“Northern Renaissance: The Supreme Art.” documentary I found to be a fascinating! The ideas that were valued in the Northern Renaissance were very much religion and naturalism. But new ideas and concepts were created during this time as well. Throughout the documentary “Northern Renaissance: The Supreme Art” it showed beautiful paintings, sculptures and tapestries that were incredibly realistic, detailed, and life-like.
The sculpture at this time was gorgeous, and people worked the stone with detail and precision that had never been seen before. And was the leading form of art. But what really stood out during the northern renaissance was the painting. Painting flourished during this time and was taken to a whole new level of naturalism. One of the first paintings that showed true naturalism… or the painting that started off the new era of naturalism was the Ghent Altarpiece. This is a beautiful piece, and is still considered one of the best pieces in the world today. People today are intrigued by its incredible naturalism just like the people of northern renaissance were fascinated by how true the painting looked. The colors and textures matched so closely to reality people were and still are completely awed by it.
The Brugge Madonna Child is another example of the naturalism that was developing. This painting looked so natural and real, that it was hard to even tell it was a painting. New methods in color mixing were created to make the deep rich colors of “real life”, which really helped with the look of naturalism.
Religion was a huge part of the Northern Renaissance. Churches and Cathedrals were one of the main places beautiful artwork was found. Sculpture and paintings of biblical stories and characters were universally seen throughout the Northern Renaissance. Their traditional depiction of biblical characters was also changed during this time when art work started showing characters that were dead, rise again. Ghent Altarpiece was the first painting to portray the dead to be living again. It changed paintings from there on out.
During the Northern Renaissance self-portraits also became very popular. Having personal pictures of themselves painted, allowed future generations to remember them. Because painting was making such leaps at this time, the detail, accuracy, and life-like qualities it had, people really enjoyed self-portraits. It makes sense that the people who used this most often at the time were royalty, and people of significant importance.
Painters who were taking new steps in painting became really famous. The “birth” of the new developing painting ‘business’ really began to thrive when Jan van Eyck’s paintings were noticed. Nobles, royalty and townspeople became fascinated with his work. According to records he became so well know that people started asking to see his assistants work. His work became so extensive that he had many people working under him to complete his projects.
It amazes me the incredible detail that artists were able to create, and that detail was obviously valued during the Northern Renaissance, and still is valued today. I find the Northern Renaissance a beautiful change of artistic view points, techniques and styles.
I agree with you, the sculptures were done in a way that had not been seen before. Can you even imagine getting a huge slab of rock and turning it into the figures we saw on "The Well of Moses"? Amazing! I'm constantly in awe of the art we're seeing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the paintings from the Northern Renaissance were beautiful and did flourish. But at the same time, I still find it interesting that it was not the "art of arts" that it is today. While it did become more prevalent in the time, sculpture was still the leading form of art in this period. I was fascinated by that when I watched the documentary because I always think of painting as the "ultimate" form of art. So to realize that it wasn't always as prevalent as it is now was actually very surprising to me.
The Northern Renaissance definitely break ground for naturalistic artists, which painted works with detail never before seen. I also found the documentary fascinating, especially when talking about the religious influence within these art works. Although these paintings are interpreted sometimes in multiple ways, it is interesting to see how and where these artists incorporated religious influences. For example, Albrecht Durer's self-portrait of himself, which is not only in contrast to paintings of Jesus himself, but a representation as well. The detail and perspectives behind the works of the Renaissance are the reasons the artists that emerged from that time period are still popular today.
ReplyDeleteHi Crystal. I'm glad that you touched on the idea of how self-portraits became popular. Self-portraiture was one way that Renaissance artists could claim higher social status. Typically, portraits were reserved for wealthy patrons. Artists who created self-portraits were claiming (in a way) the same social privileges held by wealthy people.
ReplyDelete-Prof. Bowen