The
banner painted for this August Palio may represent one of the last
chances given to the contemporary artist to measure himself with the
civic painting, with the accomplishment of a work commissioned, awaited
– and judged – by an entire town. A work for the realization
of which it is necessary the absolute respect of the iconography,
dimensions and format, considered as well as a limit and an incentive
at the same time. Other bonds, such as a written dedication to a person
or an anniversary may sometimes be added to guide the artist’s
creative process. Dedicating his banner to Duccio, Andrea Rauch has
taken the subject for his composition and his homage to the ancient
painter is not merely an optional accessory of a studied project,
but the real subject of this painting.
The Virgin Mary dominating the superior half of the banner shows the
same features than the one Duccio placed in the middle of the cathedral
apse glass window; the dark shape of the cathedral, below, refers
to the place of Duccio’s character. The dedication reports the
name of Duccio, embroidered over the date of August 16th, 2003 and
an extract, also embroidered, of the resolution by the Municipality
of Siena of September 1287 about the "Fenestra rotunda magna
que est post altare / Beate Marie Virginis Maioris Ecclesiae"[I].
As
it also happened to the Majesty on June 9th, 1311, even the “Palio
dedicated to Duccio” will be translated in the Duomo, accompanied
by the exultation of people in feast. Starting every August 16th in
Piazza del Campo and heading to the cathedral, the procession will
have this year a further meaning and will be like a repetition after
many centuries of the one, which brought Duccio and his masterpiece
into the Duomo. Andrea Rauch, however, has symbolically brought back
to the cathedral not just the Virgin of the Majesty, but – some
months ahead – the Virgin Mary of the rose window, since long
under a delicate conservative operation and finally on its way to
its original placement.
In
the 18th century, David Hume elaborated the criteria for the evaluation
of a masterpiece and introduced the dialectics of the concepts of
novelty and facility. This philosopher understood that if in the composition
of a masterpiece the artist could give priority to novelty, such novelty
– denied of any bonds with the tradition and the use of senses
– would not have been easily understood; on the contrary, if
the artist followed too closely usual and secure ways, the work would
have resulted deprived of any interest and poor in fascination.
Rauch could calibrate very carefully the balance existing within this
dialectical tension, as well as for the architecture of the image
and the executive techniques concerned. The sacramentality of Duccio’s
character, re-elaborated with the greatest respect, goes together
and along with the representation of the Duomo and graphic signs and
touches of colors, which immediately recall the illustrator in Andrea
Rauch. As for the Contradas coats-of-arm, the compliance with the
iconographic bonds has been solved with a very innovative solution,
even if derived from the Palio tradition. The barberi applied to the
painted part give an unusual projection to the banner, a tri-dimensional
and quite rarely previously tried extension; at the same time, the
wooden globes have been accomplished with careful and philological
fidelity and they do not differ at all, if not for their bigger dimensions,
from those the Sienese children use to play with since generations
in the streets of their town. The same painting, under a technical
point of view, declares a double inclination to tradition and innovation.
The plotter print, actually, is just like a different kind and more
modern brush, which allows to cover a surface with colors, in other
words: to paint. As any other artist before him, Andrea Rauch used
all new possible techniques to ease the accomplishment of his work.
And as his most famous forerunners, he realized a fully contemporary
in purposes and results painting, which was achieved according to
a balanced measure between “new” and “old”.
A balance that Andrea Rauch has always been researching in his works
of graphic designer, encouraged by the wise exhortation of Milton
Glaser, his friend and teacher: “‘New’ is per definition
never completely understood. Therefore, arts in projects use to mix
the innovation materializing from the field of perceptibility with
the already discerned elements.” [ii] A sentence which sounds
like a practical transposition of Hume’s thoughts.
However,
Rauch has been able to solve positively such a challenging commission,
as after all it is demonstrated by the image and its capacity to dominate
even from far away, by the strength that the Palio must have, for
its being a banner and a standard, first on the carroccio and later
at the head of the winners’ procession. Enzo Carli, in his study
of 1946, in which he first attributed the rose-glass to Duccio, had
already praised the “exquisitely heraldic features” of
the Virgin Mary, who, according to him, “contributed to create
the most dazzling and beautiful portion of the rose-glass.”
[iii].
As it suit to any standard, even this one has been painted on both
its sides: the Virgin Mary, who appears in all her sternness, authority
and symbology in the front side of the banner, shows off as a light
and sweet apparition, almost undressed by the saturated density of
the colors, in the illusory transparency of the back side. She looks
like she appeared, suddenly but not unexpectedly, exclusively for
the Sieneses, who take her in procession, as to confirm the strength
of the dialogue strictly hold between the Virgin Mary and the Sieneses,
a dialogue that Duccio has handed down, with his Majesty, as one of
the first and most important evidences.
Marco
Pierini
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[i] Resolution of the Municipality of Siena of September 1287,
as reproduced by Enzo Carli in his Vetrata duccesca, Electa, Firenze
1946, page 12.
[ii]
From Milton Glaser, Graphic Design, The Overlook Press, New York 1972.
[iii]
Enzo Carli, Vetrata duccesca, Electa, Firenze 1946, page 39.
