Ross King strana 2 z 2

1863-ban a francia Ernest Meissonier volt a világ leghíresebb festője és a Szalon - a Párizsban kétéven­ként megrendezett nagy képzőművészeti seregszemle - legfényesebb csillaga. Ross King ebben az évben rántja magával olvasóit az átalakulóban, erjedőben lévő Párizs éle­tébe, amikor Manet kiállította nagy felháborodást keltő képét, a "Reggeli a szabadban"-t, és történetét 1874-ben zárja, amikor megnyílik az első impresszionista kiállítás. A szerző a tőle meg­szokott sodró lendülettel és lebilincselő meseszövéssel kalauzol végig a társadalmi és politikai viharok évtizedén, és bemutatja, hogyan fordult szembe egy csoport művész - elsősorban Manet, majd Monet, Cézanne és a többiek - a festészet "hivatalos" irányvonalával, hogy érdeklődését a táj, a hétköznapi ember és a korabeli, modern világ felé fordítva megteremtse az impresszionizmusnak nevezett új látásmódot. Ross King (1962) kanadai származású író, kritikus, történeti-művészettörténeti ismeretterjesztő művek szerzője. Brunelleschi kupolája. A firenzei dóm építésének története (2008) és Michelangelo és a Sixtus-kápolna (2010) című könyvei már magyarul is olvashatók.

1508-ban II. Gyula pápa megbízta Michelangelót a Sixtusi-kápolna mennyezeti freskójának elkészítésével. A harminchárom éves szobrász csak igen felszínes tapasztalatokkal rendelkezett a feskófestés technikai és fizikai értelemben is embert próbáló műf ajában, ráadásul szinte példátlanul hatalmas volt a telifestendő, több mint ezeregyszáz négyzetméteres felület is. Gondosan összeválogatott segédek csapatával négy éven át dolgozott a roppant művön; rajzok és vázlatok ezreit készítette, és hátfájdító , kitekeredett testtartásban megszámlálhatatlan órán át festette a harmincméteres magasságban ívelő boltozatot. Az eredmény a festészet történetének egyik legelképesztőbb és legcsodálatosabb alkotása. Ross King könyve e négy csodálatos és gyötrelmes év; nemcsak a kápolna boltívei alatt töltött, dolgos napok, hanem egyben a kora tizenhatodik századi Róma eseményteli életének története. Ross King élvezetes és számos legendát szertefoszlató könyvében avatott kézzel, sodró lendületű elbeszélésben is merteti meg olvasóival a modern Michelangelo-kutatás legújabb megállapításait.

Még napjainkban is csodálat övezi a firenzei dóm épületegyüttesét, különösen a hatalmas kupolát. A 15. századi Firenze polgárai a lehetetlenre vállalkoztak: megalkotni minden idők legnagyobb, az építés során állványzattal alá nem támasztott kupoláját. A terv Filippo Brunelleschi ötvösmester agyából pattant ki: a vérbeli reneszánsz figura magának való mechanikai zseni volt, összeférhetetlen alak, híres verekedő. A kupola építését, melyet ő irányított, viták, torzsalkodások, emberi tragédiák és fényes sikerek kísérték.

In 1863, the French painter Ernest Meissonier was one of the most famous artists in the world. The darling of the 'Salon' - that all important public art exhibition held biannually in Paris - he painted historical subjects in meticulous detail and sold his works for astronomical sums to collectors who included Napoleon III himself. Manet, on the other hand, was struggling in obscurity. Famous today as the father of Impressionism, when this books opens he was known only as the sloppy painter of a few much-derided canvases depicting absinthe-drinking beggars and bourgeois gentlemen in top hats. With his usual narrative brilliance and eye for telling detail, Ross King has taken the parallel careers of Meissonier and Manet and used them as a lens for their times. Beginning with the year that Manet exhibited his ground-breaking Dejeuner sur l'herbe and ending in 1874 with the first 'Impressionist' exhibition, King plunges us into Parisian life - on the streets and in the corridors of power - during a ten-year period full of social and political ferment. These were the years in which Napoleon III's autocratic and pleasure-seeking Second Empire fell from its heights into the ignominy of the Franco-Prussian war and the ensuing Paris Commune of 1871. But it was also a period in which a group of artists, with Manet in the vanguard began to challenge the establishment by refusing to paint classical or historical subjects and, instead, turning to the landscapes and ordinary people they saw around them. Benign as such paintings might seem today, they helped change the course of history. The struggle between Meissonier and Manet to get their paintings exhibited in pride of place at the Salon was not just about art, it was about how to see the world.

In 1863, the French painter Ernest Meissonier was one of the most famous artists in the world. The darling of the 'Salon' - that all important public art exhibition held biannually in Paris - he painted historical subjects in meticulous detail and sold his works for astronomical sums to collectors who included Napoleon III himself. Manet, on the other hand, was struggling in obscurity. Famous today as the father of Impressionism, when this books opens he was known only as the sloppy painter of a few much-derided canvases depicting absinthe-drinking beggars and bourgeois gentlemen in top hats. With his usual narrative brilliance and eye for telling detail, Ross King has taken the parallel careers of Meissonier and Manet and used them as a lens for their times. Beginning with the year that Manet exhibited his ground-breaking Dejeuner sur l'herbe and ending in 1874 with the first 'Impressionist' exhibition, King plunges us into Parisian life - on the streets and in the corridors of power - during a ten-year period full of social and political ferment. These were the years in which Napoleon III's autocratic and pleasure-seeking Second Empire fell from its heights into the ignominy of the Franco-Prussian war and the ensuing Paris Commune of 1871. But it was also a period in which a group of artists, with Manet in the vanguard began to challenge the establishment by refusing to paint classical or historical subjects and, instead, turning to the landscapes and ordinary people they saw around them. Benign as such paintings might seem today, they helped change the course of history. The struggle between Meissonier and Manet to get their paintings exhibited in pride of place at the Salon was not just about art, it was about how to see the world.

In 1863, the French painter Ernest Meissonier was one of the most famous artists in the world. The darling of the 'Salon' - that all important public art exhibition held biannually in Paris - he painted historical subjects in meticulous detail and sold his works for astronomical sums to collectors who included Napoleon III himself. Manet, on the other hand, was struggling in obscurity. Famous today as the father of Impressionism, when this books opens he was known only as the sloppy painter of a few much-derided canvases depicting absinthe-drinking beggars and bourgeois gentlemen in top hats. With his usual narrative brilliance and eye for telling detail, Ross King has taken the parallel careers of Meissonier and Manet and used them as a lens for their times. Beginning with the year that Manet exhibited his ground-breaking Dejeuner sur l'herbe and ending in 1874 with the first 'Impressionist' exhibition, King plunges us into Parisian life - on the streets and in the corridors of power - during a ten-year period full of social and political ferment. These were the years in which Napoleon III's autocratic and pleasure-seeking Second Empire fell from its heights into the ignominy of the Franco-Prussian war and the ensuing Paris Commune of 1871. But it was also a period in which a group of artists, with Manet in the vanguard began to challenge the establishment by refusing to paint classical or historical subjects and, instead, turning to the landscapes and ordinary people they saw around them. Benign as such paintings might seem today, they helped change the course of history. The struggle between Meissonier and Manet to get their paintings exhibited in pride of place at the Salon was not just about art, it was about how to see the world.