Marcin Roncancio
Professor Jablonka
Arts of New York
24 November 2010
From the second I was shooed out of the Old Master gallery in the Met by an impatient security guard the day of our guided tour, I knew I had to go back. I was stricken by this impulse, a need to see more, learn more, and held it for at least a week before the opportunity presented itself. Painting, aside from sculpture, has always been my preferred medium of art. Not being particularly inclined to create, I’ve always taken great joy in viewing the great works of others. The Baroque style has always been a favorite of mine, but I didn’t know much of the details about the process, or the meaning and function of the paintings until after the talk at the Metropolitan Museum. An avid museum-goer, I find myself scribbling titles, names and dates on the nearest available surface during any visit lest I be tantalized forever by the memory of one painting I just can’t seem to find again. That was how I returned home one night with a list full of beautiful paintings, but just one I knew was perfect and begging to be written about. Guido Reni’s Charity shone with meaning and skilled artistry, but how could I begin to speak about it without first discussing what brought me to it?
As I am fast learning in this class, a trip to a gallery is infinitely more rewarding with a knowledgeable and engaging guide. Never before had I noted the difference and influence of the separate movements of the Renaissance in the South and North of Europe. Both regions, in particular Italy and the Netherlands, had distinct virtues to their styles. A paragon of the Italian style of religious paintings is Raphael’s larger than life Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints. In utter contrast stands the highly detailed The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment of the Netherlander Jan van Eyck. While the former is many times larger than the other pair, the scope of the latter far exceeds that of Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints. The smaller pair was likely intended for private worship, while it is probable that the other was designed for display in a church for the parish to view. Further details, such as the use of perspective, the subtext of the paintings and the structure of the figures were well illustrated in these paintings for me, and I found the techniques I learned about in these paintings to be an invaluable lesson in evaluating others.
Reni’s Charity is seemingly more secular in subject than many paintings of the same period, depicting a mother with three of her infant children. It is a later Italian painting, in the Baroque style of the fifteenth century. The combined effects of the light, color and tone are what make this painting so incredibly fascinating. These factors together with the expressions of the painted figures create a very visible statement about the nature of a child’s relationship with his mother, the role of a mother, and her willingness to provide and fit into that role. I believe that although the subject of the painting, Charity, has religious connotations, the secular subtext of the painting put in by Reni himself, is the real focus, highlighted by the various effects and techniques employed by any master artist.
The three children are painted with very different complexions. The first, on the far left, has skin of a healthy, ruddy color. The second, sleeping prostate in the lap of his mother, is graced with a lighter pink than the first. The third and final child, who is pictured feeding from his mother’s breast, is very pale compared to his brothers, and has only hints of rosy color around his face and mouth. The mother by contrast appears utterly waxen, with only a hint of blush on her cheeks and on her breast where the third baby rests. The immediate implication is that the infants are taking life, represented by the sanguine color of their skin, from their mother. The mother nurtures her children, providing them with sustenance from her own body, and in the visual metaphor the painting provides, she appears to be giving the children not milk but blood—a multifaceted symbol for either their direct descent from her, or the energy she put into birthing and caring for them.
The exsanguinated woman appears perfectly calm and loving; her expression betrays no discomfort or resentment towards the children who seem to be literally sucking the life from her. Her arms encircle them, supporting and protecting them. She willingly provides everything she has to her children, with no concrete benefit to herself. The title of the painting adds another layer of depth to this interpretation; charity is a concept that denotes impartial love and giving. The connotation I assign it, especially in the context of this painting is one of giving without an expectation of receiving anything in return.
Charity, the idea of giving selflessly, is of course also one of the virtues of the Catholic catechism, which could imply that this painting could have been meant as a superficial depiction of a personification of that virtue. The fact that it may have roots in a religious context doesn’t have much bearing on it’s very human, opinion based subtext, however. From a casual viewing the painting has more to do with mothers and sons than it does any religious ideal, unless of course one intends to grapple with the role of women and of mothers in reference to the beliefs of Christianity. An in depth biography of Reni by Spear in fact explores Reni’s apparent misogyny, fear of women (52). These are realized more in the context of Reni’s other paintings, such as Atalanta and Hippomenes in which it is speculated that the subtle stance of rejection of Hippomenes, from Roman myth, is a representation of Reni’s own feelings towards women, as the figure from the myth is actually actively pursuing Atalanta, the female in the painting (62).
In terms of the structure and modeling of Charity it is in some respects similar to some we have already seen as a class. In particular, the painting by Peter Paul Rubens of himself, his wife and their son is similar in the use of oil as their medium, a central focus on the woman, and the use of a child as a tool, or a base element whose purpose is mainly found in highlighting the central focus. In both Charity and this other painting, the viewer’s focus is blatantly directed in the aim of the child’s pointed finger. Where the focus in Ruben’s painting is his beloved wife, the focus here is definitely on the breast-fed infant and the figurative significance of this maternal act. The first child’s extended arm, the mother’s arm, the folds of her dress, the positioning of body of the third child, and the line of exposed skin at the woman’s breast all form parallel lines extending from the top left of the painting to the bottom right, which is reminiscent of the upward diagonal direction of brushstrokes in Ruben’s painting.
In addition to the physical strokes of the brush and the underlying composition of shapes and lines in the piece, the glossy quality of the oil paint, in particular around the intensely white color of the mother’s breast, is yet another strategy to attract the viewer’s attention. The remarkable luminosity unique to oil painting is achieved by the painstaking process of layering clear or opaque glazes along with color to achieve a height of light and reflection not seen in other paintings (Trinka). This time consuming process and its eye-catching result are very deliberate on the part of the artist and there is no doubt in my mind that it was meant to bring the symbolic meaning of this painting to the forefront.
The things I’ve learned about the artist’s intent with color choice, modeling, choice of title and other technical details by going to gallery talks and examining different styles from different periods and movements have taught me to perceive another layer of meaning in any painting. Awareness of the history of movements in paintings and the social context in which they were created have also definitely helped me in trying to understand the artist’s thoughts and feelings towards their work, their motivation, and thus the significance of the painting also becomes clearer. Charity with its depth and richness in detail, meaning and structure was an excellent exercise in practicing my skill of observation and analysis with the help of tools learned at the hands of patient curators and guides.
Works Cited
Reni, Guido. Charity. 1628-29. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Rubens, Peter Paul. Rubens, His Wife Helena Fourment, and One of Their Children. 1630. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Santi, Raffaello. Madonna and Child Enthroned With Saints. 1506. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Simon, Trinka. “The Art of Composition” n.p. 2008. 233-234. Web. 21 Dec. 2010.
Spear, Richard. The “Divine” Guido: religion, sex, money and art in the world of Guido Reni. Hong Kong: Yale University Press, 1997. Print.
Van Eyck, Jan. The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment. 1430. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
