Academic Art, Neoclassicism and Romanticism - Essay Example

1. Several people in the court of Cosimo were influential in setting up the criteria and would look at geometry and anatomy. This was how art theory was first defined
2. Different methods were taught such as seeing color and line as something similar. There had to be a value and a method behind each sculpture, painting, piece of architecture, or other artwork. Each had a theme or a concept behind it and focused on idealism.

3. Academic arts were not necessarily made for the middle class or the noble. They were made by artists to tell something historic and were more for each other as artists. I’d lean toward that they were made more for the middle class. However, many were commissioned by the noble.

4. The middle class could use these works of art for learning about events. They might not otherwise have access to learning about these things in other ways. They could not be there so they used the art as a historical and educational depiction that could not otherwise be read in books. The noble people commissioned these works of art as a reminder of the history that they would be leaving behind so people would never forget and would learn something.

5. Diego Velazquez created an oil on canvas “The Surrender of Breda” in 1634-35. This painting depicted the military and how military leaders might treat their enemy. This particular work was commissioned by a Spanish King so that it would act as a celebration of the victories in Spain. It was a painting that captured the ideas of the Academy because people could learn from it and it served as memorabilia of the conflict that people can still use academically. It was an example of the Spanish military, a symbol of the leader Philip IV and the army. Another example, by Nicholas Poussin, was “Roman Landscape with Saint Matthew and the Angel” which was created in 1639-40.

Through his work, there were methods used to stimulate cognition. There is geometry used in the symbolism and the two figures and rock create the angles of a triangle. Everything is geometric in this work of art and it shows the figures with ruins in the background. Numerous lines are used within the painting and these were some of the examples that the Academy used. There were meanings behind these specific designs. Read More