The bizarrely suggestive painting, Allegory with Venus and Cupid, seems to tick all the boxes of the formal definition of Mannerism. This exquisitely crafted oil on wood panel by Agnolo di Cosimo or “Bronzino,” must have been received with delight when gifted to King Francis I by Branzino’s commissioner, Duke Cosimo de’ Medici. For this work to be a diplomatic gift between Italy and France it must have been held in the highest esteem by the Italian Mannerist movement.
It is a departure from the classical style of the preceding Italian Renaissance religious work yet it still recalls classical Rome with its depiction of Roman mythology. The whole scene takes place in a tightly composed space with the figures filling the wood panel completely
Baxandall, Michael. “Conditions of Trade.” Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-century Italy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Roman portraiture is more realistic than previous idealistic Hellanistic styles. They better depict each subject’s individuality to a degree never seen before. The purpose of Roman portraiture is to address the audience and convey specific messages to them.
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...
painting even though the event represented in the painting took place long before the Roman Empire. The center temple that occupies the background has a vanishing point running through its doorway and if it weren’t for this illusionistic technique, the painting would be very two-dimensional.
Both Jan van Eyck and Fra Angelico were revered artists for the advances in art that they created and displayed for the world to see. Their renditions of the Annunciation were both very different, however unique and perfect display of the typical styles used during the Renaissance. Jan van Eyck’s panel painting Annunciation held all the characteristics of the Northern Renaissance with its overwhelming symbolism and detail. Fra Angelico’s fresco Annunciation grasped the key elements used in the Italian Renaissance with usage of perspective as well as displaying the interest and knowledge of the classical arts.
Painted in Rome in the style of Neo-Classicism, Jacques Louis David’s Oath of the Horatii is one of the better-known examples of art produced by this artist of eclectic styles. This painting was hailed as the manifesto of a new school based on the fervent study of the antique and a return to classical techniques in the late 18th century. In this painting, completed in 1785 as an oil on canvas, David (DA-VEED) successfully coalesces the nascent and confused ideology of the Neo-Classical movement in a dramatic portrayal of the Horatii brothers swearing their allegiance to the state as their father stands with swords held high for them to grasp. An analysis of the painting’s historical background, and an evaluation of the lines, colors, and subject matter, will illustrate why Oath of the Horatii represents the defining characteristics of the Neo-Classical period.
Peter Taylor’s short story Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time tells the tale of an odd brother-sister duo, Alfred and Louisa Dorset, who reside in the small, presumably southern, town of Mero. From the very beginning, readers are led to believe that the Dorsets are more than just brother and sister – they are lovers. Several occurrences throughout the story hint at a depraved relationship, however the story offers no firm confirmation of an incestuous relationship actually occurring. Despite their peculiarities, Mr. and Miss Dorset seem to have a great deal of influence on the social traditions of the town, the most important one being the annual party they host for the young children in the community. These parties are exclusive events that
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.
One of the characteristics of the Italian Baroque is the realistic depiction of human figures, vivid use of color and foreshadowing techniques, especially in the paintings. In addition, the figures of the paintings seem to emerge from the background, giving huge differences between light and dark. The Italian baroque structure has a sense of movement and that of energy when in static form. The sculptures make the observers to have multiple viewpoints. The Baroque architecture has characteristic domes, colonnades, giving an impression of volume and void.
Most Renaissance period pieces are very natural and realistic in their execution of subjects and characters. As seen in this piece however, all of the characters take on a mythical and unnatural element in their design and implementation. The characters have an unearthreal sense of floating and gracefulness that is not found in mainstream Renaissance art. One would expect to find bodies and subjects with weight and balance and a realistic position on the ground, yet no character in the entire work exhibits this feature. Instead, Botticelli has isolated the three subjects along very distinct linear lines which create a sense that what you are witnessing is dreamlike or celestial.
Interestingly, he also refers to Donatello as a ‘craftsman’. The correlation between the artist or sculptor and craftsman is an important aspect in Italian Renaissance art. The craftsman was something more than just an artist. This person was talented and considered by others in Italian Renaissance society as exceptional or as Vasari’s title suggests, ‘the most excellent’. They were also tradespeople rather than just artists. This is because they created works for other people, which often meant they expressed other people’s ideas. Through an analysis of Vasari’s biography on Donatello, this essay will explore the importance of culture in Renaissance Italian society, an examination of Vasari’s biography of Donatello as a historical document and the ways in which Vasari portrays Donatello, which ultimately was significant for future Renaissance craftsmen. This paper will analyze the life of Donatello through Vasari’s The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects to show the importance of Donatello not only as an artist but also as a
... the way that the artwork is resembled in the religious background of the gospel but reconstructed in to a celebrating impression. Throughout the fresco painting it depicts the myth of the Christ’s three fold temptations relating back to the article that “distinction between fresco and panel painting is sharp, and that painters are seen as competitors amongst themselves discriminating also, between the difference in genuine attempts in being better then the other.” Baxandall, “Conditions of Trade,” 26. in relation, the painting concerns the painter’s conscious response to picture trade, and the non-isolation in pictorial interests.
Similarly, Campin has also chosen an interior scene with strong perspective and exacting details. In both of these the artists seem to be capturing an event, much like with photography in modern times. While both images portray fictional scenes, the artists wanted to capture the moment to tell a precise historical story. They both go to some lengths to include background details, which also capture architectural details. To me it seems that they both approached their work meticulously and with reason and mathematics in mind, as was common in the Renaissance.... ...
Larmann, R., & Shields, M. (2011). Art of Renaissance and Baroque Europe (1400–1750). Gateways to Art (pp. 376-97). New York: W.W. Norton.
Smith, R. “Eternal objects of desire. Art Review- Art and love in Renaissance Italy” in New York Times Art and Design, November 20, (2008)