Many people have viewed Raphael’s wonderful painting, Sistine Madonna (La Madonna di San Sisto) which current resides in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, which is part of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden museums in Dresden, Germany. If someone is not familiar with the overall painting, they will certainly recognize the two cherubs at the bottom of the picture. Over the years I have asked people if they find anything unusual regarding the figures in the painting. I have met people with various opinions regarding how many digits were on the right hand of the figure at the bottom left of the painting. People who have discussed it on the Internet have said everything from it is a reflective error, Raphael didn't realize it, or Pope Sixtus IV really had six fingers. It might also have been Raphael's inference that this man had a sixth sense regarding the life and mission that Jesus would experience. My point is that most people have never really looked closely to observe this aspect of the painting. I would revisit Raphael's painting years later as I became more involved with Goethe's study of Greek sculpture.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, born 1749, was captivated by the ancient Greeks. Actually Goethe was interested in virtually everything taking place in the world of mineral, plant, animal, humans, anything and everything in the natural world. He was especially interested in the anatomical aspects of Greek statues. Goethe had been working on a philosophy regarding whether the natures expressed by men and women are depicted in their physical proportions. Goethe made a study of Greek art to determine whether the artists had understood this concept and depicted it in their statues.
He noted the differences between Mercury's greater fineness of features compared to Apollo. Goethe pondered why the Greeks gave Juno large eyes and Hercules such a rounded brow. He wondered if the rounded brow signified Hercules' strength and ceaseless labor. Was Venus' character expressed by the smallness of spaces between her features? Goethe believed that character was expressed, not only in the face, but equally in the form of the whole body.
Why did Apollo have long thighs, Bacchus have broad almost womanish hips and Jove have a massive torso? The excellence of Greek art was based on the Greek way of life, a philosophy that "was based on the principle that every faculty in people, should be allowed to develop freely according to its nature."
In Goethe's study of Greek art, he also discovered what he believed was the Greeks explanation of the ultimate nature of existence, and the forces and archetypes that govern the physical and spiritual universe. The Greek sculptures represent philosophy in visible form as opposed to the use of words. Sculptured forms, and their displayed characteristics, were used to express certain intellectual and moral concepts. The Greek sculptures were meant to represent various philosophical, spiritual and human emotional principles, all of which exist within our physical form, and ultimately expressed through our nature.
"Jupiter was the image of the loftiest dignity of boundless power. Minerva was the image of reflective wisdom. Hercules was the image of strength and Venus was all the forms of love expressed through the female nature. The statues were ideas and emotional natures given physical form through art. The Greek poets and artists looked into the heart of the universe and saw there were certain vast forces whose action and interaction creates and still upholds the world in which we live. Homer through his writings first personified these forces as gods in human form. Later artists evolved a means of representing them in visible, tangible shape." (Goethe and the Greeks)
The ancient Greek artists were far wiser than most might think. Yes, they created beauty, but they were also cognizant of the essences behind forms. They believed that it was possible to express fundamental forces and ideas through the medium of human body. Humans are a microcosm of the whole universe.
Sometimes we move too fast and don’t always appreciate the more subtle aspects of what we are seeing and experiencing. An ancient writer said, that several times during his lecturing in the Sacred Grove, Plato took his students to a little knoll that overlooked the city. He did this to remind them to always take a higher viewpoint of all experiences, even what they were learning from him.
Taking time to listen to what you are hearing, to understand all of what you see, can bring a greater awareness and wisdom into what is taking place in your world. To inspire and empower.
He noted the differences between Mercury's greater fineness of features compared to Apollo. Goethe pondered why the Greeks gave Juno large eyes and Hercules such a rounded brow. He wondered if the rounded brow signified Hercules' strength and ceaseless labor. Was Venus' character expressed by the smallness of spaces between her features? Goethe believed that character was expressed, not only in the face, but equally in the form of the whole body.
Why did Apollo have long thighs, Bacchus have broad almost womanish hips and Jove have a massive torso? The excellence of Greek art was based on the Greek way of life, a philosophy that "was based on the principle that every faculty in people, should be allowed to develop freely according to its nature."
In Goethe's study of Greek art, he also discovered what he believed was the Greeks explanation of the ultimate nature of existence, and the forces and archetypes that govern the physical and spiritual universe. The Greek sculptures represent philosophy in visible form as opposed to the use of words. Sculptured forms, and their displayed characteristics, were used to express certain intellectual and moral concepts. The Greek sculptures were meant to represent various philosophical, spiritual and human emotional principles, all of which exist within our physical form, and ultimately expressed through our nature.
"Jupiter was the image of the loftiest dignity of boundless power. Minerva was the image of reflective wisdom. Hercules was the image of strength and Venus was all the forms of love expressed through the female nature. The statues were ideas and emotional natures given physical form through art. The Greek poets and artists looked into the heart of the universe and saw there were certain vast forces whose action and interaction creates and still upholds the world in which we live. Homer through his writings first personified these forces as gods in human form. Later artists evolved a means of representing them in visible, tangible shape." (Goethe and the Greeks)
The ancient Greek artists were far wiser than most might think. Yes, they created beauty, but they were also cognizant of the essences behind forms. They believed that it was possible to express fundamental forces and ideas through the medium of human body. Humans are a microcosm of the whole universe.
Sometimes we move too fast and don’t always appreciate the more subtle aspects of what we are seeing and experiencing. An ancient writer said, that several times during his lecturing in the Sacred Grove, Plato took his students to a little knoll that overlooked the city. He did this to remind them to always take a higher viewpoint of all experiences, even what they were learning from him.
Taking time to listen to what you are hearing, to understand all of what you see, can bring a greater awareness and wisdom into what is taking place in your world. To inspire and empower.
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