The Calm Before The Storm

Rachel Cohen

There is a common theme in the birth, or revival of the classical style. Many art historians have compared the content and stylistic components of classical Greek sculptures to the early renaissances.

                In class we plunged into a plethora of paintings by Peiro Della Francesco.  There was an underlying theme of The Calm Before The Storm; an eerie silence before the outbreak of something phenomenal and revolutionary.  To bring the message home, how you probably felt before Hurricane Irene hit.  Before comparing actual works it is necessary to note that Peiro’s approach is in the same manner as the Greek sculptor Polycleitus; mathematical.  Peiro wrote three books about perspective using equations and proportions. Polycleitus changed the traditional Egyptian proportion of head to body, from one eighth to one seventh rewriting the sculptural cannon.

                Although this can be applied to other works by Perio; The Baptism of Christ, Constantine’s Dream, and the paintings of Federico da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza. I am going to focus on Madonna and Child with Saints also known as the Montefeltro Altarpiece and Polycleitus’s Doryphoros or Spear Bearer.

                In Madonna and Child with Saints, innocent baby Jesus sleeps which is setting the tone of a false sense of serenity.  This is alluded to by the red, which is symbolic of blood, coral beads strung around Jesus’s neck in the shape of an artery.  The pious figures join together, with placid looks on their faces, in a sacra conversazione because they all know what is going to become of the tranquil and still baby Jesus. It is the last good bye before he is pushed on life’s chaotic course and ultimately crucified.

The Doryphoros, holds his spear gazing off into the future, his battle, his fate. Some art historians have suggested that Doryphoros is representing Achilles before the Trojan battle.  His life flashes before him, but there is nothing he can do now. He waits. He does not know the result. He may not know that he will be in harm’s way. All he has are speculations. This is an innocent man’s final moment of peace before he is thrust into the maelstrom of war.

These are the ultimate examples of the calm before the storm. The moment that you are catching Jesus and Doryphoros is peaceful. Nothing has happened yet. As someone looking from the future back into the past you know their destiny; that the moment you caught them in is fleeting; the storm is approaching.