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Course: Special topics in art history > Unit 1
Lesson 3: Ruins, reconstruction, and renewal- Destruction, Memory, and Monuments: The Many Lives of the Parthenon
- Views of past and present: the Forum Romanum and archaeological context
- The Roman Forum: part 1 of Ruins in Modern Imagination
- The Roman Forum, part II
- The Roman Forum, part III
- Decoding the Rosetta Stone
- Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater)
- The Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris (before the fire)
- Before the fire: Notre Dame, Paris
- Reconstructing a masterpiece — Mantegna's St. James Led to his Execution
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Reconstructing a masterpiece — Mantegna's St. James Led to his Execution
The fresco cycle by Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna in Padua's Augustinian Hermits church was tragically damaged in World War Two. The video discusses the efforts to restore the frescoes and the importance of preserving cultural treasures. It highlights the story of St. James depicted in the frescoes and the impact of war on art. Mantegna, St. James Led to his Execution and the Ovetari Chapel cycle frescoes, 1447–58, Church of the Eremitani (Padua, Italy) reconstructed with photographs, original fragments, and inpainting after American bombs hit the church on March 11, 1944, an ARCHES video A conversation with Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker in the Ovetari Chapel. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- Why was he executed?(3 votes)
- In its many forms, the name that is "James" in English (or Iacomus in Greek, Jacob in Hebrew, Diego in Spanish, and on and on in many languages rooted in the Mediterranean Sea) is common. There are many Saints who carried that name.
One "St. James" was identified as the brother of Jesus, and is mentioned several times in the Bible. Beyond that, all is legend, including that of his martyrdom.
It is likely that Mangtegna was depicting a story that this particular saint died because of his religious belief.
What will future generations do with the stories of those great figures of the 20th century who were killed for the political ideas that they held?(3 votes)
Video transcript
(swing piano music) - [Man] We're in the city of Padua in the church of the Augustinian Hermits looking at a major fresco cycle by the great Renaissance
painter Andrea Mantegna, or perhaps I should
say, what's left of it. - [woman] This chapel was
destroyed during World War Two. - [Man] An enormous number
of bombs were unleashed from Flying Fortresses. There had been real concern
among church officials that the church might be hit. - [Woman] There was no
intention to destroy much of this church. - [Man] but nevertheless,
reportedly four bombs hit this part of the church. - [Woman] And that's because right nearby were the headquarters of the reconstituted fascist government. So the Allies were
pushing up from the south. The fascists were located in Padua, and the north and the allies were bombing various cities in Italy. Now more care was taken in
cities like Rome and Florence, but Padua wasn't well known as a city filled with cultural treasures. - [Man] And a loss really was tragic. Even with the tiny fragments
that have survived. It's clear what a masterpiece
this had originally been. primarily what we're seeing
are black and white photographs that were taken before the
war that had been blown up overlaying that are actual
fragments of the fresco. - [Woman] But we're
also looking at attempts by the conservators to
provide inpainting paint in between the surviving fragments in order to give us a better sense of what this fresco
originally looked like. - [Man] And we can
differentiate the inpainting because of the vertical
lines that have been added. Most of the color that
we're seeing is inpainting that is its modern restoration. The cycle tells the stories
of two Margaret's saints. St. James and St. Christopher, but let's focus on St. James
being led to his execution. - [Woman] The composition is divided into on the left, we see St.
James we can recognize him because he wears a halo and
he has his right hand up in a gesture of blessing
toward a man who's kneeling St. James's walked through
this Triumphal Arch on his way to his execution
and is healed a crippled man. But instead of showing us that scene, Mantegna shows us the moment when a scribe named Josiah
witnesses that miracle and drops to his knees and
is blessed by St. James. So it's this moment of
recognizing the divine this moment of conversion. - [Man] Our vantage point seems to be at the level of the feet of the figures as we look up. - [Woman] Mantegna made the horizon line of linear perspective, essentially at the top of our heads. So we're looking up at these figures and that architecture
seems even more massive and heavy as a result. Now, a Roman Triumphal Arch celebrated Roman military victories and so this Christian martyr
has performed a miracle right before this symbol
of Roman military power. - [Man] He's also making a point that even with all of
Rome's military power, its architectural and engineering prowess, Christianity quietly is triumphant. - [Woman] We see a
distinctly different scene on the right a Roman soldier
is pushing up against another figure who carries a banner and who is in turn
assaulting the Roman soldier. And so we have this scene of violence. It's so clearly intended to contrast with the saint blessing
Josiah on the left. - [Man] Even before this bombing, the United States had taken steps to preserve the cultural heritage of Italy and committees were set up
filled with art historians, archivists, librarians,
experts to identify major sites that should be
safeguarded whenever possible. - [Woman] We know one
of these organizations is the Monuments Men. - [Man] After the bombing,
there was a renewed effort to avoid destroying historic treasures. This event galvanized the allied forces and essentially gave
more credence more power to the committee's that were working to safeguard cultural treasures. - [Woman] Famously the dark
historian Frederick Hartt had studied Montegna and learned
of the bombing and cried, but perhaps it's best to
read Frederick Hartt words, "The Eremetani Church
has been very badly hit and the Ovetari Chapel
with all the Mantegnas utterly wiped out. As a matter of fact you can hardly tell there
was a building there. The last of the stick of
bombs missed the Arena Chapel by a mere hundred yards." That reminds us that we are very close to late Gothic masterpiece
by Ja dos the arena chapel and apparently the ground
shook underneath that chapel when the Ovetari was hit. - [Man] But thankfully the
frescoes inside were undamaged. - [Woman] But that day we could have lost both Mantegnas 15th century fresco cycle and Ja dos was early
14th century fresco cycle faced with a pile of rubble of fragments of an incredibly important masterpiece by a great Renaissance master. What was the Superintendent of monuments here in Padua to do. He collected those
fragments he stored them, they were photographed,
they were cataloged, they were measured. There were several attempts to take these tiny two or
three centimeter fragments and reconstruct the fresco. The Mantegna project at
the University of Padua worked for many years on the
fragments of the frescoes. The reconstruction was
based on an unprecedented use of computer technology. I have nothing but enormous
respect for all the people who worked for over a decade
to take those tiny pieces and restore whatever could be restored, simultaneously though, the
fragmented state of what we're looking at makes it
hard to experience the fresco, we're distracted by the restoration. - [Man] My view is that
it was the right choice to attempt to reconstruction. It's a testament to the
violence of the 20th century, and it'd be as a kind of Memorial. - [Woman] The fragmentary
state of the fresco reminds us that this was destroyed and in a way that text can't do looking at a black and
white reproduction in a book and reading a caption that says, destroyed during World War Two is not as powerful as being
here in this beautiful church with earlier frescoes all around it and seeing the damage that we've done. - [Man] This painting has
survived for 500 years, we've destroyed it in the modern world. - [Woman] Since the war
there have been various measures put in place, for example, the Hague
conventions to protect cultural heritage during times of war, but clearly we know when
we read the headlines that works of art remain endangered around the world due to war. (soft piano music)