Here I display my research on certain art pieces and objects, which I would like to provide the history of, while possibly utilising them as vessels for clues within the game experience.
Index:
- Madonna Enthroned with Child and Saint, by Giovanni Bellini
- Pesaro Triptych, by Giovanni Bellini
- Interesting anecdote about Gentile Bellini
- Works cited
Madonna Enthroned with Child and Saint, by Giovanni Bellini
Bellini, G. (1505) Madonna Enthroned with Child and Saint [oil on panel] San Zaccaria Church, Venice.
(Goffen, 1990, pp170-175)
The gold mosaic of the semi-dome displays a decorative pattern of green leaves with touches of red and white, which capture the light of the environment.
An angel sits at the feet of Mary and Christ while playing the lyra. The saints are standing on both sides of the throne
The Church is open on both sides and the viewer is able to admire the landscape. It is very spacious with a lot of light entering from the left.
The side where the light is depicted in the painting coincides with where real light enters the church from the occident. This reinforces the effect that the virgin and child are always turned towards the light.
The sense of light and air, of volume and monumentality gives this composition an new nobility and harmony.
In this work, Bellini re-defines his concept of feminine beauty making the Madonna, Saint Lucia, and Caterina of Alessandria more graceful and slender compared to their preceding incarnations. The heads are smaller and more proportionate to their body.
They have a new 16th century elegance.
The women are saints and martyrs, which is why they hold a palm branch symbol of martyrdom. They offer Christ their suffering symbolised by Catharine’s wheel and Lucy’s crystal vase.
Like the other male saints, their gaze is lowered. The shadows on their faces is more charged around their eyes, which enhances their expressions and gives a more naturalistic feel to the painting as a whole. They underline the profoundness of the emotions especially with Saint Gerolamo.
This is also a way to involve the viewer with the scene: Saint Peter is looking directly at us.
Our psychological access to the altar passes through the gaze of the celestial door.
The elevated position of the Virgin and child is accentuated from the low point of view of the painting, from their gazes pointing down, from the inclination of the heads.
In Saint Zaccaria was celebrated Easter with a Ducal procession considered one of the most prestigious and significant civil rituals of the Republic.
Pesaro Triptych, by Giovanni Bellini
Bellini, G. (1488) Pesaro Triptych [oil on panel]. Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice.
(Goffen, 1990, pp159-162)
In the central panel we can see the elevated Virgin and Child. On the right hand panel we have Saint Nicolò and Saint Pietro. On the left, Saint Benedetto and Saint Marco.
The inscription on the mosaic above Mary says: “ Certain door of heaven, guide my mind, direct my life, may my every action be entrusted to your care”
The gold frame was donated in 1478 by the children of Pietro Pesaro and Franceschina Tron in memory of the death of their mother that same year.
Pietro Pesaro and his children are honoured by the presence of their homonymous saint inside the (pala/dome?). Franceschina is remembered on the inscription of her tomb on the pavement before the altar. This tomb became a burial place for her descendants.
The Saints in the lateral panels are the communicators. Their space is accessible compared to the center piece. The side rooms represent the Pastophorion of a byzantine chapel.
(Pastophorion is one of two chambers within an early Christian and Eastern Christian church building used as sacristies)
This is where they keep the Eucharist before mass.
On the left panel we can notice a very thin strip of earth and sky. The light of this painting seems to be coming from one of these openings.
In this work, Bellini combines, whites, reds, balcks.
Mary’s tunic as Saint Benedict’s Bible contrast with the black garment of the saint, the read of the background brocade (rich fabric), Mary’s red tunic, the red of the saint to his right.
Piramidal gemometry, mary and pedestal
The composition is very harmonious
There is a sense of hope. Christ is turned towards Nicolo and Pietro to bless them. The latter being the homonymous saint of the dead father of the family Pesaro. He draws us in with his intense stair. We must join the scene and the reading of the bible
The text is the veneration of the immaculate Virgin. This establishes a relationship between the picture and who is watching. Here, salvation is offered by the scripture.
Interesting anecdote about Gentile Bellini:
(Zorzi, 1999, pp198)
Foreign Market fascinated by objet d’art produced by local artists. Sultan Mehmed II (Barbaric man who conquered Scutari, Negropont, Constantinople) was so intrigued by Venetian paintings that he invited Gentile Bellini to be a guest at his court. However, when he presented poor Bellini with the severed head of a salve in order to show him exactly how he wanted him to portray the decapitation of John the Baptist, the terrified artist accepted his farewell gift of a magnificent chain and promptly departed for Venice.
Polyptych of Saint Vincenzo Ferrer, by Giovanni Bellini:
Bellini, G. (1464-1470) Polyptych of Saint Vincenzo Ferrer [tempera]. Basilica Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice.
(I am most likely to use this painting in the tour as the where the other paintings are located will not appear.)
(Humfrey,1988, pp403-405)
The fundamental message was that access to the soteriological benefits of Christ’s self-sacrifice was to be gained above all through the meditation of Saint Vincenzo.
The three predella scenes focus on his powers as a miracle worker (thaumaturge).
This saint was regarded as a miracle healer, celebrated in the three scenes of the predella
It is no accident that he is flanked by the plagued saints Christopher and Sebastian..
Works cited:
Goffen, R. (1990) Giovanni Bellini. Milan: Federico Motta Editore. Second edition.
Humfrey, P. (1988) ‘Competitive Devotions: The Venetian Scuole Piccole as Donors of Altarpieces in the in the Years around 1500’, The Art Bulletin, Vol. 70, No. 3 , pp. 401-423 .
Zorzi, A. (1999) Venice 697-1797 A City, A Republic, An Empire. New York: The Overlook Press Peter Mayer Publisher, INC.