1
00:00:04,450 --> 00:00:06,780
*Art ...*
2
00:00:06,780 --> 00:00:08,130
ArtSleuth
3
00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:16,300
A man
4
00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:18,280
Among rocks
5
00:00:20,770 --> 00:00:23,750
With a town in the background
6
00:00:23,810 --> 00:00:25,810
A picture by Giovanni Bellini
7
00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:30,560
A hero seeking inspiration in a glorious landscape?
8
00:00:32,500 --> 00:00:33,640
Better than that:
9
00:00:34,380 --> 00:00:37,960
the supreme champion of life lived simply and in harmony with nature:
10
00:00:38,020 --> 00:00:39,500
Saint Francis of Assisi ...
11
00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:43,180
… in a landscape touched by the fantastic!
12
00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:45,040
• two suns light the scene:
13
00:00:45,060 --> 00:00:48,680
• one in the direction the saint is looking
14
00:00:48,820 --> 00:00:50,160
• the other in the background
15
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:57,380
• and the palms of his hands are bleeding
16
00:00:57,440 --> 00:00:59,480
The last recalls a miracle
17
00:00:59,500 --> 00:01:04,060
which Bellini’s predecessors happily gave the full Hollywood treatment:
18
00:01:04,140 --> 00:01:05,760
Celestial beings,
19
00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:06,940
bright light from on high,
20
00:01:09,380 --> 00:01:11,040
gaping wounds.
21
00:01:12,260 --> 00:01:15,080
So why does Bellini tone everything down?
22
00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,620
250 years have passed since the death of Saint Francis
23
00:01:19,700 --> 00:01:23,960
This sumptuous picture has been acquired by a group of Venetian magnates…
24
00:01:24,020 --> 00:01:26,280
… one of them a fabulously rich merchant banker:
25
00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:30,080
do they really believe in the poverty preached by the saint?
26
00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:35,300
And does Bellini - Renaissance painter and scholar in one, have doubts concerning miracles
27
00:01:35,300 --> 00:01:39,520
… which subvert the natural order?
28
00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:44,150
Or does he really want to paint a dazzling landscape, with Saint Francis as mere pretext?
29
00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:45,780
*BELLINI – Saint Francis in the desert*
30
00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:47,640
*Not miracle, but landscape?*
31
00:01:49,450 --> 00:01:51,260
Part 1. *Natural miracle*
32
00:01:52,750 --> 00:01:57,100
Is Bellini trying to make the miracle seem natural?
33
00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:01,300
The saint’s holy retreat in the mountains occupies the foreground …
34
00:02:01,300 --> 00:02:03,300
…close to a cave where he has made his home.
35
00:02:04,450 --> 00:02:07,100
Further back, a rural landscape,
36
00:02:07,100 --> 00:02:10,750
separated from the foreground by jagged rocks
37
00:02:10,750 --> 00:02:12,750
and this screen of vegetation
38
00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:28,350
and, behind a quietly flowing river, urban civilisation:
39
00:02:28,350 --> 00:02:30,850
a town ...
40
00:02:30,850 --> 00:02:34,450
…and buildings perched on hilltops,
41
00:02:34,450 --> 00:02:38,250
beneath a peaceful sky
42
00:02:38,250 --> 00:02:40,250
Standing firmly erect in his rough, homespun habit,
43
00:02:40,250 --> 00:02:43,050
the saint is in the world, and yet outside it too,
44
00:02:43,050 --> 00:02:45,450
with his gaze fixed on a strange source of light.
45
00:02:45,450 --> 00:02:48,050
Is it the autumn sun?
46
00:02:48,050 --> 00:02:51,350
Since the saint is either open-mouthed in wonder, or possibly singing,
47
00:02:51,350 --> 00:02:55,800
since this bewildered rabbit has started from its burrow
48
00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,600
since the saint has dropped his stick and sandals,
49
00:03:01,150 --> 00:03:03,350
since this foliage is lit from the front ...
50
00:03:03,350 --> 00:03:06,850
although the walls in the distance are in shadow …
51
00:03:08,450 --> 00:03:12,400
…we tend to feel that something less mundane is happening.
52
00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:17,350
Is the angel, the seraph, appearing to Saint Francis?
53
00:03:17,350 --> 00:03:20,100
Legend has it that night turned to day,
54
00:03:20,100 --> 00:03:22,750
to the near-by shepherds’ amazement.
55
00:03:26,550 --> 00:03:29,300
Of course, that might explain why the town is so quiet
56
00:03:29,300 --> 00:03:31,300
- not a soul in sight!
57
00:03:33,250 --> 00:03:37,450
But there’s no physical trace of the angel:
58
00:03:37,450 --> 00:03:39,450
the light in the foreground might come from a comet,
59
00:03:43,850 --> 00:03:46,900
and that in the background from the sun.
60
00:03:50,900 --> 00:03:52,850
But the painter goes even further.
61
00:03:52,850 --> 00:03:55,850
The heart of the miracle was the stigmata,
62
00:03:55,850 --> 00:03:58,800
the five wounds of the crucified Christ,
63
00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,750
which Saint Francis received kneeling down.
64
00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,150
Here, however, he is standing
65
00:04:05,150 --> 00:04:07,450
- and the wounds have been touched in so lightly that,
66
00:04:07,450 --> 00:04:11,200
on the left foot, they have vanished.
67
00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:13,200
And the wounds are simply marked with blood,
68
00:04:14,950 --> 00:04:20,050
although the saint’s first biographers tell us that his own flesh took on the shape of the nails…
69
00:04:20,050 --> 00:04:22,550
… and the wound in the side,
70
00:04:22,550 --> 00:04:25,350
which distinguished Christ from the thieves crucified with him…
71
00:04:25,350 --> 00:04:27,350
… does not appear in the picture.
72
00:04:30,450 --> 00:04:33,550
Light and perspective make the saint’s stigmatisation *a metaphor: *
73
00:04:33,550 --> 00:04:37,100
he is, as it were,
74
00:04:37,100 --> 00:04:38,800
virtually nailed to this crucifix,
75
00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:45,150
relegated to the edge of the picture.**
76
00:04:45,150 --> 00:04:47,200
In other words, he is no longer singled out by a spectacular manifestation of divine power:
77
00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,200
we are reminded of the miracle, but are not necessarily seeing it happen.
78
00:04:51,100 --> 00:04:55,700
The picture’s originality is more a matter of the saint’s posture and relationship with nature.
79
00:04:55,700 --> 00:05:02,000
Is the landscape indeed its real subject?
80
00:05:03,810 --> 00:05:05,900
Part 2. Nature v. town?
81
00:05:06,700 --> 00:05:10,370
There is no river or town near the real Monte Alverna,
82
00:05:10,370 --> 00:05:12,370
the saint’s chief retreat.
83
00:05:14,050 --> 00:05:15,850
And so this is not an actual landscape,
84
00:05:15,850 --> 00:05:18,300
but a figment of Bellini’s imagination!
85
00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,650
The town stands for the saint’s former life:
86
00:05:28,470 --> 00:05:32,870
The life of an arrogant “rich kid” from a family of cloth merchants.
87
00:05:34,250 --> 00:05:37,000
The life of the new bourgeoisie who,
88
00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,000
with their talent for trade and finance,
89
00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,000
are making Italy’s cities wealthy
90
00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,000
- and starting to worry about their own salvation.
91
00:05:43,370 --> 00:05:46,570
A life which Saint Francis puts behind him:
92
00:05:46,570 --> 00:05:48,570
he renounces his possessions;
93
00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:55,020
the bridge in the picture is symbolically cut
94
00:05:57,950 --> 00:06:01,000
every knot on his coarse habit represents a vow
95
00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:02,420
- of poverty,
96
00:06:02,420 --> 00:06:04,070
chastity,
97
00:06:04,070 --> 00:06:07,250
obedience - …
98
00:06:07,250 --> 00:06:10,720
… which he clearly honours :
99
00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:13,770
• The only trace of a meal, this simple pitcher,
100
00:06:13,770 --> 00:06:15,770
• The only sign of a church, this handbell,
101
00:06:16,650 --> 00:06:20,150
• His only means of study, this book and parchment.
102
00:06:20,150 --> 00:06:22,820
• A heron as symbol of fidelity to the Church
103
00:06:22,820 --> 00:06:24,820
- or of the old sybaritic lifestyle.
104
00:06:24,820 --> 00:06:30,150
• And the donkey to carry him - and symbolise bodily service,
105
00:06:30,150 --> 00:06:33,670
But the town itself is not demonised:
106
00:06:33,670 --> 00:06:37,050
•the donkey reminds us that Jesus returned to Jerusalem,
107
00:06:37,050 --> 00:06:41,470
•the shepherd that the gospel must be preached to the “lost sheep”…,
108
00:06:43,700 --> 00:06:49,350
Saint Francis seems to be saying that city-dwellers have forgotten the meaning of gratitude.
109
00:06:49,350 --> 00:06:52,220
The light we see is a gift from heaven
110
00:06:53,420 --> 00:06:58,570
As he sings a hymn to his creator, Saint Francis seems to be imitating a bird,
111
00:06:58,570 --> 00:07:01,770
and his body echoes the curve of the laurel bush
112
00:07:04,020 --> 00:07:06,450
But this isn’t the garden of Eden either
113
00:07:06,450 --> 00:07:10,850
- labour is man’s return for nature’s bounty, as he turns:
114
00:07:10,850 --> 00:07:13,670
• a cave into a home,
115
00:07:13,670 --> 00:07:15,670
• a vine into a pergola,
116
00:07:17,570 --> 00:07:20,270
• a fold in the ground into a garden,
117
00:07:20,820 --> 00:07:22,920
• and a spring into a conduit
118
00:07:25,250 --> 00:07:29,070
If we cannot imitate Christ’s *sacrifice *on the cross,
119
00:07:29,070 --> 00:07:34,170
Bellini suggests a life of giving and of prayer *as a modest alternative.*
120
00:07:34,170 --> 00:07:36,170
Building a chapel,
121
00:07:36,170 --> 00:07:38,170
donating a religious painting
122
00:07:38,170 --> 00:07:41,070
- these are some of the good works the rich can perform
123
00:07:41,070 --> 00:07:43,070
in the hope of gaining paradise.
124
00:07:43,370 --> 00:07:47,870
At the time Bellini paints his picture, the Franciscans are setting up special loan agencies - the Monte di Pietà
125
00:07:47,870 --> 00:07:49,870
- to help the poorest of the poor in Italy.
126
00:07:50,570 --> 00:07:54,820
The poverty of Saint Francis has become a *giving-based economic system, *
127
00:07:54,820 --> 00:07:56,820
and is steadily making the Franciscans more powerful.
128
00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:00,850
They control hundreds of buildings in town centres,
129
00:08:00,850 --> 00:08:03,570
and have already given the Church two popes.
130
00:08:04,250 --> 00:08:08,370
So - is Bellini simply their mouthpiece ?
131
00:08:09,700 --> 00:08:11,860
Part 3. The religion of nature
132
00:08:13,860 --> 00:08:16,920
The hallowed landscape is not Bellini’s invention.
133
00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,000
Traditionally, it is a stylised background
134
00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,000
which indicates that the saint portrayed
135
00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,350
is in a *different world from the viewer.*
136
00:08:25,870 --> 00:08:29,770
But interest in landscape as such becomes more marked in Italian and French art
137
00:08:29,770 --> 00:08:31,770
from the start of the XVth century.
138
00:08:33,500 --> 00:08:35,870
This pictorial version of the story of Saint Anthony is an example:
139
00:08:37,300 --> 00:08:42,270
While most of the episodes take place beneath a gilded sky or in a church,
140
00:08:42,370 --> 00:08:46,150
those where the saint is tempted in the desert
141
00:08:46,150 --> 00:08:48,820
are set in a real landscape.
142
00:08:48,820 --> 00:08:50,820
As in the desert scene with Saint Francis:
143
00:08:50,820 --> 00:08:52,820
There is a broken sky
144
00:08:52,820 --> 00:08:54,820
- blue, yellow and white
145
00:08:55,620 --> 00:08:57,100
and the high viewpoint allows us
146
00:08:57,100 --> 00:09:00,150
to explore the setting in depth.
147
00:09:03,020 --> 00:09:06,450
Contemporary Flemish painters
148
00:09:06,450 --> 00:09:09,320
take this mixture of the sacred and profane even further:
149
00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:13,570
Van Eyck puts the Virgin face-to-face with Chancellor Rolin,
150
00:09:13,570 --> 00:09:15,770
who has commissioned the picture.
151
00:09:15,770 --> 00:09:18,870
The landscape in the background
152
00:09:18,870 --> 00:09:22,320
is an idealised image of his territories, which he can then compare
153
00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:23,670
... to an ideal city…
154
00:09:23,670 --> 00:09:25,670
…with the Virgin as its queen.
155
00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,570
In spite of the crenellated wall which separates her from the secular world,
156
00:09:30,570 --> 00:09:33,670
she is almost *being used* to convey a political message!
157
00:09:34,350 --> 00:09:38,570
There is, therefore, a risk that landscape may destroy the *necessary distance *
158
00:09:38,570 --> 00:09:41,450
between the profane and the sacred.
159
00:09:41,450 --> 00:09:43,070
In his Saint Francis,
160
00:09:43,070 --> 00:09:45,900
Bellini deploys three separate solutions to the problem.
161
00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:49,150
First solution:
162
00:09:49,150 --> 00:09:52,400
he marks off areas where the supernatural holds sway.
163
00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:56,050
Bellini sometimes uses paved spaces with sturdy balustrades,
164
00:09:57,500 --> 00:10:00,170
... where certain events take place unseen by people in the background,
165
00:10:00,170 --> 00:10:02,170
... [to be translated]
166
00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,220
Compare this *transfiguration scene, *
167
00:10:06,220 --> 00:10:08,470
where a ravine protected by a frail wooden barrier
168
00:10:08,470 --> 00:10:10,470
separates us from the mountain where the miracle is taking place.
169
00:10:12,900 --> 00:10:18,570
Here, variations in the terrain serve this separating function.
170
00:10:20,470 --> 00:10:23,800
Variety and precision of detail also make us forget
171
00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:25,800
that the whole scene is imagined:
172
00:10:27,350 --> 00:10:30,400
we feel that we are really seeing the beauties of nature,
173
00:10:32,950 --> 00:10:35,720
a nature so delightful that it seems good
174
00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,470
- and so *good *that we feel it was created *for us *
175
00:10:38,470 --> 00:10:39,820
by a benevolent divinity.
176
00:10:41,820 --> 00:10:46,200
Second solution: signal the sanctity of the central figure.
177
00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,750
Instead of using the conventional halo …
178
00:10:49,750 --> 00:10:52,870
Bellini invests the saint’s posture with mystery.
179
00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:59,250
That mystery lies in the contrast between an unusually powerful and clearly defined *physical presence*
180
00:10:59,250 --> 00:11:02,100
....which stands out against the pale stone behind it...
181
00:11:02,100 --> 00:11:05,020
… and the outward signs of *spiritual ecstasy:*
182
00:11:05,020 --> 00:11:09,370
he is directly *in front of us, *and yet his attention is *elsewhere. *
183
00:11:11,870 --> 00:11:14,620
Third solution: light.
184
00:11:14,620 --> 00:11:18,000
Bellini applies very thin layers of paint on top of one another,
185
00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,000
which creates transparent effects…
186
00:11:25,370 --> 00:11:29,020
but also makes certain surfaces, like the stone, seem luminous:
187
00:11:29,020 --> 00:11:31,020
the underlying bright colours
188
00:11:31,020 --> 00:11:34,650
light them from within.
189
00:11:36,700 --> 00:11:39,020
Bellini’s Saint Francis thus seems
190
00:11:39,020 --> 00:11:41,220
a subtle forerunner of what we now call “fantasy” in literature and film:
191
00:11:42,850 --> 00:11:47,250
in an ordinary natural setting, something in a person’s behaviour,
192
00:11:47,250 --> 00:11:49,750
a brightness in the air
193
00:11:49,750 --> 00:11:51,420
and unexpected details
194
00:11:51,420 --> 00:11:53,420
all suggest the presence of the supernatural.
195
00:11:59,180 --> 00:12:01,180
Next episode: *the Young Knight* by Vittore Carpaccio
196
00:12:01,180 --> 00:12:04,500
Youth'promises
197
00:12:04,500 --> 00:12:10,000
*Find more information on: www.canal-educatif.fr*
198
00:12:11,710 --> 00:12:14,130
Written & directed by:
199
00:12:14,130 --> 00:12:16,610
Produced by:
200
00:12:16,610 --> 00:12:18,960
Scientific advisor:
201
00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:21,360
This film was made possible thanks to the support of sponsors (including you?) and of the French Ministry of Culture
202
00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:23,760
Voiceover:
203
00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,160
Editing and motion effects:
204
00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,560
Postproduction and sound recording:
205
00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:30,960
Musical selection:
206
00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:33,360
Musics
207
00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:35,760
Photographic credits
208
00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:38,160
Special thanks - English translation: Vincent Nash
209
00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:38,160
A CED production