Titian exploration of psychology of the human passion

"Years ago I decided that the greatest ned in our Country was Art...So I determined to make it my life work if I could" Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1917

 

After visiting the Isabella Stewart Museum and seeing the wonderful Titian’s table ‘The Rape of Europa’ I wonder how it got there from the Spanish collections. This masterpiece is very important for many reasons, for instance, when Velazquez first arrived to the Court, he finds Reubens (52 years old and at the height of his fame) copying the painting. The young Velazquez was very impressed with both the work of Titian and the painting skills of Reubens. It was a ‘coup de foudre’ with Rubens, whom he also admired much as diplomatic, commissioner, and nobleman. Near the end of his life, Velasquez pays tribute to Reubens and Titian in his painting ‘The Fable of Arachne’ (also known as ‘The Tapestry Weavers’), an allegory on the nobility of the art of painting and an affirmation of the supremacy of Velazquez himself.

The Titian picture was painted for Philip II of Spain in 1562. Which was the painting's travel history since it left Spain until its arrival to Boston? Tracing the movements of a work of art such as this one is a sort of detective work. I asked my friend MJ Gibson to search it in inventories and auction catalogues. The picture left the Spanish Royal Collection destined as a wedding present for Charles I of England . The painting remains first into the collection of the Duke of Orleans, eventually reaching England during the time of the French Revolution and Napoleon. For almost a century it hung in Lord Darnley’s collection before being sold, in the 1890s, to the great collector Isabella Stewart Gardner for £20,000, about $100,000 in those days. Drawing upon letters and accounts in the Colnaghi archives, the art historian J.Howard unravels the complex negotiations carried out by Isabella’s friend and young scholar Mr.Bernard  Berenson (''I am breathless after a two days' orgy, drinking myself drunk with 'Europa,' thinking and dreaming about her'')  which led up to its eventual sale and triumphant installation in Boston in 1896.

Indeed, many specialists and connoisseurs, considers ‘The Rape of Europa’ the greatest Italian picture hanging in United States collections.

Hermitage white nights from Neva

San Petersburg is a very peculiar city, born from mud and swamps in the 18^th century. Its splendorous and decadent buildings remind me several European cities, such as Paris, Vienna, Rome, or Prague. Its channels and bridges bring me back to Venice, Istanbul, or Ambers. To travel and storytelling is one of my very favourite things to do. I particularly enjoy the inspiration that comes up from unexpected places or visitors…like Roman God Mercury, who follows me from façades, top-of-monuments, fountains and, of course, along the Hermitage rooms. My god! Does he try to escort me to the underworld? Or is he just the good protecting god of travellers? Mercury is also the patron of orators, of literature and poets, of athletes and inventors, of artists and merchants…and surely of all them were well represented in this imperial capital. I visit twice the great Hermitage. Time stretches and floats along its incommensurable halls and the glittering rooms. I try to make my own path, not to hear the mermaid’s singing of thousand of pieces of art spanning the whole human history, and to focus on the XVIIth century, my favourite period. What a collection of gorgeous masterpieces was acquired from Western Europe by the Great Catherine. Thank you. Every time that I come up to my Masters I feel inside myself part of their energy and strong passion for life.

“Moderation curbs all the vices. The ermine prefers to die rather than soil itself."

Leonardo da Vinci was an inventor, scientist or draughtsman. Cesare Borgia briefly employed him as military architect and engineer between 1502 and 1503. Cesare and Leonardo became intimate friends and Cesare provided Leonardo with an unlimited pass to inspect and direct all planned and undergoing construction in his domain. Before meeting Cesare, Leonardo had worked as a painter at the Milanese court of Duke Ludovico Sforza in the late 1480s and  the 1490s, until Charles VIII of France drove the Sforza out of Italy.  While in Milano Leonardo painted the masterpiece “Lady with an Ermine”, portraying the sitter of Ludovico Sforza, who would have been about 17 at that time. Despite her young age of this portrait, Lady Cecilia Gallerani had already been seduced by Ludovico, had borne him a son (Cesare on May 3, 1491) and held a very commanding position at court.

In 1498 Isabella d'Este asked Cecilia for the portrait on loan as she wished to see a sample of Leonardo's work. Cecilia wrote back ‘I send it without delay, and would send it with even greater pleasure if it were more like me. But your Highness must not think this proceeds from any defect in the Maestro himself, for indeed I do not believe there is another painter equal to him in the world, but merely because the portrait was painted when I was still at so young and imperfect an age.’

The picture is considered to be one of the first modern portraits in the history of painting on account of its psychological depth. It is composed almost entirely of curves which carry the eye from the woman's head, down to the right, across the ermine and then back up the other sleeve. The only almost straight lines to be seen are the band on her head and the square-cut neckline on her dress. The portrait is absolutely magic, beautiful and lovely, with  the girl’s enigmatic expression (Bernardo Bellincione said 'seemed to listen and not to speak'), the delicacy of her hand and the masterful rending of the ermine’s anatomy. We are much delighted to have one of the few undisputed paintings by the genius showing at The Royal Palace in Madrid, and we can think about another disputed artwork “The Adolescent Savior” that we have at the Lázaro Galdiano Museum  in Madrid.

Overwhelmingly, when you see the portrait of Lady Gallerani you can feel this strange fascination with Leonardo da Vinci’s sublime works…so, enjoy!

Il Guercino vs Velazquez

During the last week in Rome I tried to travel back a few centuries ago and imagine Diego Velazquez visiting the city in 1630. Walking through the rooms of the Barberini Palace, wandering at the Vatican Museum I look intensely at those artists who fascinated him. What did Velazquez think when he came to the halls of Raphael and the Sistine Chapel, when he first faced the masterpieces of Caravaggio? It's amazing the fascination that these works still produce today. I like to imagine when he met his Italian contemporaries. The art he was just discovering, those have had around forever. How was the meeting between Velázquez and Guercino in Cento? Did Guercino explain the secret of the white reflection of his paintings? What he felt under the frescoes of Pietro da Cortona?... How sad Diego must have felt upon returning back to Spain!

¿Qué hace esto aquí? Museo Lázaro Galdiano

Me gusta la idea de que entremos en una exposición con una pregunta “ Que hace esto aquí?” tal vez porque lo cuadros que más me fascinan son los que más preguntas plantean, quizás por esa idea de diálogo con el artista y con su obra. Y sin duda porque en el Museo Lázaro Galdiano nos muestran  una propuesta muy original ( escasas son en nuestro país) y lo ha hecho de manera muy bella.

A veces el arte moderno , cito a Katherine Kuh “nos produce una sensación desconcertante “nos enfrenta con amargura hacia la extrañeza, la  falta de criterios para valorarlo, pero no siempre hay que ir tan allá, el arte es más simple tal vez… recuerdo que el profesor Cruz Valdovinos ( Velázquez, interpretaciones )  nos invitaba a profundizar en el conocimiento de  ciertas obras y a “sentirlas”.Las Meninas se sienten, cada vez que estoy delante de ellas veo algo nuevo, siento algo nuevo. El año pasado tuvimos la oportunidad de verlas dialogar con Las hijas de Edward Darley Boit, 1919 Sargent  MFA ( personalmente  fue una experiencia verdaderamente regocijante).Muchos han sido los artistas que han bebido de ésta fuente para inspirar parte de su obra. Hace apenas unos días mi colega Marta Laurent y yo discutíamos ciertos detalles del cuadro con los que ella trabajaba para explicar el Museo Picasso de Barcelona.

Uno de los aspectos más interesantes de la exhibición del MLG es  ver las obras contemporáneas junto a las fuentes que las han inspirado o con aquellas que nos gustaría que dialogaran, cada una con su propio discurso y sentirlas.

En el interior del museo es difícil no fascinarse ante las obras clásicas ( Las Meditaciones de San Juan Bautista del Bosco, Antonio Moro, Lucas Cranach, El Salvador Adolescente, Madrazo, Goya…) y os aseguro que os quedareis prendados de algunas obras de artistas contemporáneos  geniales y polémicos a partes iguales.

El resultado es la magia de la pintura.

Gemma García

Heroínas

When I visited the exhibition “Heroines” at Madrid Thyssen Museum I thought  about  the role of women in Renaissance and Baroque. The works by female artists  provided  me  insights into their career strategies and  revealed the different ways in which they managed to overcome social and professional restrictions .The exhibition  offers an overview of the moral, social, and religious models for women as they were constructed both implicitly and explicitly through visual art as a public expression

The Young Ribera

It's Thursday and we must think about the weekend. Madrid will be bright and sunny,so take time to walk and relax on the terraces.  In the evening  go touring inside the Prado Museum, it is free, it is cultural and cool. There is a new exhibition about “The Young Ribera”, showing  some thirty works. One of its aims is to explain the evolution of the José de Ribera’s style until he became one of the most original and powerful naturalistic painters after Caravaggio.
http://www.museodelprado.es/en/pradomedia/multimedia/the-young-ribera/?pm_video=on&pm_audio=on&pm_interactivo=on
Another purpose of this exhibition is to show the activity of the Spanish artist during his stay in Rome and during the years following his establishment in Naples in 1616, a period poorly known until now.
When I leave the Prado in the evening I love the light reflected in the Jeronimos Church  and meet some friends in the Gin Room. Do you think it's a perfect plan? I think so!