Yulia Zvezdina
Moscow Kremlin Museums, Russia
Many works of the Renaissance masters show close attention to the peculiarities of the decor interpretation. Often compositions include garlands. We propose to pay attention to some interpretation features of this insufficiently studied detail of religious paintings.
Garland is often towered above the image of Madonna and Christ, especially honored Saint. Sometimes links of the garlands crown the whole composition like an open curtain. Magnificent examples of such compositional decisions are typical, for instance, for works of Andrea Mantegna.
Garland in works of some masters shows particular passion to fruit symbols. These are the compositions of Carlo Crivelli, where the glorification of Madonna and Christ is expressed in the language of traditional Christian symbols, represented in the fruit garlands. First and foremost attention is paid to big apples and grapes, combining decorativeness and great depth of meaning of depicted objects.
The interpretation of the garland in works of Cosme Tura is very remarkable. For example, in “Madonna with the sleeping child” (Galleria dell’ Accademia, Venice) conventional design of zodiacal constellations in form of golden glow is combined with two realistically painted bunches of grapes and goldfinch, which is a traditional symbol of the suffering of Christ. Obviously, emphasized realistic image of grapes confirms the truth of Blood turning into wine.
Studying of Renaissance garland shows that, at first glance, decorative, this detail preserves the ancient function of glorification of the figure, shadowed by it. On the one hand, garland points out the masters reference to ancient traditions. Weighty bunches of fruits, flowers and leafage are characteristic to ancient sculpture, they are found in painting, for the most part, monumental. On the other hand, in Italy the garland was further developed in the Middle Ages. The result of the synthesis of traditions from different eras is such a bright element of the Renaissance religious compositions as garland.