BTHS H3X-1 Art during the Renaissance Extra Credit

Isabella Divilova October 2, 2011

During my time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) I noticed a few things that I found interesting about both the Italian and Northern Renaissance. Besides the usual perspective, anatomy, symmetry, and other aspects that we already covered in class, I noticed that about half of the paintings in the rooms devoted to the Renaissance were paintings with babies in them. I also noticed a different level of happiness, or enthusiasm, in some of the paintings. I read the blurbs, but also decided to look up the things I noticed. I found this to be rather interesting when I read it, but the "babies" in the picture are apparently some depiction of Christ and Saint John the Baptist. For example, in the painting Madonna and Child on a Curved Throne, Jesus is portrayed as an infant, but he has the same posture as another painting I noticed of him as an adult. In addition, Mary is considered Madonna in the painting(s). In Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints, by Raphael, the blurb said "According to Vasari, it was the nuns who asked Raphael to depict the Christ child and infant Saint John the Baptist fully clothed. Their patronage may also account for the painting's conservative style and the emphasis given to gold decorations." We were also assigned to compare the Northern Renaissance with the Italian Renaissance. The blurbs served no help in identifying which was which, but I knew from the expressions the subjects had in the painting, there was a distinction between the Italian and Northern Renaissance. I found that some paintings were dark and ominous, and the people in the paintings were either religious figures or people who were obviously unhappy. The other set of paintings on the other hand, had a lot of colour, gold, happy people, and a lot of gluttony.

Examples that show the clear distinction between the two are Arnolfini Wedding Portrait, by Jan Van Eyck and The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo. The expression of the newlyweds' faces in Adnolfini Wedding Portrait really makes you wonder why they got married at all. They look depressed, the colours in the painting are dark, such as dark black, dark green, and dark red. The dog looks unhappy too. Whereas, in The Creation of Adam, Adam is made to look as the divine potential of man and the other people in the painting are made to look godly. Also, in The Creator of Adam there is a greater aspect of human anatomy; muscles, bones, tendons, even the curls of hair on Adam's head, are visible. In Arolfini Wedding Portrait, both of the newlyweds are wearing hats or shawls to cover their heads. I wanted to know why this was the case, such a drastic change in art. After looking back to my notes and looking online, I realized that in the Northern Renaissance there was an emphasis on everyday life, which usually meant, Peasant life. Since peasant life was nothing short of gruesome and sad, that accounts for why dark and ominous tones are evident in Northern Renaissance art. I also think in the Northern Renaissance, they had different thoughts on religion. The Renaissance, Italian and Northern, were religious. However, in Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints, by Raphael, Saint John the Baptist appears as a cute baby, where in Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist, by Andrea Solario, Saint John the Baptist is beheaded and someone is holding him by the hair while Salome holds a plate for his head. I enjoyed my time at the Met. While writing this I realized that Northern Renaissance and Italian Renaissance art were more different that I had initially thought. I think it goes to show that artists will express what is happening in their societies. The Italian Renaissance was more of a "rebirth" than the Northern Renaissance and was considered happier, and this is all evident in the art that I saw.