Post #9

           This quarter has been a very eye opening experience for me in the terms of art history.  There have been so many incredible eras during the class that it is hard to settle for just one.  However, I’d have to say that one of the most fascinating periods for me was the Baroque timeframe.  I have many reasons for this choice and every time I look back on these certain pieces, it unravels my mind on how much complexity and time went into each of the paintings in particular.

            One of the features from these paintings that have captured my attention is how they were able to illustrate such advanced techniques regarding lighting effects.  The element of creating such a dark and eerie piece was one of the things that drew me closer to these paintings, I can’t imagine how these artists were able to capture such moments that most of us can only capture with a camera today.  Another thing I really commend about these artists, as while they were still somewhat religious pieces, there were thrown into awkward and obscure positions that differentiate them from any other time period.  Through the idea, they executed figures emerging from the darkness, (also known as tenebrism) which helped illustrate each figures importance and derived where the focal point should be elaborated.

            During the Baroque period, it is easy to determine who one of the most important artists of this timeframe was.  Obviously Caravaggio.  In my opinion, he revolutionized the style into what it became during the seventeenth century.  One of his pieces that have really stood out to me was The Conversion of St. Paul (as seen on page 724 of Stokstad).  This piece represents almost every element of the Baroque period, to the tenebrism, to the triangular focus of the horse standing above the figure on the ground with his hands spread apart.  It also surprises me how Caravaggio made the horse as the largest figure in the painting; however, the focal attention is drawn towards the Saint Paul lying on the floor after being bucked off the horse.

            This is just one example of how the Baroque period was such an invoking idea through the seventeenth century.  The dramatic and over exaggerated scenes were definitely a new element through artwork that captured the attention of many individual viewers during this period and certain pieces of this style have carried on through generations of artwork.    

Post #8

 

    Moonlight Landscape by Joseph Wright of Derby is one of the most enchanting pieces that I have stumbled across through my outside research.  After scrolling through a handful of his work, I was immediately drawn to this particular piece.  One thing that draws my attention to this artist is his unique use of candle-lit portraits and vast use of shades through these various dark centered pieces.  As it has been described through other historians, Wright was driven by the idea of creating lighting effects throughout his art and continued to follow through with his unique creative eye for making these images come to life.

                  One thing that made Wright a unique artist at the time was the fact that he was one of the only artists to base his work outside of London (where he originally was born and raised), due to his decision to relocate to Italy.  As he developed as an artist, he quickly became fascinated with the idea of using various lighting techniques in his works, making him an artist that quickly stood out amongst the crowd.  His other famous pieces of work also incorporate his idea of candle-lit or naturally light paintings, but nothing quite grabs you like the Moonlight Landscape.  It was mentioned in one of the sources I found, that his paintings had a more advanced element that incorporated more emotion into his paintings, which many found to be mysterious and dark.  Through this technique, he flourished, making his work very popular and demanding, as he had such patrons as Lord Melbourne, Lord Palmerston, and Catherine the Great of Russia.

                  In the Moonlight Landscape painting, the subject matter contains a man walking his donkey across a bridge, while you can notice another man fishing below.  Both of these figures seem rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things, as the painting has so much information that it is trying to convey.  Parts of this painting that make it so remarkable are the amount of hue/shade changes between the center point where the moon is radiating outwards, it just shows how carefully planned and close attention to detail was put into this specific piece.  An example of this detail would be to just simply take a look at the river below, notice how the reflection of the moonlight just shimmers off the water’s surface?  It almost strikes me as a painting too good to be true, almost as if it should be a photograph; this is truly an overall achievement towards the human race for being able to create such an accurate painting from only oils onto a canvas.

                  There is no doubt in my mind that Joseph Wright of Derby could have possibly been one of the most articulate romanticism artists of the eighteenth century.  His rich understanding of science helps illustrate how his knowledge truly captivated his expressive moods throughout his paintings, making them seemingly realistic, almost as if you could breathe in the air and experience the environment.  This research has helped me search for an appreciation in a piece of art that I was able to explore on my own, and this is honestly one of the most remarkable pieces of all time.

Sources:

http://www.ringlingdocents.org/moonlight.htm

http://www.oberlin.edu/amam/Wright.htm

http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg61/gg61-61397.html

 

Post #7

            I believe that the Baroque period was a very interesting and evolving time for modern day artists, which allowed for expansion with more dynamic ideas.  When looking at Gianlorenzo Bernini’s David versus the Renaissance made famous statue of Michelangelo’s David, it is evident on how the style has changed from the old ideal beliefs.  Just simple details that can easily be noticed are what separate the Renaissance from the Baroque timeframe.

            For example, Bernini’s David has the facial structure of a well-developed fighter and older man, while the other express the face of that of a younger boy.  One of the main attributes of considering something as a member of the humanist and naturalist way was the idea of creating artworks, as they would appear in the natural world.  They mainly consisted of figures that are in relaxed positions with elongated limbs and seem calmer, which is exactly what Michelangelo portrayed with his statue of David.  This is easily distinguishable by examining the neck of the statue and the laid back stature at which he stands.  With having stated this difference, it is evident that Bernini’s piece stood for a more heroic figure that is expressed through his vicious, ready to attack pose.  The Baroque version of David is also covered with blood within his presentation, which symbolizes a little bit more of a darker and violent era, where on the other hand, David from the Renaissance is clean, and well presented.  I think the Renaissance period was more focused on highlighting one figure and expressing it in the most clean manner possible, while the Baroque period was more about creating an overall large masterpiece with much more content.  And as noticed, there are a lot of distracting pieces in the Baroque version of the David statue, which would not be commonly seen in the earlier Renaissance period, especially in the stance.

            While both pieces have many differences, there are some similarities that are obvious to the viewer.  Both artists really understood the idea of human anatomy for the most part and illustrated how the muscles, tendons, and skin was portrayed, especially for a figure who stood as a hero.  Another trait they both share is that they are both shown as nude figures, where Bernini’s sculpture has David dropping his armor as he is about the lunge forth a rock towards Goliath.  Overall, I can’t say that Baroque styles completely abolish or accept the ideas of the Renaissance one hundred percent, but they incorporate some certain aspects that has further advanced their works of art.

Post #6

            I feel like the Protestant Reformation had both a negative and positive side effects on Northern European arts.  It allowed artists to venture into new realms of creativity, but also hindered certain artists to create pieces of work that were in their comfort zone concerning religious pieces.  Aside from artists having to search for new lines of work, it opened a path for violent destruction of valuable pieces of European religion.  As the book explains, iconoclasm was the act of smashing religious images during this time, and was very popular for those involved in the constant rebellion for the Protestant cause.

            However, this new opening wasn’t entirely bad for expanding the horizon of certain artists and opened new doors for these painters to express secular ideas throughout their work.  Some of these new ideas included patron works, which highlighted and emphasized self-portraits of themselves and their spouses.  Another aspect of creativity that arose during the sixteenth century consequently was the idea of landscapes and surreal ideas incorporated into real life paintings.  Some artists used this as the perfect excuse to get into expressing their own ideas without being persecuted from religious patrons.  On the other hand, this had the negative effect on some artists who were only content with working on religious pieces for churches or other religious members of society.

            I believe a perfect example of artists illustrating new ideas is Albrecht Altdorfer’s Danube Landscape (page 688 in the text); it has the perfect combination of new elements that help express the artist’s individual creativity.  This was one of the first times that an artist developed a painting based specifically on a landscape that included no religious figures, not to mention had no figures involved at all.  Like mentioned in the book, this idea of creating landscapes became wildly popular in the later sixteenth century as it allowed artists to create new coloring and sceneries.  Although artists still focused on sacred places within these paintings, it still suggested that artists had the ability to venture out into new techniques and ideas for creating their own desired masterpieces.

            While most pieces during the Catholic artistic period involved stories or biblical passages, it has now swayed to incorporating parts that don’t exactly fit the narrative, but somehow relate to the overall theme of the painting.  They weren’t exactly concerned with actual proportions as well, rather just the pure aesthetic image that is composed as a whole.  Patrons once suggested Catholic based religious paintings are now shifting their ideas and beliefs, resulting in requests for self-portraits instead.  Like mentioned before, secular ideas were more valued during this period as it laid a cloud of confusion over religious leaders all across Europe.

Post #5

Pontormo - Entombment

Parmigianino - Madonna with the Long Neck

            Comparing Pontormo’s Entombment (from page 661) alongside with Parmigianino’s Madonna with the Long Neck (from page 662) are two pieces that have vastly different compositional elements that separate both in a wide spectrum.  Personally, I find it hard to believe that these pieces were only five years apart within their creation.  They both follow certain aspects of Mannerism that illustrates how these artists were evolving from the Early Renaissance style, but still paid attention to the criteria of naturalism.

            Some things that stand out as similarities are that both of the paintings seem to be conveying the same message as they highlight the importance as Christ within their arms or hold.  They both represent various uses of colors and shades within their pieces that help bring out detail and the importance of the attire they wore during this period.  Looking closer at the paintings, they both seem to portray women with slightly longer elongated necks, although it is more obvious in Parmigianino’s work.  They both focus on the Mannerism style by cropping others out of the painting, leaving more figures to the imagination as if they existed in real life outside of the piece.  With this being said, it leaves the idea that this exact image acts as if it completely natural and we shouldn’t be phased by the absence of the entire covered area.

            However, these paintings being so close to each other in date, also had a handful of differences that almost distinguish them as separate styles all together.  First off, within the Entombment, it seems to be a very busy painting with a lot of different clashing colors, which scatters the focal point, but eventually brings your eyes to the figure of Christ laying on a woman’s shoulders and another is carrying his upper body within her arms.  This varies greatly from Madonna with the Long Neck since this piece focuses exclusively on the importance of Mary and the son of Christ laying on her lap, which is also illustrated as a child and not a full grown man.  As far as color/hues go, I think that the Entombment piece uses a very wide variety of colors, but doesn’t use enough closely related colors that help really highlight detail within each figure like that of Parmigianino’s piece, which is overall a darker medium, but expresses vast detail throughout the entire painting.  In Madonna with the Long Neck, the artist focuses more on facial detail as well as capturing the basic elements of how his audience should grasp it.

            Although both of these paintings fit into the category of Mannerist style paintings, they seem to lack certain key parts that help create the “naturalistic” feel to them; such as the absence of the chair with Madonna, and the figures floating in the air in Entombment.  It leaves an unsatisfied feel to the painting, while still portraying the celebration and fascination of Christ.  If I were able to separate these two paintings into different categories, I would definitely say that Entombment falls into the category of Early Mannerist, while Madonna with the Long Neck would be deemed into the High Mannerist style.

Post #4 - High Italian Renaissance Art

            In this comparative analysis, I’ll be comparing Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli for my representation of the Early Renaissance era.  Against this piece, I’ll also talk about the famous Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci for the High Renaissance period.  Both of these paintings have similar aspects that help the transition from each time period to the next.  One reason I have chosen to use these two pieces against each other is because while they both symbolize an individual woman, they vary widely in elements that build the classical antiquity that brings these paintings to life.

            Like I mentioned, they’re both representing a woman that is viewed highly in society.  Both of the females are brighter in contrast to their foreground to help draw focus to their faces.  While in today’s standards, these women would appeal as not as beautiful, but for the timeframe, these women were considered to be some of the most gorgeous women of the time, an ideal that others that would make comparable.

            On the contrary, these are vastly wide differences between these two that have shaped the eras.  Looking at the Birth of Venus piece, we notice that Venus is not alone in the scenery, while being accompanied by other figures.  However, the location and placement of Venus in this painting is key on bringing the focal point towards the middle, where she is standing covering herself.  While she remains nude in the painting, it draws attention to the fact that she is representing beauty and sexuality.  The coloring in this piece is very cool, but also has a lot of brighter and medium shades of greens and blues, which leaves a more exaggerated feeling the viewer.  Venus seems to look more content with the events that are taking place, while her face doesn’t appear to give off any indication of darkness.  I think that this piece has dynamic unity at the same time, lacks it.  This is because we still pay close attention to Venus for reasons explained, but yet at the same time, she is not entirely alone throughout the painting.

            What makes this different from the Early Renaissance painting is the fact that like described during the reading; she is represented through dynamic unity.  Which means that she is the only thing being represented in this painting.  This is different than Early Renaissance because it focuses directly on the woman in this portrait.  Which also leads to very different focuses when composing the piece, since it relies on detail within the facial qualities.  On the other hand, with the Birth of Venus, it relies on the entire composition that pulls everything together, which leaves some slack in having to detail each face to the same extent.  Mona Lisa is also very modestly dressed, without revealing her entire body, leaving a more moderate response to this article.  While the  colors within this painting are also very neutral, and mostly darker hues.  This has been considered to be a rather dark painting that makes it unable to identify the feeling that Mona Lisa was trying to portray through her portrait.  It leaves a mysterious feeling to it’s audience that has made this a very controversial painting over the centuries.

Post #3 - Formal Analysis

     In this formal analysis, I’d like to talk about The Battle of the Nudes, an engraving by Antonio del Pollaiuolo.  Although some may find this piece rather odd and unsettling, I can’t help but be simply fascinated by the amount of detail and realism that has been incorporated into this engraving.  My initial thoughts of when I study this piece of art is overwhelming, it leaves so much to the imagination, almost as if the artist wanted his audience to build their own conclusions on it.  I feel like this could be attributed to the lack of color within it.

        Something that has really drawn my attention to this piece is the level of sophistication and extreme detail that del Pollaiuolo expresses.  There are a wide use of lines, which vary in size, depth, and width.  Each has its own purpose to highlight certain parts of the male figure or the foliage displayed in the background.  It can be clearly displayed how each figure of the fighting males is moving in a certain way to extend and contract each muscle group.  In the book, it talks about how this piece of a perfect example of classical sculpture and anatomical research, and I couldn’t agree more.  During the fifteenth century, artists were still developing and experimenting with new ways to paint, engrave, and even sculpture, but this level of anatomical experimentation takes it to an entirely new level.  One solid piece to support this would be to look at the figures in the piece that have a weapon drawn or are in the act of swinging their weapon of choice.  Now take a look at the figure in the bottom right that appears to be injured from the battle.  We can clearly see that the muscles are not as defined as the figures that are still caught in the heat of the battle.  I find this as a fascinating part of the artist’s background, since there are people today that are still having a hard time grasping the concept of human anatomy within artwork, and this was created centuries ago.  In my opinion, del Pollaiuolo was ahead of his time with highlighting pieces of human anatomy.

 

     Though this piece looks quite amazing in a picture within a book, I can only imagine what it would look like in a person.  With this being said, another thing that really stands out is the absence of color.  While this may appear to be a more tasteless piece to some, it really draws my attention and leaves me in a moment of thought.  Like I mentioned before, it really leaves a lot of emphasis on the viewer, who is left to draw their own conclusions based on the colorless battle scene.  It helps highlight the muscle definition as we can see the lighter engraves help bring out the abdominal and oblique muscles. 

            Since this piece has no sort of added color to it, it expresses different levels of aspect through the shading of the engraving.  As we can see, the foliage in the background appears to be a lot darker than the male figures fighting.  We can also depict that the figures that are standing are carved much lighter than the figures that are closer to the ground.  Since there is no use of other colors, I feel Antonio del Pollaiuolo has used other resources to highlight where our focal point should be drawn to, which has added a deeper level of aspect and depth.

 

     Another key component that has been added is the false illusion of movement.  If we were to take a few seconds to study over this engraving, it would appear as if the naked male figures in this piece are actually in motion has they are lunging their weapons at each other.  It is also noticed that all the figures in this piece appear to be the same person, or have equally as noticeable qualities.  Whether this is a symbolic meaning or if the artist simply made all the male figures appear the same, it is still highly impressive to illustrate each character so closely through different muscle tensions.  Overall, I found this as a fascinating piece and a rather refreshing change from all the commonly publicized paintings that most people think of when it comes to Renaissance Italy in the fifteenth century.