Author: ZHUGE Yi (Professor, Hangzhou Normal University)
Poet Xu Zhimo wrote the modern poem "A Night of Emerald Emerald" in Italy in 1925, which is the Italian city of Florence, meaning "City of Flowers".
Compared to Rome, which carries a rich history, Florence is more like a city where art and romance are perfectly combined. Wander through a vast labyrinthine open-air museum – a relic of the Renaissance bathed in the Tuscan sun; Between boos, the artistic atmosphere reverberates gently like the enduring sound of the organ. In this "city of flowers", there are countless ancient palaces, temples and courtes, the most charming of which is the Uffizi Gallery in the Uffizi Palace (which once served as the government office). It is located in the traditional power core of Florence, between the Town Hall Square and the Arno River, not far from the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. It is a treasure chest with stunning works of art in those long labyrinthine rooms, from paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Tintoretto, Rembrandt, Rubens and Van, to Greco-Roman sculptures that stand for thousands of years, as well as works by contemporary artists who are in the limelight. The Uffizi Gallery is undoubtedly the most magnificent wonder in Florence, the "City of Flowers".
Today, she has brought her most beautiful rare works to the Chinese audience. In the next five years from 2022, ten art exhibitions from the collection of the Uffizi Museum will be held at the Dongyi Art Museum in Shanghai, of which "Botticelli and the Renaissance" and "Self-Portrait of the Master" are the key projects of the "China-Italy Year of Culture and Tourism 2022". This is the first large-scale appearance of world-class treasures from the collection of the Uffizi Gallery in Italy, and this transatlantic art tour is undoubtedly of great significance for cultural exchanges between China and Italy.
Raphael self-portrait profile picture
1. The glory of a family, the wisdom of a woman
The illustrious Medici family was the de facto rulers of Florence from the 15th to the early 18th centuries. The founder of the family, Cosimo de' Medici the Elder (Cosimo I), was shrewd and generous, and he recruited many outstanding architects and artists to build the projects he financed. In 1559, Cosimo I, Duke of Tuscany, commissioned his favorite architect, Giorgio Vasari, the "father of modern Western art history", to design and build a magnificent building next to Palazzo Vecchio, the center of power in Florence, to house the Florentine court and important guilds and administrative offices, called "Uffizi" (Italian for "office"). To demonstrate the Medici's dominance over Florence, Vasari built a corridor connecting Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti, the private residence of the Medici family – and today, the Vasari corridor is flanked by self-portraits of artists. After the death of Cosimo the Elder and Vasari, the Uffizi Palace was completed in 1581 under the supervision of the architect Bernardo Bottalenti, when Duke Francesco I decided to make the highest floor of the palace a gallery for exquisite works of art. Lorenzo, the third generation of the Medici family, was so interested in art that he sponsored masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and began to collect treasures of ancient marble sculptures. Michelangelo entered Lorenzo's palace at the age of 14, where he observed and studied a large number of works of art and interacted with the most famous humanist scholars of the time, which led to his illustrious career.
Over the generations, Palazzo Uffizi has become a "house of curiosities" for paintings and sculptures, curiosities and even scientific instruments. In the 17th century, Cosimo III decided to make Palazzo Uffizi an art museum comparable to the Vatican Belvedere, and he ordered the commissioner to organize a centralized collection and display of art. Through generations and centuries of bequests, donations and exchanges, the Uffizi Gallery's collection grew in number and type, and by the 18th century it became a cultural sanctuary in Europe and a symbol of Italy's international status. In the following centuries, the Uffizi Gallery underwent a series of "modern" reorganization, especially in recent years, a large number of masterpieces of paintings from major European countries such as the Netherlands, France, and Spain and contemporary Asian contemporary art have been added, reflecting the contemporary and cosmopolitan museum concept and vision. This monument to the historical memory of Italy and the achievements of Renaissance art continues to renew the passion for art, inspiring the world's pursuit of beauty and the admiration and reflection on human civilization.
However, the existence of the Uffizi Gallery today is due to mention a woman, Anna Maria, who was the widow of the Elector of the Medici (referring to the princes who had the right to elect the King of Germany and the Holy Roman Emperor). In 1737, the Medici family lost all men because of the death of her brother, and the power of the Grand Duchy was transferred to Franz Stephen. Although Anna Maria sent people under the fence, she behaved dignified and never lost her dignity. She could have sold or transferred part of her property to raise her standard of living, but she made an amazing decision. In 1737, when she signed the agreement to transfer the artistic heritage to the Laurena dynasty, she established some hard and fast clauses: "for the glory of the state", everything is left to the state and not to the private; The work of art must serve the "public interest" of the Florentine; This legacy must be used to "attract the curiosity of foreigners". This is the largest donation of an individual to the country, and the result is the world's first large-scale museum of modern significance open to all, the Uffizi Gallery.
Anna's unprecedented decision is to put into practice the modern idea that artistic heritage is a national treasure, not a ruler, and that it should serve civic education; Artistic heritage is also an economic resource that can contribute to the development of cultural tourism. At the entrance to the Uffizi Gallery, the portrait of Ana Maria is most prominently presented because of her foresight and wisdom ahead of her time.
2. Self-portrait of the master: Uffizi's series collection
The Medici family once owned the world's largest and oldest collection of self-portraits. This type of collection continued for centuries, beginning in 1800. In the collection of more than 100,000 in the Uffizi Gallery, there are more than 1,800 self-portraits of the painter, which is the largest in the world art museum. However, the works are secretly hung in secret corridors designed by Vasari and are not often seen by the audience.
Rembrandt youth self-portrait profile picture
From the 15th century, thanks to the development and use of the Venetian mirror industry, painters were able to observe themselves in detail, paint with themselves as objects, and practice their creative skills. In order to show his ability to draw, show his professional identity, spread fame and accept commissions, self-portraits gradually became a popular type of creation for Western painters of that period. Painters usually show the state of their life and creation in self-portraits, often facing the audience outside the painting with their upper body standing on three-quarters of the side, conveying a contemplative, melancholy, idyllic and tranquil temperament.
Of the 50 self-portraits on display in Shanghai by the Uffizi Gallery, Raphael's self-portrait is the first treasure. The painting is considered to be the clearest and most recognizable depiction of Raphael himself. The young painter's hairstyle was typical of Renaissance court attendants, and his dark hat (later known as the "Raphael style") was the kind commonly used by painters, as was his dark robes. In short, he wears simple overalls that intentionally hints at his profession. But he did not overly beautify his face, his face did not have a sense of smugness, but with a touch of melancholy, a touch of sentimentality, he seemed to focus on time and foresaw his untimely death. His dark eyes and elegant facial features confirmed Vasari's enthusiastic assessment of the Urbino genius and master in his Biography of Italian Art Schools - "elegant, erudite, beautiful and brilliantly dressed", Vasari also admired Raphael's perfection as an artist, comparing it to Zeucis and Apelles, who are known as the greatest painters of the classical world.
Like many of Uffizi's collections, the painting was not originally made in Florence. In fact, until 1652 it was placed in the "matrimonial room" of Francesco María II de la Rovelli, the last Duke of Urbino, and Victoria de la Rovelli, daughter of Claudia de' Medici. The lords of Urbino wanted to include Raphael's portraits in their rich collections, because Raphael was not only an outstanding painter, but also the pride and glory of the city in which he was born. Later, Victoria della rovelli gifted it to Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici, who created the central collection unit of the Palazzo Uffizi - "The Portrait of the Painter Himself".
Rembrandt was a European painter of the 17th century and the greatest painter of the Dutch Golden Age, and among all his portraits, self-portraits are not only astonishingly numerous, but also have a strong personality, occupying an extremely important place. The Uffizi Gallery houses three self-portraits of Rembrandt of different ages, which show the dramatic life of the painter through the contrast of faces. One of them, painted in Amsterdam in 1634, dressed up carefully by the young painter to conduct an analysis of the elements of the picture. In the work, the color and light are rich, and the imprints on the velvet are depicted particularly realistically, and the artist achieves a special sparkling effect with the help of simple throat armor and a gold necklace hanging from it; The left side of the background radiates a golden reflection, which contrasts with the black fedora, reflecting the character's blonde hair and childish face, revealing a gentle and determined gaze; The character's face is in three-quarters of the shadow, expressing a focused expression.
In stark contrast to this spirited self-portrait of a young man is one of Rembrandt's more famous self-portraits of his later years, which is said to be Rembrandt's last self-portrait during his lifetime. The painter pays attention to the inner temperament of the face, from which the viewer can discover an underlying inner language. In the painting, the painter's body almost directly faces the viewer, maintaining an indestructible posture, the fur cloak he wears also faintly reveals the past glory, gray hair and the skin color of the face are in harmony, although his face is puffy, his eyes are swollen, showing old age, but the vicissitudes reveal firmness, silence shows longing, and his eyes convey the sharpness, sophistication and nothingness that penetrate the world. We know that by this time, the painter was alone (his wife Hendrige had died three years earlier), and the successive setbacks of life and the weakness of his career dealt a great blow to Rembrandt, who used his superb depiction ability to sketch his own physical and spiritual images on this work.
3. Botticelli: The ideal of Lorenzo's time
In Renaissance Florence, inspired by Greco-Roman marble sculpture and inspired by the humanist spirit of patron Lorenzo de' Medici, artists revisited art, the central figure of which was Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510). One of the most important painters of the Florentine school of the Renaissance, with his artistic genius and unique personal style, transformed classical themes into original, new aesthetic ideals, with elegant figures, smooth lines and exquisite details, with a touch of melancholy. The "Botticelli Room" is the most famous exhibition hall of the Uffizi Gallery, which displays some of Botticelli's greatest works and is the most fascinating place for visitors to linger in the museum. Among the many paintings, two have entered the collective visual impression as the essence of the Renaissance: Spring (c. 1482) and The Birth of Venus (c. 1484).
Rembrandt self-portrait profile picture in his later years
Spring is considered the most famous work of the Uffizi Gallery, and the allegorical painting is inspired by the poems of Ovid and the poems of Polyziano, a friend of the Medici family and Botticelli. In his poems, Polyziano describes the three goddesses Meihui and the spring wind Zhefeiro. In the painting, the latter is chasing the earth fairy Crowley, allowing flowers to bloom from her mouth; The fairy then transformed into Flora, the goddess of spring dressed in flowers, while Venus stood in the garden, his eyes lost in thought. The three goddesses of beauty dancing on the left are shot by Cupid, the little goddess of love, and they are a metaphor for the relationship between gods and human nature. The transparent and light scarves were draped over them, making the dancers' posture very attractive. Botticelli abandoned any perspective to give the background a deep decorative effect, and in Venus's garden, the citrus trees are full of flowers and fruits, and the flowers and fruits are alluringly fragrant, and the leaves are like a beautiful watermark against the blue sky. Even more impressive are the star-studded flowers at the bottom, where botanists have identified two hundred different flowers, many of which bloom on the hills around Florence and on the lawns near Villa Medici in Castello. With his unique sophistication and elegance, Botticelli "translated" the ideals of Neoplatonism in his paintings, and presented them to Florence under Lorenzo de' Medici, hoping to return to the golden age in which the highest ideals could be expressed.
Fresh lyricism, decorative picture processing, curvaceous feminine figures, and delicate lines rich in rhythm are recognized as Botticelli's artistic characteristics. In order to achieve the ideal beauty, he even did not hesitate to deform the shape of the figure, such as lengthening the neck, exaggerating the proportions of the hands and feet, and so on. The famous "Birth of Venus" is a prime example. Botticelli was inspired by the Venus stories of epic poems such as Homer's Epic Poems and Metamorphoses, and was inspired by the neoplatonic cultural atmosphere of the time to create this masterpiece. The scenery is depicted very mysteriously, the sea is sparkling, the grass is flying in the sky, and the light shades of silver dominate the picture. Venus is in the center of the painting, standing on a huge shell, gently pushed to the shore by the wind, her posture gently tilted, symbolizing the beauty of the ideal. A faint light of chiaroscuro swept over her, and the goddess's gaze and expression were sad, reflecting the ephemerality of everything. On the left, Tetsui and Aurra roll roses and spread their wings, this pattern is the decoration on Lorenzo's jewelry cup, and on the right, the goddess of time presents a gorgeous cloak embroidered with a pattern of flowers and leaves, and the satin flutters in the wind, and the waves in the background are undulating, making it an abstract scene. Using his brush, Botice conveys a balance and harmony, transcendent of time and space, eternal and dreamlike beauty, a beauty that achieves a high degree of integration of spirit and matter, which is the ideal beauty of Lorenzo's time, immortal.
The Uffizi Gallery is the birthplace of modern museums in the West, a treasure trove of Renaissance art, and a temple of classical European art. As it entered the 20th century, the ancient museum continued to increase its collection with an open and inclusive attitude towards modern art. The exhibition "Self-Portraits of Masters – Treasures of the Uffizi Gallery in Italy" in Shanghai also showcases self-portraits by modernist artists such as Giorgio Morandi and Marc Chagall. It is worth mentioning that the works of "Polka Dot Queen" Yayoi Kusama are also on display, and her self-portraits show the artist's fanatical love for small polka dots, presenting an autobiographical, deeply spiritual world. In addition, Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang's self-portrait "Exploding Cai" was also presented at this exhibition, and Cai Guoqiang showed himself in his classic "explosive" way. It can be seen that the Uffizi Gallery is still enriching its core collection of self-portraits, leaving a historical face for the process of human civilization!
Guang Ming Daily (November 17, 2022, version 13)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily