Domenichino, Lanfranco e Guercino

So, second episode. Today, in this lesson, we deal with the followers of Hannibal Carracci and the Carraccesca school. We have already dealt with Guido Reni and we have seen that the starting point of all these artists is a fundamental correctness, both from a compositional point of view and from the anatomical structuring of the figures, a selection, the search for decorum, which are all elements typical of that criticism that focuses on the ideal beauty, on the idea of ​​beauty, which will start from a theoretical point of view, from characters like Giovanni Battista Agucchi, who was Bolognese, so the thing is perfectly explained, artists who will all have the same training in the Emilian-Carraccesca area, but who will then take slightly different paths, each one linked to their own personal inclination. The particular personal inclination of Domenico Zampieri, known as Domenichino, an artist considered great in his time, considered, for example, by Poussin second only to Raffaello, will be that of a natural tendency to compositive clarity, to graphic cleanliness, therefore an insistent use of drawing and the outline line. So much insisted, so much, as I can say, evident in the outline line, to give us the feeling, today, to us who have a slightly different taste, to be almost cut out, figures that are almost cut out and glued to the background. Let's look, for example, at the reproduction of Adam and Eve in 1633, the figure of God the Father, which evidently still recalls Michelangeleschi's Echi, but which gives the feeling of being cut out and attached there, with this insistent use of the outline line, which determines, which reinforces, so to speak, the drawing, which for us strongly stiffens the drawing itself. Now, let's consider that this painting, which is a painting of strong selection, a figure of great sweetness, a painting that, in fact, is correct from all points of view, will make, in its clarity, also in its expressive evidence, both in terms of landscapes, which, as you can see, Domenichino did not disdain exactly, as had happened also to Hannibal and Horace, both in terms of mythological themes or religious scenes, it becomes, let's say, in some way, the perfect counter-reformed painting, in the sense that it is clear, it is evident, it is decorative, it is pleasant, it is simple, it is very rich, so it is perfect for what it tells us, it asks us, it asks the painting, a theorist like Giovanni Battista Gucchi, but who says things that will then be followed, practically to the letter, by Giovanni Pietro Bellori, as we have seen. So, an artist who perfectly conforms to these choices. Another very interesting artist is Giovanni Lanfranco, perhaps for us today more interesting than Domenichino, despite Domenichino having enjoyed an exceptional fame in life. Here, Giovanni Lanfranco has this ability, this tendency, to look for a new way. We have already seen it with Guidoreni, we will see it with Guercino, this tendency to mix elements of the Carraccesco origin, therefore of a classical origin, tending to idealize, with a whole series of different and heterogeneous elements. In this case, obviously, we cannot but refer to a strong attraction for Caravaggesco-style luminous suggestions and a naturalistic sloppiness that, if in Domenichino, I go back a moment, is lost, because evidently this tendency to the outline line is slightly razzling, so the naturalistic sloppiness is lost, there is a selection of the natural that makes everything very idealized, very intellectualized. Here, in this case, Lanfranco instead finds something different. For example, we find this naturalism, this ability to unite together the idealization of the figures, for example in this case of the figure of David, with the grotesque rendering of the great head of Golia that is dragged, that David drags behind after having beheaded the giant, on the background you can see the body of the beheaded giant. All this is inserted in this atmosphere, so dark, so grotesque, that tends to underline the dramaticity of the moment, the dramaticity of the past moment. This is no longer a dramatic moment. For us, the figure of Lanfranco is fundamental, also for the wise orchestration of the two great cycles of frescoes that he will make during his life, one in the dome of Sant'Andrea della Valle and the other in the chapel of San Gennaro in Naples, therefore in Rome and in Naples. And why is it interesting? Because it is another of the anticipations of what will then become the great Baroque, that is, this trend that evidently derives from all the formation, from all the tradition of Emilian magnetism, and even higher we can go up, not only evidently to Correggio, but also to Mantegna, this tendency to the structuring of illusionistic figures, with very powerful undercuttings, even without the use of the help of painted architectures. Also in this case we have the search for a kind of spiral of clouds that support these angelic ranks. But here there is also something more, in particular here there is a particular attention to light, to natural light, that is, the light that rains, that enters from the edge of this dome and that is used as pictorial matter. So we take into account the inclination of the rays of light, which is something that, to see this fulfilled attitude, what will be called the beautiful compound between the arts, which takes into account various artistic matters, sculpture, stucco, painting and light, we should expect Bernini. So in some way we could say that Lanfranco manages, in this case, even to anticipate Bernini, by building scenes that are not only absolutely illusionistic, made in a practically perfect trompe l'oeil, but that also take into account the insertion of natural light. So not only the structuring of artificial light, of Correggio matrix, then an enveloping light, a lyrical light, a light of a sweetness, of a density, we could say impressive, but also the choice to use the light of the sun, we could say today, so something absolutely natural. And we conclude with Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, also known as Guercino, who is an artist, perhaps the most important quality artist, among the artists, it is difficult to always make a graduation, it also makes little sense, but let's say a truly great quality artist, an artist that we could define as the artist of the second Carraccismo, because, as we said in the introductory phase, he will be in Rome only in 1621, so he will not have the opportunity to know Annibale Carracci, who died in 1609, as we have seen in the previous lessons, but evidently he forms himself in the shadow, we could say of the umbrella, of the hat, of the Carraccesco painting in Bologna, he will always work between Bologna and Cento, he is originally from Cento, and then he will stay in Rome in the 1920s, but he will stay in Rome only three years, as we can see. Here, the work of Guercino is fundamental precisely for the overcoming of the idealizing dictates, a chromatic rendering, it is defined in this way, with these wide areas, with these very intense dense colors, and above all with this use of these inked blues, one can feel that it will be very typical of Guercino, a painting that no longer makes use, as is evident, of that outline line for the search for the perfection of the figures, which uses a cut even in the scenography, in the construction of the figures, which is an absolutely innovative cut, absolutely theatrical, with these corrugated, broken by ballors, which are sudden, evocative ballors, which imply anxieties, something enigmatic, as well as some of his works are enigmatic. This is certainly his most famous work, Et in Arcadia Ego, which simply means I am also in Arcadia, and that one thinks one can refer evidently to a meditation on death. In this he approaches, in some way, some of the works we have seen of Caravaggio, this tendency to reason on religious themes also with secular settings, therefore vanitas, death, death which in this case is evidently identified in the skull, under which stands the inscription Et in Arcadia Ego, a toothless skull, around which, above which, there is a worm, a fly, which is positioned on the head and a mole that is eating it, it is rotting it, we could say, and this should be a symbol, it could be a symbol of the fallacy of life, of the inevitability of death, of the consumption of everything that is human compared to what is divine. These two characters, therefore a boy and an adult person, therefore two ages of life that emerge from this atmosphere, from this sort of forest of doubt, from this atmosphere of confusion, that reason, look at the skull and reason on the mystery of death and life, because this sky, so foggy, so brown, so intense, so powerful, it is broken by a bayonet, opened on a bayonet, which is the bayonet of dawn, you can see the little bird on the branch that is moving, it is waking up, so there is always hope, the mystery of death, but also the mystery of life, the hope of rebirth. This attitude, let's say, above all this chromatic attitude, this theatrical cut, which looks almost like the scene of a theatrical opera, as if you opened a window on an event, also the choice of the cut of the half-figures to this function, we find it in many other works, famous works by Guercino, for example Susanna and the Old Men, where we see these quick, vibrant strokes, this atmosphere of suspense, and above all this scenographic tendency. Below I have also put the second version of Susanna and the Old Men, again by Guercino, made around 1650, a little clearer, but always characterized by these intense colors, by these powerful blues. The theatricality will be one of the fundamental characteristics as far as Guercino is concerned, because put together, for example, with the orchestration of the light, which is typical of Lanfranco, they are all elements that prelude the great Baroque. If we, for example, look at the work made by Guercino in Rome, called Rome in 1921, remained in Rome only three years, the fresco with the Aurora in the Casino Ludovisi, it is evident that he takes up the example of Annibale Carracci and the example of Guido Reni, who are, we could say, his masters from a certain point of view, belonging to a second generation, but he surpasses them, because while Annibale Carracci, in his Volta of Palazzo Farnese, in the Galleria of Palazzo Farnese, and Guido Reni, in the iconographic subject, which is the same, the Aurora, which he had also made in Rome, use the technique of the reported painting, so they pretend to insert their works in fresco, as if they were oils on canvas, reported and glued to the wall. In this case, Guercino uses the technique of the painting, which is made by Agostino Tassi, a famous artist, specialized in painting in painting, therefore in these architectures that emerge from the ceiling, illusionist architectures that emerge from the ceiling, but then the painting is not completed by paintings, by reported paintings, by stucco, by elements of fiction in trompe l'oeil, but by a real trompe l'oeil, that is, the architecture opens on an open sky, and on this sky, with this dizzying perspective from below up, a perspective from the bottom up, which evidently reminds us, as we said, certainly I correct, but also maintains a whole Lombard tradition in Emilia, where the chariot of Helios, the chariot of the sun, is seen right from below, with these two horsemen and here there is a sense of movement, a luminous vibration, an attempt, excuse me, an attempt to give vitality, to give dynamic movement to the work, which is due to the absence of the outline, the absence of the reported canvas that blocks and closes the image. So if we make a comparison, I'm sorry, because unfortunately the images are really of very poor quality, but this goes to the convent, but it is quite evident, the passage from an imperfect atmosphere, absolutely lyrical, exquisite, but completely blocked, intellectualized, by Guido Reni, to this aerial tendency, to this search for theatricality, instead of Guercino, which will be, let's say, an anticipation to the great exposed surfaces of the great Baroque, of which we will deal starting from the next lessons.