The Renaissance, Baroque, And Rococo Periods

European art during the 1400-1700s, just like any other decade, has had many influences, as well as new discoveries. One of the major influences that marked this specific time period as the “rebirth” of classical art was scientific and humanistic approaches to the styles. The three main time periods showcasing these influences in each of their key styles are Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo.

Historically, people have always been on a quest to process and document the human experience. In this quest for understanding we have used philosophy, literature, religion, art, music, history and language to record our world, and the modality of painting has been one of the most successful techniques that humans have used to chronicle the progression of our species. Comparing and contrasting works of art from different stylistic movements and periods only reinforces the fact that humans evolve and progress, and there is no better example of this than Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn’s Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp (1632) and Thomas Eakins’ The Agnew Clinic (1889). In a historical context, they are comparable

Leonardo the Vinci’s prominences, fame, and notability had a considerable amount of influence on his work and inventions. There is no doubt that Leonardo had dozens of sources, and references at his disposal. With his burgeoning talent, his father’s status and wealth, working with substantial masters from his time, and his afflictions with royalty. These factors must’ve had important influences on his approaches on aberrant studies.

In the time of the Renaissance, education was prevalent as was the expectation of gentleman to be well rounded individuals. The educational requirements of the time were highlighted by the study of perspective, proportion, geometry and mathematics. The discovery and visual evidence resulted in a philosophical revolution of artists controlling three dimensional forms on a two dimensional canvas, personalizing the experience for the viewer (Biography.com, n.d.). This study of perspective ushered in social changes during the period, formerly unknown artists of a guilds were now occupying their own confidence as social and mental equals of their patrons (Adams, 68). In this period men sought to define the world, or at least their art in mathematical

Leonardo da Vinci was a renowned painter, architect, inventor, and scholar of all things scientific. His natural intellect crossed so many disciplines that he even coined the term “Renaissance man.” Today he remains best known for his art like the two paintings that remain among the world’s most famous and respected, Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Art, Leonardo believed, was undeniably connected with science and nature. He was mostly self-educated, he filled dozens of his notebooks with inventions, observations and theories about pursuits from multiple field. But the rest of the world was just beginning to share knowledge in books made with the printing press, and the conceptions expressed in his notebooks were difficult to elucidate. As

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519), Florentine artist of the Renaissance (the period of Western European history stretching from the early 14th century to the mid to late 16th century), a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist. His deep love for nature, knowledge, research and experience, was the central reason of both his artistic and scientific accomplishments. " Though I have no power to quote from authors as they do I shall rely on a bigger and more worthy thing-on experience."{The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci pg.2} His originality in the field of painting influenced the course of Italian art for more than a century after his death, and his scientific studies--particularly in the fields of anatomy, optics, and

Europe in the 1600s was at the end of Counter Reformation, and as the political and cultural shifts took place, we begin to see art, particularly in France, influenced more and more, by the ruling monarchy. The transition from Mannerism into Baroque is not clear, but eventually the arts started to adopt a new look. And feel. Paintings started to become more exuberant, dynamic and ornamented. The scale of work produced during this time increased dramatically. Where Mannerism marked a departure from classical and realistic norms, Baroque becomes a return to these norms, but with an emotional undertow and visual tension. However, through the Baroque pursuit of eloquence, it abandoned the precious and contorted

New interest in Roman art, brought in new ideas of technology and science. Some of these new discovery in the sciences can be seen within varies works of art. With most artist incorporating new ideas of science within their works, without realizing the effect that it had within the world. These innovations of science can

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Super is one of the greatest masterpieces of the High Renaissance in Italy’s 15th century. This artwork was commissioned by Ludovico de Sforza for the refectory of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, which was located in Milan. It is remarkable artwork, due to the fact that it was painted in the fresco seco, not the predominant buon fresco that was standard during this art period. Unfortunately, Da Vinci’s innovation is the main reason of the poor condition of the painting. The tempera vivid colors and subtle motion are other characteristics of the Italian Renaissance. Unfortunately, the painting very fast deteriorated, but it was restored. Furthermore, this artwork is a good example of the period because Da Vinci’s utilized orthogonals (Cunningham, p.421) to display focus in Jesus Christ. This is an excellent example of

As artistic styles and techniques developed during the Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo periods, they became increasingly reliant on scientific knowledge and experimentation. Two of the major factors of this trend were the continuing improvements in the understanding of human anatomy, and a well-documented understanding of the geometry of linear perspective. Examples for each period will be discussed in relation to these scientific achievements.

In the late-16th century, the era of Renaissance greats such as Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, and countless others gave way to the emergence of the Baroque period. In this era, lasting until the mid-18th century, those who lived hearing of the perfection and constant happiness that resulted from the excellent discoveries and works of art of the Renaissance came to a sudden realization of reality. These men and women who lived through the Renaissance as children demanded something new as they grew disillusioned with these promises of greatness. Eventually, this confession of the desire for change instigated the demise of the Renaissance era, similar to John Ruskin’s explanation of how humans cannot live in a world without variety and change

Art and design has gone through many significant developments throughout history. The most important turning point was the renaissance. Art took a huge turn before the 1500’s and even after. The Renaissance has assisted the world of art in breaking away from a classic structure and shaping it to what it is day. Prior to this cultural rebirth, artworks were mostly not made to scale. Paintings were unrealistic and disproportionate. Religious figures seemed to be the focus of many works. The Renaissance changed the old social context of art by introducing humanism, new themes and techniques.

This project involves the discovery and interpretation of paintings ranging from the mid 14th-century to the mid 18th-century. More importantly, the paintings are those which have a figure shown in a portrait type setting that are in the process of working or showing a task of their everyday life. I explore the use of light pertaining to the painters attitude and also the fine details to explore economic status vs the painter’s actual lifestyle. Given that both artist had contrasting lifestyles, I believe the style reflected their personal life or current events as well. To help interpret this research, many paintings from five different artist were divided into folders and scientifically broken down and compared using a state of the art program. The final result of these images concluded that Johannes Vermeer and Francisco Jose de Goya, had opposite styles. Given the fact that Vermeer and Goya were artists of neighboring centuries, why are their styles different? This research implies that between the mid-16th century and the mid-18th century, portraits had a significant difference. The differences in artwork show that painting styles are directly related to events in the particular artist lifestyle.

After the idealism of the Renaissance during the 1400-1530’s and the Mannerism of the 1530-1600’s Baroque art found itself as the dominant style of art during the decade of the 1600-1700’s. The term Baroque derives from the Portuguese ‘barocco’ term, or irregular peal or stone – It describes a fairly complex idiom which originated in Rome and became popular during the time period in which Baroque art was prominent which embraced painting, sculpture and architecture. The Baroque style quite nicely reflected the religious tensions of the decade, one of the most markedly the desire of the Catholic Church in Rome to reassert itself in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation. Across Europe many high figures in the Catholic

Swiss Art Historian, Heinrich Wolffin defined The Baroque as “the age where the oval replaced the circle as the center of the composition and the colouristic and “painterly” effects began to become more prominent”.