Ernst Gombrich - The Conquest of Reality (Ch. 12)

8/17/2019 Ernst Gombrich - The Conquest of Reality (Ch. 12)

1/25

I

THE CONQUEST OFREALITYhe earlyfiftecnth entury

The word renaissance mea ns rebirth or revival, and the idea of such arebirth had gained ground in Italy ever since the thne ofGiotto. Whenpeople of the period wanted to praise a poet or an artist, they said that hiswork was as good as that of the ancients. Giotto had been exalted in thisway as a nnstcr who had led to a true revival of art; by this, people 111eantthat his art was as good as that of the [·uno us nustcrs whose work they

found praised in the ancient writers of Greece and Rom_c It is notsurprising that this idea became popular in Italy. The Italians were veryn1uch aware of the fact that in the distant past Italy, with Rmne her capital,had been the centre of the civilized world, and that her power and gloryhad waned since the Germanic tribes, Goths and Vandals, had invadedthe country and broken up the Roman Etnpire. The idea of a revival wasclosely connected in the minds o f the Italians with the idea of a rebirthof the grandeur that was Rome . The period between the classical age,to which they looked back with pride, and the new era of rebirth forwhich they hoped was merely a sad interlude, the time between .Thus the idea of a rebirth or renaissance was responsible for the ideathat the intervening period was a Middle A g e - and we still use thisterminology. Since the Italians blarned the Goths for the downfall ofthe Rmnan Em,pit e, they began to speak of the art of this interveningpetiod as Gothic, by which they n1eant barbaric- much as we speak ofvandalism when we refer to the useless destruction ofbeautiful things.

We now know that these ideas of the Italians had little basis in fact.They were, at best, a crude and much sin1plified picture o f the actualcourse of events. We have seen that sonlC seven hundred years separatedthe Goths from the rise of the art that we now call Gothic. We also knowthat the revival of art, after the shock and turn1oil of the Dark Ages, can1egradually and that the Gothic period itself saw this revival getting into itsfull stride. Possibly we can understand the reason why the Italians were lessaware of his gradual growth and unfolding of art than the people livingfarther north. We have seen that they lagged behind dming part o f theMiddle Ages, so that the new achievements ofGiot to carne to them asa trernendous innovation, a rebirth of all that was noble and great in art.


2/25

22.J- r i lE r O N Q L J ~ _ S T01· REi\ I ITY

The Italians of the fourteenth century believed that art, science andscholarship had flourished in the classical period that all these things hadbeen aln10st destroyed by the northern barbarians and that it was for

then1 to help to revive the glorious past and thus bring about a new era.In no city was this feeling of confidence and hope n101T intense thanin the wealthy merchant city of Florence, the city of Dante and of Giotto.It was there, in the first decades of the fifteenth century, that a group ofartists deliberately set out to create a new art and to break with the ideas

of the past.The leader of this group of young Florentine artists ·was an architect,

Filippo Bruncllcscbi (1]77-1446). Brunellcschi was employed on thecompletion of the cathedral of Florence. It was a Gothic cathedral,and Brunelleschi had fully nustered the technical inventions whichfonned part of the Gothic tradition. His fan1e, in fact, rests partly onan achieven1ent in con struction and design which would not have been

possible without his knowledge of the Gothic methods of vaulting. TheHorentines wished to have their cathedral crowned by a n1.ighty don1e, butno artist was able to span the in1mense space between the pillars on whichthe dome was to rest, till Brunclleschi devised a method of accomplishingth-is,Jigure 146 When Brunelleschi was called upon to design new churchesor other buildings, he decided to cbscard the traditional style altogether,and to adopt the progranu11C of those who longed for a revival ofRonungrandeur. It is said that he travelled to Rmne and 1neasnrcd the ruins oftonplcs and palaces, and nnde sketches of their fonns and ornaments.It was never his intention to copy these ancient buildings outright. Theycould hardly have been adapted to the needs of fifteenth-century Florence.What he ain1ed at was the creation of a new way of building, in which the

forms of classical architecture were freely used to create new modes of

harmony and beauty.What remains n1ost astonishin g in Brunelleschi s achievement is the £1ct

that he actually succeeded in making his p r o g r m n ~ ecome true. For nearlyf1ve hundred years the architects of Europe and Atnerica followed in hisfootsteps. Wherever we go in our cities and villages we fmd buildings inwhich classical forms, such as columns or pediments arc used. It was onlyin the present century that architects began to quest-ion Brunellcschi sprogramn1e and to revolt against the Renaissance tradition in building,just as he had revolted against the Gothic tradition. But 1nany houseswhich are being built now even those that have no colun1ns or si1nibrtrin1mings, still somewhere preserve r e n ~ n n t sof classical form in theshape of mouldings on doors and window-frames or in the measurementsand proportions of the building. If Brunellescbi wanted to create thearchitecture of a new era, he certainly succeeded.

Filippo Uruncllcscbi/ o/1/e : florenceCat/rcdml, c Lpo·-36


3/25

j H [ f t l l t l Y N T I I CfNTUI Y


4/25

22.1 2 2 6 THE CONQUEST OF llEALITY

T igure 147 shows the fac;:ade o f a little chu r ch wh ich 13run elleschi builtfor the powerful famil y of th e Paz zi in Flor en ce . We see at o n ce that it h aslittle in co nun on wi t h any classical temple , but even less with the formsused by Gothic b uil de rs. Brun elleschi has combi ned co lumns, p ilaste rs an darc h es in his own way to achieve an effec t of l ightness a nd grace w hich is

I

different fi·om anyt hi n g that had gone before. Detai ls suc h as t he fi·amingof th e door, w ith its classical ga ble or pediment, show how carefullyBrun elleschi had st udi ed the ancient ruin s, and build in gs such as thePanth eo n, pn, e 12o,jrgure 75 . Co mpar e how th e a rch is for m ed and howit cut s into th e upp e r storey with its pila sters flat hal f- co lumns). We sechis stu d y of R oman for m s e ven mo r e clearly as we e n te r the churc h ,jigurc148. Nothin g in th is bright and we ll- prop or t io ned interior has a ny o f thefeatur es w hi ch Gothic architects valued so hi g hl y. Th ere arc no hi ghw in dows, n o s lim pillars. In stea d , the blank white wall is subdiv ided bygrey pilasters, w hi ch convey t h e idea of a classical order , although theyserve no rea l function in the co nst ru ct ion o f the building. l3run elleschionly put them there to emphasize t h e shap e and proportion of the interior.

Brun cllcsc hi was not o nl y th e initiator ofRcnaissancc architect ur e.To him , it seems, is due anot h er m o m entou s discovery in the field of art,

147

f i lippo BrundkCappella f n z z i ,f lmrn te, c 3

An t .lrly Rt'Haissancdnm h

148

Filippo Rruncllclllf


5/25

2 2 7 T H ~~ II Y • l EENTH ~ N U l t Y


6/25

~ Ti lE C O NQUEST f IUiALITY

49

Masaccio

Hoi ) Trillil) lllilfllflel l i • ; ~ i 1 1S olm a d

doudl-s c. q.25 - RF r L ~ t . · o ,7 x 317 c111 . 2 f l J) 11 5 in: churc h ofSr


7/25

22 ) T i l EARLY r l l ' T E E N T H CENTUl


8/25

2 J O T H E C.ONQUEST CJI· REALITY

The greatest sculptor o fBruncllcschi's circle was theFlorentine master Donatello

(13B6?-1466). He was older thanMasaccio by ftfteen years, but helived IRuch longer. igure 151

shows one o f his earlier works.It was commissioned by theguild of the annourers, whosepatron saint, StGeorge, itrepresents, and was destinedfor a niche on the outside ofa Florentine church (Or SanMichele). If we think back tothe Gothic statues outside the

great cathedrals, page 191 _ A ~ u r e127 we realize how completely

Donatello broke with the past. These Gothic statues hovered at the side ofthe porches in calm_ and solemn rows, looking like beings from a differentworld. Donatello's StGeorge stands firmly on the ground, his feet plantedresolutely on the earth as i f he were determined not to yield an inch. Hisface has none of the vague and serene beauty o f medieval saints- it is alle n e q ~ r yand concentration,j7gure 150 He seems to watch the approacho f the enemy and to take its measure, his hands resting on his shield, hiswhole attitude tense with defiant deternllnation. The statue has rernainedf.:mwus as an unrivalled picture o f youthful dash and courage. Dut it isnot only Donatello's imagination which we must admire, his faculty ofvisualizing the knightly saint ir;t such a fi-csh and convincing rnanner; hiswhole approach to the art o f sculpture shows a cmnpletely new conception.Despite the impression oflife and movetnent which the statue conveys itremains clear in outline and solid as a rock. Like Masaccio's paintings, itshows us that Donatello wanted to replace the gentle refinen1ent of hispredecessors by a new and vigorous observation o f nature. Such detailsas the hands or the brow o f the saint show a complete independence fromthe traditional models. They prove a fi-csh and determined study o f the realfeatures o f the hunun body. For these Florentine rnasters of the beginningo f the fifteenth century were no longer content to repeat the old formulashanded down by n1edieval artists. Like the Greeks and Rorn ans, whomthey admired, they began to study the hun1an body in their studios andworkshops by asking mo dels or fellow artists to p ose for thetn in therequired attitudes. It is this new n1ethod and this new interest whichrnakes Donatello s work look so strikingly convin cing.

''

Det.1i of igure 151

DunatelloSt G c o ; ~ ; c ,L 14-15-16

Marble, height 209 em,SzV, in; Mmco Nazionaledel llargcl o, F orc'llC


9/25

231 TH l· i l l t l Y FifTEENTH CEN U Y


10/25

3 THE CONQUeST OP U h i \ T Y

Donaccllo

J11e F s o erorl

1423 7

Gilt brOIIZC . 6o 6o e rn ,23Y x 3X. in ; relief on

the finu nfrhe lbpfisrC r) .: iicna arhedra l


11/25

153

D u l o tigurr F

3 3 H E EAI


12/25

2 3 [ H r : O N Q U E S T O F UEALJTY


13/25

2] . ) I IE loAflLY Fl f l 'E l 'NTI I CENTURY

54

Claus Slutcr1/Jc proplwts aniel

aiJ({ Istli1Jh, ] ( ) 6 - 1 4 0 4

l ro111 the Mosc' Fountain:linwstom:. heightk ~ u i n gba,c) J >O ern,r.JJ iu: Ch.lrtr( U\


14/25

23 rH i i CONQUEST ~ REALITY

in the city of Ghent, figures 155-6. It is said to have been begun by Jan'selder brother Hubert, of whom little is known, and was completed by Janin r432. Thus it was painted during the very years that saw the com_pletion

of the great works of Masaccio and Donatello already described.For all their obvious differences there arc a number of similarities

between Masaccio's fresco in Florcnce,_figure 149, and this altarpiecepainted for a church in distant Flanders. Both show the pious donor and hiswife in prayer at the sides,fi ?ure 155, and both centre on a large syn1bolicirnagc- that of the Holy Trinity in the fresco, and on the altar the n1ysticvision of the Adoration of the Latnb, the lamb, of course sym.bolizingChrist, figure 156. The cornposition is 1nainly based on a passage in theRevelations of StJohn (vii. 9), And I beheld ... a great multitude, whichno n1an could number, of all nations and kindred ~ m people and tongues[which] stood before the throne and before the lamb .. .', a text that isrelated by the Church to the Feast of All Saints, to which there are further

allusions in the paint ing. Above, we sec God the Father, as n1ajcstic asMasaccio's but enthroned in splendour like a Pope, between the HolyVirgin and Stjohn the Baptist, who first called jesus the Lamb of God.

Like our fold-out,fi'-- ?Ure 156, the altar, with its nnny inuges, could beshown open, which happened on feast-days, when its glowing colourswould be revealed, or shut (on week-days) when it presented a more soberappearancc,figure 155. Here the artist represented StJohn the Baptist andStjohn the Evangelist as statues, tnuch as Giotto had represented thefigures o f Virtues and Vices in the Arena Chapel, page _figure 134.Above, we arc shown the £.11niliar scene of the Annunciation, and we needonly look back again at the wonderful panel by Simone Martini, painteda hundred years earlier, page 21J)figure 141, to gain a first impression ofvan Eyck's wholly novel 'dowt( to earth' approach to the sacred story.

His n1ost striking demonstra6on ofhis new conception of art, however,he reserved for the inner wings: the figures of Adam and Eve after the Fall.The Bible tells us that it was only after having eaten frotn the Tree ofKnowledge that they knew they were naked'. Stark naked indeed theylook, despite t he fig leaves they hold in their hands. Here there is really noparallel with the masters o f he early Renaissance in Italy who never quiteabandoned the traditions of Gree}:. and Rmnan art. We rCTnembcr that theancients had 'idealized' the hunun figure in such works as the Venus of Miloor the Apollo Belvedcre,pages 104-s,jigures 64, 6s.Jan van Eyck would havehad none of his. He 1nust have placed naked rnodels in front ofhim andpainted them so faithfully that later generations were somewhat shocked byso much honesty. Not that the artist had no eye for beauty. He clearly alsoenjoyed evoking the splcndours ofHeavcn no less than the tnastcr of heWilton Diptych, pages 216-17,jigure 143, had done a generation earlier. But

155

Jan van EyckThe Glimt altmpiac

ilh wings_/{J/ded, 143

Oil on panel,


15/25


16/25


17/25


18/25


19/25

2]9 THE b r \ l Y ~ l · T E E N T i lC ~ N T U R Y

look again at the difference, at the patience and n1.astcry with which hestudied and painted the sheen of the precious brocades worn by the nl.usic-making angels and the sparklc of ewellery everywhere. In this respect theVan Eycks did not break as radically with the traditions of the InternationalStyle as Masacclo had done. They rather pursued the n1ethods of such artistsas the Lim bourg brothers and brought them to such a pitch of perfectionthat they left the ideas of medieval art behind. They, like other Gothicnusters of their period, had enjoyed crowding their pictures with charn1.ingand delicate details taken fiom observation. They were proud to show theirskill in painting flowers and aninuls, buildings, gorgeous costumes andjewellery, and to present a delight ful feast to the eye. We have seen thatthey did not concern themselves overmuch with the real appearance ofthe flgures and landscapes, and that their drawing and perspective weretherefore not very convincing. One cannot say the sa1ne thing ofVanEyck s pictures. His observation of nature is even rnorc patient, his

knowledge of details even rnore exact. The trees and the building in thebackground show this difference clearly. The trees of the Lin1.bourgbrothers, as we remen1ber, were rather schematic and conventional, page21g jigure 144. Their landscape looked like a back-cloth or a tapestry ratherthan actual scenery. All this is quite different in Van Eyck s picture. In thedetails shown in figure 157 we have real trees and a real landscape leadin gback to the city and castle on the horizon. The infinite patience with whichthe grass on the rocks and the flowers growing in the crags are paintedbears no comparison with the ornan1.ental undergrowth in the Lim bourgn1.iniature. What is true of he landscape is true of the figures. Van Eyckseetns to have been so intent on reproducing every minute detail on hispicture that we aln1.ost seen1 able to count the hairs of he horses nnnes,

or on the fur trimmings of the riders costumes. The white horse in theLim bourg miniature lo ·oks a little like a rocking-horse. Van Eyck s horse is

very sinlllar in shape and posture, but it is alive. We can sec the light in itseye, and the creases in its skin, and, while the earlier horse looks almost flat,Van Eyck s horse has rounded 1in1bs which are modelled in light and shade.

It tnay seen1. petty to look out for all these small details and to praise agreat artist for the pati ence with which he observed and copied nature. Itwould certainly be wrong to think less highly of the work of the Limbourgbrothers or, for that matter, of any other painting, because it lacked thisfaithful inlltation of nature. But if we want to understand the way in whichnorthern art developed we must appreciate this infinite care and patienceof an van Eyck. The southern artists of his generation, the Florentinemasters ofBrunelleschi s circle, had developed a n1.ethod by which naturecould be represented in a picture with aln1ost scientific accuracy. Theybegan with the framework of perspective lines, and they built up the


20/25

2 4 THE CONQUEST 0 ' REALITY

human body through their knowledge of anatmny and of the laws offoreshortening. Van Eyck took the opposite way. He achieved the illusionof nature by patiently adding detail upon detail till his whole picturebccan1e like a mirror of the visible world. This difference betweennorthern and Italian art remained in1portant for many years. It is a f ~ i r

guess to say that any work which excels in the representation of thebeauti ful surf:.tce of things, of flowers, jewels or f:.1bric, will be by anorthern artist, n1ost probably by an artist fi·on1 the Netherlands; while apainting with bold outlines, clear perspective and a sure mastery of thebeautiful human body, will be Italian.

To carry out his intention of holding up a mirror to reality in all itsdetails, Van Eyck bad to improve the technique of painting. He was theinventor of oil-painting. There has been much discussion about the exactn1eaning and truth of this assertion, but the details n1atter comparativelylittle. 1-lis was not a discovery like that of perspective, which constituted

son1ething entirely new. What he achieved was a new prescription for thepreparation of paints before they were put on the panel. Painters at thattime did not buy ready-made colours in tubes or boxes. They had toprepare their own pigments, mostly fi·om coloured plants and minerals.These they ground to powder between two stones- or let their apprenticegrind t h e m - and, before usc, they added some liquid to bind the powderinto a kind of paste. There were various tnethods of doing this, but allthrough the Middle Ages the main ingredient of the liquid had been madeof an egg, which was quite suitable except that it dried rather quickly. Themethod of painting with this type of colour-preparation was calledten1pera. It seems that Jan van Eyck was dissatisfied with this forn1ula,because it did not allow hin1 to achieve smooth transitions by letting the

colours shade off nto each other. If he used oil instead of egg, he couldwork n1uch n1ore slowly and a c ~ u r a t c l yHe could nuke glossy colourswhich could be applied in transparent layers or glazes , he could put onthe glittering highlights with a pointed brush, and achieve those miraclesof accuracy which astonished his contemporaries and soon led to a generalacceptance of oil-painting as the n1ost suitable n1cdimn.

Van Eyck s art reached perhaps its greatest triun1ph in the painting ofportraits. One of his most f:tmous portraits is_fi,t:ure 158 which represents anItalian n1erchant, Giovanni Arnolfmi, who had come to the Netherlandson business, with his bride Jeanne de Chcnany. In its own way it was asnew and as revolutionary as Donatello s or Masacdo's work in Italy. Asin1ple corner of the real world had suddenly been fixed on to a panel as ifby magic. Here it all was- the carpet and the slippers, the rosary on thewall, the little brush beside the bed, and the fi·uit on the window-sill. It isas if we could pay a visit to the Arnolfini in their house. The picture

Jan van EyckTire l etrotlwl r _ftheAmo[{i11i I.J-3+

Oil on wood, S1.g 59·7em. pY x 2_1\2 in;National Callery. I ondon


21/25

4 T il EAIU Y I T[ [N I H C E N T U R Y


22/25

4 T H E CONQUES T OF RC LI T V


23/25

159 16

2 ; I li Et\RLY f l f T ~ E N T H~ N 1 UI


24/25


25/25

45 l l h EARLY Fl rT E NT H CENTU R Y

Stmrruwsou a d

smltJiors r r

r qoR

u a ~ lof :\r h h: sn Jpwn :y N:u n n di B:tn t:u: Or

S :m Michel e lon•ntT

asked to illu strate this mi r acu lous eve nt would pr obabl y h ave b ee n satisfiedwi t h a c on v enti o nal r ow of wavy lines to m ark th e sea o f Ti b c1as. ButWi t z desi red to bring ho m e to the bur ghers of G enev a w hat it mu st haveloo ked like w h e n Christ stood by th e waters. T hu s he paint ed not u st anylake bu t a lake they all knew, th e lake o f Geneva wi t h the broad 1idgc ofMont Salcve in th e back g round. It is a r ea l lands cap e w hich everyoneco uld sec, w hi ch exists today, and still looks ve 1y much as it do cs in thepainting. It is perhaps th e first exact representation, th e first portrait of ar eal view ever atte mpte d. On this r eal lake , W itz paint ed rea l fish e rm en :n ot th e di gnified apos tle s o f older pictures, but un co uth men o f thepeo pl e, bu sy wi th their fishin g tackle and stru gg ling rather clum si ly tok ee p the b oat s teady . St P eter look s somew hat h elp le ss in th e wate r, andso, surely, he ought. On l y C h rist H imself s standing quietl y and firml y.Hi s so lid figure recalls th ose in Ma sacc io s grea t es o f ig u 9 It must

h ave been a moving ex peri ence for the wors hipp ers in G e neva when theyloo ked at their new altar for th e first tim e and saw th e apos tles as m en likethem selv es, fishing o n th e ir ow n lake wi th th e risen C hri st mi r ac ulo uslyap pea rin g to th e m on it s famili ar sho re t o give th e m help and com f or t

- - -

Documents

Ernst Gombrich - The Conquest of Reality (Ch. 12)