Golden Age of Painting
The Golden Age of Painting
Renaissance was a period of great cultural change throughout Europe leading to the foundation of the modern world. Scholars rediscovered Greek and Roman texts and began to teach Latin literature which triggered a new way of thinking, and eventually leading to an intellectual movement called humanism. In this transitional period, there was a great revival of classical Greek and Roman culture, art and architecture. Painting was one of the most varied forms of art of the Renaissance. With the use of the new techniques and mediums, painting had come a long way from maniera greca days with no sense of dept or emotion, to precise three dimensional illusions on flat surfaces. This paper will review major painting techniques, developed and enhanced during Renaissance, which enabled this transformation.
Many art historians consider Giotto as the first Renaissance painter. He has abandoned the long-prevailed Byzantine style by pioneering a naturalistic approach of representation based on observation. His methods of pictorial expression based on observation initiated an early scientific age, which recognized the fact that the visual world mu st be observed before it can be analyzed and understood (Kleiner 381). Giotto achieved a sense of spatial depth and restored naturalism, simplicity and restraint to painting (Fraizer 272). Lamentation fresco reveals the essentials of his style. The strong diagonal rock in Lamentation gets viewer’s attention to Christ’s head which is not at the center. This fresco is composed of different groups which contribute overall composition of the painting. By managing light and shade in a stage like setting, he was able to add a volume and perspective to the painting. The use of the contrast of light and dark to add volume was one of the earliest examples towards the development of the chiaroscuro technique. Furthermore, his stage like settings could be
considered as an early example of the use
Renaissance was a period of great cultural change throughout Europe leading to the foundation of the modern world. Scholars rediscovered Greek and Roman texts and began to teach Latin literature which triggered a new way of thinking, and eventually leading to an intellectual movement called humanism. In this transitional period, there was a great revival of classical Greek and Roman culture, art and architecture. Painting was one of the most varied forms of art of the Renaissance. With the use of the new techniques and mediums, painting had come a long way from maniera greca days with no sense of dept or emotion, to precise three dimensional illusions on flat surfaces. This paper will review major painting techniques, developed and enhanced during Renaissance, which enabled this transformation.
Many art historians consider Giotto as the first Renaissance painter. He has abandoned the long-prevailed Byzantine style by pioneering a naturalistic approach of representation based on observation. His methods of pictorial expression based on observation initiated an early scientific age, which recognized the fact that the visual world mu st be observed before it can be analyzed and understood (Kleiner 381). Giotto achieved a sense of spatial depth and restored naturalism, simplicity and restraint to painting (Fraizer 272). Lamentation fresco reveals the essentials of his style. The strong diagonal rock in Lamentation gets viewer’s attention to Christ’s head which is not at the center. This fresco is composed of different groups which contribute overall composition of the painting. By managing light and shade in a stage like setting, he was able to add a volume and perspective to the painting. The use of the contrast of light and dark to add volume was one of the earliest examples towards the development of the chiaroscuro technique. Furthermore, his stage like settings could be
considered as an early example of the use
Cited: Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art Throughout The Ages. Backpack Edition, The Middle Ages. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2010. Print. Fraizer, Nancy The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art History. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2000. Print. Van Dyke, John C. History of Painting. New York, NY: Longmans, Green and Co., 1922. Print. Read, Sir Herbert The Styles of European Art. London, England: Thames and Hudson, 1965. Print.