A Day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art - August 2014: Musings on Finelli and Buzio Busts

We made an impromptus visit to the the Met yesterday. I was up at dawn catching up on correspondence and planning to continue my reading on Caravaggio or doing some artwork  - a drawing or a watercolor. But instead my husband wanted to pack up our sketch things and take a jaunt to the museum. Normally my most favorite thing to do lately whether to view only or to sketch. We caught a bit of traffic and did not arrive until about 11:30am. I knew which spot I wanted to go to for sketching in the European Painting section.  There are two statues that I recently discovered that I adore.

The first is Giuliano Finelli's bust of Cardinal Scipione Borghese.

Statue at the Metropolitan Museum photo by Karmen Elsen (C)

 I discovered this bust a month ago and have been studying it ever since...I think about this sculture all the time and since I took dozens of photographs of it last time, I do FEEL this piece, it inspires me and it will become the subject of a piece of my artwork very soon. Anyway, I went to the hall where this is. It is exquisitely carved.  I love the translucency of marble especially this pure white kind without any veins of other colors.

In the biography that I am reading on Caravaggio, there is a photograph of a very similar bust done of the same Cardinal Borghese by Gianlorenzo Bernini.

website: http://www.atlantedellarteitaliana.it/artwork-3784.html

website: www.giovannidallorto.com

However, to really appreciate Finelli's work, look at the detail. Here is Finelli's Cardinal:

Finelli bust detail. photo by Karmen Elsen (c)

Here is Bernini's bust detail:

Bernini detail from wtfarthistory.com

While impressions are often subjective, I find Finelli's treatment much more sensitive and refined. Look at the way he sculpted the strands of hair and the emotion he captured. I am sure that both captured a likeness. How could they not as both works are almost carbon copies of each other! But Bernini captured an aloof, imperious Cardinal who exudes haughtiness and a bit of coolness. Finelli, by lowering the head and treating the brow area the way he did, gives the Cardinal what can be an introspective look but yet a look that says do not trifle with me. I do not see imperiousness and the haughtiness in this one. Here, I see power and determination but the lines are so different to me than those on the Bernini's Cardinal. With the subtleties of the form Finelli created while fleshing out the face in the cheek bone area and the jowl area, it is so tenderly and gingerly done but yet the sculpture screams - Power. There is an unbridled intensity of emotion behind the facade. Bernini's Cardinel seems to me to hide behind the cool exterior showing none of the intense emotion that I see in Fernini's Cardinal.  I haven't yet done any reading or real research on the two busts or Cardinal Borghese himsef but have just expressed my own impressions of them. I will do more scholarly research and get back to you on the two from an art history standpoint at a later date. In the meantime, I cannot wait to work on my own piece based on Fernini's Cardinal.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 8, 2014: Two developments on my entry on Finelli's Cardinal Scipione Borghese. First, I looked up  who he was and he was a student of the same Bernini who did the other famous bust of Cardinal Borghese.  The Wikipedia article on Finelli discusses the two busts but unfortunately the article's author did not hold Finelli's work in high regard. All of the negative things that he mentioned of Finelli's work are why I like it better than Bernini's. Finelli's exquisite attention to detail, the subtleties he finds in molding the face, the nuances of expression all make his work far superior in my opinion. BUT taste is very subjective and all I can say is that I adore Finelli's bust.

Check out the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuliano_Finelli

Second, I finished my own painting inspired by Finelli's bust. I think it will be the first of many. It was just that inspiring to me.  Here's a link to my Painting. 

http://karmensart.blogspot.com/2014/11/detail-of-finellis-cardinal-scipioine.html

The other sculpture that I re-visited yesterday that has inspired me  is Ippolito Buzio's Luisa Deti.  I cannot wait to work on a piece of artwork based on it but it will have to wait while Fernini's Cardinal muse calls me!

Buzio Bust photos by Karmen Elsen (c)

I cannot say why this bust mesmerizes me exactly but I could look at it for hours.  It speaks on so many levels and is certainly multi-layered from a figurative and emotional standpoint. What immediately draws one in is a face, totally enveloped in shadows. You must walk closer to see who is behind those layers and layers of veils and pieces of fabric. She appears to be in deep mourning and sorrowful. At first she appears to be a Roman or Greek but on close inspection, the hairstyle and clothing around the neckline tell us it is a woman of a later period. Who was she? A cursory google search only pulls up the sculpture. So more dogged research will ensue on my part. Back to my impressions of this stature. The only facial feature that emerges from the deep shadow is her nose no matter what your angle is. She is not a classic beauty but that is not the story that this artist wants to tell.  The haggard lines, the blank stare in front of her, the very heavy fabric on top of her head all reveal a woman weighted down by her situation. There is not one glimmer of happiness or hope that I see... just despair, numbness, tiredness... All of this emotion jumps out at me from pure marble stone.

Another thought on these Renaissance sculptures: they have such a modern feel and strive for a realism most find awe-inspiring. It is hard to imagine that a century or two before these artists, few European artists of that time had re-discovered perspective,or worried about correct human proportions. Realism was not their goal. But more on that later....  

UPDATE OF NOVEMBER 2, 2014: Well, I finally found out who Luisa Deti was. She was the mother of Pope Clement VIII (of the noble Aldobrandini family) and died in 1557. The bust was commissioned of Buzio to be included in the Aldobrandini family villa. The Aldobrandini family wanted sculptures of the Pope's parents. At the last minute, instead of a bust of the mother, they installed a reclining sculture of the mother instead of Buzio's bust. For the interesting history of the sculpture and how they identified the artist and subject, here is a link to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's article on the sculpture.

http://www.metmuseum.org/research/metpublications/A_Portrait_Bust_of_Luisa_Deti_by_Ippolito_Buzio_The_Metropolitan_Museum_Journal_v_32_1997?Tag=Biography&title=&author=&pt=&tc=&dept=&fmt=

What I find interesting as well is that these two sculptures Fimelli's Cardinal Borghese and Buzio's Luisa Deti are placed near each other at the Met and that subjects that were intimately connected. The Borghese family was a branch of Aldobranini family. They were currant at the same time.  AND since I have been reading about Caravaggio these past six months:  the Aldobrandini family was in power at the time of Caravaggio as well. What coincidence: my chance discovery of these two inspiring sculptures at the time when I am reading about Caravaggio.

My two current muses "side-by-side:"....

I will continue this post...