Essay I
Vadim Bondarenko
ARTH 2020 – Art History Survey II
Professor Peggy Blood
June 22, 2016
Technology and Art in Fifteenth Century After centuries of wars and the nightmares of the plague, the fifteenth century Europe finally started to close the book on the Middle Ages. The new era brought with it new and exciting changes in society, art, and technology, thanks in part to a newly emerged class of wealthy merchants and bankers who also possessed a keen interest in arts, literature, and education.
Historically, only the church and the heads of state were able to sponsor those areas. But now, this new wave of patronage, caused the explosion of learning and creativity among the scholars and the artists alike (Stokstad 562). For
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Originally used to only print designs on cloth, by early fifteenth century the process extended to printing text and illustrations on paper (Stokstad 589). One of earliest adapters of the latter, Laurens Koster of Haarlem, began printing pages with text and accompanying pictures produced with woodcut relief method as early as 1430. Unfortunately, Koster died around 1440 and did not carry his invention beyond experimental stages (Slater 6-7). No known prints by Koster exist. The woodcut method was rather involved. The artist would draw a design on a smooth surface of a wooden block. Then, the artist himself or a skilled woodworker, would cut away all areas around the lines with a sharp tool. Prepared block would be smeared with ink, and a piece of paper would be pressed hard against it. The ink from the relief areas would transfer onto the paper, creating a reverse image of the design. Additional details could be added to the design by varying the thickness of the relief lines. Often, the printed images would be hand colored. One of the examples of woodcut prints is “The Buxhium St. Christopher” (Fig. 2), found in southern Germany and dated around mid-fifteenth …show more content…
Instead of using a v-shaped blade to cut deep groves as with regular engraving, a sharp tool with a needle like point used to scratch soft lines into the surface of the metal plate. This method allows for a finer detail of a resulting print or can serve as a starting point of a proposed design for the regular line engraving (drypoint). According the Encyclopedia Brittanica, “Drypoint was in use by the late 15th century, and in the early 16th century the German artist Albrecht Dürer already had a thorough command of the technique. Its greatest master was Rembrandt van Rijn, in whose etchings drypoint became increasingly
Ian Mortimer uses his book The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century to describe how one might live in the fourteenth century. This book covers a wide range of topics from what one might see and smell when approaching a city, to what one might wear, to how to stay alive. Mortimer’s clever use of a travel guide inspired book lends itself to a much wider audience. The evidence presented in this book is both engaging and intriguing, and provides easy reading for academics and non-academics both.
Technological advances during the period 1450-1750, or the Renaissance Era, were major influences to the way of life seen today. The ships, tools for traveling, especially the ones made Portugal and Spain all Impact society today, allowing for the age of exploration to emerge. All these tools proved prosperous but known more important than the printing-press independently developed in Germany by Johannes Gutenberg. Germany before this time was divided, in other words not a country yet, but divided into a city-state format, different provinces ruled by a king under an interregnum. Also, before this era Germany was still under the Holy Roman Empire, in other words Catholic in their Religion. The impact that this new technology produced in
The intellectual and artists flowering in Europe during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries sparked by a revival of interest in classical antiquity.
In France, 1813, lithography, a mechanical planographic process in which the printing and the nonprinting areas of the plate are at the same level, was popular. On April 1816, Niepce
There are several labels that could best describe the era between 500 and 1400 in Europe otherwise known as the Middle Ages. The best three are, The Dark Ages, Age of Feudalism, and, the Age of Faith. All three of these labels represented ideas that were vital parts of the Middle Ages. For example, The Dark Ages lasted a long period of time right after the fall of the Roman Empire where much culture was lost.The Age of Feudalism brought a new type of social structure to the Middle Ages, helping the people of Europe attempt to once again bring about culture and knowledge lost because of the Dark Ages. Finally, the Age of Faith showed how truly powerful the Catholic Church was. Everything, whether it be architecture, art, literature, or music
In William Manchester’s “ A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age” He demonstrates the change in the "Dark Ages" from the dependence on religion to independent thinking. Ancient concepts were questioned and proven wrong after thousands of years, and the power of the what finally surpassed the authority of the Pope. Manchester expresses the transition within Europe from the Medieval Times to the Renaissance that included multiple changes in the intellectual, religious, and political aspects of life.
The author of this book quickly and polemically describes the period from 400 A.D. to 1400 A.D. as the "Dark Ages" even though this term is not used in scholarly research. He claims that the decline in living standards are not only due to crumbling political institutions and infrastructure but to disease, isolation, and religious oppression. Manchester describes just how the medieval mindset emphasizes just how savage medieval people were and how they imposed horrific punishments on one another. Christians butchers one each other during mass. This author claims that this was not civilization but it was a shadow of the Roman empire. There are some movements that destroyed the medieval mindset and the first one was the Renaissance, where new art and ideas were widely
By the end of eleventh century, Western Europe had experienced a powerful cultural revival. The flourish of New towns provided a place for exchange of commerce and flow of knowledge and ideas. Universities, which replaced monasteries as centers of learning, poured urbanized knowledge into society. New technological advances and economics transformations provided the means for building magnificent architectures. These developments were representative of the mental and behavioral transformations that the medieval world underwent and the new relationships that were brought about between men, women and society in the twelfth century. As in technology, science, and scholasticism, Literature was also reborn with a new
"The Renaissance was a rebirth that led to new ways of thinking in the sciences, philosophy, and architecture, as well as painting and sculpture" (Spence 6). This period of European history, beginning in the fourteenth-century, saw a renewed interest in the arts. It has been characterized by
stone and making a print on a piece of paper. This is also known as relief
The Middle Ages, often referred to as the Dark Ages, was regarded to be a time of despair, disease, and death. Just as the name the “Dark Ages” suggests, this period of European history seemed to be surrounded by darkness and hopelessness. Unfortunately, the majority of people only see this side of the Middle Ages when, in fact, the Middle Ages was a much more important era. Especially during the late Middle Ages, one can find a change in orthodox social structure, political instability mostly concerned with succession to the throne, and economic changes and how those changes went hand in hand with the change in society. After certain demographical changes and turning points such as the Hundred Years’ War, Europe began to transform
Printmaking was a well known and widely used form of art during the late 15th and early 16th century Renaissance. Although this was late in the time period, Rembrandt was known for his etchings and drypoints. The process of etching and engraving is carried out by taking a metal or copper plate and covering it with an acid-resistant substance. The printmaker draws into the metal, exposing the plate. “Acid is then used to
Personally, when thinking of the middle Ages, I tend to have the misconception that it is a period of darkness with no progress. However, R.W. Southern’s book, ‘The Making of the Middle Ages’, offers an in depth study of the development of history in the world today. Observing that this book was published during the 1950s, Mr. Southern’s interpretation of the ‘Middle Ages’ was very distinctive in comparison to other historians of his time. He explores the significance of the Middle Ages as a separate sector in the study of history by which the audience will notice that previous categories of studied history is set aside, as we are no longer focusing on the usual ‘Classical Greece’ and ‘Rome’
The history of the modern world derives from thousands of years of human history. Embedded in its history are the many eras of man which have constructed our modern learning, art, beliefs, and order. The middle ages, although represented as “dark”, backwards, and idle, were in fact a bridge linking the classical and modern world. Medieval society may not have been in a sense glorious, but the era of itself was a prime foundation of the modern world’s newfound stability, a revival of the law and teachings from the classical era, a reinvestment and reform in the church, and a precursor to the golden age of art.
During the 1400s and 1500s in mainly Italy there was a major change that took place in all aspects of life. This was called the Renaissance and was a movement that helped give rebirth to culture and the arts. This movement went away from the medieval times that had forced a feudalist system on its people. The Medieval times were a dark period in European history that saw a major decline in arts and government. This declining can be attributed to a number of different reasons. One of which was the Bubonic Plague that spread throughout Europe and Asia and killed millions of its inhabitants. This was the final nail in the medieval coffin. Throughout these times the major focus for government and the arts were all religion oriented. The Black