ART “4”
“2”-DAY 11 December
v.9.b1 |
| DEATH:
1513 PINTURICCHIO |
BIRTH: 1599 CODDE |
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Died on 11 December 1513: Bernardino
Betti (or Betto) di Biagi “Pinturicchio” “Sordicchio”,
Italian painter of decorative frescoes, born in 1454. — “Pinturicchio” was born in Perugia. It is likely that he served as an assistant to Italian painter Perugino, and worked on the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel at Rome. He then painted frescoes in Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome illustrating the life of Saint Bernardino of Siena about 1485. From 1492 to 1494, after executing two works in the cathedral at Orvieto, he painted six frescoes in the Borgia apartments (now the library) of the Vatican. From 1502 to 1507 he painted his last and most important works — the ten frescoes in the Piccolomini Library of the Cathedral of Siena. They depict the Life of Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (who was elected Pope Pius II on 19 Aug 1458) [18 Oct 1405 – 14 Aug 1464], in brilliant color and realistic detail. Among Pinturicchio's few surviving easel paintings are the Madonna in Glory (1510) and Christ Carrying the Cross (1513). The nickname Pintoricchio (little painter) referred to his small size and not to his artistic reputation. He was considered one the outstanding painters in Italy and worked for popes and their families. — Pinturicchio's assistants included Amico Aspertini, Tiberio d’Assisi, Eusebio da San Giorgio, Pietro Torrigiani. — LINKS — The Return of Odysseus (1509, 124x146cm) _ The painting represents a scene from the Odyssey in an early Renaissance setting. It is severely damaged. — Portrait of a Boy (1483, 50x36cm) _ The sitter was formerly assumed to be the young Raphael. — Burial of Saint Bernardino of Siena (fresco) — Moses' Voyage to Egypt and the Circumcision of His Son Eliezer (1482, 350x572cm; 720x1109pix, 196kb) _ detail 1 (900x917pix, 187kb) _ detail 2 (738x879pix, 156kb) _ detail 3 (900x1021pix, 188kb) the circumcision _ detail 4 (600x491pix _ ZOOM to 1001x820pix, 173kb _ ZOOM+ to 1400x1145pix) the dance of the shepherds. _ detail 5 (1013x800pix, 179kb) _ The fresco is from the cycle of the life of Moses in the Sistine Chapel. It is located in the first compartment on the south wall. It was painted by Perugino and Pinturicchio, the latter being probably responsible for the landscape and minor scenes. This fresco depicts the story of Moses' journey to Egypt after exile in the land of Midian, when the angel tells him to circumcise his second son. The paintings were to be read in pairs, one from the left and one from the right. Thus the Baptism of Christ by Perugino faces the Circumcision of Moses' Son by Perugino and Pinturicchio. A comparison of the pairs of scenes shows clearly that the principal concern was to show how the new religion of Christ was deeper and more spiritual than the Jewish religion. Thus the pair of frescoes showing the Baptism and the Circumcision emphasize how baptism - prefigured, according to Augustine and many of the Fathers of Church, by circumcision - represents a "spiritual circumcision." — The Madonna and Child With a Cardinal as Donor (1500; 499x389pix _ ZOOM to 1164x907pix, 529kb _ .ZOOM+ to 1554x1235pix, 413kb) — Mary and Child with Saint Jerome (1480, 53x39cm; 745x550pix, 78kb _ ZOOM to 1665x1230pix, 319kb) _ This early work displays the hallmarks of Pintoricchio's style-serene figures, a remarkable play of light on surfaces, and the skillful rendering of such minute details as the hair of the persons. This painting is in excellent condition except for the Virgin's mantle, which has darkened from its original brilliant blue. — Donor Alberto Aringhieri in a Knight of Malta Habit (600x636pix _ ZOOM to 1400x1484pix) — Adoration of the Child, With Saint Jerome (1490; 600x425pix, 142kb _ ZOOM to 1400x989pix) — Adoration by the Shepherds in the Baglioni Chapel (1501; 600x491pix, 162kb _ ZOOM to 1400x1146, 430kb _ .ZOOM+ to 2878x2356, 1678kb) — 30 ZOOMable images at Wikimedia —(061210) |
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Born on 11 December 1599: Pieter-Jacobs
Codde (or Kodde, Codden), Dutch artist who died on 12 October
1678. He was a genre painter of small but spirited drinking scenes and conversation
pieces. — The Amsterdam artist, Pieter Codde, was mainly known as a portrait painter, although his indoor scenes were also popular. His family portraits exude the same carefree atmosphere as his brothel scenes. In 1636 Codde was commissioned by an Amsterdam militia company to finish a work which his famous colleague Frans Hals did not want to complete. In the 'Meager Company', as the militia piece is called, the styles of both painters can be recognized. Pieter Codde has tried to blend his style with that of Hals; however his own style remains recognizably smoother. Pieter Codde was buried on 12 October 1678 in Amsterdam. In the Late Middle Ages the first militia units were formed. The various companies were named after the weapons they bore: the longbowmen, the crossbowmen and the arquebusiers, named after the 16th-century weapon, the arquebus or 'klover'. Civic guard units were deployed to quell riots and were called up in war. They also patrolled the city. Militiamen supplied their own equipment and uniforms, so they usually came from the wealthier classes. It was customary for companies to commission artists to paint their portraits. In the prosperous 17th century numerous civic guard portraits were painted. — Genre and portrait painter of the fashionable world and barrack-room life, active in Amsterdam. His best works are usually on a small scale, marked by subtle silvery-gray tonalities, but he achieved one memorable feat on a much larger scale. In 1637 he was called upon to finish the group portrait of the Amsterdam Civic Guards known as The Meager Company that Frans Hals [1583 – 01 Sep 1666] began in 1633 and refused to finish because he would not come to Amsterdam for sittings, and Codde succeeded so well in capturing Hals's spirit and the touch of his brush that experts still disagree where the work of the one ends and the other begins. Codde also wrote poetry. — Frans Hals was once thought to have been his teacher, but there is no evidence for this. It is possible that Codde studied under a portrait painter, perhaps Barent van Someren [1573–1632] or Cornelis van der Voort [1576–1624], since most of his earliest works, from the period 1623–1627, seem to be portraits. His earliest known dated work is A Young Man (1626), which precedes by a year his earliest dated genre piece, The Dancing Lesson (1627). He was particularly productive in the 1620s and 1630s, painting mainly interior genre scenes. After the mid-1640s only portraits and a few history paintings, such as The Adoration by the Shepherds (1645), are known. It is not known how long he remained active as a painter. — Willem Duyster was a student of Codde. — LINKS — Sacred Codde ... oops ... that did not belong here, it is Sacred Cod (1940) by John W. Kelleher — Cape Codde ... this neither ... it really is Cape Cod Afternoon (1936) by Hopper. Now enough of the obsolete spellings, back to the real Codde, whose name has retained its antique form: — Cavaliers and Ladies aka The Return of the Hunters (1633, 54x68cm) _ Gathered in a tall, spacious room is a festively-attired company. A few women are sitting at a table; two men have just entered. The one behind is greeted by one of the women; he proudly holds up a hare. His companion presents two partridges, also shot. This work by Pieter Codde is known as the 'Return of the Hunters'. The men, however, are not dressed as hunters and so the word 'hunting' is clearly intended metaphorically and means the 'pursuit of love'. The erotic implications - of the large bed in the corner, for instance, and the hunters' catch - would immediately have been plain to a seventeenth-century viewer. At the time 'hunting the hare' and 'fowling' were metaphors for making love. The partridge furthermore was regarded as 'the most lascivious of all birds'. In his book Iconologia of uytbeelding des verstands (“The iconography or illustration of reason”) (1644), Cesare Ripa wrote that this bird is supreme in displaying 'unbridled lust and limitless lewdness'. Ripa claimed that 'cock partridges were so frenzied in treading their hens and aroused to such heights of lechery, that they often broke the eggs their hens were laying, since when they were laying them it was impossible to go on mating with them.' As for the hens it was also necessary to repeat the process in order to get more eggs. Other details also contribute to the erotic symbolism of this painting. The candle on the edge of the bed and the somewhat grubby-looking dog usually stand for lust and lechery in erotically tinted work like this. On the floor there is a lute and the woman on the left is playing a theorbo, also a sort of lute. In seventeenth-century art the lute often refers to love. Sometimes these instruments referred to 'higher', married love; but in a dubious situation like this one, it is a symbol of lust and sexual love. The women here are only concerned with worldly matters and this too does not argue for a chaste and virtuous life. –- The Family Twent in an Interior (1633, 48x76cm; 630x1000pix, 58kb _ .ZOOM to 905x1810pix, 114kb) –- The Repentance of Manasseh (1655, 92x152cm; 616x1024pix, 55kb) _ Formerly attributed to Pieter Lastman, this is in fact one of a relatively small number of history paintings by the Codde. Other examples include a Sacrifice of Iphiginea (with Bob Haboldt) and two paintings of The Judgment of Midas. It is possible that the landscape in these works is by a second, as yet unidentified hand. The subject is taken from 2 Chronicles 33:11-16, which relates how Manasseh, King of Judah, as a prisoner of the Assyrians, repented of his having led his kingdom into idolatry and, after his release, 'took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD ... and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. And he repaired the altar of the LORD ... and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.' (estimated at £50'000 for auction on Codde's 403rd birthday). — Young Man with a Pipe = Young Scholar in his Study (1630; 800x530pix, 103kb) _ Pieter Codde painted portraits, history paintings, and high-life scenes as well as military subjects. His small picture of a Young Scholar in his Study, painted in shades of silvery gray and ochers, is a kind of secularization of Dürer's Melancholia. It is more appealing than his more ambitious genre compositions, where he gives way to his preference for rather coarse and plump types, over-glossy textures, and exaggerated highlights. The rooms Codde represents are always of less interest to him than the people he placed in them, and although he lived long enough to see the accomplishments of the great Dutch painters of interiors — he died in 1678, three years after Vermeer — he never attempted to emulate their achievements. But he made at least one attempt to make a radical shift in his style. In the half of Frans Hals's “The 'Meager Company” which he completed, he made a concerted effort to emulate Hals's touch (next >>>). — “The Meager Company” (Officers of the Company of the Amsterdam Crossbow Civic Guard under Captain Reynier Reael and Lieutenant Cornelis Michielszoon Blaeuw), started by Hals, finished by Codde (1637, 209x429cm; 769x1600pix, 161kb) _ detail 1 left side (1073x940pix, 147kb) _ detail 2 right side (950x946pix, 133kb) _ detail 3 extreme left figure, the only entirely by Hals (1500x541pix, 117kb) _ detail 4 extreme right figure (1578x470pix, 115kb) _ The group portrait of this crossbowmen's militia has been known for centuries as The Meager Company, the nickname it was given in 1758 by art historian and restorer Jan van Dijk when he wrote: '.. since all of them are wizened and thin, they should properly be called The Meager Company...'. Frans Hals was commissioned to paint the portrait of Captain Reynier Reael and Lieutenant Cornelis Michielsz Blaeuw of the Amsterdam crossbowmen's guild together with their militiamen. He was to paint the piece in Amsterdam, where the members of the company lived. For Hals, who lived in Haarlem, this involved regular trips to the capital. In fact he was rarely to make the journey at all. In 1636, three years after receiving the commission, he had still only completed part of the painting. Eventually the militiamen took him to the task. In reply he responded, as the preserved documents state, that it had been agreed he would begin the portraits in Amsterdam and complete them in Haarlem. The representatives of the guild, however, claimed that they had even offered six guilders extra per portrait on the condition that Hals travel to Amsterdam to paint the men's bodies as well as their faces. Hals was to receive 66 guilders per person upon completion of the painting, a total of 1056 guilders for the whole work. Despite the high rate, Hals could no longer be persuaded to make the journey to Amsterdam. He suggested that the unfinished work be brought to Haarlem, where he would complete the sitters' attire. Then he proposed to finish painting the faces, assuming that the militiamen did not object to traveling to Haarlem. By now the dispute had become so heated that the guild decided to ask another artist to complete the painting. The task fell to Pieter Codde, a strange choice since Codde's paintings were usually small and meticulous. Codde lived in Amsterdam, though, and may even have been a member of the militia company. Frans Hals painted the general outlines of the composition and completed some of the faces and hands, but only the ensign on the left, with the shiny satin jacket, is entirely by his hand. Pieter Codde painted the costumes and the portraits which Hals failed to complete. _ _ 'Just to see that painting would make the journey to Amsterdam worthwhile.' wrote Vincent van Gogh in 1885. He particularly liked the 'fellow in the left corner' (detail 3), he had 'seldom seen a more divinely beautiful figure' . In 1633 Frans Hals was commissioned to paint the portraits of Captain Reynier Reael and Lieutenant Cornelis Michielszoon Blaeuw with their militia unit. He had to paint the picture in Amsterdam, where the militiamen lived. Hals himself lived in Haarlem; which meant that he had to travel back and forth regularly. The Amsterdam civic guard had asked Frans Hals because of his reputation for lively civic guard portraits, and because he avoided staid, formally posed group portraits. But the militiamen could not have taken into account that Hals might start to find commuter travel tedious. In the Late Middle Ages the first militia units were formed. The various companies were named after the weapons they bore: the longbowmen, the crossbowmen and the arquebusiers, named after the 16th-century weapon, the arquebus or 'klover'. Civic guard units were deployed to quell riots and were called up in war. They also patrolled the city. Militiamen supplied their own equipment and uniforms, so they usually came from the wealthier classes. It was customary for companies to commission artists to paint their portraits. In the prosperous 17th century numerous civic guard portraits were painted. When, after three years, only half the painting was ready, the militiamen demanded that Hals complete the painting in ten days, otherwise he wouldn't receive a cent. Despite the excellent fee - 1,025 guilders - he refused. Let the militiamen come to Haarlem, was Hals's his reply. He had already spent far too much time and money in Amsterdam, without receiving any travel or accommodation expenses. He had 'wasted much in Aemstelredamme in the tavern', as he explained to the crossbowmen in a letter. Hals's clients refused to go to Haarlem. They looked for another painter to complete the work and found the Amsterdammer Pieter Codde. Finishing a canvas of this magnitude was no easy task for Codde, who usually worked in small formats with great precision. The left side, up to the figure in light clothes in the center, is by Frans Hals. He also painted most of the hands and faces. The rest is by Pieter Codde. Although he tried to adapt to Hals's style, Codde's half is clearly less powerful, it is smoother and more precise and therefore less profound. The rendering of the various textures provides an excellent illustration. While Hals's brushstrokes are clearly defined, Codde's brushwork is hardly visible. This is clear from a comparison of the black in the clothes of two officers, one by Codde and one by Hals. Captain Reael's men are wearing all the various fashions of the mid-seventeenth century, from conservative black broadcloth garments (Laken cloth, a fine woolen fabric, made by a lengthy procedure, close-knit, warm and smooth) to bright, light-yellow costumes. Two figures are elegantly portrayed in light, glistening fabrics with a profusion of lace: the ensign on the left (detail 3) and the lieutenant in the center. They are wearing sashes in the 'club colors' of their company: orange. The crossbowmen are also wearing different models of collar: millstone ruffs, simple surreptitious collars and large flat collars. They were made of delicate lace and never lasted very long. The millstone ruff is a round collar made of pleated white linen. It was fashionable in Holland from the late 16th century to about 1625. They began small, but became increasing broad until finally resembling millstones. Manufacturing such large ruffs was a complicated and time-consuming task for the specialists who made them - mostly Flemish or Dutch women. A ruff like this required a great deal of material, sometimes as much as 15 meters. Usually cambric was used, a fine linen often decorated with bobbin lace. After washing and starching, it was gathered or pleated and set on a collar and then ironed into circular shapes with 'pipe' irons. These costly collars or ruffs were worn by the well-to-do, both men and women. — The Dancing Lesson (1627; 581x750pix, 109kb) — A Child (53x40cm; 850x639pix, 66kb) — Dancing Party (1633) — Merry Company (1631) — Musical Company (1639, 500x800pix, 70kb) — A Gentleman and a Lady in an Interior (53x43cm; 727x583pix, 94kb) — A Lady Having her Hair Combed (20x25cm; 580x700pix, 232kb) — Violent robbery (28x22cm; 600x797pix, 102kb) _ Style of Codde, but not his technique |
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