Nicol dell' Abate & Renaissance Masculine Expression - Essay Example

Nicolò dell Abate & Renaissance Masculine Expression The artistic and stylistic elements of Renaissance culture throughout Europe cannot be explained without consideration of both the historical and ideological contexts. In the fifteenth and sixteenth-centuries Italian political powers were distributed among the numerous city-states. Artistic works became a tool for manipulation by oligarchic or desportic rulers. Rivalries exploited independence in cities, as well as generated instability and tension. During the first decades of the sixteenth century1, the arts had flourished in all of the principal cities across Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and the Veneto ("Met Museum"). One of the most prominent artists during this period was Nicolò dell Abate, with a seminal work of masculinity that of his ‘Portrait of a gentleman with a falcon’. There are many contextual considerations that must be established when making critical statements regarding Nicolò dell Abate’s work. The evaluation of dell Abate’s style from his work and the work itself should include his personal profile as being in some of the Italian artistic/ artists’ schools and later in the French School of Fontainebleau in around 1552. His style was modified by exposure to two ground breaking and influential Italian masters of High Renaissance – Correggio and Parmigianino, who were active in the mannerist movement in the first half of the sixteenth century. Also Nicolò, as an esteemed artist from Fontainebleau, was likely invited to create commissioned works of art for other noble families of the period. His style2 was certainly influenced by mannerism (Ottawa: Bolognese Drawings in North American Collections, 1500-1800, P.261) by his livehood in Bologna, Emilia3, at the time when Raphael’s influence was so strong that an entire generation of painters has come to be called Emilian classicists or Romanists ("Met Museum"). Along with Raphael’s classicism, Mannerist aesthetics tendencies were transmitted to the city by several Italian artists (such as Amico Aspertini and Prospero Fontana), which had dominated Bolognese painting for much of the sixteenth century. Within this historical contextual framework one considers Nicolò dell Abate’s ‘Portrait of a gentleman with a falcon’. Fig. 1 below depicts this image. Fig. 1 Portrait of a gentleman with a falcon (1571) The work embodies many of the aesthetic elements of Renaissance portraiture. Portrait likenesses began to resurge in Europe in the fifteenth century when generic representation had been the norm. This change reflected a new growth of interest in everyday life, individual identity as well as a revival of Greco-Roman custom ("Met Museum"). Italian humanists searched for sanctions for portraiture in the literature and art of antiquity through an intellectual and artistic aesthetic; memorial portraits were painted in the meantime4 ("Met Museum"). To a large degree this particular portrait assumes many of these traditional elements. One considers the black costume in the context of such traditional descriptions. According to Mathew black became the fashionable colour for the clothing of European élites in the sixteenth century, and was inevitably most often used in portraits5 (Mathew). These subtleties are difficult to see in reproduction, especially in painterly pictures where heavy varnishes or past damage have abraded the three-dimensional surface. Such pictures are better examined “in person.” From a more critical context one considers the framing of the portrait with the man seated rather than standing. The effect is subtle, but it gives off an aura of power and patience. Another major distinction in the image is the position of the man’s eyes. While it would be clichéd to note aphorism regarding the centrality of the eyes, in the context of this specific image they hold the added dimension of articulating the extent of the man’s involvement in the work. Rather than directly engaging the painter, the man in the work is concerned about external elements. This indirect apathy represents a primacy of work or estate management over what can be considered the secondary task of having one’s portrait depicted. In this sense the averted gaze functions as an assertion of power and masculinity. From a more traditional perspective, the man’s gaze may represent an interiority. During the Italian Renaissance, portraits were test-cases of artistic skill, tools in marriage negotiations, and vehicles for the expression of friendship. Portraits that were done on the artists’ self-initiative often display a sense of affection, informality, or experimentation unusual in commissioned works. The later developed Italian portraiture tended to abandon the conventional profile view that was the norm in the fifteenth century and was frequently featured in ancient coins, replaced with the revolutionary three-quarter face6 ("Met Museum"). The three-quarter face allowed for greater engagement between the sitter and viewer began to dominate in Renaissance portraitures. The sitter’s distant gaze and delicately modelled features express hints of an interior life. Perhaps the most notable consideration is the falcon situated on the man’s arm. While the animal may have a functional purpose in its Renaissance context, it also clearly serves a symbolic purpose. In this sense the bird, in its capture, symbolizes feminine submission to masculine authority. Further analysis necessitates recourse to patriarchal explication, as the bird’s wings constitute a formidable barrier to capture and domination. In general, with male leadership the norm in both the public and private spheres, women of the Renaissance and Baroque periods derived power as a condition of their relationship to a powerful man – usually a husband, son or father. Within traditionally subordinate roles of wife or mother, individual women nevertheless found ways to project power and to present themselves as exemplars of socially sanctioned ideals of womanhood ("Fathom"). Ultimately, the true beauty and dynamic tension of the image is in the combinatory effect of the averted gaze and the submissive falcon. In gaining a greater perspective on Nicolò dell Abate’s ‘Portrait of a gentleman with a falcon’ it is necessary to consider it in relation to a similar portrait, however depicting the female gender. An exceptional cross comparison can be developed between dell’ Abate’s image and that of Parmigianino’s Antea. Fig. 2 below depicts this portrait. Fig. 2 Antea (1534) One considers that to a great extent the formal qualities between the two images are nearly parallel. Namely the background features a non-dimensional abstract grey tone and the costuming and hand positioning represents semi-formal attire and blocking. Such articulations are encountered between the late thirteenth century Italian portraiture with later counterparts found in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. By the early sixteenth century, replacing the panel and the canvas (which is reusable) had become the norm for most genres, including in portraits. Other distinctive and prominent features include the public or social role of the subject and the style. While the former are found mainly on tomb monuments, the later could also be found in the domestic and public spheres. On the other hand, the highly idealised portrayal of the subjects had transformed to a more realistic style attributed to the humanist movement7 ("Met Museum"). Such transformation or formation of the mainstream of Italian portraiture was developed from the inspiration of the Roman portraits and the general classicizing trends of fifteenth century sculpture, painting and thought. Still, the images diverge in important ways. One of the most noticeable differences between dell Abate’s and Parmigianino’s Antea is that in the female portrait the individual is standing, while in the man’s portrait he is seated. Remarkably, many Renaissance artists started to paint portraits of their patrons as well as everyday people, showing their recognition of the individual. The interest in depicting ordinary people could also be explained by the shifting concepts of power and law in the larger context. In Renaissance artistic culture, it was men who were considered the great artists and creative geniuses. These rare female artists depicted Renaissance women in a realistic and complimentary manner. Portraits of women were most often reflections of their social status and roles of wife and mother. Many Renaissance painters depicted women, as society’s idea of the “ideal woman” in portraits and it was important that she was shown in good character and with the correct social class. That was the period when individual ability and deliberate political action and though carried the weight over the traditional sources of authority, of a political or a church8 ("Met Museum"). Within Antea this power represents a significant difference as the aesthetic value of the standing woman conveys submission to the portrait in a job-like fashion. One considers that portraits may also suggest the sitter’s inner psychology or state of mind. Concurrent with these advances was an important psychological development in which the European character, beginning in the peculiar political and cultural atmosphere of Renaissance Italy, underwent a unique and portentous transformation ("Met Museum"). In discussing these schools of painting, distinct regional characteristics are evident. Nonetheless, painters in the three regions shared many aesthetic goals and many artistic ties bound them together9. Added to this overriding quality is the woman’s gaze as situated directly towards the viewer. While in dell Abate’s work the man is starring away, indicating the power of disassociation, in Parmigianino’s work the situation of the eyes face-on represents a form of objectification and submission to the process of portraiture. While the images can be argued to adopt a hierarchical dialectic, there is also a sense that the women’s artistic capture can be read as slightly empowering. Humanity developed by Italian Renaissance had created social changes that had also helped to raise the status of women (J.H. Plumb). Christine de Pizan (also spelled Pisan) can be considered an early feminist writer. She suggested an expanded role for women in all social classes and who indicated the way women should behave to achieve an exalted position. She speaks directly to women and tells them not only how to behave but also how to run a household, raise children, select fashions, and so on. Several prominent humanist texts/ writings had led to increased education for Italian women, including On Famous Women and The City of Women (1135-59) by Boccaccio and City of Women (1405) by Christine de Pizan ("Full Wiki"). The raised status of women had also led to the rise in women artists during this period. While there are many divergent elements between the two works one also considers that they stem from a similar artistic ontology, namely realism. Realism was an idea being developed and perfected by Renaissance artists. Whereas Tarmas sees this (humanist) shift as a return to classical pagan values. The emergence of humanism, a philosophy or a belief based on the idea that people are rational beings and human thought are valued, had led to many Italian Renaissance artists turned secular10 ("Met Museum"). Besides humanism and secularism, the new value placed on individualism and personal genius, was a shift from the more collectivist, social view of the medieval period. Renaissance artists began to paint individuals emphasizing their potential and achievement, their uniqueness, their emotions and their significance. In this sense the very act of the portrait being depicted, irrespective of gender, demonstrates a concern with the secular exploration of internality. Even subtle distinctions in the texture of fabrics, such as the singular black in dell Abate’s image or the gold in Parmigianino’s, become a hallmark of this new painterly style. In fact, one of the hallmarks of European portraiture is a sense of reality, an apparent intention to depict the unique appearance of a particular person. Each portrait is thus meant to express individual identity, but as Erwin Panofsky recognized, it also “seeks to bring out whether the sitter has in common with the rest of humanity” (quoted in Shearer West, Portraiture [Oxford, 2004], p.24). The conventional aspects of portraiture ensure that each example will bear some resemblance to the next, and yet this general similarity makes the distinctive qualities of each one the more salient. Sometimes the sitter’s beauty or demeanor is emphasized – as in; sometimes a magnificant costume highlights the sitter’s wealth and fashionable taste. In the context of these images, the artists draw from both traditions. In conclusion, Sixteenth-century Venetian painters long enjoyed a reputation as the standard-bearers of an approach that was at once painterly, effective, and steeped in the primacy of colour – colour –as its guiding principle11 ("Met Museum"). The essay has argued that both dell’ Abate’s and Parmigianino’s works are steeped in traditional Renaissance aesthetic elements. However, “naturalism” to them meant an investigation of the natural world, with its emphasis on direct observation as translated into paint – an emphasis that separated their work from the strongly classicizing styles of their fellow artists south of the Apennines ("Met Museum"). Within this spectrum of understanding, the essay has further demonstrated that these naturalistic investigations in both works reveal the patriarchal dimensions of Renaissance culture. References Drahman, Tess. "Women and Men in Renaissance Art." Students. N.p., 2012. Web. 1 Mar 2012. . "Northern Italian Renaissance Painting." Met Museum. N.p., 2011. Web. 1 Mar 2012. . "Portraiture in Renaissance and Baroque Europe." Met Museum. N.p., 2012. Web. 1 Mar 2012. . Mathew, Louisa. "Scholar, Louisa Matthew, Examines Painting Techniques in Renaissance Europe." Artes Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar 2012. Read More