Recently, the Shanghai Museum announced that it will jointly hold "From Botticelli to Van Gogh: Treasures from the National Gallery of the United Kingdom" with the National Gallery of England, which has attracted great attention. The exhibition is scheduled to open on January 17 and will feature 52 paintings by European masters such as Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Gosset, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Claude, Constable, Cézanne, Manet, Monet and Van Gogh in Shanghai, China. How to tell the history of European painting for 400 years with more than 50 works? In addition to the absent "Sunflowers", what other treasures come to Shanghai?
Messina, St. Jerome in the Study
As one of the top ten most popular art museums in the world, the National Gallery houses more than 2,600 masterpieces of European painting, including Gentileschi, Bellini, Cézanne, Degas, Leonardo da Vinci, Monet, Raphael, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rubens, Titian, Turner, Van Dyck, Van Gogh and Velázquez. Exhibits are rarely outsourced elsewhere. At present, the National Gallery is preparing for the 200th anniversary celebration of its founding in 2024, and the building in Trafalgar Square will undergo a major renovation, which also makes a "schedule" for a number of cultural relics in the collection to come to Asia.
The National Gallery in London
According to the exhibition list published by the organizers, the special exhibition covers 52 works by 50 artistic masters, and will fully present the history of European painting from the Renaissance to post-impressionism in the 19th century. In order to better present this epitome of European art history spanning more than 400 years, the exhibition selection should cover as many representative artists or representative works as possible from various periods, from Botticelli, Bellini, Raphael, Titian, Tintoretto, Gosset, Caravaggio, Poussin, Velázquez, van Dyck, Rembrandt, Goya, Cézanne, Gauguin, Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, Constable, Turner, etc., all of which are art giants in art history.
Chu Xiaobo, director of the Shanghai Museum, previously revealed at the press conference that Shanghai Bo also proposed twice when selecting exhibits, hoping to borrow Van Gogh's most famous "Sunflowers" to be exhibited in Shanghai, but this masterpiece was not suitable for "long-distance travel" in the short term because it left the United Kingdom for an Asian tour during the Tokyo Olympics, and the British side finally failed to agree to lend it after repeated consultations.
In its place, Van Gogh's work is "Long Grass and Butterflies" hanging next to "Sunflowers" in the exhibition hall, which is also a blockbuster exhibit. Van Gogh painted the meadow while being treated at the Saint-Paul de Mausole near the small town of St-Rémy in southern France. Van Gogh sensed life with a brush and painted the world with bright and rich colors, making his works full of life. At the press conference, Dr. Gabriel Fernaldi, director of the National Gallery, stood in front of this work and enthusiastically introduced the special exhibition to Chinese audiences through a video. He said it was "an exhibition that condenses the essence of the National Gallery's collection".
Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna of the Rocks is one of the most important collections of the National Gallery, and the British side has said that it can bring digital exhibits of this work to China, but the Shanghai Museum hopes to present the original work and digital exhibits to domestic audiences at the same time. In this regard, the British side has repeatedly studied and believes that this work is an early woodblock painting, the material is fragile, and it will not be exhibited for cultural relics protection considerations.
Although it is a pity that "Sunflowers" and Leonardo da Vinci's paintings cannot be seen on display in Shanghai, the exhibition can still be described as a collection of masterpieces. Before the exhibition officially opens, it is worth taking a look at some of the exhibits.
Botticelli, Three Wonders of St. Zenobius
The Three Wonders of St. Zenobius, the second in a series of four paintings by Botticelli, tells the story of St. Zenobius, patron saint of Florence. Botticelli shows three miracles that the saint performed on the streets of Florence. In the first scene on the far left, he shows the saint – who is the bishop of Florence – wearing a bishop's crown and white gloves, banishing demons wrapped around the bodies of two boys. In the central scene, Zenobius resurrects a child lying on the lap of a crying mother. In the final scene, Zenobius places his finger on the eyelid of a blind beggar, curing his blindness. The architectural background should be familiar to Florentine locals: Botticelli faithfully set the scene in front of a famous square, and the deep arch of the distant square can be seen most likely the Volta di San-Pietro that still exists in Florence today.
Raphael's Madonna and Child and St. John the Baptist (Our Lady of Gava)
In the small painting Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist (Our Lady of Gava), Raphael depicts the moment when the Son receives the carnation from his cousin John the Baptist. Carnations traditionally symbolize divine love and passion (the torment and passion of Christ). The space between the children's hands forms the center of the pyramidal composition, suggesting the foothold of the spirit in the material world. The motif of carnations and crosses heralds the coming of the Son sacrifice. Our Lady seemed to be caught up in melancholy thoughts. Maybe she's thinking about the fate of her children.
The painting is one of several small and medium-sized Madonna images created by Raphael while painting the rooms of the Vatican Palaces for the Pope. Raphael fully interprets the tenderness of his mother's arms and the touch of the human skin in the painting. Such images captivate us and make us feel embraced.
Titian Portrait of a Woman (Laskia Werna)
Titian created the painting in his early twenties, when private portraits of women were still rare. We don't know the exact identity of the person in the painting, and it may not be a portrait commissioned by the Venetian aristocracy in the traditional sense. The painting was named La Schiavona in the 17th century, meaning "Dalmatian woman".
The woman in the painting looks calm and majestic, unlike any woman in early European portraiture. Titian took a novel approach, depicting three-quarters of the figure's body, nearly life-size. For a portrait, it is very large and can have a strong visual impact from a distance.
Inspired by ancient Roman sculpture and reliefs, the side bust seems to represent the model herself, but may also be in honor of her family members. This may have something to do with the debate of that era about the superiority and inferiority of painting and sculpture. On the wall "T.V." stands for Tiziano Vecellio (Titian).
Caravaggio, The Boy Bitten by a Lizard
"The Boy Bitten by a Lizard" depicts a scene where a delicate young man is bitten by a lizard, and the lizard stubbornly sticks to his fingers, and he withdraws in pain. In the foreground is a magnificent still life of fruit, with a rose and a jasmine sprig in a glass vase. Looking closely, you can also see the reflection of the room on the curved surface of the vase. The painting may be alluding, alluding to the pain of love.
The painting was probably created in Rome by Caravaggio in the mid-90s of the 16th century, when the artist was just beginning to become known for his striking and innovative style. It is very unusual for a painting from the late sixteenth century to show such an action moment, but Caravaggio abandoned the artistic tradition and painted a live model directly on canvas. This gives his works an immediacy and tension that makes them instantly popular. The painting spawned many copies in the early 17th century, some of which are even thought to have been created by Caravaggio himself.
Caravaggio's short and turbulent life echoes the theatrical interior and exterior of his work. Characterized by exaggerated, dramatic lighting, his paintings were controversial but popular and had a huge impact on later generations of painters throughout Europe.
Sanso Ferretto, Our Lady of Prayer
This is a "Madonna" that makes it impossible to look away. A dark blue cloak, a pale pink skirt, a creamy headdress against a plain dark backdrop – this pious painting makes us feel as if we are in the same room as the Virgin, who bows her head and prays quietly. The bright light draws attention to her lustrous blue garment, the folds of the fabric painted with expensive ultramarine pigments.
Sanso Ferretto was an Italian Baroque painter known for his obsessive pursuit of the Raphael style, inspired by the works of early artists Raphael and Pietro Perugino.
Van Dyck, Lord John Stuart and his brother Lord Bernard Stuart
This life-size double portrait of Van Dyck depicts the youngest son of Duke Lennox III: Lord John Stuart and his brother, Lord Bernard Stuart. They were only about 17 or 8 years old, they exuded an aristocratic temperament and dressed luxuriously.
Van Dyck's ability to display the textures of silk and satin made his portraits popular with the aristocracy at the time. Here, he further enhances the effect by using clear lines and pastel tones of the background to bring out the folds and rich colors of the garment.
In the picture, he also strengthens the tension between the brothers. They stood together, postures touching, with both men's left hands resting on their hips and torsos turning to the other side. But their eyes did not intersect, one passively leaning back, while the other, looking directly at us, took a step forward, clearly showing the spurs and sword at our feet.
Rembrandt, Self-Portrait at 63
Rembrandt's Self-Portrait at 63, when you look at it, you are looking into the eyes of a man in the last year of his life. Rembrandt was 63 years old at the time, one of three self-portraits Rembrandt made a few months before his death in 1669. During his 40-year career, he left more than 80 self-portraits, far more than any other artist of his time. He painted self-portraits for a variety of different reasons: to practice different expressions, to experiment with the effects of light, and to sell to wealthy patrons and collectors.
In this painting, Rembrandt focuses on the textures and colors that depict his aging face. The drooping fold under his right eye was swirled by a heavy brush. The blemishes on his forehead were formed by solidified spots of pigment.
In this portrait, some see tiredness and helplessness in his gloomy eyes, some see a hint of self-satisfaction, others a twisted smile. Many later writers and artists saw this as part of his self-examination process—Rembrandt accepted the imminence of death and knew himself with unwavering honesty. But it's important to note that in the 17th century, people didn't think much about self-analysis and how the brain worked than we do now. Rembrandt's motivation for creation was perhaps more immediate—not so much introspection as a professional fascination with artistic challenges.
Gauguin "Fruit Bowl in Front of the Window and Wine Glass"
One of Gauguin's favorite paintings is Cézanne's Still Life on a Stilt Saucer, Glass and Apple (1879-1880, Museum of Modern Art, New York), which he acquired around 1880 for his collection.
This still life is a tribute to that painting and repeats many of its elements: fruit, earthenware, crumpled tablecloths and a diagonal knife at the lower right. The truncated diagonal strokes and flattened perspective, where the foreground and distance are folded together, are also reminiscent of Cézanne's work.
The narrow strips at the top of the painting and the dense arrangement of buildings together make up the mystery of the painting. The addition of window frames in the painting seems to indicate that this is a view outside the window, but there is no continuity between the large scene that is clearly defined and the smaller blurred image next to it. We haven't decided on a specific view yet, it looks more like an urban landscape than the countryside of Brittany, though Gauguin spent a lot of time there at the time of painting this painting.
Manet, "A Corner of the Cafe Recital"
In the mid-19th century, coffee concerts became very popular in France, attracting customers from all walks of life. These venues were also fashionable meeting places for artists and writers, especially those associated with Impressionism. From 1872 until his death in 1883, Manet created many works, showing the interiors, terraces and gardens of popular local beer shops, restaurants, cafes and café concerts.
In August 1874, Manet was attracted by the skill of the waitress in the Leichthofen restaurant and began to create large-scale paintings using the restaurant as a scene. During the creative process, he completely changed his plan, splitting it in two and completing each half separately. This café-like snapshot is the right part of the original large painting. The left half of the painting, named Au Café, depicts a man and two women sitting on the other side of a table, now in the collection of the Reinhardt Museum in Winterthur, Switzerland. Although Manet reworked each painting separately, it is still clear that they are two halves of the same painting. For example, the table on the left of this image is connected to the table to the right of Au Café, where the shadows of the glass and the glass bottle continue.
In this painting in the collection of the National Gallery, Manet added an additional canvas to the right, expanding the scale of the painting and bringing the waitress to the center of the composition. He then redesigned the background, adding stages, dancers, and orchestras, which were drawn much looser than the foreground figures.
"A Corner of the Cafe Recital" is both a painting and a fragment in itself. This title is very appropriate for the subject of the painting, because Manet offers us only a glimpse of the world, not its panorama.
Renoir, "The Bather"
Before the 80s of the 19th century, Renoir rarely painted nudes. He traveled to Italy in 1881, where he was drawn to Roman sculpture and Renaissance painting, which rekindled his interest in depicting nudes in a way that echoed classical tradition. He began to work more frequently on the human body, and this "The Bather" is probably one of a series of works he created in the second half of the 80s of the 19th century.
The tradition of nude painting subjects dates back to ancient Greek mythology, and the long tradition of classical nude painting is clearly reflected in Renoir's work. He also added some distinctly contemporary elements, such as the striped fabric on the towel or skirt where the model was sitting, and the hair she was arranging (or unraveling) were among the fashions of the time.
Van Gogh "The Long Meadow and the Butterfly"
Van Gogh painted the meadow while being treated at the Saint-Paul de Mausole near the small town of St-Rémy in southern France. While in the hospital, he looked down through the window at the small overgrown garden and made some sketches and paintings. There is no horizon or sky, Van Gogh focuses almost exclusively on grass and a few white butterflies, but a less conspicuous path at the top of the frame creates a depth effect. In contrast to the boundaries formed by the trails, the remaining space is open and may extend beyond the canvas. The grass is drawn with different strokes, as described in clusters.
Van Gogh's interest in depicting natural details may have been influenced by what he learned about Japanese culture, as he noted in his letter to Theo, "The wise Japanese ... He studies only one grass. But this blade of grass led him to draw all the plants - then the seasons, the magnificent scenery, and finally the animals, then the characters... These pure Japanese live in nature as if they themselves were flowers, isn't what they teach us a true religion? ”。 In painting, however, Van Gogh's detailed study of nature, especially vegetation and flowers, has important precedents in Renaissance art and 17th-century Dutch painting.
Turner, "The Parting of Helo and Leander"
Joseph Mallord William Turner is one of Britain's most famous and skilled artists. Turner's oil painting The Parting of Helo and Leander was painted before 1837 and is based on the ancient Greek writer and poet Musseus's most famous love poem, "Heero and Leander". Helo was the priestess of Aphrodite, and Leander swam across the Dardanelles every night to meet him, and Heero showed Leander the way with a torch every night. On a stormy night, the guiding torch is blown out by a storm, Leander drowns because he got lost, and Helo jumps into the sea in grief.
The lovers are not the biggest characters in the painting. Turner broke with the tradition of history painting, which requires the main character to be at or near the center of the picture. When Leander was ready to leave, they almost hid in the shadows of the water's edge. On the platform above them, a winged cupid threw his bow and quiver to the ground, holding a lamp and a torch. Around them, Turner constructs an imaginary site with various classical architectural elements, wide staircases, and huge mosaic floors. On the right, an exotic "Moorish" tower representing Abydos on the Turkish coast is just behind huge, jagged rocks on which ghostly sea nymphs gather.
As Turner's verse says, the night is coming to an end because "love is still wandering." Although dawn has just broken, a crescent moon is still clearly visible in the turbulent blue-black sky. Turner uses darkness and deep shadows to enhance the drama of the scene, perhaps alluding to an impending tragedy. Because Leander left Helo and never returned.
(The introduction of this work is compiled and organized according to the official website of the National Gallery and the official WeChat)