![]() ![]() ![]() Usually I am attracted to pictures that scramble brushstrokes with painterly aplomb. I have been looking at this early fifteenth century triptych by Master of the Osservanza or years, making it a special diversion whenever I herd my students through the National Gallery in Washington. Anthonyįrom Calypso song “Zombie Jamboree” by Conrad Eugene Mauge, Jr. Raoul Middleman on the Master of the Osservanza Triptych of St. 1430/1435, Tempera on poplar panel, 19 x 14 inches (each panel), The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Master of the Osservanza, Triptych of St. He concluded that great art couldn’t be reduced to a concept. In The Critique of Judgment Immanuel Kant attempted to rationalize aesthetic judgment. On the other hand, the painter, as the emblem of a red cross on his chest testifies, is free to transcend his plebian origins. All of them, even the Princess, are imprisoned from birth. What all these attendees have in common is a lack of freedom to be other than what destiny has in store for them. Velazquez beside his canvas, towers above the phalanx with proud resolve. The surrounding entourage includes, on either side of the Infanta, two curtseying ladies in waiting, plus a dwarf and a little person whose foot stirs the slumbers of a sleeping mastiff -all approximately of the same height. The fresh and spontaneous brushwork of flesh, hair and garment makes for a miraculous glow of silver and gold. Taking place in the artist’s studio at the Royal Alcazar with the King and Queen as ostensible subjects, the real focus and center of the canvas is the 5 year old Infanta Margaret Theresa. Does the mirror on the back wall reflect what is painted on the canvas or the real life posing of the King and Queen? It’s an ontological question that probes the subtle divide between fiction and reality. ![]()
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