Posts Tagged “Goethe”

Guercino, Resurrected Christ, 1629 (source)

Cento, 17 October 1786. Evening

I am writing from Guercino’s home town and in a better mood than I was in yesterday. Cento is a small, clean, friendly town of about five thousand inhabitants. As usual, the first thing I did was to climb the tower. I saw a sea of populars among which were small farms, each surrounded by its own field. It was an autumn evening such as our summer rarely grants us. The sky, which had been overcast all day, was clearing as the cloud masses moved northward and southward in the direction of the mountains. I expect a fine day tomorrow.

I also got my first glimpse of the Apennines, which I am approaching. Here the winter is confined to December and January; April is the rainy month, and for the rest of the year they have fair, seasonable weather. It never rains for long. This year September was better and warmer than August. I welcomed the sight of the Apennines in the south, for I have had quite enough of flat country. Tomorrow I shall write from their feet.

Guercino loved his native town as most Italians do, for they make a cult of local patriotism. This admirable sentiment has been responsible for many excellent institutions and, incidentally, for teh large number of local saints. Under the master’s direction, an academy of painting was founded here, and he left the town several pictures which are appreciated by the citizens to this day, and rightly so.

I liked very much one painting of his which represents the risen Christ appearing to His mother. She is kneeling at His feet, looking up at Him with indescribable tenderness. Her left hand is touching His side just below the wound, which is horrible and spoils the whole picture. He had His arm around her neck and is bending backward slightly so as to see her better. The picture is, I will not say unnatural, but a little strange. He looks at her with a quiet, sad expression as if the memory of His suffering and hers had not yet been healed by His resurrection, but was still present in His noble soul. Strange has made an engraving of this picture and I should be happy if my friends could at least see that. […]

As a painter, Guercino is healthy and masculine without being crude. His work has great moral beauty and charm, and a personal manner which makes it immediately recognizable, once one’s eye has been trained to look for it. His brush work is amazing. For the garments of his figures he employs particularly beautiful shades of reddish-brown which harmonize very well with the blue e is so found of using. The subjects of his other paintings are not so happy. This fine artist tortured himself to paint what was a waste of his imagination and skill. I am very glad to have seen the work of this important school of painting, though such a hasty look is insufficient for proper enjoyment.

Today of course, people are like ‘Hey, check out my Flickr account!’