This paper focuses on a little-studied genre of art: still life paintings on mirrors. I argue that these objects are not only reflecting but at the same time self-reflexive. Looking at the magnificently decorated and captivating mirrors, the beholder is confronted with two visual phenomena simultaneously, that is the painted, static still-life and the ephemeral reflection in the mirror. This inherent ‘visual double nature’ of the painted mirrors disrupts conventional notions of mimesis and perspective. The objects of my study, therefore, are by means of their specific materiality reflecting about art theory.
Using the four large painted mirrors in the Galleria Colonna in Rome as a case study, which were crafted in the 1660s by Carlo Maratta, Mario de' Fiori, and Giovanni Stanchi, the paper explores the materiality and reflexive dimensions of these objects. Two of them show relief vases with lush and colourful bouquets of flowers, animated by small putti. The other two painted mirrors show large flower garlands lifted by putti and offering the viewers – if standing in the right position – to see themselves as if being a portrait framed by the garlands. The painted mirrors reflect the Galleria Colonna’s candlelight, gilding, marble, and numerous paintings, thus increasing the splendour of the gallery space.
In my paper, I point out an aspect of the painted mirrors which is, I argue, the crucial point of those intriguing objects and adds to the undoubted effect of magnificence and the representative function. The mirror is the key metaphor in early modern art theory for describing a pictorial image and its mimetic qualities – see for example Alberti, Brunelleschi, or Leonardo who writes: “The plane mirror contains in its surface the true painting, and the painting perfectly executed on the surface of a plane material is similar to the surface of a mirror.“ Art theory describes the mirror as a kind of touchstone for paintings and considers a good painting a ‘pseudo-mirror’ of reality. The mirror paintings examined here, however, differ from this media-theoretical consideration: they are neither just a mirror nor just an image. Through their unique material qualities, the painted mirrors initiate an epistemological reflection and invite viewers to contemplate the nature of images, their mimetic and illusionistic capacity, and their relationship to the real world.
Furthermore, this paper underscores the significance of these painted mirrors within the 17th-century Roman context. Not only is this the time and place where painted mirrors occur for the first time, but also the moment new paradigms of thought regarding art, perception, and cognition were taking shape.
mirrors, art theory, 17th century, epistemology
Bazin-Henry, Sandra: Tromper les yeux. Miroirs dans le grand décor en Europe (XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles), Dijon 2021.
Daston, Lorraine: Objectivity, New York 2007.
Kacunko, Slavko: Spiegel, Medium, Kunst. Zur Geschichte des Spiegels im Zeitalter des Bildes, Paderborn/München 2010.
Stoichiţă, Victor I.: The Self-Aware image. An Insight into Early Modern Metapainting, London 2015.
Şirin Luisa DATLI, M.A.
Doctoral candidate, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Predoctoral fellow, Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History in Rome
Research resident, Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities "La Capraia" in Naples
https://www.biblhertz.it/en/sirin-datli
This paper examines still life paintings on mirrors which are by means of their specific materiality reflecting about art theory. Looking at the painted mirrors, the beholder is confronted with two visual phenomena simultaneously: the static still-life and the ephemeral reflection in the mirror. This inherent ‘visual double nature’ of the objects disrupts conventional notions of mimesis. Through their unique material qualities, the painted mirrors initiate an epistemological reflection and invite viewers to contemplate the nature of images and their mimetic and illusionistic capacity.