Stations of the Cross: Giandomenico Tiepolo, San Polo Church, Venice Italy and Art Institute, Chicago USA

Giandomenico Tiepolo (1727-1804) was the son of Giambattista Tiepolo, a master of painting.

He never achieved the status and fame of his father.

San Polo Church, Venice

However, between 1747 and 1749 he painted “Via Crucis”, the stations of the Cross, in the Oratory of the Crucifixion in the Venetian Church of San Polo. In the same period he also etched the sequence of prints with the same title.

This sequence of 14 paintings is for me the most moving sequence of Christ’s path to the Cross and the Beyond.

Inside the San Polo Church (when I visited) there were on display only some of the 14 paintings, the ones I photographed and have included here.

To my delight, I discovered some of the etchings on paper at the Art Institute of Chicago, which I also display here. Although they do not form a complete series, they supplement the paintings very nicely.

I followed the numerical sequence for both the prints and the paintings.

Frontispiece to Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Frontispiece to the set of etchings

Station I: Christ is Condemed to Death, plate one from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Station I: Christ is Condemed to Death

Station II: Christ Receives the Cross, plate two from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Station II: Christ Receives the Cross

Station III: Christ Falls Beneath the Cross for the First Time, plate three from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Station III: Christ Falls Beneath the Cross for the First Time

Station IV: Christ Meets his Mother, plate four from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Station IV: Christ Meets his Mother

Station V: Christ is Helped by Simon of Cyrene, plate five from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Station V: Christ is Helped by Simon of Cyrene

Station VI: Christ's Face is Wiped by St. Veronica, plate six from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Station VI: Christ’s Face is Wiped by St. Veronica

Station VII: Christ Consoles the Weeping Women, plate seven from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Station VII: Christ Consoles the Weeping Women

Station IX: Christ Falls Beneath the Cross for the Third Time, plate nine from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Station IX: Christ Falls Beneath the Cross for the Third Time

Painting IX: Christ Falls Beneath the Cross for the Third Time, San Polo Church, Venice

Station IX: Christ Falls Beneath the Cross for the Third Time

Painting IX - Detail: the crowd

The crowd is shown full of anticipation.

Station X: Christ is Stripped of His Garments, plate ten from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Station X: Christ is Stripped of His Garments

Painting X: Christ is Stripped of His Garments, San Polo Church, Venice

Station X: Christ is Stripped of His Garments

Painting X - Detail

The elder

Painting X - Detail: Mother and Daughter

Mother and daughter observing

Station XI: Christ is Nailed to the Cross, plate eleven from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Station XI: Christ is Nailed to the Cross

Painting XI: Christ is Nailed to the Cross, San Polo Church, Venice

Station XI: Christ is Nailed to the Cross

Painting XI - Detail: Christ

Christ unconscious

Painting XI - Detail: Crowd

The watching crowd

Painting XII: Crucifixion, San Polo Church, Venice

Station XII: Christ crucified

Painting XIII: Deposition, San Polo Church, Venice

Station XIII: The deposition of Christ

Painting XIII - Detail

Deposition detail

Painting XIV - Entombment, San Polo Church, Venice

Station XIV: Entombment

Donatello’s “The Penitent Mary Magdalene”

Following the trail I started with Titian’s “Pieta”, today I go a few years back to meet another Genius and Master, Donatello.

Donatello's statue outside the Uffizi Gallery in Florence

As I read in PBS’s web site:

“Donatello was not a popular person, but in his sculptures he managed to capture life itself. Every look and gesture was rich in humanity and personality. He was known to mutter “speak, damn you, speak!” at his figures as he worked.

In 1434, following his triumph over the enemies of the Medici, Cosimo requested a special commission from his friend. A statue of an Old Testament hero, symbolizing triumph against the odds. Donatello’s bronze “David” broke all the rules.

Donatello: Davis, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Firenze

A playful, sensuous, and androgynous hero, “David” was the first life-size nude to be cast in bronze since Classical times.

In the 1450s Donatello began work on a terrifying statue, the most vivid of his career. The “Penitent Mary Magdalen”, carved for the baptistry of Florence, is an eloquent vision of fear and decay, perhaps brought on by the realization of Donatello’s own mortality.”

( The material of the previous paragraphs comes from the web site of USA’s Public Broadcasting Service, PBS.)

Donatello: The Penitent Mary Magdalene, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Firenze

From David to Mary Magdalen. It is a path of life.

Mary Magdalene has been the subject of many paintings and sculptures.

Titian: The Repentant Mary Magdalen

Titian has painted a portrait of Mary, which is in the Gallery of Palazzo Pitti, a few hundred meters away from Donatello’s sculpture, which is in the Duomo Museum of Florence.

What a contrast between Titian and Donatello’s interpretation! Is it only Titian portraying Mary as a young woman, repentant or not?

El Greco: Mary Magdalene in penitence

Not really. Look at El Greco’s interpretation. Mary is young, very young, beautiful, with long hair that envelopes her body.

Donatello: The Penitent Mary Magdalen (detail)

The hair is the only common element between Titian’s and El Greco’s paintings and Donatello’s sculpture.

Donatello: The Penitent Mary Magdalen (detail)

Donatello wanted Mary to be an old woman. A woman approaching the end of her life.

Donatello: The Penitent Mary Magdalen (detail)

A woman whose face is pierced by the bones, whose eyes inhabit open dark holes, whose mouth is almost toothless.

Donatello: The Penitent Mary Magdalen (detail)

Her hands are almost forming a prayer pair, but not so.  It is as if she was going to pray but she changed her mind as the hands were coming together, but not touching yet.

Donatello: The Penitent Mary Magdalen (detail)

The aging woman is standing firmly on her feet. As disconcerting her hace and overall condition may be, she is standing with confidence and without any weakness. She is almost “relaxed” when it comes to her feet.

This in my view is the key to “reading” the work. Reading the body.

Donatello: The Penitent Mary Magdalen (detail)

As the eye travels from the face to the torso, the hands and then to the feet, the ambivalence of the artist manifests itself in a comprehensive way.

This ambivalence is the distinctive feature of the work, a feature that differentiates Donatello’s interpretation from Titian’s and El Greco’s.

In both paintings, Mary is a person wiht a clear attitude and stance in life. Repentant in Titian’s painting, full of devotion in El Greco’s.

But in Donatello’s sculpture, Mary may be skinny and appearing in a state of departure from the worldly affairs, but at the same time she is not fully wholy absorbed by her devotion or repentance. Her body language expresses ambivalence and the coexistence of the worldly stuff with the heavenly. This is what I find amazing in this work. Donatello either consciously or subconsciously is a Modern Master in this work, as he depicts Mary in the state of inner conflict, in the state of Being and Being Not.

What Donatello may have started as a work that would portray his fear of Death, his anguish of getting old, was transformed in the creative process to a work that is full of Life, as Life is ambivalence and contradiction and conflict.

A Cretan Madonna in Venice: Mesopanditissa in Santa Maria della Salute (Saint Mary of Health)

JMW Turner: Santa Maria della Salute

Today I want to honor the centuries’ old ties between Byzantium and Venice, by kneeling in front of the “Mesopanditissa” Madonna, a 12th or 13th century Byzantine icon that was brought to Venice in 1669, after Candia (Herakleion) fell to the Ottoman Turks. The picture is kept in the main altar of the Church of Santa Maria della Salute (Holy Mary of the Health). Lets start with the historical background.

Santa Maria della Salute is one of the jewels of Venice. Baldassare Longhena was 32 years old when he won a competition in 1631 to design a shrine honoring the Virgin Mary for saving Venice from a plague that in the space of two years (1629-30) killed 47,000 residents, or one-third the population of the city. Outside, this ornate white Istrian stone octagon is topped by a colossal cupola with snail-like ornamental buttresses and a baroque facade; inside are a polychrome marble floor and six chapels.

The Byzantine icon above the main altar has been venerated as the Madonna della Salute (Madonna of Health) since 1670, when Francesco Morosini brought it here from Crete. The icon and other holy relics, were brought to Venice by Morosini when Crete fell to the Ottoman Turks.

It was the jewel of the Church of Saint Titus in the center of Candia, today’s Irakleion. Morosini also brought to Venice the remains of Saint Titus. They were kept in Saint Mark’s Basilica until 1966, when they were returned to Crete.

Above it is a sculpture showing Venice on her knees to the Madonna as she drives the wretched plague from the city.

I must confess that the baroque sculptures surrounding the Madonna did not impress me, but they are not in nay way obstructing the view of the magnificent icon.

The Madonna is serene, understanding, can absorb the pain of the whole world. The Holy Child is contemplative.

The icon is at home in the magnificent Church. It stands next to Titian, Giordano, Tintoretto, like they are the most natural companion.

This is the glory of Byzantium, glory that remains alive and strong in Venice. More on the subject will follow.

Real Greece – Part IV: Aegean Sculpture – A Church in the village of Marpissa, Paros, Greece

I was for a few days on the island of Paros, Greece, where one night I saw under the weak lunar light the Aegean Sculpture I present today. The white church looked like something much more than a religious building, and I pronounced it “a sculpture”. Next morning I went to the village in order to photograph the “sculpture”. It was there, bathed in the morning sunlight, in the middle of the small community that was still resting. This emotional experience led me to present the church as sculpture and sculpture as a working work of art, in the sense originally discussed by Martin Heidegger.

I find particularly interesting the notion of a “working” work of art, in the sense that it is a work that participates and in a way effects and reflects real life. I will therefore quote extensively from Heidegger’s work but also from scholars who have tried to interpret Heidegger after his “turn” to aesthetics and art.

I will conclude with some thoughts on the significance of the Aegean Sculpture in the context of the ever developing Greek drama, a combination of financial and cultural bankruptcy.

{In his article, “The Origin of the Work of Art” Heidegger explains the essence of art in terms of the concepts of being and truth. He argues that art is not only a way of expressing the element of truth in a culture, but the means of creating it and providing a springboard from which “that which is” can be revealed. Works of art are not merely representations of the way things are, but actually produce a community’s shared understanding. Each time a new artwork is added to any culture, the meaning of what it is to exist is inherently changed.}

(Source: Wikipedia)

{Heidegger’s basic insight is that the work of art not only manifests the style of the culture; it articulates it. For everyday practices to give us a shared world, and so give meaning to our lives, they must be focused and held up to the practitioners. Works of art, when performing this function, are not merely representations of a pre-existing state of affairs, but actually produce a shared understanding.}

(Source: Hubert L. Dreyfus, Heidegger on Art)

Heidegger articulates his thoughts by discussing an ancient Greek Temple:

{It is the temple work that first fits together and at the same time gathers around itself the unity of those paths and relations in which birth and death, disaster and blessing, victory and disgrace, endurance and decline acquire the shape of destiny for human being….(The temple thus) gave things their look and men their outlook on themselves.}

(Source: Martin Heidegger, The Origin of the Work of Art)

{Heidegger is considering art in terms of its cultural founding significance, and cultural founding art work acts as a paradigm for the event of truth’s happening. The happening of truth is described as the projection of truth, and all art is defined by Heidegger as Dichtung, or poetry.  However, this does not restrict the definition of Dichtung to include only the linguistic expression of “poetry.” Rather, he envisages Dichtung as referencing all creative, projective  events of truth’s happening. Therefore, Dichtung occurs in many forms of art: painting, sculpture,  architecture, music, and poetry. Due to art’s unique nature, it opens the space of disclosure in  such a way that it “breaks open an open place, in whose openness everything is other than  usual.”34 Heidegger stresses the potential of great art to ecstatically displace Dasein from the
realm of its everyday, ordinary ways of existing by transforming “anew” its accustomed ties to the world and Earth.}

(Source: James Magrini,

The Work of Art and Truth of Being as “Historical”:

Reading Being and Time, “The Origin of the Work of Art,” and the “Turn” (Kehre) in Heidegger’s Philosophy of the 1930s)

The work of art is not something that works out its truth merely by laying it bare and plain for all to see. On the contrary, great works of  art outshine others in their unfathomableness, (i.e. their depth). That is, anything which lends itself to conveniently summed up—described and explained away—is not thus preserved in its being let ‘stand-initself’, but rather leveled off and disabled in its capacity for bringing about wonder and estrangement; it is dragged down in connoisseurship to the realm of commonality (i.e. the unextraordinary) and commodity (i.e. the ‘art business’). It is masticated so as to be served up as fodder for idle talk.

(Source: Shawn Moi, Perplexity and Passion in Heidegger)

In the Heideggerian framework of viewing Art, the Ancient Greek Temple is “non-working Art”, in the sense that the work of art no longer has and maintains a dynamic interplay with the surrounding community. the reasonable question that emerges having seen the Aegean sculpture, is:

Is the Aegean sculpture working art, in the sense that it performs the three essential functions? (see Dreyfus):

• Manifesting a World
• Articulating a culture’s understanding of Being
• Reconfiguring a culture’s understanding of Being

I believe it is, and as long as it remains, I also believe that there is hope in the contemporary drama of Greece.

The hope is that Greeks will eventually accept to be themselves (ourselves) and stop trying to become a pathetic immitation of others. There is no survival without identity, and the Aegean Sculpture is part of the Greek’s multifaceted  identity. The acceptance of identity will also start the process of maintaining it and embellishing it, and this is where the Aegean Sculpture also comes in, with its stunning simplicity and harmony of being an integral part of the space around it.

The white structure engages the blue sky and the sea of the Aegean in an eternal embrace.

Its whiteness pays tribute to the famous marble of Paros, but beats it at the same time, as its humble and simple material reminds us that we can do wonderful things, and thus be wonderful ourselves with very “cheap” materials. The Aegean Sculpture could never be made of gold, or covered with precious stones. It would not be itself.

The Kaisariani Monastery, near Athens, Greece – Η Μονη Καισαριανης

Το υπεροχο μοναστηρι της Καισαριανης μετα απο 2 χρονια επισκευων και συντηρησης ανοιξε ξανα τις πυλες στους επισκεπτες του. Υπευθυνη για την συντηρηση της μονης και της περιοχης στο δασος του Υμηττου ειναι η Φιλοδασικη Ενωση Αθηνων, την οποια και ευχαριστω γιατι και η περιοχη αλλα και η μονη Καισαριανης αποτελουν θυλακες οξυγονου κυριολεκτικα και μεταφορικα στην δοκιμασμενη Αττικη.

Χαρτης Φιλοδασικης

Η μονη κτιστηκε στη θεση αρχαιου ιερου, μαλλον της Δημητρας της οικογενειας των Λυκομηδων.  Στην περιοχη σωζονται και τα θεμελια τρικλιτης παλαιοχριστιανικης Βασιλικης του 5ου – 6ου μ.Χ. αιωνα.

Κυρια Εισοδος

Ο ναος που διασωζεται σημερα, ειναι βυζαντινου ρυθμου, εγγεγραμμενος σταυροειδης με τρουλο (*) και κτισθηκε τον 11 αιωνα, αφιερωμενος στα Εισοδια της Θεοτοκου. Πολλα απο τα μαρμαρα του αρχαιοτερου ναου χρησιμοποιηθηκαν σαν δομικα στοιχεια.

Τοπογραφικο της Μονης

Η μονη απεκτησε μεγαλη φημη τον 12 και 13 αιωνα και η βιβλιοθηκη της ηταν απο τις πιο πλουσιες στο Βυζαντιο. Οι υπευθυνοι της μονης ειχαν πολυ καλες διπλωματικες ικανοτητες και καταφεραν να τα εχουν καλα και με τους Φραγκους οταν αυτοι κατεκτησαν την Αττικη στις αρχες του 13 αιωνα, αλλα και με τους Τουρκους.

Ναος Εισοδιων της Θεοτοκου και παρεκκλησιο Αγιου Αντωνιου

Το 1204 ο πάπας Ιννοκέντιος ο Γ’ υπέβαλλε την Μονή Καισαριανής στη δικαιοδοσία του λατίνου αρχιεπισκόπου Αθηνών. (**) Το 1458 οι Τούρκοι καταλαμβάνουν την Αττική και ο Μωάμεθ προσέρχεται στη Μονή (***) όπου, σύμφωνα με τον γάλλο γιατρό από την Λυών, Jacob Spon (1675), του παραδίδονται τα κλειδιά της πόλης. Το 1678 ο πατριάρχης Διονύσιος ο Δ’ καθορίζει την Μονή ως “Σταυροπηγική” (****) δηλαδή “ελεύθερη και ασύδοτη” ως πρός τον μητροπολίτη της Αθήνας στον οποίο έχει μόνο μία υποχρέωση: να τον μνημονεύει στη λειτουργία. Το 1792 ο πατριάρχης Νεόφυτος καταργεί με Σιγίλλιο την ελευθερία της Μονής η οποία θα υπαχθεί και πάλι στην μητρόπολη των Αθηνών. Το 1824 η Μονή πλέον “?υποδουλώνεται και οικονομείται ως ίδιον κτήμα των αγίων αρχιερέων. Τί δέν εσυνέβησαν εις αυτό, ποίας τύχας δέν εδοκίμασεν; εκατήντησεν έπαυλις βοών, όνων και αλόγων ζώων το πρώην δυνατόν νά σώση καί να φωτίση πολλάς ψυχάς ανθρώπων”. (Πηγη: Φιλοδασικη Ενωση Αθηνων).

Λουτρα

Τα βιβλια της διασημης βιβλιοθηκης μεταφερθηκαν το 1821 στην Μητροπολη Αθηνων για να προστατευθουν απο την επικειμενη συγκρουση με τους Τουρκους. Δυστυχως συνεβη το ακριβως αντιθετο. Τα βιβλια κατεληξαν στον Παρθενωνα οπου χρησιμοποιηθηκαν για να παρασκευασθουν φυσιγγια κατα την πολιορκια της απο τον Κιουταχη (αναφερεται απο τον Γιωργο Καραχαλιο στα Φαινομενα, Ελευθερος Τυπος, 11 Δεκεμβριου 2010).

Καθολικο Ναου

(*) Ο εγγεγραμμένος σταυροειδής με τρούλο είναι ο αντιπροσωπευτικός βυζαντινός ρυθμός. Κύριο χαρακτηριστικό στοιχείο αυτού του θαυμαστού ρυθμού είναι ο σχηματισμός σταυρού εσωτερικά και εξωτερικά στο σχεδόν τετράγωνο πια κτίσμα, με τον έναν ή τους πέντε τρούλους. Η δημιουργία κογχών στη βόρεια και νότια πλευρά όχι μόνο αυξάνουν τον εσωτερικό χώρο,αλλά χαρίζουν παράλληλα ομορφιά και χάρη. Υπάρχουν πάμπλλα δείγματα αυτού του θαυμασίου ρυθμού, όπως η Γοργοεπίκοος (άγιος Ελευθέριος), άγιοι Θεόδωροι, Καπνικαρέα, Καισαριανή στην Αθήνα, Παναγία των Χαλκαίων στη Θεσσαλονίκη, οι εκκλησίες του Μυστρά, κ.α.(Πηγη: Αποστολικη Διακονια της Εκκλησιας της Ελλαδος)

Η Αγια Τριαδα

(**) Μετά την κατάκτηση της Κων/πόλεως από τους σταυροφόρους επακολούθησε δια προκαταρκτικής συνθήκης διανομή ολόκληρου του Βυζαντινού κράτους μεταξύ των Φράγκων σε λατινικά φέουδα. Στο μαρκήσιο Βονιφάτιο Μομφερατικό, γνωστό στρατηγό της άλωσης της Κων/πόλεως παραχωρήθηκε ήδη από το Σεπτέμβριο 1204 το ιδρυθέν τότε Φραγκικό βασίλειο της Θεσσαλονίκης, το οποίο περιελάμβανε και την χώρα των Αθηνών. Έτσι οδηγήθηκε ο Βονιφάτιος προς κατάκτηση των περιοχών του. Η Αθήνα μετά της Ακροπόλεως καταλήφθηκαν αμαχητί. Η πόλη είχε παραμεληθεί τελείως υπό των Βυζαντινών από αρκετών δε ετών στερούταν διοικητικής κεφαλής. Η «θρυλούμενη και χρυσή πόλη Αθήνα η «πάλαι μεν μήτηρ σοφίας παντοδαπής και πάσης καθηγεμών αρετής» στις παραμονής της Δ΄ Σταυροφορίας καταπιεσμένη από τους φόρους και την απληστία των αρχόντων και λησμονημένη από τους ανθρώπους, είχε χάσει σύμφωνα με την μαρτυρία του Μιχαήλ Χωνιάτη, την παλαιά της δόξα και είχε μεταβληθεί σε μικρό και «αοίκητο χωριό» που την τύχη της ακολούθησε και το «ένδοξο επίνειό της».

Βρεφοκρατουσα

(***) Οι Τούρκοι κατέλαβαν την Αθήνα τον Ιούνιο του 1458, μετά την κατόπιν συνθηκολόγησης παράδοση της Ακρόπολης από τον τελευταίο δούκα των Αθηνών, τον Francesco II Acciajuoli, στον διοικητή της θεσσαλίας Ομάρ. Στη μακραίωνη ιστορία της πόλης των Αθηνών, αυτή η κατάληψη από τους Τούρκους αποτελεί τη μοναδική περίπτωση «ειρηνικής» κατάκτησής της χωρίς καταστροφή. Ο Μωάμεθ Β’ επισκέφτηκε την πόλη γύρω στα τέλη του Αυγούστου της ίδιας χρονιάς, προκειμένου να την επιθεωρήσει αλλά και να θαυμάσει τα περίφημα αρχαία μνημεία που την κοσμούσαν. Η εντύπωση που του προκάλεσαν τα τελευταία, ιδίως η Ακρόπολη, ήταν τεράστια. Μάλιστα, σύγχρονοι χρονογράφοι αποδίδουν σε αυτήν την επιείκεια με την οποία αντιμετώπισε τους Αθηναίους, παραχωρώντας τους ποικίλα προνόμια, όπως την ελευθερία της λατρείας και τη σχετική αυτοδιοίκηση. Έτσι, σταδιακά η πόλη αναπτύχθηκε και πάλι, μετά την εξαθλίωση στην οποία είχε περιπέσει κατά τη Φραγκοκρατία.

Παντοκρατωρ

(****) Σταυροπηγιακή μονή : Σταυροπηγιακή ή πατριαρχική χαρακτηρίζεται η μονή η οποία υπάγεται άμεσα στον Οικουμενικό Πατριάρχη και κατά συνέπεια αποσυνδέεται από την διοικητική εποπτεία του επιχώριου μητροπολίτη ή επισκόπου. Σύμφωνα με την κανονική παράδοση της Ορθόδοξης Εκκλησίας, ο Πατριάρχης έχει το δικαίωμα κατά την ίδρυση μονής σε περιοχή της δικαιοδοσίας του να αποστέλλει σταυρό, ο οποίος τοποθετείται στα θεμέλια της μονής και θεμελιώνει την άμεση εξάρτησή της από αυτόν.

Το Καθολικό και ο λουτρώνας είναι τα αρχικά κτίρια του 11ου αιώνα αλλά ο νάρθηκας, το καμπαναριό καθώς και το παρεκκλήσι του Αγίου Αντωνίου είναι προσθήκες μεταγενέστερες της περιόδου της Τουρκοκρατίας. Τα κτίσματα ήσαν διατεταγμένα γύρω από την εσωτερική αυλή, Στο ανατολικό μέρος υπήρχε το Καθολικό, στο δυτικό η τράπεζα με το μαγειρείο, στη νότια πλευρά ο λουτρώνας μετασκευασμένος στα χρόνια της Τουρκοκρατίας σε ελαιοτριβείο της μονής και δίπλα διώροφα κτίρια με τα κελιά πού είχαν μπροστά ανοιχτή στοά

Η Ανασταση του Λαζαρου

Τοιχογραφίες: Η παλαιότερη τοιχογραφία βρισκόταν στον εξωτερικό νότιο τοίχο του καθολικού πού σήμερα περιλαμβάνεται μέσα στο παρεκκλήσι του Αγίου Αντωνίου. Είναι μία μορφή Παναγίας, δεομένης προς αριστερά, με αδρές γραμμές σχεδίου που φανερώνουν επαρχιακή τεχνοτροπία του 14ου αιώνα.
Ο ναός και ο νάρθηκας κοσμούνται από τοιχογραφίες τής εποχής της τουρκοκρατίας. Οι τοιχογραφίες του νάρθηκα έγιναν από τον Ιωάννη Ύπατο από την Πελοπόννησο, το 1682 και με δαπάνες του Μπενιζέλου, σύμφωνα με επιγραφή που υπάρχει στον δυτικό τοίχο.

Στον τρούλλο παριστάνεται ο Χριστός Παντοκράτωρ, στο τύμπανο, που χωρίζεται σε δύο ζώνες και εικονίζονται η Ετοιμασία του θρόνου, η Παναγία, ο Ιωάννης ο Πρόδρομος, οι άγγελοι καθώς και τετράμορφο σύμπλεγμα των τεσσάρων Ευαγγελιστών. Στην κόγχη του ιερού παριστάνεται η Θεοτόκος Πλατυτέρα, ένθρονη, πλαισιωμένη από δύο σεβίζοντες αγγέλους.

Οι τοιχογραφίες του ναού δεν διακρίνονται για καινοτομίες στους εικονογραφικούς τύπους αλλά ανήκουν σε κρητικά εικονογραφικά πρότυπα του 16ου αιώνα που συναντούμε στις εκκλησίες του Αγίου Όρους.

Ο χαρακτήρας των τοιχογραφιών του 17ου αιώνα γίνεται πάντως όλο και πιο λαϊκός. Η τάση αυτή είναι φανερή στις τοιχογραφίες του νάρθηκα τόσο στο στυλ όσο και στην τεχνική εκτέλεση. Είναι φανερή πλέον η βούληση του ζωγράφου να απομακρυνθεί από τα πρότυπα της Κρητικής Σχολής.

Η Τραπεζα

Τράπεζα

Απέναντι από το καθολικό, στη δυτική πλευρά του τείχους, μέσα σε ένα ενιαίο και αυτοτελές κτίριο βρίσκονται η τράπεζα και το μαγειρείο. Η τράπεζα είναι μια επιμήκης ορθογώνια θολωτή αίθουσα που χωρίζεται σε δύο χώρους. Το μαγειρείο είναι προσκολλημένο στη νότια πλευρά της τράπεζας, είναι τετράγωνο με θολωτή οροφή απ’όπου υψώνεται η καπνοδόχος. Η εστία βρίσκεται στη μέση και γύρω της έχει κτιστό πεζούλι προσκολλημένο στους τέσσερις τοίχους. Το κτίριο αυτό χρονολογείται πιθανότατα από τον 16ο ή τον 17ο αιώνα.

Αγορι και Γαιδουρακι

Entierro con Lagrimas de Cera – Burial with Tears of Wax – Ενταφιασμος με Κερινα Δακρυα

This is the result of a juxtraposition of the creations of two people who have not met in their lifetime. Both made Spain their home. Both originated in another country (culture). The occasion of this is the Holy Week that is now approaching its climax. I chose to focus on the zenith of the drama, the burial. The beginning of the trip to Hades.

The creators:

El Greco, The Burial of Count Orgaz, Self-portrait (Detail)

El Greco: Domenikos Theotokopoulos, Painter.

Born in Crete, Greece, El Greco was trained as an icon painter.
It was as a painter who “felt the mystical inner construction” of life that El Greco was admired by Franz Marc and the members of the Blue Rider (Blaue Reiter) school: someone whose art stood as a rejection of the materialist culture of modern life.

Source:El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (1541–1614) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

El Lebrijano

El Lebrijano: Juan Peña Fernández. Lebrija (Seville), 1941. Singer.

García Marquez wrote: “When Lebrijano sings, water gets wet.”

(Please refer to FlamencoWorld for a biography and more).

The works:

The Burial of Count of Ortaz

El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz

The huge painting is in the Church of Santo Tome, in Toledo, the city that El Greco made his home in Spain.

Lagrimas de Cera (Tears of Wax)

“…The director of the company wanted to record right away and it occurred to me to say, almost as a joke, “I’m going to make a record about Holy Week.” When I was on the AVE to Seville I asked myself, “What did I say to this guy?” He called me up and said “How are you going to do it?” And I said to him, “What am I doing?” Then he said to me, “Come to Madrid because Hugo is here.”….As soon as we got there, in a recording studio on the Alameda de Hércules in Seville, we put together a multicolored musical ensemble: a Belgian producer with his French engineer, the Moroccan brothers that Juan has worked with for 10 years on strings and vocals, four Bulgarian singers, Antonio Moya de Utrera on guitar, Rosario Amador, niece of Raimundo also on vocals, and Sainkho from Southern Siberia. “It was like the U.N.,” jokes El Lebrijano.” (exerpt from an  1999 interview to Louis Clemente, published in Flamenco World)

This stunning music written for “Santa Semana” – the Holy Week – evokes the Universal aspect of Passion and Drama, universality that knows no boundaries or religions. The music unites the Christians and the Arabs with the itinerant Romas and the Jews in mourning for the Death and Burial of a Man, a God, our own.

The Video (Slide Show)

I have put together a slide show with photos of the painting, and one song from “LAgrimas de Cera” as audio background. Here it is.

Images of Theotokos, the Mother of God – From North to South

Today we are celebrating the Dormition of the Mother of God, Theotokos, and I want to share with you some of my favorite images of Her.  I will start from the North of Europe, and the turn from Gothic to Early Renaissance. The direction is from North to South.

The North begins with Jan van Eyck, the Master who opened the way for the rejuvenation of art in the north, for the decisive transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance. His influence is visible in the works of all the Masters who succeeded him.

Jan van Eyck: Lucca Madonna c. 1430

Rogier van der Weyden was an Old Master who following the lead of van Eyck, pioneers Early Renaissance in Northern Europe (second half of 15th century).

Rogier van der Weyden: Head of the Virgin, c. 1440

This extraordinary study of the head of the Virgin is one of very few surviving drawings that can be attributed with any certainty to the early Flemish masters, and one of an even smaller number of drawings with a generally accepted attribution to Rogier van der Weyden. Its extreme sobriety and intensity of expression are utterly characteristic of van der Weyden’s work.

Source: Louvre Museum, Prints and Drawings, Head of the Virgin

Rogier van der Weyden: Madonna and Child c. 1460

Martin Schongauer was a follower of van der Weyden and a superb engraver. He was born and worked in the town of Colmar in Alsace.  The Madonna in a Rose Garden is his masterpiece. It can be seen in the Dominican Church, in Colmar.

Martin Schongauer: Mary in a Rose Garden

Matthias Gruenewald was one of Schongauer’s students. His masterpiece is the Isenheim Altarpiece, to which I have dedicated a separate post. In this post I want to present another of his major works, the Stuppach Madonna.

Around 6 km/4 miles from Bad Mergentheim’s old town in the suburb Stuppach is a small, unremarkable chapel that houses a remarkable painting, the Stuppacher Madonna. This painting of Mary with Child was removed from the Maria Schnee Kapelle in Aschaffenburg during the 1525 Peasants’ War. It remained in the hands of the Teutonic Order until it came to this chapel in 1812.The Stuppacher Madonna was long thought to be the work of Rubens. Only in 1908 was it recognized as one of the pieces from the Marienaltar (Mary Altar) and the 1519 work of the great German Renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald. (A second piece of the altar is in Freiburg, while Aschaffenburg only has copies.)

Source: European Traveller, Top Sights in Bad Merghentheim

Matthias Gruenewald: Stuppacher Madonna

And in order to remember the Isenheim Altarpiece, here is a detail from the Nativity panel.

Matthias Gruenewald: Madonna and Child, detail from the Nativity panel

We are now going south, to meet the Italian Masters, and a Greek who became Spanish.

I begin with Lorenzo Monaco, whose brilliant colors make him one of the pioneers of Renaissance in Italy. See in the picture below how wonderfully the pink becomes the dominant color of the picture, eliminating the black. The picture is practically flat, maintaining in this respect the Byzantine tradition.

Lorenzo Monaco: Virgin and Child on the Throne with Six Angels c.1415-1420

Giovanni Bellini, the Venetian Master, with his solemn Madonna is next. I love the use of green in the painting, it becomes the center of the harmonies and works superbly with the pale blue of the sky and the ultramarine of Madonna’s dress.

Giovanni Bellini: Madonna degli Alberetti c. 1487

Young Rafaello, with his Madonna del Granduca, gives us a masterpiece in the study of black. In this he anticipates Caravaggio and chiaroscuro.

Rafaello: Madonna del Granduca c.1505

Titian, turns the tables and presents a dark haired pale woman as his Madonna, named the  Gypsy Madonna. She is like a an ordinary girl carrying a huge burden. You notice the green curtain in the background, tribute to Giovanni Bellini.

Titian: The Gypsy Madonna c. 1515

Rafaello a few years later gave us the Madonna of the Chair, a much more vivid and “alive” painting, where the faces almost jump out of the canvas to reach us.

Rafaello: Madonna of the Chair c. 1518

El Greco, the Greek, Dominikos Theotokopoulos, started his life in Crete, and via Venice ended in Toledo, Spain.

El Greco: Virgin and Child with St Martina and St Agnes, 1597-9

El Greco lifts us up in the skies and the clouds and the greyness of the storm that is about to come.  El Greco does not use the domestic environment used by the other artists. He belongs in the sky, and this is what he paints.

El Greco: Immaculate Conception with St John the Evangelist

Back to where it all started. the most fitting end of all.

We traveled from the North to the South, from the Earth to the Skies, from the simple, ordinary faces of everyday women, to the incredibly beautiful faces of sheer perfection. Next trip will be from the West to the East.

“Arantzan zu?!” (Thou, among the thorns?!) – The Basilica and Sanctuary of Arantzazu in the Basque Country

According to the legend, these were the words of the shepherd Rodrigo de Balanzategui, who discovered the sculpture of the Virgin in a thorn-bush in the Onati county in the South of the Basque Country.

These words named the place Arantzazu, a holy place for the Basques, where they have erected a Sanctuary.

I visited the Sanctuary of Arantzazu more than a month ago, during a day that the skies were grey and the water was falling continuously, all day long.  As we approach the Virgin’s Assumption on the 15th of August, I felt is would be appropriate to share with you some of my pictures from the Basque Madonna.

The whole area of the Sanctuary is developed for people. You can walk, rest, enjoy the natural environment, visit the Church and the other edifices. The Basilica was rebuilt in 1951, when it was decided that no further extension of the old building made sense.

The Church is modern. The imposing belfry tower has a minimal cross on top.

The main entrance of the Church is modern but powerful.

The spikes of the facade are “thorns”.

The four doors of the main entrance were made by Eduardo Chillida. In the page of Onati dedicated to Arantzazu, we read: “The four doors that provide access to the church were designed by Eduardo Chillida and seem to be almost below ground, being set at the bottom of a steep staircase.”

“With their mineral appearance, the doors suggest the entrance to the underground world, an impression which is further reinforced inside the church by the massive high altarpiece, which measures over 600 square metres. The altarpiece was designed by Lucio Muñoz and is carved in wood of many different colors.”

The 14 Apostles guarding the entrance are the work of Jorge Oteiza. The Bilbao Guggenheim organized in 2005 a major retrospective of Oteiza’s work. We read in the Exhibition program: ” In the same year (1950), he began work tentatively on a major commission for the statuary of the basilica at Aránzazu, a huge undertaking finally realized in 1969. Here, religious motifs are depersonalized; figures are emptied, opened to space, and filled with spiritual content.”

The Pieta crowns the 14 Apostles.

The crypt is accessible from the inside of the Basilica. It is utterly modern, and captivating. The Onati site comments: “The crypt, decorated by Nestor Basterretxea, contains 18 murals of exceptional expressive strength, which have a somewhat aggressive use of color.”

The 15th century statute of the Virgin.

May her Mercy envelop and deliver us more true and free to the world.

May her Grace help us to sustain pain and sorrow.

May her Heart keep us warm in the cold and dark terrain of solitude and remembrance.

Exiting the Chillida doors.

Time to go.

Time to get lost in the mountains and the clouds.

La Mezquita in Cordoba – Part I

I am not familiar with Islamic art. But my recent visit to the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain was an ecstatic experience. This is the first part of an article on the Mezquita of Cordoba.

I start with some history, borrowed from the vast resources of the Metropolian Museum of Art in New York, then continue with a short tour of the outside, and conclude the first part with the entrance in the Mezquita and the first impressions and feelings.

“On July 19, 711, an army of Arabs and Berbers unified under the aegis of the Islamic Umayyad caliphate landed on the Iberian Peninsula. Over the next seven years, through diplomacy and warfare, they brought the entire peninsula except for Galicia and Asturias in the far north under Islamic control; however, frontiers with the Christian north were constantly in flux. The new Islamic territories, referred to as al-Andalus by Muslims, were administered by a provincial government established in the name of the Umayyad caliphate in Damascus and centered in Córdoba. Of works of art and other material culture only coins and scant ceramic fragments remain from this early period of the Umayyad governors (711–56).

When the Umayyad caliphate of Damascus was overthrown by the Abbasids in 750, the last surviving member of the Umayyad dynasty fled to Spain, establishing himself as Emir Abd al-Rahman I and thus initiating the Umayyad emirate (756–929). Abd al-Rahman I (r. 756–88) made Córdoba his capital and unified al-Andalus under his rule with a firm hand, while establishing diplomatic ties with the northern Christian kingdoms, North Africa, and the Byzantine empire and maintaining cultural contact with the Abbasids in Baghdad. The initial construction of the Great Mosque of Córdoba under his patronage was the crowning achievement of this formative period of Hispano-Islamic art and architecture.”

(Source: The Art of the Umayyad Period in Spain (711–1031) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Aerial view of the Mezquita in Cordoba (source: Wikipedia)

The Great Mosque of Cordoba was built over a period of three centuries, from the 8th to the 11th. It is a rectangle with a orange tree court with a basin adjacent to it. This court is the oldest Moorish garden in Spain (marked as 7 in the plan that follows).

The concept was to imitate if not exceed the Great Mosque of Damascus.

At the edge of the tree line at the bottom of the photo is the bank of the famous river, Guadalquivir. The plan of the Mezquita that follows is “turned upside down” compared to the photo. The river is at the top. The resolution of the plan is high so that you can download it and view it in full resolution for the details.

The Minaret, enveloped by a Baroque Tower in 17c

Door of Forgiveness (1 in the plan)

Puerta San Esteban (Door of Saint Stephen) - Marked 3 on the plan

Puerta San Miguel (Door of Saint Michael’s) – Marked 4 on the Plan.

Door of the Psalms, viewed from the Orange Tree Court – Marked 6 on the Plan.

Carved wooden beams in the cloisters – detail (Marked 8 on the plan)

When the Moors first arrived in Cordoba, they were content to share the Visigothic Church of Saint Vincent with the Christians. When this became insufficient, AdbAl-Rahman purchased their part and started building  the Mosque (marked 9 on the plan) with 11 aisles, opening onto the Orange Tree Court. The architectural innovation in the mosque was the superimposition of two tiers of arches to give added height and spaciousness. They used marble pillars and Roman stone from St Vicent’s Church and other buildings in the area.

Once you are inside (you enter in the area marked 8 on the plan) you get overwhelmed by the “forest of pillars” as one traveler put it, and the  completely new feeling of space. It is as if space is distorted, but yet it returns to its normal state, If there is one thing that I will never forget from my visit there is this “feeling” of space. The last time I felt this was when I visited the Chillida museum in the Basque country. The photos cannot convey this feeling, but you get an idea.

This is one of the corridors that take you from the entrance to the Mihrab (marked 13 on the plan), which you can barely see at the end. The two pillars at the beginning of this corridor are supporting the Christian Cathedral that is almost embedded in the Great Mosque. In the photo below you see the parallel corridor on the left as we face the Mihrab.

As I walk down this corridor with direction towards the Mihrab, I get to see some of the marvelous arches within arches of the Great Mosque.

With these first impressions of the inside area, I conclude Part I of my visit to the Mezquita of Cordoba.

In Part II I will cover the Christian Cathedral and the area of the Mahrib.

Agony in the Garden

“This night all of you will have your faith in me shaken, for it is written:

‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed’;

but after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.”

“Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.”

Jesus spent one night in the garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper and prior to his arrest by the mob.

He went there to pray accompanied by St. Peter, St. John and St. James.

Mosaic in San Marco, Venice (1200)

His state of mind was confused and ambivalent.

He prayed three times.

It appears to be a discussion with his Father, but it is in essence a discussion with himself.

Before committing to the Sacrifice.

Agony in the Garden refers to this state of mind.

Mosaic in San Marco, Venice (1200) – Detail

Jesus is sad and anxious.

He is not ready yet for the Sacrifice.

“My Father, let this Cup pass by me”.

Buoninsegna (1308)

Human, all too human!

This is the Greatest moment in the life of Jesus as a Human!

He openly admits that his desire for life is greater than his willingness to save humanity.

“My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!”

Giovanni Bellini (1495)

He asked his pupils to stay awake and pray, but every time he checked up on them they were asleep.

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”

Andrea Mantegna (1460)

After his third prayer, he returned to his pupils and found them asleep again.

“Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand when the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners.

Get up, let us go. Look, my betrayer is at hand.”

Boticcelli (1500)

“While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a large crowd, with swords and clubs, who had come from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

His betrayer had arranged a sign with them, saying, “The man I shall kiss is the one; arrest him.”

Immediately he went over to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi!” and he kissed him.”

El Greco (1595)

“Jesus answered him, “Friend, do what you have come for.” Then stepping forward they laid hands on Jesus and arrested him.”

El Greco (1608)

(All quotations from the Gospel by Mathew)