Art Principles Part 17

[d] The Deity with SS. Catherine and Magdalene.

[e] a.s.sumption of the Virgin.

[f] a.s.sumption of the Virgin, Venice.

[g] The Deity and Christ, Weimar.

[h] a.s.sumption of the Virgin at Dusseldorf, Augsburg, Brussels, and Vienna.

[i] Madonna and Child in Glory, Berlin.

[j] The Ascension, Munich.

[k] The Magdalene and Saints, Milan.

[l] a.s.sumption of the Virgin, Venice.

[m] Coronation of the Virgin, Madrid.

The illusion is usually more complete when Angels are used instead of cherubs for support, apparently because they may be presumed to have greater strength, and the plan was adopted by some of the earlier masters of the Renaissance. The simple design of Rubens in resting the foot of Christ on the arm of a flying Angel is quite successful.[a]

Fontana places the Deity on clouds supported by Angels,[b] a method adopted by Granacci, who however a.s.sists the illusion by adding two Angels who are directly supporting the figure.[c] Peter Cornelius has the Deity with His foot on a small globe which is held in position by Angels.[d] A fine example of their use is shown by Gutherz. Two Angels with large outstretched wings are bearing the body of a woman to Heaven.

She lies rec.u.mbent upon a lengthy hammock formed by the robes of the Angels, the ends of the drapery being gathered up by the flying cherubs.[e] The illusion is perfect. Rembrandt also has a beautiful design in a Resurrection scene, for he shows the figure of Christ as a shade whose hands are held by a flying Angel lifting Him to Heaven.[f] A few artists, as Poussin[g] and Bouguereau,[h] use Angels to carry the figure with no other a.s.sisting device, but if the body is rec.u.mbent it is necessary that the Angels should be in a nearly upright position, otherwise they will appear to be moving horizontally.[i] Rubens in an Ascension uses the strange method of placing an Angel beneath Christ, but without touching Him.[j] The drapery flies out at the back, so that without some a.s.sistance he would appear to be descending; but the Angel below, with her hands held up, seems to correct the position. Guido Reni carries the Virgin up with Angels who support her beneath, and she seems in fact to be standing on their shoulders.[k] In one instance Correggio subst.i.tutes a smiling boy for an Angel, and he holds up a cloud on which the Virgin sits.[l] There are many works where winged figures hold a body in suspension, most of them providing excellent illusions. Among the best is Lux's Sarpedon, where the body of the Trojan is held up for Jupiter to kiss.[m]

[a] Ascension of Christ, Vienna.

[b] Vision of the Resurrection.

[c] The Virgin giving her Girdle to St. Thomas, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

[d] Let there be Light.

[e] "They shall bear thee up."

[f] Munich Gallery.

[g] a.s.sumption of the Virgin, and Vision of St. Paul.

[h] a.s.sumption of the Virgin.

[i] Bouguereau's Une Ame au Ciel.

[j] The Academy, Venice.

[k] a.s.sumption of the Virgin, Munich.

[l] Madonna and Child with Saints, Parma.

[m] The Luxembourg.

Even a simple banderole or scarf suffices to indicate movement in the air if well arranged. Usually a flying cherub holds an end of the banderole, and Ferri shows a wingless putto even, flying with no other a.s.sistance.[a] Boucher creates an illusion by the bold device of connecting two cupids with a narrow scarf blown out into a semicircle[b]; and in another instance very narrow tape streamers suffice.[c]

[a] David plans a Temple.

[b] Birth of Venus.

[c] Altdorfer's Nativity at Berlin.

The use of thick smoke for suspension purposes is nearly always successful, because volumes of smoke in nature necessarily tend to move upwards; but obviously this scheme can only be arranged when an altar is possible. The plan is not uncommon in pictures relating to Cain and Abel, and the Translation of Enoch. In one of the latter subject, Hoet makes part of the smoke from an altar envelop the surrounding ground so as to widen the volume, while Schnorr achieves the same end by curling round the smoke as it ascends into the form of a large saucer upon which the Deity sits,[a] a method slightly varied by Amiconi.[b]

[a] G.o.d's Promise to Abraham.

[b] G.o.d Appearing to Moses.

Where a number of figures are connected together in a circular form in the air, the double illusion of suspension and motion follows naturally, provided their att.i.tudes indicate a circular movement. An excellent example of this is shown in a picture by Botticelli, where Angels dance in the air over the hut of the Nativity.[a] The finest work of the kind in existence is probably Schwind's Pleiads, in which the stars are represented by a circle of beautiful nude women.[b] Extraordinary activity is suggested by the perfect arrangement of the limbs and light flowing drapery used. Bouguereau has a work of a similar kind, The Lost Pleiad, but here the dancers are upright, and the circle is only accessory to the t.i.tle figure.[c] Watteau is fairly successful in giving an illusion of suspension to cupids even with a half circle, though the invention is somewhat formal.[d]

[a] National Gallery, London.

[b] Denner Collection. See Plate 25.

[c] Brooklyn Museum, New York.

[d] The Berlin example of the Embarkation for Cythera.

Some of the devices used to bring about an illusion are most ingenious.

Thus in his Bacchus and Ariadne,[a] Tintoretto actually applies a disability of his art for the purpose. Venus is shown in a horizontal position in the air, placing a crown of stars upon the head of Ariadne.

Bacchus is standing by, and the form of the G.o.ddess floats just at the back of him, the lower side of her hip being on a level with the top of his head. Seeing that the head is covered with a profusion of vine leaves, it is impossible for the artist to indicate, or the observer to recognize, that the G.o.ddess does not actually touch the head of Bacchus, and she apparently balances herself upon his head while crowning Ariadne, the artist having been careful to place the centre of gravity of her figure over the apparent point of contact. A similar kind of illusion is provided by Burne-Jones, whose Angel of the Annunciation is upright in midair near the ground, but her feet seem to find support on the branches of a shrub.[b] Rossetti, in the same subject, shows the Angel with his feet wrapped in flames, the weight being thus apparently removed. The design seems bizarre, perhaps because of the absence of an expression of surprise which one would expect to see on the countenance of the Virgin at so extraordinary a phenomenon.[73] Schwind also uses a disability of his art for an illusion in his Phantom of the Forest.[c]

She moves near the ground away from the spectator with such rapidity that her robe, a simple rectangular piece of drapery, has opened out wide from the front, and hides her figure from the shoulders down, so that from the point of view of the observer she may, or may not, be touching the ground as she moves.

[a] Ducal Palace, Venice.

[b] Tate Gallery, London.

[c] Schack Gallery, Munich.

How slight the apparent support need be, is indicated in Bouguereau's Aurora and Twilight. Each figure is represented by a nude woman holding a light scarf, the first rapidly, and the second slowly, skimming the surface of a stream of water with soft touches of the feet, and yet there is no anomaly that strikes the mind. A still more daring device is used by Battistello, though quite successfully. He places two wingless putti in the air, but one holds up the other, and this action seems to sustain them both.[a] Another amazing design is from the hand of A. P.

Roll, who shows a nude-man in the air clutching another, and apparently struggling to pull him down, yet the action seems perfectly natural.[b]

[a] Adoration of the Shepherds, San Martino, Naples.

[b] Design for the Pet.i.t Palais, Paris.

NOTES