#TraLeMuradiRoma - La caccia di Diana

Ut Pictura Poesis is a Latin oration by Horatio which is based on a poem by the Greek poet Simonides Diceo, who lived in the 6th century B.C. and who argued that painting was a mute poem, while poetry is a speaking painting. In this context, the work I'm going to tell you about is the hunting of Diana by Domenico Zampieri, also known as Il Dominichino. Domenico had already come to Rome from Bologna about 15 years ago, in 1617, when this work was finished. The commission of this work was requested by Cardinal Aldobrandini. It was his housekeeper, Monsignor Giovan Battista Gucchi, who introduced Domenichino to the Cardinal. Domenichino was a student of Carracci, he was part of the Academy of Walkers, and he was already a very appreciated painter in Rome. When the painting was finished, before it was delivered to Scipione Borghese, the nephew of the then Pope in charge, Paolo V Borghese, came to know about this work and wanted to own it. He asked Domenichino, but Domenichino refused, and he put him in jail. He was released a few days later, but in the meantime, with a stroke of his hand, he took possession of the painting. And it is for this reason that we can admire this beautiful, large painting in one of the galleries of the Galleria Borghese. Between Domenichino and Monsignor Giovan Battista Gucchi, a great friendship was born, a great esteem, which often led to exchanges of opinion on art and painting. Gucchi was a writer, a writer, and he was also a great lover of poetry, who argued that he was superior to painting, as he was able to narrate a work in its evolution, while painting can only be static, as it only stops for an instant of action. And this type of debate gives birth to a sense of challenge in Domenichino, which he would like to put in this painting, wanting to show exactly the opposite. Domenichino draws inspiration from classical literary sources. One is the Aeneid in the fifth song, in which Aeneas organizes a shooting competition with his companions and ties on top of the master tree a dove that should be the target. The second is the Odysseus in the sixth song, in which he compares Nausicaa to Diana, who runs in the woods with her nymphs. Giovanni Bellori, contemporary of Domenichino and a great admirer, writer, writer, biographer, antiquarian, art historian and art critic, tells this story in the life of Domenichino and describes it as if it were a sports reportage. So begins the chronicle. The happy hills and lakes, the chorus of the hunting nymphs and the most castadean facing the unicorn and the moon represent the happy region of Arcadia. Here the nymphs of Diana rest from the fatigue of the hunt, but continues Bellori. The greatest care on this day is in the draflarco and in the perire at the sign at the top, where a bird is tied to a high pole and the great eagle above the dock solicits his followers to reward the victory by accompanying it to the three spectators. At this point, another concept must also be said, in addition to poetry, that Domenichino puts into this representation, and it is the metaphor of beauty, which he distributes in the five nymphs in the race. And this refers to a classic topos of the time, which speaks of the legacy of Zeus, painter of ancient Greece, who must paint the ideal picture of Helena, the most beautiful woman of all time, and to do this he calls the five most beautiful girls of Crotone, from whom to take the most perfect part, in order to compose the image of absolute beauty. The five archers get ready for the race, and this is how the story continues. Here is the encounter with the paoncella that falls through the air. He already has a trunk and a bow, and another calamity under his head traps him. It is easy to recognize who of them made the one and the other blow. Do I tell you that she, standing, still extends an arm with the bow slowed down? She is the one who, through the air, swept the bird, and the red cloak from the shoulders moves to the wind. Winner of the game will get the first honor. The companion who is next to her points the falling bird and it is well recognized that she cuts the bow, and rejoices because her bow will be awarded again. Of the other three inclined to the ground, the one in front turns a hand to the shoulder and takes a bow from the wall and aims at the falling bird to hit it again. Behind her, the companion opens her hand, looking back at the fall of the wounded bird, the other nymph shows herself cruel and doubts the victory. But in vain she is tired, because Diana herself applauds and exclaims, raising up with one and the other hand, an arch, a golden belt and a reddish and gold-shining cloak. The concept of beauty that we have already seen symbolized in the five pullers is reaffirmed in the metaphor of the dart that pierces the eye of the dove, and it is the beauty itself that pierces the gaze of those who admire it and through the eye penetrates the soul and reaches the heart. An arrow has gone empty and remained stuck in the pole, but none of the competitors will remain without a prize. In fact, behind Anna, a nymph raises a circle from which the consolation prizes hang. On the hill in front, the nymphs play. They run, they challenge the fight, they play the horn, they transport the prey of the hunt. Further down, towards the water mirror, one holds a mollusk that wants to throw itself against the falling bird, another takes off her coat to wash herself. The chronicle of Bellori continues. Two nymphs joke in the swimming pond. One holds the falling bird to her companion, who lies in the water and, lying down, discovers the chest and the rest of the body immersed in sweet rest, and, enjoying the fresh mood, does not wait for his words and, exposed to the face, expresses his delight. But do you see here up close? In the corner of the painting, in that bush, two young shepherds, who, hidden and stealthy, show off their heads from the branches and from the branches. One of them waits to look back with delight at the nymphs naked in the water, the other, with his finger in his mouth, whispers and tells us in silence. Domenichino has created a living, theatrical and moving painting. The characters continually cross their gazes and create a real and proper sequence, and they do not just talk to each other, but, looking out of the canvas, they also involve the observer. And so, both the shepherd, who tells us to be silent, and the young nymph, who looks at us, involve us in enjoying this divine beauty, of an event of the gods that we can never enjoy otherwise, through the function of painting. And here Bellori concludes, so that, by being silent with them, we too adopt the gaze alone and admire the image, celebrating the artist with eternal praise.