Times of religious upheaval and need for urbanization following the Renaissance gave rise to the production of lavish artworks during the Baroque era in Italy. Characterized by intense emotion and dynamism, Baroque art reflected the power of Roman antiquity but typified the renewed piety of Roman Catholics. The opulent urbanization projects patronized by the church culminated in the verisimilitude of Baroque paintings. One painting that reflects such change is Saint John the Baptist Preaching by Mattia Preti, also known as Il Calabrese. Preti was born in 1613 in Taverna, Calabria to a modest family with ecclesiastical connections. Preti was well traveled around Italy and was exposed to artworks from the likes of Correggio, Mantegna, and Raphael. As with other artists during the Baroque era, his oil painting of St. John the Baptist Preaching executed in 1665 has a distinct Caravagesque style. It exemplifies Italian Baroque art through his dramatic, lively presentation of his subject, extreme attention to naturalism, and monumental composition.
The painting is of a young St. John the Baptist preaching to his congregation. St. John is an important figure in Catholicism not only for his preaching and baptisms in the River Jordan, but for his role as the last prophet and the forerunner of Jesus Christ. His preaching foretells the coming of Christ as the Messiah, and thereupon Christ’s baptism, the voice from Heaven told St. John that Jesus was God’s son. This piece by Calabrese captures John at the height of his oration. Fixed atop a decrepit tree trunk yet grappling for stability, John is shown here in his ascetic attire composed of camel hair, holding his staff and scroll bearing the words “Ecce Agnus Dei,” which translates into Beho...
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...brese’s St John was executed half a century after The Entombment, it is evident that Caravaggio heavily influenced its creation.
The tendencies of Baroque translated differently in parts of Europe. In Italy, it reflected the return of intense piety through dense church ornamentations, complex architecture, and dynamic painting. Calabrese’s work exhibits the combined artistic stimuli of the 17th century and culminates in the acquired Caravagesque style that alters how paintings were composed from then on. Executed at the height of Calabrese’s most creative phase, St. John the Baptist Preaching is indicates the monumentality of change in urbanization as well as the return of Catholic permanence in the 1600’s. Aside from the Baroque power of the artwork, Calabrese’s St. John is a piece worth gravitating to and stands as reminder of the grandiose excesses of Baroque art.
Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes epitomizes the style of artwork during the Italian Baroque era. By using a Catholic subject and key elements and techniques essential to baroque art such as chiaroscuro and foreshortening, she was able to create a piece that gushes drama and realism. Without the use of all of these elements the effect would be lost, but instead the piece is one that moves the viewer with its direct and gritty realism of the religious subject, evoking emotion in a way that leaves the viewer in awe.
By most accounts, the year 1500 was in the midst of the height of the Italian Renaissance. In that year, Flemmish artist Jean Hey, known as the “Master of Moulins,” painted “The Annunciation” to adorn a section of an alter piece for his royal French patrons. The painting tells the story of the angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary to deliver the news that she will give birth to the son of God. As the story goes, Mary, an unwed woman, was initially terrified about the prospects of pregnancy, but eventually accepts her fate as God’s servant. “The Annunciation” is an oil painting on a modest canvas, three feet tall and half as wide. The setting of the painting is a study, Mary sitting at a desk in the bottom right hand corner reading, and the angel Gabriel behind her holding a golden scepter, perhaps floating and slightly off the canvas’s center to the left. Both figures are making distinct hand gestures, and a single white dove, in a glowing sphere of gold, floats directly above Mary’s head. The rest of the study is artistic but uncluttered: a tiled floor, a bed with red sheets, and Italian-style architecture. “The Annunciation” was painted at a momentous time, at what is now considered the end of the Early Renaissance (the majority of the 15th Century) and the beginning of the High Renaissance (roughly, 1495 – 1520). Because of its appropriate placement in the Renaissance’s timeline and its distinctly High Renaissance characteristics, Jean Hey’s “Annunciation” represents the culmination of the transition from the trial-and-error process of the Early Renaissance, to the technical perfection that embodied the High Renaissance. Specifically, “Annunciation” demonstrates technical advancements in the portrayal of the huma...
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was broadly delicate when it came to issues of aesthetic creativity: he debilitated both the painter Guido Reni and craftsman and biographer Giovanni Baglione for replicating his style. Regardless of his earnest attempts to secure his particular style, be that as it may, Caravaggio wound up noticeably a standout amongst the most generally imitated craftsmen ever.
In his Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist Mourning (c.1460), a piece within the Northern Renaissance collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Rogier van der Weyden portrays a stark image of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The right panel of the diptych depicts the gruesome image of a crucified Christ. Weight pulls the emaciated body down into a Y-shape, contrasting the T-shape of the cross it is mounted on. The only movement comes from the loincloth wrapped around Christ’s waist that dances in the wind. Blood visibly trickles from the corpse’s wounds. Behind the body, a red cloth is draped down the grey wall. At the base of the cross sits a skull and bone. The left panel portrays the Virgin Mary swooning in despair as Saint John attempts to support her weight. Her hands are clasped in prayer as she gazes up at her lifeless son. Both figures are clothed in pale draping robes. The vibrant red of the cloth that hangs from the grey wall in the background contrasts the subdued colors of the
Though most works of art have some underlying, deeper meaning attached to them, the first impression of their significance comes through the initial visual interpretation. When a work of art is viewed the visual details are the first to be noticed. For example, size, medium, color, line, balance, contrast and overall composition are generally the primary elements seen. Before an artwork can be further examined for greater significance the formal elements must be taken into consideration. The purpose of this particular paper is to discuss and analyze a very interesting piece of biblical art; Caravaggio’s The Crowning with Thorns. This work, presumed to have been created between 1602 and 1604 was created using oil paints on a 127x165.5 cm canvas.
“All works, no matter what or by whom painted, are nothing but bagatelles and childish trifles… unless they are made and painted from life, and there can be nothing better than to follow nature.” Renaissance artist Caravaggio flawlessly illustrates both the reasons for his popularity and his controversy in this quote recognizing the nature of his work. In the late Renaissance, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio lived a short and dramatic life riddled with murder, religious turmoil, and radical interpretation. Caravaggio created emotional artwork using radical naturalism and theatrical chiaroscuro that set the tone for the Baroque Period and contributed to the reformation of the Catholic Church.
While the Flemish were proficient in oil painting, Italian Renaissance artists continued their predecessor’s use of tempera. Furthermore, the paintings were ultimately created for different purposes and separate viewers. Although both works are centered on the defining moment of the annunciation, The Merode Altarpiece incorporates this scene into a secular setting, therefore differing from Fra Angelico’s The Annunciation which was painted for a monastery. Finally, Flemish and Italian Renaissance paintings differ in levels of realism. Although the Flemish painters were skilled in portraying realism of physical forms, they lacked a full understanding of linear perspective. In contrast, the Italian Renaissance artists were well versed in linear perspective but lacked a complete grasp of the natural
In the article “Conditions of Trade,” Michael Baxandall explains the interaction serving of both fifteenth- century Italian painting and text on how the interpretation of social history from the style of pictures in a historical period, pre-eminently examine the early Renaissance painting. Baxandall looks not only on the explanation of how the style of painting is reflected in a society, but also engages in the visual skills and habits that develop out of daily life. The author examines the central focus on markets, material visual practices, and the concept of the Renaissance period overlooking art as an institution. He observes a Renaissance painting, which relate the experience of activities such as preaching, dancing, and assessing. The author considers discussions of a wide variety of artistic painters, for instance, Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico, Stefano di Giovanni, Sandro Botticelli, Luca Signorelli, and numerous others. He defines and exemplifies concepts used in contemporary critic of the painting, and in the assembled basic equipment needed to discover the fifteenth- century art. Therefore this introductory to the fifteenth- century Italian painting and arise behind the social history, argues that the two are interconnected and that the conditions of the time helped shape the distinctive elements in the artists painting style. Through the institutional authorization Baxandall looks at integration in social, cultural and visual evaluation in a way that shows not only the visual art in social construction, but how it plays a major role in social orders in many ways, from interaction to larger social structural orders.
As the seventeenth century began the Catholic Church was having a hard time bringing back the people who were swept away by the protestant reformation. The conflict between the protestant had a big influence on art. (Baroque Art) The church decided to appeal to the human emotion and feeling. They did so by introducing a style called Baroque. Baroque was first developed in Rome and it was dedicated to furthering the aims of Counter Reformation. Baroque was first used in Italy than later spread to the north. In this paper I will argue that the Italian Baroque pieces were more detailed and captured the personality of the figure, in contrast and comparison to Northern Baroque pieces that aimed to produce a sense of excitement and to move viewers in an emotional sense leaving them in awe. I will prove this by talking about the different artwork and pieces of Italian Baroque art versus Northern Baroque Art.
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
John looks down towards the Christ Child, and he together with the child and Mary form a triangular composition on the left side of the frame with the Christ Child as the focus. St. John is the patron saint of Florence, referencing Sellaio’s Florentine origin. He holds his hands together similar to the Christ Child, in reference to praying for his wellbeing. He also smiles reverently, matching Christ and Mary to establish the happiness brought by Christ’s birth.
Brunelleschi’s sculpture of The Crucifix was created in 1410. It was originally dedicated for the Gondi Chapel of Santa Maria Novella. The wooden sculpture portrays the body of Jesus Christ on the cross. The sfumato is predominantly on his chest,
Additionally, the styles changed; from Rococo, which was meant to represent the aristocratic power and the “style that (…) and ignored the lower classes” (Cullen), to Neoclassicism, which had a special emphasis on the Roman civilization’s virtues, and also to Romanticism, which performs a celebration of the individual and of freedom. Obviously, also the subject matter that inspired the paintings has changed as wel...
This essay will show contrasts in views on the Gospel of John regarding authorship,dates, and the relationship between John's Gospel and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Some comparison of thought, concerning composition and life setting, will also be presented.
During the 17th century many artists joined the Baroque art period, painting vivid and emotional paintings referring to the bible. Whether the artists such Artemisia had a horrible story behind her paintings or like Caravaggio who was a wonderful painter who started as a man with no money and ended up being a famous Baroque painter that many artists looked after.