Work of Art

PRESENTATION

RAFFAELLO (Raffaello Sanzio) , La Mort d'Ananias, 1515 - 1516, gouache et huile sur carton, 340 x 530, London, Victoria & Albert Museum, ROYAL LOANS.5.

Courtesy of the Web Gallery of Art
[Consulté le 09/01/2018 - https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bellini/giovanni/1510-/207feas.html]

Quotation

There must be one Principal Action in a Picture. Whatever Under-Actions may be going on in the same instant with That, and which it may be proper to insert, to Illustrate, or Amplify the Composition, they must not divide the Picture, and the Attention of the Spectator.

Quotation

Ananias is the Principal Figure in the Carton which gives the History of his Death ; as the Apostle that pronounces his Sentence is of the Subordinate Group, which consists of Apostles. (Which therefore is Subordinate Group, because the Principal Action relates to the Criminal, and thither the Eye is directed by almost all the Figures in the Picture.) S. Paul is the chief Figure in that Carton where he is Preaching, and amongst his Auditors One is eminently distinguish’d, who is Principal of that Group ; and is apparently a Believer, and More so than any of them, or he had not had that Second Place in a Picture conducted by so great a Judgment as that of Rafaëlle’s. These Principal, and Subordinate Groupes, and Figures, are so apparent, that the Eye will naturally fix first upon one, then upon the other, and consider each in Order, and with Delight.

Quotation

There must be one Principal Action in a Picture. Whatever Under-Actions may be going on in the same instant with That, and which it may be proper to insert, to Illustrate, or Amplify the Composition, they must not divide the Picture, and the Attention of the Spectator.

Quotation

Ananias is the Principal Figure in the Carton which gives the History of his Death ; as the Apostle that pronounces his Sentence is of the Subordinate Group, which consists of Apostles. (Which therefore is Subordinate Group, because the Principal Action relates to the Criminal, and thither the Eye is directed by almost all the Figures in the Picture.) S. Paul is the chief Figure in that Carton where he is Preaching, and amongst his Auditors One is eminently distinguish’d, who is Principal of that Group ; and is apparently a Believer, and More so than any of them, or he had not had that Second Place in a Picture conducted by so great a Judgment as that of Rafaëlle’s. These Principal, and Subordinate Groupes, and Figures, are so apparent, that the Eye will naturally fix first upon one, then upon the other, and consider each in Order, and with Delight.