Early Renaissance Vs. High Renaissance

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For my two pieces of artwork, I chose to talk about are the “Portrait of a Woman and Man (Angiola Di Bernardo Sapiti and Lorenzo Di Raniei Scholari) by Fra Filippo Lippo and  “Agnelo Doni” by the famous Raphael. I chose these paintings because they are extremely similar but very different styles at the same time. “Portrait of a Woman and Man” was painted in the Early Renaissance stage as for “Agnelo Doni” was painted in the High Renaissance stage.

One major similarity these two paintings have is that they both are portrayed to be newlywed portraits. Although, “Portrait of a Woman and Man” is considered a double-portrait, “Agnelo Doni” and his newlywed wife were painting on two separate canvases.  It is also interesting to me that in both paintings, the newlywed couples are not touching or showing any affectionate toward each other, considering Agnelo had his paintings with his wife completely separate.

    Fra Filppo Lippi’s Early Renaissance painting and Raphael’s High Renaissance painting are much different in many ways. Lippi’s painting is much more soft and elegant. The Painting has easygoing colors and a gentle touch. Raphael’s painting is more detailed with better illusion and depth. The woman in Fra Filippo Lippi’s painting is oversized and almost does not seem to fit into the frame. Her body is proportioned, but the frame does not seem to fit her correctly. Where as Agnelo is easily proportioned and centered in the frame. His arm leaning towards the back of the painting gives him that three-dimensional depth unlike the woman where she is standing to the side where only her profile is showing. I think Raphael was trying to address more the viewer rather then the scene, which Fra Filippo Lippi did in his earlier paintings.

    Various changings in both changes with these two portraits as well. “Agnleo Doni’s” facial expression is much more detailed then the woman’s in the other painting. I noticed more female faces in the Early Renaissance to reassemble people as looking porcelain, rather than realistic. Raphael’s painting is of a man, which seems to be a lot more detailed than the other two figures in the other painting. They both have no expression on their face so it’s hard to tell what kind of feeling this painting wants me to feel. Agnelo Doni looks serious but also casual. My eye’s are at ease, but I would have never guessed this to be a painting based off of a newly wedded man.

    As far as dynamic unity with these two paintings, Raphael’s piece shows variety in poses and gestures rather than Lippi’s pice. Both paintings are very “classical” and elegant but as the book says, “High Renaissance art is characterized by a sense of gravity and decorum, a complex but ordered relationship of individual parts to a whole” which focuses on the real and ideal characterizing scenes and portraits. I would say both paintings share certain characteristics, but the High Renaissance pieces show more dynamic unity as a whole. 

The Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello, he devoted his life and paintings to to the study of linear perspective. This piece is beautiful in it’s own way, the energy, the color, the scenery, all of this makes me feel as if the painting was alive. The composition is very interesting because I feel as if one side of the painting represents “good” and they other side represents “evil”. One half of the painting is lighter; their weapons are white and vigorous. On the other side, it is much darker and their weapons are much smaller, and the soldiers are not as noticeable as the soldiers on the left.

What is most attracting to my eye is that all the horses and soldiers are painted with dark, gloomy colors, which I’m assuming because it’s a battle, except for the white horse in the very middle. I want to know why this horse was painted white of all horses. Because of the way the white horse is placed in the painting and the size compared to the other figures, I feel like this horse is significant. I noticed the background is almost a fixed vanishing point. It looks like a long row of soldiers and then your eyes are centered on mainly the white horse. I feel as if this white horse is sentimental in this battle, I think it’s because the white horse has more placement in the painting rather then the enemy, as well as more contrast with the other things in the painting. The other horse in the picture that seems grey, I depict it as being the evil side in which the white horse represents the good side. I am assuming this mostly because of color and the soldiers on the left side of the painting seems stronger and with more detail then the ones on the right. Their weapons are bigger and they are more noticeable in the painting than the other side. They have more detail and more contrasting colors.

Another thing I have noticed is the floor of this painting. There are many weapons and strange lines that lead your eye to certain things in the painting. Between the white horse and the black horse on the left, between the two white weapons there is a soldier that has no armor on and it looks as if he had just taken off his hat.  This is interesting to me because I don’t think I would have recognized it if it had not been more the obvious linear lines. Also, the background of this picture seems very particular with its lines as well. The pathway in the back also draws your eye to this solider on the white horse. The pathway on the left of it also draws your eye to the soldier with no armor on. This is important I feel like because I think Uccello wanted the viewer to look at these soldiers more then the others. This soldier and the main soldier’s faces seem as if they weren’t even fighting. Their faces are detailed with beauty instead of treachery and war-like. I don’t know why, but they certainly stand out more than the others. The hat placed on the white horse soldier is too very extraordinary. The detail in his hat makes me feel as if he is wealthy and very powerful, not like the other solders.  Even the wraps around all of the horses seem peculiar.

Overall, I believe this painting has a great composition. One side is more noticeable than the other, making me believe that I want to pay more attention to the side with more color and detail rather than the dark heavy side with not much to look at at all. The way the white horse takes over the picture really makes all the difference.  The scale of the characters and weapons are much bigger than the other side as well. The style of this painting is very unique and entertaining. Although there are some unknown answers about certain details in this painting I wish I knew, but generally this painting is beautiful. The color stands out and makes me feel the energy of this scene, possibly between good and evil. 

Northern Renaissance Documentary

From the documentary, “Northern Renaissance: The Supreme Art,” Joseph Leo Koerner takes us through an exciting journey through an extraordinary revival of beautiful art. The most valued type of art was religious. I think a lot of the art was based on Christianity and naturalism. Jan Van Eyck, “The Prince of Painters” started it all with his realistic paintings. His sensible oil paintings were like another way into the world, his art was very representative and people loved it. His paintings were alive and spoke to the audience, this Northern Renaissance art was favored by his Christian paintings. Every detail in his paintings has a purpose and has delicate features. This changed the ways of Northern Renaissance art. The panels and shutters were so carefully detailed that when the light hits, the certain figures are highlighted. It’s interesting the Adam is highlighted and eve is not. Van Eyck changed the base materials in oil paints by using different types of minerals to purify the color, making the color stand out when in different lighting. These rich colors made the paintings stand out almost as an illusion. Without these specific details, the paintings would not be portrayed the same. The lighting is so important because of Christian background, being the “light of god”. This idea was unheard of, which I think is why it became so popular. After Van Eyck, portrait paintings became a master industry, along with detailed backgrounds. Van Eyck inspired Nicholas Rola, the vineyards he painted were as much as important as the materials made by the painting.

Although painting was important, sculpture was portrayed as the dominant craft. Sculptures were very popular; they stood out more than paintings. In the southern renaissance, art sculpture had a presence where each figure is individualized. The paintings shared stories on shutters or the wings of the buildings. Although paintings were not their favorite, people did love the private prayer books; all the paintings inside were beautiful and extremely detailed. The religious paintings looked as if they were leaving the page or out of the window into the coherent world. Van Eyck’s paintings seemed alive and qualified to perfection.  A lot of his work reflected his personal life, which has never been done before.

One type of paintings that the southern renaissance did enjoy was tapestry. Rich lifestyles were a big influence of tapestries, they were made of the finest material and silk thread was based off of wealth and power.

Religious images seemed to be the most important in the Northern Renaissance. Having a visual substance in the paintings, one had thought Christ could enter the body through the eye. Visual experience was the most important throughout these times, especially in Van Eyck’s eyes. His Christian paintings depicted a real sense. I believe he wanted to make his art so realistic because he wanted to feel as if they were living in the present. Some of his paintings are mysterious, but his inscriptions and certain detail makes his paintings are so present, which I think, is exactly what he wanted. He wanted to connect death and life together. Without Van Eyck, the legacy of his extraordinary work would not make renaissance art the same. His amazing capabilities created a new world in his images, he’s apart of all his work which is an entirely new idea to this age and I believe will live on forever, and so will Van Eyck.

Intro Art 236!

Hello again! My name is Reale, I am a junior this year. I am a graphic design major and apparel design minor. I love all sorts of art. That's the beauty of art, is that it's used in many different ways and many different styles. This is my second quarter taking one of your online art history classes. I enjoyed last quarter, so i'm interested to see what kind of art we will be talking about this quarter. I am not really that familiar with this type of art but i'm definitely interested to see what we will be looking at and learning. I hope to travel to Europe over the next year studying abroad, so taking this class will really help me with the art history! I look forward to this quarter!