Giovanni Pietrio Rizzoli: Giampietrino

Artemisia Gentileschi is considered to be one of the great painters of the Baroque era, and is especially venerated for her mastery of the Caravaggesque style. Her power as an artist comes not only from her technical and creative capabilities, but also from her acute understanding of and involvement in theoretical discourse on painting and the genius of the artist. Known for her vigorous depictions of powerful Biblical heroines that do not conform to typical images of femininity and through the intensity of the Caravaggesque style, Gentileschi’s work can be considered quintessentially Baroque.

Artistic styles are constantly changing. Incidentally, most famous artists tend to be masters of a specific style of art. Every period of art is influenced by the former periods, creating a blurred line where the periods end and beginning. The artists who work in between two distinct periods create a noteworthy blend of both styles. One such artist, Giovanni di Paolo, worked with influences from both the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Medieval and Renaissance art are completely different styles, but Paolo worked to create his own style that fused the two. Medieval art describes the period spanning from Early Christian art all the way to Gothic art. With so many different styles included in this span, come different standards. Paolo focuses on perspective, which was one of the elements that began in Medieval art, but was perfected in Renaissance art. The Renaissance occurred in Europe as literally the rebirth of classical Greek and Roman ideals. Typical early Renaissance art incorporates perspective and realism (Kleiner). Paolo was born at the end of the Medieval period, and although his influences are unknown, it can be inferred that Medieval masters along with Early Renaissance learning influenced him (Damiani). The Medieval and Renaissance periods lasted a significant amount of time, and their overlap is relatively small, but this is when Paolo thrived. Artists were becoming independent artists with individual techniques instead of artisans. Throughout his career, Paolo painted book illuminations as well as panel paintings. Although Renaissance art marked a decline in sacred art, Scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist are a series of six panels that show Paolo’s developing style. Included in these is figure one, St. Joh...

The development of Italian painting in the years around the 1300 or the proto-renaissance is in some sense the rebirth of art and culture. The painters of Renaissance Italy usually attached to particular courts and with loyalties to certain cities, still explored the extensive span of Italy. Many of the Italian painters grew artistically during this time, which is noticeable in Duccio’s painting compared to Giotto’s. In the renaissance period it was highly popularized to mainly draw depictions of religious figures, which is what the concentration of Duccio’s artwork mainly was. Before the painting of the Betrayal of Christ, Duccio’s paintings were highly composed and reliant upon the ancient tradition of icon painting. In the time around 1300 Duccio took steps toward depicting images in a more naturalistic form; Whereas, Giotto, in the 1300’s, was already established as painting more three-dimensional and naturalistic forms.

Giovanni Bellini was born in Venice, Italy around 1430. He was the son of Jacopo Bellini, an esteemed painter at the time, and probably began his career along side his brother as an assistant in his father’s workshop. Though his artwork was influenced by many of his friends and relatives, Giovanni possessed certain qualities in his compositions which set him apart from the others. He blended the styles of both his father and brother-in-law, Andrea Mantegna, with his own subtle appreciation of color and light, the high regard he held for the detail of natural landscape, along with the very direct human empathy he placed in his painting. These components of Bellini’s personal style became foundational to the character of all Venetian Renaissance Art. Bellini later developed a sensuous coloristic manner in his work which became yet another characteristic he contributed to the Venetian Renaissance Art.

In the Medici Chapel, commissioned by Pope Leo X and Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici around 1520, Michelangelo sculptured four nudes, two around the tomb of Lorenzo and two over the tomb of Giuliano, although two of the nudes were female, Night and Dawn, it is believed that male models were used and their bodies are strong and athletic looking. The figure Day over the tomb of Giuliano, is a most unusual pose: left arm under the body, right arm crossing to show a muscular back, legs crossed in the opposite way, and a partially blocked out head. This figure provides another testament to the evolution of the artist’s style, talent and uniqueness.

The author first introduces Caravaggio as a son of a stonemason, during this period of was one of the deepest religious fevers. The new archbishop, Carlo Borromeo, was returning for a Christian Piety due to the bubonic plague that wiped out one fifth of the Diocese that resided in Milan. During this time, the Counter-Reformation culture was very popular and figures such as Ignatius Loyola and Carlo Borromeo were very influential. Both men tried to inspire the common folk by focusing on the sacrifice of Christ by empathizing on his suffering on the cross and other stories that was central to Christianity. Carlo Borromeo believed that the visual representation of Christ must be vivid, while empathizing on his suffering and sacrifices, hoping that it will make the image grander. That is why during this time, most of the popular religious artworks emphasized on a dark, realistic, gruesome image that contrasts the delicate and light style of the Florentine craft. Caravaggio’s art style was so revolutionary that it shock most of his viewers due to its realism combined with the dynamic lighting and vivid visuals. It made many artists re-evaluate all of art’s goals and the duties of an artist. Andrew Graham-Dixon empowers Caravaggio with a sense of rich visual heritage and a desire to create a very visually stunning quality in his art – a desire that will inspire him to push the limits of his work that will deepen as time pass.

The work of art has undergone remarkable changes over centuries. Several artists have made remarkable contributions with widespread effects in this field. Consequently, there are a significant number of artists who evoke a feeling of nostalgia whenever their names come into play. Among these artists is Sandro Botticelli. In this paper, we discuss Sandro Botticelli, one of the most celebrated artists.

As a student of Duccio di Buoninsegna who was an Italian artist and actively worked in the city of Siena, Tuscany, Simone Martini's most famous painting "The Annunciation and the Two Saints" (1333) (Fig. 1) shows influence of the Sienese style of painting at a time when Byzantine art was very popular in the 14th century (Kleiner, 2010:387). This is made evident by the expansive use of gold in the background space behind the figures and flowing throughout the panelled-painting, the attention paid particularly to decorative pattern, as well as the detail and subtle use of sinuous line and rich colours to create pattern, which are all characteristics of Sienese-styled religious iconography. The painting is considered very beautiful, executed with tight, elegant brushstrokes and bears a medieval interest in the representation of the supernatural and spiritual.

The artists of the Baroque had a remarkably different style than artists of the Renaissance due to their different approach to form, space, and composition. This extreme differentiation in style resulted in a very different treatment of narrative. Perhaps this drastic stylistic difference between the Renaissance and Baroque in their treatment of form, space, and composition and how these characteristics effect the narrative of a painting cannot be seen more than in comparing Perugino’s Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to St. Peter from the Early Renaissance to Caravaggio’s Conversion of St. Paul from the Baroque.Perugino was one of the greatest masters of the Early Renaissance whose style ischaracterized by the Renaissance ideals of purity, simplicity, and exceptional symmetry of composition. His approach to form in Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to St.Peter was very linear. He outlined all the figures with a black line giving them a sense of stability, permanence, and power in their environment, but restricting the figures’ sense of movement. In fact, the figures seem to not move at all, but rather are merely locked at a specific moment in time by their rigid outline. Perugino’s approach to the figures’themselves is extremely humanistic and classical. He shines light on the figures in a clear, even way, keeping with the rational and uncluttered meaning of the work. His figures are all locked in a contrapposto pose engaging in intellectual conversation with their neighbor, giving a strong sense of classical rationality. The figures are repeated over and over such as this to convey a rational response and to show the viewer clarity. Perugino’s approach to space was also very rational and simple. He organizes space along three simple planes: foreground, middle ground, and background. Christ and Saint Peter occupy the center foreground and solemn choruses of saints and citizens occupy the rest of the foreground. The middle distance is filled with miscellaneous figures, which complement the front group, emphasizing its density and order, by their scattered arrangement. Buildings from the Renaissance and triumphal arches from Roman antiquity occupy the background, reinforcing the overall classical message to the

Titian’s style of art, and his masterful techniques with religious art, mythical compositions, and successive glazes have never been surpassed. They influence generations of artists to come, and will continue to do so as long as his work is studied. His place in the Italian High Renaissance will never be overlooked.