The medieval era and The Renaissance Era - Research Paper Example

Imagination, Values, and Emotions-Comparing two Art periods - The medieval era and The Renaissance‎ Era Imagination, Values, and Emotions – Comparing The medieval era and Renaissance‎ Era The medieval era began from 300 A.D with the downfall of the Roman Empire and terminated around 1400 A.D. Middle Ages art was fragmented in to minute periods namely the Early Medieval art, the Carolingian art, Ottonian Art followed by Romanesque Art and subsequently the Gothic Art. The paintings, sculptures and monuments were usually religious in nature. The art was mainly characterized for the churches and Holy monuments to glorify God though some artists did produce secular art (Rudolph, 2011). In Medieval architecture two forms were established known as the Romanesque and the Gothic. The Romanesque style preceded the Gothic style. It was characterized as heavy, closed and included round arches whereas the Gothic style was light, open and had pointed arches. The Gothic design was introduced to reach high in the sky so that people can imagine about heavens. Middle age painting and sculptures usually portrayed religious subjects or war. A famous example of medieval sculpture was Pieta. It was seen as the development of the spiritual imagery. The Gothic architecture encouraged the artists to imbue the traditional Christian images with a touch of emotion. The Pieta has no scriptural bases but does serve as the expression of pious grief (Rudolph, 2011). The history of medieval art is dominated by the spread of Christianity in Europe. An over whelming population of Europe believed on the teachings of Jesus and perceived him as the son of God. The people considered their foremost duty was to worship God. Hence they decorated churches and sung hymn for Him. They made paintings sculptures to help preach their religion. The rich non secular history of the middle age explains the reason for the style of this period. The Middle age was followed by the Renaissance movement which evolved in the 14th century. Renaissance is divided in to three important periods that are the Early Renaissance, High Renaissance and Late Renaissance or Mannerism. There was a substantial turn over in arts during this period as it was given more financial attention compared to the former Era (Zirpolo, 2009). The art groomed and flourished as the artists paid more attention to the perspective. The paintings, sculptures and drawing were realistic and a sense of emotion was expressed in the art. Human body was given immense importance. The beauty of human physique was appreciated through arts. The artists of the Renaissance movement played with colors. They applied the techniques of light, color and space used by the ancient Roman and the Greek. Their focus was more worldly and secular. The artists drew paintings that manifested the social life and routine activities of the people. The concept of linear perspective was also introduced which helped the artists to create illusions of space and distance on a level surface. Hence art was exuberated (Zirpolo, 2009). The art in this Era was modernized. The paintings now exhibited man studying philosophy and math rather than praying to God. This drastic change in the field of arts was attributed to the diminishing belief of the people in religion. For instance the painting of Jan Van Eyck depicted a couple being married in a room rather than a church. Although people adopted the modern style of arts there was an indelible relation between the medieval art and the art of Renaissance period. The bridge between the two ages was religion. Indeed renaissance art emphasized on mundane portraits, yet religious nature of art was not unduly eradicated. Few painters like Massacio did paint religious topics. However, his painting had an essence of realism like true expressions of the people, which is an attribute of Renaissance art. All the works of art done in these eras were related to people; their religion and their body. But the expressions, the sensation and the realistic approach of portraying passion remained the same. Though the style and the background of the art changed, the colors schemes, the expressive faces and the relation to the society created a relation between the two styles of consecutive era, and blended to produce an improved version of arts. However, the differences between the arts of middle age and renaissance cannot be ignored. During the renaissance period emphasis was given on the human emotions where as the emotions in the medieval art were silent and rather ignored. The artists of this period appreciated the beauty of human body through their art work. They seek balance in all aspects of painting like color, dimension etc. “The last supper” painted by Leonardo De Vinci manifests creativity of the Renaissance art. In contrasts, the paintings and sculpture created by medieval artists lack proportionality. These paintings were simple and mono dimension as opposed to the renaissance paintings which were complicated. The renaissance paintings also had the element of depth.Medieval art was inspired by the Gothic culture whereas the renaissance art was influenced by the Greek and Romans. Hence the renaissance artists drew Greek god and goddesses and even Greek philosophers. Yet the renaissance art didn’t emphasize on religious themes. The reason for deviating from Middle Ages art was to look beyond spiritual boundaries. The intellectual people of the renaissance Era wanted common people to look over the social and religious issues. The advancement in the science and math encouraged a different approach of the arts as well. In order to be able to broaden the minds of the people, the artists also portrayed philosophers acquiring knowledge rather than religious scenes. In fact the technique of art applied manifested scientific and artistic innovation. This was an important and logical move for the technological and scientific development to meet up with the growing societies. Muslim scholars played a vital role in developing new ideas and technologies that influenced Renaissance in Europe through different routes. Ibn al Haytham published volumes of his work. Humanism which was an important aspect of renaissance art was brought by the Byzantine refugees who possessed the knowledge of Greek (Zirpolo, 2009). The common background from the Greek related the work later done to the work which was earlier done. This also led to the humanism approach which was present in both the works. Although obsolete, the medieval art is appreciated by many art critiques. John Ruskin believes that middle age art gives more liberty while producing pieces of art. Another staunch advocated of the Middle Ages was August Welby Pugin. Pugin remarked middle ages as the epitome of blend between art, religion and society. On the other hand, the Renaissance art period gave an immense boost to the art world. It was at this time that the artists thought of presenting their work out of the religious boundaries. If this advancement wouldn’t have taken place, who knows that the artists would still be revolving around religion and society. But this era gave a boost to the entire art world, by giving a chance to convey the beauty of art through several more ideas and encouraged open mindedness. References Rudolph, C. (2011). A Companion to Medieval Art: Romanesque and Gothic in Northern Europe. NY: John Wiley & Sons Zirpolo, L (2009). The A to Z of Renaissance Art. London: Scarecrow Press Read More