The Adoration of the Shepherds, by Pietro da Cortona

0

Length0:03:49

Views: 529
Embed Options

Embed:
Copy and paste the above html snippet to embed this video into your blog or web page.

Select a size:
  • Normal
    426 x 240
  • Large
    640 x 360

Channels: European ArtReligion and ArtSpanish Language
Artists: Pietro da Cortona
Themes: Learning to LookMaterials and Process

The Adoration of the Shepherds by Pietro da Cortona. Explanation by Enrique Quintana (restorer) and Andrés Úbeda (curator)

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
CAPTCHA
Are you for real? Please answer this challenge to prove you're not a spam bot.

00:00:00

00:00:04 It is extremely interesting to be able to see this painting in the exhibition currently on display at the Museo del Prado.

00:00:10 For the first time it is possible to see a painting that seems to have different types of light that change from one second to the next.

00:00:16 This is only possible with this type of support ? aventurine ? as it gives a glitter to the background stars that creates an almost magical effect.

00:00:27 It is important to appreciate that when Pietro da Cortona

00:00:34 created this masterpiece he deliberately intended these changing effects of light to be evident to the viewer.

00:00:39 The artist consciously decided to use aventurine as a support so that the viewer could admire the composition in daylight under a uniform light or with less light,

00:00:51 probably candlelight in the artist?s own time, at which point the painting took on a real magic,

00:01:01 and depth in which the stars glitter in the sky in the background of the painting. The effect is to make them seem alive.

00:01:07 I would say that it is the aventurine that gives this remarkable work its effect and makes it unique in the world.

00:01:12 There is no other known work of such complexity and size painted on this support.

00:01:18 The result is truly magical. I think that for children it is extremely interesting to see how a painting that can seem at one moment cold

00:01:25 suddenly becomes alive and becomes a living, magical thing, depending on the light under which it is seen and on how we see it.

00:01:33 Petro da Cortona?s Adoration of the Shepherds is a most unusual work for a variety of reasons.

00:01:39 Firstly, because it introduces us to a fascinating subject, which is that of diplomatic relations in the 17th century

00:01:48 at which time paintings were used as a highly effective bargaining tool to ensure that the Spanish monarch,

00:01:57 Philip IV, saw the merits of one side or another in the particular issue in question.

00:02:02 In order to win the king?s favour, Francesco Barberini embarked on a diplomatic campaign on various simultaneous fronts.

00:02:09 One of these was that of diplomatic gifts. A large number of them were sent to Spain,

00:02:15 including the present painting by Pietro da Cortona that was presented to the king?s favourite, Luis de Haro.

00:02:22 It is an exceptionally beautiful work by Cortona, an artist associated with the Barberini family.

00:02:30 The painting is singularly beautiful due to its size, the delicacy of the technique and its exquisite execution.

00:02:38 In addition, Cortona judiciously chose to paint on what has been considered up to now to be natural aventurine

00:02:49 but is now known to be a glass paste that imitated the effect of that costly mineral from India.

00:02:57 Glass paste was invented and developed in Murano in Venice. It was cheaper than natural aventurine

00:03:08 and also allowed for the use of much larger plaques of up to around 7 centimetres long.

00:03:15 However, it is unique to find it used on such a large scale as in the present work in the Museo del Prado.

00:03:23 Known works painted on this support are all much smaller, which gives us an idea of the importance of this painting and of the gift that was made to the king?s favourite.