Have you seen...Two Portraits in One?

Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun, Self-portrait, 1790, Vasari Corridor, Uffizi Gallery,
Florence (Photo: Andy Barker)

I will never forget the moment that I first saw this painting.  It was the subject of my Master’s Dissertation and I had been longing to see it ‘in the flesh’ for some time.  It hangs in the Vasari Corridor, a passageway linking the Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace in Florence.  This passageway was built directly over the Ponte Vecchio by Vasari himself on the orders of the then Duke of Florence, Cosimo I de Medici. Cosimo needed a covered route between his palace and his office that would be private and uncluttered by the everyday person.  He was also amassing a collection of artists’ self-portraits, and this Corridor was the ideal place to hang them.  Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun’s image has since joined that illustrious group.

My husband and I visited the Uffizi Gallery on a day trip from Rome, specifically to see this portrait.  The problem was, that unbeknown to us, the Vasari Corridor is generally locked to the public and can only be visited when booked in advance and in a group.  Everyone in uniform that we asked simply shook their heads, and I got more and more desperate.  In the end we left the Gallery and found the Superintendent, a lady who had a smattering of English and a very kind heart!  She made phonecalls, spoke to security people and eventually, took us through the back door of the Uffizzi Gallery, up some steps and under an official-looking security tape.  Another lady unlocked a door, pushed us gently through it and locked it behind us!  

Vasari Corridor, Uffizi Gallery, Florence,
(Photo: Andy Barker)

 We were on our own at the top of a steep blue-carpeted staircase and there was complete silence.  A man then appeared at the bottom of the stairs and beckoned for us to follow him.  He was the caretaker and jangled a huge set of keys as he walked.  He led us into a narrow corridor with a curved ceiling set with dim lights.  There was the occasional window, circular, like a porthole and with a grill across it. Lining the walls on both sides were paintings, all self-portraits.  Our guide had one word of English, “photo”, which he kept repeating, telling us to take pictures of the masterpieces surrounding us.  As we walked we felt the hairs stand up on the backs of our necks and neither of us spoke.  It was rather like a dream.  We kept walking until we found her. 

Vasari Corridor, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, (Photo: Andy Barker)

She sat there, serenely, gently smiling out of the canvas, paintbrush in one hand and palette in the other.  The intriguing thing about this work is that Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun is allowing us to see what she is painting.  In many of her self-portraits, she shows herself simply looking out of the canvas, or holding the tools of her trade, or sometimes wearing a fancy dress costume.  There are two main portraits where she explicitly shares her work with us, this one and its twin, which hangs at Ickworth House in Norfolk.  They are in fact, not entirely identical, as you will see if you examine the image on the canvas on which Vigée-Le Brun is painting.  The Ickworth portrait (below) shows the face of a young girl who seems to emerge out of the canvas and into the room.  This girl is Julie, Vigée-Le Brun’s daughter.  However, the Uffizi self-portrait shows an entirely different face, a shadowy, indistinct and altogether less ‘real’ image, the haunting features of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.

Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun, Self-Portrait, 1791, Ickworth House, Norfolk 
(photo: Alison Barker)

Vigée-Le Brun lived during the French Revolution of 1789 and painted portraits for many of the French aristocracy who ended up losing their lives on the guillotine.  She herself, managed to escape Paris and wandered Europe, painting and writing her Memoirs.  She was proud of her images of the doomed Queen, many of which were large and imposing and have ended up in Vienna.  This one however, an intimate portrayal demonstrating Vigée-Le Brun’s own close connection to the Queen, has ended up here, in a quiet and atmospheric corridor over the River Arno and seen by very few.

As Andy and I left the Vasari Corridor and re-entered the sunlit world, we could not quite believe where we had been and the huge privilege we had been granted.

If you are visiting Florence, before you go, book a tour of the Vasari Corridor and experience not only the hushed feel of centuries of artists watching you as you pass by, but also the wistful gaze of Marie Antoinette.

Alison Barker

Coming Next: Have you seen...the Honey Thief?

Have you seen… …the Kiss of Betrayal?

Giotto, Kiss of Judas, The Scrovegni Chapel, Padua

It is an arresting image in more ways than one.  A forest of spears, clubs and flaming torches break the deep blue of the sky.  The foreground is crowded with figures, some with angry, worried faces, fists raised and clutching their weapons.  A bugler winds his horn and countless black helmets hide the anonymous soldiers.  Amidst this crushing rabble, One face is intensely calm.  Jesus gazes directly into the upturned eyes of his betrayer, who is about to kiss him.  This is the signal.  This is what they have been waiting for.  He is the One.

The event of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane recorded in the Gospels, has been depicted in art on many occasions, but if I had to choose my favourite, it would be this one.  It captures the drama, the anger, the shock, even the noise of the moment, but at the same time displays Christ’s absolute serenity and willingness to surrender Himself to death.  His smooth profile face contrasts dramatically with that of Judas whose hooded eyes are held fast by those of Jesus. Nearly all other eyes are on this scene in the centre, as if mesmerised, waiting to see what will happen next.

detail, Giotto, Kiss of Juda, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua

Giotto, the creator of this fresco, was responsible for decorating the entire series of scenes that cover the interior of the Scrovegni Chapel. The Kiss of Judas is one of forty-two frescoes telling the stories of Joachim and Anna and Mary their daughter, both of which are taken from the Apocrypha, and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, taken from the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible.  It has been said that this scheme “…is one of the most highly regarded ensembles in the history of art” [1]. 

Giotto, Scrovegni Chapel, 12.80 x 20.82 x 8.42 m, Padua

Why is it so highly regarded?  Well, having had the privilege of actually seeing these frescoes I think I can see why.  For anyone studying the Renaissance, Giotto is inescapable. He is regarded as the start, the father of modern art [2], the one without whom everything would be different, inconceivable.  I studied him and his wonderful Scrovegni Chapel frescoes back in the late nineties, and I was completely hooked.  I wanted to see them ‘in the flesh’ from that moment and although it took me nearly fifteen years, I finally saw them in July last year.  The Chapel is in Padua, in an area known as The Arena due to its use in Roman times. The tickets need to be booked well in advance and viewings are tightly controlled.  Twenty-five people are allowed in for fifteen minutes only, a time so short that it almost seemed like a dream.  We had to be conditioned to the environment in a special room for ten minutes first and then we were allowed into the hallowed space.

The thing that hit me first was the colour.  It is blue and beautiful and dreamlike.  Pastel is everywhere creating a feeling of ‘pretty’ colour, even in the Last Judgement at the far end, a far from ‘pretty’ subject.  The deep blue ceiling is studded with gold stars and roundels, and the rectangular scenes themselves are actually much bigger than I had imagined.  The Kiss is on the lower register on the left between two windows.  Taking this image as our example, we can see the stunning colour palette used by Giotto: the golden yellow of Judas’ cloak, the bright red of the soldier’s uniform, pastel pink of the pointing figure in the foreground and the azure blue of the night sky, with red and yellow flaming torches cutting through it.

Giotto was not only clever with colour, but innovative with his use of gesture and facial expression.  That is really the key to Giotto and why he has been hailed as so important in the history of art.  Look at the expressions of the people in the crowd, mouths open in shock, eyebrows knitted together in anger, and the calm intensity of Jesus’ own eyes.  The gestures too, speak volumes: fists balled, a cloak being pulled from a fleeing figure to the left, hands wielding weapons, a finger raised in admonishment and a hug, a treacherous, all enveloping hug.

I could go on…but I won’t.  Go and see them for yourself, they are worth the effort, even though you only get fifteen minutes!  It is fifteen minutes of wonder and awe and for me, a dream come true.

Alison Barker

Coming Next: Have you seen...Two Portraits in One?

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[1] Norman D (ed), Siena, Florence and Padua: Art, Society and Religion 1280-1400, The Open University, 1995, p.75

[2] Ibid p.73