As discussed on a few occasions during our class, the Renaissance was a period reviving Ancient Greek and Roman techniques used in architecture, paintings, sculptures, reliefs, and other mediums of artistic expression. The Renaissance was also a period of humanism, which was a period of becoming educated. In particular, as more and more folks became educated, artists no longer emphasized key characters in religious works of art because folks could identify who was who based on key symbols. One painting which I noticed often in class was The Annunciation. When my grandmother and I arrived at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California, we first entered the rooms containing 14th to 17th century artwork. In the second room, on the left …show more content…
hand side and about two paintings down, was The Annunciation created by Francesco Bissolo circa 1500, according to the dialog box next to the painting. Bissolo's painting, therefore, may have been done during the high renaissance (1495-1520). The painting is 111.1 by 100.3 centimeters. Unlike most paintings we have discussed in the first few weeks, which have been primarily fresco and tempera, The Annunciation by Bissolo was done oil on panel and later transferred to canvas. The painting is large and clearly religious, so I believe the painting was commissioned by a Catholic church. Since the painting was more than likely done for the Catholic Church, it would not have been private consumption but public consumption. I chose to elaborate on Bissolo’s The Annunciation for a few reasons: first, The Annunciation was recreated differently by many artists; and second, the colors and techniques used by Bissolo made the painting appealing to my eyes. During our classroom discussions, we covered a few different versions of The Annunciation, one by Simone Martini, for example. Martini's version of the scene (painted in the 14th century) is largely filled with a gold background--indicative of Byzantine style artworks. Also, the Virgin is stylized; that is, she is painted in a very unusual seating position and she does not look very natural. The Virgin looks as if her body is twisting. What is really interesting, however, is how generalized the Virgin Mary is. The key element in the painting that indicates it is The Annunciation is the lilies located at the very center of the painting because lilies are the symbol for purity. In contrast to Simone Martini's The Annunciation, Bissolo's painting does not have a gold background.
Instead, the colors are very warm. I think Bissolo chose to use warm colors for two reasons. One reason could be that Bissolo wanted to have an illusion of a gold background, rather than an explicit gold background because he may have wanted a realistic setting. Another reason why I believe Bissolo used warm colors in his painting was to aid in the use of atmospheric perspective. Atmospheric or aerial perspective is a technique artists use to illustrate distant parts of a work to give viewers a sense of depth. An artwork has atmospheric perspective if the figures and objects that are closest are clear and warm in color, and if the figures and objects further away are bluer and hazier. In Bissolo's The Annunciation painting, the room in which both the Archangel Gabriel and Virgin Mary occupy is very clear and warm in color, while the window leads to a warm garden with a few clear trees but quickly becomes bluer and hazier. Furthermore, the Virgin is not stylized in Bissolo's painting. Instead, the Virgin appears realistic (as well as the Archangel Gabriel). Both figures have realistic looking proportions. Bissolo also used the technique of chiaroscuro, which is the use of light and dark to create the effect of modeling. Chiaroscuro helps figures and objects develop volume. Both the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary do not appear to be two dimensional. Instead, both appear three dimensional thanks to the shading on the left side of the Archangel Gabriel and the shading on the Virgin's right and back
side. When I looked at the painting for the first time, my initial thought lead me to believe the light source was coming through the window behind Gabriel, but with closer inspection the source of light creating the effect of chiaroscuro appears to be coming from the doorway the Archangel Gabriel has passed through. It makes me feel that either the Archangel Gabriel entered the Virgin Mary's room from another room with a window that had light entering or that the doorway is a connection of heaven and earth and the lights are perhaps rays from heaven. I feel the latter of my thoughts is correct because the former just seems to plain of an idea to incorporate into a painting. Although there a few dissimilarities between Martini's work and Bissolo's, I did happen to notice one relationship. Like Martini's painting, Bissolo's painting also includes the symbol of lilies. According to our class discussion, lilies are used as a symbol for purity. Because we know lilies equal purity, we can relate purity with the Virgin Mary. The lilies are located in the angel's left hand covered with his shadow. The lilies in Bissolo's painting, however, are very subtle and took me awhile to notice. Another thing I thought was very interesting was the Virgin Mary's bed located on the right hand side painted in red. The bed appears to be three dimensional. I believe Bissolo used the technique of foreshortening to pull off the illusion. Foreshortening is a technique that artists use to distort how a figure or object is represented in a two dimensional space. The bed is painted at an angle and gets slightly smaller the further away. The bed curtains also come down at an angle rather than just straight down. The illusion of depth is so powerful with the bed it is one of the reasons why the painting was so interesting to me. Also, the Archangel Gabriel is standing in contrapposto gesturing the audience. Contrapposto is how most people would naturally stand; contrapposto is the natural relaxed pose. A figure in contrapposto appears to have all the body's weight shifted to one leg, while the other leg is positioned to balance out. A key indicator of a figure in contrapposto is a bent knee or a figure conveying movement, which the Archangel Gabriel clear has and shows. The Virgin is kneeling down reading what may be a bible or prayer book. She is not in contrapposto, but her body is slightly angled toward the audience with her head in profile view. Another symbol Bissolo used in his painting was the dove. According to our classroom discussion, the dove is a symbol for the Holy Spirit. The dove’s body and head are pointing in the direction of the Mary's head. There are also rays peering down from the doves head toward the Virgin Mary's head. I think the dove, in addition to the lilies, was a symbolic queue to solidify that the woman in the painting was the Virgin Mary. In addition to the use of atmospheric perspective, I believe Bissolo used linear perspective in his work. The design of the ceiling appears to have orthogonal lines, which are diagonal lines that recede towards a vanishing point (a point at which the orthogonal lines intersect). The vanishing point appears to be at a candle holder hanging just above and between the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary. I would think that the angel or perhaps the Virgin Mary would be at the main focus of the painting. At first glance, Francesco Bissolo's The Annunciation painting might seem very simple, but upon closer inspection it is not. Also, although The Annunciation is a popular painting, each artist's style and technique had a few similarities and dissimilarities. Bissolo used a wide array of artistic techniques in his painting, such as atmospheric and linear perspective, chiaroscuro, contrapposto, and symbolism. I am really glad I chose this painting because I was able to understand most of what I was looking at, as opposed to just staring at a painting or other artwork and only being able to comment on its color or whether or not I liked it.
Getlein, Mark. "Chapter 17-The 17th and 18th Centuries." Living with Art. 9th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 2008. 384-406. Print.
What does the word “renaissance” mean? It means “rebirth” or “revival” and the Renaissance was a period of change that began around 1350 to 1700. Before the Renaissance, there was the Middle Ages which people had little education and were more religious. Then, in the 1300s there was a movement called humanism which made people more educated and drew them into arts, literature, science, and medicine in the Renaissance. In the mid-1400s the printing press was made and gave humanism have even more momentum because more people could buy books. how did the Renaissance change man’s view of the world? The Renaissance changed a man’s view of the world in three ways: emphasis on individualism, emphasis on embracing this life(yolo), and emphasis on
The immediate background consists of natural mounds of dirt and a brick wall that enclose the Virgin, Child, and St. John, amplifying the protective effect that Mary’s figure has. The dirt mounds roll inward with a brick wall bordering them on the right, drawing the viewer’s attention towards the three figures. The background is painted in broad terms, with a simple, uniform depiction of tree leaves and smooth rock faces on the horizon. This contrasts with the fine-lined detail and texture of Mary’s hair, facial features, and veil, which further contribute to her elegance and highlight her
The Madonna and Child, created by Cenni di Francesco di Ser Cenni between 1410 and 1415, is an iconographic painting of the Virgin Mary (left) and a chubby baby Jesus (right). The panel is painted with tempera and the halos around Mary’s and Jesus’s heads are made from goldleaf. La Toilette, painted by Richard Miller in 1910, is an Impressionist painting of a woman putting on her make up. He uses this subject to compare putting on makeup to applying oil paint on a canvas. In order to create the desired impact on the viewer of their paintings, Cenni and Miller use similar stylistic techniques to portray their female subjects.
The paintings depict the story of the angel Gabriel visiting the Virgin Mary and announcing the news that she will give birth to Jesus. Yet, even though both Fran Angelico and Robert Campin tell the same story, they do so using different methods. Since, Fra Angelico’s artwork was created for the monetary in San Marco, it reflects that. Monks live simple and devoted faith filled lives. Fra Angelico captured the essences of this in the painting by keeping it very simple, with limited amount of objects and with few symbols. Few symbols was also partly because the audience would have a religious background and the monks could fill in the gaps of the story. Adding to this, the monks used this art work for devotion, and by Angelico keeping it simple the art work was less likely do interfere with the monk’s devotional time. Fra Angelico’s internal struggle as well, not wanting to make the item idolatrized, is also responsible for the simplicity and the Byzantine influence. The few symbols Fra Angelico drew in his paintings included the halos above the figure's head and Mary crossing her arms in a sign of humility. However, even the halos he created were not in perspective and flat as opposed to Masaccio’s 3D looking
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 distinction of colors exists within the painting: there is dreary dark blue background contrasted by the intense shades of red and white worn by the figures. A specific example of this the women flanking the Virgin Mary. The woman to the right of Mary attracts the most light and is the brightest in color. The Virgin Mary herself is dark, dull, and shadowed. The woman behind Mary, similar to the other woman, is wearing red and bright. In reality, the lighting of these figures do not make logical sense. If Rosso’s mission was the depict reality than the women would be shaded evenly from light to dark. Due to the overall lack of a single swath of colors, the eye is forced to look all over the painting rather than focus on one main
South University Online. (2013). HUM 1002: History of Art from the Middle Ages to Modern Times: Week 4: Art of the Americas: 14th Century to the Present. Retrieved from myeclassonline.com
South University Online. (2013). HUM 1002: History of Art from the Middle Ages to Modern Times: Week 1: Elements of Design. Retrieved from myeclassonline.com
This painting is a great example of asymmetrical balance. The angels are placed nearly exactly identical on each side of the throne. The angels themselves are sort of mirroring one another. Besides the navy cloak worn by the woman this painting does a great job at equally distributing the visual weight. The yellow hue is found to be consistent throughout. Giotto did a good job at blending and balancing the colors from yellow all the way to green. There is also a great deal of emphasis found throughout Giotto’s painting. The woman holding her child is definitely the main focal point of the painting because it is found directly in the center on a throne worshiped by angels. There is also a great deal of emphasis found on each character of the painting by the light yellow halo found above their heads. This does a good job at emphasizing everyone’s importance in the
The Renaissance was a time of rebirth, as its name entails. In Italy, more people were becoming literate and more books were being printed. More scientific discoveries were being made and therefore more theories were being published. In this time of intellectual prosperity, art also made a great leap. Perspective was the main change during this time period, and throughout the years, starting around 1400, it became more involved and more intricate. Eventually artists were so adept at using it, that it became the primary way to insert intimacy and feelings of emotion into a painting. This evolution of technique paved the way for later artists to play with new approaches to allow the viewer to experience an image in different ways.
The Renaissance time period started in the late 14th century and it lasted all through the 16th century. It all started in the late Middle ages throughout Italy (http://fashionhistory.net) taking at least one-hundred years before it reached the Northern Alps. This was also the period where the word “European” was put in use and understood by other places, and the word “Renascrere” originated from the Italian word “Renascrere” and it meant to be re-born. The word Renascrere fitted perfectly to this age due to the fact that many had intellectual pursuits and creative energy was re-born (www.richeast.org). The Renaissance would be best known for its artistic aspect and famous polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo given the term “Renaissance men.” It was an effective cultural and development of perspective in painting movement spreading to the rest of Europe and the advancements in science. (www.richeast.org)
The Work that really got my attention in the Norton Simon Museum of Art was Peter Paul Ruben’s “David Slaying Goliath” 1616. It got my attention because of how the composition draws your attention from the bottom to the top. Meanwhile, the styles are different from each other and Peter’s painting is full of dramatic expression. The Baroque painting technique was brushy and often eliminated outlines. When comparing the works of Raphael’s “Madonna in the Meadow” 1506 to “David slaying Goliath” it symbolizes the influence of Leonardo’s pyramidal composition.
The area at the bottom of the painting where St. Ignatius stands, is very dark. Earth tones, primarily different shades of black and brown, are used and there is a great amount of shading on the ground as well as on a wooden structure that is on the right of St. Ignatius. The ground which St. Ignatius neels on looks like it has texture due to the use of shading on the outer edges and using tints of brown on the mid area of the ground. He also outlines shapes on the ground to make the ground look like it has a bumpy/ rocky texture. He shades some of these shapes (rocks) to make them look 3D. The top of the painting depicts a heaven-like area and the color of the clouds turn from a dull, gray color to a bright yellow color. In contrast to St. Ignatius’ dark black robe, God, Jesus, and the angels, which are all in the top half of the painting in Heaven, wear bright colored robes. In addition, the bright yellow clouds show depth as one can see a multitude of faces hidden in the clouds. The clouds seem to depict a tunnel, as the faces get more miniscule and less detailed at the top edge of the painting. Being a two dimensional painting, Domenichino uses perspective and shading around the big circle of light in the sky to make it look like it has depth. The intensity of the yellow color increases.
Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael Watt Cothren. Art History. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2011.