书城艺术美国学生艺术史(英汉双语版)
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第12章 PAINTING绘画(12)

研究马萨丘湿壁画的画家中有一个名叫弗拉·菲利波·李比的修士——也就是菲利波弟兄,意思是菲利普,只是不读“菲利普”,而读“菲利波”。然而,菲利波弟兄并不像虔诚画家安哲利科弟兄那样善良圣洁。菲利波弟兄是一位优秀的画家,却不是一个好修士。据说,他厌倦了修士和行善的生活,从修道院逃走了。在经历许多冒险后,他被海盗俘获当了奴隶。有一天,他用木炭给主人画了一张画像。因为画得非常像,主人就把他释放了。

菲利波弟兄回到意大利,被一所女修院聘请画一幅圣母玛利亚的画像。女修院是修女们生活的地方。修女们献身于宗教,她们像修道院的修士们一样也过着集体生活。

这个女修院有个年轻漂亮的修女,做了菲利波画圣母像的模特。虽然修士和修女不允许相爱,但菲利波还是向那个修女表达了爱意,他们终于不顾一切地私奔了。他们生了一个儿子,取名菲利比诺,意思是“小菲利波”。菲利比诺也成了一位伟大的画家,比他父亲还要出名。

这个时期还有一位画家,他的名字或他的两个名字——因为我想说,他两个名字里都含有“佐”这种韵律。他就是贝诺佐·戈佐利。

比萨城有一座奇特的塔,塔身不是直立的,而是向一边倾斜。在这城里,还有另外一个奇特的事物——一块墓地。那墓地的奇特之处在于墓地的土都是从耶路撒冷运来的,所以人们下葬的这块地便尤为神圣——基督曾踏过的圣土。当时建成这块墓地用了五十三船圣土。这块墓地就叫做坎波桑,意思是“圣陵”。

坎波桑周围有一堵墙,戈佐利在墙的内壁上了画了许多《圣经·旧约》中的场景和故事——诺亚方舟、巴比塔、大卫和所罗门的故事,等等。——一共二十二幅画。每幅画中都有人群,而人群后面又都有房屋(我们称作背景)。

在戈佐利和同时代其他画家的大部分画作中,人的着装并不是《圣经》时代人的着装。背景中的房屋也不是《圣经》时代的房屋或根本就不是《圣经》中的所指之处。画家们并没有去过《圣经》里所讲述的地方,也不知道《圣经》时代的人们穿什么样的衣服或盖什么样的房子,所以他们只能仿照他们自己时代意大利人的穿着和建筑。

这三位画家开启了再生时代,也就是文艺复兴初期,从1400年到1500年的百年间。可能在你看来,这三位画家并不是古希腊人的再生,但你务必要记住他们——脏兮兮的汤姆、不良修士和墓地画家,他们生活并创作于哥伦布发现美洲大陆之前的时期。

SINS AND SERMONS

罪恶与布道

ALMOST the first date that every boy and girl learns is 1492,the year that Columbus discovered America.Columbus was an Italian,but most of the people in Italy at that time were not interested in Columbus or what he was things.They were interested in just two things.First they.were interested having a good time.The second thing they were interested in was art.They were interested in Greece and its art and learning—not in discovering new countries.This time was known as the beginning of the High Renaissance and began just about 1492.

When you look at a globe of the world,you can hardly find Italy,no larger than your little finger,sticking down into the Mediterranean Sea.And yet in this little finger of land lived,at the time we are talking about,the greatest artists there have ever been.We call these artists the Old Masters.It may seem strange that just there in Italy the greatest artists should have been born and lived,all within a few miles of one another.One explanation is that Italy was the center of the Christian religion,and up to this time Italian artists painted no pictures but religious ones.

An artist named Botticelli (Bot-tee-chel‘lee),was one of the first Italian artists to paint pictures of things that were not told about in the Bible.Botticelli painted religious pictures too,but he liked especially to paint pictures of Greek gods and goddesses and other fanciful subjects,for the Renaissance was a time,as I’ve told you,when every one was interested in Greek art,history,and learning.Botticelli had a peculiar style of painting.IIis women usually had long legs and seemed to be dancing or floating along the ground instead of standing or walking.They were clad in very filmy,gauzy gowns as thin as a veil that showed their figures almost as if they had nothing on.Here is one called “The Allegory of Spring.”

Now,at the time of Columbus,there was living and preaching in Florence a monk named Savonarola,who some people think was mad.At any rate,he was such a powerful preacher that those who heard his sermons would do almost anything he told them to.He seemed to hypnotize them.Most of the people in Florence were very wicked.They thought of nothing but pleasure and having a good time,no matter how bad they were when they had a good time.Savonarola preached against the sins of this world,and prophesied death for those who did not repent and mend their ways.Hepreached against people who played games of cards or dice,who used rouge on their faces,who wore ornaments,who danced,who sang songs that were not hymns,or wrote books or painted pictures that were not religious.The people of Florence began to repent and so one day they brought all their ornaments and finery and fancy clothes and bad books to the public square and made a huge bonfire of them.It was much higher than a house.Many ugly things were burned up,probably most of them ought to have been burned.It might be a good idea if,once a year,we were to gather together all the flimsy ornaments,trashy pictures,and other rubbish in our houses and make a huge bonfire of them.

No.10-1THE ALLEGORY OF SPRING(《春》)BOTTICELLI(波提切利作)Gourtesy of The University Prints Botticelli had heard Savonarola preach,and he felt that he too had committed a sin in painting pictures of gods and goddesses and other subjects that were not religious.So he brought his paintings that were not religious and threw them on the bonfire.Fortunately for us,only a few of Botticelli’s pictures were burned and his best ones are still preserved in art galleries.

Here is one of the religious kind,a Madonna.Notice that it is circular in shape,not square-cornered as most pictures are.Circular pictures are called tondos,which means round.

This is called “The Madonna of the Coronation”(the crowning),because two angelsare putting a crown on Mary to show that she is the Queen of Heaven.She is writing a song in a book while the infant Jesus seems to be guiding her hand.The song sung in church to-day is called the Magnificat because that is the Latin name,and so the picture too is often called “The Magnificat.”The song is a thanksgiving to God that He has chosen Mary from among all the women in the world,to be the mother of Jesus.

No.10-2DETAIL FROM THE ALLEGORY OF SPRING《春》之局部BOTTICELLI(波提切利作)

The boy holding the ink-well and the one holding the book were real boys.They did not live in the time of Christ,but in the time of Botticelli,so it may seem strange that they should have been put in the picture,but the Old Masters often did that sort of thing.When these two boys grew up both of them became popes.