Painting and Art: Beyond the Surface
Painting and art provoke powerful appeal and meaning to all senses of those looking at such works. Usually, there are hidden meanings derived from masterpieces, which can even cause high intellectuals to ponder. Other artworks can have such an incredible impact on the society, which can last for many years. "A picture is worth a thousand words" as critics note, surely hold true to the magnificent gems of art history. However, one can only start to truly appreciate artworks by breaking down the techniques and components, which the artist formulates. The Coronation of the Virgin is a topic that is commonly seen in Christian work. It is especially prominent in Italian works and dominated in the 13th to 18th century and beyond. Most works done by various artists depicted the crowning of Mary by sometimes God the Father or Christ. This article will, therefore, examine and assumes an intensive analysis of the work of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: The Coronation of The Virgin.
The Artist and the Artwork
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was creative and worked not only in Italy by also in Spain and Germany. He was from the Republic of Venice and showed success earlier from the start of his career. He is said to be an excellent painter and draftsman who worked at excellent speed, and he is referred to as the greatest decorative painter of the 18th century. Tiepolo, together with some other great artist such as Francesco Guardi are considered the traditional Old Master of their period. He employed his great imagination to address wide-ranging matters, deriving ideas from literature, mythology, religion, history, and allegory. While planning an artwork, he would create many preliminary drawings and sketches, and in some, he would work out large elements of compositions (Tiepolo et al. 311-315). In others, he would concentrate on things such as drapery, the facial expressions and the relation of figures to each other. His works, with strokes of shading, quick lines and washes of shadow displayed his excellent skills. Critics refer to him as an amiable and energetic person who patrons enjoyed working with, in his commissions. However, since he did not seem to suffer for his art, Tiepolo irked other artists. His reputation as the leading artist during his days won him prime commissions for frescoes from princes and monarchs of the Italian churches.
The Coronation of the Virgin: A Divine Vision
The Coronation of the Virgin was done during the spring of 1754, shortly after his return to Venice from Würzburg, where he had done brilliant series of frescoes for the palace of the archbishop. He was commissioned to fresco the ceiling of the church of Santa Maria della Visitazione that had been newly constructed, which was referred to as the Pieta. As the model of executing this fresco, Tiepolo employed the Kimbell oil sketch. In the divine vision, the Virgin rise toward the Trinity (God the Father, who is holding a crown for Mary aloft; Christ, who is carrying his cross; and a dove, which represent the Holy Spirit). She is clothed in white to signify her purity and transcend a blue globe while being escorted and accompanied by a glory of angels (Tiepolo et al. 311-315). Her eyes humbly cast earthward, as a mediation between earth and heaven. Similarly, angels are portrayed lifting their voices and playing instruments in jubilation along a curving balustrade marking in the rim of the ceiling. This musical portrayal was to represent the activity of the church, which made it famous. Indeed, the church musical activities were essential to Tiepolo's decorations.
Visual Analysis: Between Earth and Heaven
Tiepolo focused a good deal of his attention on the choice of the scenes and precise identification of the presented subjects on the nave ceiling. As an apt description, the painting has been referred to as a Celestial Glory with various symbolic representations, which is evident from the posture of the Virgin, her positioning on the globe and the placement of the Trinity. This depicts the artwork as not only a coronation of the Virgin but also the glorification of her as a guardian of the foundlings as well as her assertion of her position as a mediator with the Trinity. As a standard trend in all of his painting, the final composition that usually have all the marks of a work done in the heat of inspiration diverse in many respects. In the finished ceiling, the stunning angel viewed from below with spread legs was discarded (Tiepolo et al. 311-315). Scholars believe that one of the church governors may perhaps have found the pose indecent and order Tiepolo to remove it from the fresco. As a result, space was found beneath the Virgin for the addition of an angel waving a sheet of music.
Creating a Heavenly Effect: Tiepolo's Mastery
Typically, the main change in the work was the profoundly altering of its figure, particularly the relative scale of the figure in relation to the oval field drawing. Tiepolo creativity and draftiness were much employed in this work. For instance, in this painting, the Virgin is about one-sixth the full height of the model and one-ninth the height of the fresco. This shows that the model was regarded primarily as a figurative composition, describing the prime constituent of the iconographic program. Furthermore, he blended colors appropriately (Tiepolo et al. 311-315). For instance, the frescos gave much significant distinction to the light-field sky. He also used gold, which is associated with eternity while depicting the surrounding of the Trinity. Similarly, the paler tonality of the drawing was determined by this essential change in the balance between spaces and figures as well as because the model was done on a warm, reddish ground, which gives the color a rich quality of saturation.
The Illusionistic Effect: Brushwork and Dynamics
What is truly fascinating is the extent to which the model suggests the illusionistic effect offered to viewers as they pass through the atrium and glance upward to the nave ceiling. Notably, they are met by the projecting balcony over which an angel has casually slug his leg as well as the way that Tiepolo has utilized his dynamic brushwork in the canvas to produce a feeling of excitement and moment. Therefore, Tiepolo was excellent in positioning figures and spacing and depicted this while setting the scene for this celestial event (Tiepolo et al. 311-315). This drawing amazingly reveals the way in which he (Tiepolo) went about the mapping of his compositional ideas. His primary concerns were spatial effects obtained through dynamics contrasts of light and shade and with undulating forms, which hug the perimeter of the field.
Work Cited
Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista. Giambattista Tiepolo, 1696-1770:[Venice, Museum of Ca'Rezzonico, from September 5 to December 9, 1996]: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,[from January 24 to April 27, 1997]. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996.
