Why is this work considered unfinished (non finito)? Is there evidence or statements by the artist Bassano that he did not finish it yet? Or is its style in its current state considered rough for its time, and that an artist in Bassano's time would have made some of the lines and brushstrokes more definitive? Maybe I'm too used to more modern art such as Impressionism or even Munch's The Scream where lines and brushstrokes are rough yet considered final and a completed work.

The work is considered non finito because many of the background objects which do not need to be focused on are only part of the whole object. It is a technique that was used in the renaissance to draw attention to certain objects, but was brought back by Henri Matisse in the late 19th century to convey specific emotions such as loneliness or emptiness. Here's an example of later non finito work with a description: http://www.metmuseum.org/learn/for-teens/teen-blog/modern-and-contemporary/posts/non-finito.

Main content

Bassano’s The Baptism of Christ

Google Classroom

Met curator Andrea Bayer on liberation in Jacopo Bassano’s The Baptism of Christ, c. 1590.

This extraordinary picture—deeply expressive and almost unique in showing the Baptism of Christ as occurring late at night—is the last known work by the great Venetian painter Jacopo Bassano, who left it unfinished when he died in 1592. It was viewed by his heirs as his artistic testament and was retained by them for more than a century. To our eyes, the altarpiece’s unfinished—or "non finito"—style seems a crucial step towards modernism, to be compared with, for example, Goya's "black paintings." Bassano explores an expressive intensity—dark in mood as in the palette—that is a direct and deeply personal response to Titian's late pictures. He interprets the baptism of Christ not as a sunny event in a pastoral landscape but as the tragic opening of Christ's Passion.

View this work on metmuseum.org.

Are you an educator? Here's a related lesson plan. For additional educator resources from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, try this and also visit Find an Educator Resource.

. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Want to join the conversation?

Sort by:

Anthony Natoli
Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to Anthony Natoli's post “Why is this work consider...”
Why is this work considered unfinished (non finito)? Is there evidence or statements by the artist Bassano that he did not finish it yet? Or is its style in its current state considered rough for its time, and that an artist in Bassano's time would have made some of the lines and brushstrokes more definitive? Maybe I'm too used to more modern art such as Impressionism or even Munch's The Scream where lines and brushstrokes are rough yet considered final and a completed work.
Button navigates to signup pageButton navigates to signup page
(3 votes)
Answer
- carter
  Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to carter's post “The work is considered no...”
  The work is considered non finito because many of the background objects which do not need to be focused on are only part of the whole object. It is a technique that was used in the renaissance to draw attention to certain objects, but was brought back by Henri Matisse in the late 19th century to convey specific emotions such as loneliness or emptiness. Here's an example of later non finito work with a description:
  http://www.metmuseum.org/learn/for-teens/teen-blog/modern-and-contemporary/posts/non-finito.
  Comment on carter's post “The work is considered no...”
  (2 votes)
Thomas Fleming
Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to Thomas Fleming's post “What's the significance o...”
What's the significance of the red robe?
Button navigates to signup pageButton navigates to signup page
(1 vote)
Answer

Video transcript

Imagine an eighty-year-old artist sitting at his easel in a mountain town in Northern Italy, very preoccupied with ideas for the Passion of Christ. And he had been thinking of them as nocturnal scenes, and here instead he’s been asked to turn his mind to a baptism. In the Baptism of Christ, Bassano conflates these ideas in his mind. I think that Bassano understood Christ’s acceptance of the baptism, as being the first step of his acceptance of death. That dark moment immediately before the dawn… Christ is bent all the way over, underneath the Baptist’s arm, almost as if he’s carrying the cross and is on his way to Calvary. Everything has zeroed in on the central figure group. And he starts to move them. Heads move, arms move, legs move. He concentrates so hard on this central part of the picture. The shock of the colors of the angels, of the red robe, the burst of the sun rays over the hill. Watery plants and riverbed at the right, the hilltop at the left, the mountains in the background-- things are left unfinished where our attention does not need to be. And this nocturnal, dark setting, its sense of foreboding, prepares us for understanding the last moments in Christ’s life. Bassano died before this painting was finished. We should call it non finito, which was the term to describe paintings that were brought up to varying levels of finish, and that showed us the artist’s mind and hands at work, and that in the end, were completely satisfying in the way that they were left. I think his age liberated him, and that he was working on it for himself. The sense that you feel immediately, that something completely out of the ordinary is taking place, that is changing the lives of the participants, and in a way, of the viewer.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Course: The Metropolitan Museum of Art > Unit 1

Want to join the conversation?

Video transcript