No.33438
Can we have an art thread?
I'm particularly interested in the renaissance art, and personally wish I knew more about the artists and the works from this period.
To start off, The Calumny Of Apelles:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumny_of_Apelles_(Botticelli)More about Botticelli:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandro_Botticelli No.33441
>>33439I have a copy of Bento's Sketchbook that I probably lost
I also have Portraits and Landscapes by him which are neat
Portraits is a sort of broad art history book that introduces various notable works of art throughout history with a short essay
Landscapes is a collection of different short texts that he wrote throughout his career
They're both meant to be companion volumes to each other
No.33452
Can't help but make Caravaggio my next upload.
The Seven Works of Mercy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Works_of_Mercy_(Caravaggio) No.33453
>>33452Religious art is boring
No.33456
>>33452Caravaggio was a real master of chiaroscuro and it really shows in works like that. The contrast in the lighting and coloring really makes the subjects stand out more and is interesting in and of itself.
No.33457
>>33456Technique on its own isn't impressive
No.33459
Next up is the Death of Actaeon, by Titian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_ActaeonFrom what I can remember of the subject, it recounts Acteon stumbling upon Diana bathing and her pursuit of him.
No.33462
Late night post, this time with two pieces.
The first is "The taking of Christ" by Caravaggio. You can read more for a description here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taking_of_Christ_%28Caravaggio%29The second is a similar piece some 300 years earlier produced by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel. Both scenes depict the betrayal of Judas having been paid the thirty pieces of silver to identify Christ. The wikipedia entry for Giotto's piece is in Italian but can be found here:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacio_di_Giuda_(Giotto)The Scrovegni Chapel (in English):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrovegni_Chapel No.33463
>>33462tbh I prefer the earlier renaissance stuff that looks a bit more Romanesque, like that Giotto one
No.33466
One last one.
'The Adoration of the Magi', GIotto.
Nearly every artist has their own version of the adoration, and you can see the development of perspective with it. Even da Vinci has his own version if you google it. This is Giotto's version, from the same chapel as the Kiss Of Judas above.
>>33463Not really surprising to see 'Romanesque' mentioned. Read up on the Renaissance wikipedia and you'll see the outline of the relationship between Roman art and that of the Renaissance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance No.33548
Two images but only one with a wikipedia of its own, both by Masaccio. His wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MasaccioThe first is titled 'The Tribute Money', a painting by Masaccio in which the main focus of the painting is Jesus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tribute_Money_(Masaccio)The Second is Madonna With Child (one of an endless number for the time).
Both are unique for their development and use of perspective. Masaccio uses Jesus in the first image as the vanishing point for the painting, against which everything is portrayed. He also introduces the use of chiascuro to portray a naturally lit background.
I'd like to add
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Masaccio_trinity.jpg as a personal favourite that's etched into memory. When printed in black and white at a higher detail the depth creates a nice effect that reinforces what the depiction is about. From Masaccio's wikipedia:
<The sacred figures and the donors are represented above an image of a skeleton lying on a sarcophagus. An inscription seemingly carved into the wall above the skeleton reads: "Io fui gia quel che voi siete e quel ch'io sono voi anco sarete" (I once was what now you are and what I am, you shall yet be). This skeleton is at once a reference to Adam, whose sin brought humans to death and a reminder to viewers that their time on earth is transitory. It is only through faith in the Trinity, the fresco suggests, that one overcomes this death.[19] The Holy Spirit is seen in the form of a dove, above Jesus.[20] The combination of trinity, death and decay "can be interpreted as a transposition of the Golgotha chapel"[18] in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. No.33552
>>33549half of these are frescos, not oil paintings
No.33559
The Annunciation, by Fra Angelico.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annunciation_(Fra_Angelico,_San_Marco)
>From the wikipedia<The Annunciation is not Fra Angelico's first painting on that theme nor his only one in the convent. His works are scattered across the world in well-known museums and galleries including the Prado. He is credited as the inventor of this type of composition, where Gabriel visits Mary in an outdoor setting. A typical Gothic Annunciation painting contained the archangel Gabriel visiting the Virgin Mary indoors and with Mary enthroned. The figures would appear flat, static, and unrealistic. This painting in particular is supposed to have "achieved heights of singular elegance." The way it handles space and lighting is revolutionary because it is a transition out of the Gothic period and into the Renaissance. Previous versions had no spatial awareness. The figures seemed to float in the air, and lines did not end in a vanishing point. This caused them to be lopsided and disproportional. The wikipedia then describes the lighting conditions the fresco was meant to be viewed under.
The wikipedia on the topic of the annunciation provides more detail on the significance of the scene.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annunciation#In_art No.33562
>>33552Holy shit how many oil paintings and frescos of Jesus do you need
No.33564
'Sacred And Profane Love', by Titian.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_and_Profane_LoveThe wikipedia lists the contestations made about the 'meaning' of the painting, but gives an accurate description of what and who the painting is about.
No.33565
'Flaying of Marsyas', Titian.
It's notable that in his age the later works of Titian move into these dream-like depictions. You can see the same with
>>33459https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaying_of_Marsyas_(Titian)From the wikipedia
<The philosopher-turned-novelist Iris Murdoch was especially fascinated by the painting, which she described in an interview as "the greatest in the Western canon". It is mentioned in three of her novels, and sometimes discussed by the characters. In her portrait for the National Portrait Gallery by Tom Phillips, a reproduction occupies most of the wall behind her head. She said it was "something to do with human life and all its ambiguities and all its horrors and terrors and misery, and at the same time there’s something beautiful, the picture is beautiful, and something also to do with the entry of the spiritual into the human situation and the closeness of the gods …" No.33566
The other Starry Night is more famous but I like this one better. It captures an important period of change in Europe. We can see here a sort of liminal space between the comfy old world, lit by the stars, and the looming new world lit by industrially produced artificial lights. Here, the gas lamps across the river are just beginning to dominate, but have not yet drowned out the stars above. The exaggerated reflection of the gas lamps in the river foreshadows their eventual dominance, and creates a feeling as if the lights of industry are reaching across this natural barrier.
The composition also creates an alienating effect. The human figures are rendered tiny here, shoved into a corner in the foreground. The river, bridged by the artificial lights creates a barrier between them and the sky. The material, earthly realm to be dominated by these burning lights of industry, cutting us off from the heavenly world, both in the stars and the natural beauty.
I don't know how much foresight Van Gogh had, but it feels like a sense of that separation informed much of his work, given the focus on contrasts. For this painting, there is a notable difference in the color of the starlight and the lamplight, the latter being a more vivid yellow. The paler stars therefore already acquire a sense of being overshadowed, largely separated from the rest of the image in a sky unbothered by the vivid yellow gas lights below, unlike the beach in the foreground. Yet even as those yellow lights reach out to us to change our colors, the pale starlight waits above, unmoved and unchanging, perhaps to be seen again if we should dim our lights of industry on nights to come.
No.33603
>>33562some of these are tempera paintings, not oil paintings or frescos