There is more than meets the eyes behind two Renaissance portraits that greet visitors to ‘Masterpieces at MUŻA,’ the remarkable must-see exhibition at the Malta National Community Art Museum.
The impassive and sombre bust of Pietro Soderini and the solemn but elegant visage of a nameless young lady conceal a pandora’s box of mysteries, the clues to which appear on the reverse of the paintings themselves.
‘Facing Portraits’ is the name given to one of five sections that allow for a thematic experience of this prestigious Heritage Malta exhibition. The display makes accessible 13 paintings on a long-term loan from an international private collection to the Maltese public for the very first time. The majority of this priceless cluster of artworks encompassing the 15th to the 18th centuries, from the Renaissance to Baroque and Rococo, include autograph works by world-renowned artists Giovanni Baglione, Francois Boucher, and Claude-Joseph Vernet, and have been out of public sight for decades.
Requested by the powerful, commissioned by the affluent, and sought by collectors, portrait paintings have for centuries immortalised the physical and moral traits of sitters during their lifetime and beyond their death.
Pietro Soderini, in a three-quarter view, half his face in shadow, is portrayed against a stark, dark background, enhancing the immediacy in which he looks directly at the viewer. Rather than aiming for complete physiognomic accuracy, the unknown painter chose to depict a more human and insightful side to the Florentine statesman. Soderini, gazing philosophically but non-committedly at the onlooker, remains a politician of cultivated manners and emotional self-control for posterity.
Not only is the name of the artist behind this 16th-century painting an enigma, but we only know the sitter through comparative studies of other Soderini likenesses and an inscription under a top layer of paint which was revealed through preliminary scientific investigations. A contemporary of Niccolò Machiavelli, and ambassador to the French court since 1493, Soderini wears the vermillion garb of a gonfaloniere di giustizia of the Florentine Republic. Why was his name erased? Was his name added to the painting in his lifetime? And who commissioned the portrait? History informs us that when the mighty Medicis, assisted by the Spanish, returned to Florence in 1512, Soderini was deposed and driven into exile. His name could have been effaced as a result, but only a proper scientific dating of the different layers of paint may provide conclusive pointers.
Another conundrum presents itself on the reverse of the oil on panel. Two old labels affixed to the panel bear the name ‘Vasari.’ A native of Tuscany, Giorgio Vasari, the well-known art historian, architect, and painter, was also a contemporary of Soderini. He could very well have been the artist behind Soderini’s portrait. However, in all likelihood, this might be mere conjecture on the part of an overenthusiastic art collector in the painting’s chequered history. Pietro Soderini is keeping his secrets. His lips tightly pursed for eternity.
The lips of the poker-faced maiden at the octagonal heart of a highly ornate gilt reproduction frame are also sealed shut. Painted in the dewy flesh tones that are typical of the Venetian school of art, the anonymous sitter’s ringlets are crowned by a row of pearls, often a symbolic portrayal of chastity. The portrait, with its emphasis on colour and light, is attributed to Giovanni Bellini (Venice, c.1430-1516) and circle. Bellini, the most acclaimed artist in his painterly family, is considered to have founded the Venetian School of the Renaissance with its predilection for poetic depictions of the beauty and pleasures of nature and humanity. Quick to earn recognition for his devotional and mythological figures and atmospheric landscapes, Bellini enjoyed a long and prolific career, living to see his influence propagated by pupils, such as Giorgione and Titian.
The realism of Bellini’s painting, the crispness of its execution, and the attention to detail are evident in the eyes and the eyelashes of the young lady; eyes that withhold another riddle besides that of her undisclosed identity. Scientific investigations have exposed a highly worked-up drawing of a young boy on the back of the painting’s panel. Janus-like, the scratched and barely discernible depiction suggests that this was originally intended as a double-sided portrait.
‘Masterpieces at MUŻA’ is being supported by Visit Malta; the Ministry for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government; the Ministry for Finance; and the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Malta. For more info: www.muza.mt
MUŻA is a project part-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020.
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