Thursday, March 26, 2015

VATICAN MUSEUMS - SISTINE CHAPEL (third part)


Stories of Jesus - Right Side
 

“Perugino avoided violent scenes, because he certainly did not feel prepared to treat them: in fact, he handles movement so poorly that his figures that would have to walk seems to dance on tiptoe, and don't seem to keep upright. Always wary, he refrains from expressing emotions that do not suit him. (...) The air is still and silent, people has stopped sobbing; a barely imperceptible sigh, a look of resignation. These paintings, how consoling they must have appeared to be after all the turmoil, riots and massacres of Perugia, the most bloody of the Italian cities. Is it any wonder that men, women, boys, ran to admire them? But not even now when life is still not free from sordid cares and unnecessary conflicts, one can reject the balm of Perugino's art” (Bernard Berenson)


3) “The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew (foreground and left) And John and James (behind on the right)” by Domenico Ghirlandaio, who also painted the Ascension on the entrance wall destroyed, for a structural collapse in 1522

“The figure of the artist and his part in Florentine art of the second half of the fifteenth century were discussed and reviewed especially by Sabatini and Marchini, who have rightly revalued certain important aspects, against the too negative assessment given by Berenson (1961). As Sabatini already remarked, Vasari's judgment still seems the most impartial and balanced: while not denying in his art a certain indulgent superficiality, Vasari considers Ghirlandaio 'one of the main and best masters of his age': it is clear that he considers him the last representative of the glorious tradition of Tuscan mural painting” (Marco Chiarini - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)



“He aligns the main figures in the foreground, alternating solids and voids so that the scene won't be so crowded: the historical fact that in this case is also a dogmatic statement, must be clear, and not told but shown. Perugino manages to match theoretical and empirical space, mental and visual image. Between opposites he doesn't paint a synthesis, but an average. Thus art is not only dogmatic revelation, but demonstration and dissemination of the truth of faith: to contemplation corresponds practice, also in the practical life of men. His art is pragmatic, instrumental, easy” (Giulio Carlo Argan)

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