What Is The Fall Of The Giants From Mount Olympus By Giulio Volcano
The Fall of the Giants from Mount Olympus was painted by the artist, Giulio Romano and was commissioned by Federigo Gonzaga. Romano worked on this piece from 1530-32 for the Sala dei Giganti, Palazzo del Té in Mantua, Italy. This painting covers an entire room and all the surfaces within it. It is a fresco that puts the viewer in the center of the piece when seen in person. The room makes whoever is standing within it feel as if they are apart of the actual painting itself. This is an easy task since each wall including the floor and ceiling were all made with the intention of making the painting overwhelm the viewer and make them feel insignificant. The hall where the painting is located is in a square room with a dome ceiling. In the dome is a figure that is meant to represent Jupiter shown with lightning.
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Meanwhile, the giants are planning a scheme to reach Mount Olympus.
While giants were originally depicted and described as monsters with terrible physical features, they were just represented by men in Giul45io’s work. They all work together to try and overthrow the gods and they pile each other up in big groups in an attempt to successfully reach the top of Mount Olympus by standing on top of one another’s bodies. While the giants are trying to reach the top of Olympus, Jupiter is trying to stop the giants from succeeding and making it all the way to the top so Jupiter throws thunderbolts at 1them making it difficult for them to carry on from climbing higher and higher. If it wasn’t for the thunderbolts the giants may have been able to get to the top, but since they were dodging and trying to protect themselves, they were having a hard time getting up and you can see in the painting that they start to trip over each other and topple alongside the rest of the other giants. They have brought themselves to a complete state of
chaos.
The room was created for the second visit of Emperor Charles V to Mantua. Giulio did a lot of court entertainment where he had designed some productions and had machinery that would hoist up figures from what he called the heavens, which were actually just certain high areas such as the dome. The dome is crowded and dense which made heaven appear off center, almost producing feelings of vertigo which were intended to make the viewer think of a design that had been made for Federigo’s great grandfather in Mantegna’s Palace previously before. Giulio acknowledged Federigo’s generation and the importance of it while also asserting those who came before him. Underneath the gods on the ceiling are giants who are tumbling over and destroying the walls around them, which were painted to look like the actual walls of the room. Compared to a person standing in the room, the giants are huge and the painting that shows them toppling over each other act as a huge threat to the normal sized people who are looking up in every direction and only seeing huge falling figures that almost seem like they’re going to fall out of the painting. The room also has special acoustics that make any conversation within the room difficult of hearing. Anyone who is in the room who tries to hold a conversation feels like they are stepping into the painting because every wall was full of something and with the layout of the room and the acoustics, it could be very likely that someone could feel trapped. The original floor was even set with pebbles making it difficult to walk around. The floor also curves on a slight downward angle so when one walks into the room, they are already a little uneasy to be walking around without any sense of direction. One will feel unsettled and unbalanced as everything feels like and looks like it is about to crash down on you. One of the walls actually has a fireplace where people have said the room can be filled with actual smoke and lit candles making the space even more suffocating. People of the Renaissance who often saw the work of the Giants thought that there was no reason for it being painted other than the reason to entertain or inspire guests, not to inform anyone of anything, but just simply for viewing pleasure. This painting is also unusual compared to many other artworks during this time period because it was not the standard traditional Renaissance traditional painting. By painting something invoking Greek classicism, Giulio is in a way undermining the traditional Renaissance standard painting by not sticking to the norm. Even the architecture of the building is seen as unusual to a Renaissance viewer. It is abnormal and strange looking compared to the other buildings at this time period as well as all four sides of the exterior building looking irregular as if they don’t belong. On the interior of the building large paintings cover the entire wall creating the illusion of actually being the real walls of the building. There is no framing device symbolizing the hectic situation going on in the painting between the giants. Art patrons could have used paintings like these to make a statement about a frantic Italian life and social order. Baxandall states in his writing that every painting is just that, a painting no matter how realistic it may look. Each painting is flat and two dimensional no matter how realistic it looks. Yet people can still recognize that this work is not three-dimensional. When looking at anything, people see and process visual information in their brain in a different way than anyone else. This means that each of can have a different interpretation of what we see or how we react and feel about something. He thinks that people enjoy art based on what interpretation they get from it. This could deal with his exterior vs. interior visualizations that the painter and the beholder take part of. The visualization that Giulio’s work emphasizes is his sense of realism and how one really might believe that the work is not all two dimensional. When people of the Renaissance look at this painting, those with different cognitive styles might have completely different interpretations. One can be focusing solely on how the giants are depicted, while another can be focusing on the colors used and what that means to them. This work is an example of the representation conventions that Italian people were familiar with in the 15th century. The first convention dealt with what a person initially sees while the second is more abstract and something we are not familiar with. Both of these conventions have the viewer simplify certain aspects of reality in order to understand the painting in its rules. This also ties into the main role of skill which is what was thought of to have in Renaissance viewers at the time. Skill was about the ability to make something that was two-dimensional appear as something that is three-dimensional. The painter tries to create a product that will deceive the viewers eyes to make them think what they are seeing is what is not actually there. Romano’s work highlights this on many levels such as sight with the deceiving full wall painting, touch with the way the floor is slanted in the room of the painting, and even smell if people were to smell a fireplace burning candles. This deception if at all occurs usually doesn’t last for very long since peoples’ vision is so stereoscopic that we quickly come to terms with reality that something flat can not be in the same relief as us. Baxandall thinks we usually enjoy paintings if it gives us a chance to show our skills. This also shows how a painting can reward virtuosity by it providing the beholder insight about how well done the painting is. All the different ways that Romano lets the viewer interact and see the painting let those viewers have a chance to appreciate the work for being included in it. Renaissance viewers were also familiar with chronic figures since they had similar roles in both drama and in paintings. In plays, the chronic figure often served as a mediator between the beholder and the paly itself portraying events that were happening in the story. In paintings, the chronic figures are often seen as something that catches the beholders eyes and helps guide the viewer to a central point or main aspect. People viewing this painting could recognize some figures that were guiding them to a bigger or more important aspect of the painting. Some figures guided viewers eyes with pointing gestures or gusts of winds that led up to important giants. The Rule of Three showed a relationship between mathematical skills and the proportions of a pictorial to produce solidity that helped make the viewer look at a painting with more significance. This was how the Renaissance dealt with proportion troubles in paintings. In the painting, there are multiple groups of giants who were in groups of three and if a viewer was familiar with the Rule of Three, they could look at the painting and know that the proportions were thought about this was being painted and see how much more proportionate it is compared to how it would have been without maybe the giants in groups of three.
Viewers at this time of the Renaissance would have thought this painting was more about entertainment than anything else. The main thing relating to the painting corresponding with their views, would be the connection between the painting and the representation conventions. A lot of this painting is about making the viewer feel overwhelmed but believe that they were apart of the work that surrounded them. A viewer from the Renaissance would be able to interpret Giulio’s skill and recognize that no matter how realistic the painting seemed, the whole thing was all flat and two dimensional and at no point is the viewer actually in that setting that the painting is in.
Meanwhile, the giants are planning a scheme to reach Mount Olympus.
While giants were originally depicted and described as monsters with terrible physical features, they were just represented by men in Giul45io’s work. They all work together to try and overthrow the gods and they pile each other up in big groups in an attempt to successfully reach the top of Mount Olympus by standing on top of one another’s bodies. While the giants are trying to reach the top of Olympus, Jupiter is trying to stop the giants from succeeding and making it all the way to the top so Jupiter throws thunderbolts at 1them making it difficult for them to carry on from climbing higher and higher. If it wasn’t for the thunderbolts the giants may have been able to get to the top, but since they were dodging and trying to protect themselves, they were having a hard time getting up and you can see in the painting that they start to trip over each other and topple alongside the rest of the other giants. They have brought themselves to a complete state of
chaos.
The room was created for the second visit of Emperor Charles V to Mantua. Giulio did a lot of court entertainment where he had designed some productions and had machinery that would hoist up figures from what he called the heavens, which were actually just certain high areas such as the dome. The dome is crowded and dense which made heaven appear off center, almost producing feelings of vertigo which were intended to make the viewer think of a design that had been made for Federigo’s great grandfather in Mantegna’s Palace previously before. Giulio acknowledged Federigo’s generation and the importance of it while also asserting those who came before him. Underneath the gods on the ceiling are giants who are tumbling over and destroying the walls around them, which were painted to look like the actual walls of the room. Compared to a person standing in the room, the giants are huge and the painting that shows them toppling over each other act as a huge threat to the normal sized people who are looking up in every direction and only seeing huge falling figures that almost seem like they’re going to fall out of the painting. The room also has special acoustics that make any conversation within the room difficult of hearing. Anyone who is in the room who tries to hold a conversation feels like they are stepping into the painting because every wall was full of something and with the layout of the room and the acoustics, it could be very likely that someone could feel trapped. The original floor was even set with pebbles making it difficult to walk around. The floor also curves on a slight downward angle so when one walks into the room, they are already a little uneasy to be walking around without any sense of direction. One will feel unsettled and unbalanced as everything feels like and looks like it is about to crash down on you. One of the walls actually has a fireplace where people have said the room can be filled with actual smoke and lit candles making the space even more suffocating. People of the Renaissance who often saw the work of the Giants thought that there was no reason for it being painted other than the reason to entertain or inspire guests, not to inform anyone of anything, but just simply for viewing pleasure. This painting is also unusual compared to many other artworks during this time period because it was not the standard traditional Renaissance traditional painting. By painting something invoking Greek classicism, Giulio is in a way undermining the traditional Renaissance standard painting by not sticking to the norm. Even the architecture of the building is seen as unusual to a Renaissance viewer. It is abnormal and strange looking compared to the other buildings at this time period as well as all four sides of the exterior building looking irregular as if they don’t belong. On the interior of the building large paintings cover the entire wall creating the illusion of actually being the real walls of the building. There is no framing device symbolizing the hectic situation going on in the painting between the giants. Art patrons could have used paintings like these to make a statement about a frantic Italian life and social order. Baxandall states in his writing that every painting is just that, a painting no matter how realistic it may look. Each painting is flat and two dimensional no matter how realistic it looks. Yet people can still recognize that this work is not three-dimensional. When looking at anything, people see and process visual information in their brain in a different way than anyone else. This means that each of can have a different interpretation of what we see or how we react and feel about something. He thinks that people enjoy art based on what interpretation they get from it. This could deal with his exterior vs. interior visualizations that the painter and the beholder take part of. The visualization that Giulio’s work emphasizes is his sense of realism and how one really might believe that the work is not all two dimensional. When people of the Renaissance look at this painting, those with different cognitive styles might have completely different interpretations. One can be focusing solely on how the giants are depicted, while another can be focusing on the colors used and what that means to them. This work is an example of the representation conventions that Italian people were familiar with in the 15th century. The first convention dealt with what a person initially sees while the second is more abstract and something we are not familiar with. Both of these conventions have the viewer simplify certain aspects of reality in order to understand the painting in its rules. This also ties into the main role of skill which is what was thought of to have in Renaissance viewers at the time. Skill was about the ability to make something that was two-dimensional appear as something that is three-dimensional. The painter tries to create a product that will deceive the viewers eyes to make them think what they are seeing is what is not actually there. Romano’s work highlights this on many levels such as sight with the deceiving full wall painting, touch with the way the floor is slanted in the room of the painting, and even smell if people were to smell a fireplace burning candles. This deception if at all occurs usually doesn’t last for very long since peoples’ vision is so stereoscopic that we quickly come to terms with reality that something flat can not be in the same relief as us. Baxandall thinks we usually enjoy paintings if it gives us a chance to show our skills. This also shows how a painting can reward virtuosity by it providing the beholder insight about how well done the painting is. All the different ways that Romano lets the viewer interact and see the painting let those viewers have a chance to appreciate the work for being included in it. Renaissance viewers were also familiar with chronic figures since they had similar roles in both drama and in paintings. In plays, the chronic figure often served as a mediator between the beholder and the paly itself portraying events that were happening in the story. In paintings, the chronic figures are often seen as something that catches the beholders eyes and helps guide the viewer to a central point or main aspect. People viewing this painting could recognize some figures that were guiding them to a bigger or more important aspect of the painting. Some figures guided viewers eyes with pointing gestures or gusts of winds that led up to important giants. The Rule of Three showed a relationship between mathematical skills and the proportions of a pictorial to produce solidity that helped make the viewer look at a painting with more significance. This was how the Renaissance dealt with proportion troubles in paintings. In the painting, there are multiple groups of giants who were in groups of three and if a viewer was familiar with the Rule of Three, they could look at the painting and know that the proportions were thought about this was being painted and see how much more proportionate it is compared to how it would have been without maybe the giants in groups of three.
Viewers at this time of the Renaissance would have thought this painting was more about entertainment than anything else. The main thing relating to the painting corresponding with their views, would be the connection between the painting and the representation conventions. A lot of this painting is about making the viewer feel overwhelmed but believe that they were apart of the work that surrounded them. A viewer from the Renaissance would be able to interpret Giulio’s skill and recognize that no matter how realistic the painting seemed, the whole thing was all flat and two dimensional and at no point is the viewer actually in that setting that the painting is in.