My eyes had to adjust to the dimness in the Church of Santa Felicita. To my right through an iron gate was Jacopo Pontormo's painting of The Deposition From The Cross (1528). I had seen it often in books. With a euro clunked into the machine to light the painting, I was able to see it much better, although still through the iron gate.
A painting is an invention (Definition of "invent": verb [ trans. ] create or design [something that has not existed before]; be the originator of). History decides whether a painting is a good invention or not.
History decided that Pontormo's Deposition is a good invention. To see how it's inventive, compare it to Raphael's Deposition (1508), an example of the "state of the art" in painting at the time.
In Raphael's painting, people are solidly and logically planted on the ground. Christ's body is heavy and strains the people carrying it.
Where and on what are many of the folks standing in Pontormo's painting? Some are floating to the top almost as if in zero gravity. Christ seems light as a feather.
Raphael's painting is like a play with figures spread out on a stage space. Each figure helps tell the painting's story. The background landscape has crosses on the right and a cave on the left to further provide context for the action.
Pontormo's painting is a swirling oval of expressive figures. We know the story from the title, the body of Christ, and Mary, but that's about it. There is no background accept for a cloud that stands in for a figure.
The color in Raphael's is used to realistically describe the people, objects, and the landscape, while unifying the composition.
Color in Pontormo's jumps out to create a whirl of bright blues, reds, and pinks, calling attention to itself and flattening the composition (the purply-pink tone on the bottom figure is especially outstanding).
With his Deposition, Pontormo invented a more modern way to think about painting. He didn't tell a story with figures placed solidly on a stage outfitted with props, as was expected at the time. He used the story as an excuse to make a melodramatic picture that was as much about color and composition, that is, a painting more about itself. You might say that Pontormo invented "art for art's sake."
By the way, that's the troublemaker, himself, staring out on the right.
1 comment:
Lush painting -- lots to look at. Thank you for pointing out the supernatural lighting on the lower figure (almost as if lit by a neon sign).
A couple of the figures are wearing a green or a blue leotard. Did Pontormo not finish dressing them? Or was he not sure what to do with their nakedness? And the head sprouting out of Christ's head is a little awkward.
Weak moments: cloud, artist head.
I love how the two lower figures seem startled to see the viewer of the paining.
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