Italy 2000 Holy Year "Life of Jesus"

 

Adoration of the Shepherds, 1485 by Domenico Ghirlandaio ( 1488-1494 )

Adoration of the Shepherds, was painted  as the alterpiece of the Sassetti chapel. It is in this painting that he particularly shows his indebtedness to the Portinari Altarpiece. The shepherds, among whom is a self-portrait of the artist, are portrayed with a realism that was an advance in Florentine painting at that time. The altarpiece is still in position in Santa Trinita, surrounded by the six frescoes depicting the Life of St. Francis of which it became the centrepiece. On either side are portraits of the kneeling donors, and although the figures are in fresco on the wall, they occupy the same position and relationship to the central scene of the Adoration that the donors do on the outer panels of the Portinari triptych

Baptism and Temptations of Christ, 1582 by Veronese ( Paolo Caliari 1528-1588 )

This painting, once part of a large decorative cycle, depicts two rarely associated episodes from the Gospels, linking them visually with a series of diagonal lines stretching from the angel upper left and guiding the observer’s eye towards the right-hand side of the composition, where Devil seeks to  tempt Christ in the wilderness. The painter’s true protagonist is the landscape in the centre, with its magnificent light effects achieved with rapid brushstrokes fading towards Jerusalem in the distance.

Last Supper, 1486 by Domenico Ghirlandaio ( 1488-1494 )

Ghirlandaio painted the Last Supper of Jesus three times in separate fresco paintings in or near Florence.  the most famous one, painted in the refectory of the Convent of the Ognissanti.

The Last Supper shows images of Jesus and the Apostles sitting around a pronent dining table in the shape of a U. Disciples converse, and both Judas and John lean toward Jesus, as is tradition. Jesus is shown near the center, with his right hand raised and index and middle fingers together, which is an archetypal gesture of bestowed blessing. There is an illusion that the room within this piece is receding or moving back into the space.

Lamentation, c1305 by Giotto di Bondone  ( 1267-1337 )

Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ) is a fresco painted c.1305 by the Italian artist Giotto as part of his cycle of the Life of Christ on the interior walls of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. 

In the painting, the body of the crucified Christ has been lowered from the cross and laid on the ground, surrounded by his grieving mother and disciples. His head is held by Mary, his mother, and his feet by Mary Magdelene. John the Apostle throws his arms wide in despair. To the right, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea wait to prepare the body to be laid in a tomb. 

The Resurrection, 1460s by Piero della Francesca ( 1415-1492 )

Piero was commissioned to paint the fresco for the Gothic-style Residenza, the communal meeting hall. This was used solely by Conservatori, the chief magistrates and governors, who, before starting their councils, would pray before the image.  Placed high on the interior wall facing the entrance, the fresco includes an allusion to the name of the city (meaning "Holy Sepulchre"), derived from the presence of two relics of the Holy Sepulchre carried here by two pilgrims in the 9th century. Della Francesca's 'Christ' is also featured on the town's coat of arms.

Jesus is in the centre of the composition, portrayed in the moment of his resurrection. His stern, impassive figure rises over four sleeping soldiers, representing the difference between the human and the divine spheres (or the death, defeated by Christ's light). The landscape, immersed in the dawn light, has also a symbolic value: the contrast between the flourishing young trees on the right and the bare mature ones on the left alludes to the renovation of men through the Resurrection's light.