Post #4, Option #1

Michelangelo’s David, a marble statue of a nude male, demonstrates the power of a dynamic statue. Though the figure is obviously solid, it seems to breathe right off of the page as a living person would. This attribute was fairly common throughout the High Renaissance, period of art which took place roughly between the 1490’s to 1527, primarily in Italy. This era favored a hearkening back to the High Classical period in Rome in the ancient times, focusing on a combination of a high level of realism along with a very idealized view of things and people. Like art in the Early Renaissance, religion played a large part in the commission and subjects of the artwork. However, during the High Renaissance, private groups and individuals became more prominent commissioners of artwork. This increased the amount of portraits and other non-religious subjects. To understand and examine David, a wonderful example of artwork from the High Renaissance, one may compare the statue to a piece of art from the Early Renaissance. Before Michelangelo created David beginning in 1501, another famous artist interpreted the hero. The artist Donatello created a statue of David in beginning in 1446, which depicts a warrior male standing atop his armor, shining as the light reflects off its bronze exterior.

The material is one of the most striking differences between the two statues. Donatello’s bronze work is made of a very hearty, solid, and war-like material. Michelangelo’s statue of white marble seems much more majestic and luxurious because of the color and material. With the High Renaissance stressing an importance on the idealized and classical ideals of earlier times, the marble is a very clear choice, and illustrates the time very well. Scale, though not readily apparent in the pictures, is another big difference between the two David statues. Donatello’s Early Renaissance David stands slightly below the normal height of a man, let alone a great warrior, at only 5’2 1/4”. Michelangelo’s David depicts a more than idealized warrior, standing at a grandiose 17’ tall. This statue towers over viewers, displaying the ideal male and the epic proportions of the hero. The details of the sculpting on both statues are impressive, but it seems that they are aiming for different results. The body’s lines and shapes are a fairly realistic representation of a male on Donatello’s figure. However, on Michelangelo’s work, the details on the body seem almost too real, because they have been pushed to the ideal male body. The High Renaissance began to focus more on people, which is shown in Michelangelo’s David because of the lack of objects surrounding the figure. In Donatello’s David, the statue is adorned with the accessories of war, making an overall different composition.

In the text, it states that in many of the pieces in the High Renaissance, there is a dynamic unity. I see this very strongly in Michelangelo’s David, through the lifelike figure and overall composition of the statue. It seems to be alive all over. It is not as present in Donatello’s piece; it seems as though it is merely a statue.

Post #3

Greek and Roman gods and goddesses have been popular subjects in art even after Christianity became the prominent religion. Artists and the general public saw the depiction of these beings as a way to hearken back to Classicism and traditional forms of art. Sandro Boticelli, a painter, had a style similar to naturalism, but his works mimicked much of classical art in that it showed an idealized version of people, places and events. Birth of Venus depicts the coming of Venus into the world as a full-grown woman, though she and the other people in the painting appear to be more beautiful than normal people are. Through the use of bright colors, impossible body shapes and positions, and soft edges, Birth of Venus demonstrates the Renaissance time’s glorified view and ideal of beauty and female sexuality.

The ideal in beauty for a woman during the Renaissance was fair skin, blonde hair, and a slim, graceful figure. While all of the women in the painting exhibit these traits to some degree, it is Venus specifically who epitomizes the ideal in beauty. The painting overall uses a soft-edged line quality, but it is distinct and crisp enough to feel realistic. The people’s bodies specifically are edged in an outline, accentuating the perfect forms. Things like the sea and Venus’s hair are much softer in comparison.

The overall composition draws the eye to the main event, Venus, by making her the lightest thing in the picture, along with her shell. On the right side of the canvas are the darkest areas, showing the land, welcoming mortal and surrounding area to which Venus is traveling. In contrast, on the left side of the picture are two otherworldly beings, a god and a nymph, sending Venus to land. These individuals and surrounding area are overall much lighter in comparison to the right side of the page, perhaps demonstrating the purity of the gods and heaven to the darkness of humans and earth. Venus herself is the brightest object on the canvas both because she is the focus, but also to show that a perfect, ideal woman should be completely pure and good.

Venus’s body shape and posture expand even more on the artist’s attempts to show an ideal woman. While a slim, graceful figure was the height of perfection for women, Boticelli highlighted Venus’s neck and limbs, and distorted her posture so greatly that she is anatomically incorrect and in a physically impossible position. Her neck, arms, and torso are elongated beyond anatomical normality, giving the illusion of an extremely slim, poised body. Her weight would not be supported in her current position, as her single foot supports her body in its awkward tilted position. This position, however, helps take the viewer back to classical art again.

This painting, while in most ways shows the feminine ideal of purity, suggests something else entirely in examination of Venus’s pose. At first glance, the figure seems to be attempting to cover her nude body with her hands. And this may be the idea, but the way in which her hands and her body are arranged, her action seems to only draw attention towards her sexuality, not away.

The scale of the painting helps further draw the viewer’s eye towards Venus, as she is the most prominent element of the picture. Beyond that, the sea and the tree line allude to the size and scale of the painting, suggesting that Venus is emerging from the large, expansive sea to the stretch of land she is entering. The wind god and the nymph are the next largest people shown, and then next largest is the mortal welcoming Venus from the shore. Though the people on the side are easily distinguishable and in scale, it is obvious that Venus is the focus.

The detail work accentuates certain things, such as the clothing, and parts of the tree. However, this seems to make the simplicity of Venus and her shell even more striking in comparison. Her beauty comes from nature, and is all her own, without any need for fancy, ornate garments or trinkets. This is one more note that shows the ideal of feminine beauty in the Renaissance; though a beautiful woman looks lovely in pretty clothes, her true beauty should come from within her, and be natural. 

Post #2, The Northern Renaissance

When using art to understand an era, several lenses may be employed to grasp the full scope of the world and the ideas of the people who lived then. The acronym PERSIA, which stands for Politics, Economics, Religion, Social, Intellectual, and Aesthetic, offers a fairly comprehensive way to analyze these things. To understand the art, and thus the people living during the time of the Renaissance, and specifically the Northern Renaissance, we can look at the PERSIA elements.

Politically, the land in the North was divided among brothers of royalty, creating a fairly balanced network of rulers, though during this time war was a fairly usual part of life. Around the time of the Northern Renaissance, power began to shift from those born into wealth and a title to those who worked for their respect and money. This added to the idea of a more individualistic person populating the world of the Renaissance. Economically, Art during this time was considered a luxury, and was used as a sign of great wealth and power. Items such as illuminated manuscripts, and gold-thread tapestries were commissioned by wealthy families to flaunt their worth.

Religion played a huge role in the world of the Northern Renaissance, and was supposed to be the single-most valued idea in the life of every man, woman and child. So much of the art of this time depicts scenes of holy people, objects, or symbolism, showing the overwhelming dominance of this value in the people’s lives. The idea of visual communion, where, upon viewing something through the portal of the eye, a part of it is transmitted to the soul, was very popular during this time. Such a concept shows how valuable and powerful it would have been to people to have seen physical representations of holy persons, and why it so heavily occupied the world of art of this time.

Socially, artists occupied a very low place in the social hierarchy, and it was not until the emergence of Jan Van Eyck that artists began to sign and celebrate their work. Art as a whole, however, was beginning to emerge as a much more powerful tool and craft than had been appreciated in the years leading up to the Renaissance. Intellectually, as mentioned earlier, people were beginning to take more notice of themselves and their place in the world as individuals. This allowed the view of the common man to shift from that of a collective group mentality to a new independence and individuality that strongly affected art produced during this era.

Aesthetically, the art of the Northern Renaissance can be categorized and recognized by several characteristics. Firstly, the most common and popular types of art produced during this time were paintings, tapestries, illuminated manuscripts, and sculpture. These mediums, although not new to the world of art, were revolutionized by artists through the uses of innovative techniques and new approaches. The style of art from the Northern Renaissance, International Gothic, can be discerned by the idealized, graceful subjects, lavish details, and light, bright colors with heavy use of gold and other metallic colors. More importantly than the specific style is the mindset behind many of the super realistic works created during the Northern Renaissance. Artists like Jan Van Eyck helped shift art from the act of creating something that depicts a beautiful object, and instead showed us the world itself, a window to the world around us. A new level of realism was achieved through Van Eyck’s paintings, which astonish viewers even today. Another example of this practice is in the creation of illuminate manuscripts, the pictures of which were meant to be windows of scenes of holy people, instead of just a picture of the being. Artists were bringing the subjects of their paintings to life, and inviting the viewers to feel like a part of the picture and the experience.

Post #1: Introduction to Renaissance Art

Renaissance art continues to captivate and make impressions upon audiences around the world, despite it's age and the emergence of many contrasting styles since their creation. Why are these art forms still considered some of the greatest created, and held in such high regard? The works of art from the Renaissance to many are the classic forms of art, the beginning of a new style, the right style, for artists to follow. Classic forms of art create the base for future works, no matter if they are a visual work such as a painting, or a work of literature. Though people may not all read or enjoy War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, it is held in high regard by literature lovers and everyday people alike because it is considered a classic masterpiece in it's area of art. In the same way, art from the Renaissance is considered classic, and many easily recognizable works of art are from this era. Also, pop culture's use of themes, people, and images from this era have helped further its grip on audiences to this day. The name of this blog, for example, stems from the popular comic books, television show, movies, and toys from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, as the four turtles are named after well-known Renaissance artists; Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael.