Like his younger contemporary, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Pieter Aertsen lived and worked in the Northern Netherlandish city of Antwerp, a mercantile center with great wealth and a dynamic market for art in the 16th century. The city of Antwerp, in present-day Belgium, and Northern Europe as a whole, after Martin Luther's Protestations against the Catholic Church in 1517, was marked by iconoclastic movements - the destruction of religious images and works of art. Antwerp developed into a thriving art center as artists sought patrons outside the Church, and independently sought commissions through art dealers. The shift in subject matter, focusing less on overt religious iconography, is a strong one for regions of Europe that converted to Protestantism. This shift is evident in the work of art here by Pieter Aertsen, known as The Meat Stall. His painting is an example of the incorporation of both religious themes and the subject of genre, that is, the subject of everyday, ordinary, and peasant life. How so? Well, let's take a close look…follow the link to the Google Arts and Culture link below to pan in on details and to virtually visit the work at the North Carolina Museum of Art. For today's post I would like for all of you to make one observation here about The Meat Stall, and post one question you may have about this work. Any question is a good one…and all observations are valid. Pieter Aertsen
The Meat Stall 1551 Oil on Panel 48 1/2" x 59" North Carolina Museum of Art For close-ups of this work and to see this virtually at the North Carolina Museum of Art see: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/fgF8j5tB3UFgAg
Albrecht Dürer’s style began in the traditions of Northern European realism (the practice of representing something accurately and true to life; unidealized treatment of subject matter), but also delved into the innovations of the Italian Renaissance. Trained as a painter and printmaker in his native Nuremberg, he traveled in Northern Europe and in Venice. He adopted humanistic learning that had taken hold in Italy, as well as making copies of Italian works and learning many of the lessons of Italian Renaissance art.
Dürer, a German artist, was trained to make both woodcuts and engravings and expanded the possibilities of each as seen in comparison to the previous generations' woodcut production seen above; he set a standard of pictorial effect in woodcuts that would transform the technique all over Europe. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse shows the figures from the Bible's Book of Revelations in a compact, overlapping group–a crowned rider, armed with a bow, on a typically white horse (Conquest); a rider with a sword, on a red horse (War); a rider with a set of scales, on a black horse (Plague and Famine); and a rider on a sickly pale horse (Death). Earlier artists simply lined up the horsemen in the landscape but not Dürer; he created a dynamic composition with voluminous figures that are realized with his expertly drawn line. Dürer probably employed a skilled carver who followed his drawings faithfully. Reviewing the video above, and reading pp. 375-376 in Janson's text, what have you learned about Dürer and his contributions to the world of Western art? Or, what difference can you note between Dürer's woodcut above and the Buxheim St. Christopher woodcut? Add a short comment by . The Late Renaissance Period in the 16th century is a time of great change- political, religious, and cultural. Martin Luther's protestations against the Catholic Church impacts Europe. The Protestant Reformation along with the rise of powerful courts affected Italian artists, changing the climate in which they worked but also their patronage which came from and reflected the tastes of the influential elite. In the 16th century, artists working in Italy would uphold the legacy of the High Renaissance and its artistic innovations as they were profoundly influenced by Leonardo, Raphael, and most importantly, Michelangelo, who was still living and working in Rome and Florence during this time. However, the Sack of Rome in 1527, the religious upheavals, and the changing tastes of the upper classes thrust artistic expression into a new modality depicted in artworks by the Mannerists. Mannerism became a style that was about refinement in technical and creative skill, variety, originality, personal expression, and experimentation rather than the clarity, unity and balanced beauty of the Early and High Renaissance period. This can be evidenced in the shift that Michelangelo's painting takes from one period to the next. Works in the three major art forms- sculpture, painting, and architecture- reflect a dynamic and expressive aesthetic that also paid homage to the generations of Italian artistic authority from the past. That's what we'll be exploring today. I invite you, then, to watch the videos below that focus on the work of the Late Renaissance artists Michelangelo, Giovanni Bologna (Giambologna), and Andrea Palladio. Which of these three artists speaks to you and what about their work do you appreciate? Post a comment by 11:59 pm. Looking forward to it!
Andrea Palladio
Villa Rotonda ca. 1567-70 Vicenza, Italy Palladio: America's Architectural Grandfather, Smithsonian Magazine, Video, 4:47 https://youtu.be/sZXhIIOMvQk
Jacopo Da Pontormo (aka Jacopo Carlucci)
Piéta ca. 1526-28 Oil on panel, 10’3” × 6’4" Capponi Chapel of the Church of Santa Felicità, Florence Pierro della Francesca's notoriety as a painter in the Early Renaissance period of the 15th century brought him to the attention of the duke and duchess of one of the most prominent centers in Italy-Urbino. The double portrait of the Duchess Battista Sforza and the Duke Federico of Montefeltro of Urbino is one of the most celebrated portraits of the Italian Renaissance. The diptych is composed in the tradition of the fourteenth century, inspired by the design of ancient coins, where the two figures are shown in profile, an angle that ensured a good likeness of the individuals and a faithful representation of facial details without allowing emotion to show through. The couple is facing each other in front of a deep continuous landscape. When the French invaded Milan while Leonardo was working for his patron, the Duke Ludovico Sforza, Leonardo took his leave and returned to Florence where he painted the portrait of a woman, whom the art historian Vasari identified as Lisa di Gherardo, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, or Mona Lisa as we know her today. This portrait of the High Renaissance was started in Florence around 1503 and is thought to be of the wife of a Florentine cloth merchant. However, Leonardo seems to have taken the completed portrait to France rather than giving it to the person who commissioned it. After his death, the painting entered King Francis I's collection. The portrait may have been painted to mark one of two events - either when Francesco del Giocondo and his wife bought their own house in 1503, or when their second son, Andrea, was born in December 1502 after the death of a daughter in 1499. The Mona Lisa is the earliest Italian portrait to focus so closely on the sitter in a half-length portrait. Looking at these two works, discuss at least one similarity and/or difference noted between them. Concentrate on the women presented here and share your thoughts on how the artists have represented these figures. Post a comment by . |