It has been an odd winter, following upon an odd autumn. The odds are in favour of an odd spring. I am less than fond of odd weather patterns. As I type we are enduring yet another raucous wind storm, which began early Sunday morning and will continue overnight. We get the full frontal blast right off the river, and sometimes it seems as if the entire house shakes. The is the 6th or 7th major wind storm here since January 9th, when it all fell apart. Last night we had heavy rain. Today there is blowing snow and falling temps, again. With winds this strong hitting us directly (nearly 50 mph gusts), the house leaks. Drafts come in everywhere, except through our newer windows. It's all growing somewhat old now. Really cold temps are coming yet again, followed by a small warm-up, followed by another blast next weekend. This also happens to be early in the late winter astronomy session. I had hopes of getting out three or four times over the next two weeks. If it does clear up, it will likely be too cold to go out, and/or too windy.
Medical mayhem continues here. Last Friday Deb went for her heart check up. They gave her two more appointments, on the next two upcoming Fridays. One for an echo cardiogram, and then another for a stress test. Routine stuff, which she hasn't had done for many years now. Next Wednesday I see my retina specialist for my annual check-up. Thursday I see my optometrist for my one month post-surgery check-up. Then Friday it's back to Deb's heart clinic. And that is just this week. Oh, Deb also needs to have her blood work done on Wednesday. And she may need to go to the clinic Monday for another small problem. And we are still waiting impatiently for her MRI appointment, for her shoulder injury. It's only been one month-likely two more to go....
Back to paintings: I first really fell in love with Venetian art when I got to study paintings at the Prado Museum, in Madrid. We spent a summer there in the mid-80s, taking courses. We had a free pass to the museum whenever we wanted, and we went about 20 times. I wrote an essay on the Venetian painters based on their vast holdings, including Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and the rest of the boys.
Giovanni Bellini was one of the greatest innovators of using paint, and enriching the colours available. His general direction influenced many Renaissance painters. He, in turn, was influenced by paintings from the northern (Flemish) school. Detroit has a masterpiece of his that I admire for several reasons.
Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child, 1509. Detroit Institute of Arts.
85 cm x 106 cm.
The painting is nearly divided in half by the green curtain, which gives the portraits a degree of intimacy, and the naturalistic landscape. The intense colours are one of the innovations that Bellini brought to painting, as well as the vast amount of single colour that he used in a picture. The colours in the painting seem as rich as the day they were painted, too, so he obviously was on to something.
Detail of above.
One of the things I love about this painting is that the Virgin is a redhead, and she is quite the aristocratic beauty! Jesus has quite a head of curly red hair, too, and the same aristocratic expression as his mother. The detail above allows the viewer to focus on the colours, without being distracted by the landscape. They also share the same olive green eyes, much easier to see in person.
Detail of the faces.
Right side detail, showing the full landscape. That is a Venetian sky!
The landscape certainly echoes northern paintings, but as we are in Italy, at least there are mountains here. However, it is more likely that the landscape in fictional, like many of them from this time. Still, it is a wonderful place to wander about, an idyllic place certainly in harmony with the painted figures and what they represent.
Upper part of the landscape, minus the sky.
Bottom of landscape, with sleeping shepherd and nose-to-nose rabbits.
At this point I am not certain when our next visit to the DIA will be, but I hope it's soon.
Mapman Mike
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