Renaissance and Baroque Periods - Essay Example

? How the techniques of Mannerism bridged the Renaissance and Baroque Periods of Art Renaissance ism needed a transition point to go from mythological portraits to Baroque realism. The beginning of the Renaissance was the opening of the doors from the middle ages. A discussion will be made into why the early renaissance lead to the Mannerism School. In explaining the school, one artist will be chosen to exemplify the differences he used which were not used in the High Renaissance. It will be shown how these techniques were then used in the Baroque period. To conclude, it will be shown that artists of each period are used a form of a teaching device for other artist and a means to share with the world the styles and customs of past centuries. The Renaissance lasted from approximately the 1400's to the late 1500's. The geometrical map of Europe changed. The Spanish Kingdom became completely under Catholic rule. The Spanish Inquisition reach all of Spain, Italy and France. The reformation began and the church let up on its strong hold on the development of the arts. The discovery of the printing press in 1400 enabled more books and musical scores to be printed allowing more secular music to be composed and literature to be written. This highly influenced artists as we see the use of books in paintings. The Renaissance was a period of wealthy patronage. The church had given up its stringent control over the arts. One can contribute some of this to the invention of the printing press as the clergy no longer had control over what was being printed. It was a time of such scientists as Leonardo da Vinci. Artists were part of royal courts who were employed to paint portraits of nobles and royalty. They had no choice in whom they painted and how they painted them. They were obliged to portray their patrons in flattering terms, in order to improve their standing with their patrons. It was a time where artists were expected to portray their subjects with qualities of Greek gods and goddesses or qualities of the Virgin. Beauty was associated with a marbled like face and symmetry. The better an artist portrayed their subjects, the higher their position was in the courts. Politically, the Mannerism school still shows the marble like beauty but if one looks closely one sees incongruencies. Artists were not happy socially nor having any say in how they did their work. The artists show political arrest. In mannerism, portraits were done in the same complimentary fashion but the poses were unrealistic. The depth of the paintings no longer had the perception or the geometrical accuracy as of the beginning of the Renaissance. In the High Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa shows the unrealistic long fingers and the background that has no relationship to his initial paintings, The Last Supper, for example . The artist chosen for this paper is Bronzino, Agnolo. He represents a artist in the middle of the Mannerism School (1520-1600) . He is a perfect example a perfect example of an artist who makes the transition into Baroque period. Bronzino who was a court artist, painted his subjects with similar expressions in similar poses. The long hands showed character and some personality which were his specialty. Where he changed was in detail. In the painting, Portrait of a Young Man, 1530's, the boy's skin is marbled like to resemble a statue resembling Venus. This painting was done in oil but on wood. Canvas was very expenses as it was still made of animal skin and he still was of low standing. This young adolescent was flattered by the clothes he wore, the way he stood and the book he held in his hand. Where Bronzino diverged from the norm is the incredible shadowing on the right side of the portrait. It makes us think that he did this purposely as the boy has one eye going towards the shadow. If you look at other portraits, none of the eyes are going in the same direction.. The detail of his clothing almost gives you a feeling of the touch. The carvings on the chair and the table are magnificent. You can feel the wood. They almost represent a man and a woman. In studying a Portrait of a Young Man, Bronzino uses a technique that is used from Leonardo De Vinci up to the 20th century. He uses the same geometrical lines or even the same background for other portraits. Ugolino Martelli. 1535 which was done oil on wood. is a young man with the same vertical lines as Portrait of a Young Man. His face has the same shadowing effect. It is important to speak about the full background. Ugolino Martelli. 1535 has a background with a balcony and two other windows. The interesting point is the fact that he used the same points to draw pillars and what looks like a balcony in Portrait of Bartolomeo Panciatichi. 1540. The material used in this painting was tempera on wood which was a mixture of pigment with egg yolk. In these three paintings, other parallels can be drawn. They are all holding books. The two young boys have marble skin and exquisite black clothes showing the richness of their families. third dimensional background for three other paintings. Their eyes are not looking in the same direction. The background is out of proportion as it is though they are all looking outside a window or a balcony. His later portraits of children and women from 1542-1545 are without a background; the colors are off and the poses are complicated. He keeps each of his subjects looking off. He has totally lost depth perception and has kept horizontal perception. One has to be noted that for the first time children are showing signs of emotion in his portraits. There are three important points of mannerism from Bronzino: the impossible poses shows an attempt of movement; the emotion of the children and the change to strange light colors show a start of realism; and the transition into the Baroque realism. The Baroque Period represents a return to realism. It dates from the early 1600's to the 1700's through all of Europe. The church accepts this movement of art as man was no longer personified a Greek god or goddess with marbled skin. Mannerism showed the beginning of emotions, the Baroque period was the epitomy of emotion. Mannerism's use of light was taken and expounded on. Facial expression became important. Historically, Spain and Italy were in relatively calm eras. Courts had several levels of artists. Velazquez was the principle court artist of the Queen and King of Spain. He was able to travel all over Europe and was commissioned to do works. Bronzino showed stoicism in his earlier paintings, Velazquez showed life, movement and emotion. This artist was chosen of the Italian High Renaissance or Mannerism School as a portrait artist who could not paint exact likeness because he had to flatter his subjects. (Haughton 2004) The next period in art history, the Spanish Baroque period allowed its artists to paint more realistically. Diego Velasquez, Portrait of Juan de Pareja, 1650 has far more freedom than Brozino in his work. He was the court's principle painter and considered a diplomat as he traveled for the king. This painting was chosen to compare first to the Portrait of the Young Man. When Velasquez was in Rome to paint the Pope Innocent X, he wanted to practice, he did a life portrait of his assistant, slave, mulatto painter Juan de Pareja." (Rousseau n.d.) There is such realism in his facial expression, the sweat on his face, the hole in his painter's smock, the beard, the bushy hair. This is the complete contrary to the Portraits of Bronzino. The only thing that seems better one hundred years before is the wonderful use of the hands. As this painting was to practice for the painting of Portrait of Innocent X. It is interesting to compare the two. The facial expression was the same. The look of the eyes and the turn of the head were the same as only one ear could be seen. In both paintings, the imperfection of the skin was painted. This was unheard of in Bronzino's portraits. Pope Innocent does not look happy. He does look realistic. It must have been a hot day as we see sweat on his face. One of the last paintings of Velazquez, Las Meninas 1656-1657 oil on canvas was painted of the princess of the king and queen of Spain. There was one done in detail and the larger one which is 2 meters by 3 meters (approx). This painting has a lot of surprises. If you look at the back wall, you see a mirror. In the mirror there is a portrait of a man and a wife, it has been proven that the man and the wife are the king and queen. Velazquez is shown painting a large canvas. He wanted to give the effect that the children were watching him paint. The realism of the dog gives the viewer a desire to pet him. The girls are also looking at someone or people. Are they curtseying? Have the King and Queen just walked into the room? Velazquez wanted his painting to have movement and to tell a story. Paintings in the Renaissance did not tell realistic stories. They were mythological or biblical stories. The influence this large canvas had on future artist was immense. To show realistic scenes was not done. Delacroix, and Constable and Turner would be highly influenced. References Fahy, E. (1971) Florentine Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum: An Exhibition and a Catalogue. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 29, no. 10, 431-443 (June, 1971). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1971. Accessed 15 June 2011 http://www.metmuseum.org/publications/bulletins/1/pdf/3258561.pdf.bannered.pdf Gasta, C. (2006) The Politics of Painting: Velazquez and Diplomacy in the Court of Philip IV Letras Hispanas,Volume 3, Issue 2, 20. 2006 Haughton, N.(2004) Perception of beauty in Renaissance art Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 3, 229-233 London: Blackwell Publishing LTD Accessed 14 June 2011 http://www.pdfreference.com/Perceptions-of-beauty-in-Renaissance-art Rousseau, T. (n.d.) Juan de Pareja by diego Velazquez, An Appreciation of the Portrait The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accessed 14 June 2011 http://www.metmuseum.org/publications/bulletins/1/pdf/3258521.pdf.bannered.pdf Read More