Bellissimo

Bellissimo! Outstanding Italian paintings from the Gothic period to the Renaissance are displayed at Freiburg's Augustinermuseum. On the occasion of the renovation of the Lindenau-Museum Altenburg, the paintings are temporarily parked in Freiburg.

Freiburg's Minster Church, with the most beautiful tower in the world, did not want to be left behind. So the exhibition curator, Dr. Eva Maria Breisig, and the Münsterbaumeisterin (cathedral master builder), Dr. Anne-Christine Brehm, met for a joint lecture, "Bellissimo!" and "The Most Beautiful Tower," in which they compared the pictures in the exhibition to the contemporaneous developments at Freiburg Cathedral.

The "Bellissimo!" exhibition is dedicated to Italian painting from the 13th to the early 16th century. Over 100 paintings and altarpieces provide an overview of the developments of the time. These were style-defining and ground-breaking since, alongside Christian motifs, artists discovered secular motifs and strove for a greater closeness to reality than before. Over three centuries, a new artistic concept of movement, space, and the image of man emerged.

The architecture was also characterized by innovations in the 13th and 14th centuries, with statically bold constructions such as Freiburg's openwork spire, which gave the simple parish church "the most beautiful tower" on earth. The master builders of the Gothic period pushed what was feasible to the extreme and redefined boundaries. In the 16th century, the Minster was one of the few large medieval churches to be completed by closing the choir vault. However, the Renaissance also left its mark on the cathedral with the southern vestibule and a rood screen now folded into the sides of the transept.

I will present some of the highlights in the following, as a complete description of the exhibition would go beyond the scope of this blog. St. Mary and Child were the tenors of the exhibition.

Around 1478. Marco Soppo (Venice 1432-1478)
Madonna and Child

A sad mother holds her child, who is not dressed festively, tightly in her hands. This child looks at the world with big, questioning eyes.

Around 1549. Pellegrino Tibaldi (Milan 1527-1596)
Madonna del Silenzio Holy Family with St. John the Baptist

Thirty years before El Greco, Tibaldi paints clothes with unusual colors. The adolescent son trustingly lays his head in his mother's lap. The somewhat older John the Baptist looks thoughtfully at this scene. Does he already know what will happen to this sleeping youth?

Around 1495. Raffaello Carli, called Raffaellino del Garbo (1466-1524)
Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici receives the child's blessing before the Madonna.

About 50 years later, del Garbo painted the Madonna and Child, blessing a member of the Medici family. This was sorely needed because, during the Renaissance, the Medici family provided many of the mostly rather unholy cardinals and popes.

Around 1500. Sandro Botticelli (Florence 1445-1510)
Adoration of the Child.

This is a depiction of the Holy Family that is still common today. It shows the old man Joseph not yet understanding what has happened to him.  

Around 1370. Giovanni del Biondo (Florence 1356-1398)
St. Jerome.

Church Father St. Jerome presents a book. Without him, Erasmus of Rotterdam could not have produced his new translation of the Bible, the Novum Instrumentum.     

Around 1395. Agnolo Gaddi (Florence 1369-1396)
The Last Supper.

Due to the short length of the painting, the table is depicted here in the shape of a horseshoe. The favorite disciple's head seems to be growing out of the table while Judas has sat down quite provocatively on the other side opposite Jesus.

Around 1440. Pietro di Giovanni d'Ambrogio (Siena 1409-1449)
St. Augustine.

Church Father St. Augustine invented the Original Sin, which means that unbaptized children will go to hell. In the interpretation of the faith, St. Augustine is still regarded by many Catholics as the second St. Paul.

Around 1500. Unknown artist in Naples
Coronation of the Virgin.

God the Father and the Holy Ghost watch Jesus, who graciously puts the crown on his mother's head. Compare this to Hans Baldung Grien's masterpiece in Freiburg's Münster (1520/30). 

©Pogo Engel/Wikipedia

The altarpiece shows Christ in a somewhat leisurely posture, holding the world in one hand while clumsily helping his father coronate his mother as celestial queen. Still, today, some pious viewers are shocked.

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