Francesco Bassano was an Italian painter, one of the greatest masters of the Renaissance. He belonged to a Venetian dynasty of painters who, with the surname da Ponte, took their nickname from the name of their native area — Bassano del Grappa, “the city by the bridge”.
Francesco’s father, Jacopo Bassano, was a pioneer of the so-called “country scenes”, in which he combined pastoral subjects with biblical ones and idyllic peasant life with allegorical motifs. He conceived and painted the series “The Seasons”, in which he presented the course of time as a series of genre scenes from rural life, with its field and household chores. The demand for these paintings was so high that the artist involved all four of his sons in creating them.
Around 1570 one of the younger sons of the Bassano family, Francesco, first turned to the “Seasons”, later reproducing the series several times. He realized it both in the form of paintings dedicated to each month of the year, and as a cycle of four works depicting each season separately.
“Winter” is part of this quadriptych. It shows all the signs that are characteristic of Francesco’s style and distinguish him from other Bassano family artists: the dense bright red, cherry, blue and blue-green patches of clothing juxtaposed to the dark tones of the evening scenery. The artist works following luministic principles: he builds the form by distinct contrasts of shadows and intense silvery light, creates a sense of transparency and purity of the air, while making the whole scene look materially compact and emphatically real. Even while copying his father’s work, Bassano the Junior develops a style of his own.
Apart from the scenes of the laborious life of Venetian peasants, each Bassano painting includes details that make that life cozier. These include little boys, often depicted with their backs to the viewer, wearing funny red pants with their undershirts showing through the slit. And there are pets — cats and dogs, always waiting for a treat. The utensils such as jugs, vials, baskets and gleaming copper basins are also meticulously executed.
In 1579, the artist left the family workshop and moved to Venice, where he achieved recognition and popularity. In spite of this, he committed suicide by throwing himself out of a window.
Francesco’s father, Jacopo Bassano, was a pioneer of the so-called “country scenes”, in which he combined pastoral subjects with biblical ones and idyllic peasant life with allegorical motifs. He conceived and painted the series “The Seasons”, in which he presented the course of time as a series of genre scenes from rural life, with its field and household chores. The demand for these paintings was so high that the artist involved all four of his sons in creating them.
Around 1570 one of the younger sons of the Bassano family, Francesco, first turned to the “Seasons”, later reproducing the series several times. He realized it both in the form of paintings dedicated to each month of the year, and as a cycle of four works depicting each season separately.
“Winter” is part of this quadriptych. It shows all the signs that are characteristic of Francesco’s style and distinguish him from other Bassano family artists: the dense bright red, cherry, blue and blue-green patches of clothing juxtaposed to the dark tones of the evening scenery. The artist works following luministic principles: he builds the form by distinct contrasts of shadows and intense silvery light, creates a sense of transparency and purity of the air, while making the whole scene look materially compact and emphatically real. Even while copying his father’s work, Bassano the Junior develops a style of his own.
Apart from the scenes of the laborious life of Venetian peasants, each Bassano painting includes details that make that life cozier. These include little boys, often depicted with their backs to the viewer, wearing funny red pants with their undershirts showing through the slit. And there are pets — cats and dogs, always waiting for a treat. The utensils such as jugs, vials, baskets and gleaming copper basins are also meticulously executed.
In 1579, the artist left the family workshop and moved to Venice, where he achieved recognition and popularity. In spite of this, he committed suicide by throwing himself out of a window.
