Pompeii No.55: An Homage to Piranesi

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I decided that my Pompeian mural would not be complete without an homage to one of the most remarkable men of the eighteenth century, Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Piranesi (1720-1778) was born in the then Republic of Venice, and studied with his uncle, who was an engineer specializing in excavation. Perhaps that whetted Giovanni's appetite for the etchings that would make him famous.

Piranesi: The Complete Etchings  |  Luigi Ficacci

At the age of 20, Piranesi went to Rome, studied etching and engraving, and soon produced a series of Roman views that brought him his initial fame. Above is his depiction of the ruins of the forum of Nerva.

Piranesi: The Complete Etchings  |  Luigi Ficacci

Piranesi measured the ruins of Rome, then made beautiful topographic maps, as well as reconstructions of imperial Rome at its height. Above is Piranesi's reconstruction of the Campus Martius, originally a military field dedicated to the god Mars. Below is a another reconstruction of the Campus Martius, perhaps inspired by Piranesi's work.

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Piranesi: The Complete Etchings  |  Luigi Ficacci

If that were that not enough, Piranesi recorded countless Roman fragments in multiple compositions like the one above.

The three previous engravings came from this book published by Taschen, and no library of architectural history (or for that matter decorative design) would be complete without it.

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I should add before I go on that Piranesi is also famous for having drawn a series of imagined prisons. They'd fit in nicely with contemporary fantasy art and today's blockbuster movie sets. Piranesi was a most prolific fellow.

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When I saw this lovely urn, designed by Piranesi, I thought it would be perfect to place between the living room's ignudi.

As you can see, my own version has a different bottom than the original reference, but one that is also based on a Piranesi design.

Such a substantial urn deserves a plinth, perhaps even one with a commemorative portrait. But who is this? Certainly not Giovanni Battista Piranesi!

It is yours truly. The self-portrait measures approximately three inches high, or about the same size you're seeing it now, if you have a 21.5-inch screen.

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Now the ignudi can contemplate the urn, rather than ogle each other, as they seemed to be doing before. This is a dark corner that abuts a floor-to-ceiling mirror, so it's a little difficult to light properly.

This angled view is actually a truer representation.

And with that, the living room part of the mural is finished. Now I'm going to double back and tweak a couple areas to which I mentioned I would return.

I hope you'll join me for the next stage.

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Pompeii No.50: The Right Ignudi

Gli Amori Degli Dei

In Pompeii No. 49, I created an ignudi loosely based on ones by Annibale Carracci. Now it's time to create a companion piece to sit on the right side of the mural.

Gli Amori Degli Dei

I've chosen to use this fellow as my basis; like the first figure, he's from the ceiling of the famous Farnese Gallery. My friend Sandy said, "You're not going to use that hair, are you!?" Oh, is it that bad? Well, perhaps he does have a bit of a bed-head.

As in my last ignudi, I will be adding new legs for a new posture.

Originally, I had thought of painting the draperies a different color from the last ignudi's, but because the two figures are somewhat unbalanced, I decided to have blue draperies on both sides of the mural.

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Sometimes I have trouble capturing the right colors in a room that does not have a lot of natural light, but the colors in this shot are very true to the  painting.

I've stylized the hair, and Sandy should be happy that it's not quite so windblown. I had fun painting the eye's reflection to match Carracci's image.

Notice that I have a different light source than the Carracci original. Mine conforms to my own mural.

The outlining was not typical of Carracci, but it was typical of Michelangelo. It's logical that I reference Michelangelo for this work, because Carracci himself did.

This image is a bit on the orange side, but I'm including the hand (at approximately 150% its actual size) to show that it's rather loosely painted.

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In this image of the living room wall, you can see how I've endeavoured to balance the figures by balancing the draperies, particularly as they extend out to the center of the wall to exactly the same length. The drapery on the right is also gathered at the end to balance the crossed feet on the left.

There will eventually be a neoclassic design element between the two ignudi, but the next stage of the mural will be to faithfully render a wonderful Carracci detail in the upper panel. That's coming up in the next posting.
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Pompeii No.49: "Assembing" the Left Ignudi

Charles Dempsey, George Braziller

As I mentioned in the last posting, the two ignudi of my Carracci wall will both be loosely based on figures by Carracci. Just how loosely, you'll see momentarily!

Charles Dempsey, George Braziller

I begin by finding a figure that has possibilities, and then flipping it 180°. My choice is informed in part by the realization that there is a wall directly behind where my left ignudi will go, and therefore the figure needs to either sit erectly, or lean forward, as this one does. But now I have a couple of problems:

• Because this figure is at the left edge of the living room mural, it will be staring up at nothing, so I'll need to reposition the head.
• Because the original Carracci fresco is so elevated, the ignudi feet appear to be cut off, so I'll need to add feet, or better yet, reposition new legs.
• For all the beauty of Carracci's painting, the limbs of this figure are quite exaggerated. Can a body really be this muscular and still have such a big stomach? I'll need to put this fellow on a strict diet. No more pasta!

Here's a real Frankenstein for you! For reference, I've pasted a new Carracci head on the painted figure, then added a photograph of legs and the left arm. A special thanks to my friend Dave for being a good sport and modeling for the sake of art.

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Here's my version of the ignudi. The colors are true for the most part, though the purple of the base and the green below it are neither as dark nor as saturated.

Here you can see that the wall is rather textured in areas, and so I have simplified my job by smoothing out the surface in critical, more detailed areas.

Another ignudi is yet to come, and he'll be facing the one I've just revealed. I hope you'll join me for that reveal, too!

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Pompeii No.48: The Ignudi

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Ignudi  (plural noun) From the Italian adjective nudo, meaning "naked."

When Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512, he incorporated pairs of male nudes as pure decoration.

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Their purpose was to support the shields, ribbons and huge garlands that framed the major, central frescoes.

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Not everyone around the pope was thrilled with the figures because they (the male nudes) had no religious context and . . .

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. . . as you can see in my diagram, the 20 figures take up a considerable part of the design.

Michelangelo called his 20 figures "The Ignudi," and though he did not invent the word, he did — through this title — coin an art term. Countless artists like Annibale Carracci (whom I profiled in my last posting) also incorporated ignudi into their design schemes.

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This is an ignudi by Carracci, one of many that he included in the ceiling of the Farnese Gallery.

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These ignudi, by an earlier artist, are in another part of the Palazzo Farnese, in a room that served as the family boardroom. Here the ignudi are similar to the figures one sometimes sees on either side of a crest, below.

Heraldry: Sources, Symbols and Meaning  |  Ottfried Neubecker

This is the 1701 coat of arms of the King of Prussia. When seen in heraldry, figures such as these wildmen are called "supporters."

But I digress. The first stage of my Carracci wall will be an ignudi, very loosely based on one of Carracci's own. I'll unveil that in the next posting.
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