Day 237 - Covid and art




February 15, 2021

Initially, Gallery 618 strikes me as a rather odd assemblage of landscapes and genre paintings (largely featuring musicians), the works of artists from all over Western Europe who found their way to Rome at some point in the 17th century. From the placard, it seems that the point of hanging these paintings together is to illustrate the emergence of new subjects that were  neither religious nor portraits celebrating state leaders, and that had a fresh appeal to collectors.


My choices today seem to me directly inspired by the pandemic, in different ways. The first is a small  perhaps 26" X 15"), refined oil on canvas painted by Claude Lorrain in 1647.  Entitled"La Crescenza," it depicts, in the middle distance and situated on a slight rise against a light sky, a medieval fortress, complete with crenellated towers, that was turned into a country home. Situated on the outskirts of Rome, it was the residence of the Crescenzi family  In the center and left foreground are several trees with rather spindly trunks and abundant yellow foliage. It must be early autumn, because yellow leaves are also strewn over the green grass. The painting conveys an air of serenity and of the harmony of nature and human activity.  Its tranquility makes me long to escape from the City and to enjoy nature unbounded by the confines of a city park - not easily possible in this period of the pandemic, but soon, I hope.


The "surprise" work, a larger canvas (maybe 48" X 36") by Georges de La Tour around 1640, does not generate similar feelings of peacefulness.   It's entitled "The Penitent Magdalen," but aside from the reddish cast to her brown hair and her rather low-cut top, I don't see much that would identify the woman in the painting specifically as Mary Magdalene. She does look repentant, however:  She clasps her hands in prayer atop a skull as she gazes into a mirror in which a single candle is reflected. I understand that the mirror is the symbol of earthly vanity, which the Magdalene has rejected, and the skull is the symbol of mortality. The signage tells me that the candle represents Mary's enlightenment. But I see it as more evidence of the evanescence of human life (as in,"Out, out, brief candle"). Probably,  the multitude of deaths caused by Covid 19 and my awareness of my own undeniable mortality (I'll be 73 next month) lead me to this unsettling interpretation. It's a powerful image that I would not want hanging in my home.


 

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