art.wikisort.org - Painting

The Madonna and Child Between St. Francis and St. Nicasius, also known as Castelfranco Madonna, is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Giorgione executed around 1504. It remains in the equivalent of its original setting, in a side-chapel of the Cathedral of Castelfranco Veneto, Giorgione's native city, in Veneto, northern Italy, although the present church dates to the 18th century.

Madonna and Child Between St. Francis and St. Nicasius
Artist	Giorgione
Year	c. 1503/04
Medium	oil on panel
Dimensions	200.5 cm × 144.5 cm (78.9 in × 56.9 in)
Location	Duomo of Castelfranco Veneto

The picture has all the elements of a typical sacra conversazione, with the Madonna enthroned with the child, with St. Francis to the right and St. Nicasius to the left. However, the extreme height of the throne is most unusual and creates a very different effect from the pictures of this type by Giovanni Bellini and other painters, where the throne is only slightly raised and the figures are at roughly the same level.[1]

It is one of a handful of paintings - perhaps three - which can be very firmly attributed to Giorgione.

Description

The armoured figure has formerly been identified as the fighting Saint St. George or St. Liberalis, patron of Castelfranco. Matteo and his brother Bruto Muzio were members of the Knights of Rhodes, whose ensign is borne by St. Nicasius (a martyred saint who had also belonged to the Hospitallier order). The traditional scheme of composition is lightened by the novel use of such elements as the throne and the landscape, which takes up a good portion of the background. Noteworthy is also the absence of any reference to ecclesiastical elements of architecture.

The technique of painting is an example of what Vasari called pittura sanza disegno (painting without drawing). This was a new approach to painting which revolutionised the Venetian school and is famously used in The Tempest. Titian, a pupil of Giorgione, later became one of the most important exponents of this style. The figure of St. Francis is very similar to that in Giovanni Bellini's San Giobbe Altarpiece (c. 1487).

History

The altarpiece was commissioned by the condottiero Tuzio Costanzo in memory of his son Matteo, who died of a fever whilst serving the Republic of Venice, in 1499. Also commissioned was a family chapel, containing the tombs of Matteo and Tuzio, built into the walls on either side of the painting. The church was subsequently demolished and replaced with the Cathedral of Castelfranco in 1724. The new building, which remains today, contains a small chapel housing the painting and the tomb of Matteo directly below. The Costanzo coat of arms, three pairs of ribs, can be seen on the tomb on the base of the Virgin's throne. (Some scholars have speculated that St. Nicasius himself is actually a portrait of Matteo.)

The work has suffered bad restorations in the past centuries, and was stolen on December 10, 1972. After being recovered, it was accurately restored in 2002-2003 by the Accademia Laboratories in Venice and displayed in the major exhibition Le maraviglie dell'arte, before being returned to its home in Castelfranco in December 2005.

Notes

References

• Steer, John, Venetian painting: A concise history, 1970, London: Thames and Hudson (World of Art), ISBN 0500201013

External links

• History of the painting (in Italian)
• Museo Casa Giorgione
• The Getty Center: Interim Results of a Needs Assessment Survey for the Field of Panel Paintings Conservation (pdf; p. 54)

На других языках

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[de] Pala di Castelfranco

Die Madonna mit Kind zwischen hl. Franziskus und Nicasius, auch bekannt als Castelfranco Madonna, ist ein Gemälde der Italienischen Renaissance aus dem Jahr 1503 von Giorgione. Es ist eines der wenigen Werke des aus Castelfranco in Venetien, Norditalien stammenden Malers, der bereits mit 32 Jahren an den Folgen der Pest starb. Es befindet sich im Dom von Castelfranco.

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- [en] Castelfranco Madonna

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[fr] Retable de Castelfranco

Le retable de Castelfranco (Pala di Castelfranco en italien) ou La Vierge et l'Enfant entre Saint François et Saint Nicaise est une huile sur bois de peuplier (200 × 152 cm) de Giorgione, daté de 1503-1504 environ. Il est conservé à son emplacement d'origine, dans l'équivalent de son cadre d'origine, dans une chapelle latérale de la cathédrale de Castelfranco Veneto, ville natale de Giorgione, en Vénétie, dans le nord de l'Italie, bien que l'église actuelle date du XVIIIe siècle.

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[it] Pala di Castelfranco

La Pala di Castelfranco è un dipinto a olio su tavola di pioppo (200x152 cm) di Giorgione, databile al 1503-1504 circa, e conservato nella sua collocazione originaria in una cappella nel Duomo di Castelfranco Veneto. La straordinarietà dell'opera, che tanta influenza ebbe nell'arte veneta successiva, è data anche dal fatto che si tratta dell'unica pala d'altare realizzata dall'artista.

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[ru] Мадонна Кастельфранко

Мадонна Кастельфранко, Алтарь Кастельфранко (итал. Madonna da Castelfranco, Madonna col Bambino tra San Francesco e San Liberale, La Pala di Castelfranco) — единственная абсолютно бесспорная картина кисти живописца венецианской школы Джорджоне да Кастельфранко. Это единственная алтарная картина, созданная выдающимся венецианцем для капеллы знатной семьи Костанцо кафедрального Собора Санта-Мария-Ассунта и Либерале в Кастельфранко-Венето, родном городе художника. Полное название картины — «Мадонна на троне с Младенцем и святыми Либералием и Франциском».

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