Contribution Of Renaissance To Art

In my opinion, one of the greatest events in the history of art was the Renaissance. The term "Renaissance" comes from the verb "born again", it was said that culture had died with the barbarian invasions and the fall of the Roman Empire, and it was reborn after a thousand years. Modern scholars say the beginning of the Renaissance was around the second decade of the fifteenth century, with the most famous work of Brunelleschi, the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. It has two extreme phases: the Humanistic and Mannerist period. The Renaissance originated in Italy and from there expanded to all countries of Europe. The main centers of distribution were the Papal Rome, Florence and Venice. The Renaissance expressed the desire to revive the true face of classical art, and it is this fact that artists of the Renaissance inherited ideal of harmony and balance. The ideal man understood as a synthesis of beauty and goodness ideal of harmony between man and nature, between man and God, between reason and faith. One of the typical inventions of this period was the theory of one point perspective by Brunelleschi. We can see this in for the first time in Holly Trinity which is considered the masterwork of Masaccio with the assistance of Brunelleschi himself. The illusionism of the piece is perfect. It is approximately 20 feet tall and is placed on the side wall of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Christ is represented on the top half, in a coffered, barrel-vaulted chapel. On one side of him is the Virgin Mary, and on the other, St. John. Christ himself is supported by God the Father, and the Dove of the Holy Spirit rests on Christ's halo. Another example of one point perspective is Perugino masterpiece on the wall of the Sistine chapel, which is a scene of Christ Delivering the keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter. In addition, the greatest masters of Italian Renaissance are considered Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael. Leonardo da Vinci, became famous for his paintings "The Last Supper" and "Mona Lisa". The Last Supper covers the back wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. The theme was a traditional one for refectories. The other great artist is Michelangelo, who was famous as a painter, sculptor and architect. His most famous paintings are the eleven frescos in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican and the famous "Last Judgment". His most important sculptures are "David", the "Moses" and the "Pieta. Then we have Raphael, who became famous for his "Madonna", portraits and paintings on religious themes. His most famous work in Vatican is The School of Athens, in which we see Plato and Aristotle surrounded by disciples. In the end, I wanted just to show that how great was the contribution of Renaissance to the art. I think there are many other artists and paintings with their specific styles that contributed the Renaissance, but I think it will be necessary write down a few books just to list them.

The Ideology Of Enlightenment

The Enlightenment is one of the most important intellectual movements in Europe in 17th centaury. It is an age of scientific discovery and industrial revolution. It expressed the conviction that man must be guided by the light of the reason. The Enlightenment originated in England in the late 16th century by the philosopher John Locke , and developed intensively in France from 1630 to 1700. One of the most important French philosophers, mathematicians, physicists of this time was René Descartes (1596—1650). His philosophy will be called Cartesian philosophy. He is the first one who asked who am I. I think therefore I am. He believed in consciousness of himself. He was convinced that we construct who we are. He though about the contradiction with religion, saying God made me or I made myself. Decardes is the first who said I think so I can understand whatever is related in me. It's rational. He talked about the rational prove and science, like how the water becomes steam. The Enlightenment influenced many European painters of the middle and late 1700s. Increasingly, artists looked for inspiration in the material world—in nature and human nature. Some artists showed an Enlightenment interest in science and social issues in their work. Others emphasized a new sensitivity toward individuals.
It's interesting to see who lived between 1700-1780. There are no many artists, because of French academy, which in its high point says how it's possible to become a good French person? Obviously, by being as well as Raphael and not better than him. That's why there is no any master artist in 18 century. We see in 1784 Jacques Louis David who is one of the greatest artist in the modern world. In this year he painted Oath of the Horatii which is the important painting by which David has been accepted in the French Academy . It shows the continuation of the standards of Poussin as he interpreted Raphael and it's called Neo-Classical. It has political and controversial aspects such fighting for a French cause and patriotism. It's interesting to see in 100 years there are no big changes between Poussin's Death of Germanicus and the Oath of the Horatii. In these years the painting had political themes and later we see the result of this philosophy of equality and rights in French revolution in 1789.

Edik Baroni: David In The History Of Renaissance Art

Edik Baroni: David In The History Of Renaissance Art

Edik Baroni: Impact Of Protestant Reformation On Art

Edik Baroni: Impact Of Protestant Reformation On Art

Impact Of Protestant Reformation On Art

The sixteenth century is also characterized as the period of the great religious conflicts that lead to the disintegration of Christian unity in Europe. During the pontificate of Leo X de 'Medici (1513-1521) becomes evident the need to renew the Church spiritually and morally. In 1517 Martin Luther, an Augustinian theologian, put up at the portal of the Church of All Saints in Wittenberg his ninety five theses saying that salvation comes to man not because of works but by grace of God and the Holly Scripture must be interpreted freely by each individual. According to Protestants, in most cases the use of representations by the church was useless. For them the sacred images led them to look for the image itself instead of the God's word. This could direct Christians to practice idolatry and superstition. The Protestants were not only against the use of religious representations (frescoes, altarpieces, sculptures) or preventing its creation, but they also started destroying existing ones. Zwingli and Calvin were intransigent to any images and tinsel of the Church. The term "iconoclasm" breaking images" is one of important conflicts against the art of that time.Catholic Church responded to all these by the Council of Trent by antireform. The decision of the Council was very important for the Catholic Church and for centuries it became a guide which conducted the clergy. They establish very sever and rigid rules for artist. They had to adhere to compliance of Church iconology. This was the price that the Church had to pay to defend the value of its art against the risk of idolatry and superstitions.
Moreover the Council of Trent, concerned with theological issues of religious images confirmed the decision of the Second Council of Nice 325 AD, which agreed to the preservation and worship of representations of Christ and Virgin and other saints. The Council of Trent introduced also a new teaching and emphasized the value of sacred art. They stressed that images can be used as a complementary visual record of Scriptures but there must be no mistakes, and the artist should avoid secular or immoral subjects. The religious and sacred art should be universally understandable and refrain from any bizarre. As we can see the protestant reform influenced the north of Europe and became a sort of obstacle of improving the religious and sacred art in their protestant territory. However, the reform and protestant opposition to Christian art led the Catholic Church to great advances in sacred art. The anti reform decision was to convert the hearts of Christians by sacred images as opposed to the Protestant Reform which wanted to rule the minds by Scripture.

David In The History Of Renaissance Art

The David is the theme that I chose for this chapter of my blog because he was an important figure in the history of the Judaism and especially for its importance in the history of art in Florence. I chose the four greatest works of art made in different times with different master artists. The oldest David is the one in bronze made by Donatello in Florence about 1440.
It's Measuring 158 cm in maximum diameter of 51 cm and is preserved in the National Museum of the Bargello in Florence. The image of David's victory over Goliath is a symbol of the entire city of Florence by Medici family.
David was made for the courtyard of Palazzo Medici. The most common date is the one that places it among the works of the forties of the fifteenth century when the great sculptor worked for Cosimo de Medici. The hero is depicted standing, in unusually pointed, with a decorated hat by a wreath of laurel. His hairs are long . The body is naked so it shows the beauty of classical and pagan nakedness mixed in this biblical heroic aspect. It shows the liberty of Neo-platonical philosophy in human corporal beauty from all sides. In the second art work we see the Verrocchio's David. He looks like a beardless youth, with hair curled around her face with a slightly smiling. He is wearing a short dress with and old shoes. He holds a hand on her hip and holds a sword. This sculpture also was commissioned by the Medici family.
In Verrocchio's the figure of this biblical hero is no longer naked, but dressed like an adolescent. With the head of Goliath at the feet, David stands victorious. This statue has multiple viewpoints for the audience.The expression is elusive, vaguely pointing to the side, and the toothy grin generates a gradient of expression of adolescent bravado.
The third David is Michelangelo's David, sculpted between 1501 and early 1504. This is widely considered a masterpiece of world sculpture, especially the Renaissance. It is the most famous sculpture by Michelangelo in the world. Some artists and art historians go further to say that it is the most beautiful objects created by humanity. Michelangelo breaks away from the traditional way of representing David. He does not present us with the winner, the giant's head at his feet and the powerful sword in his hand. Rather, he portrays the youth as tense with a sense of gathering power immediately preceding the battle. Perhaps he has caught him just in the moment when he has heard that his people are hesitating, and he sees Goliath jeering and mocking them. In his right hand holds the stone with which will defeat the enemy soon.
The statue is white marble is 17 feet and was commissioned as a symbol of the Florentine republic. Is exposed to the Galleria of academy in Florence.By David has been renewed the canon of Renaissance male beauty. It's interesting to see that the head and hands of Michelangelo's David has a greater proportion than the rest of the . Maybe for a philosophical reason considering head as the reason by which humans think hands as instruments for which reason it uses to operate. The David of the Academy is very different from other interpretations that had preceded him as to the feminine forms, taken from Hellenistic statuary, interpreted as a religious hero whose strength comes from God, but here it conveys an idea of totally self-sufficient force.