A seminal Marco Basaiti to be discovered while waiting for the set-up of Galleria dell’Accademia in Venice

 

On December 18, 2013, the new thirty rooms of the Galleria dell’Accademia in Venice have been inaugurated. Located in the area of Santa Maria della Carità, this expansion, started in 2005 according to the project by architect Tobia Scarpa, allowed the Galleria to double its surface, reaching 12.000 square meters.

 

These rooms just wait to be filled with masterpieces. Meanwhile, we would like to drive your focus on a fascinating painting by Marco Basaiti (1470/75 – 1530), artist very active in Venice and pupil of Alvise Vivarini. The work represents the call of James and John, narrated in the Gospels. This large canvas (386 X 268 cm) was commissioned to be placed over the high altar of the church of Sant’Andrea della Certosa, which no longer exists. It shows the scene of the calling of the sons of Zebedee in its culminating moment: when the two young fishermen are stepping onto the ground, leaving their elderly father on the boat.

 

The entire composition seems to be suspended in a magical atmosphere: the landscape in the background is similar to an enchanted mountain, the foreground scene is immersed in silence and solemnity, the three brothers appear to be at the mercy of an hypnotic rapture. The charm of this work could be epitomised by the words of Renè Magritte, on the relationship between art and magic: “An object manifests a magical power when enchants us without the mediation of a methodical examination. (…) A magical conception of the universe lets talk the language: it does not analyse”.

July 17, 2015