The Madonna of St. Francis (Correggio)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Madonna of St. Francis (Antonio da Correggio)
The Madonna of St. Francis
Antonio da Correggio , 1514/15
Poplar wood
299 × 245 cm
Old Masters Picture Gallery

The painting The Madonna of St. Francis of Correggio is exhibited in Dresden , in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister .

Image description

introduction

The Madonna of Heil. Franciscus. Under a round arch supported by Ionic columns in front of a simple mountain landscape, Mary is enthroned on a high pedestal, the lower part of which is supported by two natural-colored naked boys, who also hold a medallion depicting Moses with the tablets of the law. The naked Christ Child on her lap raises her little right hand in blessing; she herself stretches her right hand over the head of Heil, gently looking down. Franciscus, who stands with bent knee at the bottom left of the throne, presses his left hand to his chest and looks up in delight. The one behind him is one. Antony. To the right of the throne, however, stands John the Baptist, who, looking at the beholder, points with his left to Mary and the Savior, and she is healed. Katharina, who holds her sword in her right hand and puts her left foot on her bike. Above, two naked angelic boys have ventured out of the glory and, with folded hands, hover adoring the head of the virgin. "

Madonna della Vittoria by Andrea Mantegna

A Sacra Conversazione is shown , a representation of the enthroned Madonna together with saints in a spiritual conversation. This picture is considered to be the first independent painting by Correggio, in which he was one of the first artists after Raphael to transfer the style of the 15th century Quattrocento into the 16th century Cinquecento . The first baroque echoes are visible here. A comparison with the Madonna della Vittoria by Andrea Mantegna , which was created in 1495 and can be seen in the Louvre today, may support this thesis.

This softer style, known as sfumato , was founded by Leonardo da Vinci , who in his treatise The Book of Painting , written around 1500, also gave theoretical reasons for it:

". . . If you are composing histories, do not immediately carry out the articulations of the body that occur in them with a sharply delimited line down to the details, otherwise you will encounter what many painters tend to encounter, who want to accept every slightest line of coal. [. . .]
Have you never watched the poets make verses? They don't bother to paint beautiful letters, and they don't mind having to cross out a few verses again to make better ones. So you painter compose the limbs of your figures from the rough and direct your attention first to the movements so that they fit the expression of the soul states of the ensouled beings of which your history consists, and afterwards pay attention to the beauty and goodness of the limbs. For you must know that such an untrained composite draft, if you succeed in it with regard to the invention, will only please you all the more afterwards if it later adorns itself with the proper completion of all individual parts. . . . (I, p. 223) "

As a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci, Correggio was certainly influenced by him consciously or unconsciously, and a direct encounter is also considered in literature.

Architecture

The throne of the Madonna stands under a column architecture that is closed at the top with an arch that is cut off from the edge of the picture. This architecture is reminiscent of an ancient triumphal arch arranged in the open landscape. Immediately to the left behind the throne is part of a reclining column that can be seen as a reference to the bygone era of antiquity. The fragile-looking location of the throne directly on the sward reinforces the impression that Correggio deliberately arranged the throne here as a temporary arrangement in the great outdoors, in contrast to the previously dominant arrangement in a magnificent church space. This could be a reminiscence of his clients, the Minorites and their ideal of poverty.

The pedestal of the throne contains a representation of the Fall. Above this pedestal, in front of a sturdy column, is a medallion wreathed with laurel leaves, which shows Moses with the tablets of the law. This medallion is held by two lifelike putti who, like living caryatids , carry a plinth decorated with acanthus tendrils with their left arms , which in turn serves as a substructure for the actual throne of Mary.

The figures

arrangement

In keeping with contemporary tradition, the figures are arranged in an isosceles triangle, which gives the entire composition a monumental character and the image surface an appropriate balance. The base of the triangle is the plinth of the throne, the top the head of the Madonna. The right leg of the triangle is formed by the free leg of the Baptist and St. Catherine looking up, the left leg by the arm of the Madonna and the left contour of St. Francis. Two angels, only partially winged, with folded hands, circle over the head of the Madonna, over which is a dome of ten angel heads looking out of the clouds.

description

  • John the Baptist is often represented in the Sacra Conversazione together with other saints, very often with St. Francis , who was a great admirer of his. Traditionally depicted as a barefoot ascetic with an unkempt beard and hairstyle, he wears a red cloth coat over his camel hair skirt. His attributes in this picture are:
    • the cross staff,
    • the pointing gesture of the right hand as a testimony to Christ.
  • Saint Catherine stands behind the Baptist on the left. Her entire posture expresses her love for the enthroned figures, especially through the position of the head, the open mouth and the heavenly eye. Her languishing gaze is not returned, Maria and the child look in the other direction. This goes back to the legendary sposalizio Katharinas with the Christ child, who turned away because Katharina had not adequately prepared for this encounter. She wears a yellow-red robe with a gold border, over it a dark brown coat. Your attributes are:
    • the wheel (here with the artist's signature) on which she rests her left bare foot,
    • the sword,
    • the Palm tree,
    • the crown (leaning against the pedestal of the throne).
  • Across from St. Catherine is St. Anthony of Padua , who was provincial in the Franciscan Order for the region of Emilia , the home region of Correggio, for some time . He stands barefoot, half hidden behind the founder of the order and his patron and teacher, St. Francis. Its attributes are:
    • the lily,
    • the book.
  • In front of him is St. Francis , dressed like St. Anthony in a green-gray habit , but here with the hood off. He's bent his knee, his admiring gaze goes towards the Madonna and Child. Healed wounds can be seen on his hands and feet , he points with his right hand at the wound in the chest stabbed with the lance of a thief . He is also shown barefoot; legend has it that he has not worn shoes since 1208. Its attributes are:
    • the vestments,
    • the wounds.
  • The Madonna with the baby Jesus sits on the throne high above the heads of the saints, her contours stand out clearly against the light background of the sky. A semicircle of angel heads peeking out of the clouds spans over her head like a dome. With her right hand she indicates to St. Francis to kneel down and worship the blessing child. She is dressed in the traditional blue hooded panula , which she wears over a red shirt. A transparent golden fabric veil is placed over her right shoulder and chest.

All figures have a halo . The overall composition can be seen as a valid example of a portrayal of Mary as Queen of Heaven, as Majestà .

Provenance

The artist was commissioned on August 30, 1514 by the monks of the Minorite monastery in Correggio to make an altar panel for their church of S. Francesco in Correggio . A price of 100 ducats was agreed as compensation , the remaining sum was paid punctually after delivery of the painting on April 4, 1515. From this church it later came to the collection of the ducal gallery in Modena and from there to Dresden together with 100 other paintings in 1746.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Sabine Poeschel: Handbuch der Ikonographie ; Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2009
  2. ^ Karl Woermann: History of art of all times and peoples, fourth volume ; Bibliographical Institute, Leipzig 1922
  3. Thomas W. Gaethgens and Uwe Fleckner (eds.): History of the classical picture genres in source texts and commentaries, Volume 1, history painting ; Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2003
  4. a b c Hans Posse: The four altar paintings of Antonio da Correggio ; Verlag Julius Bard, Berlin and Verlag der Wilhelm und Bertha v. Baensch Foundation, Dresden 1923
  5. ^ A b c Corrado Ricci: Antonio Allegri da Correggio. Cosmos Publishing House for Art and Science, Berlin 1897
  6. a b Wolfgang Braunfels (ed.): Lexicon of Christian Iconography ; Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2012
  7. Esther Meier: Handbook of the saints ; Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2010