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Art Paintings Analysis

The Three Ages of Man by Dosso Dossi, 2nd quarter 16th century

Introduction

Three ages of man is among the finest works of Dosso Dossi. The subject of this painting has been an issue of some debate. Moreover, the current title of this painting is derived from three pairs of figures. The first pair of figure shows two children, the second shows two young adults and in third pair, two older men are shown. This exhibits the three stages of life. The interpretation of this painting is questionable on two counts. First can be that the boys look as if they are spying on the amorous couple, who are contended with the goats pressing against them. This implies a narrative unified in time, instead of completely separate vignettes. Secondly, the technical evidence exhibits that the old men were painted over already completed vegetation and therefore, they may have been after thoughts (Schiff, pp. 80).

Paolo Giovio, The historian and a contemporary of the artist, differentiated between the proper works of Dosso that is, those having somber subjects and his landscapes and he gave them a title of Parerga, decorations meant to delight and refresh devoid of any deeper reason (Schiff, pp. 80).

Analysis

In the matter of Dosso Dossi, the Ferrarese painter who was fundamental to the brilliant court of the Estes in the first half of the 16th century, the Met's own ''Three Ages of Man'' has long been admired for its inventive and delicate detail. Such deep woods, such attentive animals, so vivid a glimpse of the sea and such a touchingly candid portrayal of the two portly young people - all add up to an adorable image (Schiff, pp. 80). The good news from the Getty Museum is that their ''Myth of Pan'' by Dosso Dossi has turned out, after it was cleaned by Andrea Rothe, to exemplify on a much larger scale Dosso Dossi's ability to spread enchantment with a generous hand. (We sense that the artist rather enjoyed complicating the plot.) Now that passages of later overpainting have been removed, this picture is pure poetry of a kind that calls for an observer who can identify its every allusion while basking in the abundance of Dosso Dossi's imagination (Humfrey, et al., pp. 50-65).

At one extreme is the poetic, inner-oriented art of Parmigianino and Dosso Dossi. At another, the plain-spoken unequivocal utterance of [Annibale Carracci]'s ''Butcher Shop'' and the grave, elliptic ''Flagellation'' by his brother Lodovico, now in the museum in Douai, which was discovered as recently as 1964. Even among the three Carraccis, there are extreme differences of idiom and ambition. Scholarship has compounded this by coming up with surprises like the ''Christ Served by the Angels'' by Lodovico Carracci that was bought for West Berlin in 1985. The chance of seeing that picture side by side with 14 other Lodovicos is one that no one who cares for Italian art will wish to pass up (Fiorenza, and Dossi, pp. 200-235).

From the wild and mysterious landscape ...