Comparison of the Arts of the High Renaissance with that of the Eighteenth Century - Essay Example

With Rome as its epi-center, the period can be said to epitomize the spirit of Western Civilization. Leonardo da Vinci’s fresco of the Last Supper is an early definitive work of this period. da Vinci followed it up with the Mona Lisa, which was an outstanding work of this era along with Raphael’s The School of Athens. Another notable early work was the Death of Lorenzo de Medici in Florence.

Alongside Michelangelo, the works of Andrea del Sarto and Correggio exemplify the Mannerist style. (Fletcher, 2000, p.347) High Renaissance artworks feature complexity and richness of detail. Human expressions, gestures, postures, and figures are paid a great deal of attention and detail. Even minor painters of the time such as Mariotto Albertinelli and Fra Bartolomeo excelled in these aspects of visual composition. Other emblems of this genre are its iconographic references to Hellenistic art and mythology.

Harmony of design and technical excellence are other notable features of High Renaissance art. (Stokstad, 2005, p.115). (Speake & Bergin, 2004, p.550) Eighteenth-century artistic styles and techniques, on the other hand, are different and more evolved than what was witnessed during the High Renaissance. The main styles that defined art in this century were Neoclassicism, Baroque, and Rococo. These styles were pioneered and practiced by such painters as Bernardo Bellotto, Michel Benoist, Giuseppe Castiglione, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, and Vladimir Borovikovsky, among others.

Although 18th Century Art was a broader movement, the contribution of Italian artists was still significant. Drawing much from the artistic tradition and standards of excellence of the High Renaissance, 18th-century Italian artists such as Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Alessandro Magnasco, Marco Ricci, and Vittore Ghislandi introduced new techniques and styles as well as refined existing traditions. (Levey, 1980, p.23) The inclusion of painters and sculptors from all across the world shows that eighteenth-century art is not constrained geographically, as was the case with the High Renaissance.

To this extent, there is a broader range and variety of artistic productions of the period, as exemplified by the inclusion of German painter Jacob Philipp Hackert, Russian artist Dmitry Levitzky, Chinese painter Gai Qi and Japanese printmaker Nishikawa Sukenobu all in one group. Moreover, as science and technology advanced during the eighteenth century, the works of art also subtly reflected these discoveries and inventions. The loosening grip of Christianity on mainstream European culture and politics had liberalized art in this period compared to the situation during the High Renaissance: “The unifying culture of Christianity was supplanted by the fractious and specialized disciplines of science.