Rendering 1

The article Federico Barocci: divinity in the details was published by Michael Prodger in The Guardian on February 16, 2013. It reports at length that the exhibition of Federico Barocci, a lost old masterful painter whose works because of its non-moving position-he captured altarpieces, for example,- have never been displayed in The National Gallery, London, before.

Speaking of general information about Federico Barocci it's interesting to note that he was the most celebrated artist of the generation that immediately followed the High Renaissance deities of Michelangelo, Leonardo, Titian and Raphael. The master was patronised by such authoritative people as Pope Pius VI, the Emperor Rudolf, the Duke of Urbino and even a saint, Filippo Neri.Of Barocci's 80 finished paintings Urbino alone has more than Britain, France, Spain and America combined, and many of his altarpieces remain in the churches for which they were painted.

Analyzing the situation in Barocci's exclusively religious pictures, which didn't endear him to Protestant taste, its distinctive style – fondant colour harmonies and an emotional sweetness, the author says that his works were outshine the shadowy dramas of Caravaggio and his adherents. So that's why he has left little impression on the public consciousness. Speaking of the exhibition it's necessary to point that it contains some 20 paintings and 65 drawings, pastel studies and oil sketches.

The article carries a lot comment on the biography of the master. He was born in Urbino, his family's profession as scientific instrument makers influenced on Barocci's compositions, with figures placed around the pictures like the numerals on a dial. In Rome, where the young master went to further his career, he met Michelangelo and probably had access to some of his drawings that Barocci began to reconcile the two Renaissance artistic opposites of design and colour. But Michelangelo first noticed the young painter when he alone among a group of students hung back while the others rushed to gain the great man's attention.  In 1565 when Michelangelo's fellow painters invited Barocci to a picnic and poisoned his salad. Barocci suffered stomach problems for the rest of his life. The discomfort was such that he vomited after every meal, slept fitfully and was plagued by nightmares, and could paint for only two hours a day.

The author says that the master returned to Urbino to the day of his death. Painting three-metre tall altarpieces was too physically demanding for a man who was permanently nauseous, so Barocci minimised his time in front of the canvas by meticulous preparation. Some 2,000 of his drawings exist, which is a sign of both the quality of his draughtsmanship and their importance in his method.According to Bellori, Barocci was kindly disposed to poses, in his brushwork there are no filler passages. Such a degree of planning was unprecedented. The beauty of his drawings and pastels, and the way he would repeat them with the slightest changes, reveal a perfectionist with obsessive tendencies.

Giving appraisal of the style and method of capturing, the author says that the colour marks the master apart. Barocci was a lay member of the Capuchin mendicant preaching order, and he believed that worshippers responded most deeply to colour and sentiment. He was also that rare thing, a good painter of babies, and also liked to include animals in his pictures. He was not, however, always sweetness personified himself, he was also depressive.

The article draws a conclusion that the exhibition in the National Gallery, which includes paintings that have never before left Le Marche, shows that in Barocci sentiment and power are not incompatible. Appropriately though, the exhibition is also a resurrection of a lost master - Federico Barocci.

As for me, honestly I've never heard the name of this painter before. And of course after the reading of the article I thought I had to see some of the master's works, pictures, etc. And I was really impressed by his relegious theme in every work and allegorical meanings of every picture, the colour scheme he used, the striking accuracy of people. Well,  Federico Barocci was one of the most prominent painters of his time, and I hope after the exhibition in London people all over the world will know his name like name of Michelangelo, Leonardo, Titian and Raphael.