Florentine Cinquecento and Quattrocento (Klimt)

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Florentine Cinquecento and Quattrocento (Gustav Klimt)
Florentine Cinquecento and Quattrocento
Gustav Klimt , 1891
Oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna

Florentine Cinquecento and Quattrocento is a picture by Gustav Klimt in a pair of gussets and intercolumns on the west wall (left) in the stairwell of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna from 1891.

Emergence

Klimt also executed other gusset and intercolumnia pictures in the stairwell, including Roman and Venetian Quattrocento , Greek antiquity and Egypt, and old Italian art .

description

Motif and presentation

Zwickelbild Florentine Cinquecento with intercolumnium
Zwickelbild Florentine Quattrocento

The pictures are allegories of the Cinquecento and Quattrocento in Florence . Based on the reception of antiquity by leading Florentine artists of the time, Klimt chose antique fabrics for his portrayal in these pictures.

The biblical narrative of David's victory over Goliath is the theme in the Cinquecento, the left of the two gusset pictures and in the adjoining intercolumnium. David, clad only in a loincloth, leans against the arch of the arcade and holds a large sword in his left hand with traces of blood on it. The weapon has a striking shape: straight, double-edged blade with a rhombic cross-section and a sickle-shaped, curved tip, with Klimt's signature G · K · next to it . David holds the dark head of Goliath with outstretched arm in the intercolumnium on a pedestal with the inscription of the Latin proverb: "QUOS DEUS PERDERE VULT PRIUS DEMENTAT." (If God wants to destroy, he blinds the mind first ). Below is the still life of a laurel branch with Klimt's signature: G · K · . David's body is painted frontally, the legs straight, but the head in heroic profile view . Behind the head there is another Latin inscription on an oval , golden tondo , which has not yet been precisely deciphered . Perhaps what is meant here is: "NOBIS DEMENTI · MD ·" ( nobis - us, dementi from demens - crazy, MD · - year 1500). David's black hair contrasts with the gold background.

The Quattrocento is embodied by Venus and Cupid . The goddess of love is leaning against the arcade with an erotic swing of hips and a slightly bent right leg. Except for a belt richly studded with precious stones below the breast and a few gold bracelets, she is completely naked. Your head appears in a three-quarter profile with your eyes lowered. Her black, curly hair is pinned up and adorned with ribbons. Behind it is a conch shell , the symbol of Venus. The right arm of the goddess is bent and supported on the arcade, the right hand falls elegantly backwards in the joint with curved fingers. With her left arm, she embraces the small, naked Cupid who is looking at Venus. The thighs of the goddess are closed in the knee area.

The profiles of David and Venus are turned away from each other, but the positions of their bodies appear partially symmetrical to each other .

interpretation

The decisive clue for the substantive statement of the picture pair seems to be the Latin text about the delusion of the mind, which is written both in the intercolumnium and in the left gusset picture. So folly and madness apply not only to the loser Goliath, but also to the hero David. The warrior is so obsessed with bloody combat that he takes no notice of Venus and cannot indulge in the joys of love. Venus, which can be seen as a symbol of love and the feminine spirit, is not interested in the mad warrior, she hugs Cupid. The unfavorable lighting conditions on the side of the west wall of the stairwell further reinforce the impression of the foolish hero: David holds Goliath's head in the corner, into nothing, so to speak, and looks into the darkness. Klimt uses the disadvantageous position for the view of the Cinquecento advantageously for the image content.

  • Zwickelbild Florentine Cinquecento (detail)

  • Florentine Quattrocento (detail)

  • Florentine Cinquecento (Intercolumnium)

Parallels to other works of art

Michelangelo's David is probably the most important model for Klimt's Florentine Cinquecento .

The most famous Venus images of the Quattrocento in Florence include Sandro Botticelli's Birth of Venus as well as Venus and Mars . They can be accepted as a source of inspiration for Klimt's Zwickelbild as well as Piero di Cosimo's painting Venus, Mars and Amor . However, while in Botticelli and Cosimo the god of war Mars finds rest through the relationship with Venus, Klimt chooses the opposite representation between David, Venus and Cupid.

Klimt's Allegory of Sculpture , a drawing on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Vienna School of Applied Arts, dates from 1889 . The posture of the female figure largely corresponds to that of Venus in the Florentine Quattrocento , where it is only slightly tilted.

In 1898, the profile of David from the Florentine Cinquecento Klimt served as the basis for the initial D in the March issue of Ver Sacrum .

literature

  • Otmar Rychlik: Gustav Klimt, Franz Matsch and Ernst Klimt in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Catalog for the special exhibition (Klimt Bridge). Edition Kunst on behalf of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 2012.
  • Beatrix Kriller, Georg Johannes Kugler: The Art History Museum, the architecture and furnishings . C. Brandstätter Publishing House, 1991.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ C. Richter: About the attributes of Venus: a treatise for artists and connoisseurs of antiquity . Page 57. Verlag Gerold, 1783. Austrian National Library . E-book on google .
  2. ↑ Thank you for an expertise. Article in the Standard , April 20, 2008.

Web links

Commons : Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files