WHAT SHAPE FRAME?
Slide 13-52: Claude Lorrain, A Rest on the Flight into Egypt @
We've looked at the plane figures; polygons like the square, rectangle, and hexagon, as well as the circle. We've examined their geometryand shown some of their uses in sacred geometry and in art and architecture. In this unit we'll explore these figures as shapes of frames; how and why a particular shape was used and how it affects theenclosed picture or sculpture.
We'll briefly track the development of paintings from no frame, to open frames, complex frames, and multiple frames, and the altarpiece. We'll show four reasons for having a closed frame, and see how some artists have used axes of symmetry, zones, diagonals, and microthemes.
We'll explore several rectangular formats, the square, double square, overlapping square, and the golden rectangle, and the round format, in painting, sculpture, and medallions, and finish with the elliptical format.
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Why Frame a Picture?
In our last unit on perspective we saw that one function of the framewas as a window frame through which we viewed the world. Otherpurposes for the frame are:
1. To separate inside from outside; to state that a pictureis a world of its own, and not a part of the surrounding world.
2. To provide visual control. This separation from theoutside world makes it possible for the painter to control thecomposition. The meaning of things we see depend partly on theirsurroundings, so if the surroundings can't be controlled, the meanings cannot be controlled either.
3. For portability
No Frame: Prehistoric Wall Paintings.
Slide 13-1: Cave Painting of a Bison, Altamira, Spain c. 15,000-10,000 B.C.E., Hartt p. 38
Of course, not all pictures were framed. Cave paintings are anexample of unframed pictures which generally focus on a single figure oranimal, without much regard to the surrounding figures.
Partial Frame: The Frieze
Slide 13-2: Darius and Xerxes Giving Audience,Persian, c. 490 BCE. Janson p. 95
An example of what might be called a partial frame is thefrieze, often found in the temples. It is closed at top and bottom andopen at the ends.
Tapestries and Scrolls
Slide 13-6: The Battle of Hastings, detail of theBayeux Tapestry. c. 1073-83. Janson p. 325
Other open frames include Oriental scrolls or tapestries, like thefamous Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the Battle of Hastings.
Closed Frames: Murals and Frescos
Slide 13-8: GIOTTO, Scrovegni Chapel Frescos. Electra p. 11
Murals and frescos might be open, like the Oreszco Frescos, or haveclearly defined outlines like in the Scrovegni Chapel.
Time Frames
Slide 13-9: GHIBERTI, Baptistery North Doors,1403-24, Scenes from the New Testment
A frieze, mural, or fresco might sometimes have a time progression aswell as a spatial one, a property that relates them to music. Theindividual pictures are like the frames in a movie film or pages in abook.
Frames have taken all sorts of elaborate shapes; lancets, GothicArches, and quatrefoils as in the Baptistry North doors shown here.
The Altarpiece
Slide 13-11: FRA ANGELICO, Deposition. C. 1440.
Perhaps the most elaborate frames of all were the Medieval andRenaissance altarpieces, with their mountain ranges of pointed peaks. They look pretty old to us now, but Jacob Burckhardt writes that thegreat tradition of modern European easel painting started with theItalian Renaissance altarpiece. The altarpiece was on the cutting edgeof Italian painting, using the most advanced methods and materials.
There were no rules for the design of an altarpiece, so it was aplace where artists could experiment with new methods and materials. Altarpieces show continual change over the years, both in shape andsubject matter. They were regularly replaced by the latest model, theold altarpiece often cut up and pieces scattered in variousgalleries.
Slide 13-12: DUCCIO, Maesta Center panel, 1308-11. Siena. Janson p. 369
Duccio's super-altarpiece, the Maesta was a big deal in 1311. According to Hartt, it was carried from his studio to the cathedral in a triumphal procession, the people carrying lighted candles and torches, to the sound of all the bells of the city, and the music of trumpets and bagpipes. But Vasari writing in 1550 says he could not even locate the old altarpiece. But we can see most of it today in the Cathedral Gallery in Siena a few years ago.
There's also a piece of the Maesta in the National Gallery in Washington and another bit in the Frick Collection in New York.
Portability
Most of the pictures we've seen are fixed in place, painted on a wallor carved on a pediment. But during the Renaissance the growing desireof people to buy and own paintings and other art objects loosened theconnection between an artwork and its location. According to Arnheim,paintings, religious and mythological subjects, landscapes, genrescenes, could be made in the studio for none in particular and sold andeventually resold. They were part of what we now call the artmarket. For this, pictures had to be portable, and we addportability to our list of reasons for framing a picture.
The Switch to Oils and Canvas
Portability may have been one reason to switch from paintings on wood panels to canvas.
Most of these altarpieces were painted with egg tempera on woodpanels, standard for altarpieces until at least the 1520's. Canvas hadbeen widely used in Venice for large-scale painting since the 1470's. It was cheaper than wood, and more portable. This made it better forthe growing art market of the 1500's.
At about the same time period there was a shift from egg tempera tooils. To make paint, an artist had to grind pigment from minerals orplants into a powder, and add a liquid to make a paste. If egg was usedwe get egg tempera, which was used as early as the 12th Dynastyin Egypt, (about 2000 B.C.E.) and continued in use during through theRenaissance. It was fine, but dried quickly.
Jan Van Eyck, sometimes called the discoverer of oil painting, wanteda slower drying paint to produce the smoother transitions of colors thathe wanted. So he substituted oil for egg, and got a slower dryingmixture. It also allowed making of glazes.
The Quadro or Rectangular Format
Slide 13-17: A Sunday on Le Grande Jatte - 1884. 1884-6, George Seurat (1859-91)
We've seen what frames do. The next question is what shape to use? The shape of a frame isoften called the format. We'll talk about the square format, and theround format. But first, the rectangular format
According to Fisher, as artists turned from painting on wood panel tocanvas, the use of the rectangular format increased because it is easierto cut wood into interesting shapes than to construct frames in theseshapes and stretch canvas over them.
Once we have decided to use a rectangle, we must decide on (1) orientation and (2) proportions of that rectangle.
Portrait or Landscape
By orientation, we simply mean whether the long side of the rectangleis vertical or horizontal. Of course, a landscape normally calls for ahorizontal format; a portrait calls for a vertical format. Computerseven use the terms portrait and landscape to distinguish betweenthe vertical and horizontal formats.
The orientation may affect how the contents are seen. For example astanding figure painted in a portrait format appears taller and thinner;a standing figure painted in a landscape format is accentuated. Itstands out more, because of the contrast with the horizontal frame.
What Shape Rectangle?
So once you decided whether to orient it portrait or landscape, whatproportions do you make it?
Within the rectangular format, there's one format for movie films, another format for wide-screen movies, and for video, others for different kinds of photographic film, and still others for paper, like the 8.5 x 11 format.
Golden Rectangle
Slide 10-38: Botticelli, Birth of Venus
Why not use the golden rectangle for every painting, as it is oftenclaimed to be the most esthetically pleasing. These claims seem to bebased mostly on the work of Gustav Fechner in the 1860's, who presentedpeople with rectangles of white cardboard on a dark table. In this testthey tended to prefer proportions approaching the golden ratio (1.62 to 1). But, when measuring frames in a museum, Fechner found that the favorite ratios were:
for vertical pictures 5:4 or 1.25 to 1
for horizontal pictures about 4:3 or 1.33 to 1
In other words, artists used frames more compact than f, the vertical more so than the horizontal.
Why did artists prefer a squarer shape? My own opinion comes fromthe very title of Arnheim's book, The Power of the Center. As wemove from the center things lose importance. Also, as we'll see, a squarer format is consistent with rest, repose, dignity, and timelessness; things that artists often want their paintings to convey.
Overlapping Squares
Slide 13-19: Saint Francis Before the Sultan. Giotto(1267-1336/7), Santa Croce. Fl.
So most rectangular pictures are made with no particular proportions,but there is one that appears often enough to mention; a rectangularpainting made up of two overlapping squares.
In this painting by Giotto, the inner rectangle is formed by twooverlapping squares with sides equal to the short side of the outerrectangle. Also, the crossings of the diagonals fix the base of thethrone and the height of the partition in the background.
Axes and Zones
Slide 13-21: Botticelli's Annunciation c. 1492
A rectangle has two axes of symmetry, vertical and horizontal. Anaxis of symmetry is often used to divide a painting into distinctregions. Here the vertical splits scene into two regions, the naturalregion of the Virgin, and the supernatural region of the archangelGabriel.
The Diagonal
Slide 13-22: TIEPOLO, Apollo Pursuing Daphne, 1755-60. Fisher p. 156.
Another compositional device is to use the main diagonal to make thepicture more dynamic. The diagonal of a rectangle is not an axis ofsymmetry but it also is sometimes used to split the picture into zones,as in the Tiepolo, with the God on one side and the mortals on theother.
The Square Format
Slide 13-26: Donatello: Madonna of the Clouds c. 1427
The square is a special case of the rectangle, and artists have usedsome of the same devices, such as using the diagonal to separate apicture into two zones. But unlike the rectangle, the diagonal of asquare is an axis of symmetry.
But the square format has one property that the rectangular does not;it gives a scene stillness and serenity, a calm and dignity whichwe'll see again in the round format. This makes it ideal for a subjects such as a Madonna
Raphael: Knight's Dream, or Dream of Scipio
Slide 13-27: The Knight's Dream Raphael, 1504-5, Old Janson, p. 124
We saw a Raphael before, his School of Athens of 1510-11. Here we look at two earlier works.
Here again we have a division into zones, but this time by thevertical axis. The vertical tree divides the picture into two zones;virtue and beauty.
This picture also shows what Arnheim calls a microtheme, aminiature version of the main theme acted out near the center of thepicture, often with the hands. In the Knights Dream themicrotheme is the choice between book and flowers, representing thelarger choice shown in the painting, the choice between virtue and thepleasures of beauty.
Raphael: Deposition
Slide 13-28: Deposition, Raphael, 1507
Arnheim says that what might be a dynamic scene here is made staticby the square format. The microtheme is one support: the gentle raisingof Christ's hand by Mary Magdalene, and the young man's strong grip onthe cloth. This is an act of raising up, foreshadowing theascension.
Munch: The Sick Girl
Slide 13-30: The Sick Girl. Edvard Munch, 1896
Here we have a strong diagonal separating the realm of the sickdaughter from that of the grieving mother. The microtheme at the verycenter, where the mother reaches for the daughter's hand but can nolonger touch it.
The Tondo or Round Format
Slide 37: Madonna of the Pomegranate, Sandro Botticelli, 1487. Arnheim p. 77.
A round painting is often called a tondo. The tondo was alsocalled a Desco da Parto, or Painting on a platter.
If the center was more important for the square than for therectangle, it is even more important for the circle where all points onthe circle are equidistant from that center. So its not surprising thata microtheme located near the center is more common in the Tondo than inthe square.
Another characteristic of the circular form is detachment. Wehave seen that one purpose of a frame is to define a picture as a closedentity, separate from its surroundings; a world of its own.
According to Arnheim, a round frame does this best because itstrengthens the center, making the picture more self-referential, whilea rectangular or square frame does it less well because its sidesstrengthen the reference to the vertical and horizontal of the outsideworld.
This detachment makes the tondo a natural choice for a religiouspicture. Its separation from the secular and vulgar makes it theall-time favorite format for the Madonna.
In the Madonna of the Pomegranate the Christ child's head is near the center. This formal placement already makes him appear the ruler. The microtheme here is in the upraised hand in blessing, and the handling of the pomegranate, like an orb of power. This clearly give the child a dominant position.
The Roundel
Donatello
Slide 13-41: Virgin and Child with Two Angels. Donatello& assistants. Marble. 1457-8, Cathedral, Siena. Pope-Hennessey p.84.
As with circular paintings, the circular relief sculpture orroundel became popular in the fifteenth century. It was also afavorite shape for religious figures, especially the Madonna.
The Della Robbias
Slide 13-42a: St. John the Evangelist. Luca Della Robbia,(1400?-1482) Enameled terra cotta. c. 1442. Pazzi Chapel. P-H p.110.
Luca Della Robbia was famous for his works in terra cotta, as wasAndrea, Luca's nephew, pupil, and successor.
Slide 13-43: Foundlings. C. 1487. Enameled terra cotta. Andrea della Robbia (1437-1528) Spedale degli Innocenti. PH p.178.
These are two of 14 bambini Andrea made the children's hospital in Florence. Lucca's sons Giovanni and Girolamo were also terra-cotta sculptors.
The Italian Plaquette
Slide 13-45: Mars with Trophies. Moderno. P-H p. 202
Tondi and roundels are symbols of the loosening of the connectionbetween artworks and their locations. As more works of art becameportable objects made for the art market, the ultimate example of thatwas the plaquette.
They were small, single-sided bronze reliefs. They were made inRome, Florence, and Padua from around 1450 to 1550. Many wererectangular or oblong, but most were round, usually under 6 in. indiameter.
Some themes were religious, but many were drawn from mythology, asthis figure of Mars by Moderno, the most prominent and prolific sculptorof plaquettes.
Slide 13-46: Allegory of Virtue. Riccio. PH p. 213
Riccio (1470?-1532) was also active in making plaquettes, like thisAllegory of Virtue. With many plaquettes the aim was to portrayprinciples of conduct; courage, rectitude, constancy decency, restraint,and virtue.
Renaissance Portrait Medals
Slide 13-47: Alberti Medal
Slide 13-48: Medal of Vittorina da Feltre by Pisanello. Levey p. 75.
Here is an example of the Renaissance Portrait medal, objectsinspired by antique Roman coins, but purely commemorative. Its greatestpractitioner and virtual originator of the Renaissance medal wasPisanello (Antonio Pisano, active c. 1415-55).
The typical design had a profile portrait on obverse, another design onreverse, and an inscription around rim.
Slide 13-49: Alberti Medal Verso
On the reverse side, an allegorical allusion or an emblem couldportray mental characteristics or the essence of the person portrayed onthe obverse. For example, the reverse of the medal of Marsilio Ficino,the great Florentine Platonic philosopher, bore only the single word,Plato. Medals often bore the family Impressa, a kind oftrade mark, logo, or insignia, like the winged eye on the reverseof the Alberti medal.
Michael Level writes, "At once a new artifact but with antiqueechoes, personal, naturalistic and yet allusive, easily portable yetparticularly durable, the portrait medal is a perfect symbol ofRenaissance endeavor and achievement."
Here, a few inches of metal held the promise of eternity. It is aperfect example of the Egyptian definition of the word sculptor, one-who-keeps-alive.
Ovato Tondo or Elliptical Format
Slide 13-50: Prud'hon, c. 1803
Arnheim says that the Renaissance cherished the circle as the shapeof cosmic perfection, the Mannerist and Baroque periods favored theellipse.
Slide 13-53: A Cameo
The upright ellipse was good for portraits. According to Arnheim,A ... for the portrait,the oval lends welcome assistance in the painter's struggle with thehuman figure, which carries the head high above its center. The upperfocal point of the ellipse offers the head ... a compositional restingplace not available in either the tondo or the rectangle."
In US currency, Presidents are in elliptical frames. Also noteellipses around the numerals on $1, $5, and $20 bills; elliptical framearound Lincoln Memorial on $5 bill.
Summary
We have briefly tracked the development of paintings from
... no frame, as in cave paintings ...
... open frames, as in the frieze ...
... and multiple frames, often showing a time sequence
... and the altarpiece.
We have mentioned four reasons for the closed frame ...
... to separate the world of the picture from the rest of the world
... to control the composition of the picture
... for portability
... as a window frame through which we see the world.
We've seen that theemerging art market required portability, which encouraged the use ofcanvas, which in turn may have led to the use of the rectangularformat.
And have explored several rectangular formats; the square and theoverlapping square, and have seen that the Golden Rectangle was not abig deal in art. We have seen how some artists have used axes ofsymmetry, zones, diagonals, and microthemes for compositionalpurposes.
We then explored the round format, in painting, sculpture, and medallions, and the ellipse.
Reading
Arnheim, Power of the Center, pp. 51-71.
Bouleau Chapter II, The Frame. pp. 30-47
J. Burchardt, The Altarpiece in Renaissance Italy (1898), ed.and trans. P. Humfrey, Oxford, 1988, p. 81.
Pope-Hennessey p. 192-222
Levey, Early Renaissance, p. 73-77
Review of The Altarpiece in Renaissance Venice, Art Bulletin,March 95, p. 139.
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