My intention is not to make this a dry, school-like study hall of Art. But more of an informative, interesting and fun knowledge base. I don't find it too important to delve deep into the whole theory of Art. But, more of a general learning of how the Art that we love came to be what it is. Where the techniques used came from.....who started them? How did they develop them? And what effects do the different techniques have? Just more or less to make it where when we are looking at a piece we love, we will have a better appreciation of what it is and what it took to produce a wonderful piece.
I for one myself, don't feel that I need someone to teach me how to appreciate something that I am fully capable of appreciating on my own. I know what I like, and I know what I appreciate. Don't get me wrong.....if a degree in Art Appreciation or anything Arts related is what you want, then by all means....do it. There is certainly nothing wrong with pursuing deeper education of anything that you like. I am just saying, for the average person that is an Art lover....that is usually too much information and not what one needs to appreciate good Art.
I am simply trying to create an informative base for the layman, just enough to give the average person, like me, to have a better understanding of what it is.....that's all. If you decide that based on what you learn here, to further your education on the subject, I highly encourage you to pursue it. The more we learn, the better we are.
Life, and the beauty of Art is a lifelong journey. We will never reach a stage in our lives that we no longer appreciate Art. Just our tastes may change. But, nothing will open more doors of stimulation that Art provides us, than understanding more about it.
So please, don't be afraid to come in here and open your mind more........
Our Art is commonly called "Western Art". But the U.S. has only been around for about 234 years. In a world spectrum, that is very young. Where did our influences start? How does our Art tie in with past artists? How did these forefathers shape our styles? Let's find out.....
The Renaissance: 1304 - 1564
From wealthy Italian 14th Century. From a desire to understand the natural world. A new rise in economic ways caused a flourish of social, financial, and spiritual growth in Florence Italy and the surrounding areas. This brought on a new surge of artists that looked to perfect their styles, and surpass the ancients. They wanted their own voices.
They found it in a whole new interpretation of the world around them. These inspirations and influence of the Arts continue to resonate even today. This also lead to a shift in society to elevate the status of the Artist as creative individuals. People started recognizing a Brunelleshi building or a Raphael painting.
The Renaissance not only rediscovered the classical past, but also created a vision that shaped the history of Art thereafter.
The Renaissance Artists:
Giotto Di Bondone - 1266 - 1337;
Giotto was such a powerful voice in change in the Art world, even the author Dante celebrated Giotto, as did many others.
Giotto moved away from the formulas, symbols, conventions, and repetitive patterns of the heavily influential Byzantine Art. Creating a challenge that Artists for centuries would have to master. Art based on nature requires the Artist to confront the full scope of human activity and emotion. Giotto was the first to deal with the complexity of this visual world.
Giotto's Most Notable Works;
Betrayal Of Christ: 1305 Arena Chapel, Near Padua, Italy. Can Be Seen Here
Giotto was the the first Artist to create a narrative in a painting that depicted the tragedy of the event in a representation of the visual world. Most Art at the time was flat, stereo-typed figures of Byzantine influence. Giotto used solid figures with life-like gestures and expressions. Michelangelo was Giotto's true heir. That's evident in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel.
Giotto influenced Artists such as;
Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Cezanne.
Masacchio - 1401 - 1428
Masacchio heralded the dawn of the Italian renaissance, and did it in a relatively and unexpectedly short life. Masacchio is the direct heir to Giotto in the history of Italian painting. Masacchio's painting of the Brancacci Chapel, ushered in the renaissance style.
Not many reliable sources exist, so not much is known about the life or training of Masacchio. But, in a career spanning only about 7 years, Masacchio shaped a whole new style of painting that will drive the perfection of future Artists.
In Masacchio's work, location was no longer a generic, symbolic space, but recognizable landscapes in and around Florence. Masacchio's figures were three-dimensional depictions of the human form.
Masacchio's Most Notable Works;
Brancacci Chapel, Florence Can Be Seen Here
Considered by many to be some of the most powerful dramatic images in Western Art. Massachio was the first to use perspective and vanishing points in Art.
Masacchio influenced artists such as;
Michelangelo, Raphael, and Renatto.
Other Artists In The Renaissance Period:
Jan Van Eyck, Sandro Botticelli, Bosch (see Garden Of Earthly Delights), Leonardo Da Vinci (my personal fav), Michelangelo, and Raphael.
Didn't see your fav or any you know? Don't worry...keep checking back, we will get to them, I assure you.
Next we will take at look at the Baroque period.
The Baroque Period: 1492 - 1661
The term Baroque was used to describe Western Art and architecture in the 17th Century. Origins of the word are unclear. It first appeared as a term in the late 18th Century and was used as a derogatory comment reflecting the dislike of the excessive and free inventions of the 17th Century.
Rome was the major center for the Italian Baroque style. The Baroque style reflected the division of cultural, spiritual, and secular forces that dominated Europe by the 17th Century. Division and conflicts between The Protestants and the Catholics had turned the continent into one divided by religious lines and defined by political, economic, and military ambitions of powerful "nation-states" like Spain, France, and England.
The 17th Century had experienced remarkable achievements in painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, theater, music, science, philosophy, and religion, producing artisans such as; Cervantes, Shakespeare, Galileo, and Sir Issac Newton.
As with their predecessors, 17th Century Italian Painters drew influence from religion, but more on Roman Catholic Church's many Saints. Painters such as Rembrandt, portrayed the relationship of God and believers in a time of reformation and in opposition to the hierarchical and magisterial language of Renaissance Painters.
Baroque painters had an impressive array of illusionistic effects using nature, power of light, color, and movement. They reestablished the Renaissance principles of classicism, proportion, and harmony, recently challenged by the style known as Mannerism (1520-1580).
The Baroque Artists
Caravaggio - 1571 - 1610
Caravaggio painted sacred and secular subjects with a realism not portrayed before. He used exaggerated effects of light and dark, interpreting both revered Saints and humble sinners through human suffering and emotions.
Caravaggio's art was revolutionary, his life tragic, and his followers many. He was the epitome of the Artist as an outsider. He was a true revolutionary painter and rebellious spirit with a life filled with intrigue, duels, murder, and escapes from the law. few painters can match the drama, scandals, mysteries, legends, and tragedy of Caravaggio's life.
He rejected the idealised beauty of Renaissance Art and the formal artifice of Mannerism, bringing in his own style of realism, truth to nature, and emotional honesty.
Opinions of Caravaggio's work was varied. Poussin said "he came to destroy painting". Others took little notice of him. Others, such as, Fuseli admired his courage for stressing the power of expression over ideal beauty, which caused many to attack Caravaggio for his lack of idealised form. English critic John Ruskin said he was simply vulgar and sinful. But his direct engagement with truth of nature still had a profound influence on later Western Painters for centuries to come.
Caravaggio's Most Notable Works;
Judith Beheading Of Holofernes (1600) - Can Be Seen Here
It was common for Caravaggio to choose violent scenes. Possibly a reflection of his own life. Most Artists portrayed this popular Apocryphal scene after the decapitation. Caravaggio preferred to show the brutality of the act of decapitation itself. He usually portrayed the background dark with little detail while bathing his subjects in intense dramatic light, causing the viewer to concentrate on them. Contemporaries were shocked by the realism of this piece.
Caravaggio influenced Artists such as;
Georges de La Tour, Rembrandt, filmmaker Derek Jarman, and even popular Art and culture with depictions of his troubled life in films, novels, plays, and contemporary music.
Rembrandt Van Rijn - 1606 - 1669
Rembrandt was the greatest Artist of the Dutch Golden Age. He had a long and industrious career rising above modest beginnings to become one of the most important painters of his time. Rembrandt sketched constantly throughout his life. Studying heavily the ways the human face, posture, and gesture express character and inner emotions. Rembrandt was an exceptional painter, draftsman, and print maker.
In Holland, the church was no longer a major patron of the Arts, coupled with the lack of real Royal patrons forced Dutch Artists to diversify. Giving birth to landscapes, and still lifes. Arguably one of the first "open" markets in history.
Rembrandt was the exception to the rule and made his living with commissioned portraits and many students.
Rembrandt's Most Notable Works;
The Supper At Emmaus - 1648 Seen Here
A personal interpretation of a popular biblical scene. Rembrandt used dramatic effects of light and dark to convey the moment the disciples realized they were dinning with the newly resurrected Christ.
Rembrandt influenced Artists such as;
James Whistler, Thomas Eakins, and Vincent Van Gogh
Other Artists In The Baroque Period:
Peter Paul Rubens, Nicolas Poussin, Diego Velazquez, and Anthony Van Dyck.
We hope you are enjoying your look through Art History...we also pray you are learning some about the Artists that came before us. The ones that shaped the way our Art is accomplished. Next we will take a look at Rococo to Neoclassicism.
Rococo To Neoclassicism 1682 - 1824
I must admit something here. Prior to researching for this Art History, I had never heard of the Rococo style. So I figured, if I have never heard of it, how many others have not either? So I figured I would change that.
Rococo emerged from France. There was a very delicate and intimate style of decorating using light, mirrors, and refined ornaments that was inspired by shells and natural forms called Rocaille that leant it's name to the Rococo style. Rococo emphasized pastels, delicate figures and many times frivolous themes. King Louis XV's tastes had a major impact in the Art world. The French Court was returned to Paris after the passing of King Louis XIV and the Rococo style was based more on the smaller private residences, hotels, parks, and urban life of the city. Women also had a huge impact on the Rococo style as trendsetters and patronesses of the Arts.
But, by 1748, with the discovery of Pompeii, the playful and superficial nature of the Rococo style did not meet the seriousness and virtues expected of great Art. This caused a revived interest in classicism throughout European culture. With Pompeii and the discovery of another ancient Roman city, Herculaneum in 1738, added with the writings of the German Art historian Johann Joachim Wincklemann (1717-1768), topped with a general renewal in classical literature, history, and Art, brought on the "Neoclassicism" era.
Some French Artists were painting straightforward and honest still lifes and genre scenes of moral and didactic dramas, that sowed the seeds of more serious Art, influenced by Greek and Roman sources and prototypes. This classical point of view and it's quest for truth, beauty, and perfection would have a lasting influence on the history of Western Art.
The Rococo And Neoclassicism Artists:
Jeane-Antoine Watteau 1684 - 1721
During his brief career, Watteau established a genre, the fete galante (loosely translated gallant festival). He was influenced by Peter Paul Rubens (Baroque Artist, 1577-1640) and Venetian Art.
His paintings depicted the "leisure" class at play. His works separated French painting from the classical constraints of academic Art. Watteau's work was avidly collected during his life and heavily followed and imitated after his death. Especially in France and England.
Because his submission painting to the French Academy in 1717, "Departure from the island of Cythera" (above), reflected a theatricality linked to the Italian "commedia dell 'arte" (comedy of Art), the vibrant palette of Peter Paul Rubens, and the rural feasts of Venetian Art, Watteau was admitted to the Academy under a new category - "painter of the fete galante".
Watteau inspired Artists such as; Jean-Baptiste Pater, Edgar Degas, and Pierr-Auguste Renoir.
Jacques - Louis David 1748 - 1825
Jacques-Louis David is arguably one of the greatest painters and most complex personalities in Western Art history. He was an active participant in the upheaval and bloodshed of the French Revolution and was directly involved with Napoleon Bonaparte. His Art are vivid examples of the complex relationship of Art and politics. David produced a series of remarkable paintings that began as a call to arms for revolution.
'The oath of Horatii, The death of Socrates, and Brutus receiving the bodies of his sons' signaled the end of the Rococo era. Drawing on Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, and Nicolas Poussin, David presented a classical drama of sacrifice and tragedy. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) called it "the greatest effort of Art since the Sistine Chapel and The Stanze of Raphael in the Vatican."
David's work embodied the swirling political events of the tumultuous years of the French Revolution. They were the visualization of ideas in action - a portrait of political change.
From his coming of age under King Louis XV, to his trip to Rome in 1774, to his creation of the Neoclassical style, to his revolutionary paintings, to his vote for the death of King Louis XVI, to his own fall from grace and subsequent rehabilitation by Napoleon, to his final exile in Brussels after Napoleon's fall, David leaves behind the most powerful and influential records of that history.
Jacques-Louis David's most notable works;
The death of Marat - 1793
The death of Marat is the culmination of David's political convictions. Arguably, the greatest depiction of political martyrdom in the history of Western Art. Every element, effect, and detail is carefully calculated. Marat suffered from a skin disease that only long hours in the bath would soothe, so Marat took to making a makeshift office at his bath. On July 13, 1793 he was stabbed to death in his bath my royalist Charlotte Corday. David, like Caravaggio, used dramatic lighting with a dark background to focus on the subject, his martyrd friend. In the painting, Marat is holding the letter of introduction that allowed Charlotte Corday access to him.
David influenced Artists such as;
Jean-Auguste-Dominque Ingres, The Barbus, and Carlo Maria Mariani.
I may have not of heard of the Rococo or neoclassicism eras before, but I did find them extremely interesting, and such a rich history involved with that time period...I hope you too enjoyed it and learned from it.
Next up - Romanticism (for the Ladies) to Realism.
