Much like his other altarpieces, Barocci’s Immaculate Conception, ca. 1570s, modern viewers seem to be misunderstand the meaning behind it. Modern viewers tend to look at an altarpiece by Barocci and see pale pinks, and glowing yellows and soft simple piety. Often those characteristics are associated with piety that is simple and sentimental. However, for modern viewers to truly understand the Immaculate Conception, we need to look at the religious context that Barocci created this altarpiece in.
The 16th century was a time of religious turmoil; the Catholic church was losing power and in the Counter-Reformation, the Church was working on combining art with the new ideals of devotional images. In one image, a painter must have aspect of divoto (devotion) and it also had to have the illusion or allure of vaghezza (vagueness), for it to be considered a successful painting. Barocci was one of the few who truly became successful at this. One of his best examples is the Immaculate Conception.
When looking at the Immaculate Conception, the Virgin Mary is right in the middle of the painting – she is equal distance from all edges. She is isolated within a cloud-like background, no one touches her or even approaches her. She is standing alone with her eyes downcast, in a seemingly pious pose. Small angels/cherubs poke out of the clouds surrounding the Virgin. All we see is their heads and parts of their wings. The Virgin appears to even be standing on the back of a cherub. Near the Virgin’s halo, we can also see additional faces of more cherubs. But they appear to be drawings. Could they be underdrawings for this altarpiece? If so, then why would Barocci leave them and not cover them up? The only place these drawings appear is at the top near the Virgin’s head.
The term " vaghezza" is interesting here, because, if it means "vagueness" then why would one want this in a painting (maybe . . .). Perhaps it should be translated as "softness," something Barocci is very good at. As for the subject matter, what IS the Immaculate Conception and how does B depict it here?
ReplyDeleteThe Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was kept free of original sin, so from before her birth, the Virgin Mary was filled with sanctifying grace, which ordinarily could be achieved through baptism. Barocci depicted the Immaculate Conception, very similar to pervious artists. He depicted the Virgin in a cloud-like atmosphere with cherub-like figures surrounding her. This is kind of the traditional depiction of this belief. However, Barocci defers from the pervious artists is that the Virgin Mary is completely alone in the center of the frame. She is isolated and is in no way touched by anybody - divine or mortal.
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