La Dérision du Christ de Cimabue une découverte inattendue

Here is the long-awaited irony of Cimabue's Christ following its restoration It's overwhelming to find it in this condition after a year of cleaning It was a painting discovered when it was put up for sale Like many people this was a genuine surprise That such a major and significant work would reappear on the art market in 2019 It is a work in fairly good condition though heavily soiled It was relatively dark with highly uneven oxidized varnish And the recently completed restoration involved removing these layered coats of varnish and grime And the result I must say is truly spectacular We are confronted with a work of tiny size but of utmost historical and aesthetic significance It is an extremely ancient work When it is shown in theaters Almost the oldest painting in the Louvre's collection of paintings And then it's a work that marks a turning point e shift from a moment a symbolic representation of the world deeply influenced by Byzantine art to a naturalistic or realistic portrayal There's a real scene with real violence The faces are portraits The artist attempts to convey a sense of depth Thus it was a purchase that was absolutely crucial at the moment the work appeared on the market in 2019 All the specialists agreed on emphasizing its significance in the history of art and its aesthetic quality It is a work depicting an episode from the Passion of Christ namely the episode of the Mocking of Christ This is the moment when Christ is presented to the crowd Indeed here we see he has already been arrested His eyes are covered During the restoration they discovered the extremely thin band that had been covering his eyes At an unknown date a restaurateur misunderstood this imagery and added two eyes above the band Here it is clear that Christ is concealed and we now understand the iconography much more fully The texts tell us that at that moment They blindfolded him and then all of them began striking him beating him with sticks saying to him " Prophesy now: who just struck you " — precisely what is seen Several figures are seen striking him one of them violently grabbing his arm For the first time Chimabue painted muscles taut to precisely convey the violence of the scene—this is the very essence of the painting o stage it in an extremely naturalistic way so that the faithful can truly immerse themselves in the portrayal of this episode such a way that one can envision the violence and intensity of this pivotal event in Christ's Passion The concept for the exhibition did not originate first from the acquisition or the mockery of Chimabue's Christ She originated from the restoration of Cimabue's Great Maesta And it so happens that the mockery of Cimabue's Chris as arrived on the market further justifying the exhibition The exhibition which is a dossier-style display is therefore centered around these two works also highlights two major pillars of the Department of Paintings' policy: restoration as we have been engaged in this effort for nearly a decade a very significant enterprise the largest since the major Louvre restoration particularly involving large formats and the other axis is a proactive policy at have been carried out regarding the acquisition of painted artworks prior to the 15th century The exhibition is also justified by because the restoration of the Maesta along with the acquisition and restoration of Cimabue's Mocking of Christ profoundly alters the perceptio at one could trace the origins of Italian painting and the relationships that could exis between Cimabue and his pupil Giotto Until now it was believed that this type of painting extremely vid profoundly humanized ghly narrative featuring subtle and varied hues a pursuit of empathy and emotio was an element that emerged slightly later a generation after Chimabue elements that would have been characteristic from the generation of his disciples Giotto his Florentine pupil and the great Sienese painter Duccio who came to work in Florence in the 1280s The presentation of this work and its unveiling to the public allows us to anticipate numerous innovations that emerged toward the end of the thirteenth century and to ultimately trace their origins o that great painter that was Cimabue