Proof that this region, in the artistic, figurative, architectural, musical and literary fields, truly holds great surprises and preserves treasures of notable importance.
This uniquely Marche approach to art, of scattered, diffused art, allows us to roam the length and breadth of the region in search of beauty, a truly sensitive subject in this region that combines elegance and discretion without giving it the space it deserves. Beauty has only recently become aware of this, learning to open itself to a wider audience while maintaining that thread of reticence mixed with disbelief that is hard to die.
In Fermo, inside the wonderful Palazzo dei Priori, in one of the most beautiful squares of the region, a canvas by the painter from Antwerp is preserved Peter Paul Rubens, who lived in Italy during his formative years, between Venice, Mantua, Florence and finally Rome, where Father Flaminio Ricci, originally from Fermo, commissioned this work.
During his long stay in Italy, which lasted about eight years, Rubens learned a lot, in art and above all in faith, and this would serve him for the rest of his life because no one else knew how to communicate the message of the Gospel to the common people like him, adopting a plebeian style in painting, even though he was a patrician by birth.
How? Exciting.
Look at the light emanating from baby Jesus, it seems to be powered by a powerful spiritual generator that illuminates the faces and hands of those near him.
Pure suggestion combined with an uncommon pictorial and scenic ability.
An extraordinary talent that the Roman doctors of the Counter-Reformation were able to identify, now without Caravaggio, determined to use figurative art to speak to the masses, a Bibliography that would relieve the miserable existences of the poor and illiterate from their worries. In short, no more enigmas or cryptic messages à la Piero della Francesca; the message had to be clear.
And here, live, is the story of the incredulous midwife Salome, the old woman who shows the palms of her hands illuminated by divine light – the story belongs to the Protoevangelium of James the Less, of which we have a relic in one of the crypts in San Ciriaco in Ancona – it offers us the dimension of an eternal and suggestive time: that those who do not believe will sooner or later be struck and healed by the One who was born to save us.
This altarpiece in Fermo is a mystical experience to be enjoyed in harmonious synchrony of voices that come from our deepest self, the Holy Spirit, letting it speak once and for all, with that strength emanating from the muscular man dressed in red, highlighted in the painting, who points out to his peer that he cannot see.
Who cannot see? He who remains in the darkness, who lacks the strength to face the Light.
It's a Carracci-esque or Caravaggio-esque painting, but ultimately it doesn't really matter. What matters is the message it conveys, and it succeeds greatly: Light is the way, the message, life.
Without it we are alone in the cave, among the animals and the rocks, reflections of an ego that refuses to come out.
We must look up to reach heaven, we must enter into the story of the Son to rise up from earthly toil, the Virgin Mary who looks upon you lovingly, covers you, protects you and intercedes for you with God the Savior.
While the angels, breathless and industrious, are there with the scroll, silent witnesses of his and your passage here on earth.
I have carefully examined many works from Rubens's long and prolific career, after which he returned to Antwerp and from there also exploded as a court painter, but this Adoration of the Shepherds is truly unique, perhaps because it is the sequel to a less than happy Roman experience and a bit suffocating for his strong-willed character.
It is perhaps the story of his transition from boy to man. Shortly after his mother dies, he marries, starting a family and achieving a tremendous financial fortune, something not always a given for an artist.
In fact, if we think of the great artists who were just before and after him, that is, Caravaggio and Rembrandt, it cannot be said that they had as much.
Actually.
