Since 2010 I have been using this site to discuss my interpretations of famous Renaissance paintings including Giorgione's "Tempest" as "The Rest on the Flight into Egypt"; his "Three Ages of Man" as "The Encounter of Jesus with the Rich Young Man"; Titian's, "Sacred and Profane Love" as "The Conversion of Mary Magdalen"; Titian's "Pastoral Concert" as his "Homage to Giorgione", and Michelangelo's"Doni Tondo." The full papers can now be found at academia.edu.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Review. John Fleming: From Bonaventura to Bellini

                       

This year I plan to re-post some review essays that have appeared on Giorgione wt al... since its inception in 2010. Today, I repost an essay on John Fleming's study of Giovanni Bellini's St. Francis in the Desert, now in the Frick Museum. Since its original posting on 9/28/2014, it has become one of the most popular posts on this site.
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For over 60 years the Frick Museum in New York City has been my favorite museum. It is a small, easily navigated site quite unlike the Metropolitan only a few blocks away on Fifth Avenue. Its magnificent collection of paintings, acquired for the most part during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by steel baron, Henry Clay Frick, spans the gamut of Western art from late Medieval to the Impressionists.*

                      

You cannot visit the Frick and fail to notice that patrons invariably stop in the great central living room to stare and wonder at Giovanni Bellini’s depiction of St. Francis On one occasion a museum employee confirmed my guess that this painting, despite the presence of works by the likes of Titian, Rembrandt, and Renoir, is the most popular in the whole collection.

Born in 1430 Giovanni Bellini is arguably the first great master of the Venetian Renaissance. The Venetian version of the Renaissance has long taken a back seat to the Florentine but in the last few decades it has come into its own and today most scholars would agree that Bellini and his younger successors, Giorgione, and Titian, can hold their own as painters with Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael.

Indeed, the Bellini family studio is now seen as one of the great sources of the Renaissance. Giovanni and his brother, Gentile, who at one point went to Constantinople to paint the Sultan, inherited the studio from their father, Jacopo. Andrea Mantegna, a great painter in his own right, married one of the Bellini sisters and exerted a powerful influence on the studio. Scholars also suspect that both Giorgione and Titian were apprentices at the Bellini studio before they broke out on their own.

Although he painted the St. Francis around 1480, Bellini continued to paint well into the next century. Until his death he was sought after and courted by public, religious, and private patrons. He is best known as a painter of Madonnas and groups of figures ranged around the Madonna and Child often called “sacra conversazione.” Nevertheless, the St. Francis is a unique work in the history of Renaissance art.

What is going on in the painting? St. Francis stands in the foreground a little off center wearing his familiar robe.  Behind him is a kind of wooden structure that seems to lead into a cave. The mid-ground is largely made up of a barren landscape whose primary occupant is a small horse or ass. Prominent in the upper left is an oddly shaped tree that appears to be leaning toward St. Francis. In the distant background we see a majestic towered city.

In one interpretation of the painting Francis is receiving the stigmata, the actual wounds of Christ, on his own body.  His hands are outstretched and close examination indicates barely visible wounds on his hands but traditional elements usually employed in depictions of the stigmata episode are absent. His companion, Brother Leo, is not shown and neither are Christ or an angel.

I prefer the interpretation of John V. Fleming in From Bonaventure to Bellinian Essay in Franciscan ExegesisIn this often overlooked but extraordinary 1982 monograph Fleming argued that Marcantonio Michiel’s original description of the painting, when he saw it in the home of Venetian patrician, Taddeo Contarini, “St. Francis in the Desert,” was indeed correct.  Fleming saw the subject of the painting and every detail in it grounded in Franciscan spirituality.

The landscape in the painting is not La Verna, the site of the stigmata episode, but the desert of the Old Testament or Hebrew scriptures. In particular, it is the Egyptian desert. The prominent animal in mid-ground is the Onager or wild ass of the desert while the heron standing before it is a bird of the Nile delta.


Franciscans often associated their founder with Moses and Elijah and their life in the desert. In the background beneath the city there is a shepherd tending his flock just as Moses did before his encounter with the Lord. Indeed, the leaning tree so prominent in the upper left refers to the famous burning bush in which the Lord appeared to Moses. It is a laurel which at the time was believed to be impervious to fire. We also notice that Francis has removed his sandals and stands barefoot in the same manner as Moses in the presence of the Lord.

The wooden structure behind Francis is a Sukkoth, variously translated as tent, hut, booth, or tabernacle, a kind of portable structure used by the Israelites in their wanderings in the desert. The Sukkoth also recalls the scene of the Transfiguration when Christ was revealed in His glory accompanied by Moses and Elijah to the three apostles, Peter, James, and John. Dumfounded, Peter offered to build three booths or Sukkoth for Jesus and his guests.



If we look closely, we will see beneath the right hand of Francis a rabbit in a hole in the rock, and beneath his left hand a jug. The rabbit was a symbolic reference to Moses who hid his face from the Lord and the jug is a reference to Elijah. Indeed, the abundant vegetation sprouting around Francis is a garden or carmel, another reference to Elijah who was believed to have been the founder of the Carmelite order. Francis stands between Moses and Elijah in the same way as Christ stood between them at the Transfiguration. In Franciscan spirituality and imagery, Francis was the new Christ.

Just as Moses came to lead his people out of the slavery of Egypt, so too did Francis come to lead his followers out of the slavery of sin. The city in the background then is a place of danger and peril, both physical and spiritual. The desert is symbolic of the life of poverty and humility preached by the famous founder of the Franciscan order.

Most of the paintings acquired by Henry Clay Frick had a special meaning for him. A committed Mason, Frick admired Francis because of his love of Nature. Others who have viewed the painting since Frick added it to his collection perhaps have had their own reasons for admiring it. Even if we know nothing of Franciscan spirituality, Bellini’s painting is still an image of a human being standing open and receptive to the divine light and transforming the world because of it. **

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* This review essay originally appeared as a guest post on Hasan Niyazi's popular Art history blog, "Three Pipe Problem." It was subsequently published on this site in September 2014, a year after Hasan's death. It has become one of the most popular posts on Giorgione et al...

** The Frick and Metropolitan Museum collaborated on a cleaning and restoration of the painting about five years ago. The effort resulted in an exhaustive study of the painting that I believe did not give as much attention to Fleming's interpretation as it deserved. See, Susannah Rutherglen and Charlotte Hale: In a New LightGiovanni Bellini’s St. Francis in the Desert. The Frick Collection. New York, 2015. 

Saturday, February 3, 2024

Renaissance Exhibition

At age 84 I know that I will be dead before the museums, galleries, and collections that house the mysterious paintings that I have interpreted since 2005 will ever change their labels despite anything I have written. Attempts to correspond over the years with these institutions, and with scholars in the field have elicited few replies. This lack of response led me to create Giorgione et al...  in 2010 and now I have decided to mount my own online exhibition of these masterpieces from the Renaissance. 

Last year I re-posted brief versions of these interpretative discoveries on this site. Full papers on the major discoveries can be found at academia.edu under Francis DeStefano. For the other paintings see the posts on this site for 2023. Today, I bring them together with new labels. Enjoy the exhibition.

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                    Giorgione: The Rest on the Flight into Egypt. 

This painting is usually called The Tempest because of the storm in the background. Now we can see that it is Mary who nurses her Child while a young looking St. Joseph stands guard with his traditional staff. The ruins behind him are common in depictions of the Flight into Egypt and the storm in the background can indicate the Massacre of the Infants. Oil on canvas, dated 1509-1510.  Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice. measures 83 by 72 cm,




                    Titian: The Conversion of Mary Magdalen.

This famous painting is usually called Sacred and Profane Love, a title attached to it only in 1694. Scholars have disputed the title and now we can see that the two women are Mary Magdalen as a courtesan, and as a penitent discarding her finery after her conversion. The fictive relief in the center represents, from right to left, St. Paul falling from his horse, Cain and Abel, and Adam and Eve. Oil on canvas. 1514. Borghese Gallery, Rome. 118 cm x 273 cm (46” x 110 “).



       Giorgione: The Encounter of Jesus with the Rich Young Man.
 

This painting is usually called The Three Ages of Man from the obvious disparity in age of the three men, but the disparity, as well as the clothing, helps to identify Jesus on the right, wearing a green liturgical vestment, instructing the finely dressed rich young man in the center. St. Peter, typically depicted as a balding older man, is dressed in martyr’s red. He looks out and invites the viewer to participate. C. 1500-1501. Pitti Palace, Florence. 62 cm x 77.5 cm (24” x 30.5”). 



                            Titian: Homage to Giorgione.

This small painting, usually known as The Pastoral Concert and variously attributed to either Giorgione or Titian, can now be seen as Titian’s Homage to Giorgione, his recently deceased mentor and friend. Giorgione is depicted in red finery in the center, but important details indicate that he has died: his face is in shadow; the absence of strings on his lute indicates he will play no more; and the dark sky in the background is ominous. Titian’s portrayal of himself as a young rustic recalls the biblical story of David and Jonathan. The two nude females are the muse Euterpe in different roles. On the left she pours Giorgione’s soul out like a libation, and in the center she hands her musical instrument to Titian. Oil on canvas. c. 1510. Louvre, Paris. 110 cm x 138 cm.


This painting is always called the Doni Tondo after Michelangelo’s patron, but scholars disagree about who is handing the infant Jesus to whom, and also about the nudes in the background. Now we can see that Mary elevates her Son as a priest elevates the Host at the consecration of the Mass. Joseph kneels as a communicant would do when receiving the Host. In the midground the young John the Baptist looks at the elevated Jesus and proclaims: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” The nudes in the background are the Nephilim or the Giants in the Earth those sinners who could only be destroyed by the Flood in the time of Noah. Uffizi gallery, Florence. c. 1507. Oil and tempera on panel. 120 cm diameter (47.5 ").



                    Titian: Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine.

Usually called The Madonna of the Rabbit because of the conspicuous white rabbit in the center, the subject of this painting is the mystical marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria. Mary hands her Son to the saint as if she were giving the Eucharistic Host to a communicant. In her other hand she holds the white rabbit, which can now be seen as a symbol of the Eucharistic Host. St. Joseph, in rustic garb, sits off to the side stroking a black sheep that is symbolic of sacrifice. Oil on canvas. c. 1530. Louvre, Paris. 71 cm x 85 cm (28” x 33”).



                                             Giorgione: Judith

This painting obviously depicts the Hebrew heroine Judith calmly standing over the decapitated Holofernes. However, her often discussed bared leg can now be recognized as a device used by Giorgione to indicate a woman in danger of sexual assault. Oil on canvas transferred from the original panel.  c. 1504. Hermitage, St. Petersburg. 144 cm x 66.5 cm (57” x 26.2").



                                Giorgione: St. Sebastian

 This painting is usually called The Boy with an Arrow, but the comparison with depictions of St. Sebastian by Raphael and others is obvious. Giorgione characteristically omits the halo but the young man’s angelic face as well as his red garment indicate the famous martyr. Oil on panel. c. 1505. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. 48 cm x 41.8 cm.

 


                          Giorgione: Conversion of Mary Magdalen. 

The traditional labels, Laura, or Portrait of a Woman, do not fit. Scholars find no evidence for Petrarch’s lover, and no respectable woman would have sat for such a portrait. Details in this painting suggesting both a married woman, and a courtesan can only point to Mary Magdalen. Here, she sees the light and sheds her courtesan’s robe to become a bride of Christ. Oil on canvas mounted on panel. 1506. Kunsthstorisches   Museum, Vienna. 41cm x 34 cm. 



                            Titian:
 Conversion of Mary Magdalen.

Labelled Head of a Venetian Girl, this early painting by Titian resembles Giorgione’s Laura. Both can now be seen as Mary Magdalen in the process of removing her courtesan’s finery after seeing the light. Later Titian would paint many versions of Mary Magdalen, most of which featured the bared breast, disheveled clothing, and red hair. One even showed the saint with the same multi-colored shawl. Oil on panel transferred to canvas. c. 1509. Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena. 31.8 cm x 23.8 cm (12.5” x 9 .375 “).



                         Titian: Conversion of Mary Magdalen. 

Scholars have questioned the traditional label of this painting as the Roman nymph Flora. Titian painted many images of Mary Magdalen in the process of discarding her courtesan’s garments after her conversion. Her partially bared breast, flowing red hair, and even the flowers in her hand that have sacred symbolism, all point to the great saint. Oil on canvas. c. 1517. Uffizi gallery, Florence. 79.7 cm x 63.5 cm (31.4” x 25”). 



          Giorgione: The Encounter with Robbers on the Flight into Egypt.

This mid-seventeenth centuty copy by David Teniers of a lost Giorgione painting was originally called the Finding of Paris after the legendary account of the discovery of the infant Trojan prince. Scholars attach great importance to this small painting because they think it shows Giorgione's early interest in the Trojan War cycle. However, every detail in the painting fits one of the legends about the biblical Flight into Egypt. The two men on the right are robbers and their cohorts can be seen sleeping in the mid-ground. Mary’s bared leg indicates her danger. The infant Jesus lies on a white cloth on the stony ground and the elderly Joseph sits off to the left. Oil on panel. 1656. Museum of Fine Art, Belgium. 21 cm x 30.5 cm. (8.2” x 12”).



                   Giorgione: The Three Magi behold the Star.

 This painting was initially called Three Philosophers when seen in 1525 in the home of a Venetian patrician fifteen years after the death of Giorgione. Since that time scholars have not been able to agree on which philosophers are depicted. However, there is evidence that Giorgione has depicted the three Magi when they first behold the star of Bethlehem. The sun is setting in the background but the men are lit by another source of light. The colors of their garments are seen in other depictions of the Magi, and represent the gifts they will bring. Oil on canvas. c. 1506-1509. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. 123 cm x 144 cm (48” x 57”).



Palma Vecchio: The Meeting with John the Baptist on the Return from Egypt. 

This large painting, currently in storage at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is labeled “Allegory” for no good reason. In the center the infant Jesus embraces his older cousin, who according to legend also escaped Herod’s wrath. This very common scene depicts the acceptance by Jesus of his mission. Mary sits and watches on the left and Joseph stands guard on the right. The Lamb in the background helps to recall John’s words: “Behold the Lamb of God.” Oil on panel transferred to canvas. c. 1510-15. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Giorgione: Adoration of the Shepherds

This post originally appeared on this site on December 15, 2015. I do not challenge the traditional label of Giorgione's famous painting, but I do believe that there is much more going on in this painting than a simple Nativity scene.

Giorgione: Adoration of the Shepherds (Allendale Adoration)
National Gallery, Washington
96.8cm x 110.5 cm, 35.7" x 43.5"



Scholars have expended more time dealing with the controversy that has surrounded the attribution to Giorgione of the so-called “Allendale Adoration of the Shepherds” than they have in trying to understand what is actually going on in the painting. Here I would like to deal with the subject and meaning of this famous Nativity scene that is now in Washington’s National Gallery.

The subject of the painting seems so obvious. It is a depiction of the adoration of the shepherds who have left their flocks to seek out the newborn Savior after hearing the angels’ announcement.

Now when the angels had gone from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us..” So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 

Luke’s account of the angelic appearance to the shepherds is the traditional gospel at the midnight Mass on Christmas . The actual arrival of the shepherds at the stable in Bethlehem is the passage used for the gospel reading for the Christmas Mass at dawn.

The relatively small size of the painting indicates that it was done not as an altarpiece but for private devotion. Although the subject is clear, there is a deeper meaning.* Why is the infant Jesus lying on the rocky ground and not in a manger or feeding trough? Why is he naked? Where are the swaddling clothes? 

Actually the newborn infant is lying on a white cloth that just happens to be on the ends of Mary’s elaborate blue robe that the artist has taken great pains to spread over the rocky ground. Giorgione is here using a theme employed earlier by Giovanni Bellini and later by Titian in their famous Frari altarpieces. The naked Christ is the Eucharist that lies on the stone altar at every Mass. The altar is covered with a white cloth that in Rona Goffen’s words “recalls the winding cloth, ritualized as the corporale, the cloth spread on the altar to receive the Host of the Mass.” In Franciscan spirituality Mary is regarded as the altar. 

Clearly, the viewer-worshipper is meant to identify the Madonna with the altar and the Child with the Eucharist. Bellini's visual assertion of this symbolic equivalence is explained by a common Marian epithet. The Madonna is the "Altar of Heaven." the Ara Coeli, that contains the eucharistic body of Christ” Ave verum Corpus, natum de Maria Virgine.**

The “Adoration of the Shepherds” represents the first Mass. This was not an unusual concept. Many years ago I attended a talk on the famous Portinari altarpiece that now hangs in the Uffizi. The speaker was Fr. Maurice McNamee, a Jesuit scholar, who argued that Hugo van der Goes had also illustrated a Mass in that Netherlandish altarpiece around the year 1475. His argument centered on the spectacular garments of the kneeling angels that he identified as altar servers wearing vestments of the time. He called them “vested angels,” and they are the subject of his 1998 study, “Vested Angels, Eucharistic Allusions in Early Netherlandish Painting.”


Hugo van der Goes: Portinari Altarpiece


His Eucharistic interpretation explained the naked infant on the hard, rocky ground. The infant Christ is the same as the sacrificial Christ on the Cross and on the altar at every Mass. In a study of Mary in Botticelli’s art Alessandra Galizzi Kroegel referred to this connection.

it needs to be pointed out first of all that the Renaissance era saw the spread of practices of individual devotion to be carried out primarily in the home…From the theological perspective attention should then be drawn to the emergence of a new trend that…tended to identify the mystery of the Incarnation with the Redemption itself, focusing on the Passion with much less fervour than in the past: whence the growing popularity of  ‘incarnational’ iconographies celebrating the word made flesh, such as pictures of the Infant Jesus in his mother’s arms…while the demand for images with Christ on the Cross, very common in the fourteenth century was drastically reduced.***

It would appear that Giorgione has used the same motif although his angels have become little putti who hover around the scene. The shepherds represent participants in the Mass who kneel in adoration. 

There are many other iconographical details in this painting that could be discussed. Joseph’s gold robe indicates royal descent from the House of David. The ox and ass in the cave are symbols of the old order that has been renewed with the coming of Christ. So too would be the tree trunk next to the flourishing laurel bush in the left foreground. The laurel is a traditional symbol of joy, triumph, and resurrection.

Giorgione has moved the main characters off to the right away from their traditional place in the center. Rather than diminishing their importance this narrative device serves to make all the action flow from left to right and culminate in the Holy Family.  Giovanni Bellini had done the same thing in his “St. Francis in the Desert,” and later Titian would use this device in his Pesaro altarpiece in the Frari.

Finally, art historian Mario Lucco has suggested that the long hair of the one indicates a Venetian patrician in shepherd’s clothing.* That may be so but I like to think Giorgione indicated that the Savior, whether present on the ground before the shepherds as a newborn King, or on the altar at Mass, is accessible to all. This King is not protected by armed guards. There is no need to bribe or otherwise court influence with bureaucrats acting as intermediaries. Anyone, even the simplest and the humblest, can approach this King directly and in his or her own fashion. 

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*Two recent catalogs have offered interpretations. See Mario Lucco’s entry in Brown, David Alan, and Ferino-Pagden, Sylvia, Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting, Washington, 2006. Also see the very strange interpretation of Wolfgang Eller in Giorgione Catalog Raisonne, Petersberg, 2007.

**Rona Goffen, Piety and Patronage in Renaissance Venice, Yale, 1986. P. 53.

***Alessandra Galizzi Kroegel, “The Figure of Mary in Botticelli’s Art.” Botticelli: from Lorenzo the Magnificent to Savonarola, 2003. (ex. cat), p. 56.

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Raphael: Vision of Ezekiel?

I believe that the small painting attributed to Raphael depicts the vision of St. John on the island of Patmos, and not the vision of Ezekiel. See below for my interpretation of this paining that originally appeared on this site some years ago. Note that in depictions of a vision, the visionary is a tiny figure, but the vision fills the painting.

Scholars still question Vasari's attribution to Raphael of a small painting called, The Vision of Ezekiel.   I will leave the question of attribution to others but I do think that the subject of the painting has been misunderstood ever since Vasari mentioned it in his biography of Raphael.


Raphael: Vision of Ezekiel

Here is what Vasari wrote:

At a later period, our artist painted a small picture, which is now at Bologna, in the possession of the Count Vincenzio Ercolani. The subject of this work is Christ enthroned amid the clouds, after the manner in which Jupiter is so frequently depicted. But the Saviour is surrounded by the four Evangelists, as described in the Book of Ezekiel: one in the form of a man, that is to say; another in that of a lion; the third as an eagle; and the fourth as an ox. The earth beneath exhibits a small landscape, and this work, in its minuteness—all the figures being very small—is no less beautiful than are the others in their grandeur of extent.*

Vasari said that the subject of the painting is “Christ enthroned amid the clouds.” He did mention that Christ was surrounded by the four animals that Ezekiel saw in his vision. Even though the painting called to Vasari’s mind the vision of Ezekiel, the artist, whoever he was, must certainly have had a different vision in mind.

The vision in this painting is the vision of St. John from the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse). Let’s just compare the two visions. Here is the account from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel.

As I was among the exiles on the bank of the river Chebar, heaven opened and I saw visions from God… Ezekiel 1:1 A stormy wind blew from the north, a great cloud with light around it, a fire from which flashes of lightning darted, and in the center a sheen like bronze at the heart of the fire. In the center I saw what seemed four animals. They looked like this. They were of human form. Each had four faces, each had four wings. …As to what they looked like, they had human faces, and all four had a lion’s face to the right, and all four had a bull’s face to the left, and all four had an eagle’s face.  Their wings were spread upward; each had two wings that touched, and two wings that covered his body;… Their wings were spread upward; each had two wings that touched, and two wings that covered his body…Ezekiel 1: 4-12
Between these animals something could be seen like flaming brands or torches, darting between the animals; the fire flashed light, and lightning streaked from the fire. And the creatures ran to and fro like thunderbolts.” Ezekiel 1: 13-14.

The animals are in Ezekiel’s vision but there is no God or Christ enthroned among them. Ezekiel’s vision found its way into the Book of Revelation, a book replete with imagery from the Hebrew Scriptures. Here is St. John’s vision (Jerusalem Bible).

My name is John…I was on the island of Patmos for having preached God’s word and witnessed for Jesus; it was the Lord’s day and the Spirit possessed me, and I heard a voice behind me, shouting like a trumpet, “Write down all that you see in a book…" Revelation 1: 9-13. 
Then, in my vision, I saw a door open in heaven and heard the same voice speaking to me, the voice like a trumpet, saying, “Come up here: I will show you what is to come in the future.” With that, the Spirit possessed me and I saw a throne standing in heaven, and the One who was sitting on the throne, and the Person sitting there looked like a diamond and a ruby….In the center, grouped around the throne itself, were four animals with many eyes, in front and behind. The first animal was like a lion, the second like a bull, the third animal had a human face, and the fourth animal was like a flying eagle. Each of the four animals had six wings and had eyes all the way around as well as inside;… Revelation 4: 1-8.

In John’s vision God the Creator, “the One” sitting on the throne in the midst of the four creatures, is the most prominent figure. Vasari identified the figure as Christ but the figure more closely resembles Michelangelo’s images of God the Father in the Sistine chapel. Only later in John’s account would the Lamb join the One sitting on the throne.

In the Vision of Ezekiel the small figure on the left receiving the vision must then be identified not as Ezekiel but John, exiled on the isle of Patmos. It is hard to tell, but he seems to be on an island facing a broad expanse of sea rather than in a crowd of people at the bank of the river Chebar.

Some scholars have argued that there is a companion piece to the Vision of Ezekiel that did not find its way back to Italy after the fall of Napoleon. In his study of Raphael Jean-Pierre Cuzin discussed a small oil on panel of the Holy Family.


The kinship in style and execution of the small Holy Family and the Vision of Ezekiel in the Pitti Palace at Florence, which have the same dimensions is striking: the rounded, thick-set bodies, strongly modeled by black shadows and lively touches of light, and the vigorous impasto execution, invite one to see an identical hand in both pictures—that of Penni, for Konrad Oberhuber. Others have more often thought of Giulio Romano. The Vision of Ezekiel, unlike the neglected picture in the Louvre, counts among Raphael’s celebrated works; it is identified with a picture described by Vasari at Bologna in the house of Count Ercolani. **

The small Holy Family is also a misnomer. It is actually a depiction of the encounter of Mary and the infant Jesus on their return from the flight into Egypt with her cousin Elizabeth and the infant John the Baptist. With or without St. Joseph, this legendary meeting was a very popular subject since it marked the initial acceptance of the mission of Christ. Usually the Christ child accepts a small cross from the young Baptist but in this case he accepts the Baptist himself.

If the two paintings are companion pieces, they would then represent the beginning and the end of Christ’s mission. The meeting of the two infants in the Judean desert recalls the words of the Baptist, “Behold the Lamb of God,” and in the vision from the Book of Revelation, the Lamb who was sacrificed will join “the One seated on the Throne.” 

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*Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, selected, edited and introduced by Marilyn Aronberg Lavin, Volume II, New York, 1967. p. 41.

**Jean-Pierre Cuzin: Raphael, His Life and Works, New Jersey, 1985. p. 226.

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Lorenzo Lotto: Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine


In my interpretation of Giorgione's Tempest as "The Rest on the Flight into Egypt" I explained the reasons why Giorgione chose to portray St. Joseph as a virile, young man. Shortly after Giorgione's death, contemporaries like Paris Bordone, and Lorenzo Lotto also depicted a virile, youthful St. Joseph in versions of the Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine. Here is a discussion of Lotto's version.

Lorenzo: Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine


A painting by Lorenzo Lotto of the Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine provides another example of a young, virile St. Joseph by a contemporary of Giorgione. The painting is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna where the man, formerly identified as St. James is now identified as St. Thomas. He kneels next to St. Catherine who gazes at him and not at the infant Christ. They are obviously exchanging vows., and it can only be St. Joseph who acts as a proxy for the marriage of the infant Child, and the legendary Queen of Alexandria. Joseph is shown with his staff but his virile good looks and the spear-point at the end of the staff have led scholars astray.


In his work on Lotto, Bernard Berenson identified the kneeling man as St. James the Greater but provided no explanation. In the catalog of the 1997/1998 Lotto exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Peter Humfrey identified the man as St. Thomas because of the spear.* A decade later in the Bellini, Giorgione, Titian exhibition in Vienna, however, the man was still identified as St. James. There is no good reason for either St. James or St. Thomas to be in the desert participating in the mystic marriage of St. Catherine. 

On at least two occasions, and at about the same time as Lotto, Paris Bordone painted the mystic marriage of Catherine with a rustic-looking, vigorous Joseph playing a prominent role. 




One of Bordone’s versions was featured in the same Bellini, Giorgione, Titian exhibition. In that painting Joseph’s muscular, bare foreleg is evidence of his role as the proxy for the mystic union of Catherine with the Christ child. The other version is at the Hermitage and also features the muscular, bare leg. In that version the Madonna has already passed the infant Christ to Joseph.


In Lotto’s painting the Madonna holds the child out to observe the ceremony. In the Lotto catalog Peter Humfrey noted that the painting “is first recorded by Marco Boschini in his 1660 Venetian dialect poem La Carts del Navigar Pittoresco.” Boschini identified the man as St. Joseph. "The majesty to be found in the venerable and devout old St. Joseph is for me expressed by only one brush: a brush that is most singular and memorable!" 

Boschini’s description of Joseph as old, “vechiarelo,” is belied by the saint’s dark beard, full head of hair, and robust physique. In Humfrey’s opinion Boschini’s “accurate evocation of the pictorial qualities of the work is remarkable,” but he claimed that the identification of St. Joseph was “mistaken.” Humfrey believed that it was unlikely that Boschini had actually seen the painting in person, and that the spear-point told against St. Joseph. It is true that a point on the end of Joseph’s spear must be explained but on the whole it is much easier to explain that small item than it is to explain the presence of either St. James or St. Thomas at the marriage of Catherine, or the absence of St. Joseph from this familiar scene.

Years after writing this post in 2011, I can only guess that Joseph's protective role had assumed a martial aspect. The Man in the Tempest was called a "soldier" by a Venetian observer two decades after Giorgione's death mainly, I believe, because of his pose. But he carried a staff, a tradition associated with St. Joseph. For some reason, followers of Giorgione added a spear point to the staff, or even turned it into a halberd.**

Palma Vecchio or follower
Philadelphia Museum



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 *Lorenzo Lotto, Rediscovered Master of the Renaissance, New Haven, 1997. Catalog #31. “Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Thomas,” c. 1528-1530, oil on canvas, 113.5 x 152, Kunsthistorische Museum, Vienna.

** See the discussion of this painting in the previous post at Giorgione et al..