Crucifixion with Saints by Pietro Vannucci c. 1480s. Tempera on wood panel (now trasnfered to canvas) center panel 40x221/4” (101x 56 cm), side panels 371/2 x 12” (95 x 30 cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Crucifixion with Saints is a piece of Southern Renaissance Art with heavy Greek influence; due to the display of Christ’s naked. The anatomy of the Christ lord is painted with such a natural look and actuality. This wood panel is filled with the overflow of color. Reds, blues and greens but the only piece of cloth Christ is wearing is white. As if it symbolizes a sign of peace and calmness.
The dimensions in this piece are so precisely put together that the scene beyond Christ and the four people on the side of him becomes intriguing and almost mysterious. Everything from the sunlight that highlights Christ and the man to the far left of him who is also wearing nothing but a white rag, although his rags are filthy. The people near the cross casts shows from beneath them indicating the setting of the sun or a shaded area in which they stand.
What’s interesting is the transition from light to dark and back to light again. The people near Christ who is up on the cross are in a shadow or setting of the sun. While Christ, up on the cross is highlighted by the light. Behind them are trees bushes and rocks that build up to small cliffs. All which recede into the shadows with the exception of highlighted area. Then beyond that is a city with green mountains and trees that depict beauty and life, versus the front which shows grief and sorrow. The artist’s is playing with emotion as much as he is with color and lighting.
This piece lacks a great deal of humanistic value with the minor exception of the cloths that the women standing to the left of Christ has on. The realism and naturalism as I stated earlier in Christ’s positioned body upon the cross is true to what we can envision in a real situation. Even the way the people positioned around him has a sense of natural realism to them. Unique but not very individualize in a realistic way. The two on the right of Christ share the same expression in the face as well a posture with a slight variation to the hands. Even the being on the far left share a common facial expression with the two beings that appear to be women on the right.
Only the woman closest to Christ on his left posse expressions unique to any one else in the portrait, you can only assume that this woman is someone really close to Christ. This person could be identified as Mary, the mother of Christ than who is nailed to the cross. The artist wanted her to stand out to have viewers see that she was someone of importance. The painter presented this woman suspected to be Mary in royal clothing while the three around her had plain or little to no clothing.
The image is structured so the viewer can feel apart of the scene, with the position of the plants being the very front imagery of the portrait; seeping from each side corner of the portrait. Looking as if the viewer himself could step into the painting and be apart of the moment. This piece creates a sense of real live history frozen in time. Another lacking piece of this art is the ground on which they spectators stand, it lack complete natural realism. The foreshortening of the lion on the far left of Christ beyond the rocks peering from in front of the bush tree. The color and vision of the clouds and how we see them isn’t accurate. Images that begin to recede into the back just beyond Christ become flatten and less believable as far as being considered real. The depiction of the rocks and cliffs come across of what they are but the realness doesn’t quite show in its entirety.
This piece very much reflect Southern Renaissance Art and the artist probably was considered good enough to apart of the guild system. Although his work didn’t show any signs of historia or humanism the story it tells and the bit of naturalism it held is compelling which would make this a good representation of the Renaissance era.
You have some nice descriptions in this post. Just so your classmates aren't confused: Pietro Vannucci is better known by his nickname "Perugino." This work of art is on p. 622 in our textbook.
ReplyDelete-Prof. Bowen
It was interesting to hear your depiction of what this work looks like... however i would have liked it more if you had posted an image of it as well... makes this more interesting and easier to leave feedback. other than that, i felt as if your post was well written and i felt as if i could depict in my mind what the image looked like without trying to find it. but at the same time it made it hard to focus on what you were trying to say. all in all, I enjoyed your post and what you had to say about this piece
ReplyDelete