Jeniffer Harrison

Art Appreciation – Spring 2010

March 15, 2010

Art Review

The Sacred Made Real, National Gallery, Washington, DC, March 13 & 14

The National Gallery in Washington DC featured an exhibit appropriately titled ‘The

Sacred Made Real’ which features Spanish Paintings and Sculpture from 1600-1700 in which

wooden polychromed sculptures inspire sculptural painting to be utilized in the Spanish churches

and during Semana Santa (Holy Week) to be carried through the streets. The National Gallery

combined the exhibit with museum talks and video viewings at the Gallery. The exhibit was an

excellent opportunity to experience the art in relation to each other and to achieve an experience

as close to insitu as possible without traveling to Spain.

To rejuvenate the Catholic Church and to counter act the Protestant movement, artists

were commissioned to make polychrome statues of Christ, Mary, and Saints to make them more

accessible and real to the church members. Due to the guild system in Spain the sculptors

worked closely with the painters to complete the artistic vision rather than sculpting and

painting. Wooden statues were carved in pieces then affixed together. The sculptors would

prepare the wood then send the statue/sculpture to a painter to finish the piece. For some artists

this created a large disconnect with the final work, but for others the sculptor and painter worked

in a collaborative effort to achieve a common vision. This collaboration eventually led to the

painters who wanted complete artistic control of their vision to begin taking inspiration from the

sculptures, the chapel and church lighting on the sculptures, and the subject and painting in a
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very sculptural manner. Painters such as Diego Velázquez and Francisco de Zurbaran were two

of the celebrated artists known for their art pieces in this fashion.

The exhibit did an excellent job juxtaposing the polychrome statues with subsequent

paintings inspired by the realism of the statues. Although there are several choices to review

from the collection two that stood out and inspired the greatest amount of emotion were Diego

Velazquez’s Christ after the Flagellation contemplated by the Christian Soul (1599-1600, Oil on

Canvas, 165.1 x 206.4 cm, National Gallery London) and Gregorio Fernandez and unknown

painter, Ecce Homo (before 1621, Painted Wood, Glass, and Cloth, Museo Diocesano y

Catedralicio, Valladolid). Both pieces are a depiction of the post flagellation of Christ and are

equally moving; however each artist approaches the subject in a different medium and

perspective.

The statue by Fernandez has idealized hair, skin, and facial features strongly contrasted

with flesh, which is dirty, beaten, and bloodied. Christ’s back has open wounds, torn skin,

weeping sores, and blood which appears to still be dripping down his back. Christ’s wrists

appear abated, yet the rope that is presumed to have bound his hands is no longer on his arms as

they are crossed in front of his body with the right arm in front of the left arm. This depiction of

Christ’s arms crossed in front of his body draws attention to the torn skin on his right elbow and

his hands, which have dirt, torn flesh, and blood on them as well as crusted dirt and blood on his

fingernails. The folded arms tell the story of the physical abuse his body has already suffered

and foreshadows what is to come by drawing attention to his side, which has not yet been

pierced. The lack of defensive wounds portrays the Son of God fulfilling his spiritual duty to die
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for mankind without hesitation. Fernandez continued the realistic statue by utilizing glass eyes

and material for the loincloth. The loincloth was painted to continue the blood dripping from

Christ’s upper body down. Fernandez achieved the realistic and personal conversation between

Christ and worshiper by having a realistic, life size statue in the round. The message is clear and

personal.

Fernandez captures in the round what Velázquez captures in paint by suggesting Christ’s

wounds and offering a vision of the Christian soul who is looking at Christ’s back and a guardian

angel who is pointing to Christ’s wounds on his back thereby implying the wounds rather than

showing them like Fernandez. The intensity of the wounds is further implied by the look of pain

on Christ’s face, the blood on his loincloth, the blood on the ground, and the whips lying in the

foreground. The child (the embodiment of the Christian soul), looks at Christ with his hands

folded as if in prayer and shows a palpable emotion as he surveys Christ’s back. Velázquez

achieves a very similar response as Fernandez without portraying all the wounds and blood.

Velázquez implies the physical wounds and concentrates his attention on the emotion, the use of

chiaroscuro to create depth within the picture plane, as well as movement and drama via the use

of several implied triangles created by figural positioning and implied lines created by gestures

and arm positioning.

The juxtaposition of the statues and the paintings, which recall the inspiration of the

statues created a unique opportunity to see the progression of Catholic art and the use of art for

religious ceremony in Spain. The realistic nature of both the paintings and statues have a

profound effect even for a non-religious person as the pain and torture is fully palpable in both
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mediums and the emotions elicited range from pity to devotion. To imagine the effect on

worshipers during the 17th century is not difficult as the effect on the museum visitors seemed to

be quite profound.