Opening of the Fifth Seal

The opening of the fifth seal (also: The Vision of St John and The Fifth Seal of the Apocalypse until the early 20th century: Amor divino amor y profano, or divine and earthly love ) is a third fragmentary paintings by El Greco, which was created 1608-1614. The painter led the 224.8 cm high and 199.4 inches width Painting in oil on canvas. The issue was not resolved for a long time, in the history of art, it is now known as a representation of the vision of John the Evangelist. The image was received in the early 20th century by several major artists. The opening of the fifth seal is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Image description

El Greco processed in the opening of the fifth seal the scripture from the Book of Revelation, chapter 6, verses 9-11: " When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word God and for the testimony which they had stored. They cried with a loud voice: How long are you waiting for, Lord, you keep holy and true justice and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth? Since it has been given to each of them a white robe; and they were told they should wait a short time until the roll was completed by the death of their fellow servants and brothers who still die would have to like them. " On the left side positioned El Greco St. John the Evangelist, the arms and his gaze addressed to the sky. In the background there is the presentation of his vision. The figures form two groups - left two men and two women, three men right - that are characterized by different colored towels. The man on the far right reaches for a white cloth, which is served by one of the two cherubim. The function of these towels is not clear whether they are stripped or used for concealment. With the combination of the strong gestures with his wrinkled fabric El Greco recalls the Ignudi in Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. The upper part of the image is lost. In woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer and Matthias Gerung, deal with this issue, an altar can be seen, which was perhaps shown by El Greco in the upper half of the picture with the Lamb of God.

Background

The opening of the fifth seal was left unfinished due to the death of the artist. His son Jorge Emanuel completed it in contrast to the other two altar paintings in the church does not. In a restoration, which was carried out in 1880 in the Museo del Prado, the painting was also greatly reduced. Upstairs there circumcised the restorer by 175 centimeters, in the left margin, he removed 20 centimeters. Especially with the gestures of John grabbed El Greco back on an attitude that he had already developed in Italy and he fell back again and again when it came to him to reach the highest spiritual expression. The subject of the image was long recognized not unique. So there were interpretations, if it were a prophecy of the Last Judgment or the resurrection of the elect. Zuoaga interpreted the image as the representation of the heavenly and earthly love. The description of content than the opening of the fifth seal of John's vision was made in 1908 by Manuel Bartolomé Cossio and has prevailed in art history. With the theme of a vision El Greco was preparing an important topic of Spanish Baroque painting.

Provenance

The painting was commissioned by Pedro Salazar de Mendoza, the El Greco admired and had even six works by the painter. It was one of the three altars of the Hospital San Juan Bautista ( Hospital Tavera ), which lies outside the old town of Toledo. The other two altars were preaching and baptism. The history of the painting is after a long time unclear. It appeared in the collection of J. Nuñez del Prado, and then came to Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, the Spanish prime minister. After it acquired Rafael Vázquez de la Plaza for his collection in Cordoba, in which it remained until 1905. He sold the picture for 1000 pesetas to the artist Ignacio Zuloaga, who brought it first to Paris and then transferred after Zumaya. There it remained until 1945 in his possession and then went over to the Museo Zuloaga. The museum sold it in 1956 to the Newhouse Galleries in New York City, from where came the opening of the fifth seal in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Reception

The painting The opening of the fifth seal was repeatedly rezipiert artistically at the beginning of the 20th century. Ignacio Zuloaga acquired 1905 The opening of the fifth seal, which he described as a " harbinger of modernity ," and used it as a background in his image Mis amigos, in which he portrayed some of the most important writers of his time. He reached also in some other images back to elements of this painting. In the Rose Period Pablo Picasso took up motifs from the opening of the fifth seal in its ingested as a scandal painting Les Demoiselles d' Avignon. In his painting La Ville de Paris, Robert Delaunay moved to the right group of figures on the opening of the fifth seal. Also a drawing of Jackson Pollock is based on the painting.