Fra Carnevale’s Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple
2/26/04
Art History
Fra Carnevale’s Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston contains some of the greatest treasures of the Italian Renaissance, and not least among these is Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, painted in 1467 by Bartolomeo d. Giovanni Corradini, better known as Fra Carnevale. This Urbinian painter and architect produced some of the greatest architectural paintings of the early Renaissance, and his techniques expressed an interest in the progression of the Italian Renaissance style of classical idealism. The Presentation, measuring 57 5/8 x 38 in., depicts the apocryphal story of the Virgin Mary’s Presentation in the Temple of Jerusalem by her parents at the age of three. Executed in oil and tempera on panel, the work frames a young Virgin in purple by the grand, classical architecture of the Temple. The entire work confers an atmosphere of contrast: the softness of Mary’s companions with the sharply defined, half-nude beggars, the religious with the classical reliefs, the tiny Virgin with the enormous architecture, and the brightly lit interior with the cloudy sky. Fra Carnevale creates a mysterious, yet orderly, scene of subtle emotion and veiled heterogeneity. The most striking and most visually rich aspect of the painting is the towering architecture that lends symmetry and balance to an otherwise asymmetric setting. The Romanesque architecture, wholly inappropriate for the Temple in Jerusalem, serves to emphasize the classical influence of the Renaissance: a large central arch rises high above Mary’s head, flanked by enormous columns with Corinthian capitals and by two smaller arches, each slightly less than half the height of the central arch. The façade is clearly reminiscent of ancient Roman triumphal arches, as most of the scenes carved into it attest. Receding into the background is a system of nine (visible) Ionic columns supporting arches that form the inner wall of the temple.
Art History
Fra Carnevale’s Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston contains some of the greatest treasures of the Italian Renaissance, and not least among these is Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, painted in 1467 by Bartolomeo d. Giovanni Corradini, better known as Fra Carnevale. This Urbinian painter and architect produced some of the greatest architectural paintings of the early Renaissance, and his techniques expressed an interest in the progression of the Italian Renaissance style of classical idealism. The Presentation, measuring 57 5/8 x 38 in., depicts the apocryphal story of the Virgin Mary’s Presentation in the Temple of Jerusalem by her parents at the age of three. Executed in oil and tempera on panel, the work frames a young Virgin in purple by the grand, classical architecture of the Temple. The entire work confers an atmosphere of contrast: the softness of Mary’s companions with the sharply defined, half-nude beggars, the religious with the classical reliefs, the tiny Virgin with the enormous architecture, and the brightly lit interior with the cloudy sky. Fra Carnevale creates a mysterious, yet orderly, scene of subtle emotion and veiled heterogeneity. The most striking and most visually rich aspect of the painting is the towering architecture that lends symmetry and balance to an otherwise asymmetric setting. The Romanesque architecture, wholly inappropriate for the Temple in Jerusalem, serves to emphasize the classical influence of the Renaissance: a large central arch rises high above Mary’s head, flanked by enormous columns with Corinthian capitals and by two smaller arches, each slightly less than half the height of the central arch. The façade is clearly reminiscent of ancient Roman triumphal arches, as most of the scenes carved into it attest. Receding into the background is a system of nine (visible) Ionic columns supporting arches that form the inner wall of the temple.