Botticelli in Canberra
Posted: 09 Jan 2012 | By: Sasha Grishin
The word ‘Renaissance’ does have a lovely ring to it, especially when it is coupled with a string of names of major artists, including Raphael, Titian, Botticelli, Bellini and Mantegna, as well as some of the less prominent and quirkier figures, such as Tura, Crivelli, Lotto, Vivarini, Carpaccio, Perugino and Moroni. All of this makes the new summer exhibition at the National Gallery in Canberra a significant cultural event.
More than seventy paintings are drawn from the collection of the relatively little-known Pinacoteca Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, and are leaving Europe for the first time because the gallery display spaces are being renovated. Generally it is an exhibition of minor paintings by major artists and some major works by minor artists. Catalogues of names and works are tedious, so I will just mention three paintings which caught my imagination.
Raphael’s Saint Sebastian, 1501–02, is a gem where the sweet-faced youthful saint with flowing locks and dressed in rich brocade poses against a sweeping misty Leonardoesque landscape while he fondles an arrow with his right hand. The arrow is the saint’s attribute as he was to have his dry run at martyrdom by being converted into a pin cushion by the archers of the evil Roman emperor Diocletian. Contrary to popular belief, he was not martyred in this way and in fact he was rescued by St Irene of Rome who kissed him better, but then St Sebastian returned to harangue the emperor and was subsequently clubbed to death. Raphael shows one of the most tranquil depictions of this saint.
Botticelli’s The story of Virginia the Roman, c.1496–1504, is an interesting late and problematic painting by the master, created long after he renounced his pagan works such as the Birth of Venus and the Primavera and after he had possibly embraced the teachings of the fanatical Savonarola. Envisaged as two panels to be hung together, the other being Lucretia, they are based on the classical writer Livy and his account of two Roman heroines. In this painting, the beautiful and virtuous Virginia becomes the victim of intrigue when she rejects the sexual advances of Appius Claudius and despite her innocence is called a slave. In order to avoid this disgrace, her father, Lucius Virginius, as an honour killing, stabs her to death. These events led to a revolt against Rome’s tyrannical rulers and the re-establishment of the Roman Republic. It is a complex, dry multifigured composition.
Giovanni Bellini’s The Alzano Madonna, c.1488, is from the church of Santa Maria della Pace of Alzano Lombardo. The naked healthy bambino seems more curious than holy, and behind the holy couple is a wonderful landscape populated with towers. What is particularly fascinating about this painting is the beautifully painted red marble parapet in the foreground with a scroll with the artist’s name and an enigmatic fruit balanced on it, which, if it is an apple, may refer to the original sin which Christ’s blood will cleanse; if a pear, it is a possible emblem of the Virgin, with the pear as a pacifier in contrast with the ‘apple of discord’ or temptation. This is a rich exhibition with enough to satisfy any knowledgeable art snob or passionate admirer of superb painting.
Click to view image/s from this exhibition:
