Miguel Graham

May 1, 2015

Renaissance to Modern Art

Dr. Dwight Smith

What I’ve Learned in Renaissance to Modern Art

I’ve learned so much information in the class titled “Renaissance to Modern Art” and I want to start off with my new found knowledge of Art History. According to Wikipedia, the history of art is “the history of any activity or product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview.” This field of "art history" was developed in the Western world, and originally was focused solely on European art history. Gradually, over the course of the 20th century, a wider vision of art history has developed. Thus, art history is now viewed to encompass all visual art, from the sculptures in Western Europe to the paintings in China.

Also according to this source, the history of art is often told as a chronology of masterpieces created in each civilization. It is said that the Wonders of the World are the epitome of high culture through the stories that are conveyed. Art history spans the entire history of humankind, from prehistoric times to the twenty-first century. No matter what you choose to observe, you can find visual arts that challenge someone’s creative side and inspire them to find beauty in the things manmade.

In modern times, art history has emerged as a discipline that specializes in teaching people how to evaluate and interpret works of art based on their own perspective. Art history has frequently been criticized for its subjectivity because the definition of what is beautiful varies from individual to individual

Although these are great definitions, there is tremendous amount of information and knowledge about this subject that if learned will give any person a vastly deeper definition of it. First off there are so many different types of art in the world and many people limit it to expression through the visual form, but an artist can have an aesthetic for an infinite amount of expressions. For me personally the first time I heard the word aesthetic was when I was researching fitness and body building. There is an entire culture of aesthetic body building that focuses on the appreciation of the beauty of body sculpting. Another huge form of art is through music. This can come in the form of beautiful symphonies, to poetry through rap and hip hop today. So the concept is very broad and its history could go back to the beginning of time.

The next subject that really intrigued me was our study of the Baroque era. We watched a documentary series that explained much of the history to us. Baroque! From St Peter's to St Paul's is a three-part documentary series on the painting, sculpture and architecture of the Baroque period. In class we watched the first part of the three-part series. It is named after its start in Saint Peter's Basilica and its end at St Paul's Cathedral. In fine art, the term Baroque is derived from the Portuguese word ‘barocco’ meaning, 'irregular pearl or stone. This describes a fairly complex expression, originating in Rome, which bloomed during the 16th century. It was an expression that embraced painting, and sculpture as well as architecture. After the idealism of the Renaissance and the slightly 'forced' nature of Mannerism, Baroque art above all reflected the religious tensions of the age and more notably the desire of the Catholic Church in Rome to reassert itself in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation. Baroque is almost synonymous with Catholic Counter Reformation Art of the period.

Many Catholic Emperors and monarchs across Europe had an important stake in the Catholic Church's success, hence a large number of architectural designs, paintings and sculptures were commissioned by the Royal Courts of Spain, France, and elsewhere in order to glorify their own divine grandeur, and in the process strengthen their political position. By comparison, Baroque art in Protestant areas like Holland had far less religious content, and instead was designed essentially to appeal to the growing aspirations of the merchant and middle classes.

St. Peter's is a church in the Renaissance style located in the Vatican City west of the River Tiber and near the Janiculum Hill and Hadrian's Mausoleum. Its central dome dominates the skyline of Rome. The basilica is approached via St. Peter's Square, a forecourt in two sections, both surrounded by tall colonnades. The first space is oval and the second trapezoid. The facade of the basilica, with a giant order of columns, stretches across the end of the square and is approached by steps on which stand two 18.2 ft statues of the 1st-century apostles to Rome, Saints Peter and Paul.

The basilica is cruciform in shape, with an elongated nave in the Latin cross form but the early designs were for a centrally planned structure and this is still in evidence in the architecture. The central space is dominated both externally and internally by one of the largest domes in the world. The entrance is through a narthex, or entrance hall, which stretches across the building. One of the decorated bronze doors leading from the narthex is the Holy Door, only opened during jubilees.

St Paul's Cathedral, London, is an Anglican cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of London and the mother church of the Diocese of London. The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognizable sights of London, with its dome, framed by the spires of Wren's City churches, dominating the skyline for 300 years. St Paul's Cathedral occupies a significant place in the national identity of the English population.

The book that we studied throughout this class was very benificial to me gaining the information and visuals I needed to understand Renaissance to Modern Art. Gardner's Art Through the Ages is an American textbook on art history, with the 2004 edition by Fred S. Kleiner and Christin J. Mamiya. The 2001 edition was awarded both a McGuffey award for longevity[1] and the "Texty" Award for current editions[2] by the Text and Academic Authors Association. No other book has received both awards in the same year.

The first edition published in 1926 was written by Helen Gardner. It, like all following editions, was organized chronologically beginning with "The Birth of Art" in the Upper Paleolithic and progressing in a mainly chronological sequence to the contemporary period.

Gardner's initial edition was ahead of its time in that along with the Western canon of European art, it examined the art of other cultures. This broader view has influenced artists like Roy Lichtenstein as a student[3] with its coverage not only of China, Japan, and Africa, but The Americas and the South Pacific as well. It continues to be a required text for introductory classes in art history for American students to this day

Renaissance art is the painting, sculpture and decorative arts of that period of European history known as the Renaissance, emerging as a distinct style in Italy in about 1400, in parallel with developments which occurred in philosophy, literature, music and science. Renaissance art, perceived as a royalty of ancient traditions, took as its foundation the art of Classical antiquity, but transformed that tradition by the absorption of recent developments in the art of Northern Europe and by application of contemporary scientific knowledge. Renaissance art, with Renaissance Humanist philosophy, spread throughout Europe, affecting both artists and their patrons with the development of new techniques and new artistic sensibilities. Renaissance art marks the transition of Europe from the medieval period to the Early modern age. In many parts of Europe, Early Renaissance art was created in parallel with Late Medieval art.

In art history, High Renaissance, is the period denoting the apogee of the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance. The High Renaissance period is traditionally taken to begin in the 1490s, with Leonardo's fresco of the Last Supper in Milan and the death of Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence, and to have ended in 1527 with the sacking of Rome by the troops of Charles V. This term was first used in German (Hochrenaissance) in the early nineteenth century, and has its origins in the "High Style" of painting and sculpture described by Johann Joachim Winckelmann.[1] Over the last twenty years, use of the term has been frequently criticized by academic art historians for oversimplifying artistic developments, ignoring historical context, and focusing only on a few iconic works.

Since the late eighteenth century, the High Renaissance has been taken to refer to a short 30-year period of exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, principally Rome, capital of the Papal States, under Pope Julius II. Assertions about where and when the period begins and ends vary, but in general the best-known exponents of painting of the High Renaissance, include Leonardo da Vinci, early Michelangelo and Raphael. Extending the general rubric of Renaissance culture, the visual arts of the High Renaissance were marked by a renewed emphasis upon the classical tradition, the expansion of networks of patronage, and a gradual attenuation of figural forms into the style later termed Mannerism.

The paintings in the Vatican by Michelangelo and Raphael are said by some scholars such as Stephen Freedberg to represent the culmination of High Renaissance style in painting, because of the ambitious scale of these works, coupled with the complexity of their composition, closely observed human figures, and pointed iconographic and decorative references to classical antiquity, can be viewed as emblematic of the High Renaissance. In more recent years, art historians have characterized the High Renaissance as a movement as opposed to a period, one amongst several different experimental attitudes towards art in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. This movement is variously characterized as conservative; as reflecting new attitudes towards beauty; a deliberate process of synthesizing eclectic models, linked to fashions in literary culture; and reflecting new preoccupations with interpretation and meaning.

Overall I truly enjoyed this class, my new expansion of awareness and appreciation for beautiful, magnificent, thought-provoking art throughout the ages. In my opinion life its self is art. I believe that every single person was given the gift of life to express their unique selves as fully as they can, and give their talents, gifts, and art to the world.

Works Cited Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History. 14th ed. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.

"Art History." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 28 April 2015. .