| Excerpts from the writings left
by the painter Ernani Costantini |
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Sketch for Hagar |
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The painter left various written
documents relating to the pictorial cycle on the Women of the Bible,
in which he describes and comments on his own work as he carries
it out.
Passages from a selection of different texts are
included, in particular those which are most significant in their
portrayal of the artist's enthusiasm and tireless efforts and which,
with their apt words, keep the passion of those moments alive. |
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| Notes for a diary of the elaboration
of the cycle From Eve to Mary – the Women of
the Bible |
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Extracts from the painter's
typewritten documents
(1983 – 1984) |
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Three brief sketches for Judith |
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| Two pages of studies for Judith |
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8th March 1984
Yesterday, in the early evening, it was already dark, the
12 canvases arrived: a lovely set of white canvases and considering
that their total surface area adds up to about fifty square metres
I must say I find them a little daunting. However I have already embarked
on this journey now, I have been working on it for years and although
it is true that it scares me a little it is also true that – as
is often the case –I am irresistibly attracted by it. […]
12th March 1984
The drawings I have done in preparation
for attacking the canvases are scattered all over the floor of
the studio. There are big and small ones, some definitive and others
no more than rough sketches. I will have to decide which will be
the first of the 12 women to be committed to canvas. I think it
will be Judith because she was the first to appear to me in my
waking dream and also because M. has lent me a superb silk dress
… in a spectacular Tuareg blue embroidered with silver. When I
saw it at her house, I immediately imagined my Judith adorned in
that masterpiece. Strangely, the preliminary drawing is less beautiful
and conclusive. But I know why. I intend
in fact to have R. with her regal stature, put it on, and then
I will paint it from life like an N.M. so as to avoid spoiling
the pleasure and desire with over complex preparation.
15th March 1984
With my mind set on those biblical
events which I now know by heart and the live figure before me
I feel an emotion that words cannot describe. It is exciting and
wonderful to mix the cobalt blue with the phthalo, the Prussian
blue with the silver white and the alizarin to create the Jewish
lady's dress. […] |
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19th March 1984
I turned Judith towards the wall. I don't want to see her anymore
for a few days. I have placed a canvas measuring one metre by
two on the easel on which I intend to paint Eve. I sketched out a
study in charcoal a few years ago, but I think it will be better
if I do another one which is more suitable for this task tomorrow
when R. comes. Meanwhile as I re-read the Bible, I am further convinced
of the idea of the absolute unity of the male-female unit. I don't
know Hebrew or any other ancient languages but I think the exact
translation of that passage which describes the creation of man should
be: “male and female he created them”.
It is a question of being human. […] |
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Studies for Judith and Shulammite |
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12th April 1984
Two full mornings of work on Shulammite. It is almost finished.
I ought to be happy because I've obtained (or almost) the atmosphere
that I wanted. While I was painting the girl's body from life, R.
fell asleep and I was able to work in absolute silence, while in
my head I repeated the verses of the Canticle: “…Ah, you are beautiful,
my love; / ah, you are beautiful; / your eyes are doves. […] I adjure
you, O daughters of Jerusalem, / by the gazelles or the wild does:
/ do not stir up or awaken love / until it is ready!”. When R. woke
up she looked at what I had painted and said (with satisfaction)
that “this figure will be the stuff of dreams”. R. feels in
some way like a co-author of these paintings […] |
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7th June 1984
I am reaching the end of the work I had planned. Out of the
12 paintings which will make up the cycle, 8 are just about finished,
one is at an advanced stage and the others are already underway. Out
of the paintings selected the following are still to do: Salome, Mary
Magdalene and Mary Mother of Jesus. Of course, from a conceptual point
of view, the most difficult will be Mary of Nazareth. I wouldn't want
to do the usual devoted Mary because that is not my purpose on this occasion.
I feel on the contrary, that I must give her a more realistic appearance,
more earthly but without losing that sense of her spirituality. In
fact, I want to bestow her with spirituality through her earthliness.
[…]
25th June 1984
We are at the end of June and I am starting to feel a bit
tired. I
agree with Lina that I should suspend my work in order to have a
good rest for a while. […] All these figures – those already
painted and those who exist only in my thoughts as yet – have become
something of an obsession. I keep seeing them in before me, they
get mixed up together. In addition I am tempted by regrets, and tormented
by the desire to make corrections which would probably turn out to
be useless. No, I must take a break for a bit. […] Here's Lina. Now
we will plan our departure on a lovely holiday.
Pause, back in September. |
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Sketches for Salome |
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Study for Mary Magdalene |
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Study for Rebecca: Isaac |
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[No other diary entries have been
found from the period leading up to the completion of the twelve
canvases from September of that same year until March 1985.] |
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