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.