Art of the Renaissance through Neo-Classicism and Romanticism

Art has always been a favorite subject of mine and I have thoroughly enjoyed the art works featured in this class. The architecture was quite interesting. I have studied it before but this time the structures seemed to find their way into the right categories in my brain; perhaps a better understanding of history has helped me for this course. The art, though, was my true focus and there were a few standouts. I specifically enjoyed Claus Sluter’s Well of Moses (1395-1406 ) at the Chartreuse de Champol, especially Moses Horns. It’s a little eerie how such a small detail in translation can have such an impact on what people were willing to believe. The art is also significant to me as it seem’s to have come out of nowhere, historically. Suddenly there was an artist exhibiting a mastery of naturalistic sculpture, creating what could only be real people out of stone.

Van Eyck’s work- (1420’s-1441) also struck me aesthetically. His oil painting technique is just absolutely exquisite and the figures portrayed are unforgettably, indelibly etched in my mind. The lack of a mathematical perspective in his work simply adds to my enjoyment of it.

Fouquets Virgin and Child (1452-1455) was fascinating because of it’s very bizarreness. It almost seems like a modern work with it’s use of color, abstracted figures and absurd depiction of a holy character.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks (1485) Is another work that seems like a leap forward in technique with its use of Chiaroscuro, like spotlights on the figures creating strong lights and darks and giving them a more realistic modeling. Also the sfumato (smoky) technique of creating subtle transitions between light and dark that is almost imperceptible makes the figures seem soft like genuine flesh.

I loved the Mannerist style, particularly Allegory with Venus and Cupid (mid 1540’s) by Bronzino which I have chosen as a touchstone for a puppet show we are doing next quarter. The elongated torsos forced into small spaces and the hidden imagery are just fun to look at and contemplate

Hieronymus Bosch has been a favorite of mine for a long while, having copied Garden of Earthly Delights (1505-1515) for a play poster in the eighties. The imagery is stunning and creepy and fantastic and it is wonderfully composed and painted.

I enjoyed seeing da Vinci’s style pushed from chiaroscuro to tenebrism by the Caravaggesques, particularly Gentileschi’s portrayal of women and Renoirs painting.

Goyas work is really intriguing... the early painter to the King work is not interesting to me but the 3 of May1808 (1814-1815) breaks new ground with its portrayal of death, awe and terror that make up the sublime and in his Black Paintings he created images that seem to come from deep in his psyche and are incredibly interesting to me, though a bit frightening as I contemplate what a dark place he must have been in to create them. Also interesting to consider is that he did not grow up surrounded by images of this nature so he was breaking yet newer ground at the same time that he was seemingly going a bit mad

The majority of the art that really struck me was sculpted or painted in oils in a naturalistic way without the High Italian Renaissance idealization of anatomy.  I was also drawn to works which exhibited a deliberate manipulation or abstraction of form in the figures that makes them less ideal or even sublime. I am not sure if this is personal taste or a backlash against our modern advertising culture that portrays increasingly fit and beautiful models while the average citizen gets larger and less well mannered. The idealized humans portrayed in much of the art, particularly around Italy, had less appeal to my own personal taste. Or maybe it’s my northern European roots....