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How Did the Renaissance
Affect Visual Art?
As referred to above, the Italian Renaissance
was noted for four things. (1) A reverent revival of Classical Greek/Roman
art forms and styles; (2) A faith in the nobility of Man (Humanism); (3)
The mastery of linear perspective (depth in a painting); and (4) The naturalistic
realism of its faces and figures.
In Northern Europe, the Renaissance was
characterized by advances in the representation of light though space
and its reflection from different surfaces; and (most visibly) in the
achievement of supreme realism in easel-portraiture and still life. This
was due in part to the fact that most Northern
Renaissance artists began using oils in the early 15th century, in
preference to tempera - which was still
the favourite painting method in Italy. Oil
paints produced richer colour and, due to their longer drying time,
could be reworked for many weeks permitting the achievement of finer detail
and greater realism. Oil painting quickly spread to Italy: first to Venice,
whose damp climate was less suited to tempera, then Florence and Rome.
Among other things, this meant that while
Christianity remained the dominant theme or subject for most visual art
of the period, Evangelists, Apostles and members of the Holy Family were
depicted as real people, in real-life postures and poses, expressing real
emotions. At the same time, there was greater use of stories from classical
mythology - showing, for example, icons like Venus the Goddess of Love
- to illustrate the message of Humanism.
Raised Status of Painters and Sculptors
Up until the Renaissance, painters and
sculptors had been considered merely as skilled workers, not unlike talented
interior decorators. However, in keeping with its aim of producing thoughtful,
classical art, the Italian Renaissance raised the professions of painting
and sculpture to a new level. In the process, prime importance was placed
on 'disegno' - an Italian word whose
literal meaning is 'drawing' but whose sense incorporates the 'whole design'
of a work of art - rather than 'colorito', the technique of applying coloured
paints/pigments. Disegno constituted the intellectual component of painting
and sculpture, which now became the profession of thinking-artists not
decorators.
Influence on Western Art
The ideas and achievements of both Early
and High Renaissance artists had a huge impact on the painters and sculptors
who followed. Renaissance art theory was officially taken up and promulgated
(alas too rigidly) by all the official academies of art across Europe,
including, notably, the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, the Accademia del
Disegno in Florence, the French Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris,
and the Royal Academy in London. This theoretical approach, known as 'academic
art' regulared numerous aspects of fine art. For example, in 1669,
Andre Felibien, Secretary to the French Academy, annunciated a hierarchy
of painting genres, modelled on Renaissance philosophy, as follows: (1)
History Painting; (2) Portrait
art; (3) Genre Painting; (4)
Landscape; (5) Still
Life.
In short, the principal contribution of
the Italian Renaissance to the history of
art, lay in its espousal of classical Greek values. As a result, Western
painting and sculpture developed largely along classical lines. And although
modern artists, from Picasso onwards, have explored new media and art-forms,
the main model for Western art remains Greek Antiquity as interpreted
by the Renaissance.
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