What 1 Year Of Art History Uni Does To A Mf - Blog Posts

this is kind of misleading I fear, (sorry for the long post) The final one would be part of the realism movement as it depicts manual labour in an un-glamourised fashion. The second could be baroque or romantic depending on the subject - baroque focused more on strong movement and lighting, romantic focused more on the representation of violence and strong emotions. The first /could/ be from the renaissance period but I'd be surprised. The angle and facial expression feel more romantic and the renaissance "leading lines" would have been defined by the scenery not by the subjects. As the background does not have strong, obvious perspective I'm gonna go with it not being from the renaissance period. An important thing to note is that there are multiple distinct styles/movements during the Renaissance period. The art during the Italian renaissance was defined by its references to the antiquity and by the mathematical approach to perspective. There were two Italian schools of thought when it came to painting. One prioritised use of colour (leaving a soft, almost blurry sensation). These were the modernists who considered that there needed to be more innovation in artwork. The others, the classicists prioritised shapes and references to the antiquity much more than the modernists. Finally the art of the Flemish Renaissance period prioritised symbolism and realism and had a much less mathematical approach to perspective. Flemish paintings of the period had an incredibly high level of detail. Examples of Baroque paintings: (please note that I have not studied this particular movement in depth - go do your own research about this movement too!)

Annibale Carracci, The Lamentation of Christ, c. 1604

Charles Lorrain, The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, 1648

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, The Calling of Saint Matthew, c. 1599 Note how all of these paintings have religious themes and have a fixation with light and movement. Examples of Romantic paintings:

Theodore de Géricault, the Raft of the Medusa, 1818/1819 (this is the painting that started the romantic movement)

Eugène Delacroix, The Death of Sardanapulus, 1627 Note the fixation on violence and strong emotions as well as the more controversial subject matter - romantic paintings were often very badly received at the time. Examples of Renaissance paintings: Italian Renaissance period:

Raphael, The School of Athens, 1509 (note the very strong perspective in the scenery as well as the antiquity-inspired decor and subject)

Titian, The Venus of Urbino, 1538 Flemish Renaissance period:

Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Wedding, 1434 (take a moment to zoom around and try and pick up the symbolism... it's one of those works where you can spend hours trying to find all the hidden details the painter put in - also note the slightly wonky perspective)

Hubert and Jan Van Eyck ,The Ghent Altarpiece, completed in 1432 (this is an example of a polyptych, a common format for paintings during the larger Medieval Renaissance periods) Note the heavy concentration of symbolic imagery, the use of atmospheric perspective (which was also used in works during the Italian Renaissance), the more "realistic" representation and a use of more earthy tones Examples of Realistic paintings:

Gustave Courbet, A Burial at Ornans, 1849-1850

Jean-Francois Millet, The Gleaners, 1857 Note the representation of more prosaic subjects and a focus on manual labour.

I know this is going to make me sound pretensions but I have to get it off my chest. I feel an unimaginable rage when someone posts a photo and is like "this picture looks like a renaissance painting lol" when the photo clearly has the lighting, colors and composition of a baroque or romantic painting. There are differences in these styles and those differences are important and labeling every "classical" looking painting as renaissance is annoying and upsetting to me. And anytime I come across one of those posts I have to put down my phone and go take a walk because they make me so mad