Last week my wife and I finally
got to see the Metropolitan Museum’s exhibition, Valentin de Boulogne, Beyond
Caravaggio, that closes today after a run of three months. The Met did a remarkable job of assembling 45
of the 60 extant paintings of this early seventeenth century artist who, like
Caravaggio, died at a relatively young age.
On its website the Met provided
this introduction to Valentin:
Although he is not well known to the general public, Valentin has long been admired by those with a passion for Caravaggesque painting. His work was a reference point for the great realists of the 19th century, from Courbet to Manet, and his startlingly vibrant staging of dramatic events and the deep humanity of his figures, who seem touched by a pervasive melancholy, make his work unforgettable.
After viewing the paintings which
were beautifully hung in a number of rooms, it would be hard to dispute the
Met’s description. Valentin came on the
scene right around the time of Caravaggio’s death and obviously learned from
the master. His paintings, many of a
very large size, are startlingly vibrant and dramatic, and full of the humanity
of his figures both secular and sacred.
Like Caravaggio he depicted
musicians, tavern goers, gamblers, pick-pockets, and card sharps in action.
Nevertheless, most of the paintings in the exhibition showed that Valentin’s
patrons still desired sacred subjects, and that some subjects still retained
their popularity despite the iconoclasm of the Protestant Reformation, or the
reforms of the Council of Trent.
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| Titian: Denial of Peter Metropolitan Museum, NY |
For example, the exhibition
contained more than one painting of the denial of Peter. The Met’s permanent
collection features a Titian version of the denial that illustrates continuity
as well as development. Titian used the contrast of light and dark long before Caravaggio
and Valentin, but did not place the scene among a crowd of disinterested
bystanders for dramatic effect.
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| Valentin de Boulogne: Denial of Peter |
In the same way, I found it
interesting to compare Valentin’s two versions of Judith, the Jewish heroine,
with Giorgione’s version completed a century before. In one version Valentin
followed Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi in depicting Judith in the act of
beheading Holofernes. However, in another version we see a much less bloody
scene with a stately composed Judith calmly standing with the severed head at
her side in much the manner of Giorgione.
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| Valentin de Boulogne: Judith |
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| Valentin de Boulogne: Judith |
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| Giorgione: Judith |
Protestant reformers rejected the
Book of Judith as apocryphal but the story obviously remained popular in
Catholic Rome. I suspect that Judith’s
enduring popularity was not just because she was viewed as a savior of her
people from an oppressive tyrant. Looking at these paintings I saw a woman
defending her own virtue and chastity. Shakespeare’s Rape of Lucrece was one of
the most popular poems of this era for much the same reason.
Here is a link to an excellent brief video introduction of Valentin and the Met exhibition by Met curator Keith Christiansen. Alternatively, the video can be viewed below.
Here is a link to an excellent brief video introduction of Valentin and the Met exhibition by Met curator Keith Christiansen. Alternatively, the video can be viewed below.
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