Renaissance and Baroque

Renaissance and Baroque are the two most known eras in the history of art. They are so different and yet so similar. In this article I will examine Renaissance and Baroque and will compare and contrast them.

Man loves to be entertained, to be stimulated, to be challenged. It is such characteristics that make the creative arts a medium to be cherished. Throughout history, art and its fellow medians of architecture and structure, culture and visual entertainment have shaped and reflected our world. We look back upon by gone eras and through photographs of cultural dress codes, buildings and great artworks, we try to imagine ourselves living and breathing like the 'stills in the photographs' and paintings did all those years ago. Art is a reflection of the times, it is not just paint splashed on canvas, but also meretriciously detailed architecture and sculpture that mirrors social discourse, prosperity and technological advancements. But art was and always will be a me ans of representation, of capturing a moment, of displaying in all its naked glory an emotional foray into human nature. Not what man knows, but what man feels, concerns art. All else is science. The period from the 14th century through to the 18th century was littered with artwork that bore trademarks of both controversy and culture, as a result of the changing traditions, cultural trends and technology.

The Renaissance period, French for rebirth started in isolated pockets of Italy before spreading throughout Europe. It directly reflected the changing economic scope and cultural ideals of the European population, that arose in the 14th Century. People began to exhibit wealth on a more grandiose scale. Buildings began to reflect their rich owners, people began to dress more astute and 'emotionless' art was evident through portraiture as individuals clamoured to have a keepsake or snapshot of their own wealth. It became an age of spectacle, yet devoid of emotion. Indiv iduals were driven by wealth and the divide between rich and poor in communities were exposed like a gaping wound. Due to the creation of such inventions as the printing press, books and education became high priority among the 'middle class'. What was once the domain and privileged of those higher in 'modernic hierarchy' became more accessible and in high demand. Books were no longer few but many, and as result the economy boomed.

Perhaps the biggest trademark of the renaissance era, thought to have become evident in the late 15th century, were the architectural brilliance and precision of its buildings. No longer did man feel the overwhelming concern to reflect its architecture through the need to be closer to the heavens and god through religious and spiral buildings, for men revelled now in their own newfound brilliance. Buildings were construed through spatial perfection and mathematical grid to create a sense of perfection through an 'ideal city' perspective. 'Vi ew of an ideal city', by an unknown Central Italian artist, portrays such perfect construction and perspective. Even the canvas itself is seemingly proportioned and balanced in regards to the subject itself. A snapshot of the renaissance period is prominently reflected by the painting through its spacious consumption of the canvas and its lack of human subject matter, as it quaintly exists quite perfectly, yet cold and uninhabited in clear, precise paint strokes. This ideal city and man's wonderous progressions in technology were rudely disrupted by the black plague, a disease that affected over half of the European population, throughout the early Renaissance period of 1350 to 1450. The economy dipped due to loss of trade and interest and once again the world was plunged into incomprehensible depression as the gaping hole between the poor and the rich once again widened.

As a reflection of the ever changing demography, ideals, culture and human uprising, the Baroque e ra of painting and scopic emerged in the 17th century as a unique, evoking and at times controversial way of looking at and presenting objects. The term 'Baroque' is often applied to any form of artwork, representing either time or place, that bears the trademarks of ambiguous representation, feverous movement and emotional bearing and intensity. The word 'Baroque' was possibly derived from a Portuguese word for a misshapen Pearl, and until recently it was used predominantly as a synonym for 'grotesque' or 'absurd'. Although such a label bears strong weight, the Baroque era had lasting power and appeal and to this day it still remains a constant presence worthy of study and analytical expressionism.

Baroque was chiefly represented through its founding artists creations. This is where Renaissance and Baroque differentiate to some extent. Work that distinguishes the Baroque period is 'stylistically complex, even contradictory' whilst Renaissance forms of art were mathema tically precise in their use of vanishing points and grids and often reflected man's prominence in technology and 'public standing'. Expression and emotion are key elements that are both constants and present in Baroque artwork or evoked from the viewer. The form of art didn't necessarily challenge previous ideals, it created an alternative and represented the somewhat suppressed view of the world that many shared during such times of changing disparity in the greater communities health and prosperity. It represented boldly the fantastical views, the darkest desires, it faced the truths and defaced the ideal of 'the presence world' through its ambiguous adjoining of the spiritual and physical worlds.

Such merging of worlds and ideals is represented stunningly in Tiepolo's apocalyptic depiction Apollo and the four Continents. The chaotic, fantastical and somewhat illusionary scene painted upon a ceiling combines the spectacle of the renaissance architectural era with ba roque trademarks of dramatic contrast and eccentricity. The painting appears layered, like a 3D image, and the eye is drawn to certain points in the painting rather than a vanishing point or a central point in the artwork. Heavy detail around the outside of the painting creates the illusion of framing, contrasting colour creates the sense of the sky and heavens and prominent human figures among seemingly chaotic yet relevant splashes of colour create the sense of unrest and movement. It is this trait that leaves the viewers gaze infixed on art of the Baroque era, it forces you to observe, to take notice, to decipher meaning and form. This particular work could be viewed as jigsaw pieces that somehow come together so that no matter what angle it is viewed upon it forms a picture, an event, a suggestion of reality that somehow all intertwine to form a busy, interesting and incomprehensible event. Tiepolo presents 'independent pieces which nevertheless fuse into a harmonic hole '. It is such terms as 'could be viewed' and 'seemingly' that belies the importance of Baroque art and set it apart from so many other regimes of its time. It does what art should, it stirs emotion, it takes the viewer away from reality for an undecided term of time for any one of many reasons depending on its viewer, it takes us on a journey.

All art generates meaning and feeling. Baroque and the Renaissance eras contrast dramatically in both their ideals and their own standing in terms of representation. Baroques heavily art induced presence was achieved through 'human emotions painting on canvas' and its suggestive rather than accurate brush strokes which were, however, brilliant in their application and affect. It delved into the unknown, the spiritual world and attempted to capture a snapshot of emotion. Renaissance art reflected mans stern nature and desire to produce perfection, it was seen as emotionless yet a tribute to our mathematical genius and symmetrical concepts. It represented the 'ideal world' through application of precision in 'human skill painting on canvas' and attempted to create an eternal structural world to capture a snapshot of mans perfection.

Mary Anne Winslow is a member of Essay Writing Service counselling department team and a dissertation Writing consultant. Contact her to get free counselling on custom essay Writing.

Author:: Mary Anne Winslow
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