Rivalry, Imitation, and Envy in Italian Renaissance Art - Report Example

Cooperation and rivalry among artist who trained in Verrocchio’s workshop in Florence in the 1470s Cooperation and rivalry among artist who trained in Verrocchio’s workshop in Florence in the 1470s Introduction Leonardo, Lorenzo and Perugino among other major artists started their artistry journey in the workshop of Andrea Del Verrocchio. He was Italian born in the town of Florence. Verrocchio had the titles of a gold smith, painter and an Italian sculptor. His main art and talent lie in the sculpturing section. Verrocchio final work was in making of Bartolomeo Colleoni statue (fig 1) He was born in Florencein 1435, and though he became a great sculptor he had started as a goldsmith apprentice. He became a master sculptor and had a work shop of great importance. It was this workshop that produced people like the above named in the paragraph plus Botticini and Perugino. Though they later become their own masters of art, their earlier work could be distinguished from the work of Verrocchio (Leader, 2012). They imitated him since he was their teacher and they the students. One of his students Lorenzo di Credi was left as the one in charge of the work shop that he operated in Florence. While He went on to open a workshop in Venice where he died. The workshop he had opened mainly concentrated on making of Bartolommeo colleoni sculpture.Verrocchio’s workshop is more known than his main work. Attribution is a problem hence no many of the works can be attributed to him. Earlier on there was no competition of a student to a master, his learners tried to imitate him hence it is this confusion that brings about challenges with attribution since scholars did not know who created a certain art between him and the students. Bartolomeo Colleoni statue cast by Verrocchio cast by Leopardi. (Figure 1) This wrangle has pushed on to the current century, some of the works for example a painting in the national gallery London was credited to him in 2010 (cat. No.NG2508). similarity in art and the association these artists had makes it difficult to fully accredit some work to Verrocchio. This situation presents itself even in the statue of Bartolommeo see fig 1 Verrocchio himself did not put the fine touches on this work of art. After he won a contract to make Bartolommeo sculpture he had the insight to instruct those responsible that if he was not able to complete the work, then the next best person to do the job was Lorenzo di Credi his pupil in Florence. Verrocchio managed to make the clay model of the statue but died before casting it in bronze(Leader, 2012). The final caster through a lot of wrangles among the Venetian authorities was appointed to be AlessandriaLeopardi. He was the one who cast Verrocchio’s work in bronze. Italian renaissance art had competition and rivalry. Italy at the time was spoilt for choice. Rome gave the world artists like Lorenzo and Leonardo da Vinci a master in all rights. They came from the workshop of Verrocchio. This essay aims at bringing out the cooperation that did exist among these learners and also the rivalry. What contribution they made in Florence and whether rivalry made them improve on their work. Patrons say that, if Verrocchio had managed to complete the statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, he would have done it better than what Alessandro did. Others positively cite that “it far exceeds anything that the century dared to think possible”. The rivalry and criticism presents the Paragone of Italian renaissance art. Rivalry, Imitation, Cooperation and Envy review During the 14th to 16th century this was a period of renaissance, the change in culture was tremendous and there was a lot of achievement. Italian art for instance grew significantly; it was driven by awareness and education. Italian art attracted talented people, and with it there was competition and rivalry both manifested in equal measure. Cities and towns in Italy out did each other in building and appearance. Florence in particular is credited to the origin of renaissance. During the time, this city competed with Siena in grandness and appearance. Known as the biggest city in Europe during the time, it had the financial muscle to show off and appear as a cut above the rest in artistry. Florence cathedral (fig2) was a statement to the rest of the world; its grandness was not coincidental but a statement to Siena. This cathedral was built in Florence, as a statement of its might in renaissance and economy. The message was evident since the cathedral become a big influence on the landscape of Florence. Siena on the hand during renaissance was not left behind; it used the opportunity and spirit of competition to buildtheir palazzopublico see fig 3. It is a palace in a haste of the moment that was built on an expansion motive less engineering. Scholars sight Florence as the winner in the rivalry mainly because it had the right artists and the kind of money that supported the buildings art. Florence cathedral built in Florence Italy. (Figure 2) PallazoPubblico in Siena (figure 3) Rivalry enabled the survival of the renaissance, Florence and Siena ended up with cities that inspired artistry. And the artists from both ends outdid themselves in showing off to the world. During renaissance superiority was the ultimate winning point. Whether a painter or a sculptor all of them outdid one another, the result was numerous works and perfection. Artists hence are regarded as thinkers and intellectuals since in their creations, they did not only create works of art but used aspiration and depictions to send a message to the world. If an artist was a painter and another a sculptor, patrons noticed that the two forms of art inspired debate, on who between a painter and a sculptor inspired or emulated the best out of nature’s creations. Leonardo became a master in his trade due to competition, rivalry and genius. Competition was the ingredient in renaissance that made it possible. Artists had targets and challenges to surpass. Michelangelo did not bother showing off against fellow artists, his goal was to surpass the perfection of nature and classic antiquity (Nagel, 2011). Leonardo on the other had believed in expressive representative psychology in his work. He said that “an artist’s master is a mirror and hence an artist should paint as per what he sees on the mirror”. Leonardo presented himself as competition openly. And artists like Michelangelo, Bellini, Giorgione, and Raphael took up the challenge and tried to better or compete with Leonardo’s brilliance in art. On paragon Leonardo regarded, painting art better than sculpturing art (Flick, 2008). The environment in the workshop of Verrocchio was though a master teaching the students, very competitive. The students envied one another and competed to outdo one another but also cooperated in some of the works (Preimesberger, 2011). Cooperation spirit is best seen when the master has to go to Venice to start work on Bartolomeo Colleoni statue while leaving the work of Pistonia Cathedral unfinished. Lorenzo assumed the work and completed the painting for him, in a cooperation spirit around the workshop. Imitation was not left far behind either; the students in the workshop influenced one another. While others envied each other, scholars cite this as Verrocchio’s teaching that while competition inspires creativity, cooperation should not be left far behind either. Di Credi at one time influenced da Vinci, while da Vinci later inspired di credi. In fact scholars noticed a resemblance in MonaLisa portrait done by Leonardo (fig4) and Caterina Sforza portrait done by Lorenzo (fig 5). Lorenzo portrait as seen in figure 4 and Leonardo portrait in figure 5 is the center of contention in similarity according to scholars. They cite a similarity in the dimensions of both works. A good study on the two renaissance portraits show a slight similarity this is as a result of imitation and influence that the two artists accorded to each other Caterina Sforza painting by Lorenzo di CrediFigure 4 Mona Lisa portrait by Leonardo da Vincifigure 5 Ghirlandaio’s was another student who was in Verrocchio’s workshop. He had major works and worked so much for the pope Sixtus and other cathedrals too. He had a touch of brilliance and as a teacher towards Michelangelo he influenced this amazing artist creating a force that challenged da Vinci who was also a Verrocchio workshop apprentice at one time. It may be good to note that during this time that Verrocchio workshop existed, it had gained a reputation as the best ever to exist in Florence(Srinivasan, 2004). The city has numerous works donning it’s museums that came from this workshop. The creators like earlier mentioned did not leave any signs of who exactly made the works, hence it is assumed the workshop cooperated together to produce some of this works (Verrocchio, 2001). Competition and rivalry made for better artists during renaissance. Pietro Perugino was one man who found himself overtaken by his student. Due to what some other artists called lack of innovation. Michelangelo was one man who attacked his masters directly. He once told Perugino that he was not real but instead an art bungler, Perugino even brought action against Michelangelo.Perugino works according to fellow artists were boring and repetitive, he was criticized for production of routine renaissance art. Verrocchio workshop trainees did not have evidence of real rivalry between them, but they later mentored students who challenged their artistry environment. Example includesLeonardo da Vinci to Michelangelo and Perugino to Raphael. Incedio del borgowas was to be painted by Perugino on summon of Pope Julius. This never happened and Raphael his student was on second thoughts favored to do the job. It is cited that Perugino was “repetitive and lacked originality”. Both Raphael and Michelangelo tried to be better than their masters in the production of their works (Sweetser, 1879). Michelangelo in fact made very competitive work. Perugino had done works on Sistine chapel walls, that is assumption, nativity, Moses and Bulrushes. This work was destroyed, in favor of Michelangelo’s last judgment. Paragone was between artists and could not march the brilliance of some of the artists. Leonardo and Michelangelo were the masters of antiquity and both were worthy competitors if not rivals. The most famous works of his were Mona Lisa and the last supper see (fig6), which is the work which has been the most reproduced. The popularity of Leonardo’s work was marched in patron’s popularity by Michelangelo’s the creation of adamsee figure 7.Both of this works were and have become very popular. This is a testimony of the deep rivalry that existed between these two artists even if one was younger than the other (van, 2008). Paragoni development arose from the spirit of competition. The artists that lived during renaissance had admiration for the artists that lived before them. As such they used their works as a bench mark. Though ancient artists were long dead, renaissance artists tried to compete with their works. Making the impossible possible. The principle was to look at ancient art then improve on it. One such artists was Giambologna. His main art was in the making of rape of a sabine figure 8. A sculptor he made using one block of marble. The art has three personalities 2 men and 1 woman. This kind of work was majorly known to the ancient artists and Giambologna competed to better them. That particular art, has been regarded as an amazing feat. This is a case of competition producing perfection. The competition was even taken to commission’s floor who awarded art contracts. Figure 6: Leonardo da vinci`s, The last supper The creation of Adam by Michelangelo Figure 7 Conclusion Competition among the artists in Italian renaissance was benefiting to the renaissance. It enabled the flourishing of art and discovery of new ways of performing of the art. Rivalry among the artists was such that the latter artist produced better work than the first. But there existed a chance for cooperation.Artists in the studio of Verrocchio were familiar with cooperation and completing their master’s work, though they still had competition within themselves. And upon leaving the workshop, each of these artists inspired the world with their work. Renaissance survived due to competition, rivalry and cooperation. Cooperation especially ensured that some works were completed upon the demise of one artist Rape of a sabine. GiambolognaFIGURE 8 Bibliography Flick, Gert-Rudolf. 2008. Masters & pupils: the artistic succession from Perugino to Manet :1480-1880. London: Hogarth Arts. Sweetser, M. F. 1879. Artist-biographies. Boston: Houghton, Osgood. Van Cleave, Claire. 2008. Master drawings of the Italian Renaissance. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Srinivasan, Archana. 2004. World famous artists. Chennai: Sura Books. Preimesberger, Rudolf. 2011. Paragons and paragone: Van Eyck, Raphael, Michelangelo,Caravaggio, Bernini. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute. Leader, Anne. 2012. The Badia of Florence: art and observance in a Renaissance monastery.Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Verrocchio, Andrea del. 2001. Verrocchio and the Renaissance atelier. Firenze: Pagliai Polistampa. Nagel, Alexander. 2011. The controversy of Renaissance art. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Read More