We live in a world that’s highly technical and specialized. When aman goes to college these days, he spends his time learning the skillsthat will allow him to seek gainful employment. Little time is spentstudying art or literature. These subjects are often seen as “pointless”because they don’t have any practical application when it comes topaying the bills. On top of that, many men see art appreciation as wussyand effeminate and thus steer clear of it.

But it’s a shame that many men feel this way about art becausethey’re missing out on poignant insights about what it means to be humanand what it means to be a man. Art can capture the emotions of thehuman experience when words fail us, give us insight into positive madness ^[2], expand our minds, and help us learn more about the world and ourselves.

If you feel like you missed out on a basic art education or if youlearned plenty about art history, but you need a refresher, this serieswe’re starting today is just for you. Over the next few months, we’ll becovering some of the simple basics of the importantperiods of Western art. Next time you’re on a date at a museum, you’llhave a few things to add to the conversation. But more importantly,you’ll be able to get more out of the art yourself and hopefully beinspired to delve deeper into the fruits of man’s infinite creativity.As you take time to ponder and mediate on some of history’s greatestworks of art, you’ll gain a deeper appreciation for art’s manlyheritage, experience uplift and edification, and find yourself closer tobecoming a true Renaissance Man. ^[3]

Speaking of the Renaissance, let’s get started talking about that period’s art.

An Introduction to the Basics of Renaissance Art

Time Period: 1400s-1600s

Background: The 14^th century was a timeof great crisis; the plague, the Hundred Years war, and the turmoil inthe Catholic Church all shook people’s faith in government, religion,and their fellow man. In this dark period Europeans sought a new start, acultural rebirth, a renaissance.

The Renaissance began in Italy where the culture was surrounded bythe remnants of a once glorious empire. Italians rediscovered thewritings, philosophy, art, and architecture of the ancient Greeks andRomans and began to see antiquity as a golden age which held the answersto reinvigorating their society. Humanistic education, based onrhetoric, ethics and the liberal arts, was pushed as a way to createwell-rounded citizens who could actively participate in the politicalprocess. Humanists celebrated the mind, beauty, power, and enormouspotential of human beings. They believed that people were able toexperience God directly and should have a personal, emotionalrelationship to their faith. God had made the world but humans were ableto share in his glory by becoming creators themselves.

These new cultural movements gave inspiration to artists, whileItaly’s trade with Europe and Asia produced wealth that created a largemarket for art. Prior to the Renaissance Period, art was largelycommissioned by the Catholic Church, which gave artists strictguidelines about what the finished product was to look like. Medievalart was decorative, stylized,  flat, and two-dimensional and did notdepict the world or human beings very realistically. But a thrivingcommercial economy distributed wealth not just to the nobility but tomerchants and bankers who were eager to show their status by purchasingworks of art (the Church remained a large patron of the arts as well).Artists were allowed greater flexibility in what they were to produce,and they took advantage of it by exploring new themes and techniques.

Things to Look for in Renaissance Art:

• Perspective. To add three-dimensional depth and space to their work, Renaissance artists rediscovered and greatly expanded on the ideas of linear perspective, horizon line, and vanishing point.
  • Linear perspective: Rendering a painting with linear perspective is like looking through a window and painting exactly what you see on the window pane. Instead of every object in the picture being the same size, objects that were further away would be smaller, while those closer to you would be larger.
  • Horizon line: Horizon line refers to the point in the distance where objects become so infinitely small, that they have shrunken to the size of a line.
  • Vanishing point: The vanishing point is the point at which parallel lines appear to converge far in the distance, often on the horizon line. This is the effect you can see when standing on railroad tracks and looking at the tracks recede into the distance.

• Shadows and light. Artists were interested in playing with the way light hits objects and creates shadows. The shadows and light could be used to draw the viewer’s eye to a particular point in the painting.

• Emotion. Renaissance artists wanted the viewer to feel something while looking at their work, to have an emotional experience from it. It was a form of visual rhetoric, where the viewer felt inspired in their faith or encouraged to be a better citizen.

• Realism and naturalism. In addition to perspective, artists sought to make objects, especially people, look more realistic. They studied human anatomy, measuring proportions and seeking the ideal human form. People looked solid and displayed real emotions, allowing the viewer to connect with what the depicted persons were thinking and feeling.

Examples:

Let’s start out by looking at two different paintings of the VirginMary, one from the Byzantine period, and one from the Renaissanceperiod, so that you can get a feel for the profound transformation artwent through during the Renaissance:

Madonna and Child on a Curved Throne, 1200′s. In this woodpanel painting from the Byzantine period, the bodies of Mary and Jesusare bodiless and hidden in drapery. The folds of the drapery arerepresented by gold leaf striations; even where you would see knees, youhave an accumulation of gold instead of light and shadow. The picturelacks the feeling of depth and space. Also, Jesus is portrayed as aninfant, but looks like a miniature adult.

Madonna del Cardellino, by Raphael, 1506. Now we’re wellinto the Renaissance and the changes in style are readily apparent. Maryhas become much more realistically human; she has a real form, reallimbs, a real expression on her face. Not only does she look natural,but she is placed is a natural setting. Jesus and John the Baptist looklike real babies, not miniature adults. Raphael utilized perspective togive the painting depth. He also captured the Renaissance’s love ofcombining beauty and science-bringing back things like geometry from theancient Greeks: Mary, Christ, and John the Baptist form a pyramid.

Tribute Money, by Masaccio, 1425. Masaccio was a pioneer inthe technique of one point perspective; the painting is an image of whatone person looking at the scene would see. Notice how Peter, next tothe water, and the mountains are paler and less clear than the objectsin the foreground. The lines in the painting meet atop Jesus’ head in avanishing point. It appears that the figures are lit by light from thechapel, as their shadows all fall away in the same direction. Such atouch seems basic to us today, but incorporating a light from a specificsource and using it to lend figures three-dimensionality wasgroundbreaking for the time.

The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, 1498.  An example ofthe way in which Renaissance artists wished to draw the viewer into thepainting by depicting a vibrant scene filled with real psychology andemotion. All the apostles have different reactions to Christ revealingthat one will betray him. Like in the Tribute Money, Jesus’ head is located at the vanishing point for all the perspective lines.

The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo, 1511. In this mostfamous section of the Sistine Chapel, the personal nature of faith, thedivine potential of man, and the idea of man being co-creator with Godis vividly depicted. So is the Renaissance interest in anatomy; God isresting on the outline of the human brain. Michelangelo, like Leonardo,performed numerous dissections of human corpses in order to gain anin-depth and realistic look at the parts and structure of the humanbody.

David, by Michelangelo, 1504. Renaissance artists createdthe first free-standing nude statutes since the days of antiquity.Michelangelo believed that sculpture was the highest form of art as itechoes the process of divine creation. His David is the perfect exampleof the Renaissance’s celebration of the ideal human form. The statueconveys rich realism in form, motion, and feeling. The upper body andhands are not quite proportional, perhaps owing to the fact that thework was meant to be put on a pedestal and viewed by looking upwards.Michelangelo was a master at portraying subjects at moments ofpsychological transition, as if they had just thought of something, andthis statue is often believed to be depicting the moment when Daviddecides to slay Goliath.

School of Athens, by Raphael, 1510. This painting, whichdepicts all the great philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome, serves asan example of the way in which Renaissance artists were inspired by andhearkened back to the days of antiquity. The perspective lines draw theviewer to the center of the painting and the vanishing point wherehistory’s two greatest philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, stand. In linewith their philosophies, Plato points to the heavens and the realm ofForms, while Aristotle points to the earth and the realm of things.

Article printed from The Art of Manliness: http://artofmanliness.com

URL to article: http://artofmanliness.com/2010/07/16/man-knowledge-the-basics-of-art-the-renaissance/

URLs in this post:

[1] Image: http://artofmanliness.com/thebook/

[2] positive madness: http://artofmanliness.com/2010/07/12/dance-like-zorba-the-greek-getting-in-touch-with-your-wild-man/

[3] Renaissance Man.: http://artofmanliness.com/2008/05/27/how-to-be-a-renaissance-man/