Aurora (Reni)
|
| Aurora |
|---|
| Guido Reni , 1612 to 1614 |
| fresco |
| 280 × 700 cm |
| Rome , Palazzo Pallavicini Rospigliosi (Casino dell'Aurora) |
The Aurora Train is a ceiling fresco by Guido Reni in the Palazzo Pallavicini Rospigliosi in Rome .
It was commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese for the palazzo and represented Borghese's last commission to Reni. The room in which the fresco is located is named after this aurora representation. Reni was apparently inspired by Raphael and by ancient works of art such as the relief of the Borghesi dancers, which is now in the Louvre.
presentation
The painting shows the goddess of the dawn accompanied by a cherub , which symbolizes the morning star . It is followed by seven horae , i.e. goddesses of the hours, and the four-horse chariot of Apollo . Aurora scatters rose petals and spreads dawn over the world.
In Reni's portrayal, Aurora leads this move. In front of a background of rather dark clouds, she hovers in a slight upward movement from left to right and scatters rose petals with both hands over a coastal landscape with a dark blue sea and a rosy sky. Aurora's upper body is framed by an almost circular flowing, light gray colored part of her robes, which sets her apart from the following group of figures and the light that spreads them. As a result, the part of her dress that lies in the shadow of this drapery is also darker in color than the lower part of her dress on which the light falls from behind: This part of her drapery has a yellowish tinge, and her partially visible legs and feet also appear light illuminated. Aurora's face is turned towards the source of this light: she looks back at the torch-bearing cherub that hovers over the heads of the four horses of Apollo.
This group, Apollon on his chariot with horses and cherub and the Horae surrounding him, hover or stride on a background of light gray clouds from left to right. The background of the group picks up the reddish yellow that can already be found in Aurora's dress and becomes lighter and lighter around Apollon's blond curly hair and his bridling arm. The god himself is fair-skinned and clad almost white. The two horae, which are below the brightest background spot, i.e. below Apollon's outstretched left arm, wear robes in strong colors, one blue, the other red. Her companions, who follow hand in hand, are dressed paler - according to the hours of the fading day they represent. As between Aurora and the cherub and the forward-looking Apollon, there are also eye contacts between individual Horae, which means that the Horae are not looking in the direction in which their train is moving.
effect
In the 19th century the painting was known as embodied poetry , poetry incarnate. Byron said that this fresco alone was worth a trip to Rome, and Jacob Burckhardt thought it was the most successful painting in the last two hundred years. However, the figure of Apollo, which has moved to the center through the composition of the picture, met with criticism, but by no means has the charisma of that of Apollo from Belvedere . This was sometimes attributed to a fundamental weakness of Renis, who could portray women and children better than men: His female forms, in their loveliness, their delicacy, their grace and sweetness are faultless; and the beauty and innocence of his infants have seldom been equalled; but he rarely gave to manly beauty and vigor a character that was noble. Nevertheless, the fresco is one of Guido Reni's best-known works and has been reproduced many times, for example in an engraving by Raffaello Morghen . At the end of the 19th century, Edward Francis Searles had a marble copy made for his Serlo Organ Hall with the consent of the Italian government . In the literature, the fresco appears, for example, by Theodor Fontane : In the novel Effi Briest it is mentioned by name among the numerous pictures that hang at the minister's wall decoration. Hans Otto Schaller attributes the “popularity” he attests to Reni's painting to his transition to “those classical academic forms” that met the public's taste. Johannes Brahms had a reproduction of the fresco hanging in his study on Karlsgasse in Vienna.
For comparison: Guercinos Aurora
In the Villa Ludovisi , Guercino presented the same theme in 1621. However, he did without the figure of Apollo and had Aurora drive himself in a chariot pulled by two heavy horses. The dark shadows of the night seem to be pushed aside by this car, which is shown from a strong soffit. The almost dancing female figures of the Horae at Reni have turned into fluttering putti . Guercino's fresco shows neither the closed composition nor the harmonious movement of Reni's depiction, and the world, blessed by the morning light, is only hinted at by architectural elements and treetops. The viewer's point of view seems to be in this very world, namely under Aurora's car - an interesting perspective, but one that does not allow a glimpse of a closed group and the world made happy by Aurora as with Reni. John Constable summarized the importance of looking at the landscape in Reni's presentation as follows: [...] it may not be improper to notice its immense importance as an accessory in his picture of Aurora. It is the finest instance I know of the beauty of natural landscape brought to aid a mythological story, and to be sensitive of its value we have only to imagine a plain background in its stead. But though Guido has placed us in the heavens, we are looking towards the earth, where seas and mountain-tops are receiving the first beams of the morning sun. The chariot of Apollo is borne on the clouds, attended by the hours and preceded by Aurora, who scatters flowers, and the landscape, instead of diminishing the illusion, is the chief means of producing it, and is indeed most essential to the story.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/monarchy-enlightenment/baroque-art1/baroque-italy/a/reni-aurora
- ^ Jörg Martin Merz: Guido Reni. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 16, Bautz, Herzberg 1999, ISBN 3-88309-079-4 , Sp. 1339-1358.
- ↑ a b c Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=keysor&book=artists5&story=reni&PHPSESSID=08752ff865c99541e2ff5690e835bde8
- ↑ http://www.mmmh.org/
- ^ Hans Otto Schaller, Figurbild und Landschaft , Xlibris Corporation 2008, ISBN 0-554-93542-2 , p. 125
- ↑ Chamber Music Guide - Villa Musica Rhineland-Palatinate: Violin Sonata in D minor, op.108.Retrieved on December 20, 2017 (English).
