Artibus et Historiae no. 6 (III)
1982, ISSN 0391-9064Up
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EUGENIO BATTISTI, MARY LOU KRUMRINE - "Desiderare una ignuda". A Kinetic Investigation of Giorgione and Michelangelo
The unique chronological and stylistic concurrence between Giorgione's nudes for the Fondaco dei Tedeschi and Michelangelo's in the Sistina Ceiling cannot be accounted for, at the present time, by a proven reciprocal influence. Indeed Michelangelo could not have studied the frescoes of the Venetian Master, since he did not leave Bologna until departing for Florence (February 22nd, 1507) and Rome, and it does not seem possible that Giorgione would have been affected by nude drawings coming from Central Italy with such quality of movement. The kinetic analysis which is proposed here (carried out by using three different coding methods) brings out some basic differences which contradict commonly held interpretations. Giorgione's nudes are far more sculpturesque, three-dimensional and complex in their postures. The female nudes have positions which are definitively erotic as is shown by the identity of the pose of the nymph in the Tempesta, with that of the lutist in the Concerto Campestre - a negative symbol of sensualism - as well as that of Leda, later painted by Correggio. Besides this, the possibility, which is shown here, of imitating with living models such Renaissance masterpieces, denotes the presence of a higher degree of 'naturalism' as is acknowledged by modern historiography.
