Mater Dolorosa

Mater Dolorosa
c. 1470/75
Dieric Bouts
Art Institute of Chicago

This image is of a weeping or sorrowing Madonna. The close-up depiction emphasizes Mary's sorrow and is meant to be a devotional image. In Catholic symbolism, Mary weeps both for the death of Jesus, and for the sins of the world. She is the intercessor between man and God. The believer praying before this image is moved to confess his sins and to plead for mercy.

Deiric Bouts is contemporary with Hugo van der Goes. However, this image retains some medieval qualities. The subject exists in an other-worldly space, designated by the lack of setting objects or landscape and by the use of gold leaf. These qualities are retained through the Renaissance in devotional images. What makes the image Renaissance, is the lack of a halo or nimbus to designate Mary as a holy person. The depiction of Mary's face and hands are also very human, aspects which are ignored in medieval art.

This image is striking in its depiction of Mary's sorrow. Her red-rimmed eyes and tears are very life-like. The positioning of her hands are also very beautiful, if somewhat posed.

Adoration of the Christ Child

www.insecula.com/.../00/09/43/ME0000094373_3.jpg

Adoration of the Christ Child
Jacob Cornelisz van Amsterdam
c.1520
oil on panel
Art Institute of Chicago

Here we have another example of a nativity scene by a Dutch painter. The artist is also known as Jacob van Oousten. He is most known for his engraving and print work. Some scholars also note him as being one of the last painters from the Netherlands to not be influenced by Italian art.

Unlike van der Goes' image, this scene is busy with activity and sound. The holy family is in the foreground surrounded by angels, putti playing musical instruments and the shepherds. The space they inhabit is large, and more elaborate than the ruins of the artist's predecessor. The background is a lush garden instead of the bleak northern winter we have seen before.

What places this image in the Dutch style (aside from the artist's origin) is the attention to small details, creating an almost hyper-real feeling. You can pick out individual hairs hanging down Mary's back, or individual leaves in the trees and shrubs. While van der Goes was also a Dutch painter, his work exhibits a more simplistic style indicative of the Italians as they explore their classical heritage.

The Circus Rider

http://amica.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/view/search?q=AMICOID=AIC_.1949.516%20LIMIT:AMICO~1~1&sort=INITIALSORT_CRN%2COCS%2CAMICOID&search=Search


The Circus Rider
Marc Chagall 1887-1985
c. 1927
oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago

Chagall was known for his use of color and is considered a forerunner of the modern movement. He was interested in subjects from folklore and circus performers. The costumed figure stands on the back of a horse, his leg held up close to his body. A winged fairy flies in the background beneath a full moon; perhaps a reference to magic or folklore. He painted other images of female horse riders on this same theme.

The influence on his work of Russian icons can be seen by his use of flat figures existing in an unreal space. This work is from earlier in his career while he was living in France.

Chagall's work cannot help but make you happy. The use of color and the celebratory and fantastical subjects can't help but have that effect.

Lady Reading the Letters of Heloise and Abelard

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/133859


Lady Reading the Letters of Heloise and Abelard, c. 1780

Auguste Bernard d'Agesci
French, 1756–1829
Oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago

My original postcard lists the artist as Jean Baptise Geruze (1725-1805) and giving the date of the painting as 1759/60. Scholars must have made further discoveries on the provenance of this piece since the copyright date of 1996.

The young lady leans back in a swoon while reading the letters of Abelard and Heloise, a tale of love and heartache from medieval times. Scholars say that the other book on the side table is of erotic poetry. Given her state of deshabille, one can only imagine what the poems might be.

The subject matter makes me lean closer to the earlier date of the painting. 1760 is still on the cusp between Rococo and Neoclassical, making a scene of ecstasy more believable. Also, the reading of Abelard and Heloise does not seem the proper subject for the Neoclassical style; that would have to be the poetry of Catullus.

On the other hand, 1780 comes just before the Revolution in France and the greater emphasis on Classical models. The subject could fit the decadence of the old regime.