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#0040
a concept of life as a harmonious, peaceful existence in an environment ideally
suited to the needs of body and soul. Prior to the beginning of the 16th
century, the secular villa theme rarely appeared in north Italian painting.
Certain motifs of villeggiatura sneak into the depiction of Biblical and gospel
stories. They assume a prominent place in the paintings of Bonifazio de’Pitati
(Verona 1487-Venice 1553), for example The Rich Man and Lazarus (Lukę
16: 19-30) (ill. 6).22 The context of daily life in Venetian culture at the time
appears to be the key for interpreting it. The rich man from the parable of
Christ is the embodiment of miserliness, refusing to let the poor Lazarus
partake in the feast. Seated in the company of two ladies and a group of
musicians, he occupies the central part of the composition. The hawk trained
for hunting, painted in the shade of the loggia, together with the dog in the
foreground, symbolise nobility. The scene is played out in a patrician Venetian
villa. The painter depicts the feast in a loggia opening onto a garden. The
gospel characters are portrayed in the costumes of 16th century Venetians. The
concept of the distinctiveness of the Venetian aristocracy is easily discernible
in the literaturę of the Cinąuecento, and the myth of life in the country
villa was especially enhanced. A pinch of morał instruction was eagerly
added to this concept. The Venetian aristocracy was praised by its historians
for its charity, particularly for its treatment of its subjects. The aristocracy
was expected to rule with wisdom and justice. Charity and care for the fate
of its subjects, draining land, and erecting beautiful buildings were among
its obligations. Yenetian law punished its high officials for miserliness and
7. Lodewijk Toeput,
called Ludovico
Pozzoserrato,
Ziew ofan Italian
Villa, ca. 1590,
Muzeum Narodowe,
Warsaw
(Phot. Teresa
Żółtowska-Huszcza)
ą łJ&fzdzzr1- Ągf..-,.— jrjjj
[ ^/CT
■fy/
22 Bonifazio de’Pitati, The Rich Man’s Banquet, oil on canvas, 2.05 x 4.37 cm, Galleria
delPAccademia, Yenice.
34
suited to the needs of body and soul. Prior to the beginning of the 16th
century, the secular villa theme rarely appeared in north Italian painting.
Certain motifs of villeggiatura sneak into the depiction of Biblical and gospel
stories. They assume a prominent place in the paintings of Bonifazio de’Pitati
(Verona 1487-Venice 1553), for example The Rich Man and Lazarus (Lukę
16: 19-30) (ill. 6).22 The context of daily life in Venetian culture at the time
appears to be the key for interpreting it. The rich man from the parable of
Christ is the embodiment of miserliness, refusing to let the poor Lazarus
partake in the feast. Seated in the company of two ladies and a group of
musicians, he occupies the central part of the composition. The hawk trained
for hunting, painted in the shade of the loggia, together with the dog in the
foreground, symbolise nobility. The scene is played out in a patrician Venetian
villa. The painter depicts the feast in a loggia opening onto a garden. The
gospel characters are portrayed in the costumes of 16th century Venetians. The
concept of the distinctiveness of the Venetian aristocracy is easily discernible
in the literaturę of the Cinąuecento, and the myth of life in the country
villa was especially enhanced. A pinch of morał instruction was eagerly
added to this concept. The Venetian aristocracy was praised by its historians
for its charity, particularly for its treatment of its subjects. The aristocracy
was expected to rule with wisdom and justice. Charity and care for the fate
of its subjects, draining land, and erecting beautiful buildings were among
its obligations. Yenetian law punished its high officials for miserliness and
7. Lodewijk Toeput,
called Ludovico
Pozzoserrato,
Ziew ofan Italian
Villa, ca. 1590,
Muzeum Narodowe,
Warsaw
(Phot. Teresa
Żółtowska-Huszcza)
ą łJ&fzdzzr1- Ągf..-,.— jrjjj
[ ^/CT
■fy/
22 Bonifazio de’Pitati, The Rich Man’s Banquet, oil on canvas, 2.05 x 4.37 cm, Galleria
delPAccademia, Yenice.
34