Assignment #3 Renaissance & Baroque

In the Renaissance, European painters had learned the importance of form and anatomy. It also represents human figures realistically. Indeed, Renaissance painters were so proud of their accurate portrayal of the human form that their figures almost always took the fore in their scenes. While the background might be detailed, it remained as that. Renaissance art have the  notion of "Humanism," a philosophy which had been the foundation for many of the achievements  of ancient Greece. Humanism downplayed religious and secular dogma and instead attached the greatest importance to the dignity and worth of the individual. In renaissance art we can find different characteristics, some of them are: realism and expression, perspective, emphasis on individualism and use of bright colors. A good example of northern renaissance is "A Goldsmith in his Shop" by Petrus Christus (Netherlandish, Baarle-Hertog (Baerle-Duc), active by 1444–died 1475/76 Bruges). A celebrated masterpiece of Northern Renaissance Art, this painting was signed and dated 1449 by Petrus Christus.  He became the leading painter after the death of Jan van Eyck. This painting is very detailed, especially  in the luminous jeweled, glass, and metallic objects. The main figure in this enigmatic painting was identified as Saint Eligius (the patron saint of goldsmiths). Like many Northern Renaissance paintings, Petrus Christus’ Goldsmith in his Shop reveals its complexities to the viewer over time. At first, one sees a group of three people inside a room. A male and a female dressed in expensive clothes. They appear to be a couple because the man has his hands around the woman's back. This woman gestures with her left hand towards the seated man. In his left hand, he holds a small balance which supports a gold ring. It seems like the couple is abut to make a purchase.It  has been suggested that the goldsmith  is Willem van Vleuten, a Bruges goldsmith who worked for Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy. In 1449, the date of this painting, the duke commissioned from van Vlueten a gift for Mary of Guelders on the occasion of her marriage to James II, King of Scots. That couple may well be depicted in this painting, portrayed buying a wedding ring that is being weighed on a scale. The girdle that extends over the ledge of the shop into the viewer’s space is a further allusion to matrimony. The convex mirror, which links the pictorial space to the street outside, reflects two young men with a falcon (a symbol of pride and greed) and establishes a moral comparison between the imperfect world of the viewer and the world of virtue and balance depicted here.

                      Baroque painting can be seen as the beginning of realism in European art. If the Renaissance painters were obsessed with form and figure, Baroque painters were obsessed with light. It was not just the figures that needed to be realistic, but also their surroundings, as well and their place in the overall picture. Baroque painters supplemented Renaissance perfection of form and figure with consciousness of how light reacts to different materials, different surfaces and in different contexts. Baroque art is characterized by great drama, rich, deep color, and intense light and dark shadows. In contrast to Renaissance art, which usually showed the moment before an event took place, Baroque artists chose the most dramatic point, or the moment when the action was occurring. One good example of baroque art is "The Denial of Saint Peter"by Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, Milan or Caravaggio 1571–1610 Porto Ercole). This artwork  reflects the characteristics of baroque art, for example the excellent work with light and shadow makes it more dramatic and real. It was painted in the last months of Caravaggio’s tempestuous life and marks an extreme stage in his revolutionary style. Peter is shown before a fireplace, when a woman accuses him of being a follower of Christ. The pointing finger of the soldier and two fingers of the woman allude to the three accusations and to Peter’s three denials.  One more characteristic is that the viewer can feel how it represents the exact moment in which peter is  denying christ.