Late Renaissance Art

The Mannerist paitings are unique in their style, they are "distortions of accepted formal convention." (p. 660) Its a style of art that is made to look artificial, not realistic. With the passing of Rafael, many new artists emerged into the light. I will talk about one artwork of Jacopo da Pontormo and compare it to a painting made by Parmigianino.
Pontoromo's "Entombment" was completed in 1528. It is made of oil and tempera paint on wood. "The image, with its dark ground and gray sky, gives us no sense of location, and barely any grounding for the figures that it holds." (p. 662) The earlier Renaissance paintings were made according to the pyramid or triangular shape, which gave them a type of balance and order. On the contrary, the composition of "Entombment", is rather random and scattered, with no definite shape. Some of the figures, especially the man in the front, are set in very complex positions that don't seem humanly possible, and look like they're about to fall out of the painting. There are other people through out the painting that also have these weird poses that look very uncomfortable, like standing on their tiptoes. Another thing about this painting that makes it very much Mannerist, is the the expressions on the peoples faces. Every person depicted in this painting has a somewhat sad, but dreamy, look on their face, as if they're waiting for something big to happen. The colors used to make this painting are very unnatural as well. For example, the man in the front that is holding Christ, has a very pink back, but, at the same time, he has a bright blue stomach. These are not realistic colors of human skin.
Another painting made in the Mannerist style is "Madonna with the Long Neck". It is also oil on wood, made in 1540 by Parmigianino. This painting is also very unrealistic. The figure of the virgin Mary is very disproportional. Her huge thighs and lower body don't match with the small head, skinny fingers, and a long neck. This figure seems to be in a sitting position, but the viewer can see no chair underneath her, which makes her pose look unrealistic and impossible. The sleeping baby in her arms, looks too big too be a baby when compared to the other figures also in the painting. In the right corner of the painting, there is a unrealistically small figure of a man holding a scroll. His size does not go with the scale of proportions that was used in the earlier Renaissance times to make a painting look more proportional, in relationship to the other figures in the painting.
Unlike "Entombment", the "Madonna with the Long Neck" painting is made of a bigger variety of colors and the expressions on the peoples faces look happy. Another thing different about this painting from the first one, is that it has a background scene. There are curtains, stairs and a white column. Even though this column is not holding up anything, the viewer can imagine that this strange composition is located inside a building, perhaps in a temple of some sort. One last thing that I noticed in "Madonna with the Long Neck" that is different from "Entombment" is the composition of the figures. All of the people, besides the little man in the background, have been painted bunched up together on the right side of Madonna looking at the baby. Madonna, who is in the center of the painting, is also looking down, making the child be the focal point. The other side of the painting just shows us the background and not much human activity. This is different from the busy looking scattered composition of the "Entombment", which has no focal point because everyone seems to be looking into different directions.
Both of the paintings have similarities and differences between them, but they are perfect examples of the Mannerist style. They are very unrealistic, and contain figures in humanly impossible poses with disproportional bodies. I think that this style of painting is very interesting. It makes the viewer stop, look at it, and try to figure out what about the painting is different and what is wrong with the way these people are painted.

Art of the Early and High Renaissance Periods

When comparing artworks from the Early Renaissance period with the High Renaissance period, we can see many similarities and differences in the works done by artists of each of these time periods. The two works of art that I will compare and analyze are, the portraits of Federico da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza, c. 1474, and the portraits of Agnelo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi, c. 1506. Both of the paintings were done in oil on wood panels. 

The portraits of Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza were made by an Italian artist, Piero della Francesca. "The small panels resemble Flemish painting in their detail and luminosity, their record of surfaces and textures,  and their vast landscapes." (p. 218 Stockstad) We can see that, because of the traditional Italian fashion lasting during the Early Renaissance period, the figures are portrayed in a strict profile view. This makes the figures look emotionless and be psychologically disengaging with the viewer. Another reason for the profile view, was to show the accurate recording of Federico's likeness without emphasizing the two scars which were located on the right side of his face.  Piero emphasized the basic geometry of the forms. This makes the people in the portraits look very flat and not very realistic. Dressed in their most elegant fashion, the forms are silhouetted against a scenic  landscape of hills around Urbino.  
The portraits of Agnelo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi, painted by Rafael, were done during the High Renaissance period. They are painted in a 3/4 view instead of a strict profile view of the face and body. This enables the viewer to almost "see" into the souls of the two subjects.  You can tell that these people have authority and come from very powerful families, but at the same time, there are calm emotions across their faces that look like sadness. Rafael, unlike Piero, had made his portraits look more natural and realistic due to the great impact on realism during the High Italian Renaissance period. You can see how his painting is more 3 dimensional in the way Agnelo's and Maddalena's arms are painted at an angle rather than strictly up and down like that of  Federico and Battista.
Despite their many differences, there are also some similarities between the portraits made by two artists from different time periods. In both works, the portraits of Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza, and the portraits of Agnelo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi, the hills and other background scenery seem to be dissolving into the distance. This illusion has been achieved through the use of an atmospheric perspective in the painting of the two portraits. The people in both artworks look like they are found higher in the sky than the hills behind them. Another similarity between the two artworks is the clothing. Both artist had made an emphasis on the fashionable clothing of their subjects adding jewelry on the ladies and hats on the men. 
I think that you can see dynamic unity in both of the artworks. From the many hills in Piero's paintings, to the clouds and angular arm positions in Raphael's paintings, each image feel unified and complete by itself. 

Early Italian Renaissance Art

The artworks of the Renaissance period are some of the most known pieces today. Early Italian Renaissance art might not be as popular as the Northern Renaissance art, but it is still well known around the world. "Like the Flemish artists, Italian painters and sculptors increasingly focused their attention on rendering the illusion of physical reality." (p. 594, Stockstad) They used liner perspective to make lifelike but idealized artworks. I really enjoyed learning about the different works of art, but I was very surprised at the large amount of nude art that was made during this time period, and it was repeated in excessive artworks. 

One of the most successful and admired sculptors of the Italian Renaissance, Donatello, worked with several different media to create beautiful artworks. He worked with stone, wood, as well as with bronze. Donatello mainly focused on the human emotions and expressions to capture them in his sculptures. 

One particular statue made by Donatello which stood out to me was the statue of David, c. 1446-1460. (right) This sculpture is made of bronze and stands 5 feet and 4 1/4 inches tall. David was the first life-size male nude that Donatello produced. I was very surprised that the young shepherd was portrayed in a nude form.  "Although the statue draws on the Classical tradition of heroic nudity, the meaning of this attractive, young boy in a shepherds hat and boots had long stimulated curiosity." (p. 604, Stockstad) From everything that I have learned about young David from the Bible, what stood out to me most were his strength and heroic actions. They started from the killing of the lion that tried to attack Davids fathers herd of sheep, to the killing of Goliath during his adolescent life, before he became king. In Davids left hand, which is resting on the boys hip, there is a round stone, one of the five stones that he had picked to kill Goliath. In his right hand the boy holds a sword with which he had beheaded Goliath, whose head can be seen in front of Davids left foot. The helmet on the head of the giant has wings, one of which is resting against Davids right inner thigh. I don't understand why, upon seeing this, some art historians "stressed an overt homo-eroticism." Just because this sculpture portrays one mans helmets wings being too close to the boys nudity does not mean that David was homosexual. All I see in the statue is a victorious young boy, who looks a little surprised and maybe even intimidated by what he sees lying at his feet. After all, this was a battle against a mighty army that was unbeatable by any other nation, and yet, here comes this young boy and takes out one of the fiercest soldiers of their army with just one round stone. Without looking at too much detail in this sculpture, other viewers might have gotten a similar feeling that, between Davids angular pose and boyish torso, the boy seems to be stuck between his childish interests and the adult responsibility that now fell on his shoulders. I have to agree with the other viewers. David is the perfect image of young heroism.

"David was a political image in Florence, symbolizing the citizens resolve to oppose tyrants, regardless of their superior power, since virtue brings divine support and preternatural strength." (p. 604, Stockstad) Even though nothing is known about the circumstances of its creation, I think that Donatellos purpose behind this sculpture of David  was to show others that everything is possible for those who try and believe in a positive outcome of their actions. Just like it became possible for young David to kill a giant with a stone. 

Northern Renaissance: The Supreme Art

In the early 15th century, and epidemic spread out across Europe and the Church stood divided with its popes and there was not much artistic advancement going on throughout Europe. Only in Flanders, present day Belgium, Holland, did the artistic revolution begun and had quickly spread out throughout the continent. With the help of the printing press that was invented, "the remarkable oil paintings of Flemish artist Jan van Eyck transformed a lowly craft into the supreme art and began an image revolution that would change art forever." (Northern Renaissance Article) One of the cathedrals still holds the original paintings which had started that revolution. Some of the paintings consist of images of the long dead historical figures that, once again, seem to be living again among us. They are painted in such a way, that one could almost feel their presence in the room. 

Many other artists started making art which reflected their royal or noble status among others. Their paintings included the objects of the expensive lifestyle of the court. The finest tapestries were made of silk thread of gold that told stories of victories or different religious scenes. The dynasty of Duke of Burgundy had wine yards that expanded all the way to Flanders. The more land they owned, the more power they had. The artwork of the dukes was in expansive tapestries, enough to cover their many households, and in gold objects that were of no use, but were there to increase the wealthy look and then later be melted down to make new objects for display. 

Although painting was very important in art, sculptures were becoming more and more popular during the Renaissance era. Claus Sluter, a very successful sculptor, had made the "Well of Moses" sculpture which included Christ on the cross, Virgin Mary, John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalene at His feet, and below the cross were the sculptures of six different men from the Old Testament of the Bible which had prophesied the birth of Christ. The churches, instead of just having painting and writings on their walls, were now made with many more windows to show the view of different 3-D spaces. 

Jan van Eycks paintings and other works are all portraying the artists deeds, signatures and even self portraits, which celebrate the life of the artist. One of his self portraits, tells us a lot more about the artist than any recorded documents can tell us. Because he had such an amazing talent of a painter, Jan van Eyck was hired as an ambassador for one of the Dukes of Burgundy and was traveling all over Europe making paintings for the duke, for which he was compensated. Jan van Eyck had made painting into the ultimate art.

Art of the Renaissance

The Renaissance Period is one of the most well known periods in our culture. Many people believe that art made during the 15th and 16th century is better than art done during other time periods. I think this is due to the fact that that art was unique and very different from other art works. It was a time when some of the  most famous art pieces were created. One such famous piece is the painting of Mona Lisa, which was made by Leonardo da Vinci. Another work of art that was made during the Renaissance period is the statue of David, which was done by a well known artist and sculptor Michelangelo. These are some of the most famous artists of that time period and their paintings are some of those known all over the world, even to the people who have little or no knowledge about art. I think that the reason that everyone always refers to these artists is because of their unique art that was made and glorified across the whole world. I personally remember when my elementary and middle school teachers taught us about art, da Vinci and Michelangelo were the first artist that were mentioned. I really enjoyed learning about the art of the Renaissance period and I am looking forward to finding out more about the artworks made during those centuries.