The artists’ abuse of the age
Year mention: 1564
Subject:
Inaccuracy of the artists ; Mary Magdalene ; Mary of Alpheus ; Mary of Cleophas ; Other Marys ; Posture of the figures ; St. Benedict ; St. Bernard ; St. Dominic ; St. Francis ; St. Jerome ; St. John the Baptist ; St. John the Evangelist ; St. Joseph ; St. Peter ; St. Romauld
Conflict:
Beard
Capriccio
Clothes anachronism/Errors/Adornment
Ignorance/Negligence of the artist
Not corresponding to Scriptures
Untruthfulness/Not probable/Not corresponding to history
Criticism:

Incorrect represenation of the Saints; St. Peter depicted as too old; St. John the Evangelist depicted as too young; St. John the Baptist with the wrong clothes; St. Joseph depicted as too old; Mary of Cleophas decipted as too young; Mary of Alpheus decipted as too young; Other Marys decipted as too young; Mary Magdalene depicted as too rich; St Francis depicted as too rich; St. Dominic depicted as too rich; St. Bernard depicted as too rich; St. Benedict depicted as too rich; St. Romauld depicted as too rich; St. Jerome with contemporary cardinal hat and robe; Inaccuracy of the artists; Posture of the figures

Agent:
Gilio, Giovanni Andrea
Frontispiece of: Gilio, Giovanni Andrea, Due dialogi (1564), Camerino : Antonio Giojoso
Frontispiece of: Gilio, Giovanni Andrea, Due dialogi (1564), Camerino : Antonio Giojoso
© ÖNB ABO Projekt/in Kooperation mit Google, Sig. 74.E.84 ALT PRUNK

In this section of the dialogue, the participants address various cases of abuse in the representation of saints. The central focus is on the incorrect representation of age.

“‘Now, do continue’, said M. Francesco. Returning to the subject, M. Troilo said: ‘The other abuse I note is that of making Saint Peter a decrepit old man at the time of our Lord’s passion. This, it seems to me, could not be the case because from the time of the passion until the last year of the reign of Nero, when Peter was crucified, there were 37 years. Also they always make Saint John the Evangelist a beardless youth, when at the time of the passion he was 31 years old’.
M. Pulidoro said: ‘ I think the painters have drawn on what Saint Mark says in his account of the Passion about the capture of our Lord and the flight of the Apostles when he writes: « And a certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and they laid hold on him» . Most (commentators) believe this to be John, which cannot be, because John also followed Jesus and made it possible for Peter to enter Capiaphas’s house. Rather, (this young man) was the son of the innkeeper in whose house this Savior had eaten the paschal meet with the Apostles’.
‘So, therefore’, said M. Troilo, ‘being 30 or 31 years old, Saint John must have been a bearded man and not a youngster of 17 years or more; and when he died in Ephesus, he was over 99 years old. Again they paint Saint Joseph as a decrepit old man; it does not seem to me likely that God would have entrusted his son’s mother to someone decrepit, unable to endure all the hardships necessary to take his son into Egypt and then bring him back to you Judaea. And in any case, if we want to believe Origen, the glorious Virgin was married to conceal the great sacrament from the devil and also to escape the infamy of adultery; but it would have fallen out worse if she had been married to a decrepit, useless old man rather than to a mature or even young man, which would have been more appropriate given that he had to serve rather than be served. Shall we not call it an abuse to paint Saint John the Baptist clad in sable pelts that only barely cover his buttocks, when you should wear camel and wear it long, according to Jewish custom? painters for the most part also represent Mary of Cleophas, Mary of Alpheus, and other Marys, at the time of the Passion of our Lord, as young woman aged 17 or 20 years old, not knowing that at the time one had four sons and the other two, and all we’re apostles of our Lord. Also one find some painters representing the Magdalene at the foot of the cross all neat, perfumed, loaded with jewelry and golden chains, running clothes off velvet and puffed up with vanity, for they don’t realize that she was no longer a Sinner but a fervent disciple. They also paint Saint Francis as a ruddy, stout, and well dressed, with neatly combed, perfumed, and curled mustaches, and burying a cowl of the finest cloth, all pleated, with a silk cord, so he looks more like a general or a provincial of the order than the model of penitence that he was; they fail to consider that he only ever wore a single coarse, rough tunic. The same could be said of Saint Dominic, Saint Benedict, Saint Bernard, and Saint Romuald. Should we not call it an abuse too paint Saint Jerome with a red hat, like the one worn by cardinals today? Because, although he was a cardinal, he did not wear such garments, given that Pope Innocent IV, who lived 700 years later, introduced the robes and hats for cardinals; before then no hats were worn, no where any such robes! Yet it seems that the art of painting loses prestige if it does not show the ostentation and conceit of the world, whereas it should show the opposite, to provide a model for people to imitate. For those glorious saints chose wildernesses and hermitages for no other reason than to escape vainglory and the lust of the flesh. They wanted to teach the flesh to obey the spirit, the senses to obey reason; they ate to live, they did not live to eat.’
M. Francesco replied:’ All this follows from the ignorance of painters who, if they were educated men, would not make mistakes when things were so clear and obvious. And if they would have taken the trouble, when making the models, sketches, and cartoons you spoke of before, to inform themselves properly about everything, this would not happen. It appears to them, when they have created a saint, that they have done everything required if they have expended all their ingenuity and care on twisting his legs or arms or neck, forcing him into strained pose that both inappropriate and ugly; and then, without further thought, they set to work with the brush. Oh, what loathsome way of doing things! «Quis ferat haec?» said Persius’. “

“‘Or su, seguitate’, disse M. Francesco. Repigliando M. Troilo il ragionamento, disse: ‘L’altro abuso che io noto è di fare al tempo de la passione del nostro Signore San Pietro decrepito, il che a me non pare che possa essere, essendo che dal tempo de la passione insino a l’ultimo anno di Nerone, nel quale fu poi nel Gianicolo crocifisso, vi corsero 37 anni. Fanno anco San Giovanni Evangelista sempre giovinetto sbarbato, et al tempo de la passione aveva 31 anno’.
Disse M. Pulidoro: ‘Penso che ciò abbino cavato i pittori da quello che dice S. Marco nel suo
Passio, ne la cattura del Signor nostro e ne la fuga degli Apostoli, dicendo: « Adolescens autem quidam sequebatur eum, amictus sindone super nudo; et tenuerunt eum. »
La maggior parte attribuiscono questo a Giovanni, il che non può essere, perché Giovanni anch’esso sequitava Giesù e fece entrar Pietro in casa de Caifa. Ma colui fu figliuolo de l’oste, in casa del quale il Salvator nostro aveva fatta la pasca con gli Apostoli’.
‘Or dunque’, disse M. Troilo,’San Giovanni, avendo 30 o 31 anno, doveva esser uomo barbato e non giovine di 17 o poco più anni; e quando morì in Efeso, ne passava 99. Dipingono ancora San Gioseppe decrepito; il che non mi pare verisimile, che il grande Iddio avesse raccomandata la madre del suo figliuolo ad un decrepito, inutile a tante fatiche che sopportar bisognava per menare il figliuolo in Egitto e poi rimenarlo in Giudea. E poi, se vogliamo credere ad Origene, fu maritata la gloriosa Vergine per celare tanto sacramento al Diavolo e per fuggire l’infamia de l’adulterio; ma più vi sarebbe incorsa, essendo maritata ad un decrepito et inutile vecchio, che ad un uomo maturo, se non ad un giovine, che era più convenevole, dovendo egli più tosto servire che esser servito. Diremo che non sia abuso il pingere San Giovanbattista con una pelliccetta di zebellini che a pena gli cuopre le natiche, dovendo esser di camello e lunga, secondo il costume degli Ebrei? I pittori per la maggior parte fanno anco Maria di Cleofe e di Alfeo, e l’altre Marie al tempo de la passione del
nostro Signore, giovinette di 17 o 20 anni, non avvertendo che in quel tempo una aveva quattro figliuoli e l’altra due, e tutti erano Apostoli del Signore. Si trova anco qualche pittore che, fingendo Madalena a piede de la croce, la fanno tutta pulita, profumata, piena di gioie, di catene d’oro, con veste di velluto e piena di vanità, non avvertendo che più peccatrice non era, ma in fervore discepola. Dipingono ancora San Francesco rosso, grasso, attillato, coi mostacchi de la barba pettinati, profumati, attorcolati, con una cappa di finissimo panno tutta falduta, col cordone di seta, e più tosto pare un generale et un provinziale, che uno specchio di penitenza come egli fu: non considerando che una sola tonica grossa e rozza portava. Tal dirò di San Domenico, di San Benedetto, di San Bernardo, di San Romualdo. Diremo che non sia abuso dipingere San Girolamo col cappello rosso, come usano oggi i cardinali? che, se ben fu cardinale, non portava quel’abito, essendo che Innocenzio Papa IIII, che fu più di 700 anni dopo, diede loro l’abito e ‘l cappello rosso, non si usando allora i cappelli, né esso portò quel’abito. E par che l’arte perda la riputazione, se non mostra la pompa e la boria del mondo, dove si doverebbe mostrare, per imitazione degli altri, il contrario, ché non per altro quei gloriosi santi elessero gli eremi e le solitudini, che per fuggire le borie, le lascivie de la carne, insignare a la carne ubidire a lo spirito, el senso a la ragione, e che mangiavano per vivere e non vivevano per mangiare’.
Rispose M. Francesco: ‘Tutto questo procede da l’ignoranza de’ pittori, che, se fussero letterati, non errarebbono in cose così chiare e manifeste. E se fussero considerati, come dianzi diceste, in fare i modelli, gli schizzi, i cartoni, informarsi bene d’ogni cosa, non gli avverrebbe questo. E par loro aver pagato il debito, quando hanno fatto un santo, et aver messo tutto l’ingegno e la diligenza in torcerli le gambe, o le braccia, o ‘l collo torto, e farlo sforzato, di sforzo sconvenevole e brutto; e senz’altra considerazione mettono in opera il pennello. Oh sozza usanza! «Quis ferat haec » diceva
Persio’.”

Quoted Authorities

Mark 14:15 John 18:15-16
Jacobus de Voragine,Golden Legend
Aulus Persius Flaccus, Satires
Trinubium Annae or De tribus Mariis et tribus maritis

Keywords
| Mary Magdalene, | Mary of Alpheus, | Mary of Cleophas, | Other Marys, | St Francis, | St. Bernard, | St. Dominic, | St. Jerome, | St. Joseph, | St. Peter, | St. Romauld, Inaccuracy of the artists, Posture of the figures, St. Benedict, St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, Wrong representation of the Saints

Date mention
1564

Historical Location
Fabriano

Iconclass Number
11H;73F21; 73F23; 73A(JOHN THE BAPTIST); 11H(JOSEPH)1; 73A4; 73DD625; 73DD643; 11H(FRANCIS); 11H(DOMINIC); 11H(BERNARD); 11HH(MARY KLEOPHAS); 11H(JEROME);

Source
Gilio, Dialogue on the errors and abuses of painters (2018), 123-125; Gilio, Dialogo. Nel quale si ragiona degli errori e degli abusi de’pittori circa l’istorie. In: Due dialogi di M. Giouanni Andrea Gilio da Fabriano (1564), 31-33
Literature

Gilio 2018, 123-125, n.108-117

Permanent Link
https://www.sacrima.eu/case/the-artists-abuse-of-the-age/