Religious Artwork: The Manipulator of Faith
Certain things in life speak louder than words. Although ironic, this is the basis of art. Throughout history, art has changed the way people perceive ideas, feel about ideas and even act towards certain ideas. Art has the innate power to evoke emotion in the public: both positive and negative. It’s this gift that makes art beautiful. Although there is always room for interpretation, the artist has a significant grasp on the viewer’s emotions. A painter is a skillful craftsman at forcing one to view things in thon’s way without the viewer even becoming aware of his manipulation. Unquestionably, this remarkable ability of art has been taken advantage of by institutions such as the Church; it occurs most often through times of crises such as the Counter Reformation.
Domenico Theotocopuli, 1541-1614, otherwise “known as ‘The Greek’—El Griego or El Greco — holds a high place amongst the worthies of Toledo” (Maxwell29). His native town is, thus his name, in Greece. Unfortunately though, there is not much evidence or documentation of his early years. For instance, who is biological parents are still remains a mystery to historians (El Greco Bio). On the other hand, El Greco’s later path to his artistic throne in Toledo is traceable to specific details.
In the 1560s, El Greco retired from Greece, where he was an icon-maker, to Venice— the beginning of his artistic training. In Venice El Greco falls under the influence of masters such as Titian and Tintoretto. A decade later, El Greco becomes acquainted with Michelangelo in Rome. He too influences El Greco’s artistic style but only to an extent where El Greco’s style is distinct. Subsequently, Domenico makes his last move of his caree...
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...es, the public is more prone to behave in a righteous manner. This occurs in our unconscious which functions as a “king of giant computer that quickly and quietly processes a lot of data” (Gladwell 11). Therefore, one is never even aware that thon is being manipulated. Whether or not this is a method of unethical brainwashing needs further research. What cannot be denied, however, is that the Church is a powerful institution with art as its weapon.
Works Cited
"El Greco." Art and Culture. 26 Sept. 2006 .
"El Greco Bio." ABC Gallery. 27 Sept. 2006 .
Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink. 1st ed. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2005. 11.
Maxwell, William S. Stories of the Spanish Artists. London: Chatto & Windus, 1910. 29.
In conclusion, although Mycerinus and Kha-merer-nebty II and Augustus of Primaporta, do appear very different, come from entirely different geographic regions and were separated by thousands of years, they do have many things in common. When we consider subject, style, and function; perhaps other works of art have more in common than they appear to have.
This book was also one of my first encounters with an important truth of art: that your work is powerful not because you convey a new emotion to the audience, but because you tap into an emotion the audience already feels but can't express.
...t would help bring into understandable light the mystery of the Church’s teachings. Finally, achievements in re-creating human emotion would ensure the painting’s, and therefore the Church’s teachings would leave an indelible mark on all of its viewers.
Roman art was also deeply influenced by the art of the Hellenistic world, which had spread to southern Italy and Sicily through the Greek colonies there. The Etruscans and Babylonians can also be seen as inspirations. “With the founding of the Republic, the term Roman art was virtually synonymous with the art of the city of Rome, which still bore the stamp of its Etruscan art” (Honour and Fleming,1999). During the last two centuries, notably that of Greece, Roman art shook off its dependence on Etruscan art. In the last two centuries before Christ, a distinctive Roman manner of building, sculpting, and painting emerged. Indeed, because of the extraordinary geographical extent of the Roman Empire and the number of diverse populations encompassed within its boundaries, “the art and architecture of the Romans was always eclectic and is characterized by varying styles attributable to differing regional tastes and the...
A rediscover of their history and recognition of early Greek philosophers changed the way that the influential families and Princes, in Italy, considered themselves. Their way of thinking of the Devine and need to promote one’s own aspirations through sponsorship of the arts, as well as, civic duty became not only fashionable but important to progress in the city states. Although Donatello’s David and Botticelli’s Primavera are master pieces in their own right, their influence on future generations of artists cannot be ignored. The spark that ignited the fire which we call the Renaissance was a transformation of societies thinking and values to a Humanistic approach to one duties to society and the church. These two works are a reflection of the changing attitudes which would eventually change all of
many fellow artists never attempted this style. El Greco's art style shows the strong, deep Catholic faith of Spain, which can be see...
In existential thought it is often questioned who decides what is right and what is wrong. Our everyday beliefs based on the assumption that not everything we are told may be true. This questioning has given light to the subjective perspective. This means that there is a lack of a singular view that is entirely devoid of predetermined values. These predetermined values are instilled upon society by various sources such as family to the media. On a societal level this has given rise to the philosophy of social hype. The idea of hype lies in society as the valuation of something purely off someone or some group of people valuing it. Hype has become one of the main driving forces behind what society considers to be good art and how successful artists can become while being the main component that leads to a wide spread belief, followed by its integration into subjective views. Its presence in the art world propagates trends, fads, and limits what we find to be good art. Our subjective outlook on art is powered by society’s feedback upon itself. The art world, high and low, is exploited by this social construction. Even when objective critique is the goal subjective remnants can still seep through and influence an opinion. Subjective thought in the art world has been self perpetuated through regulated museums, idolization of the author, and general social construction because of hype.
To appreciate El Greco's original artistic style development is essential to understand the religious context in which it flowered. El Greco lived in a time of theological renewal and zealous spiritual reform. Toledo, the city in which the painting "The Assumption of the Virgin" was made, was the ecclesiastical capital of Spain in the XVI century and a place of intense religious activity. This activity occurred in the context of the spirit of the Catholic Counter-reformation which encouraged the spiritual reform of the individual and it gave authoritative support to the quest for th...
Bowron, Edgar Peters., Peter Björn. Kerber, and Pompeo Batoni. Pompeo Batoni: Prince of Painters in Eighteenth-century Rome. New Haven: Yale UP, 2007. 100-50. Print.
Paolucci, Antonio. The Origins of Renaissance Art: the Baptistry Doors, Florence. 1st ed. New York, N.Y.: George Braziller, 1996. 14-37.
Art is a language of its own and with out he proper understanding, people are like expression goes “left on the outside looking in”. In other words, people without the proper understanding of art, technique and form as well as other elements can’t appreciate a work of art as much as when you understand why an artist painted in the way they did and what they are trying to get across to his audience. Despite artists attempts to try and make their works as viewer friendly as possible, without the understanding and knowledge gained from an art class as this one people will never fully understand the a work of art as it is meant to be.
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...
For over two thousand years, various philosophers have questioned the influence of art in our society. They have used abstract reasoning, human emotions, and logic to go beyond this world in the search for answers about arts' existence. For philosophers, art was not viewed for its own beauty, but rather for the question of how art and artists can help make our society more stable for the next generation. Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived during 420-348 B.C. in Athens, and Aristotle, Plato’s student who argued against his beliefs, have no exceptions to the steps they had to take in order to understand the purpose of art and artists. Though these two philosophers made marvelous discoveries about the existence of art, artists, and aesthetic experience, Plato has made his works more controversial than Aristotle.
When the religious art leaks out of the religious community and into the broader world of culture, it is one of the ways the meaning of the art can evolve. This is also an opportunity for the art to draw the world to religion. Moreover, artistic reinterpretation of sacred imagery can help keep religion honest. The church has always been enriched by the tension that comes with diversity in art. Art is communication and effective art communicates effectively to any group at any level.
Human’s have always struggled to express themselves. Art, is considered by many to be the ultimate form of human expression. Many assume that art has a definition, but this is not the case. Art, it can be said, is “in the eye of the beholder.” This simply means that what you consider art, someone else would not. Art is part of a person’s internal emotions, which signifies why different people see art as different things. Every type of culture and era presents distinctive and unique characteristics. Different cultures all have different views of what art can, and would be, causing art itself to be universally renowned throughout the world.