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 There are historical document that show when the painting came out his wife had been gone a year.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.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Northern Renaissance documentary blog #2
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Hi! I think that the theory about the dead wife of Giovanni Arnolfini is really interesting. I especially like when Margaret L. Koster gives her interpretation for the candle in the chandelier. The lit candle over the husband might signify that he was still alive. In contrast, you can see the traces of a second candle (which as gone out) over Mrs. Arnolfini's side of the painting, to perhaps signify that she is deceased.
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I definitely agree with you in that during the Renaissance period, people loved the idea of naturalism. Artists wanted to achieve a high resemblance to the real thing or person painted or sculpted. This was achieved by focusing on the minute details of things. I think artists from the Renaissance period were very patient people or learned how to be. It definitely seemed they painted and sculpted because they loved to and not because they wanted to make money from their works of art.
ReplyDeleteI also found it very astonishing that van Eyck was able to use natural minerals to create the deepest and richest blends in his paintings. Naturalism was a great key factor that helped introduce the significance of artwork during this time and definitely added a feature of closeness. I agree that over this documentary I have also gained a level of respect for these pieces during this period of time, they earned their place in history.
ReplyDelete@kyle, yes that is how they can still make oil paints today, at least in the more expensive brands with the best color.
ReplyDeleteyour post was interesting, but may i add another opinion to the jumble? What if Jan Van Eyck had a visual photographic memory? thus whatever he saw he could store away in his memory and grab hold of it the next time he needed to use it? i discussed this in http://kyleg235.blogspot.com/2012/01/post-2-northern-renaissance-documentary.html?showComment=1326504375593#c1821378959186155022 blog as well, as it was not my original idea, but a very good friend of mine's idea... but that would make so much sense if he had actually met Giovanni's wife before she had died, he would have a visual memory of what she would have looked like. and thus been able to take that memory and create a portrait from that. what do you think of that? I'm so excited with how well I believe that to fit into the mystery! I had to share :)
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