BERNINI’S DAVID 1623-24 Marble, height 170cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome
A Research by MARYAM BABER
Department of Fine Arts, LAHORE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN UNIVERSITY YEAR 2006
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Acknowledgment
A dedication is generally addressed to a great man, or some one to whom the author has been placed under obligations, it is neither as adept of gratitude or as a loan. I yearn to be a great sculptor like Bernini; and if I would not be successful like other great masters, then I carved to explored the aesthetically most highest artist from all over the world and the under cover artist whom are being neglected by the lay masses. This research paper is tribute to the baroque- renaissance sculptor Bernini.
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INTRODUCTION: The general period of baroque was 1600 to 1750. They were different from the renaissance in Italy, it was manifold__spacious and dynamic, brilliant and colorful theatrical and passionate, sensual and enthusiasm in figure’s action. Bernini was by far the most important Baroque sculptor and architect of seventeenth-century Europe and one of the key creators of the whole Baroque era. But he worked initially as a painter. There is no doubt that this was only a sideline, which he did mainly in his youth and even then almost as a dilettante. Despite this - indeed precisely because of this - his work reveals a sure and brilliant hand, free from any trace of pedantry. “He studied in Rome under his own father, Pietro, and soon proved one of the most precocious infant prodigies in the history of art. His work was immediately sought after by the major collectors.” ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernini)
David (1623-24) by Bernini was a revolutionary statement in the history of art. The biblical youth is taut and poised to rocket his projectile. Famous Davids sculpted by Florentine predecessors to Bernini had been static after the event; for example, the triumphant reposed of the famous Michelangelo's David or the haughty effeteness of Donatello's or Verrocchio's Davids. The twisted torso, furrowed forehead, and granite grimace of Bernini's David epitomize Baroque fixation with dynamic movement and emotion over High Renaissance stasis and 3
classic severity. Michelangelo expressed David's heroic nature; Bernini captures the moment where he becomes a hero.Bernini's David (1623-24) is a revolutionary statement in the history of art, neutrality disputed and is considered among the first truly baroque statues.David for Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1623-24), (Galleria Borghese, Rome) Under the patronage of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, young Bernini rapidly rose to prominence as a sculptor; Scipione's villa, now Galleria Borghese, chronicles his secular sculptures, with a series of masterpieces including, and leading up to his David, completed by him and his studio, when Bernini was merely 25 years old. The muscular warrior coils in his original plinth. Bernini's David is poised to release his rock, in contrast to vertical poses of the Florentine Davids of prior generations, such as the triumphant glare of the famous Michelangelo's David or the haughty effeteness of the post-battle Donatello's bronze, or Donatello's marble, or Verrocchio's Davids. Marble-material, always been favourit for the sculptor,those are cause of creating great masterpicesin sculptures.Bernini was the prolific artist of perfectionism,he v’t neglacted the running stream of sculpture-material, like Michel Angelo . The twisted torso, furrowed forehead, and granite grimace of Bernini's "David" is symptomatic of the baroque's interest in dynamic movement and emotion over High Renaissance stasis and classic severity. Below him are armour and a disguised harp. Bernini's David appears to be the eldest of all the Italian sculptures mentioned above. Michelangelo expresses David's heroic nature; Bernini captures the heroic moment. In political terms, it can be said Michelangelo's David epitomizes a Florentine republic that would not allow defeat; Bernini's David is a CounterReformation Rome anxious for a fight. Or could it be the young ambitious Bernini aiming his projectile at the hagiographic Michelangelo oeuvre? Bernini was born in Naples in 1598, the son of a Florentine sculptor by whom he was trained. After settling in Rome, Bernini came to the attention of the future Pope Urban VIII. Under the patronage of Pope Urban VIII, Bernini spent his entire career in Rome
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where he gained his architectural fame under Alexander VII (1655-67 Considered the creator of the Baroque style, Bernini created a fusion of architecture, painting, and sculpture that led to the generation of new, dynamic forms. “His works used the drama of false perspective and trompe-l'oeil to create an impact that involved the spectator. He also created a much copied palace facade type, which he articulated with massive pilasters above a rusticated base. Although Bernini grafted completely new sculptural forms onto Renaissance buildings, he maintained continuity with the original serenity of the Renaissance ideal. � (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernini)
Italian artist who was perhaps the greatest sculptor of the 17th century and an outstanding architect as well. Bernini created the Baroque style of sculpture and developed it to such an extent that other artists are of only minor importance in a discussion of that style.
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Effect of time :
The Baroque scientist comes to see physical nature as matter in the motion through space and time; the latter two rare thought of as the conditions of the first. The measurement of motion is made possible by the new mathematics of analytical geometry and the infinitesimal calculus, and experiment come to be accepted as the prime method for getting at the trough of physical nature. Time, like space and motion, in art as well as in science. The age-old sense of time, religious, philosophical, psychological, import, persists alongside the new concept of it as a measurable property of nature. Time, “the subtle thief of youth.” The great landscape of VAN RUISDAEL suggest the passage of time in hurrying clouds, restless sea, and ever changing light. Painter and sculptor, eager to make action explicit and convincing, depict it at the very moment it is taking place, as in Bernini’s David. Bernini was a great influential architect, his fame rests primarily on his sculpture, which, like his architecture, expresses the baroque spirit to perfection .It is expansive & dramatic, & the element of time usually plays an important role in it. Bernini’s statue seems to be moving through time and through space. The young English traveler, JOHN EVENLYN, sojourning in Rome in 1644, wrote that ‘‘Bernini, a Florentine sculptor, architect, painter, and poet, give a public opera…where in he painted the scenes, cut the statues, invented the engines, composed the music, write the comedy and build the theater.’’(Croix, tansey, Kirkpatrick, ad.9 , p. 761) th
The community of baroque art is reflected in the universal genius of Bernini. To create the full atmosphere a whole crops of assistants who performed the heavy manual labor involved in rough shaping of stone, transferring the figer from clay to marble block, cutting the main forms and outlines. The essential tasks were always under the supervision of the master, who would direct each stage of production and
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place the finishing touchiness himself. That’s why the David’s placing is part of creating the effect of time. RODEOLF WITTKOWER observes that; “In the critical study of Bernini’s work one would have to differentiate between works designed by him and executed by his own hand; other were he firmly halt the reins but contributed little or nothing to the execution; and finally, those work for which he did no more than a few preliminary sketches.’’ *RODEOLF WITTKOWER, SCULPTURE: PROCESSES AND PRINCIPLES (NWW YORK: HARPER & ROW, 1977), P. 181(Croix, tansey, Kirkpatrick, ad.9th, P. 761).
Effect of moving figure And sense of space
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For the fist time since the Hellenistic era (330-100 Bc) a sculptured figure moves out into and parts takes of the physical space that surrounds it and observer. That nostalgic style inspires the baroque renaissance. I.c ‘Laocoön and His Sons’ One of the major discoveries of the Italian Renaissance, “this sculptural grouping was found in Rome in 1506 in the ruins of Titus' palace. It depicts an event in Vergil's Aeneid”. (www.vatican museum.com) The Trojan priest Laocoön was strangled by sea snakes, sent by the gods who favored the Greeks, while he was sacrificing at the altar of Neptune. Because Laocoön had tried to warn the Trojan citizens of the danger of bringing in the wooden horse, he incurred the wrath of the gods. The grouping was probably designed for a frontal view only. The theatricality and emphasis on emotional intensity is typically Hellenistic Greek--often called "Baroque" as well.
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Laocoön group If we compare the energetic moment and the space to creating the effect of turmoil action in the baroque 1600-1750 & the Hellenistic 330-100 Bc, they both found to be the perfectionist. I. C sculpture “David” by Bernini and the painting “The rape of the daughters of leucippus”by peter Paul Rubens in 1617; there is cursive cut in the tilted torso, force full figures with full action, open composition for easy move. Bernini was the trademark for the Baroque style in the era of sculpture as Ruben in painting. Both were the simply extender of that forceful moment, loping off with the antiquity & Italian revolutionary renaissance. A moment before, his body was in one position; the next moment it will be in a completely different one. Bernini selects the most dramatic of an implied sequence of poses, so that the observer has to think simultaneously of the continuum of this tiny fraction of it. The implied continuum imparts a dynamic quality to the status that suggests a bursting forth of the energy one sees confined in Michelangelo’s figures. “There is no the kind of statue that can be inscribed in a 8
cylinder or confined to a niche; its implied action demands space around it. Nor is it self-sufficient in the renaissance sense, as its pose and attitude direct the observer’s attention beyond itself and to its surroundings (in this case, toward an unseen goliath).” (Croix, tansey, Kirkpatrick, ad.9 , p.758) th
THE DISCOBOLOS MYRON
THE RAPE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF leucippus by Rubens
If we analysis the Myron sculpture of polyclytos (320-450 Bc), it is in the condition of throwing “Discus”. His action is creating circle in the space with moving hand. This radical moment is in the David sculpture. Bernini was true master of creating action, which became bestowed for the art lover & the historians. His move toward antiquity proves that he was one of the renaissance artists those were yearned for revival of classical antiquity. The Baroque moment inspired the Romanticism and its artist like Delacoix, because of moving figure. Even Romanticist artist raised a slogan: for the radical work, it is important to draw radical line. POLYCLITOS who believed in the IDEAL HUMAN BEAUTY; even he wrote book ‘CANON’ ON PERPORTIONAL LIMPS RELATED TO THE OTHER LIMP OF BODY& STAMPTED SIZE OF LIMPS. Bernini is close to the Hellenistic style but he v not illiterate from the classical style. That’s why his statue is specimen for fundamental ideas of sculpture. The number of points of view the sculptor intended to present to the spectator is still a matter of conjecture. The right side shows David's movements, his stride is almost a leap as he aims his sling; seen from the front the pose is frozen, just one second before the fatal shot, and seen diagonally there is a rhythmic balance between movement and pose. 9
HEAD OF A CRUCIFIX
DAVID’S FACE
LAOCOÖN’FACE
Facial Expressions “ According to contemporary sources the head of David is the self-portrait of the artist and Cardinal Maffeo Barberini (who visited Bernini several times in his atelier) himself held the mirror during its execution, for he volunteered to hold a mirror up to enable 25 year old Bernini to complete his work”. ( WEB GALLERY OF ART,).
David’s face is depicting narrative glimpse and the relationship of physical action with the naturally browsing facial expression. That age was the revival age of antiquity. So the Babalones art some how reflected through expressions as the facial expressions of David & “HEAD OF A CRUCIFIX ”. (1301 IN WOOD/ST. MARIEA IM KAPITOL, COLOGNE, WEST GERMAN) are same, the difference between both is, the HEAD OF A CRUCIFIX is created in the medieval-style, in design like expressions while the David’s head is in Baroque’s naturalistic force. On the other hand the face of Laocoön scholars says that Bernini and Caravaggio would copy the furrowed brow and open-mouthed pain in the seventeenth century. The expressions of lacoon are strong because of writhing serpents; one of them bites Laocoön's left leg, and pained expressions. Bernini gave a new dimension to naturalism in renaissance. His naturalism based on more subtle and definite conduct, instead of exaggeration of nature like Laocoön group, nor making it a poor echo of stylelization like HEAD OF A CRUCIFIX.
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Softness and texturure feeling of skin In the era of humanistic- high renaissance Nanni di Banco (1408-1414) & Donatello, Michel Angelo, verrocchio went to gimps out the new wave of nostalgic antiquity of Roman-heir, which became found icon to developing THE NEW REALISM BASED ON THE STUDY OF HUMANITY& NATURE; AN IDEALISM FOUND IN THE STUDY OF CLASSICAL FORMS, AND POWER OF INDIVIDUAL EXPRESSION CHARACTERISTIC OF GENIUS ARE THE ELEMENTS THAT DEFINE THE ART &PERSONALITY OF THE SCULPTURE. The Italian-renaissance worked together for cathedral of Italy & the aristocratic art lover and extender, like Medici-family (neo platonic group)& Borghese family. In the art schools, artist was supposed to follow the rules of Roman & Greek classicalism. At the same Laval Barnin ‘s David found to be the revival of antiquity & its moving body in the baroque style create a trademark for individual personality of artist. (Roman classical period (323-480 .Bc ) PRAXITELS was one of the best sculptor .He introduced first time softness & textured feeling of skin, cursive cut in body, erected pose with dawned eyes. “For the very first time PRAXITELS culted the VENUS nude”. (HUSSAN, ARFAN, KHALID, RASHID. P 333). I. C his famous statue ‘APHRODITE OF KNIDOS’ & ‘Head of HERMES’. Which proved to be the inspiration for the novel-groups in renaissance. In the “Head of HERMES”, the effect of skin is marvelous but comparatively Bernini is closer to creating the skin texture.
Theresa’s face
Bernini’s David
PRAXITELS’s Head of HERMES
the rape of Proserpine
Apollo & Daphne
PRAXITELS’s APHRODITE OF KNIDOS’
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In the PRAXITELS’s sculpture, softness & effective form of body is present. But in the Bernini’s sculpture David, softness is in a more of naturalistic way; there are no artificial body-pegs, for the sake of sensational body expressions. Infant Bernini used to culted the cursive cut of body, in every statue, for body expressions. His statue’s textured effect was always be softening, smooth & age reflecting. In “Apollo & Daphne” youth representing skin is narrative, as in the David skin is tight, which depicted the characteristic of the character of statue; in “the ecstasy of st. Theresa” innocent face of Theresa is again narrative, with the soft feeling in the skin, gives purge and sacred look.
David’s hand & feet
Bernini’s statue “ The rape of Proserpine” gives the glimpse of human living being’s hand; but being the rowing man David supposed to be stronger so with the effect of strong skin, Bernini successfully elaborates the value of topic with powerful hands & feet. He v not ignored even the hairstyle. Hairstyle of Bernini’s David & “head of Hermes” is very similar. In the old days the holy person and the matuman was fictionated to be woven haired. However Bernini was the truly artist of renaissance, the forerunner of all the later art revolutions. In the renaissance medieval allegories were still there. The Mosses of Michel Angelo is representing specimen of allegory; hair stand for fire, body for land and clothe for water. So every part of body tells a story. But in David’s hairstyle, there is no story behind it. But the quail of Mosses and the hairy head of Bernini both are important in the field of texture. Laocoön’s hairy head is another example of impotents of hairstyle in statue form. Donatello’s David was first freestanding nude since medieval era. For a first time, Donatello forgot his earlier realism under the spell of classical Rome, the ruins and antiquities of which he studied at some length. “His bronze statue of David designed between about 1428 and 1432, the nude, as such, proscribed in the Christian middle Ages as both indecent and idolatrous, had been shown only rarely and then only in biblical or moralizing contexts, like the story of Adam &eve or descriptions of sinners”. (Croix, tansey, Kirkpatrick, ad.9 , p. 590) But it is always being well known for its santious look, because of soft skin. Bernini’s David is not out from the male look, yet it is combination of softness with male persona; it’s not like Donatello’s David, in metro-santious look. Although we can’t call it as stronger as th
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Michel Angelo’s David. Because Michel Angelo said that; best way to present the expressions is through human body, which is supreme power. In that way he bulged out the anatomy in exposing manor, like: Mosses, David, and Christ carrying the cross. But it is not like that Bernini was unaware from the muscular bulged. In “RIVER NILE FROM THE FOUNTAIN OF THE FOUR RIVERS”; Bernini is as vigorous in muscular form as Hellenistic sculptor in Laocoön’s muscular treatment. Its mean Bernini intentionally exposed the naturalistic human body of David, for the sake of perfectionism in modern way.
MOSES BY MICHEL ANGELO
LAOCOÖN
DAVID BY MICHEL ANGELO BY MICHEL ANGELO
DAVID BY DONATELLO THE FOUNTAIN OF THE FOUR RIVER
CHRIST CARRYING THE
RIVER NILE FROM
By Bernini
Muscular legs widely & firmly planted, is beginning the violent, pivoting motion that will launch the stone from his sling. Verrocchio, Michel Angelo, Donatello reinvented the CLASSICAL, neither ATHLETE but the young David, slayer of GOLIATH, biblical ancestor & antitype of Christ, and symbol of the Florentine love of LIBERTY. Although this classically proportioned nude a balance of opposing axes, of tension and relaxation drive from copies of Hellenistic period (100-330bc) but they are more close to, the third face of Roman classical period (323-480 .Bc) The sculpture of renaissance in Italy, usually compared with the sculpture of DORYPHOROS (THE SPEAR BEARER) because of weight shifting. Comparatively in the David of Bernini, there is paramount of weight -shifting effect. Donatello’s David is one of the best statue, having the bestowed of weight shifting by sculptor. Verrocchio’s David is also a masterpiece because of wait shifting but they are slightly weak in the illusion of St.David’s persona. Michel Angelo, Verrocchio& Donatello’s David creates the psychological drama with youthful glance and the head of GOLIATH, lies between his 13
Feet, as symbol of HEROIC DEED. But Bernini is radical in the narration of topic. The Renaissance versions of this subject (by Donatello, Verrocchio and Michelangelo) show David in tranquility with the head of Goliath or the sling-shot as attribute. Bernini, on the other hand, represents David in action, in the very moment of shooting.
Goliath It was Cardinal Scipione Borghese who commissioned the statue of David, confronting the giant Goliath and armed only with a sling, executed between 1623 and 1624 by twenty-five year-old Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The oversize cuirass leant to David by King Saul before the encounter lies on the ground with the harp David will play after his victory, which is decorated with an eagle's head, a symbolic reference to the Borghese family. When he tackled his David in 1623-224, Bernini knew that he was risking comparison with works in a sculptural tradition that included the great names of the artistic culture of the Italian Renaissance, from Donatello to Verrocchio and Michelangelo. He subverted the traditional way of representing David. Instead of depicting the static figure after killing Goliath (as had Donatello and Verrocchio) or the measured strain of the act itself (as had Michelangelo), Bernini once again countered with the dynamic charge of the spiral. “It is well known that he took his inspiration from the so-called Borghese Gladiator, now in the Louvre but at the time one of the prize pieces in Cardinal Borghese's collection. From the Gladiator derive the feet planted widely apart and the twisting torso”. (http://www.bluffton.edu/angle/.jpg) In comparison to the earlier celebrated David sculptures, Bernini paid particular attention to the biblical text and sought to follow it as closely as possible. “Unlike the earlier sculptures, Bernini's hero has a shepherd's pouch around his neck, which already contains pebbles ready to use in the deadly sling, which he will use against Goliath. The upper part of David's body is represented immediately after has taken a stone from his pouch. (http://www.bluffton.edu/angle/.jpg) This means that the torso twists and strains not just physically but psychologically. The hero is depicted when, having taken the stone from his pouch, he twists his body in the opposite direction, tensioning it spring-like, then stops to think for a spilt second before releasing the stone that will slay Goliath.
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MICHEL ANGELO’SDAVID
DONATELLO ‘S DAVID
VERROCHIO’S DAVID
Hidden symbolism in Bernini's 'David'
he
Guy Shaked says in his research: The statue of David, by Bernini, depicts David in a circular moment in his life. The young man (only twenty years old) stands in front of Goliath, the giant Philistine warrior, facing a battle of life and death. He shed the armor of the warriors, which was given, since he was not accustomed to, wearing heavy armor, and using only the slingshot (a shepherd's weapon), attempts to hit the giant. David gathered momentum, and for a part of a second stands motionless, as he is taking aim, before throwing the stone at Goliath. His body expresses the great physical strain he is under, and his face expresses determination and concentration.
His body expresses the great physical strain he is under, and his face expresses determination and concetration. David's pose is in accordance to that suggested by Leonardo De Vinci for when someone is to cast spears, stones or other similar things: has oriented his feet in this direction [i. e. the direction of his movement]. Having twisted and moved himself towards the other side, where he prepares for the application of his power, he pivots with speed and convenience towards the point at which he wishes to release the stone from his hands. It is also in that aspect similar
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to Polyphemus Furioso (painted on the "Galleria Farnese") by Carracci, a painter that also had influence on Bernini's religious creations.
Bernini's statue is faithful in most aspects to the biblical story: David is swinging the slingshot toward Goliath, while the armor he chose not to wear - lays at his feet. Because, Goliath is at some distance from David at this point in time, his figure is not included in the statue. It appears that Bernini saw importance in being familiar with the biblical scenes one is depicting in art, as is evident from his remark regarding the painting of the Crucifixion by Sarrazin. Yet, the harp, which lies on the ground, and is half covered at David's feet - is not a part of the biblical description of the fight. It is rather a symbolic image, symbolizing David's artistic talents as a musician, which he had to leave behind, neglect somewhat, when he chose to volunteer to fight Goliath. The fact that the harp is only half covered, parallels David's story in the Bible, since David returns later in his life to his destiny as an artist. The bible indeed tells us that David left music only for a period of time, to fight Goliath and save the people of Israel from the Philistine threat; and later in his life returns to it, as the Biblical text reveals. It is possible therefore to see the perpendicular axis of the statue as a symbolic representation of David's life, in which the harp, armor, and slingshot symbolize the different stations in David's life: In his youth, David was a harp player and a shepherd. He came to fight Goliath and save his people. Yet, after trying on a warrior's armor, he decided not to wear it, as he was unaccustomed to it. Using only his slingshot, he brought down the giant. Following the fight, David became a war hero (wearing probably an armor like the
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one at his feet). Still later in his life, he eventually returns to play music on the harp, and composes the Psalms, which won him fame for generations. That the harp on the ground is not a mere addition of David's emblem to otherwise realistic statue, is evident from the fact that all the Borgese statues by Bernini share common characteristics in their vertical axis meaning their vertical axis was carefully considered and designed. For example, in all the Borgese statues, the upper figure will soon die (Anchises, Daphna, Proserpine), in David's statue that figure is not visible, as Goliath is not sculptured. Also, in all the statues the figure beneath the upper figure is in the act of using physical strength toward it (David, Aneas, Apollo, Pluto). The statue was Bernini's first major work, which he completed at the age of only twenty-five. Bernini is said to have given David his own likeness, by sculpturing it while his patron was holding a mirror in front of him as he worked. Bernini chose to sculpture the face of David, resembling his own, since as David in his time - he was facing his first and crucial test - one which if he successfully achieves - will win him too fame for generations. His David is depicted as an artist (of war), using his hands as the means of his art. Both Bernini and David (at the time of his fight with Goliath) are young, at the start of their careers, facing a giant challenge. Both are attempting (in stone) to guaranty their future, delving their way in the surrounding space. The visitors to the Borghese are amazed both by David's incredible victory over giant Goliath, and Bernini's masterful statue, that reigns victorious over all the surrounding art pieces.
Fish (on the feet of David)
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In the Bernini’s David we could easily see the fish, it may because of Greek influence. And would be egption influence. Ancient egption linguistic called HEIROGLYPHICS, based on symbols. In HEIROGLYPHICS they used Ka bird, snake kind of fish & etc. “Lucky Fish Art is pleased to present the tattoo art designs of Pat Fish. Known worldwide as a specialist in Celtic art.” (Www.luckyfishart.com -)
HEIROGLYPHICS
According to the scholars in Mesopotamian art, they used fish in the relief. In Greek and roman mythology, fish depicted the feature of god and goddess’s power and hold on the earth to the under water creature. Their sculpture’s scaffold and mosaic’s surface, being bewitched with allegory of fish. “In Greek mythology, they appeared in the retinue of Poseidon accompanied by Tritons and other sea monsters, and riding dolphins, hippocampus, and other sea animals. I. C Thetis was often portrayed as their unofficial leader. The Nereid’s were depicted as youthful, beautiful maidens - sometimes clothed, sometimes naked. They were often shown holding fish in their hands. THARE ARE SOME NAMES OF THE NEREIDES, goddesses given by ancient authors (and which named in common by both Homer and Hesiod).
NEREIS
NEREIS
. NEREIS
NEREIDES
KETO The Nereis of sea-monsters (Apollodorus), KLAIA One of the Nereides (Pausanias), KLYMENE A Nereis named Fame (Homer), PONTOMEDOUSA A NEREIS NAMED SEA QUEEN (APOLLODORUS), PONTOPOREIA THE NEREIS OF SEA CROSSING (HESIOD) AND POULYNOE THE NEREIS NAMED RICHNESS OF MIND (HESIOD)” WWW.THEOI.COM/IMAGE/P12.4NEREIDES.JPG Because of deep influence of Greek mythology on Italy it is possible that Bernini used the Greek way to present hero or main interest with the allegoric scaffold of accessories: fish, harp, armor, and slingshot. In renaissance Lorenzo di Medici maintained the new wave of the neoplatonic, group of paganism; in which they explored the ancient allegory from Greek and Roman for the expressions of joy, power and strength. I. C Raphael’s ‘Galatea’ in 1513, one of the best example of neoplatonic allegoric work. However, Habrit and triton and other mythological monstures became most favorite topic in renaissance; being naturalistic sculptor of modern stream, he also used the allegory of fish in his own style. Religiously prophet David was the father of prophet solomen, the emperor of: sea, land & air. However the symbol of fish stands for his hold on sea. 18
Galatea, 1513. Fresco. Villa farnesina, Rome.
Renaissance pyramid composition
Bernini’s David
The Virgin and Child with St Anne by Leonardo de Vinci c. 1510 Oil on wood, 168 x 130 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris
In the renaissance the trend of making pyramid composition was the most prominent aspect in the era of composition. Donatello was the first artist, introduced the rules of perspective in relief. They give vertical erected pose to statue. But in the painting, Leonardo’s pyramid composition illuminated the art of Italy with 19
radicalism (in composing the figure). If we give deep glimpse to the David by Bernini, there are some indicated line go- through the pyramid shapes, in the upper part of statue and the lower part of body; in “The Virgin and Child with St Anne” by Leonardo de Vinci, the tilted pose of the figure and diagonal line of leg, makes double pyramid surrounded by the focal point. However Bernini used the most famous way of composing the masterpiece. Bernini’s David having different angles,from different side of statue. Conclusion In his David (1623-24; Borghese Gallery), Bernini depicts the figure casting a stone at an unseen adversary. Several portrait busts that Bernini executed during this period, including that of Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1623-24), show a new awareness of the relationship between head and body and display an ability to depict fleeting facial expressions with acute realism. These marble works show an unparalleled virtuosity in carving that obdurate material to achieve the delicate effects usually found only in bronze sculptures. Bernini's sensual awareness of the surface textures of skin and hair and his novel sense of shading broke with the tradition of Michelangelo and marked the emergence of a new period in the history of Western sculpture. He presented naturalism, without intermingling the exaggerated stylizations and created a moving male figure, close to natural power of human being. In the David there is: Weight SHIFTING, double-pyramid composition, EFECT OF PLACE, TIME& RENICANCE_BAROQUE MOMENT, FACIAL EXPRATION, Hellenistic SPACE TO CREAT MOVE IN SCULPTURE (Roman classical PERIOD (323-480 .BC) PRAXITELS’S TEXTURED FEELING OF SKIN, CURSIVE CUT IN BODY, DAVID is ATHLETE not slayer of GOLIATH (biblical ancestor & antitype of Christ, and symbol of the Florentine love of LIBERTY), was very popular in other David in renaissance: by Donatello, Verrocchio & Michelangelo. David by Bernini is true representative, turmoil Baroque style. It is always be the inhabitant for renaissance baroque moment. In the international sculpture era his way of creating such marvelous masterpiece, cast him novel, in the world of art. If Hellenistic art was prolific in the human body’s study and motion in figure, Bernini was also the forefather for the most powerful moment of western art, I. c romanticism etc. However he was true pioneer of moving figure, in the naturalistic way. We cannot neglect the true pioneers from western art because they always being inspiration, for the new student entered in fine arts. I considered Bernini to be the most dynamic sculptor, in renaissance. He is not rivalry for the other sculptors, yet he is inspiration for those like modernism in naturalistic way. In Pakistan we cannot follow the art of extreme boldness & paganism but we can capture the feeling, moment in figure & human bulk.
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http://www.bluffton.edu/angle/.jpg*(Copyright © Mary Ann Sullivan Page maintained by Mary Ann Sullivan, sullivanm@bluffton.edu Croix,la de horst.tanseyg,richard.kirkpatrick ,diane(university of michigan,ann arbor).GARDEN’S ART THROUGH THE AGES.( 9TH ED).hercourt brace college publishers.forth worth philadelphia san diego new york orlando austoin torotno montreal london sydney tokyo. Www.luckyfishart.com HASSAN MUSARAT, DR.PERVIZ (LCWU). ARFAN, PROF YASMEEN (LADY MAGLAGENTRAINING COLLEGE.LHR). KHILID, PROF MAHMOODA (LCWU). RASHID, PROF SAMINA (LCWU).QADEEM INSAAN OR FUN-E-MUSAWARY.LAHORE: ZIA-UL-HAK QURASHI,POLIMAR PUBLICATIOR,LHR.OCT 1996. Shaked,Continue reading in the book: Biblical Figures in Italian Sculpture (English & Italian) - by Guy Shaked, 176 pages, 7 Euro (The book is bilingual hence the Italian title)
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M. Kemp (ed.), Leonardo on Painting, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989, p. 142143
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Paul Freart de Chantelou, Diary of the Cavaliere Bernini's Visit to France, Margery Corbett (tr.), Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985, p. 168. When mentioning that the magi were kings (p. 289), Bernini was simply following the belief that their appearance was a prophetical fulfillment of psalm 71:10
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Filippo Baldinucci, the Life of Bernini, Catherine Enggass (tr.), Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1966, p. 13
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WWW.THEOI.COM/IMAGE/P12.4NEREIDES.JPG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernini References Dennis Sharp. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture. New York: Quatro Publishing, 1991. NA 40.I45. ISBN 0-8230-2539-X. p22. © WEB GALLERY OF ART, CREATED BY EMIL KREN AND DANIEL MARX.
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