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The Italian Renaissance Altarpiece

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David Ekserdjian discusses major developments in the history of the altarpiece throughout Italy, covers the three key categories of Renaissance altarpiece—“immagini” (icons), “historie” (narratives), and “misteri” (mysteries

Image courtesy of interviewee. May 28, 2024

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The speaker discusses the need for a comprehensive examination of altarpieces in the context of the Renaissance period, emphasizing a broader timeframe from the 13th century to around 1600. They express a desire to include lesser-known regions of Italy beyond the traditional centers like Florence, Rome, and Venice.

The speaker reflects on their research process, noting the importance of original documents over modern art history, and highlights the local pride in artistic traditions across Italy. They mention how contracts from the period reveal the expectations and preferences of patrons regarding altarpiece representations.

This video explores the evolution of altarpiece designs, categorizing them into three types: icons, narrative stories depicting specific moments, and representations that blend both elements, referred to as "mysteries." The discussion includes examples of artistic choices made when depicting biblical scenes and the broader implications of these representations.

The speaker hopes that readers will appreciate the diversity and richness of altarpiece art, encouraging them to engage with the material in a comprehensive way rather than selectively. They conclude with an example of a unique altarpiece that represents a vision from Dante's "Divine Comedy," highlighting the unexpected connections between literature and religious art.

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I felt that there was a real need for a big,

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large scale book on the

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s piece in Renaissance if Lee understanding Renaissance to

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stretch rather earlier

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and a little bit later probably than it often does.

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So Alta pieces begin in the 13th century.

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There aren't any before that.

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Uh, but the 13th century isn't a conventional understanding

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of Renaissance.

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And I wanted to go up to roughly

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1600, give or take.

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And so that's what I did.

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Uh, the Altarpiece is an

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absolutely major feature of

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artistic production.

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Uh, it's all over, not just Italy,

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but all over Europe, of course.

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But there has to be some kind of limit to

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what one's going to discuss.

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The fact of the matter is that nobody

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up to this point had been insane enough to try

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to discuss all of Italy

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across that big stretch of time.

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Because what you normally find is that

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in books that call themselves the Italian Renaissance

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something or other, Italy is mostly,

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and for understandable reasons, Florence,

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Rome and Venice.

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I didn't want only to look at those great centers at all.

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Uh, there are all sorts of other fantastic places to

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think about, and I

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absolutely went outta my way to make sure

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that I covered everything I possibly could.

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So Sardinia and Sicily

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and so on

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and so forth is all included as

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to why the altarpiece, well, as I say,

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because there's virtually nobody in that period

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who doesn't get to grip with the task of either painting

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or indeed carving, an altarpiece.

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I'm always rather entertained when people use the word

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research because I never do actually use it.

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I suspect it's a kind of posh way of saying,

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I read a book, I don't really comprehend

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what else is involved other than

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reading and looking.

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And I did a lot of both, particularly

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I did a lot of looking. And in the

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Case of Italy, which still retains

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extraordinary as it were, local patriotism.

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So people from pretty

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small scale towns are very, very gripped by, artistic

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traditions and achievements.

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And the consequence is that you can find

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books on the Italian Renaissance in not just

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again, Rome, Florence, sna, even,

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Venice Pedro.

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You might take it for granted

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that those places would be covered,

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but all sorts of pretty microscopic

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kinds are also covered.

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And that's what I wanted

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because I had to, get to grips with everything.

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But the other aspect in terms of reading is

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that I spent very little time reading

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modern art history other than to check the odd fact.

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But I was very interested in reading original documents.

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And again, one is incredibly fortunate

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because in the context of Italy,

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especially in the late past the 19th century

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and probably on into the early 20th century, there were

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again, incredibly, as it were locally patriotic

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individuals who were gripped by

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what went on in terms of artistic production

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in their place

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and spent lifetimes going through

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predominantly lawyers papers, nutter

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archives, which is where things like contracts

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for altar pieces ought to be found.

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And I wanted to read all that material in order

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to find out what people had said at the time,

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and also to discover what they

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wanted and what they didn't want.

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Sometimes, for example,

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they're pretty vague about what should be

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represented in a painting.

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They kind of jolly Neely say, well, you know,

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my name's George, so I want something to do with St.

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George, but for the rest, I trust the artist.

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Other individuals are obsessive

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and not only say exactly who should be in a picture,

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but also who's on the left, who's on the right, what sort

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of clothes they're wearing and all that kind of jazz.

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So that material is incredibly fascinating

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and one couldn't possibly,

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and I suppose that would be genuine research,

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spend 500 years, years going all over Italy

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and reading through endless, 16th

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and 15th century lawyers papers.

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If somebody's done it for you, that's a fantastic shortcut.

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My conception of the altarpiece response to what people

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say again in the period at the time,

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and notably, for instance, in contracts.

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And they use this word icon

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and what they mean is a representation that isn't

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set in any particular moment in time.

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Uh, the standard type, which I think pretty well all

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of us are familiar with, is some kind of Madonna

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and child picture with other saints.

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Uh, what's interesting in terms of the evolution

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of the type over the period is that

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in the early days, there's a predominance

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of what you might describe

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as compartmentalized or to pieces.

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So you will have the virgin

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and child, let's say in the middle, and a number of saints

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and possibly even Old Testament prophets

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and other kinds of people around them to left and to right.

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But each of them can frequently be in their little kind

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of century box.

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They're physically separated by,

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by a complicated elaborate frame.

07:33.605 --> 07:35.465
And in the early period,

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also the background is uniform gold.

07:39.325 --> 07:43.065
So you are not set, if you like the task

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of thinking, well, where are these people?

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'cause you sort of accept that they're,

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they were in particular

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or they're in heaven maybe or something.

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But as things evolve and as art evolves

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and people want to represent, real settings,

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they also come up with the idea of placing the

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relevant figures, the attendant figures,

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the subsidiary saints, let's say for the standard model,

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within an architectural

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or landscape unity with the virgin and child.

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So everybody is together.

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And that type of altarpiece has come to be known

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slightly misleadingly as a scra converse, a

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who conversation,

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although as a matter of fact, they usually don't look

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as if they're chatting to each other at all.

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The other big option, so to speak, is

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that you tell a story.

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And I think that that, story,

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his story is what they use both in, Latin

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and in Italian is ever

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so slightly misleading

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because what they're normally actually representing

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is a moment within a story.

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So you don't have the equivalent of, you know,

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a children's cartoon book with lots

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and lots of different frames telling the story bit by bit.

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You pick out a really gripping moment

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and beam in on that.

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So let's say you're doing the baptism of Christ,

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you would normally show John the Baptist pouring the water

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over Christ.

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Uh, there's another nice example of something

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that somebody thought up, which is rather less,

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standard shall we say, which is that they wanted

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to represent the beheading of St.

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John the Baptist himself.

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And that's quite commonly shown in one way or another,

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but not normally as in one particular case

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where his head is in midair.

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It's only just been chopped off.

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It hasn't be even bounced on the ground.

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Uh, but in terms of narrative, the other thing

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that people were thoughtful about is

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that they did realize

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that showing just one moment was sometimes not

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entirely satisfactory.

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So they occasionally back it up in the background

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or possibly even the bottom of the foreground with

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subsidiary representations that kind of extended.

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So the equivalent in cinematic terms of prequels

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and sequels can sometimes be included.

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Most altar pieces are either icons or narrative stories,

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but there's a third category

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and they often use this term mystery to,

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categorize it.

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And that is representations that aren't quite

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a moment in time within a story

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or a timeless assemblage of saints,

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but something that is somewhere in between.

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Uh, examples of that would be representations

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of the Virgin Mary in the form

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of what's called in Italian, the Madonna de Missouri Cordia,

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the mother of mercy, who is shown

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extending her arms

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and sheltering the faithful beneath her

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cape, so to speak, her garment.

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That's not representing a real moment

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because those people, were never

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actually other than in their

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imaginations being sheltered by the Madonna.

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Uh, another really weird

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and wonderful example is a subject,

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where Christ is shown as

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being crushed within a mystic wine oppressed.

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So his body is being squeezed

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and the blood is coming out

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and turning into the wine of the holy community.

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Now again, it's not that anybody thinks

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that within the Bible story, within the story

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of the New Testament, there was a moment when Christ

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was hopping underneath, this wine press

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and getting a painful squishing.

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Not at all. But this is a way

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of representing a doctrinal idea

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that was fantastically important within Catholicism.

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Namely that when you take holy communion,

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but not just drinking symbolic wine, you are

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actually drinking Christ blood.

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It's difficult to know exactly what people are going to make

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of any book one writes.

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But I think what I'd like to happen is that at least one

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or two people would actually read jolly nearly

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all of it and not just plunder it for the bit

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of interests them.

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So you can imagine somebody,

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is writing a book on a particular artist who did a painting

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of the coronation of the virgin,

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and they might say, what did Mangan say about

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the coronation of the virgin?

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And read that page.

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But I'd prefer them to appreciate the bigger picture

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and also just to enjoy what I enjoyed,

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which is the extraordinary variety

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and diversity

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and at least on occasion, baity of

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what is produced.

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Because if you stick to the straight narrow,

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you just miss out on so much.

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And one of the things that I enjoyed was,

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and I suppose in the sense that could be called research

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or at least discovery, finding out about

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really peculiar paintings.

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Uh, and I'll finish just by mentioning one, which is,

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a painting by a late 16th century article called Em Poly,

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which is a representation

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and it's an of the

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conclusion, roughly speaking of Dante's divine comedy.

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Uh, it's the vision at the end of the divine comedy,

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the vision of the Virgin Mary.

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Now, this is very odd indeed

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because the Dante text

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is not holy writ.

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It's what I used to tell my children

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when they were frightened by something in a book.

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I I say, don't worry, it's only a made up story.

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And as a matter of fact,

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although what a rather elevated level,

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the divine comedy is a made up story, it's not meant again,

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really to be something that happened.

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So the idea of representing it,

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in an altarpiece is completely crazy.

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Uh, and we have no doubt at all that that's what's going on,

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by the way, because it's all mentioned again

15:45.485 --> 15:46.345
in the contract.

00:00 - I felt that there was a real need for a big, large scale book on the s piece in Renaissance if Lee understanding Renaissance to stretch rather earlier and a little bit later probably than it often does. So Alta pieces begin in the 13th century.

00:25 - There aren't any before that. but the 13th century isn't a conventional understanding of Renaissance. And I wanted to go up to roughly 1600, give or take. And so that's what I did. the Altarpiece is an absolutely major feature of artistic production. it's all over, not just Italy,

00:57 - but all over Europe, of course. But there has to be some kind of limit to what one's going to discuss. The fact of the matter is that nobody up to this point had been insane enough to try to discuss all of Italy across that big stretch of time. Because what you normally find is that in books that call themselves the Italian Renaissance something or other, Italy is mostly,

01:37 - and for understandable reasons, Florence, Rome and Venice. I didn't want only to look at those great centers at all. there are all sorts of other fantastic places to think about, and I absolutely went outta my way to make sure that I covered everything I possibly could. So Sardinia and Sicily and so on and so forth is all included as

02:12 - to why the altarpiece, well, as I say, because there's virtually nobody in that period who doesn't get to grip with the task of either painting or indeed carving, an altarpiece. I'm always rather entertained when people use the word research because I never do actually use it. I suspect it's a kind of posh way of saying, I read a book, I don't really comprehend what else is involved other than reading and looking.

02:51 - And I did a lot of both, particularly I did a lot of looking. And in the Case of Italy, which still retains extraordinary as it were, local patriotism. So people from pretty small scale towns are very, very gripped by, artistic traditions and achievements. And the consequence is that you can find books on the Italian Renaissance in not just again, Rome, Florence, sna, even,

03:32 - Venice Pedro. You might take it for granted that those places would be covered, but all sorts of pretty microscopic kinds are also covered. And that's what I wanted because I had to, get to grips with everything. But the other aspect in terms of reading is that I spent very little time reading modern art history other than to check the odd fact.

04:05 - But I was very interested in reading original documents. And again, one is incredibly fortunate because in the context of Italy, especially in the late past the 19th century and probably on into the early 20th century, there were again, incredibly, as it were locally patriotic individuals who were gripped by what went on in terms of artistic production in their place and spent lifetimes going through

04:44 - predominantly lawyers papers, nutter archives, which is where things like contracts for altar pieces ought to be found. And I wanted to read all that material in order to find out what people had said at the time, and also to discover what they wanted and what they didn't want. Sometimes, for example, they're pretty vague about what should be represented in a painting.

05:20 - They kind of jolly Neely say, well, you know, my name's George, so I want something to do with St. George, but for the rest, I trust the artist. Other individuals are obsessive and not only say exactly who should be in a picture, but also who's on the left, who's on the right, what sort of clothes they're wearing and all that kind of jazz. So that material is incredibly fascinating and one couldn't possibly, and I suppose that would be genuine research,

05:55 - spend 500 years, years going all over Italy and reading through endless, 16th and 15th century lawyers papers. If somebody's done it for you, that's a fantastic shortcut. My conception of the altarpiece response to what people say again in the period at the time, and notably, for instance, in contracts. And they use this word icon and what they mean is a representation that isn't set in any particular moment in time.

06:34 - the standard type, which I think pretty well all of us are familiar with, is some kind of Madonna and child picture with other saints. what's interesting in terms of the evolution of the type over the period is that in the early days, there's a predominance of what you might describe as compartmentalized or to pieces. So you will have the virgin and child, let's say in the middle, and a number of saints

07:13 - and possibly even Old Testament prophets and other kinds of people around them to left and to right. But each of them can frequently be in their little kind of century box. They're physically separated by, by a complicated elaborate frame. And in the early period, also the background is uniform gold. So you are not set, if you like the task of thinking, well, where are these people?

07:44 - 'cause you sort of accept that they're, they were in particular or they're in heaven maybe or something. But as things evolve and as art evolves and people want to represent, real settings, they also come up with the idea of placing the relevant figures, the attendant figures, the subsidiary saints, let's say for the standard model, within an architectural or landscape unity with the virgin and child.

08:21 - So everybody is together. And that type of altarpiece has come to be known slightly misleadingly as a scra converse, a who conversation, although as a matter of fact, they usually don't look as if they're chatting to each other at all. The other big option, so to speak, is that you tell a story. And I think that that, story, his story is what they use both in, Latin

08:57 - and in Italian is ever so slightly misleading because what they're normally actually representing is a moment within a story. So you don't have the equivalent of, you know, a children's cartoon book with lots and lots of different frames telling the story bit by bit. You pick out a really gripping moment and beam in on that. So let's say you're doing the baptism of Christ,

09:34 - you would normally show John the Baptist pouring the water over Christ. there's another nice example of something that somebody thought up, which is rather less, standard shall we say, which is that they wanted to represent the beheading of St. John the Baptist himself. And that's quite commonly shown in one way or another, but not normally as in one particular case where his head is in midair.

10:11 - It's only just been chopped off. It hasn't be even bounced on the ground. but in terms of narrative, the other thing that people were thoughtful about is that they did realize that showing just one moment was sometimes not entirely satisfactory. So they occasionally back it up in the background or possibly even the bottom of the foreground with subsidiary representations that kind of extended.

10:45 - So the equivalent in cinematic terms of prequels and sequels can sometimes be included. Most altar pieces are either icons or narrative stories, but there's a third category and they often use this term mystery to, categorize it. And that is representations that aren't quite a moment in time within a story or a timeless assemblage of saints, but something that is somewhere in between.

11:27 - examples of that would be representations of the Virgin Mary in the form of what's called in Italian, the Madonna de Missouri Cordia, the mother of mercy, who is shown extending her arms and sheltering the faithful beneath her cape, so to speak, her garment. That's not representing a real moment because those people, were never actually other than in their

12:03 - imaginations being sheltered by the Madonna. another really weird and wonderful example is a subject, where Christ is shown as being crushed within a mystic wine oppressed. So his body is being squeezed and the blood is coming out and turning into the wine of the holy community. Now again, it's not that anybody thinks that within the Bible story, within the story

12:39 - of the New Testament, there was a moment when Christ was hopping underneath, this wine press and getting a painful squishing. Not at all. But this is a way of representing a doctrinal idea that was fantastically important within Catholicism. Namely that when you take holy communion, but not just drinking symbolic wine, you are actually drinking Christ blood. It's difficult to know exactly what people are going to make

13:12 - of any book one writes. But I think what I'd like to happen is that at least one or two people would actually read jolly nearly all of it and not just plunder it for the bit of interests them. So you can imagine somebody, is writing a book on a particular artist who did a painting of the coronation of the virgin, and they might say, what did Mangan say about the coronation of the virgin?

13:44 - And read that page. But I'd prefer them to appreciate the bigger picture and also just to enjoy what I enjoyed, which is the extraordinary variety and diversity and at least on occasion, baity of what is produced. Because if you stick to the straight narrow, you just miss out on so much. And one of the things that I enjoyed was,

14:20 - and I suppose in the sense that could be called research or at least discovery, finding out about really peculiar paintings. and I'll finish just by mentioning one, which is, a painting by a late 16th century article called Em Poly, which is a representation and it's an of the conclusion, roughly speaking of Dante's divine comedy. it's the vision at the end of the divine comedy, the vision of the Virgin Mary.

15:00 - Now, this is very odd indeed because the Dante text is not holy writ. It's what I used to tell my children when they were frightened by something in a book. I I say, don't worry, it's only a made up story. And as a matter of fact, although what a rather elevated level, the divine comedy is a made up story, it's not meant again, really to be something that happened.

15:30 - So the idea of representing it, in an altarpiece is completely crazy. and we have no doubt at all that that's what's going on, by the way, because it's all mentioned again in the contract.

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