During my visit to the Uffizi today, I focused on the special exhibition they have organized called Gherardo delle Notti: Bizarre Paintings and Merry Suppers. It is a one-man show devoted to the Dutch Golden Age painter Gerrit (or Gerard) von Honthorst who spent 5 years in Rome in his 20’s. During his time in Italy, he earned the nickname Gherardo delle Notti or “Gerard of the Night” because of his work depicting artificial light in night time scenes. This is the most complete collection of his work ever publicly displayed.
I first got to the museum today at 10:30 am and the line to get in is already two hours long. But thanks to my Amici degli Uffizi card, it only took me less than 10 minutes—including the time it took for me to get through security, obtain my daily ticket that comes with my card, and to get to the ticket taker.
My favorite work so far by Honthorst is “The Adoration of the Shepherds” (1615-16), painted before Honthorst was 25 and early during his stay in Italy. It is one of the strongest early examples of his ability to control a single powerful light source, emanating from the newborn Christ. A few notes:
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It is much more convincing in a modern, CGI sense than the perfectly round (and wrong from geometry perspective) halos that are so common in earlier Renaissance religious painting.
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There actually two light sources in this painting: a candle on the far right and Christ’s own body in the bottom center. The brilliant supernatural glow from the newborn Jesus’s powerfully outshines the mere earthly light from the mortal taper.