Landscape and Lyricism in the Astronomical Paintings of Donato Creti
Richard L. Poss
The University of Arizona
Commissioned by Luigi Ferdinando Marsili for Pope Clement XI Albani to
commemorate the founding of the Istituto delle Scienze in Bologna, the
"Astronomical Observations" of Donato Creti are a careful fusion of two
very different visions. The first is the sumptuous yet classicizing pastoral
landscape honed by late Italian Renaissance painters and made more florid
by the Venetians Titian and Veronese. Second, there is the initial excitement
and enthusiasm with which Papal Rome and Bologna greeted the new science
represented by the astronomy of Isaac Newton. Directed by the letter of
commission to illustrate specific astronomical instruments along with images
of the astronomical bodies as observed through telescopes, Creti utilizes
differing and contradictory approaches to representation in the same picture.
This paper will study the "Astronomical Observations" in the context
of the new astronomy and Creti's own development as revealed in his preparatory
sketches for the series and his other paintings.
Works to be examined include Creti's "The Astronomers," "Alexander the
Great Threatened by his Father," "Apollo Standing in a River Landscape,"
"Dance of the Nymphs," and "Astronomer with aSemicircle," along with relevant
works by Leonardo, Raphael, Giorgione, Vermeer, and Guido Reni.
It will be shown that the paintings are significant works of both astronomy
and painting, bringingtogether the best of art and science.