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Video: What is wrong with the frescoes of the artist Pinturicchio, and why his "Boy" was disguised in Soviet cinema
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Not everything is unambiguous with the assessment of the work of the seemingly recognized masters of the Renaissance. Pinturicchio enjoyed great success with customers and connoisseurs of fresco painting, but his "own" did not recognize him as a great artist. And among the descendants that evaluate the work of this Italian, opinions differ, the works of Pinturicchio, on the one hand, are criticized as shallow, ill-conceived and tasteless, on the other, they are recognized as full of unique charm.
An artist who worked on a par with Raphael
About the childhood and adolescence of Bernardino di Betto di Biagio, later nicknamed Pinturicchio, almost nothing is known. He was born around 1454 in Perugia, the main city of Umbria, an area in the heart of the Apennine Peninsula. The Umbrian school of painting was considered provincial for some time, calling it one of the offshoots of the Sienese, but already during the life of Pinturicchio, views on it changed. Where did the nickname Pinturicchio come from? "Inept artist", or - "small, short." among his contemporaries and later.
His first teacher was the Umbrian master Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, later he studied with Pietro Perugino, one of the most famous painters in Italy. In 1481 - 1482, Pinturicchio helped the teacher paint the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican - together with Raphael, Botticelli, Signorelli. The influence of Perugino was traced in the work of Pinturicchio throughout his life.
The student was noticed - the della Rovere family, to which the Pope belonged, invited Pinturicchio to decorate the walls of the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, which the artist did until 1492. Later, an order came to decorate the chambers of Pope Alexander VI, later called the "Borgia Apartments" - perhaps the most famous of Pinturicchio's works.
In the second half of the nineties of the 15th century, Pinturicchio returned to his native Perugia. The fame of the demanded metropolitan painter itself found him new orders, numerous and very generously paid. The artist went to work in other cities - Orvieto, Spoleto, Siena. In Siena, Pinturicchio designed a library built by Cardinal Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini for the books of his deceased uncle, Pope Pius II. The interiors of the library, which is part of the cathedral, are still considered one of the most perfect in all of Tuscany. The artist finally settled in this city - there he got married and had children. He did not do without orders - he, among other things, developed a drawing of the floor mosaic of the Siena Cathedral, painted the residence of the ruler of Siena, Pandolfo Petrucci.
"Talented painter"?
Surprisingly, for all his demand among the most influential aristocrats of Italy and the heads of the Catholic Church, Pinturicchio gained fame not so much as an artist, but as a skillful decorator. This was largely due to the reviews of the first art critic Giorgio Vasari, who, being an artist himself, described the style of the Umbrian as devoid of measure and taste in the creation of frescoes. Pinturicchio allegedly was too eager to please customers, sacrificing quality of work to this desire. The works were distinguished by excessive decorativeness, embellishment, during the work of Pinturicchio, a lot, excessively used ornaments, azure, gilding.
Because of this, the interior gave the impression of "rich", luxurious, executed on a grand scale. But the figures on the frescoes were ethereal, too serene, the scenes were devoid of any drama, and in general, Pinturicchio's work was often called tasteless, designed for not too refined natures. Of course, in his work, the artist first of all proceeded from the wishes of the customers - and they liked the luxury and splendor that the interiors painted by the artist literally breathed.
But even critics of his legacy recognized the unique effect for which Pinturicchio's works were famous. Alexander Benois, a Russian art historian, wrote that each fresco individually represents something "empty, naive and conventional." With all this, he agreed that the interiors entirely make a bewitching impression, fascinate with bright colors, an abundance of gold and sophisticated ornaments. This ambiguity in assessing the work of Pinturicchio gave him another nickname - "talented painter".
By the way, grotesques - decorative motifs with bizarre elements and composition - were developed by Italians on the basis of antique, Roman paintings. Thanks to such ornaments, heavy vaulted rooms turned into light openwork pavilions.
Portrait of a Boy
But for people who are not too familiar with Pinturicchio's fresco painting, one of his works has become truly recognizable. This is "Portrait of a Boy", painted around 1500, one of the few works of the artist's easel painting and one of the few portraits that came out from under his brush.
Who is depicted in this portrait is unknown. There is no information about the customer either. On the canvas, the viewer sees a teenage boy - no longer a child, but not yet an adult. Contrary to his custom, Pinturicchio did not overload the picture with details, did not seek to make it "rich". The color of the camisole is muted, which is why it is perceived as a flat red spot, without taking attention away from the face. The perspective is somewhat disturbed, it seems that the landscape in the background seems to "push", squeeze the person out of the canvas. So the boy's figure acquires a special tangibility. The face is drawn very carefully, the boy's posture is tense, but at the same time he does not seem static - on the contrary, alive, real, full of charm. In the boy's features, stubbornness and insecurity, independence and helplessness, insolence and humility are very harmoniously combined.
In a curious way, "Portrait of a Boy" was involved in the plot of the Soviet film "Property of the Republic". There, this work by Pinturicchio, allegedly stolen by malefactors, is called "The Boy in Blue". Indeed, the camisole in the picture is already blue, not red. Why the filmmakers used this technique is unknown. Perhaps, it seemed inappropriate to introduce the painting in its real, original form into the plot - after all, the original was safely stored in the Dresden Gallery.
It is interesting that the nickname "Pinturicchio" was given to one of the most outstanding Italian footballers - the former Juventus player Alessandro del Piero. The reason for this is thought to be due to the free play that yields impressive results.
Thanks to Perugino and Pinturicchio, the Umbrian school of painting reached a new level. Another countryman of the "talented painter" was the reason - Raphael, whom a cultured person cannot but know.
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