DOI Heft:
Nr. 3-4
DOI Artikel:Kilian, Adam; Kilian, Joanna: A Stage Design for Caravaggio
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18945#0264
Holland was the country in Northern Europe in which Caravaggism found
its greatest success. The exhibition featured painters from the Utrecht school,
Hendrick ter Brugghcn, Gerard van Honthorst, Dirck van Baburen, and Jan ter
Borch, who encountered Caravaggism in Rome and brought its principles to
Holland. Paintings from the Dutch and Flemish schools in Polish collections
gave us almost a complete picture of the repertoire of themes beloved by the
North European Caravaggists. They imparted a moralising symbolism to their
favourite themes; “Merry Company” and “Concert” became scenes full of
earthly pleasure. These genre scenes hung on one side of the hall were
contrasted with those on the other side representing the religious themes most
often attempted by the Dutch Caravaggists. In Protestant Holland, particular
significance was given to themes from the Bible, particularly the Old
Testament.
Although Caravaggism had a great impact in Holland, it did not take root
very deeply either in Flanders or in Germany, yet there were nevertheless
some approaches clearly related to the trend. Flemish painters were typically
fascinated with variations in texture, an attention to painterly details in the
representation of figures, and illusion in the depiction of matter; these qualities
were evident in the Theodor Rombouts’ Company Playing Cards. Although the
Caravaggist tendency is sometimes difficult to find in German painting,
seventeenth-century works by Johann Ulrich Toth and Joachim von Sandrart
represented this national variation.
The aim of our exhibition concept was both artistic and conceptual
discipline. The unity of the design was based on the repetition of colonnades
in each room, whose particular variations, with their reference to Roman
Baroque (and in particular to the splendour of Bernini’s colonnade at
St. Peter’s Square), were intended to suggest the Italianità of Caravaggism as
it was practised in European centres increasingly distant from Rome.
Translated by Robert Kirkland
its greatest success. The exhibition featured painters from the Utrecht school,
Hendrick ter Brugghcn, Gerard van Honthorst, Dirck van Baburen, and Jan ter
Borch, who encountered Caravaggism in Rome and brought its principles to
Holland. Paintings from the Dutch and Flemish schools in Polish collections
gave us almost a complete picture of the repertoire of themes beloved by the
North European Caravaggists. They imparted a moralising symbolism to their
favourite themes; “Merry Company” and “Concert” became scenes full of
earthly pleasure. These genre scenes hung on one side of the hall were
contrasted with those on the other side representing the religious themes most
often attempted by the Dutch Caravaggists. In Protestant Holland, particular
significance was given to themes from the Bible, particularly the Old
Testament.
Although Caravaggism had a great impact in Holland, it did not take root
very deeply either in Flanders or in Germany, yet there were nevertheless
some approaches clearly related to the trend. Flemish painters were typically
fascinated with variations in texture, an attention to painterly details in the
representation of figures, and illusion in the depiction of matter; these qualities
were evident in the Theodor Rombouts’ Company Playing Cards. Although the
Caravaggist tendency is sometimes difficult to find in German painting,
seventeenth-century works by Johann Ulrich Toth and Joachim von Sandrart
represented this national variation.
The aim of our exhibition concept was both artistic and conceptual
discipline. The unity of the design was based on the repetition of colonnades
in each room, whose particular variations, with their reference to Roman
Baroque (and in particular to the splendour of Bernini’s colonnade at
St. Peter’s Square), were intended to suggest the Italianità of Caravaggism as
it was practised in European centres increasingly distant from Rome.
Translated by Robert Kirkland