The Holy Trinity by El Greco was painted in 1577 in Toledo, Spain in the Mannerist style. El Greco, whose real name is Doménikos Theotokópoulos, was one of the most prominent painters of the Spanish Renaissance, even though he, himself, was Greek. El Greco trained in Italy, and brought this traditional manner with him to Spain, introducing a new style to the Spanish courts. Combining elements of Mannerism and Venetian Renaissance, El Greco’s The Holy Trinity is truly a turning point in Spanish painting.
The Heavenly Father is centered, holding Jesus’s dead body on his lap. The Holy Ghost is above his head in ghost form. Together, the three figures form a divine triangle, representing the Holy Trinity, as the name of the painting implies. There is a cluster of cherubs at Jesus’s feet, at the forefront of the painting, directly under the Father’s robes. The dramatic and
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Firstly, the commission for the painting in the first place was based on an engraving by Albrecht Dürer. However, El Greco transitions from the concrete lining of print to the energy enabled by oil painting definitively, albeit controversially. Further, the anatomical detail of the figures, particularly Jesus, reflects Michelangelo’s own studies from the same time period. Michelangelo, in both his artistic and architectural pursuit, took the classical Renaissance rules and stretch them, biasing form and proportion to fit his own ideas, therefore pioneering the Mannerist style. Here, the awkward shape of Jesus’s body seems cued from the movement away from the strictness of Renaissance structure and into a freer, more electrifying, style known as Baroque. El Greco’s Italian background, specifically Venetian, is prominent in his use of contrasting colors, especially when compared to other artists of the same school such as Titian. Both Titian and El Greco focus on color rather than line, as demonstrated in Titian’s Charles V on
present in both paintings. El Greco presented both St. John and St. Francis with a very
The Ghent Altarpiece painted in completeness by Jan and Hubert van Eyck in 1432. This altarpiece is filled with symbolism. One of the most important pieces of the altar is the Deity Enthroned, which represents the Lord in Christianity. The painting covered with symbols and words. The artists portrays many signs with different meanings from the deity’s clothes to the background.
Jesus’s body is centered in the middle of the altarpiece, positioned in an elegant curve as his lifeless form is removed from the cross. His body is sickly thin, ribs easily visible
Masaccio used a technique called linear perspective. This technique allowed Italian artists to measure space so that all the objects in the painting are in proportion to each other. In this painting, Jesus is put intimately close to the scene by using linear perspective. An illusionistic hole is painted into the painted wall and this makes his portrayal more believable. Masaccio also used the technique of tonal modeling which created believable, almost sculptural figures proportionally related to one another to occupy that space. Both of these techniques helps to create good proportions and make the painting more realistic. Another technique that he uses is stage modeling. This means that the holy trinity is meant to be viewed from below and at a distance, like actors on a stage before an audience. In particular, this approach is based on a more human- centered view, locating a single spectator that is standing at a particular spot. In this painting, Jesus is the focus of the painting. In contrast, the Annunciation panel (from the Merode Triptych), which was painted by Robert Campin uses other techniques that greatly change the way the painting is
A couple of symbols that can be observed closely in the middle painting are the lily flower which is Mary’s symbolic flower, the vessel in the niche represents Mary’s womb, the star pattern in her dress is the star of Bethlehem that the Magi were looking for and underneath the window is a little guy carrying the cross, a symbol of Jesus’s crucifixion. In the right painting the symbol of the grapes are inferred implicitly because Joseph is making tools to harvest grapes which are needed to make the wine used in the Holy Communion which then becomes the blood of
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...
The Holy Trinity by Masaccio was a painting done in approximately 1428. It is a
The Renaissance in Western Europe brought a “rebirth” to the arts. No longer was the church the only accredited patron for the arts. Instead, a wealthy middle class arose as patrons and were able to purchase artist’s works. Although many pieces still had religious themes, the styles, freedom of creativity, and less reserved pieces were created. The Renaissance was not only confined to Italy, although it is often mistaken as the birthplace of the movement. All over Western Europe artwork flourished. Artists from the north came to Italy to study the classical arts and the renowned Italian Renaissance artists. Many of the same themes and subject matters were depicted throughout Western Europe. One such subject matter, the Annunciation, was portrayed by Jan van Eyck, a Flemish panel painter, as well as, Fra Angelico, an Italian fresco painter. In short, the Annunciation occurred when God sends the angel, Gabriel to deliver the message to Mary that she will give birth to his only son. Although both artists had the same understanding of the biblical account, their styles varied to agree with the concerns and interests of the people of the time as well as where they lived. They were able to establish their individuality through their artwork, even with the same subject matter. The Annunciation by Jan van Eyck is a perfect reflection of Northern Renaissance panel painting while Annunciation by Fra Angelico is the essence of Italian Renaissance fresco painting.
The ability to create a picture of The Annunciation in one’s mind is a key factor in understanding the analysis of the work. Francisco de Zurbaran approaches the painting with a naturalistic style. The painting features a room in which a woman – like angel is seen at the left kneeling on the ground before the Virgin Mary. The figure of Mary is placed between a chair and a small wooden table draped with a green cloth. Mary disregards an open Bible on the table, as she appears solemn while staring at the floor. Floating above the two main figures in the upper left side of the painting are cherubs resting on a bed of clouds. They happily gaze down at Mary with eyes from Heaven.
A common topic of artwork throughout history has been the crucifixion of Christ. Since it is such a common topic, it makes it very easy to see how artwork changed and developed from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. The painting on the left, The Crucifixion by Pietro Lorenzetti, shows the usual characteristics of a painting from the Middle Ages. The facial expressions are not varied or very in depth, Jesus and the other saints have the typical halo that is used very often, and the colors are mostly all bright, making nothing in particular stand out. The second painting, on the right, is by Caravaggio and is titled The Flagellation of Christ. There is an obvious shift from one painting to the next. Caravaggio’s piece is much more realistic.
...so much that his feet needed to be shrunken in order for the viewer to fully see the body. All of the other details are also severely accentuated, from the drapery that shows an anatomically correct figure to the strikingly realistic stigmata. The emotional quality of this painting is uncontested, and the details that set it apart from other Lamentations are only side notes to the amazing perspective that Mantegna was able to produce.
The Christian Church was absolutely instrumental in the art of the Renaissance. It was the driving force behind every inspiration; without the Church, there would have been no art. The Church was the only institution powerful enough to be able to support the commissions of all of the artwork, and it was the only institution, in which people had enough faith and devotion to spend so much of their time and money creating pieces that—although beautiful—were not necessities. The role of religion in art actually began during the Byzantine era. During this time, all artwork was religious in nature, and most of it was done in a consistently similar style so that figures from the Bible could be easily recognized by everyone and so that people had a consistent view of religious matters. Art during this time was largely iconic, meant to inspire the awe of God in the viewer. Along with various versions of the crucifix, one of the most popular images of the Byzantine style was The Pantokrator, an image of Jesus Christ as shown from above. An example of one of these pieces was done in the twelfth century in the abbey church of Monreale in the city of Palermo. Jesus is a monumental figure that takes up much of the space across the apse of the Church. One of his hands forms a mudra as the other holds the scripture. His fully frontal and direct stance along with the glimmering gold background serves to strike awe and fear into the viewer. Clearly this piece was done with the intent to impress the value and mightiness of religion first and attention to the detail and technique of the art second.
The Holy Trinity by Masaccio was done approximately in the 1400’s and shows a mastery of space and perspective and using both of these elements to convey a message. The message being that there is not a strict separation between divinity and mankind. In this picture, Christ is represented on the top half in a vaulted chapel with the Holy Spirit in the form of a white dove rests atop his halo and The Father, God, above that. Other characters that appear in this are Virgin Mary and St. John who are below and on either side of Jesus’ feet, two patrons below them and a skeleton whom lies in a tomb at the very bottom of the picture. Once orthogon...
Saint Peter and Francis are the second holiest. And the least holiest would be the Pesaro family, and even less so the Turk in the corner, whose face is in the shadows. Above the figures are two naked angels on a dark cloud, playing with a cross. In the background, two giant columns slice across a cloudy blue sky and disappear off the painting. The columns were also a common feature in Renaissance paintings, and many artists during that time would add architectural elements to the
In this painting da Vinci places Christ at the center of the table with his Apostles surrounding him in four groups of three unified by postu...