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Dulwich Picture Gallery's Gothic Birth, 1530

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Dulwich Picture Gallery's Gothic Birth, 1530

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painting by Salvator Rosa

oil painting

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Dulwich Picture Gallery is 200 years old, and it could hardly have picked a better way to celebrate its history than its exhibition of Salvator Rosa, which I will be reviewing shortly. It has also rehung its collection, moved its shop, and generally spruced up its already beautiful space - while in the grounds, a new abstract sculpture by Peter Randall-Page has been commissioned by the Art Fund to mark the bicentenary. This zen-like form on the lawn is engraved with interfolding patterns, taken from the frieze on the exterior of Sir John Soane's neoclassical building, which, like the collection it houses, dates from the early 1800s, the age of Napoleon. In paying homage to the distinctive architecture of Soane, the Art Fund reminds us that this is one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the world. And in fact, the Salvator Rosa show also takes us back to Soane.

John Soane is one of Britain's greatest architects, a radical visionary who belongs in the company of Hawksmoor and Pugin. His house at Lincoln's Inn Fields, created as both a dwelling and a museum, is rightly one of London's best-loved artistic attractions. But Soane's grandest monument is Dulwich Picture Gallery, and its most captivating corner is the mausoleum he built right at the heart of what is now the gallery's temporary exhibition space, illuminated by tinted glass, transporting you into a Georgian gothic novel.

Salvator Rosa was huge in the age when Soane was building Dulwich. This Italian landscape painter was avidly collected by English art lovers and his images were seen as the essence of the spooky. Eighteenth-century British writers found inspiration in Rosa for their strangest invention, the gothic novel. Now, Soane was the architect of the gothic: he himself saw the analogy between his buildings and the gothic novel, and his house-museum has a "monk's parlour" designed as the perfect setting to read such stories, complete with skull on the table.

In the Rosa show at Dulwich, you contemplate the very paintings that so excited 18th-century and Regency novelists: the original landscapes of horror. Then, at the heart of the exhibition, you come across Soane's ghostly mausoleum, and the dark images of Rosa connect up with the sublime ambitions of this museum's architect. It is a terrific moment of living, or dying, history, as the intellectual world that created this gallery two centuries ago rushes into your imagination.
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Dulwich Picture Gallery is 200 years old, and it could hardly have picked a better way to celebrate its history than its exhibition of Salvator Rosa, which I will be reviewing shortly.

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architect : unkown

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Stain Glass Windows from Notre Dame De Paris, 

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Stain Glass Windows from Notre Dame De Paris, 

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by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc

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interior of Notre Dame De Paris Cathedral,1163

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interior of Notre Dame De Paris Cathedral,1163

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Eugène Viollet-le-Duc,

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Bernard de Soissons

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Beauvais, France, Beauvais Cathedral, SE exterior view

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Beauvais, France, Beauvais Cathedral, SE exterior view

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Duccio di Buoninsegna

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Overall, the composition of the altarpiece follows the conservative Sienese traditions of the Proto-Renaissance. The front of the Maesta, the side facing the congregation, was designed for devout contemplation and depicts the Virgin and Child in majesty, surrounded by a host of angels and saints. Above and below this main scene are scenes from the Life of Christ and the Virgin, along with smaller figures of Saints. It seems likely that most of these miniature scenes would only have been visible to the priest. The rear of the Maesta, designed as a commentary on the gospels, is occupied by 26 scenes from the Passion, while above and below them are smaller panels decorated with scenes from the Life of Christ, including: the Annunciation; Isaiah; the Nativity; Ezekiel; the Adoration of the Magi; Solomon; the Presentation in the Temple; Malachi; the Slaughter of the Innocents; Jeremiah; the Flight into Egypt; Hosea; the Disputation with the Doctors; Temptation on the Temple, the Temptation on the Mount, the Calling of Peter and Andrew, the Wedding at Cana, Christ and the Samaritan, the Healing of the Blind Man, the Transfiguration and the Resurrection of Lazarus.

On both sides, the most important figures (like the Virgin) are created larger than the lesser ones (saints), while each saint is clearly identifiable by their clothes and/or personal objects. The background of the painting is pure gold leaf, while the layout is rigidly symmetrical.

Decorative Byzantine Style

Although, as stated, Duccio remained within the conservative Byzantine-style idiom of Sienese fine art painting, the Maesta contains numerous innovations. The figures on the front screen, for instance, have greater weight and solidity than previous works, and are endowed with greater characterization and a new livelier spirit. There is real movement in them - they are not simply stiffly positioned against a gold backdrop. At the same time, the holy stories pictorialized on back of the Maesta make up a skilled narrative which is at least equal to Giotto in its layout, though perhaps not in its iconography, since Duccio was happy to rely on tried and tested Byzantine motifs and models for most of his New Testament Biblical art. In addition, in his overall decorative scheme, Duccio introduced greater elegance and a bold use of colour. Unlike Giotto, he employed gold (and other rich, subtle colours) as an aesthetic feature in its own right, rather than simply as a functional feature to give added impact to figurative forms. Duccio's emphasis on the decorative links him to Gothic art, in particular the International Gothic style of the early 14th century.

Duccio was awarded the commission for the Maesta in 1308. To ensure compliance from their headstrong and unruly artist, the Sienese authorities drew up a contract (preserved in the State Archives of Siena) which specified that the altarpiece should be painted entirely by the artist himself, and that he should accept no other jobs until the work was completed. In keeping with the ambitions of the city, expense was no object. Thus the finest colour pigments were sourced and used, as well as copious amounts of gold leaf. When it was finally completed in June 1311, a public holiday was declared, bells were rung, and the Maesta was carried from Duccio's workshop to the cathedral in a huge procession which included all the religious and civic dignitaries, priests and citizens of Siena.

Duccio outlived his masterpiece by 8 years. His influence, however, lived on in the countless religious paintings (altarpieces and frescoes) of his pupils. In fact his workshop trained many of the next generation of Sienese painters, including Simone Martini (1285-1344), Pietro Lorenzetti (active 1320-45) and his brother Ambrogio Lorenzetti (Active 1319-48). Other famous works by Duccio include: the Madonna Crevole (1280, Museo dell' Opera Metropolitana, Siena), the Rucellai Madonna (1285, Uffizi, Florence), Madonna of the Franciscans (1295-1300, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena), the London Triptych (The Holy Virgin and the Christ Child with St. Dominic and St. Aurea) (1300, National Gallery, London) and the (Stoclet Madonna) (1300, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). Sadly, the cultural development of Siena itself came to a sudden end in the middle of the 14th century, following a 3-year famine and the outbreak of the Black Death (1348). As we know, its Tuscan rival Florence managed to escape such a fate, and eventually gave birth to the stunning painting and sculpture of the Early Renaissance.

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Maesta Altarpiece, Duccio di Buoninsegna: Interpretation, Analysis

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Overall, the composition of the altarpiece follows the conservative Sienese traditions of the Proto-Renaissance. The front of the Maesta, the side facing the congregation, was designed for devout contemplation and depicts the Virgin and Child in majesty, surrounded by a host of angels and saints.