Course: The Metropolitan Museum of Art > Unit 1
Lesson 3: Devotion- Rossellino, Madonna and Child with Angels
- Pensive Bodhisattva
- Curtain of the Tabernacle
- Berlinghiero, Madonna and Child
- Plaque with the Journey to Emmaus and Noli Me Tangere
- Rembrandt, The Last Supper, after Leonardo da Vinci
- Bassano’s The Baptism of Christ
- Relief of the Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus
- Cult Image of the God Ptah
- Plaque with Censing Angels
- Mahakala, Protector of the Tent
- Blake, The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
Bassano’s The Baptism of Christ
Met curator Andrea Bayer on liberation in Jacopo Bassano’s The Baptism of Christ, c. 1590.
This extraordinary picture—deeply expressive and almost unique in showing the Baptism of Christ as occurring late at night—is the last known work by the great Venetian painter Jacopo Bassano, who left it unfinished when he died in 1592. It was viewed by his heirs as his artistic testament and was retained by them for more than a century. To our eyes, the altarpiece’s unfinished—or "non finito"—style seems a crucial step towards modernism, to be compared with, for example, Goya's "black paintings." Bassano explores an expressive intensity—dark in mood as in the palette—that is a direct and deeply personal response to Titian's late pictures. He interprets the baptism of Christ not as a sunny event in a pastoral landscape but as the tragic opening of Christ's Passion.
View this work on metmuseum.org.
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- Why is this work considered unfinished (non finito)? Is there evidence or statements by the artist Bassano that he did not finish it yet? Or is its style in its current state considered rough for its time, and that an artist in Bassano's time would have made some of the lines and brushstrokes more definitive? Maybe I'm too used to more modern art such as Impressionism or even Munch's The Scream where lines and brushstrokes are rough yet considered final and a completed work.(3 votes)
- The work is considered non finito because many of the background objects which do not need to be focused on are only part of the whole object. It is a technique that was used in the renaissance to draw attention to certain objects, but was brought back by Henri Matisse in the late 19th century to convey specific emotions such as loneliness or emptiness. Here's an example of later non finito work with a description:
http://www.metmuseum.org/learn/for-teens/teen-blog/modern-and-contemporary/posts/non-finito.(2 votes)
- What's the significance of the red robe?(1 vote)