Full title | The Cave of Eternity |
---|---|
Artist | Luca Giordano |
Artist dates | 1634 - 1705 |
Series | Modelli for the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence |
Date made | early 1680s |
Medium and support | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 73.1 x 87.5 cm |
Acquisition credit | Presented by the Trustees of Sir Denis Mahon's Charitable Trust through the Art Fund, 2013 |
Inventory number | NG6637 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
This modello, or detailed oil study, is one of a group of twelve that Giordano made in preparation for the ceiling frescoes in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence in 1682–5. This scene corresponds to that painted on one of the two short ends of the grand Galleria, in which Giordano presents a gathering of mythological figures associated with time and mortality. They are encircled by a serpent biting its tail, which symbolises Eternity. The crowned figure of Janus holds the fleece from which the Three Fates draw out and then cut the thread of life, while above them is Prometheus, the god of creation. The hooded figure in the background is the pagan monster Demagorgon. He receives gifts from Nature (in green) and Fortune (blindfolded). Behind them is the winged figure of Chronos, who represents Time.
This modello, or detailed oil study, is one of a group of twelve – ten of which are in the National Gallery – that Giordano made in preparation for the ceiling frescoes in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence in 1682–5. The overall theme of the highly elaborate, showpiece frescoes is the progress of mankind by means of Wisdom and Virtue. This scene corresponds to that painted on one of the two short walls of the grand Galleria, directly opposite the entrance, above which is Minerva as Protectress of the Arts and Sciences.
Here, Giordano presents a gathering of mythological figures associated with time and mortality. They are linked loosely together, encircled with a serpent biting its tail: a symbol of Eternity. The central crowned figure is Janus, the Roman god who looks both to the future and the past (January is named after him). You can just make out that he has two faces – one looking forwards, the other backwards. He is holding out the fleece from which the Three Fates draw out the thread of life. Working together they fulfil their mythological role and form a circle of their own: one plucks at the fleece, a second works it on a spindle while looking out at us knowingly, and a third – Atropos, who has the power to end human life – is about to cut the finished thread. Above them, holding up a flaming torch, is Prometheus. He was the god who, according to Greek myth, created humans and gave them fire, which led to the development of civilisation.
The hooded figure in the rocky, mountainous background is probably Demagorgon, a pagan monster usually associated with hell and the underworld, but also sometimes considered a god of the earth or of creation and connected with fate or fortune. In Cinque Canti, a poem by Ludovico Ariosto, Demagorgon has a mountain palace where every five years the three Fates come to him to report on their activities. Here, however, he is apparently receiving an orb from Nature, who is dressed in green and from whose breasts milk pours, as well as a staff or sceptre from Fortune, who is winged and blindfolded. Sketched in the shadows of the cave entrance behind them is the winged figure of Chronos, who represents Time.
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Modelli for the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence
This group of ten paintings was made by Giordano as a series of detailed oil studies (or modelli) for the ceiling frescoes in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, which are among the artist’s finest achievements. The modelli are part of a set of 12 (the other two are in private collections).
Nine of the paintings relate to the ceiling of the highly ornate Galleria, built to house a precious collection of antiquities and function as a public reception room. The other is associated with the ceiling of the adjacent Library. The overall theme in the Galleria is the elevation of mankind through Wisdom and Virtue, using allegorical and mythological figures to represent different strengths and traits. It culminates in a centrepiece which presents the wealthy Medici family as the paradigm of both these qualities.
Giordano seems to have worked up these modelli to clarify his designs and may have presented them to his client, the Marquess Francesco Riccardi, for approval before the frescoes were executed.
This group of ten paintings was made by Giordano as a series of detailed oil studies (or modelli) for the ceiling frescoes in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence. Begun in 1682 and completed in 1685, the frescoes are among Giordano’s finest achievements and appear to have been painted ‘a secco’ – that is, on dry rather than fresh (‘a fresco’) plaster. The modelli were originally part of a set of 12 (the other two are in private collections). Nine of them relate to the ceiling of the highly ornate Galleria and the tenth – the Allegory of Divine Wisdom – is associated with the ceiling of the adjacent Library.
Giordano seems to have produced preliminary oil sketches based on drawings, and then worked up more finished oil sketches to clarify his design. It was probably these that Giordano presented for approval to his client, the Marquess Francesco Riccardi (1648–1719), so that any required changes could be discussed before the frescoes were executed (some differences can be seen when we compare the modelli with the final frescoes). Others have suggested that these ten modelli were painted after the frescoes were completed, as ricordi (or visual records). Contemporary documents do make clear that the modelli were valued as finished works in their own right. The ten canvases in the National Gallery still have the original carved and gilded frames made for them in Florence in the 1680s, as they were clearly hung and on display at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi (where they remained until the early nineteenth century).
The Palazzo, which had originally been built by Cosimo de' Medici in the mid-fifteenth century, was bought in 1659 by the Medici’s friends and allies, the fabulously wealthy Riccardi family. They doubled the size of the original building, and the showpiece of the new extension on the west side of the palace was a splendid Galleria on the first floor, with a barrel-vaulted gallery and heavily gilded stucco decorations. Flooded with light from the south- and west-facing windows that line two of its sides, this room was intended to house a precious collection of antiquities and to function as a public reception room.
The frescoes in the Galleria were designed not only to impress Florentine society, but to flatter the Medici specifically; they were still the most powerful family in the city. Giordano’s adviser for the iconography of the ceiling was Alessandro Segni, a man of letters who had been Francesco Riccardi’s tutor and travelling companion. Between them, the three men devised the continuous frieze of interconnected scenes which runs around the lower part of the ceiling. The overall theme in the Galleria is the elevation of mankind through Wisdom and Virtue, using allegorical and mythological figures to represent different strengths and traits. It culminates in a centrepiece that presents the Medici family, elevated to the company of the gods, as the paradigm and embodiment of both of these qualities. Other themes, including particular virtues, the four elements, the cycle of life and death and the regenerative power of nature, are also woven into the visual narrative.
At the two short ends of the room are scenes representing human life (The Cave of Eternity) and industry and the arts (Minerva as Protectress of the Arts and Sciences). On the long sides are mythological figures and allusions to classical myths and legends. The Rape of Proserpine incorporates scenes of death, judgement, punishment and the afterlife, while the adjacent scene celebrates agriculture and fecundity. On the opposite long side of the ceiling, the modelli for which are in two different private collections, the triumph of the Roman gods Bacchus, Neptune and Amphitrite adjoins the Death of Adonis. In the corners of the Galleria are allegories of the four Cardinal Virtues: Fortitude, Justice, Prudence and Temperance.
Understanding the Galleria’s ceiling is not just about decoding the allegories, which are often complex and imprecise and are always open to different interpretations. Giordano’s great achievement in the frescoes was to fuse all these parts together into a vast swirling whole, remarkable for its lightness, transparency and sheer visual brilliance – vast areas of the ceiling are given over to blue sky and translucent white clouds. Though the modelli are darker, more static, on a smaller scale and divided into separate scenes, they are crucial to understanding the decorative scheme’s artistic development.










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