DOI Artikel:
Kilian, Joanna: Locus amoenus, Delightful Place: the courtly return to nature in sixteenth century Northern Italian painting
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18947#0034
now in a private collection in Paris (ill. 4).9 A youth playing a lira da braccio
accompanies two ladies. The sound of the strumming of the lira da braccio or
the lute was the highest expression of instrumental musie, opposed to the
human sound of the flute. The noble lira da braccio, the Renaissance version
of the ancient lyre, was a sign of the rebirth of the classic tradition of epic
poetry. The clothmg in each of the paintings specifies as well the different
spheres to which the individuals belong. In the Paris painting the garments are
portrayed with a wealth of detail, expressing the typical refinement of the
world of the well born. A courtier is playing the lyre, and like the hero in
Sannazaro’s poem is a guest in the land of Arcadia. The costumes of the
musicians in the Warsaw canvas, simple, rough, and without decoration, evoke
the pastorał world (ill. 5). The sleeping nymph in the Warsaw painting, whose
head is supported on its hand, is a remmder of the melancholy aspect of
Arcadia. The clream “brother of death” personifies sadness and reflection on
the fragility of human fate. Winged Eros in the Paris canvas symbolises the
presence of love, always associated with Arcadia. These two paintings were
possibly a pair symbolising two literary genres, epic and bucolic poetry, two
kinds of love (Apollonian, fuli of harmony and refinement, whose praises were
sung to the lirę da braccio, as well as the Dionysian, rustic and leading to loss,
praised by the flute), and finally, the two aspects of the world of Arcadia (joy
as well as nostalgia and sadness).
The melancholy present in the Warsaw painting by Cariani pervades other
Venetian concerts as well. Like Sannazaro’s poem, they are the expression of
the longing for Arcadia. Arcadia acąuires symbolic meaning, becoming a land
4. Giovanni Busi,
called Cariani,
Rural Concert,
private collection,
Paris
(Phot. owner)
9 Giovanni Cariani, Country Concert, oil on canvas, 100 x 162 cm, private collection, Paris;
cf. Palucchini, op. cit., p. 136, no. 65, ill. V
28
accompanies two ladies. The sound of the strumming of the lira da braccio or
the lute was the highest expression of instrumental musie, opposed to the
human sound of the flute. The noble lira da braccio, the Renaissance version
of the ancient lyre, was a sign of the rebirth of the classic tradition of epic
poetry. The clothmg in each of the paintings specifies as well the different
spheres to which the individuals belong. In the Paris painting the garments are
portrayed with a wealth of detail, expressing the typical refinement of the
world of the well born. A courtier is playing the lyre, and like the hero in
Sannazaro’s poem is a guest in the land of Arcadia. The costumes of the
musicians in the Warsaw canvas, simple, rough, and without decoration, evoke
the pastorał world (ill. 5). The sleeping nymph in the Warsaw painting, whose
head is supported on its hand, is a remmder of the melancholy aspect of
Arcadia. The clream “brother of death” personifies sadness and reflection on
the fragility of human fate. Winged Eros in the Paris canvas symbolises the
presence of love, always associated with Arcadia. These two paintings were
possibly a pair symbolising two literary genres, epic and bucolic poetry, two
kinds of love (Apollonian, fuli of harmony and refinement, whose praises were
sung to the lirę da braccio, as well as the Dionysian, rustic and leading to loss,
praised by the flute), and finally, the two aspects of the world of Arcadia (joy
as well as nostalgia and sadness).
The melancholy present in the Warsaw painting by Cariani pervades other
Venetian concerts as well. Like Sannazaro’s poem, they are the expression of
the longing for Arcadia. Arcadia acąuires symbolic meaning, becoming a land
4. Giovanni Busi,
called Cariani,
Rural Concert,
private collection,
Paris
(Phot. owner)
9 Giovanni Cariani, Country Concert, oil on canvas, 100 x 162 cm, private collection, Paris;
cf. Palucchini, op. cit., p. 136, no. 65, ill. V
28