John Gossaerts Treatment of Classical Nude Figure - Essay Example

John Gossaert’s treatment ical nude figure Jan Gossaert’s treatment ical nude figure in the renaissance art of theperiod 1400-1550 Jan Gossaert (c. 1478-1532) is no longer as famous today as he used to be in the past and that is why currently, the National Gallery has been making an attempt to revive his dominant reputation. He was a Flemish painter with a dominant reputation that changed the course of Flemish art between 1400 and 1550. His portraits go beyond the tradition of Van Eyck and are favorably compared to Holbein, Memling and Durer. Ainsworth et al (2010; p.484) argues that Gossaert was the first Flemish artist to visit Italy and brought the sultry back to the north. In addition, in 1508, he visited Rome and returned with visions of bare flesh, erotic vigor and Adam and Eve in the exact transition from naked to almost nude. This pleased his patron Philip of Burgundy who asked him to make portraits of girls for his walls. However, not everybody was pleased with the explicit portraits of Adam and Eve such as the diarist John Evelyn, and they started criticizing Gossaert’s work. Nevertheless, Gossaert continued to make more nude figures despite the criticism and his exhibition has received more than eighty works from all over the world. This paper will discuss John Gossaert’s treatment of classical nude figure in the renaissance art of the period1400-1550. The admiration for Gossaert’s intriguing works of art from Van Mander and Durer make it frustrating that there is quite a few drawings and painting that can be linked to him. He mostly worked alone although is said to have collaborated with a few other landscape painters and other artists such as Gerald David. According to Elkins (2008; p.42), Gossaert excelled particularly in making single panel paintings and portraits, which were about half of his work. Most of his work involved biblical and devotional themes such as those of the Virgin and Child, Adam and Eve, and some episode from the Passion of Christ among others (Grössinger, 1997; P. 13). He also introduced mythological themes, which had nude figures with high eroticism. However, his treatment of nude figures was not limited to mythological themes only but was also essential in his devotional and biblical themes such as the drawings and paintings of the Virgin and Child and Adam and Eve. The biblical theme of Adam and Eve of 1520 shows the influence of Rome on Gossaert’s work. The painting gave Gossaert an opportunity to express the male and female nudes at a life size scale in some of his paintings. He impacts a biblical story of the origin of knowledge of sex through the two figures of Adam and Eve entangled in lust and guilt. However, in this painting, Gossaert followed Durer’s approach of art but his treatment was remarkably different from that of Durer and his contemporaries because he represented it in a more sensual way than them. The nude figure of Eve exhibits the pose of an antique Venus while the nude figure of Adam and especially his lower torso that appears tensed shows a comparison with the Spinario Hellenistic sculpture (Sluijter and Harmenszoon, 2006; P.115). The shared embrace between Adam and Eve in the painting shows the unique corporeal intimacy of Gossaert’s art. In addition, Adam is shown pointing at his open mouth, which portrays Gossaert’s passion of painting open mouths teeth showing in most of his nude figures. It also portrays Adam and Eve as a loving couple with Eve having a feminine and soft look while Adam looks muscular and immensely strong. This, however, exhibits the Gossaert’s interest in psychology of his subjects. Perlove and Silver (2009; p.110) believe that the reason why Gossaert made the painting of Adam and Eve was because his patron Philip of Burgundy had a taste for nudes despite being a bishop. This painting is currently in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, in Madrid. However, Gossaert also made another painting of Adam and Eve, which shows them leaning against each other with their legs interlinked. Their imminent sin is shown by their passionate grasp of the apple they hold. Gossaert assimilated the German artist’s style for the figures and changed the classical heads into more accessible contemporary likeness in his paintings. The painting illustrates the nature of the relationship between the first couple in the Garden of Eden. In addition, it shows Eve picking the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of right and evil while Adam is pointing at the withered branch due to Eve’s evil act. Moreover, the overall painting portrays the sin caused by Adam and Eve by plucking and eating the forbidden fruit. The sensuality of the scene is enhanced by the atmosphere in the painting that creates the feeling that the couple perceives the consequences of their weakness. However, this painting portrays a story of deceit, jealousy and the fall of man. Another grand master piece with a biblical theme made by Gossaert is the painting of the Virgin and Child. Gossaert made several paintings of the Virgin and Child e.g. in 1522 he painted the image of the Virgin and Child seated at the foot of a tree and another one with the Virgin Breastfeeding the Child. In 1527, he painted the image of the Virgin and the Child surrounded by the brilliant rays of sun among others. According to the National Gallery of Art (U.S.), Oliver and Wolff (1986; P.98), the painting of the Virgin and Child is a human exhibition of mother and child by Gossaert that shows his extraordinary ability of putting together the qualities of fabric, flesh and the pearl head (hair) of the Virgin. In one of the paintings, the Child is only covered with a shawl, which portrays another representation of Gossaert nude paintings. This painting emphasizes the sensuous nature of the intimate embrace of the mother and child figures. The pose in the painting was based on Italian art, which he may have come across in Florence when on his way to Rome, in 1508. In the painting of the Virgin and Child, Gossaert portrays his sculptural technique by placing the figures in an architectural base. For instance, his painting shows a worked up stark of white flesh tones of the figures with lead-white paint to show the surface sheen of polished marble. Another painting of the Virgin and Child by Gossaert portrays the Virgin as a humble mother sitting close to the ground on an ornate tree. It shows Mary leaning forward to give an apple to her Child, which symbolizes the Child as the new Adam and savior of mankind (Rijksmuseum (Netherlands) & Boon, 1976; p.56). In 1525, Gossaert made another painting with a biblical theme of Cain killing Abel. Macfall (2004; p. 10) claims that this painting is one of Gossaert’s most striking and largest printed images. It shows Cain with his right hand raised and holding the jaw bone, which he is aiming at Abel’s head. He also has his fingers holding Abel’s mouth as he attempts he hit him. This is one of the paintings that Gossaert made the engravings and edgings by himself by drawing the design on the block surface, which was, however, made by a skilled cutter. This painting shows the amount, of effort and energy he put on the two human figures in order to produce the thick locks of hair that defined the way he portrayed hair in all his drawings (Durer, Silver and Smith, 2010; p.118). Another grand master piece of Gossaert’s work was the painting of the Passion of Christ based on a biblical theme. This include the paintings of ‘Christ on the Cold Stone’, which were done in 1527 and 1530, the painting of ‘The Mocking of Christ or The Man of Sorrows’, which was made in 1525 and the Deposition painting, which was done in 1525, as well (Perlove and Silver, 2009; p.114). The painting of Christ on the Cold Stone was based on passages in the books of Matthew and Mark and portrays Christ after his interrogation by Pirate. The painting shows a nude Christ sitting on a stone after he was stripped off his robe and crowned with thorns after his interrogation. Through this painting, Gossaert portrays the sensitive side of Christ as he looks upwards as if he is appealing to God the Father for mercy. In addition, he portrays the figures of ignorance and awe in the presence of Christ the Savior especially through the people who mocked and tormented him before his crucifixion. This painting received a lot of recognition due to its well organized and remarkable composition and mainly the muscular body of Christ that was borrowed from the famous Belvedere Torso from the first-century Roman marble, which Gossaert came across during his visit to Rome. The painting of Christ on the Cold Stone that Gossaert made in 1530 portrays a different picture of Christ. Unlike the previous painting, which Christ is shown to exercise patience as he awaits his sacrifice on the cross, the painting shows Christ as a hero who is expressing his anguish of being sacrificed. He is alone with his robe stripped of as he contemplates this dilemma. He is nude with only a long cloth draped over his thighs that indicates the shroud that his body will be wrapped in after his crucifixion. This painting is also based on the Belvedere Torso, which Gossaert saw in Rome just like the previous one. Moreover, the muscular exaggerated torso and pose strongly resembles the engravings of circulated prints of mars signed by Raimondi in 1508, in Rome. In ‘The Mocking of Christ or The Man of Sorrows’ painting, Gossaert depicts a man of sorrows and the crowning of thorns in which a man mocks Christ. In this painting, Gossaert combined both the Italian and northern art sources such as from Raimondi’s Mars, Eros, and Venus, he derived the pose of Christ while the face he borrowed from Durer’s print. This image relates to his painting in the same subject because the features of the man on the ground are similar to the figure of Christ’s left while the pose of his hand resembles the man on the right (Macfall, 2004; p. 12). The Deposition painting was also made by Gossaert in 1525. It is based on a biblical theme that portrays the crucifixion of Christ. Ainsworth et al (2010; p.487) argues that it is not certain whether the Deposition was an independent panel or linked with the wings from The Salamanca Triptych. The active composition, materials, texture and sculptural treatment of the figures in the painting portrays the authorship of Gossaert. However, Bernard van Orley was also involved in making the painting. Both relied on the visual sources such as designs of Raphael for the Acts of Apostles and the engravings of Mantegna. For this reason, the authorship of the Deposition is not quite clear between Bernard and Gossaert. However, Gossaert got his inspiration from Bernard’s designs for tapestries. For instance, the skull in the image looks like the one on the reverse of Carondelet Diptych. Another grand master piece by Gossaert is the Hercules and Deianira painting, which was done in 1517. It is one of the two surviving works of art by Gossaert that portray the powerful impact of the Italian art on his work. This painting contains a similar physicality to Adam and Eve’s painting. It is a nude painting of two lovers, Hercules and Deianira, who have their legs entwined and looking passionately into each other’s eyes. They are rarely shown together, but in this painting, they seem to be extremely close and even live together in a marble niche. This portrays both the formal and classical narrative of Gossaert’s architectural inspiration. Grössinger (1997; P. 19), argues that the corporeal sensuality of the two characters is the most dominant in the painting, which reveals Gossaert’s interest in the complicated and convoluted representation of the human body. At a glance, the painting portrays the image of love, peace and purity, but there is another side of the story. The silver cloak held by Deianira was given to her by an evil centaur who promised her that if it drapes over Hercules, it would protect him and make him faithful to his wife. However, when Hercules wears the cloak, it goes up into flames and kills him (Grössinger, 1997; P. 25). This is portrayed by the dark background in the painting and how the figures are sitting on the edge of the marble ledge. Just like Adam and Eve biblical theme, this painting portrays a misogynistic theme of deceit, jealousy and seduction the leads to the downfall of man. In addition, Gossaert also made another nude painting of Hercules killing Cacus in 1520s. According to Macfall (2004; p. 12), Gossaert was the first to introduce mythological subjects and artistic nudity to Netherlands’ art. The story behind this painting is that Hercules, the Greek hero, was charged for stealing the red cattle of Geryon the monster and taking them to Italy where the giant Cacus stole them. However, just like in painting of Cain killing Abel, Gossaert focused more on the interaction of the two nude masculine figures of Cacus and Hercules than the character of the giant. He made the drawing with a pen and finished with a brush while the animals in the background were quite sketchy with a quivering line. In most of his paintings, Gossaert was inspired by his visit to Rome. For instance, in this painting, he borrowed the masculine chest of Cacus from a Laocoon he saw in Rome during his visit. Since this was one of his few paintings with such composition, several of his works with Hercules theme have been documented. In 1521, Gossaert made the Venus and Cupid painting. According to Sluijter and Harmenszoon (2006; p.26), it is the only painting of Gossaert that has remained intact, with both its internal and external frames in satisfactory condition. It shows a nude Roman goddess of love trying to stop her son from pulling an arrow from his quiver; thus, inciting a love affair. Gossaert painted this painted this pagan hair based in a shallow space between two columns. For this painting, he was also inspired by the sculptures he came across during his visit to Rome. Another grand master piece made by Gossaert that depicted his passion for artistic nudity is the painting of “A Women’s Bath” that he made from 1520 to 1525. In this painting, Gossaert has drawn eight women gathered together in a bathroom having a bath and revealing their bodies and beauty without caring who might be watching them (Perlove and Silver, 2009; p.114). It is quite clear that Gossaert liked to emphasize on the outlines of the figures as shown the images in the painting. He also borrowed some ideas from other artists. For instance, he borrowed the back of the standing woman in painting from the engraving by Marco de Ravenna while the pose of the woman seated at the left in the painting was derived from the Spinario, the Hellenistic sculpture that he drew in Rome in 1509 (Sluijter and Harmenszoon, 2006; p.25). The other figures were also probably inspired by other works of art, which explains the impression the drawing give of isolated figures each with its own activities. Apart from being a painter, Gossaert also had a passion for design. He extended his activity beyond the field of painting and inspired many artists mainly in Netherlands. He is said to have designed many works of art, which included the, sculpted tombs, choir stalls, triumphal chariot and a monumental church window (Jacobowitz, Stepanek and National Gallery of Art (U.S.), 1983; p.265). Additionally, he is believed to have designed the snowman that was found in Philip Burgundy’s home, in Brussels, in 1511, and a few sculptures and medals. However, none of these works has been found. Moreover, there are some drawings found in the exhibitions that portray Gossaert as a designer. They are mostly related to the stained-glass roundels, which include the circular and small painted glass panels that were quite popular in the Netherlands in 15th century. Others include the commissions a church window for the ceiling of a chapel, a sculpted monument and a print. The finished appearance of these drawings is what proves that were meant to be more than just models for glass painters (Elkins, 2008; p.65). Gossaert was also a portraitist. His portraits received an extraordinary level of reality in the tradition of Hans Memling and Jan van Eyck. His compositions inspired many of his contemporaries and led to an increase in the sense of three-dimensionality. Hence, he became the most sought after artist by his contemporaries in the Netherlands. His works demonstrates a wide range of from standard works to truly costly commissions and proves that he was associated with the high ranked people in the society at the time. Some of the portraits he made include the portrait of Henry III, the portrait of Christian II of Denmark, the portrait of Charles of Burgundy, the portrait of an old couple, and the portrait of Jan Jacobz Snoeck among others (Britannica Educational Publishing, 2009; p 53). However, Gossaert’s has received a lot of criticism. According to Grössinger (1997; p.14), this could be one of the reasons why his painting are no longer as famous today as they used to be in the past. The Rev. France Davis of the Calvary church as strongly refused to have the nude figures in his church such as Adam and Eve painting among others despite them being based on a biblical theme. He argued that there is nothing redeeming or inspiring about the nude figures in religious art. In addition, he believes that the human body has certain parts that are supposed to remain private and, therefore, such paintings should be kept for more intimate settings like bedrooms (Britannica Educational Publishing, 2009; p. 54). Many believers oppose any nakedness in art as blasphemous and ungodly. For instance, the painting of the Virgin and Child in which the Virgin has one of her breasts out is said to be pornography. Thus, many church leaders have refused to have it erected in their churches. However, the stand of many Christians on artistic nudity is not clear. Some argue that it depends with the motive of the artist who made the painting because some have a biblical theme in order to enlighten people while others may trigger a sexual response (National Gallery of Art (U.S.), Oliver and Wolff, 1986; P.99). However, not all are against the artistic nudity such as Pope Benedicts XVI. He praised the use of artist nudity in religious art in the 16th century and even had “The Last Judgment” painting in the wall behind the altar in the Sistine chapel. In addition, the Pope stated that the bodies painted by Michelangelo and Gossaert are filled with light, life and splendor, and they mainly portray that the bodies have a spiritual mystery. In conclusion, Björkman and Nationalmuseum (Sweden) (1985; p.243), argues that whether or not artistic nudity in religious art is theoretically consequential or denigrates could be as a result of time and distance. Today, the world has changed so much since the 16the century when nude figures were highly praised. The innocence of nakedness has been blown out of proportion by the sexual content in art. For this reason, it is hard to utilize artistic nudity in an identifying and constructive way. Therefore, most works of Gossaert have not received much appreciation as they did in the past due to nudity. Bibliography Ainsworth, M., Gossaert, J., Alsteens, S. and Orenstein, N. (2010). Man, myth, and sensual pleasures: Jan Gossarts Renaissance : the complete works, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 484.  Björkman, G. & Nationalmuseum (Sweden). (1985). Netherlandish mannerism: papers given at a symposium in Nationalmuseum Stockholm, September 21-22, 1984, Nationalmuseum Press. Britannica Educational Publishing. (2009). One hundred most influential painters and sculptors of the Renaissance, The Rosen Publishing Group, New York. Dürer, A., Silver, L. & Smith, J. (2010). The essential Dürer, University of Pennsylvania Press, Pennsylvania. Elkins, J. (2008). Renaissance theory, Taylor & Francis, Chicago. Grössinger, C. (1997). Picturing women in late Medieval and Renaissance art, Manchester University Press, Manchester. PP. 13. Jacobowitz, E. Stepanek, S. & National Gallery of Art (U.S.). (1983).The prints of Lucas van Leyden & his contemporaries. National Gallery of Art Press, Michigan. Macfall, H. (2004). A History of Painting: The Renaissance in the North and the Flemish Genius part four, Kessinger Publishing, London. National Gallery of Art (U.S.), Oliver, J. H. and Wolff, M. (1986). Early Netherlandish painting, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pp. 98. Perlove, S. & Silver, L. (2009). Rembrandts faith: church and temple in the Dutch golden age. Penn State Press. Pennsylvania. Rijksmuseum (Netherlands) & Boon, K. G. (1976).Netherlandish Drawings of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries: Text, The University of Virginia Press, Virginia. Sluijter, E. J. and Harmenszoon, R. (2006). Rembrandt and the female nude, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam. Read More