Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
San Jacinto
Jerom Thomas
Lou Brock
04/12/17
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Art embodies different cultures and practices used in the location that it is created in. It is
an interesting form of comparing and contrasting different values of the culture. The Museum of
Fine Arts showcases many interesting pieces of art, mostly from the 14th century renaissance
period. There are a few pre-renaissance period arts that were on display, including the two pieces
of art that are being compared, the meeting of Anna and Joachim by the master of the golden
gate as well as the virgin and child attributed to Giovanni Bellini. The meeting of Anna and
Joachim is a Florentine painting that is thought to be completed sometime between c. 1370 and
1390 while the virgin and child is Venetian painting believed to be finished sometime between c.
1460 and 1470. While both paintings originated in Italy, there are important differences that can
be noticed relatively quickly while studying the paintings. The medium of both painting remain
very much similar to each other except for the meeting of Anna and Joachim using both tempera
and gold leaf on wood while the virgin and child only uses tempera on wood. These two pieces
of art shows distinct characteristics of visual elements, cultural context, completed time period,
Artist express their feeling and thoughts on the subject of their painting by displaying
visual elements that are appropriate to the emotions. The master of the golden gate portrayed an
interesting subject for his/her painting by choosing Joachim and his wife Anna. While
Christianity was extremely popular in Florence during the time period of this painting, the
subjects in this painting are lesser known character from the Bible. The artist magnifies
characters like Joachim and Anna in the painting, shifting the attention of the viewer from the
background by introducing subtler colors in the background the artist creates Joachim and Anna
as the central figures. The virgin and child on the other hand focuses on two of the most
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important characters in the Bible, Mary and Jesus. Bellini uses Mary and baby Jesus as his focus
by pushing them to the absolute forefront while the background remains small. the meeting of
Anna and Joachim is painted in a more structured aspect with crisp lines that outlines the cities,
homes and the mountain sides. The artist chose to use warm colors for both Anna and Joachim
while everything that surround them remains a much duller atmosphere. The specific colors draw
the attention of the viewer towards the center of the painting but the artist also chose to paint one
of the house and the partially hidden mountain in the back a warmer color similar to pink. The
artist also created significance at the center of the painting by making everything surround it
considerably smaller in scale. Giovanni Bellini approached the task of showing his main
characters significance by painting his characters greater than anything surrounding it. The
painting has fewer rigid lines creating a more naturalistic painting that is surrounded by the
incredibly detailed background. Bellini used cooler colors in his paining creating shadows that
emulate movement and fluidity in his painting which is missing in the meeting of Anna and
Joachim.
The 14th century painting displays a more devotional attitude, most devotional images
where backgrounded with gold leafs to show the importance of the subjects of the paintings. This
aspect is clearly displayed in the meeting of Anna and Joachim, the artist immortalized the
subject of the painting by introducing the gold leaf background and faces that displayed no
emotions. This method of painting was prominent during this time period since it largely copied
from the Byzantine art. Since the Italy was part of the byzantine empire before its collapse, much
of its art during early 13 14 century was heavily influenced by it. The characters would display
unmoving action, a snapshot of the event that is occurring. Art began to change towards the end
of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century. While most of the characters remained
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in an action, the artist began to introduce the shadows create depth and emotions in the subjects,
creating a more 3D painting. This method is prominent in the Virgin and child; the painting
displays a more naturalistic style while showing more depth than the older painting the meeting
of Anna and Joachim. Another interesting aspect that could have created the different pieces of
art work could be the paint/tempera used. 14th century art would predominantly be using egg
tempera which was known to create long lasting paintings which was the same medium used in
the meeting of Anna and Joachim but at the beginning of 15th century, Bellini learned about oil
tempera which was a technique more common in northern Europe that could would give more
While the paintings origin could be considered relatively close to one another, they
difference of styles could be attributed to the time of creation. The approximate 100-year
difference between the paintings has created a distinct change in the culture, and the effects of it
are easily recognizable in the later painting. The meeting of Anna and Joachim showcases the
extend of influence from byzantine culture and the importance of Christianity during that time
period. As the Byzantine empire collapsed its influence began to fade and it began to be replaced
by Italian pre-renaissance culture. The art began to shift away from simple non-moving event to
a more naturalism focused art. Incredible artist like Giotto emerged during this time period,
evolving creating art that showed depth and human emotion was missing in the byzantine
inspired art works. As new innovations for applying pigment to the canvas began appear, it
helped the Italian art introduce darker colors creating a more realistic image.
These two art pieces share many commonalities while having many differences that are
identifiable. Both artworks remain focused on Christianity, the main subject of both the paintings
are characters from Bible. the meeting of Anna and Joachim, depicts Joachim greeting his wife
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after she received the news that she would bear a child while the Virgin and boy is an image of
Mary and baby Jesus. The paintings differ greatly when the amount of detail for both works are
taken into consideration. The older painting shows the people in detail but background is painted
in more simplistic style. The newer image shows a more in-depth work that even displays the
background in a realistic manor while portraying Mary and her son in a more organic setting.
Both works used tempera on wood as the medium but while the older painting used the egg
based pigment application the relatively newer work used a mixture of egg and oil to create a
pigment application method that were able to produce a more wholesome image than possible
before.
The master of the golden gate and Giovanni Bellini showcased two devotional painting
that was influenced by the most important aspect of their culture. When the fall of the Byzantine
empire occurred Christianity remained a steadfast religion that continued to dominate and grow
in power. Both artists paintings showed the visual effects of the religion in the culture during the
pre-renaissance. the meeting of Anna and Joachim creates an image that reveres the saints of the
bible in a more formal attitude, while the virgin and boy invites the viewer to see Mary and baby
Jesus in more realistic and approachable manor. I think that the second image creates a better
representation of the culture during the 14 century and early 15 by integrating both the
Works Cited
Bellini, Giovanni. Virgin and Child. C. 14601470. Tempera on wood. Private Collection,
Boskovits, Mikls. "Giotto." National Gallery of Art. N.p., 21 Mar. 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
"Italian Paintings of the 13th and 14th Centuries." National Gallery of Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 10
Apr. 2017.
Janson, Horst W., Penelope J. E. Davies, Walter B. Denny, Frima Fox Hofrichter, Joseph Jacobs,
David L. Simon, Ann M. Roberts, and Anthony F. Janson. Janson's History of Art: The
Western Tradition. 8th ed. Vol. I. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2015.
Print.
Master of the Golden Gate. The Meeting of Anna and Joachim at the Golden Gate. C. 1370
1390. Tempera and gold leaf on wood. Collection Rudolph Chillingworth, Lucerne, The
Meagher, Jennifer. "Italian Painting of the Later Middle Ages." The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of
Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sept. 2010. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Sorabella, Author: Jean. "Venetian Color and Florentine Design | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of
Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art
History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oct. 2002. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.