by Michelangelo. I leave all of this to the experts. As far as I am concerned, the Florence Pieta is one of the most powerful sculptures I have seen and I consider it as a must for every visitor of Florence.

Venezia! Venice! Βενετια!

Δεν βρισκω καλυτερο τροπο να συνεχισω το καλωσορισμα του Νεου Χρονου απο μιαν γρηγορη περιηγηση στην Βενετια.

img_4201

Οι δρομοι του νερου με φερνουν ξανα και ξανα στα καναλια.

img_5921

Και η Εκκλησια των Ιησουιτων με το Μαρτυριο του Αγιου Λαυρεντιου του Τιτσιανο. Μια εκκλησια αποθεωσης του Μπαροκ σε βαθμο που μονο οι σκληροπυρηνικοι το αντεχουν!

Εκκλησια των Ιησουιτων
Εκκλησια των Ιησουιτων

Το ανυπερβλητο εργο του Τιτσιανο, ο πρωτος πινακας “νυχτας”.

 

Il Martirio di San Lorenzo
Tiziano: Il Martirio di San Lorenzo

Εδω που τα λεμε και μονο να ακολουθεις τα βηματα του Τιτζιανο χανεσαι και δεν προλαβαινεις. Ειμαστε τωρα στη Σαντα Μαρια Γκλοριοζα ντει Φραρι.

 

Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

Στο βαθος διακρινεται ο υπεροχος πινακας του Τιτζιανο “Αναληψη”, ντυμενος σε αυτο το βαθυ πορτοκαλι φως που με μεθυζει. Στην ιδια εκκλησια βρισκεται και ο ταφος του μεγαλου ζωγραφου.

 

Tiziano Pintore
Tiziano Pintore

Ο μεγαλος ζωγραφος προειδε το τελος του, οταν ζωγραφιζε την Πιετα, που σημερα βρισκεται στην Πινακοθηκη της Ακαδημιας. 

 

Pieta
Tiziano: Pieta

Η Βυζαντινη Παναγια απο τη Λευκαδα θυμιζει την μιξη των πολιτισμων, που σφραγιστηκε με την Αλωση τηε Πολης το 1204 απο τους Σταυροφορους.

 

Βρεφοκρατουσα Παναγια
Βρεφοκρατουσα Παναγια

Ωρα για ξεκουραση που εχει πολλες εκδοχες. Ξεκιναω με το κολατσο στο καναλακι.

img_5987

Συνεχιζω με τη ρεμβη στην αποβαθρα.

img_5769

Και ολιγη σιεστα για να εχουμε δυναμεις για αργοτερα.

img_5958

Οι βολτες μετα το διαλειμμα συνεχιζονται στα στενα δρομακια με τις γεφυρουλες.

img_5997

Και λιγα ψωνια ειναι οτι πρεπει καθως ερχεται το απογευμα.

img_5927

Ου γαρ επ αρτω μονον ζησεται ανθρωπος. Γιαυτο παιρνω και μια μασκα καλου κακου.

img_4301

Ο δρομος με φερνει στο σπιτι του Μοντιλιανι, που εζησε στην πολη απο το 1903 εως το 1905.

img_6106

Η αναμνηστικη πλακα τα γραφει ολα.

 

img_6096

 

Η μερα κυλαει γρηγορα. Καταληγω στην Πλατεια του Αγιου Μαρκου.

 

Πλατεια Αγιου Μαρκου
Πλατεια Αγιου Μαρκου

Εκθαμβωτικα ψηφιδωτα.

img_6044

 

Και ζωγραφιες.

img_6041

Ο ηλιος μας αφηνει.

img_5773

Εις το επανιδειν.


traffic analysis


Cappella Palatina, Palazzo Reale – Palermo Sicilia II

Συνεχιζω σημερα την αφιερωση στο Παλερμο με μια συντομη περιηγηση στην Cappella Palatina, στο Palazzo Reale.

Ειναι ενας μικρος ναος μεσα στο παλατι των Νορμανδων Βασιλεων της Σικελιας, και χτιστηκε στον 12ο αιωνα. 

 

Αποψη του εσωτερικου του ναου
Αποψη του εσωτερικου του ναου

Ο ναος ακτινοβολει και υποβαλει! Τα μωσαικα του αποτελουν μοναδικα σωζομενα μνημεια βυζαντινης τεχνης του 12ου αιωνα, και για μενα ειναι πολυ πιο ωριμα σαν εκφραση απο εκεινα της Ραβεννα.

 

Αποψη του εσωτερικου του ναου
Αποψη του εσωτερικου του ναου

Το φως στο εσωτερικο του ναου ειναι κατι το μοναδικό! Δεν μπορουσα να καταλαβω τι εννοουσαν οι ιστορικοι της τεχνης οταν ελεγαν οτι οι βυζαντινοι χρησιμοποιουσαν το χρυσο σαν μπακγκραουντ για να πετυχαινουν τον φωτισμο. Μολις μπηκα σε αυτην την εκκλησια το καταλαβα!

Οι ψηφιδες που χρησιμοποιησαν οι εμπειροι βυζαντινοι τεχνιτες αντανακλουν το φως με τετοιο τροπο που αισθανεσαι οτι βρισκεσαι στην πιο μεγαλοπρεπη τελετη του κοσμου!

 

Το μπαλκονι των Βασιλεων
Το μπαλκονι των Βασιλεων

 Το μεγαλοπρεπο μπαλκονι απο οπου οι Βασιλεις παρακολουθουσαν τις λειτουργιες και τις εορταστικες εκδηλωσεις.

 

 

 

Παντοκρατωρ μετα Αγγελων
Παντοκρατωρ μετα Αγγελων

Μεσα στο ναο υπαρχουν επιγραφες στα βυζαντινα και στα λατινικα. Ο Παντοκρατωρ εχει βυζαντινες επιγραφες και θεωρειται εργο βυζαντινων τεχνιτων.

 

Κολωνα - Λεπτομερεια
Κολωνα - Λεπτομερεια

Στη λεπτομερεια μπορειτε να δειτε πως οι ψηφιδες αντανακλουν το φως, οπως επισης και την συνυπαρξη διαφορετικων ρυθμων.

 

Απο το εξωτερικο του ναου
Απο το εξωτερικο του ναου

Και το εξωτερικο του ναου ειναι υπερλαμπρο. Εδω βλεπετε λατινικες επιγραφες, που παραπεμπουν σε ντοπιους τεχνιτες που εμαθαν απο τους βυζαντινους.

 

Παντοκρατωρ
Παντοκρατωρ

Κλεινω αυτη τη συντομη αναφορα με τον Παντοκρατορα, λουσμενο στο υπερλαμπρο χρυσαφενιο φως.

Ποιος το περιμενε οτι στο Παλερμο της Σικελιας θα βρισκονται μερικα απο τα πιο σημαντικα αριστουργηματα βυζαντινων μωσαικων στον κοσμο! Επεται συνεχεια!