(piano playing) Dr. We're in the Prado, in Madrid and
we're looking at a small Andrea Mantegna. It's the Dormition of the Virgin. The painting that we're seeing is only
the bottom two-thirds of the original. Dr. Harris: Right so it would've
had a top that showed the
vaulting of the architecture, the bottom half of which
we see in this panel. It would have also shown Christ
receiving the Virgin's body. Dr. Zucker: That actually sort of raises
the question, what does Dormition mean? This was the moment when the Virgin
was readying herself to die and
invites the Apostles to be with her. Dr. Harris: This is an Apocryphal story. Dr. Zucker: Right, not
in the Bible itself. I think, actually Mantegna has played fast
and loose even with the Apocryphal version because we've got this set
in a classical environment, yet out the window, or past the porch ... Dr. Harris: It's Mantua. Dr. Zucker: Yeah we see this
incredibly accurate rendering
of an actual place in Italy. Dr. Harris: Apparently this is
very, very early maybe the first truly topographical
landscape of a part of Italy. Dr Zucker: I have to tell you that one of
the aspects of this painting that I love is the precision with which
Mantegna renders the folds and
the textures of the drapery, especially in the two front figures
in that green and that blue, but then also the figure in the
red that's leaning away from us. Dr. Harris: That's true. Dr. Zucker: ... makes the cloth
cling to the body that exposes it. Dr. Harris: This clearly
looking classical sculpture. Dr. Zucker: ... this is, this
is classical sculpture right,
being brought to life again. Dr. Harris: I'm looking also down
at the floor where we see the tiles forming the orthogonal's of the
linear perspective, not sure exactly
where the vanishing point would be, but the lovely feet and their
sense of weight and the shadows. We have a sense of light coming from
the right illuminating the columns and casting shadows that move out
from the figures toward the left. There's a real sense of light
and weight and space here
that's incredibly convincing. Dr. Zucker: It's true, look
at the way the floor brightens
in that little negative space between the feet of the
figure standing behind Mary. While mentioning Mary, she seems so minor
in comparison to the rest of the image. She's so pale and so frail,
but so small in comparison to
the much more vigorous figures around her and also the
scale of the architecture. Dr. Harris: We do have a
sense of them surrounding her and this moment that's about
to happen of her death and
the figures grieving for her. Dr. Zucker: We see the
figures on the left, standing, holding Palm frond the symbol
of death, but I'm actually ... Dr. Harris: Not only a symbol of
death but of the triumph over death. Dr. Zucker: Yes, right and of course
Christ would have received her in to heaven had the
painting not been cut in two. I love on the right the way in
which the figures were singing and the way in which the candles
are not heard perfectly vertically, but are responding to the movements
of the body just ever so slightly. To me, this sense of movement
and rhythm and change, even in this very stable environment. Dr. Harris: And that figure who
leans over her bed who almost is
our counterpart in the painting. (piano playing)