ART “4”
“2”-DAY 03 May |
| DEATHS:
1703 VAN DER NEER —
1587 ORSI |
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Born on 03 (02?) May 1933:
Domenico Gnoli II, Italian painter
and stage designer who died on 17 April 1970. His interest in art was encouraged by his father, the art historian Umberto Gnoli, and his mother, the painter and ceramicist Annie de Garon, but his only training consisted of lessons in drawing and printmaking from the Italian painter and printmaker Carlo Alberto Petrucci [1881–]. After holding his first one-man exhibition in 1950, he studied stage design briefly in 1952 at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome; he enjoyed immediate success in this field, for example designing a production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It for the Old Vic Theatre in London in 1955. He then began to live part-time in New York, where he began to work as an illustrator for magazines such as Sports Illustrated. During this period he drew inspiration from earlier art, especially from master printers such as Jacques Callot and Hogarth, from whom he derived his taste for compositions enlivened by large numbers of figures stylized to the point of caricature. In other works he emphasized the patterns of textiles or walls, boldly succumbing to the seduction of manual dexterity and fantasy in a style that was completely out of step with the prevailing trends of the 1950s. — Nato a Roma, Domenico Gnoli comincia giovanissimo la sua carriera come scenografo e illustratore, lavorando per importanti riviste e per l’editoria. In seguito a lunghi soggiorni a Londra, New York, Parigi, dopo il 1955 si dedica alla pittura, iniziando così anche un’intensa attività espositiva in prestigiose gallerie e musei europei e americani. Nel 1962 l’amico Ben Jakober lo convince a trasferirsi nella capitale francese, dove incontra la pittrice Yannick Vu che diventerà sua moglie. Qui ha la possibilità di intrecciare importanti relazioni che lo inseriranno nel circuito del mercato internazionale. Proseguono numerose le mostre che lo portano a viaggiare, soprattutto all’estero, e ad affermarsi come uno dei più ricercati protagonisti dell’arte figurativa degli anni Sessanta. Dopo una breve malattia, muore prematuramente a New York. — Without a Still Life (1966) [a tablecloth-covered round table top without a still-life, an already-death, or anything else, on it] — La cravatta (1967) — La mela — Il ricciolo. |
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Died on 03 May 1703: Eglon
Hendrick van der Neer, Dutch Baroque
painter born in 1634. — {His artwork was a Neer success, just as
that of his father Aert
van der Neer.} |
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Born on 03 May 1535:
Alessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino
Allori, Florentine painter who died on 22 September
1607. — Allori had a career in the mainstream of the Florentine Mannerist tradition. Essentially an imitator, he produced work that was most characteristically influenced by Bronzino, Vasari and Michelangelo. His son Cristofano Allori [17 Oct 1577 – 01 Apr 1621] broke with the traditions kept alive by his father to become one of the foremost exponents of the Florentine Baroque. — After the death of his father in 1540, Alessandro Allori was adopted by Bronzino, a friend of his father, and he trained in Bronzino’s workshop. From 1554 to 1560 Allori was in Rome, where he studied antique statuary and the works of Michelangelo and became known as a portrait painter. His first documented work on his return to Florence was an altarpiece, heavily influenced by Michelangelo, depicting The Last Judgment (1560). Allori became involved in a number of projects relating to Florence’s recently formed (1563) Accademia del Disegno. These included preparation of the decorations for the funeral of Michelangelo in 1564 and for the marriage the following year of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici’s son, Francesco (later Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany) to Joanna of Austria. — Alessandro Allori was the student and adopted son of Bronzino. An early visit to Rome added the influence of late Michelangelo paintings to that of his master's courtly Mannerism. The Pearl Fishers (1570) is generally considered his masterpiece; playful and full of artifice, it combines nude figures obviously drawn from Michelangelo with Bronzino's svelteness and enamelled coloring. He was one of the last notable exponents of Mannerism, painting in a style that had become outmoded by the time of his death. — Alessandro Allori was one of the most prolific and active painters in late sixteenth-century Florence. His father, a sword maker, died when Allori was five, and the painter Agnolo Bronzino was made guardian of the family. Allori incorporated Bronzino's name into his own, as seen in the inscription on one of his paintings: Alexander Alorius Angeli Bronzini Alumnus Faciebat A D MDLXX. After a short stay in Rome, where he was influenced by the art of Michelangelo, Allori returned to his native Florence. There he became one of the principal painters for the ruling family of Florence, the Medici. Allori was appointed director of the Florentine tapestry factory in the mid-1570s. His work, which displays the complicated twisting poses typical of Florentine Mannerism, influenced artistic developments in Tuscany for almost fifty years following his death. — Allori's students included Lodovico Cigoli [1559-1613]. — LINKS — Charity (1560, 23x18cm; full size) — The Body of Christ with Two Angels (45x39cm) — Francesco I de'Medici (60x48cm) [1/4 size] _ detail 1 [1/2 size] _ detail 2 [full size] — Eleonor of Toledo, Duchess of Tuscany (700x517pix, 89kb _ ZOOM to 1400x1034pix, 321kb) — A Young Man holding a tiny book and with a hand on his hip (700x394pix, 43kb _ ZOOM to 1400x788pix, 149kb) — A Young Man holding a coin and pointing to a fire (117x88cm; 915x674pix, 85kb) _ Formerly the painting was attributed to Agnolo Bronzino. The sitter was assumed to be either Grand Duke Cosimo II de' Medici [12 May 1590 – 28 Feb 1621] or his father Grand Duke Ferdinando I Medici [1550-1609]. These assumptions are, however, not proven. — Susanna and The Elders (202x117cm) — Venus and Cupid — The Abduction of Proserpine (1570, 229x348cm) _ Pluto, god of the Underworld, seizes Proserpine, daughter of the corn-goddess Ceres, ready to carry her down to his kingdom on a chariot drawn by black horses. Because Pluto allowed Proserpine to return to earth each spring for four months, the story recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses symbolized seasonal death and rebirth. Yet, even this dire subject takes place in an enchanted setting. Characteristically, Alessandro Allori added playful touches: slender, graceful nymphs, possibly Proserpine's former companions, pick flowers and frolic while being observed by satyrs. The abrupt truncation of Pluto's chariot and horses at the bottom of the panel and the bright, saturated colors display frequent characteristics of Florentine Mannerism. Allori’s complicated, twisted poses and his cool, smooth style reflect the influence of his adopted father and master Bronzino. |
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Died on 03 May 1587: Lelio Orsi
da Novellara, Emilian painter and draftsman, born in 1508 or 1511.
— {His artwork bears consideration.} — Orsi was influenced by Correggio as well as by the late Mannerist style of Giulio Romano. His large-scale works seem to have been mainly secular decorations, notably illusionistic façades, of which only fragments are extant. Their energy and expressiveness are apparent, however, in the surviving paintings of smaller dimensions. Orsi’s sole documented architectural work is the Collegiata di San Stefano, Novellara (1567). — Lelio Orsi studied with his painter father, but very early on he incorporated into his polished, illusionistic style the two influences that remained primary throughout his life: Giulio Romano's exaggerated movement and excitability and Correggio's poignant passion and vibrant way of seeing. By 1538 Orsi had moved to a larger nearby town, Reggio Emilia, where he painted many architectural facades with illusionistic designs. Accused of involvement in a murder, he returned to his native Novellara in 1546, where he continued to create distinguished decorative works, especially as a painter of facades for the local nobility. Though he also completed a large project for the count of Novellara, providing everything from architectural drawings to decorative partitions for a villa, only fragments of any of these works survive. The year 1554, spent in Rome, was decisive: there he absorbed Michelangelo's Mannerism, which stayed with him for life. He began to concentrate on making easel paintings of mostly mythological and religious subjects; they indicated the energy and expressiveness of his monumental works, and their jeweled technique made them beautiful in themselves. By 1576 Orsi was probably back in Reggio Emilia. — Raffaellino da Reggio was a student of Orsi. — LINKS — The Adoration by the Shepherds (600x424pix _ ZOOM to 1400x989pix) — The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1576, 44x36cm) _ Lurking in the shadows, grotesque monsters slowly emerge to taunt Saint Anthony. Grinning with satanic delight, the demons take human and animal forms. Unperturbed, Saint Anthony continues to read his meditations. Divine light illuminates his figure, forming a bright halo around his head. After his parents' death, this early Christian monk retired to the Egyptian desert to contemplate God. He remained there for fifteen years; during this time he began his legendary combat against the devil, withstanding demonic apparitions and erotic visions. After resisting temptations, Saint Anthony emerged at last from the desert and organized and instructed a group of hermits who sought to imitate his example. Thus he became the father of Christian monasticism. Lelio Orsi depicted this struggle of good and evil, vividly using light and shadow, loose, painterly brushwork, and a strong diagonal composition. Included in the painting are Saint Anthony's attributes: a tau cross (T-shaped), the pig, and the crutch at his side. — Design for a Frieze (1555, 23x41cm) _ Bearing sacrificial offerings that include a sheep and a ram , worshipers approach a statue of Jupiter at the right. While he took the subject matter and composition of the frieze from classical art, Lelio Orsi departed from classicism's characteristic calm and balance by populating the frieze with vigorous, squat figures who sometimes overlap the architecture. The liberal excesses of Orsi's later style are evident in the large-headed, gross-featured youth at right who presents his knifepoint for a woman to touch. Imitating an antique bas-relief, the relief is set into a convincing architectural structure with telamones supporting the entablature on either side. Orsi's exaggerated chiaroscuro helps to achieve the three-dimensional effect. Such sculptural illusionism distinguishes his drawings from those of his Mannerist contemporaries. Orsi was well known for his painted decorations on the interiors of buildings, most of which have been destroyed. Scholars know many of his designs for friezes, similarly squared for transfer, which they have often connected with decorative projects in his hometown of Novellara. — The Walk to Emmaus (1570, 71x57cm) _ After the Crucifixion, two of Christ's disciples set out for Emmaus. They were joined by Christ himself, disguised as a pilgrim, who explained the prophecies concerning his death and resurrection. It was not until they broke bread together at an inn in Emmaus that the disciples recognised the risen Christ (Luke 24: 13-29). A goldfinch in the foreground probably symbolises Christ's Passion. The painting, which reveals the influence of Michelangelo, is datable after Orsi's trip to Rome. — San Giorgio e il drago (1570) _ Eseguito dall'artista emiliano forse nel corso del settimo decennio del Cinquecento, rivela, accanto al recupero correggesco, la suggestione, fatta propria durante il viaggio romano del 1554-1555, dei cavalli imbizzarriti delle Stanze vaticane di Eliodoro e Costantino. Acquistato da un emissario dei Farnese, Giacomo Maria Giovannini, nell'aprile del 1710, presso Carlo Antonio Canopi, un mercante di Bologna, fu esposto nella "Camera d'udienza" dell'Appartamento dei Quadri in Palazzo Ducale a Parma con la corretta ascrizione a "Lelio da Novellara" ed incluso, nel 1734, nella lista del trasporto della raccolta a Napoli. Qui dové probabilmente seguire l'iter della maggior parte delle opere farnesiane, ma tracce certe del quadro risalgono solo agli inventari ottocenteschi del Real Museo Borbonico dove era attribuito alla scuola fiamminga o addirittura ad un seguace di Rubens, per essere restituito all'Orsi solo all'inizio del nostro secolo. — Apollo Driving the Chariot of the Sun (25x38cm) _ Apollo drives the chariot of the sun led by four horses. Aurora spreads flowers in front of the quadriga. Surrounding the edge of the sun are signs of the zodiac. The are other drawing of similar subjects by Orsi, they are designs for the lost fresco on the Torre dell'Orologio in the Piazza del Duomo in Reggio Emilia, documented in 1544. |
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