Commemoration of the Joust of the Saracen of February 25, 1634

I continue my exploration of the paintings on show at the Ringling Museum of Art Knights exhibition with the backstory on the work titled Commemoration of the Joust of the Saracen of February 25, 1634. It is unclear who authored this work but it is dated as being of the 17th century.

Unknown, Commemoration of the Joust of the Saracen
of February 25, 1634, mid-17th century

The event commemorated by the painting was organized by Cardiinal Antonio Barberini to celebrate his position in the church (he had been appointed Cardinal by Pope Urban VIII in 1628), his family's power (the Barberini family was one of the richest in contemporary Rome), and to honor Prince Alexander Carl Wasa of Poland (who was visiting Rome at the time). The joust would be held in Rome at the Piazza Navona.

Cardinal Antonio Barberini

The Saracen Joust
"The ancient Greek and Romans referred to the nomadic people of Syria and Arabia as Saracens. By the Middle Ages, the term was generally applied by Western Europeans to Muslims and people of Arab descent ..." who were considered enemies during the Crusades.

The Saracen Joust was a "chivalric" tournament wherein knights would charge at a rotating dummy (mounted on a pole) with the intent of striking said dummy with a lance. The dummy generally had the facial features of a Saracen and was equipped with a mace (or lash) in one hand and a shield in the other. Points were awarded based on where the lance struck the dummy with the winner being the person, or team, amassing the most points.

Piazza Navona
Today Piazza Navona is a square that fits exactly into the confines of the ancient Circus Agonales, a 30,000-spectator venue built by Emperor Domitian (between 81 and 96 AD) as a site for gladiatorial games and races. The stadium was built above today's open space but, as was the case for most Roman buildings of that period, fell into disrepair during the Dark Ages and was slowly pillaged by the locals for their own building initiatives.

This pillaging created enough ground-level space to allow for a public market that ran from 1476 onwards. Soon after his ascent to the papacy in the late 17th century, Pope Innocent transformed the the Piazza into the wonderful Baroque edifice that it is today.

Piazza Navona today
(Source: maitaly.files.wordpress.com)

Saracen Joust of February 25, 1634
Six teams of four knights each competed in this tournament. Festivities commenced on Saturday, one week prior to the actual event. The fence for the joust was laid out over a number of days with boxes and stands or the attendees surrounding the course.

The rules of this particular tournament stipulated that the knight had to hit the dummy's head with the lance in order to be awarded points: three points for hitting the dummy in the forehead; two points for hitting in the nasal zone; and one point for a hit below the nose.

According to the historical record, the ladies box was set up across from the dummy with the judges stage opposite. The event took 5 hours to complete.

The Painting
The viewer's perspective is from above -- and slightly off-center -- the action. From this vantage point, the viewer is treated to a sea of orange to the left and grey tones to the right -- team color-like. Brightly colored stands are arrayed on both sides of the course and are packed to the rafters. Horse mounted knights and "officials" are sprinkled around the course.

The focal point of the picture is the two armed knights charging at each other with lances just seconds away from impact. The effort of the horse coming at the user is indicated by the flaring nostrils but its positioning on the canvas would seem to have it crashing into the rails prior to getting to the end of the course. Further, the herald at the end of the line is in danger of being run-over by the mount if it does make it to the end of the course.

Overall the painting gives a sense of closeness and intimacy, almost claustrophobic both in terms of the overall setting and in the spectator stands.

I show two contemporary paintings below to allow some comparison.

Filippo Gagliardi and Andrea Sacchi,
The Saracen Joust in Piazza Navonna, 1656 - 1659

Giovanni Ferri, Saracen Joust in Piazza Navona in the
25th of February, 1634, 17th century

Both of these paintings provide a wider-lens view of the event and show more space between the action and the spectators, relieving the feeling of claustrophobia. The latter of the two also clearly shows a dummy on the rail in the middle of the track rather than the two gal;loping knights depicted in the painting under study. These two paintings clearly show the judges stage, a detail that was not readily apparent in ours.

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