Gothic Era

 

Second Trip to Italy, 1505-1507
 

In the autumn of 1505, Durer left his city as he had eleven years before, because of a plague epidemic. Without delay, he set out for his beloved Venice. The most important work that he painted during this second sojourn in the Serenissima was the Feast of the Rose Garlands, an altarpiece that won admiration and enthusiasm even from the Venetian artists who previously had seriously opposed him, criticizing his method of using color. Even the doge Lorenzo Loredan and the patriarch Antonio Suriano wanted to see his work and went to his workshop. It is said that the doge offered Durer a salary of 200 florins per year to stay in Venice. Durer felt at ease in Venice, since he enjoyed much more consideration there than at home. It is worth remembering that artists in Italy represented a class unto themselves—good or bad—while in the same period in Germany, an artist was always part of, however much respected, the artisan world. Durer writes: "Oh, how much more I will endure the cold, breathing this sun! Here I feel like a gentleman; at home I am a parasite."
The following event, related by Joachim Camerarius in the preface to the edition of books on human proportion of 1532, demonstrates how much the Venetian painters must have admired the refined technique of Durer's painting: It seems that one day, Giovanni Bellini begged Durer to lend him one of his brushes for painting hair and, to his great surprise, Durer handed over some brushes that were identical to his own.
 


 

Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman
1505
Vienna, Kunslhistorischcs Museum

Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman

In the late eighteenth century, this panel was part of the collection of the mayor Danzica Schwartz, but in 1 790 it was auctioned off by the wife of Schwartz's brother; in the early twentieth century, we find it in the Wancowicz collection in Lithuania. The portrait was then acquired from a private collection by the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna, where it can still be found today. According to Schutz (1994), it represents one of the more important acquisitions made by the museum in the last hundred years.
The portrait is one of the first works of the artist during his second sojourn in Venice. It was painted in the autumn or in the winter of 1505. It was Fedja Anzelewsky (1971) who recognized the hairstyle of the young woman and the hairnet that covers it as typically Venetian, whereas the fashion of the clothing has been defined as typically Milanese by Weixelgartner (1927), Tietze (1937) and Panofsky (1948). From the portraits, an extraordinary charm emanates, which cannot be merely attributable to the shades of brown and gold of the hairdo and clothing, which are set apart from the uniform black background, it is really the beauty of the portrait that fascinates in its entirety and in its variety of details. It is the slight wave of the hair on the clear, high forehead that imperceivably becomes curls caressing the girl's cheeks. It is the dreamy gaze that shows, under the slightly lowered eyelids, the radiant, black eyes. It highlights the play of light on the forehead and on the cheeks. It is the candor of this face, of the neck and chest, emphasized by a neckline of a contrasting color, that evoke the image of the ideal purity of a girl. With great ability, the artist includes in this image a long and pronounced nose and large, sensual lips, immersing the whole figure in a light that reveals the important influence of the Venetian school, and, in particular, that of Giovanni Bellini.
With reference to some of the details, it has been repeatedly made known that the portrait is unfinished. It is probable that Durer deliberately did not give the same intensity to the left ribbon as to the right: on the one hand, so as to not overwhelm the charm of the dark eyes; on the other, so as to support the subtle chromatic effect of the bodice that, from the design of the gold ribbons, contributes to the overall charm of the painting.
This charm is also shown in the movement in the double rows of pearls, interrupted by the darker shapes of doubled cones, making the pendant curve slightly from the neck. Among Durer's works, there is not a more beautiful portrait of a woman. Indeed, it has led one to think that there was a rather intimate relationship between the artist and the model. Some see the woman as a courtesan (Gluck, 1933); others define her as an "instinctive, languorous, and melting beauty" (Winkler, 1957).
         




 

Feast of the Rose Garlands
1506
National Gallery, Prague

Feast of the Rose Garlands (detail)
1506
National Gallery, Prague

Feast of the Rose Garlands (detail)
1506
National Gallery, Prague

Feast of the Rose Garlands

This panel was painted for an altar for the German community in Venice, in the church of S. Bartolomeo near the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, the social and commercial center of the German colony, where it remained until 1606. It was then acquired, after many negotiations, for 900 ducats by Emperor Rudolph II According to Sandrart (1675), four men were hired to bring the packaged painting to the emperor's residence in Prague.
Stationed elsewhere during the invasion of the Swedish troops, the painting, already very damaged, returned to its place in 1635. It underwent a first restoration in 1662. In 1782, it was sold in an auction for one florin. After having passed through the hands of various collectors, it was acquired by the Czechoslovakian state in 1930.
The painting, severely damaged chiefly in the center portion, from the head of the Madonna and continuing downward to the bottom, was clumsily restored in the nineteenth century; in this restoration, the upper side portion, left of the canopy and to Saint Dominic's head, was also included. Three copies of the work are known: one—considered the most important and which now belongs to a private collection—is attributed to Hans Rottenhamer, who sojourned in Venice from 1596 to 1606, where he took care of many acquisitions on behalf of Rudolph II; another is in Vienna; and the third, a rather modified version of the original, is in Lyon (Anzelewsky, 1991).
The preparatory work of the panel occupied the artist for a long time, from 7 February until the last half of April in 1506. It consists of twenty-one preparatory drawings, executed chiefly in pen and ink on azure paper, according to the Venetian tradition; others are drawings of various characters, in the dimensions then adopted for the painting (W 380-401). In a letter dated 25 September, addressed to Willibald Pirckheimer, the artist communicates the completion of the work. (Rupprich, 1956-69, I). It seems that the Confraternity of the Blessed Rosary was officially recognized by the Venetian authorities in 1506, that is, in the year Durer carried out the painting. In comparing his panel with the woodcut to the writing of Jakob Sprenger about the foundation of the same Confraternity, having appeared in Augsburg in 1476, suggests that it was well known to him. All this implies—even if no document exists to prove it, and none of the names of the members are known—that the painting was ordered by the same Confraternity. On the whole, the majority of the figures in the painting have not been identified. The exceptions to this include the self-portrait of the artist; the portrait of Emperor Maximilian I; the one of the architect Hieronymus of Augsburg, engineer of the new Fondaco dei Tedeschi (1505-8) after it was completely destroyed in a fire, and who is recognizable in the far right by the square he holds; and Burckhard from the city Speyer, identified as the fourth figure form the left (see Portrait of Burkard von Speyer). Saint Dominic is clearly the saint whom we see to the left of the Madonna, since the institution of the rosary is attributed to him. For all the others, many names have been proposed. For example, the more recent attribution of Strieder (1989) and Anzelewsky (1991), maintain that the highly characterized figure that appears just behind the emperor bears a resemblance to a representative of the Fugger house (see Jakob Fugger, the Wealthy), a powerful family of the sixteenth century, who obviously shared in the financing of the work. In fact, when Rudolph II acquired it, he sought their consent. However, the identification, especially of a specific person, is still uncertain. The Madonna is enthroned in a field, beneath a green canopy that cherubs hold up with ribbons. Other cherubs on little clouds hold a crown of precious stones suspended above her head. At her feet kneel the pope and the emperor, on the left and right, having placed before themselves a tiara and a crown, respectively. And while the Madonna places a garland of roses on the head of the emperor, the Blessed Child places an identical one over the head of the pontifice. Saint Dominic, in turn, crowns a bishop. Behind the pope and the emperor, the patrons are arranged symmetrically, some of whom, in both parts of the background, divert their gaze from the Madonna. Other Bellinian cherubs descend upon them with rose garlands. In the center of the painting, seated in front of the throne, an angel playing a lute recalls the angels playing at the feet of the enthroned Madonna in Giovanni Bellini's paintings. These details aside, the setting of the work is typically Venetian, (Panofsky 1977). The rigidly pyramidal composition of the painting is not Venetian. This painting has indicated that Durer was one to have been of the first who created such composition (Erika and Hans Tietze, 1937-38).
The Feast of the Rose Garlands is undoubtedly the most important work that Durer created during his sojourn in Venice and was the work that ushered in the Renaissance. Durer was obviously aware of this, as his letters and the painting itself demonstrate. The painting shows this in the distinction he gives his self-portrait: in the top right, in front of the typically German landscape passage at the foot of the mountains, with his face framed by long blond hair, donning luxurious clothes—even a precious fur cloak, in spite of the warm season—so as to be noticed among the other characters. He alone has ostentatiously turned his gaze to the spectator. Even the writing on the paper he holds is unusual for Italy. It indicates not only the time of production (five months), but next to his own name is the indication germanus. This detail was to distinguish himself from his Venetian colleagues, who evidently held him in very high regard, since even the doge and the patriarch came to his workshop to admire his work.


               

In Venice, in addition to the important commission by the German merchants for the altarpiece the Feast of the Rose Garlands, Durer had many other commissions—above all, portraits of Italian and German personages. We know that he managed to sell the six works that he had brought with him from Nuremberg. One work that was probably not painted on commission was the Madonna with the Siskin, which he brought back with him to Nuremberg.
Vasari tells us that, during his Venetian sojourn, Durer wanted to denounce to the city's law court the Bolognese engraver Marcantonio Raimondi, an artist who—it should not be forgotten—contributed, by the spread of his own engravings, much to the reception of Raphael's works. The accusation was that he had copied Durer's works and signed them with the famous monogram. It should be remembered that Durer's idea to embed his initials, one inside the other, was a big success and was adopted by German painters such as Altdorfer and Aldegrever. This is one of the first trials defending the rights of the author. It seems that the denunciation had an effect. Though, even without Raimondi's contribution, Durer's graphic work was renowned and recognized throughout Italy. That Vasari knew him and that most Italian artists, including Vasari himself, drew on his work for their own themes, surely proves his fame throughout Italy.
The second sojourn in Venice was very important to the artist, especially in establishing his character and his artistic personality. A detailed chronicle remains from this period in the many interesting letters that he wrote to his friend Willibald Pirckheimer, who wanted to be, in addition to other matters, informed about his acquisitions, which Durer looked after, of Oriental rugs, precious gems, original editions of Greek books, and other items.
From Venice, Durer went by horseback to Bologna, where he was welcomed triumphantly as a "second Apelles." His friend Christoph Scheurl, a humanist and judge in Nuremberg, who attended his graduation at that university, introduced him to some Bolognese artists. He did not, unfortunately, have a chance to meet Luca Pacioli, whom Durer had wanted to meet so as to develop his ideas on the laws of central perspective. The famous mathematician, however, had moved to Florence.

Madonna with the Siskin
1506
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Madonna with the Siskin (detail)
1506
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Madonna with the Siskin (detail)
1506
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Madonna with the Siskin (detail)
1506
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Madonna with the Siskin

In the second half of the sixteenth century, this painting was in Nuremberg; in 1 600, it was part of the collection of Rudolph II, as Carel von Mander notes (1617).
In the 1860s, it reappeared and became the property of the marquis of Lothian of Edinburgh, from whom the Berlin museum acquired it in 1893. In a letter of 23 September 1 506 from Venice addressed to Willibald Pirckheimer, in which Durer writes that he has completed the Feast of the Rose Garlands, he also speaks of having just finished another painting. It would most likely be the Madonna with the Siskin (Arnolds, 1959), which the artist brought back to Nuremberg with him.
It is astonishing that Durer does not mention any patrons for this large painting, full of iconographical references. He created it simply by drawing on his own culture and experience. The work is conceived following the dictates of Venetian painting: a monumental Madonna, with the red gown covered by an azure cloak, who sits enthroned before a curtain that is also red, in a landscape pervaded by an especially clear light.
A Florentine trademark is represented in the presence of Saint John, even if this detail was also rather common in the Venetian painting by this time (Panofsky, 1955). The Madonna's rapt gaze is directed slightly off to the side, while her right hand rests on the Old Testament, in which is prophesied the birth of the new king. She almost unconsciously accepts a lily of the valley (convallaris majalis) from Saint John with her other hand. It is the flower symbolic of the Immaculate Conception and the Incarnation of Christ (Levi d'Ancona, The Garden of the Renaissance, 1977). The small saint, however, does not look at her; his gaze is directed to Jesus, whose divine nature Saint John is the first to recognize.
The infant Jesus is seated in his mother's lap on a rich red cushion. With his right hand, he elegantly lifts a sort of soother—a tiny pouch, apparently filled with poppy seeds, on which babies would suck and be calmed. His left hand, which holds the edge of his little shirt, probably just unfastened (see the open clasp), comes toward his face. In the preparatory drawing (W 408), Durer had represented him with a more solemn expression, while he raised the cross staff; but perhaps in changing the staff, the symbol of the Passion, with the poppy-seed soother—poppy seeds symbolic of sleep and death, if this is actually what it contains—the artist wanted to preserve the childlike manner of the infant Jesus, without altering the symbolism.
The siskin—in the place of the goldfinch—perched on his arm points his beak toward his head, where one day the crown of thorns will be; the child smiles affectionately at Saint John below him, to whom a little angel, with a meaningful eaze, is holding the cross staff out to him, though the saint and child do not take notice. To the ruins represented in perspective on the left corresponds a tree in bloom growing from a fallen trunk on the right.
The former is a symbol of the fall of the Old Covenant, or perhaps an image of the ruins of David's palace, where, according to the legend, the nativity stable stood. The latter is a sign of life and of the New Covenant. Two cherubs crown the Madonna with a garland of vine shoots of roses, in which are woven a white rose, symbol of her joy, and two red roses, symbol of her sufferings.
Durer's main accomplishment in this painting is in the perfect combination of form and content. Each of the characters expresses his or her own emotion, yet everyone together is composed in a convincing, unified story, the symbols included.
Unfortunately, the poor state of preservation greatly disturbs the impression of overall harmony that characterizes the panel.
This can be appreciated thoroughly in another painting found in the same museum, the tondo Terranuova Madonna, the brilliant and nearly contemporary work of Raphael.
About ten years later, Titian captures the Saint John of this painting in his Madonna with the Cherries, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. He takes up again the soft depiction of the hair and veil that covers his shoulders, and changes only slightly the position of the arm (Tietze, 1937; Panofsky, 1959).
This suggests that he had seen and appreciated Durer's work during its painting in his Venetian workshop.