The Religious and Secular Image Question
1.
Secular art in Europe can be put into three overarching categories: Still life, Landscape, and Genre Painting. For this question, I will be focusing on the development of Still Life, specifically “Vanitas”, and Genre.
Denial of access to life classes and the nude figure to women until the 19th and early 20th century, led a young aspiring Italian artist by the name of Sofonisba Anguissola to turn to other figures for inspiration and artistic education, her family and everyday life. Little did she know, that just by painting “her brothers and sisters engaging in everyday activities” she would be stumbling into a new form of portraiture, Genre Painting. As evidenced by The Chess Game(pictured below) painted in 1555, Anguissola is credited with the invention of Genre Painting, receiving credit after her work was “rediscovered” during the Feminist Movement of the 1970s.
Although Genre Painting was “invented” in the 16th Century, the category did not fully develop and become popular until the 17th century in the Netherlands. Some examples of Dutch Genre paintings include Johannes Vermeer’s “Woman pouring milk”, Pieter de Hooch’s “Courtyard”, both pictured below. As you can see, these painters used lighting and vivid colors to change normal people and everyday life into something special.
Another category of secular art that developed during the 17th century was Still Life, specifically Vanitas paintings. Vanitas paintings are vivid and beautiful paintings that “refer to the transitory nature of life and to eventual death”. The two artists referenced in this week’s reading include Rachel Ruysch, a specialist in flower paintings (example below) in the 17th century, and Audrey Flacks, a contemporary artist famous for her tribute to Marilyn Monroe (pictured below). The references to death, including insects crawling in fruit, wilted flowers, and empty shells, are clear in these two paintings. This is evidence that although artists began moving more
Secular art in Europe can be put into three overarching categories: Still life, Landscape, and Genre Painting. For this question, I will be focusing on the development of Still Life, specifically “Vanitas”, and Genre.
Denial of access to life classes and the nude figure to women until the 19th and early 20th century, led a young aspiring Italian artist by the name of Sofonisba Anguissola to turn to other figures for inspiration and artistic education, her family and everyday life. Little did she know, that just by painting “her brothers and sisters engaging in everyday activities” she would be stumbling into a new form of portraiture, Genre Painting. As evidenced by The Chess Game(pictured below) painted in 1555, Anguissola is credited with the invention of Genre Painting, receiving credit after her work was “rediscovered” during the Feminist Movement of the 1970s.
Although Genre Painting was “invented” in the 16th Century, the category did not fully develop and become popular until the 17th century in the Netherlands. Some examples of Dutch Genre paintings include Johannes Vermeer’s “Woman pouring milk”, Pieter de Hooch’s “Courtyard”, both pictured below. As you can see, these painters used lighting and vivid colors to change normal people and everyday life into something special.
Another category of secular art that developed during the 17th century was Still Life, specifically Vanitas paintings. Vanitas paintings are vivid and beautiful paintings that “refer to the transitory nature of life and to eventual death”. The two artists referenced in this week’s reading include Rachel Ruysch, a specialist in flower paintings (example below) in the 17th century, and Audrey Flacks, a contemporary artist famous for her tribute to Marilyn Monroe (pictured below). The references to death, including insects crawling in fruit, wilted flowers, and empty shells, are clear in these two paintings. This is evidence that although artists began moving more