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The François Vase (process of Gods): *
The uppermost frieze (on the neck of the krater), depicts the Calydonian Boar Hunt; on the other side a dance of Athenian youths led by Theseus who is playing the lyre, standing opposite Ariadne and her nurse. Lower down we see the chariot race which is part of the funeral games for Patroclus; the other side shows a battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs. The 3rd frieze on both sides, depicts the procession of the gods to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. The end of the procession shows Peleus between an altar and the house where Thetis can be seen sitting inside. He is greeting his teacher, the centaur Chiron, who is heading the procession together with the divine messenger Iris, followed by many other deities. The 4th frieze depicts the ambush of Troilus by Achilles & the return of Hephaestus to Olympus. The 5th & 6th friezes shows sphinxes and griffins, then decorative rays; on the foot of the vessel, there is a depiction of the battle between the Pygmies and the cranes.
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the Telephus Frieze (Pergamum):
Illustration: King Teuthras finds Auge stranded on the shore, panel 10
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Puget (sculpture): *
Milon of Croton is a monumental work, 3 meters high, dramatic & expressive, illustrating a story by Ovid, when Milon (a celebrated warrior, now elderly and weak) is attacked by a lion. His expression at the moment the lion claws him is distorted by pain, full of pathos. It received a prominent place at Versailles
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Leonardo (sculpture): *
Sketches from Leonardo’s notebooks reveal the sublimity & boldness of his conception. They reflect his experience in the technique of bronze casting, but also reveal the unrealistic, utopian nature of his ideas. He aimed to cast the horse in a single piece; its gigantic dimensions presented insurmountable technical problems, problems he never solved. The suppressed tension of horse & rider in these sketches are superior to both Donatello’s statue of Gattamelata & Verrocchio’s statue of Colleoni. They are among the most beautiful & significant examples of Leonardo’s art & would exert strong influence on the development of 16th century equestrian statues.
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Michelangelo (the later sculptors): *
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The Deposition or The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, marble sculpture by Michelangelo (1547-55); it depicts 4 figures: the dead Christ, Nicodemus (considered to be a self-portrait of Michelangelo), Mary Magdalene & the Virgin. Originally the group was made to decorate his own tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore (Rome) but he later sold it. Prior to completion he intentionally damaged Christ's left arm & leg (this leg is missing) & removed several components (possibly because the marble was flawed & the sculpture could not be completed without the addition of a piece of marble from another block). He began working on this piece age 72 without commission but to amuse his mind & to keep his body healthy; he worked tirelessly into the night with just a single candle. Then, after 8 years, in a fit of frustration he attempted to destroy the work. His pupil Tiberio Calcagni repaired the arm & drilled a hole in which to fix a replacement leg (which was not subsequently attached). He also worked on the figure of Mary Magdalene. It has been plagued by ambiguities and never ending interpretations, with no straightforward answers available.
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The Rondanini Pietà, unfinished marble sculpture by Michelangelo, 1552-64. It revisited the theme of the Virgin mourning over the body of Christ, first explored in his Pietà (1499). Michelangelo sensed his own mortality & was working on the piece up to his death. In his final days he hacked at the marble until only the dismembered right arm of Christ survived from the sculpture as originally conceived. The elongated Virgin and Christ are a departure from the idealised figures that exemplified the sculptor's earlier style & bear closer resemblance to the attenuated figures of Gothic sculpture than Renaissance forms. They are reminiscent of the style used in Mannerism. As it remains, the sculpture has an abstract quality, in keeping with 20th-century concepts of sculpture.
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masters of the contemporary Spanish school: *
School of Seville
The Sevillian school of sculpture (traditional Christian religious sculpture in Seville) began in the 13th century & emerged as a distinctive tradition in the 16th century. The sculptures are worked in wood using a technique called encarnación (bringing to life). This was employed by Juan Martínez Montañés (1568-1649) to create lifelike sculptures, which after carving & drying for 6 months are painted, varnished & sanded. These steps are repeated several times until a lifelike glow is achieved.
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Montañés is the greatest and most characteristic sculptor of this school. In the final quarter of the 16th century he moved to Seville. His studio was a school for artists (one of whom was Cano), his work influenced 17th-century artists in Spain and in the Spanish colonies. He carved altarpieces & sculptures for numerous places in Spain & the Americas. Most of his work is executed in wood, which was gessoed (a white paint mixture used as a preparation for sculpture as a base for paint applied over it), polychromed and gilded. Originally a classicist, later in his career he moved towards a light Baroque, his art summed up the Council of Trent with respect to the pastoral value of sacred imagery. His works show an equilibrium between material & form, idea & representation; his figures show a light handed realism that supports the substance of their expression. His masterpiece is the great altar of St Jerome at San Isidoro del Campo (Santiponce, near Seville), produced 1609-13.
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right Illustration St Jerome, 1611, Polychrome wood, Monastery of San Isidoro del Campo, Santiponce
School of Granada
The extraordinary artistic activity of Renaissance Granada brought artists to that city from various regions of Spain & other parts of Europe. This school (based on traditional Christian religious sculpture) benefitting from this, emerged in the 16th century. By the 17th century it had developed a distinctive style of its own. It begins with the Renaissance sculptor Diego de Siloé (1495–1563), was developed by Pablo de Rojas, and culminated with the Baroque carvings of Alonso Cano.
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Pablo de Rojas (1549-1611) was a bridge sculptor between the 16th & 17th centuries, between Mannerist Romanism & Baroque naturalism, whose artistic production became the starting point of the 2 great Andalusian schools in Seville & Granada. He settled in Granada, establishing a workshop. Here one of his apprentices was Juan Martínez Montañés, who would go on to be the most important figure of the Sevillian school of sculpture. His colossal Apostolate in gilded wood (completed 1614), main chapel of Granada Cathedral is impressive, the 10 figures are distinguished for the grand courage and dynamism of their gestures and attitudes, which in some cases show a violently mannerist complexity, and in others a Baroque impetuousness of movement.
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Illustration: Christ of Patience
around 1600, carved and polychrome wood, Church of San Matías, Granada; The flagellation of Christ tied to the column is the only theme that, together with the narrative scene, presents the isolated image of Christ without character
The outstanding sculpture of the Granada school is Cano (1601-67), Spanish painter, sculptor, and architect, called the Spanish Michelangelo for his diversity of talents. He moved to Sevilla in 1614, studied sculpture & painting. Forced to leave in 1638 (owing to a duel with a fellow painter) he fled to Madrid to become court painter for Philip IV. In 1644 he was accused of murdering of his wife. He again fled, this time to Valencia. Eventually returning to favour he was given a position as a canon in Granada cathedral (1652); expelled for misbehaviour, he returned to Madrid, took Holy Orders and was appointed chief architect of the Granada cathedral. All his works are religious based. He achieve success as a painter, especially at court in Madrid. His most original work is the facade for Granada cathedral, bearing his unique personal stamp and executed with remarkable expressive unity. No sculpture from Cano’s Sevilla period has survived. From 1652 onwards he worked for Granada Cathedral, painting& carving pictures illustrating the life of the Virgin; in 1667 presented his plans for the Granada cathedral façade & he carved 2 colossal wooden busts of Adam and Eve as part of the same decoration. Besides these many of his polychromed wood statues, from his time in Granada survive. His finest work of sculpture, St. James of Alcalá (1653–57), is characteristic in its simplicity of design and its expressive eloquence
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right-Illustration:
John the Baptist, 1634, Polychrome wood,
main altarpiece of the church of Villana de San Juan de la Palma.
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