Special Exhibitions
Conserving the Past for the Future
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Special Exhibitions |
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Conserving the Past for the Future |
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The Pentimenti As a painting evolves, the artist may rearrange figures, adjust contours, or alter perspective to better express his vision. These changes of mind, or pentimenti, convey the process of selection and revision, which plays a part in many creative undertakings. In Zurbarán's paintings, pentimenti are most frequently subtle adjustments of drapery contours or the edges of hands or profiles. In Christ and the Virgin in the House at Nazareth the edges of the tunics of Christ and Mary have numerous minor adjustments in which the red or blue body color of the garment is either brought beyond the edge of the underpainting, or the background tone is brought over the body color to narrow the contour. These changes slightly shift the rhythm of the fall of drapery, or subtly alter the shape of a negative space separating two objects or figures. They suggest the delicate balancing of parts by which Zurbarán created the impression of the whole image.
Page 9 of 11 | On the next page: Damages |
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