National Gallery of Australia | Audio Tour | Three Centuries of Italian Art

Bernini was the greatest Baroque sculptor of the 17th century. He admired the carving of Michelangelo, the classicism of Annibale Carracci and the emotionalism of Guido Reni. He strived to express both earthly character and spiritual state of mind and claimed ‘I have overcome the difficulty of making marble like wax’. Clement Altieri, Pope Clement X, died before this portrait could be completed. Struts of marble remain at the right hand, which is raised in blessing while the left hand holds a Papal ‘bull’ or letter. Bernini carved the head and hands and the rest of the sculpture is attributed to his assistants.

Narcissus rejected the love of all, including the love of the nymph Echo and for his cruelty was condemned by the god Nemesis to drown while admiring his own reflection. Employing dramatic naturalism, Caravaggio places the lone figure in a strong, clear light, close to the frame to bring the viewer from the real world to this mythological event. Narcissus’ hand is about to cup the water. The artist probably painted directly on the canvas without preliminary drawings.

Travelling to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod, the Holy family is seen resting beside a stream. Joseph is in the background, and it may be Salome the midwife who gives cherries a fruit which alludes to Paradise, to baby Jesus while a shepherdess looks on. The distant obelisk and the sarcophagus may refer to their destination or more generally to the sacrifice of Christ.

With his cousin Ludivico, and his brother Agostino, Annibale established an academy in Bologna based on the traditions from the High Renaissance, especially careful preparation, study of anatomy and drawing from life. At 35 Annibale travelled to Rome to commence the decoration of the Farnese Palace, thus re-establishing Rome as the creative centre of painting. This work reveals evidence of naturalism from Bologna, light from Venice and grandeur from Rome. St Margaret, a 3rd century Christian martyr, refused to renounce her faith to marry so was devoured by Satan in the form of a dragon. The cross she carried caused the dragon’s belly to burst open releasing her and she is shown crushing the serpent with her foot. The motto may refer to her gesture, which entreats us to lift up our hearts to the Lord.

King Solomon is sitting on the elevated plinth at the top of the stairs. The temple focussed attention on the importance of Jerusalem as a major power in the ancient world. Designed to be seen from below, this image is daring in its perspective and rich impasto colour. The work decorated the vault of Santa Chiara, a church in Naples which was bombed in the Second World War and this preparatory sketch is all that remains.

A supernatural light illuminates the many figures in this dramatic canvas. Zaccariah was a priest in a temple where the angel appeared to tell him he would become the father of St John the Baptist. The vision rendered him dumb until the birth so that he communicated with his hands to the congregation.

Canletto’s views of Venice contain a wealth of detail about social and commercial life. The strongly horizontal composition emphasises the contrast of the tilting, active gondola poles against the vertical buildings. Touches of red reinforce the cool water with its shimmering reflections.

Noah makes a sacrifice on reaching dry land in the ark after the flood. All manner of domestic animals and colourful birds huddle around the family and its polished metal pots and rich textiles. The path of light which begins with the lamb and the white cloth culminates with the dramatic image of God for ‘the odour and the sacrifice pleased the Lord’ (Genesis 8:21). Castiglione worked in Genoa but visited Rome, Naples, Venice and Mantua. Influences on his work included Rubens, Bernini and Cortna. Nicolas Poussinand was also well known for such astonishingly crowded paintings of Biblical journeys.

This is a study for a ceiling fresco in a church in Genoa. A Genoese who belonged to the Capuchin order he became one of the many foreign residents seeking inspiration in Venice. His modelling of forms with a brush indicates an interest in Barocci, Tintoretto, Ribera and Rubens.

Versatile genius of the Renaissance, Leonardo created this drawing for his wall painting in Milan The Last Supper. The artist defined the role of artist as philosopher when he portrayed the moment Jesus said to the disciples ‘I tell you, one of you will betray me’. The earliest traces of red and black chalk, assumed to be by Leonardo’s hand, remain. This drawing, now more than 500 years old, was considered so important it was continually ‘updated’ and reworked.

Justine of Padua became a martyr to the Christian faith when she was killed by a sword in her breast. Emperor Maximian, who ordered her persecution, sits high on his throne. Saints appeared to Justine in a vision. The dog appears in many of Veronese’s paintings and such profane inclusions in religious works caused him to be questioned by the Inquisition about his decorum. Veronese’s claim to absolute right of artistic licence remains famous as a defence case.

The Virgin, holding the Christ child, and St Catherine are sumptuously clothed in their heavenly space. In stark contrast St Dominic, from Spain, wears the black cloak and white tunic of his order while the donor, thought to be Domenico Balbi, is also sombrely dressed. A light-filled landscape indicates their earthly realm. The five figures dominate the foreground in this work, which Titian painted in his youth.

This religious drama typifies the arrival of Mannerism in Venice with its heightened colour and uninhibited figures in action. The Virgin and her cousin Elizabeth, soon to become the mother of John the Baptist, are both pregnant. Joseph and Zaccariah observe their embrace. Tntoretto wrote on his wall ‘The drawing of Michelangelo and the colouring of Titian’.

This artist developed Florentine Mannerism, influenced by Michelangelo. Figures are muscular and in inventive poses, compressed into a space which has little depth. The painting may contain several stories. Moses is the central pivot for this turbulent composition but also appears in the red drapery rushing to save his future bride. He defends the seven daughters of Jethro from men who have deprived them of water for their flocks.

Dressed Spanish-style in fine silk from Bergamo, a town on the outskirts of the Venetian Republic, this proud and haughty young knight is about to marry for the second time. The inscription ‘Better the last than the first’ refers to this marriage. Ivy symbolises constancy of love while the broken sculpture is a reminder of vanity and fragility.

Moretto, from Brescia, was one of the most distinguished Renaissance painters of the16th century. He was influenced by both the naturalism of Lombardy and the colour and light of Venice. The artist was personally involved in the local movement of Roman Catholic reform and this is reflected in this direct, solemn and moving image of the Madonna and Child which he painted for a patron for private devotion.

Lotto was a restless traveller who absorbed many influences but left many letters and records. Here is a miraculous story told in simple and direct human terms. Gabriel announces to the Virgin ‘You shall conceive and bear a son and you shall give him the name Jesus’. Mary turns away from her reading of Isaiah 7:14, which begins ‘A young woman who is pregnant will have a son’. The light of the Christian faith fills the space which is her bed-chamber. It would have been against the decorum of the times to show Mary in fear and the cat amplifies this. The lily is a symbol of the Virgin. There is a Venetian quality to the light and colour of this altar-piece and a Northern-European attention to detail.

This reflects on different experiences of ‘love’. The idealised noble figure, holding a wild-orange as a symbol of love, occupies a shadowed spiritual space of melancholy love. The other young man is more aggressively realistic and stands in direct lighting. During his short career, Giorgione inspired by mythology or secular literature produced paintings shrouded in mystery.

Campi introduced a regional realism to the Carracci Academy in Bologna and also influenced Carravaggio, who was born in Lombardy. This sentimental subject is treated formally in a strong composition of repeated shapes. From a high viewpoint the bounteous harvest of fruit and vegetables is visible, as is the woman who is as round and fresh as the fruit she displays. The painting may be an allegory of love, symbolised by the grapes in her hand.

Bassano was a leading 16th century Venetian Mannerist and this was painted in his youth. When Catherine remained true to her faith and refused the advances of a Roman Emperor in Alexandria, she was bound to a wheel with spikes. This works depicts the confusion of the moment when a thunderbolt destroyed the wheel, and an angel appears, bathed in a supernatural light. The controlled composition of the powerful twisted torsos is painted in luminescent, carefully delineated colours.