Antonello in Venice by Jean Dytar
Jean Dytar’s brings Renaissance Venice to life in his historical graphic novel of painters, hero worship, romantic obsession, artistic bickering and backstabbing, and ultimately, mortality. Antonello in Venice is a gem that testifies to the often overlooked breadth of what French comics have to offer. Careful research shows in his every panel, but never gets the best of his gentle, inviting style, which in its page layouts manages some absolutely haunting depictions of time’s passing:
For French readers, Dytar gives insight into his intentions and process in this illuminating commentary at his site. This graphic novel, originally titled La Vision de Bacchus, is now available as a digital exclusive from Delcourt at Comixology.Venice, 1510. The great painter Giorgione is dying of the plague. In one final burst of energy, he finishes his last piece, a pictorial homage to the woman who stirred in him his first feelings of romance.
Giorgione also must face the question all painters ask themselves, how to bring to life and breathe human presence into an image on a completely flat surface?
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