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Doubles portrait of the spouses Doni (Portrait of Agnolo Doni. Portrait Of Maddalena Doni)

Raphael Sanzio • Painting, 1506
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About the artwork
Art form: Painting
Subject and objects: Portrait
Style of art: Renaissance
Technique: Oil
Materials: Wood
Date of creation: 1506
Artwork in selections: 28 selections

Description of the artwork «Doubles portrait of the spouses Doni (Portrait of Agnolo Doni. Portrait Of Maddalena Doni)»

Moving to the first years of the XVI century from Urbino and Perugia, the artistic level of which he quickly outgrew, "the capital Renaissance" Florence, Raphael has achieved great success in the new portrait genre. One of the notable works was the double portrait of a married couple Donji wealthy wool merchant Agnoloand his young wife Maddalena who descended from a noble Florentine family Strozzi.

These two pictures should be seen together, because they are conceived and executed as the paired images; paired portraits of Agnolo and Maddalena was kept by the descendants of Dhoni, paired with the mid 20-ies of the XIX century, immersed in the Florentine Palazzo Pitti, traveling, coming to exhibitions in other countries, too together – so, Agnolo and Maddalena together, came to the exhibition "Rafael. Poetry image" in the Pushkin Museum. Of A. S. Pushkin. It is believed that early communication between the portraits were not only semantic, but purely material – they are held together with hinges, like folding boxes of the altar. If you look at the cloud and the landscape in the upper right corner of the portrait of Agnolo and the upper left corner of a portrait of Maddalena, you can see their mutual transitions (though not completely accurate to millimeters, a coincidence). Portrait of the spouses Dhoni is such a family heirloom, a job could afford to order from Rafael, the man is very wealthy and not devoid of the claim that well-versed in the art.

Words Giorgio Vasari confirm this thesis: "While Raphael was in Florence, Agnolo Doni, which was equally stingy in all its other expenses, as he willingly, albeit with greater circumspection, spent, being a big fan of, on paintings and sculptures, ordered his own portrait and portrait of his wife in the same manner".

What do we know about the spouses of the Maddalena and Agnolo Doni?


It is known that Agnolo traded fabrics and was very rich, his business brought a good income. Clothes made from expensive fabrics (although its luxury is not flashy, she is reserved – the so-called "expensive simplicity") we can observe the portraits of Raphael, which, unlike Leonardo da Vinci, in his portraits attached great importance to the clothing. In detail writing down the details (buttons, patterns, the fine details of a cut), as well as jewelry, Rafael thus signified the high social status of their models. Rings spouses Dhoni is decorated with a ruby (symbol of prosperity), sapphire (sign of purity), emerald (refers to secret knowledge) and the impressive size of the pearl pendant on the chest Maddalena symbolizes virginity, she probably was a gift from Agnolo.

Like many wealthy people, Agnolo Doni herself was a passionate collector of jewels (gems) and works of art, considering that is well versed in both. In honor of the impending marriage to Maddalena he had ordered work to appreciate later specialists is higher than even these rafaelia portraits: in 1504, the year of Michelangelo Buonarroti by order of Agnolo performed Tondo (the image in the form of a circle, from the ital. tondo - round) on the story of the Holy family, known in history as the "Madonna Doni" or "Tondo Doni" and was considered almost the only extant michelangelova easel works.

You know, what's the deal with Michelangelo over conflict: Dhoni tried to understate significantly the cost of labor, and angry Michelangelo intended to leave the picture. The easiest way to attribute all this excessive stinginess Agnolo Doni, but writers have more original version. For example, the biographer of Raphael Alexander Makhov suggests that the Maddalena Doni angered and shocked in michelangelova ambitious and innovative Tondo, the Madonna is shown there is located between the tribes of Joseph, and with naked hands.

What is the peculiarity of the portraits of Agnolo and Maddalena Doni Raphael's work?


In the couple portraits Dhoni, painted by Raphael, there's a little something from the manner of his teacher Perugino (for example, some showtest and stiffness of the lines), but much more – from portraits of Leonardo da Vinci that Raphael studied closely and productively. The position of the hands with crossed brushes reminds "Mona Lisa", as well as the desire of both the titans of the Renaissance to give a deep comprehension of the characters. But Rafael wholly exempt their portraits from the Leonardo's mystery and tension. He, however, committed to balance and clarity in everything – from the calm and bright images of the background landscape to a clear psychological interpretations of the personality of his characters.

Here Agnolo – what can you say about him based on the portrait? Rafael captures the features of his appearance with great attention: finely curly brown hair to her shoulders, large, but the correct shape of your nose, "thought lines" of the nose, cleft chin, with the incipient stubble, a prominent Adam's Apple on the very graceful neck. Agnolo looks smart, strong-willed, untrusting and careful about the people like they say "does not miss her" – he seems to have caused the artist great sympathy.

But the wife Agnolo Maddalena: her somewhat bulging eyes look cold and maybe even contemptuous, and lowered the corners of his mouth read arrogant condescension. It is clear that this is what this young woman used to give off the sense of his own noble birth. Burly shoulders, the roundness of the face, a strong neck Maddalena (and in contrast with this corporeal wealth – thin tree behind her shoulder) complete the impression of a majestic monumentality. This woman feels special very powerful, whatever ambiguity or hiding behind such an epithet. Portrait of the psychological characteristics of Raphael's completely transparent.

Hands on the Doni portraits of spouses


One of the most speaking parts in the portraits of Agnolo and Maddalena Doni. Striking difference: in the hands of Raphael Agnolo detail depicted protruding bluish veins and minor irregularities of the skin, while the hands of his wife, written almost completely smooth and without individual characteristics: someone even noticed that the plump fingers Maddalena seemed to need something to Raphael, only to have something to put the family jewels.

It is possible that both the artist conveys the difference in age between spouses: born in 1474, the year Agnolo was older than Maddalena for 15 years (she was born in 1489-m) and, by the way, at the time of their wedding in 1504, the year the bride was only 15. If this is so, then time can be cruel played on the Remo: now the skin on her face and neck richly sporocili cracks-cracks.

Secret image on the back


The basis for the portraits of Agnolo and Maddalena Doni was painted on lime Board, and later analysis showed that the material is taken from the same tree. The flip side of both panels contains the figures in monochrome grisaille technique, which do not belong to Raphael. Their creation is credited to an unnamed artist known as the "master of Serumido" (his stay in Florence circa 1500-1530.). But that should mean those scenes? And why are they needed on the back of the portraits?

The presence of grisela at rpm reinforces the idea that the Doni portraits of the spouses once was a diptych, which could be folded like a book, and then his "cover" spectator saw mythological scenes. The scenarios are most likely taken from the "Metamorphoses" the Roman poet Ovid.

The scene on the back of a portrait of Agnolo shows how the gods inflict on the sinful human race the flood. On the back of a portrait of Maddalena we see the continuation of this story – "the Revival of the human race": after the flood the only survivors – the son of Prometheus, Deucalion and his wife pyrrha, – in obedience to the orders of the Oracle, throw on the ground the stones of which will soon be born a new humanity.

The choice of subjects of a deep non-random is an allegorical spouses wish Dhoni to "be fruitful and multiply", however, were not expressed in the biblical material (which would be more predictable), and the images of the Greek myth about the great flood. In the first years of the marriage, in 1504-m, Maddalena and Agnolo Doni really felt the need for a successor, but their hopes and prayers, backed by such picturesque farewell, still crowned by the birth of his daughter in 1507, and in 1508 the son of-m respectively.

Author: Anna Yesterday
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