(EECA2) Art Gallery

Art Gallery

This review has been designed to help you narrow down the most important works of art covered in this module. It is NOT meant be a replacement for reading the text, but to serve as a supplement. You are responsible for keeping up with the reading in your text as well as provided supplemental readings/websites.

The term Gothic began as a way to insult the art and architecture of the Goths. The Goths were warriors who conquered the Roman Empire. In Northern Europe where it was popular, the style was referred to as opus modernum (modern work). The term is synonymous with the towering elaborate churches, which originated in France. The Gothic cathedrals represented the city of god, the Heavenly Jerusalem on earth. The style originated in northern France around 1140. By the thirteenth century, it was spreading out of the region around Paris. By the fourteenth century, it spread throughout Europe. 

The period is noted for growing wealth and populations. More and more free men living in cities slowly replaced the early medieval manors and monasteries. Banking and trade grew. The feudal system moved toward the development of large regional kingdoms. The scholastic centers of the European universities moved beyond the limits of the church. Professional trade guilds began to be formed. The Pope was at the height of papal power, and the Crusades in the Holy Land were still being fought.

There are many key elements of Gothic architecture. The rib vault, which is similar to a barrel vault, but is characterized by not only the transverse arches but by diagonal arches, is considered symbolic of the body's ribs. The flying buttress is another element. The most identifiable element is the pointed arch.

The first examples of Gothic architecture are found near Paris, specifically at Sainte-Denis, though the style spread quickly. The facades of these cathedrals are very decorative and are known for their detailed stained glass. Some call Gothic cathedrals "stone Bibles."

Time Period

• Early Gothic 1140-1194
• High Gothic 1194-1300
• Late Gothic 1300-1500+

The Late Gothic period in Italy becomes the bridge from medieval to the Renaissance. In Italy, merchants and civic leaders patronized artists who created the beginning of the Italian Renaissance art. Humanists rediscovered Greek and Roman writings and began to advocate the potential of man. A concern for the individual becomes a major theme of Italian art in the Gothic period. Direct study of the natural world led to naturalism in artwork. Cimabue adapts Byzantine formulas, called maniera greca, to his paintings. Giotto begins to move away from this tradition. Religious narrative scenes develop true landscapes rather than the heavenly, gold background. The volume of Giotto's figures, the narrative spaces of Duccio, were seen as revolutionary in the fourteenth century. 

The term Renaissance emerged in the 19th century and was used to describe a period of "rebirth", occurring between the 14th and 15th centuries. What was it a rebirth of? Artists began to look back to the Greeks and Romans for inspiration. The examining of Classical works resulted in works incorporating a greater sense of light, color, and form. Chiaroscuro, light and dark in Italian, was used in painting to give forms a sense of volume and realism. Creating a sense of space was also a major innovation. The invention of linear perspective, an optical device that causes your eye to see in three-dimension by the establishment of vanishing points, revolutionized the creation of space.

Art during the Renaissance was mostly made for commissions or religious reasons. The artist rose from being just a skilled craftsman to a profession of money and prestige. Renaissance society became dominated by guilds, which represented the important trades in the city. Guilds ensured that members had a job and a decent income. Masters were paid to take on an apprentice to teach practical skills in the artistic fields.

In general, Northern art continued to carry on the late medieval tradition of creating art with great attention to detail. The art of the North is also characterized by a tendency toward realism and naturalism, great skill in portraiture, an interest in landscape, and using religious symbolism in their works.

Major Inventions of the Renaissance

• Linear Perspective
• Chiaroscuro
• Oil on Canvas
• Pyramidal Composition

Characteristics of Linear Perspective

1. Straight lines remain straight.
2. Objects that are parallel to the picture plane remain the same and are not distorted.
3. Orthogonal to the picture plane converge on a single vanishing point. This point is really the fixed position of the observer.
4. Objects decrease in size as the distance from the observer becomes greater.

Contributions of linear perspective to the work of art:

• creates a scientifically convincing image
• creates focus or emphasis
• new relationship of viewer to painting
• clarifies objects and space
• halos are gone
• more naturalism
• definite light source (shadows, three-dimensional)
• sense of stability and order (static compositions)

Some Characteristics of High Renaissance Art

1. The use of perspective has resulted in the desire to create more believable space with mathematically believable changes in scale.
2. Artists have begun to create fully volumetric bodies with an interest in conveying gesture and natural movement.
3. The Reformation challenged the Catholic Church's leadership role as a patron of the arts. Private patrons and the court (kings and princes) become more important as patrons.
4. Religious art and portraits are the painting genres most valued. Subject matter becomes complicated by allegory and disguise as patrons and artists communicate more private messages in their art.

Reformation and Italian humanism were both spread across Northern Europe. Iconoclasts destroyed religious images and religious patronage of art declined. Secular patronage and subject matters became prominent, and artwork became commodities with the rising business class. Northern artists began to be influenced by the theories and principles of the Italian Renaissance. The influences of humanist philosophy, linear perspective and Italian composition techniques can be seen. Although some patrons continued to favor the Gothic style, the synthesis of Northern and Italian styles can be seen in the architecture, painting, and graphic work of the North.

Review the Early Europe and Americas II works in the Art Gallery presentation below.

[CC BY 4.0] UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED | IMAGES: LICENSED AND USED ACCORDING TO TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION