Andy, you recently picked out these two Pontormo images as ones which had made really hit a note with you. I can see why but interested to know what it is specifically about them which resonated with you. The range of colour on the drapery int he second image is incredible, that shift from vibrant organse to salmon. WOW. reminds me a bit of the drapery in Carravagio’s The Inspiration of Saint Matthew
1602; Oil on canvas, 9′ 8 1/2″ x 6′ 2 1/2″; Contarelli Chapel, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome.
Like I briefly said in an email, I don’t think there is anything like it in history and at the same time it reminds me of so many other painters.
The characters are like characatures from a Hogarth, they have that same morbid curiosity which verges on despising of the human form and expression, a fascination with how flesh is pinned to skeleton. But they are less characurtured than Hogarth, ogre-ish but definitely human.
In the case of the top image, its like the figures have to exist within that space, standing somewhere between Poussin and Piero Della Francesco in its understanding of artifice in reality. An acceptance of how a false contrived image actually says something about reality. Everything lies within that realisation, from the composition and the expressions on the faces to the odd high pitched colours.
With the second image, there is something about the two background women which grabs you and holds you in there gaze, they fix you as the meeting between the 2 pregnant women occurs. Again i think this composition is strange, like i’ve never seen a painting like it before, and yet it is so simple, which makes the oddness all the more amazing.
thats about all.
Andy
9 Dec 08 at 10:33 pm