La cosa nelle arti figurative
The book in the figurative arts
The books are, themselves, important works in the history of art. They exist since primordial times, and where very treasured not only by the royalty, but also by the poorer people who had acess to them. Several books are now in museums and known to be a very important part of the history of art. Because of its importance, it is also possible to find the book portrayed in some paintings that have major importance in art, especially due to the artists who created them.
Saint Matthew and the Angel, by Caravaggio
Title: Saint Matthew and the Angel
Artist: Caravaggio
Dimensions: 295,0 cm x 195,0 cm
Date: 1602
Style: Baroque
Genre: Religious painting
Media: Oil on canvas
Current location: Destroyed
This painting, by the italian baroque artist Caravaggio, was a religious painting comissioned by the french Cardinal Matteo Contarelli for the church of the french congregation San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, in Italy. In the painting, the subject is Saint Matthew, as the title suggests. He is portrayed as a common old man with dirty feet, entwined provocatively with a street urchin who whispers the sacred words into the Evangelist's ear, and guides his hand across the page of his open book. In this book he is writing his part of the Gospel, with the inspiration of the angel above him. Since the Gospel is one of Saint Matthew's greatest achievements, it was meant to be place in the altarpiece but, howeve, it was rejected because was considered offensive by portraying the saint with legs crossed and feet exposed, which did not respect the image that the church wanted to defend. The rejected work was purchased by Vincenzo Giustiniani, a wealthy banker that was Caravaggio's patron, and eventually entered the Kaiser Friedrich Museum painting gallery in Berlin, where it was destroyed in the closing stages of the World War II, in 1945.
Still life with three books, by Vincent Van Gogh
Artist: Vincent Van Gogh
Dimensions: 31,0 cm x 48,5 cm
Date: 1887
Style: Post-Impressionism
Genre: Still life
Media: Oil on wood
Current location: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
This painting was made by the dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh loved art with passion, and with equal passion he loved literature. Pictures and books, above everything else, were the spiritual powers that gave a meaning to his existence. In this painting, created in the 1st of April of 1887, we can see three books, more especifically novels. When looking closer, we can read the titles "Braves gens", a novel by Jean Richepin; "Au bonheur des dames", by Emile Zola; and "La fille Elisa", by Edmond Goncourt, all three french and all three contemporary novels. This painting is part of Van Gogh's Still life series, in which he created a great amount of art, especially his famous paints with flowers, and which were usually painted on panels made from Japanese wooden crates. Van Gogh was, indeed, a passionate reader, and in his letters he often wrote about the books he read. In the year he made this painting he wrote to his sister that naturalistic novels like these, that deal with the lives of ordinary men, grabbed him because they painted life as we feel it ourselves.
The painting is, today, in the Van Gogh Museum in Amesterdam.
Still life with books and candle, by Henri Matisse
Artist: Henri Matisse
Dimensions: 38,0 cm x 45,0 cm
Date: 1890
Style: Realism
Genre: Still life
Media: Oil on canvas
Current location: Private collection
This painting was made by the french artist Henri Matisse, in 1890. He is considered to have been one of the artists who best helped to define the revolutionary developments in the visual arts throughout the opening decades of the twentieth century. He was characterized by his use of intense colors, which is also notable in this specific painting. This art work was made in 1890, long before his notorious time, which is considered to be between 1900 and 1905, but was still an important painting. In this work we can see a pile of several books and a candle, that stand upon a newspaper. As the previous painting by Van Gogh, this one is also part of Still life series, which is the type of art that depicts mostly inanimate subject matter, tipically common place objects as books. Nowadays, this painting is held by a private investor in his private collection, that is not known publicly.
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