Saturday 22 March 2014

Two Italian Painters Of Renown

By Darren Hartley


Paintings of flowers and fruits consisted the early Caravaggio paintings. They demonstrated an aspect of Caravaggio realism, physical particularity, for which he became famous for. The earliest of Caravaggio paintings was Boy Peeling a Fruit. Other early works include Boy with a Basket of Fruit and Young Sick Bacchus.

An Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily, Michelangelo Merisi o Amerighi da Caravaggio painted The Fortune Teller, the first of Caravaggio paintings with more than one figure. Its theme consisted of Mario Minniti, a 16 year old Sicilian artist, being cheated by a Gypsy girl. The theme was quite new for Rome and became immensely influential over the next century and thereafter.

More psychologically complex Caravaggio paintings include The Cardsharps, showing a boy as a falling victim to card cheats, and considered the first true Caravaggio masterpiece. The following Caravaggio paintings became the center of dispute among scholars and biographers for their homoerotic ambiance. These were The Musicians, The Lute Player, a tipsy Bacchus and Boy Bitten by a Lizard.

Returning to realism, Caravaggio paintings centered on religious themes that showed an emergence of remarkable spirituality. Penitent Magdalene, Saint Catherine, Martha and Mary Magdalene, Judith Beheading Holofernes, Sacrifice of Isaac, Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy and Rest on the Flight into Egypt are among these religious paintings.

Raphael paintings celebrated perfection and grace with serene and harmonious qualities. Raphael Sanzio was an Italian High Renaissance painter and architect. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he formed the traditional trinity of great masters of the period.

Raphael's early years in Umbria, a 4 year period absorbing Florence's artistic traditions and his last hectic and triumphant 12 years in Rome consisted the 3 phases and 3 styles into which Raphael paintings naturally fall into.

A brilliant self portrait drawing showing Raphael's precocious talent was one of the early Raphael paintings. With the use of an oil varnish medium, thick paint was applied in shadows and darker garments while thin paint was applied on the flesh areas. This was the underlying technique used in this self-portrait drawing.

Among Raphael paintings, the Baronci altarpiece for the church of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino has the distinction of being the first documented work. Large works, some in fresco, comprised the Raphael paintings of the following years. They were actually painted works for other churches, among which are the Mond Crucifixion, the Brera Wedding of the Virgin and Oddi Altarpiece.

Small and exquisite cabinet Raphael paintings during the period included the Three Graces and St. Michael. There was also the beginning of Madonna and portrait paintings among Raphael paintings in the same period.




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