The art of Italy and Northern Europe from 1300 to 1520
The art of Italy and Northern Europe from 1300 to 1520The Art of Italy and Northern Europe from 1300 to 1520
The years between 1300 to 1520, commonly known as the Renaissance, was an era of extraordinarily advanced achievements made in the art world. Techniques that began to be utilized at this period of time made the artworks surpass those of any other preceding movement.
"A word of caution is necessary when speaking of a 'rebirth' of the spirit of antiquity. In Italy, much more so than in northern Europe, the classical tradition had been more or less continuous (Fleming, 283)." Since the classic Roman style was consistently present in the south, the Italian Renaissance was not really a rebirth as is suggested by a literal translation of the word. It was actually a reemphasis and reinterpretation on the already existing techniques and then after this recreation, a surpassing of them.
The Italian revival of antiquity was connected to the newfound concept of humanism. The humanistic approach, was the cause of the studying of classic Pagan authors, therefore explaining the influence it had on many compositions.
The origin of the Italian Renaissance can be identified to the very end of the medieval period. The latter part of the era "was one that seemed to have one foot planted in the Middle Ages and the other in the emerging Renaissance (Fleming, 248)."
In approximately 1305, the visionary Giotto began his frescos at the Arena Chapel. Giotto looked at his surroundings; he saw how things appeared in nature, and painted these objects in the same way. The impression of depth is found in his works, as was the appearance of focal points. In his masterpiece, Miracle of the Spring, Saint Francis is made the focal point. This is achieved by the coming together of the two mountains in the background in a crisscross fashion and meeting where the Saint is, simultaneously. Giotto uses the image of a sloping mountain to draw attention to the main aspect of a painting again in Pieta, Joachim Returning to the Sheepfold and Flight into Egypt. His incorporation of the mountains was done to emphasize the expressions or placement of the human figures in his works, by their appearance of density and austerity (Fleming, 237). "The mountains, or architectural backgrounds, do not exist in their own right but become volumes and masses in Giotto's pictorial designs as well as inanimate extensions of human nature (Fleming, 237)."
The Florentine Renaissance was dominated by ideas related to classical humanism, scientific naturalism and Renaissance individualism. The Roman Renaissance occurred from the late fifteenth century until the mid-sixteenth century. At that point, art and humanism had reached their pinnacle.
Masaccio was a greatly influential artist of the Florentine Renaissance. His frescoes were done in the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine. Massicio mastered...
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