High Italian Renaissance Art post #4

I chose to do option number one.
From the early Renaissance period I picked Masaccio's "The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise". This painting was painted in 1427 and is a fresco which is very common in that day and age. While it is very faded from its original look, it has so aspects of naturalism from Adam and Eve with the way there body's are in motion to the curves of the body parts. For example, Adams stomach curves to indicate the abs and shading around parts of the knee to give it depth. The expressions on their face really show how they were feeling as this was happening. The whole painting has a light source that looks like it's angled from the front left of them because the shadows are more toward the front of the painting. The painting has a good sense of balance from top to bottom highlighting the main parts while drawing your attention to different parts. The angel gives the illusion that she is behind them pushing them out and not just flying on top of them. This painting as a whole has almost all the characteristics of its time period.
From the High Renaissance period I picked Leonardo da Vinci's "The Virgin of the Rocks". This was painted in 1485 and is a oil painting which is the medium that was becoming popular. It has a sort of cloudy effect that gives it a mystic illusion ism feeling. The cloudy look comes from sfumato (a smoky effect). Leonardo's painting has realism all through it with the virgin looking innocent with what looks like she's watching the children in front of beautiful rock formation with a waterfall. If it was brighter it would look like a photograph and not just a painting because it's that realistic. The painting has a strong light source that looks to be coming from the left side or the figures right side as you can see by the shadows on the faces of the figures. You can also see light from the plants on the bottom left hand corner. Both paintings have some of the same aspects.
As you can see, both artwork's from the High Renaissance and from the Early Renaissance they have a majority of the same quality's. They also follow their time periods characteristics very well. They both have qualities that make them real looking making them natural or realistic. they also both have shadows that give the painting definition like the figures and the scenery. Masaccio's painting has more raw emotion in its details then Da Vinci's who's has a slight emotional effect, but really just silent. Even with their differences and similarities they both tell a story and speak a message.

Early Italian Renasissance art Blog # 3

For my formal analysis post I chose to do David, created by Donatello, is a statue of David after his defeat of Goliath. This statue was constructed between 1446 and 1460, it is made from bronze. The statue is approximately five feet two and one fourth inches tall. This piece of art work has many of the characteristics of that time period, the main one being naturalism and with a strong sense of balance and harmony.
Donatello really brings idealism and naturalism to life right in front of our eyes right down to the height of the sculpture. The height of the David statue is about the size of a teenage boy, he even has the baby looking face that shows innocence's. The body of the figure has slight muscles around the arms and abs, but nothing like the soldiers of older males who have six pack abs and rippling muscles all over their bodies. David's body show youth all over like he's just hitting puberty, so he's not really strong. Actually when I first look at the statue I think of a boy filled with imagination and a lot of adventure, mainly because the hat with leafs that form a head band. The upper half of the body has a lot of details that bring it to live especially in the head area with each individual leaf matted to the metal looking war hat. The hat also has a few leafs at the top around the point at the top. As you travel down the body you can see his weapons for fighting the stone in one hand and the sword that's too big for him in the other. At the very bottom is where Donatello does the most details. For example, the shields on his calves have engraved designs and symbols. Also it looks like he is stepping on feather with one foot on the head of Goliath. Goliaths head has details on the helmet that looks like it shows a story, and his eyes are closed with his beard hair sticking straight out. The many details in this amazing work of art bring it to life and give it the naturalism with idealism that Donatello was going for. I for one think he did a great job of naturalism with every part of the work.
While this sculpture shows naturalism it also is asymmetrical though it still has balance. David's left arm bent with his hand on his hip balances out the fact the right arm is out holding a sword to the ground. Though the sword is longer than the arm you would think that it would still be off balance, but then you see at the bottom opposite of the sword you see the head of Goliath that gives the final touches to the asymmetrical balance of the David statue. The Harmony that the statue has I feel has to do with the emotions that can see from the statue like the playful emotion of youth, the happiness from winning the battle, the mature feeling of growing up and become a man. There are so many emotions in this statue from all different parts of it that you would think that it would be crazy and not one statue but from many. It's not true though what you would think all of these emotion work to together to give it the sense of harmony.
Overall, this sculpture Donatello made tells a story, that was common in the time period, and physically fits the style and characteristics of the early Italian Renaissance art as I explained some of them earlier. This work of art is amazing in all its aspects. David is one of the art works that really proves that Donatello was just as amazing as most people have said though out the years since his time.

Northern Renaissance documentary blog #2

In the Northern Renaissance I feel that one of their main ideas that they value is naturalism. Every piece of work whether it be a sculptor or a painting has naturalism. People wanted more art around this time so portraits were a big thing that people wanted so they could be passed down from generation to generation. The paintings were magnificent with such details that made it look like you were just staring at the person in front of them and not just a painting.
Paintings were very popular during this time, a common work that was made was altarpieces that could be found in churches and even hospitals. People from all over came to see these works of art because they were amazing and had so much detail that you probably would even notice it all until you looked at in multiple times. Even when they were explaining the works to me in the the documentary I noticed new thing after staring at them in the lecture and the book especially with the Ghent Altarpiece.
The value of the painting was important. They went to great lengths to make there painting the best they could do. They made each pigment for the oil paints to be the richest it could be, the colors would be vibrant and stand out. They would even have to import minerals from different countries to get the colors they wanted or the could crush dried Beatles and other things found in nature. They just didn't have the stores where they could go by there paints. Having to make the paint pigments themselves made it a lot more expensive so the best quality were made for the rich because they could afford it.
One work of art that was mentioned in the documentary was really fascinating was the Double Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife. This work of art had so many values and stylistic characteristics that was very popular in that time. There are a lot of hidden messages deep within the painting that unless you looked up close would not even be able to notice them. There also a bunch of different meaning that many people have come up with over the years. For example, some people believe its a wedding portrait, but the most recent idea is that she is already dead and he is like taking an oath. There are historical document that show when the painting came out his wife had been gone a year.
Thought out this whole period you will not see a painting that doesn't have one of the main stylistic characteristics. Which there are about four or five main characteristics. Whether they be interest in naturalism, extreme attention to detail, thin layers of oil paint or observed perspective some could even have all of them. They had a lot of pride in the work they did so it was always the best it could be.
Over all, the documentary was very informative and really kept my attention. It also made me appreciate this periods art a lot more than I did before.

Intro to Renaissance art

First off my name is Jennifer Groce. I feel that Renaissance period is held in high regards to us is because there way of life is still around in some ways just with more technology. They had kingdoms, higher archery's and different classes of people. Just like today we have a ruler with people that do all his bidding's. We also have higher class people to middle class and lower classes just like with them but not exactly the same. Even in different countries we still have kings and queens like England. I feel some of the reasons we focus on art from the 15th and 16th centuries is because they tell stories or capture moments in time that are of important. We also have a lot more work persevered better and in better condition from this time. For example if you hit certain museums you can see the actual art work from that time and it looks like it could have been painted last week. It is truly amazing the condition of those pieces of art since there over five hundred years old!!!! I think that the reason people like Renaissance art is better because its relate able and people like being about to see something that reminds them of themselves or people they know. Plus they have the most portraits then I have ever seen they more about landscapes or abstract arts instead of people because photography deals more with people now. I also think it was just one of those things that everyone grew up with because it was a part of an area from where most of us from our family history so it was carried down and then over to America. I think our culture hasn't got out of the big name importance factor like your name has to be known by many in ordered to be remembered. It is a big thing in our culture cause big names are everywhere like Stephanie Meyers, J.K. Rowling when there are many authors that write just a good books that won't be remembered because there name isn't popular. The most remembered painting to most of America is done by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael. For example, when I looked though the pictures the ones that I knew of were painted or sculpted by them. Even if I didn't know which one did what till I read the captions, but I did know the paintings like The Last Supper, Mona Lisa, or The Small Cowper Madonna and I have defiantly heard of their artist. It most likely doesn't help that our culture named characters from a cartoon after them i.e. Ninja Turtles. Our cultures have given us the examples they wanted us to see unless you go more in depth like by studying art.