9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
prey or predator, each creature must fend for itself.

0:00:05.130,0:00:07.160
Art…

0:00:07.160,0:00:08.790
ArtSleuth

0:00:10.980,0:00:13.760
A knight in armour…

0:00:14.150,0:00:16.900
Plants and animals in profusion…

0:00:18.450,0:00:21.110
Ancient fortifications…

0:00:23.370,0:00:26.100
A picture by Carpaccio!

0:00:26.100,0:00:29.500
A beautiful medieval image?

0:00:30.570,0:00:33.960
Seen through nineteenth-century eyes?

0:00:34.340,0:00:36.110
Not at all…

0:00:36.170,0:00:38.310
The date is circa 1510,

0:00:38.310,0:00:39.850
the Italian Renaissance is in full swing,

0:00:39.850,0:00:44.850
and this picture seems to have been old-fashioned [br]before the paint was dry.

0:00:45.480,0:00:48.080
Carpaccio is just over 50 years old:

0:00:48.110,0:00:49.740
other Venetian artists

0:00:49.770,0:00:52.540
are landing all the best commissions

0:00:52.540,0:00:52.570
with their innovative “velvet touch” style.

0:00:56.310,0:01:00.020
Giorgione, recently dead at the age of 33, ...

0:01:00.050,0:01:02.400
Titian, who is 20...

0:01:02.400,0:01:05.110
and even the old Bellini who, at over 80,

0:01:05.110,0:01:09.030
brings flesh to life in a pared-down landscape.

0:01:09.400,0:01:12.650
Carpaccio, by comparison, seems too detailed,

0:01:12.650,0:01:13.820
too clear-cut,

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and his landscape overloaded.

0:01:17.220,0:01:19.820
Is he living in a world of his own?

0:01:19.820,0:01:23.140
Even as he strives to capture the reflections in a fine suit of armour,

0:01:23.140,0:01:28.200
cannon and firearms are revolutionising the whole art of war!

0:01:28.800,0:01:34.050
Are Carpaccio and his knight really prisoners of the past?

0:01:34.060,0:01:38.460
Episode 6 : Carpaccio – The Young Knight [br]*Prisoners of the Past?*

0:01:40.530,0:01:42.700
Part 1. *Portrait on the look-out*

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This picture is primarily concerned with a man’s identity.

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Like medallions, which …

0:01:48.770,0:01:52.370
… show the person on one side, …

0:01:52.370,0:01:54.570
… and his or her values on the other…

0:01:54.570,0:01:56.220
… it portrays:

0:01:56.220,0:01:57.510
A young man

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…with distinctive features, like this prominent cleft chin,

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and a real-life coat of arms:

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Flowers, irises and white lilies, symbols of purity,

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with a personal motto: “*rather death than dishonour*”

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And an emblem, the ermine, which stands for incorruptibility.

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According to legend, "*she would rather die*

0:02:22.310,0:02:26.020
*than traverse a foul swamp*”.

0:02:27.000,0:02:31.370
This portrait must therefore be seen as breaking new ground:

0:02:31.370,0:02:35.620
after the earliest full-length portraits in the Flemish style…

0:02:35.620,0:02:39.770
Carpaccio is one of the first Italian artist to produce [br]an almost <i>life-size</i> portrait

0:02:39.770,0:02:41.510
with an outdoor setting.

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What Bellini had done for a saint 30 years earlier,

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Carpaccio now seems to be doing for a young man in armour.

0:02:48.710,0:02:52.080
A town in the background,

0:02:52.080,0:02:53.970
a spring in the foreground,

0:02:53.970,0:02:55.650
and, instead of Saint Francis,…

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… a heroic knight, seen from a low angle.

0:03:00.740,0:03:03.850
The setting, however, is no longer reassuring and familiar,

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but discordant

0:03:06.200,0:03:08.510
- if not positively peculiar!

0:03:08.540,0:03:10.510
Instead of simple perspective lines,

0:03:10.510,0:03:14.000
tense diagonals veer across the canvas:

0:03:14.110,0:03:17.020
Like the ermine threatened by toads,

0:03:17.020,0:03:21.080
the knight is poised to spring at some latent menace.

0:03:21.540,0:03:23.080
His lance…

0:03:23.080,0:03:25.200
… points at a hawk…

0:03:25.910,0:03:28.020
… which is putting other birds to flight

0:03:30.600,0:03:35.050
... and watching an eagle fighting with a heron.

0:03:36.170,0:03:39.680
Even the path holds a macabre surprise:

0:03:39.680,0:03:43.540
beyond the sunlit meadow with its gambolling rabbits…

0:03:43.570,0:03:46.820
a vulture is tearing a fawn to pieces!

0:03:49.080,0:03:52.370
In this natural scene, even the forms are in conflict:

0:03:52.450,0:03:54.770
Sometimes they avoid each other:

0:03:54.820,0:03:58.420
The knight seems trapped between the horseman and the tree,

0:03:58.420,0:04:02.200
which has to make way for his elbow…

0:04:03.620,0:04:07.050
… just as the bush does for his lance

0:04:07.110,0:04:09.650
and any patch of sky which stays empty

0:04:09.650,0:04:13.300
is soon invaded by a bird.

0:04:13.970,0:04:17.710
When forms actually touch, the contact is carefully calculated:

0:04:17.740,0:04:20.650
the dog supports the sword.

0:04:21.200,0:04:25.050
a tree grows from the stag’s antlers.

0:04:25.110,0:04:30.970
on the horizon, a boat rides the water directly below a mountain.

0:04:31.050,0:04:34.540
and this peacock, above all, pulls off the impossible:

0:04:34.650,0:04:37.370
perched on the horseman’s helmet,

0:04:37.370,0:04:42.110
it seems to be walking the fence in the background like a tightrope,

0:04:42.110,0:04:46.570
with an inn-sign in pecking range, …

0:04:46.570,0:04:53.940
while its tail coincides exactly with the point where an arch and buttress intersect.

0:04:54.050,0:04:56.680
Although its perspective is flawless …

0:04:56.740,0:05:00.000
… this is no natural landscape!

0:05:01.000,0:05:03.940
A portrait too big for a man too young.

0:05:04.000,0:05:07.340
An artificial, tension-filled landscape.

0:05:07.340,0:05:11.800
Has Carpaccio bitten off more than he can chew?

0:05:13.760,0:05:16.160
Part 2. *Great expectations*

0:05:17.740,0:05:24.340
In fact, this contrast between heroic figures and weird setting has a meaning:

0:05:24.370,0:05:29.400
First of all, it celebrates man as the only real “political animal”.

0:05:29.400,0:05:32.940
These two men may be far apart, but various black and yellow motifs

0:05:32.970,0:05:35.880
still connect them:

0:05:35.940,0:05:39.800
the way both look warily ahead,

0:05:39.850,0:05:43.370
the complementarity of helmet and armour …

0:05:43.370,0:05:44.850
… and even their dogs:

0:05:44.880,0:05:47.110
one white with a dark patch,

0:05:47.110,0:05:51.020
the other dark with a trace of white.

0:05:51.050,0:05:54.820
The animal kingdom, on the other hand, is not really cohesive:

0:05:54.850,0:05:59.280
They live together, but without solidarity.

0:05:59.310,0:06:02.200
When they live in groups, the slightest danger scatters them.

0:06:05.110,0:06:08.280
The battle for life.

0:06:08.280,0:06:10.420
Solitary predators.

0:06:11.450,0:06:13.800
The old,

0:06:14.820,0:06:17.170
overgrown fortress

0:06:17.170,0:06:19.510
is the only place where the birds build “family nests”.

0:06:19.510,0:06:23.400
But even the parents’ attachment to their young is temporary.

0:06:25.280,0:06:30.400
The brotherbood of these two men is based on a shared conception of the good, expressed:

0:06:30.450,0:06:36.170
in the motto and its ideal of courage

0:06:36.170,0:06:40.140
and in this town as real-life political entity, …

0:06:40.140,0:06:43.480
… where people meet

0:06:43.510,0:06:45.420
and discuss civilly.

0:06:45.420,0:06:48.400
But their personal virtue is not the portrait’s only subject.

0:06:49.170,0:06:50.450
It also reflects the rise of a new generation, and the dawn of a new epoch:

0:06:50.450,0:06:55.740
The autumnal oak is matched by two green trees.

0:06:55.770,0:07:00.400
The ancient stronghold

0:07:00.420,0:07:02.820
by a resplendent fortress,

0:07:02.850,0:07:05.370
and the horseman’s personal ensign,

0:07:07.110,0:07:09.170
by a horse with a youthful rider.

0:07:09.200,0:07:12.400
There have been many theories

0:07:13.880,0:07:16.170
regarding the young knight’s identity:

0:07:16.200,0:07:19.570
The pommel of his sword and its eight-shaped hilt in Hungarian style …

0:07:19.600,0:07:22.820
his garment, which resembles that worn by the Swiss Guard,

0:07:22.820,0:07:26.370
the v-shaped crenellations,

0:07:26.370,0:07:27.450
a form favoured by allies of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation

0:07:27.450,0:07:31.600
and the resemblance of the town in the background

0:07:31.600,0:07:33.620
to Ragusa, now Dubrovnik

0:07:33.620,0:07:37.110
might all point to the young King of Hungary,

0:07:37.110,0:07:39.420
painted as Orlando or Roland, who stands for civil liberties.

0:07:39.450,0:07:44.710
Venice might have presented this picture to the rival Adriatic Republic

0:07:44.710,0:07:48.680
to seal an alliance.

0:07:48.680,0:07:51.250
Others have suggested that the picture may represent Federico Gonzaga of Mantua,

0:07:52.220,0:07:56.340
who also used yellow and black,

0:07:56.340,0:07:58.370
whose heir had the same distinctive chin on this childhood portrait,

0:07:58.400,0:08:01.820
and whose father, then dying of syphilis, might have been

0:08:01.820,0:08:05.400
symbolised by this riderless horse.

0:08:05.420,0:08:09.000
Although the exact date and first location of the picture are unknown, one thing is certain:

0:08:09.820,0:08:14.940
Unlike monuments to the dead,

0:08:14.940,0:08:16.910
which celebrate great warriors’ feats…

0:08:16.910,0:08:21.080
Unlike those heroes

0:08:21.110,0:08:22.540
who enjoy God’s miraculous assistance,

0:08:22.540,0:08:26.220
the picture celebrates, first and foremost, the potential of young men

0:08:26.250,0:08:30.080
who must face the perilous instability which reigns in Northern Italy,

0:08:30.080,0:08:33.050
now repeatedly fought over by the forces of France and the Empire

0:08:33.050,0:08:37.370
- in battles whose outcome is uncertain,

0:08:38.250,0:08:40.310
like that between the eagle and the heron

0:08:40.310,0:08:44.370
Like Donatello’s Saint George,

0:08:45.310,0:08:47.620
Carpaccio’s knight still seems frail and unfinished,

0:08:47.650,0:08:51.850
equally likely to fail or succeed.

0:08:51.850,0:08:56.020
The picture does not invoke divine assistance,

0:08:56.020,0:08:59.850
and contains no specifically Christian references, apart from a church.

0:08:59.850,0:09:04.450
He stands for a generation required to be - not heroes,

0:09:05.340,0:09:08.910
but leaders and strategists.

0:09:08.910,0:09:13.400
But is the picture’s style on a par with the new epoch?

0:09:13.940,0:09:21.950
Part 3. *Beyond beauty and harmony*

0:09:24.000,0:09:25.730
In Carpaccio’s day, knights were involved in another fratricidal conflict

0:09:27.110,0:09:30.420
- this time, between artists.

0:09:30.420,0:09:32.650
Verrocchio’s proud statue,

0:09:33.680,0:09:36.680
with its powerful presence and anatomical exactitude,

0:09:36.710,0:09:39.680
had thrown down the gauntlet - and graphic artists rushed to defend their laurels.

0:09:39.710,0:09:43.050
Dürer showed his hand in this general image of a Christian knight,

0:09:43.050,0:09:47.080
who defies both death

0:09:47.080,0:09:49.710
and the blandishments of the devil.

0:09:49.710,0:09:52.450
Not only does the horse seem fully three-dimensionnel

0:09:54.370,0:09:57.400
and anatomically correct,

0:09:57.420,0:10:00.170
or the dog seem totally life-like, as it bounds through a forest of hoofs

0:10:00.170,0:10:03.910
- the horse’s,

0:10:04.540,0:10:06.280
the mule’s

0:10:06.310,0:10:08.400
and the devil’s.

0:10:09.110,0:10:11.000
Above all, while a statue has no impact on its real-life setting,

0:10:12.280,0:10:17.400
Dürer places his figure in a harsh and jagged landscape

0:10:18.200,0:10:22.540
which expresses in itself the idea that the knight is being tested.

0:10:22.540,0:10:26.420
Fifteen years later, Altdorfer takes this further

0:10:27.370,0:10:31.510
by placing a whole army in a landscape...

0:10:31.510,0:10:33.570
whose dark and stormy sky echoes the ebb and flow of battle.

0:10:33.570,0:10:39.400
And, in mid-century, Titian does with colour what Dürer did with detail,

0:10:42.450,0:10:48.020
and gives us an expressive landscape - but without any symbols.

0:10:48.020,0:10:52.020
Resolute and unbending, Charles V presses ahead

0:10:52.020,0:10:55.510
in a space both disturbed and mysterious.

0:10:55.510,0:10:58.910
Beside these examples, the young knight seems far less self-assured,

0:11:00.570,0:11:04.680
like a lay figure before an interchangeable background.

0:11:04.710,0:11:09.450
Even the horse, with its perfect curves, reminds us of a silhouette or toy.

0:11:09.850,0:11:15.420
So - are reflections

0:11:15.820,0:11:20.970
and transparency Carpaccio’s real forte?

0:11:21.000,0:11:23.480
In Venice, Giorgione wins fame by pulling off another master-stroke:

0:11:23.850,0:11:28.420
he produces a portrait of a knight, now lost, …

0:11:28.420,0:11:31.540
… which presents its subject

0:11:31.540,0:11:34.620
from four different angles at once.

0:11:34.620,0:11:36.820
“*He painted a naked man from the back;*

0:11:36.820,0:11:38.820
*at his feet, a clear stream reflected the body from the front.*

0:11:38.820,0:11:43.420
*On one side, the light breastplate of polished steel, which he had taken off,*

0:11:43.420,0:11:47.250
*so bright that it reflected everything,*

0:11:47.250,0:11:49.250
*showed the left profile.*

0:11:49.250,0:11:51.420
*On the other side,*

0:11:51.420,0:11:53.250
*the other profile could be seen in a mirror*”.

0:11:53.250,0:11:55.450
Other artists follow the same line:

0:11:56.020,0:11:59.600
in this picture by Titian, an older man’s armour reflects the hidden profile of a goddess …

0:11:59.600,0:12:05.480
... and Savoldo, in his self-portrait, skilfully multiplies mirrors and reflections.

0:12:05.480,0:12:11.370
Carpaccio’s reflection lacks this heavy, self-advertising emphasis,

0:12:13.620,0:12:17.450
but the result is still ambiguous.

0:12:17.450,0:12:18.970
The armour reflects only the subject’s arm and pommel,

0:12:18.970,0:12:22.450
exactly as a well polished statue might have done.

0:12:22.450,0:12:26.340
These shadows, which are too fine,

0:12:26.570,0:12:30.450
and these very sketchy ripples in the water,

0:12:30.450,0:12:32.710
suggest that his contemporaries’ technical virtuosity leaves Carpaccio relatively cold.

0:12:32.740,0:12:37.450
So what is he really interested in?

0:12:38.370,0:12:41.050
To understand him, we need to look at Pisanello,

0:12:41.050,0:12:43.710
who bequeathed his successors a whole catalogue of motifs

0:12:43.710,0:12:46.050
… which Carpaccio gleefully plunders!

0:12:46.050,0:12:49.450
a stag seen from behind

0:12:49.510,0:12:51.680
a crouching dog

0:12:51.680,0:12:53.710
carrion-eaters waiting to fall on a carcass left by a predator

0:12:53.710,0:12:57.480
and numerous knights

0:12:57.480,0:12:58.540
… accompanied by young squires.

0:12:58.540,0:13:02.020
And this copy/paste technique turns up in picture after picture:

0:13:02.910,0:13:07.220
rabbits face to face

0:13:07.220,0:13:09.400
hunted stags

0:13:10.940,0:13:13.340
recurring human figures

0:13:16.250,0:13:18.770
Paradoxically, the very thing which makes this technique interesting,

0:13:19.710,0:13:21.540
is the sense of artificiality it conveys.

0:13:21.540,0:13:25.420
In a landscape which might otherwise have the idyllic character [of a Bellini],

0:13:25.770,0:13:29.570
Carpaccio inserts disturbing and macabre details,

0:13:29.570,0:13:36.080
juxtaposing people or animals that seem to have no real connection, or even to see one another - rather like Pisanello in his Vision of Saint Eustace.

0:13:36.080,0:13:42.110
In the midst of the Renaissance,

0:13:42.200,0:13:43.820
Carpaccio shows us that the aesthetic of harmony,

0:13:43.820,0:13:46.400
beauty,

0:13:46.420,0:13:47.280
and the velvet touch

0:13:47.310,0:13:48.680
is not the whole story.

0:13:48.680,0:13:51.370
We also need chivalrous action

0:13:51.420,0:13:53.910
strange signs

0:13:53.910,0:13:55.420
and fantastic scenery

0:13:55.480,0:13:57.250
to spur our imagination.

0:13:57.280,0:13:59.480
Next episode: Holbein’s *portrait of Georg Gisze* [br]Another hero: *the Merchant?*

0:14:01.630,0:14:06.870
Find more about the series on: www.canal-educatif.fr

0:14:06.870,0:14:12.780
Written & directed by

0:14:12.780,0:14:15.800
Produced by

0:14:15.800,0:14:18.800
Scientific expert

0:14:18.800,0:14:21.780
Sponsors & public support

0:14:21.780,0:14:24.780
Voiceover

0:14:24.780,0:14:27.780
Editing & visual effects

0:14:27.780,0:14:30.780
Post-production / Sound

0:14:30.780,0:14:33.780
Musical selection

0:14:33.780,0:14:36.780
Music

0:14:36.780,0:14:39.780
Photographic credits

0:14:39.780,0:14:42.780
Special thanks [br]English subtitles: Vincent Nash

0:14:42.780,0:14:45.780
A CED production

0:14:45.780,0:14:47.780
Un film du CED