Clodion's Poetry and Music

Claude Michel, also known as Clodion was a sculptor of the Rococo style. He had many works illustrated within this fanciful and newly refined methodology. One of his most well known pieces, Poetry and Music (1774-1778), expresses this intimate and more personal style. Meant to be viewed at close range, Rococo sculptures like Michel’s were often referred to as “miniature Baroque” (http://www.all-art.org). This piece was commissioned by Louis XV’s finance minister and crafted in expensive Carrara marble. Although Michel or Clodion had also prepared a terracotta model as well, a medium he often worked within. Rococo seemed to be a more playful and elegant approach to Baroque art. Artists were concerned with depicting a more graceful and soft approach to Baroque art and architecture. As art in the early eighteenth century shifted it’s production from individual patrons to more industrially rich and middle class people, this style began to develop.

Once the French court changed locations from Versailles to Paris, the movement began to spread across the entire country and Rococo salons emerged. In these salons were not only great pieces of art, but the walls and ceilings themselves were sculpted and decorated within the Rococo technique. Rococo artists used soft creamy pastel-like colors, emulated curves within forms, and often used gold (especially within decoration). Chandeliers, decorated furniture and tabletop sculptures were very common within these salons that exploded across Europe.

Designed for his residence in Paris, Poetry and Music, was commissioned by Abbe Terray, a minister of Louis XV (www.nga.gov). The piece represents an overall interest of the minister within the arts and sciences, and depicts two young boys immersed within music. Standing up and with longer hair, the boy to the left seems to be older then the smaller one to the right. The smaller boy seems to be concentrated on the other while he plays an instrument. The boy on the right has a scroll in his hand and with his stern glance at the older boy, seems to be trying to learn or study. There is also a trumpet below the younger boy, suggesting that perhaps they are learning multiple instruments.

This sculpture expresses the smooth and graceful curves that the Rococo style was known for, specifically within sculpture. A soft piece that expresses a common interest within arts and sciences, this piece would have functioned in a Rococo style salon. Playful and intimate, Claude Michel’s Poetry and Music is a great sculpture coming out of the Rococo style of the eighteenth century.

Elk up Lion Rock

This big ol guy was at least 14 points, biggest I've ever seen.

Albrecht Durer's Self Portrait

For this week’s analysis, I will be looking at Albrecht Durer’s Self Portrait, also known as Self-Portrait at Twenty-Eight Wearing a Coat with Fur Collar. German Renaissance artist Durer painted this iconic piece on wood panel early around 1500. It is most well known for resembling Jesus Christ using religious devices such as symmetry, dark tones and the body language of the subject. Durer was the first known artist to accomplish many different styles of self-portraiture. This half-length portrait is frontal and highly symmetrical, with the figures right hand raised to his chest as if praying. His self portrait idealizes Christ, using a symmetrical and frontal view, rather then a pose where the head is at an angle. There was a large influence of Christ and the portrayal of Christ in portraits that went into Durer’s self-portrait.

Although the painting is directed at the viewer, it is also directed inward toward “the self”. The dark and bare background seems to suggest that Durer did not intend for this figure to be in any sort of environment. His use of the brown tones create a somber appearance and compliment the dark background. The use of the lighting in this portrait is also very interesting. The highlights fall unevenly across Durer and influence this portrait with a mellow notion of realism. Durer has also seemed to have mimicked the facial expressions of earlier depictions of Christ, and does it exceptionally well. Albrecht, who had started drawing at a very young age, was viewed as very bold for painting this frontal portrait, which at the time was very rare. He viewed himself as a fairly innovative and well-rounded artist, and perhaps he is suggesting in this portrait that his gift is God-given.

One of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance, Durer was known for working within exact proportions. However it is debated that this piece is not of exact proportions, with art historians saying his hair is uneven. Durer put incredible detail into the hair of this figure, and it is one of the most highlighted aspects of this whole piece. Another stylistic choice Durer has made is the choice of clothing for his figure, a coat with a fur jacket. This is typical of the Northern Renaissance and similar fur jackets can be found depicted in the works of Jan Van Eyck. Durer not only excelled in painting, but also in making wood cuts and engravings. This piece is his third of his painted self-portraits and is considered his most personal. The way the viewer interacts with this frontal image is very effective and at the time was very innovative. When looking at Durer’s previous works, especially his self-portraits, this one is his absolute most successful.

Comparative Analysis

For the following comparative analysis I will be comparing two works; Pontormo’s “Entombment” and Bronzino’s “Allegory with Venus and Cupid”. Both these works were achieved during the High Italian Renaissance around 1520 and both incorporate the style of Mannerism. Jacopo Carcucci, or Pontormo as he was known, was an Italian artist during the onset and early years of Mannerism. His paintings depict a different perspective then High Renaissance artists, and his figures seem to elegantly float in the air, a characteristic of Mannerism. Pontormo uses bright colors to depict a group of people in a grieving manner, supporting Jesus and encompassing the space around him.

These figures seem to be almost struggling, perhaps implying that help is needed to sustain the weight of Jesus. The man holding him on the bottom seems to be peering back towards the viewer with an empathically look of fret. The rest of the figures seem to carry the same look about them, floating in this bleak space. Even the man on the bottom seems to be barely grounded, however holding an immense weight.

The landscape of this oil painting consists of a dark flattened space, with solid ground and a single cloud in the sky. It is very interesting that no cross is visible in this painting, and perhaps the only item relevant to the “natural world” in this piece consists of the clothing worn by these figures. The figure in the front right, facing completely backwards, seems to be suggesting to the viewer that she is following along with the rest of the figures and perhaps there are more people following that are not depicted in the painting. Pontormo leaves the viewer with a quite ambiguous composition in this sense, and rather implies a more “visionary” painting. The way he has expressed these figures as more elongated and stretched out, is typical of the Mannerism style. Rather then being influenced by nature, artists began looking more at past works and sculptures. It is for this reason that Mannerism has been called as “anti-classical”.

Agnolo Bronzino’s Allegory with Venus and Cupid (also called An Allegory of Venus and Cupid and A triumph of Venus, is another great piece characteristic of the Mannerism style. Displaying elongated and obscured figures, while expressing grace and ambivalence, it is similar to Pontormo’s Entombment. However this piece, which was done maybe twenty years or so after Entombment does seem to incorporate a variety of depictions within figures. It also expresses a much more crowded space, and a well-defined foreground. The different characters within Bronzino’s piece are still presented in a manneristic style of exaggerated graceful forms, but with each figure having different expressions; varying from Pontormo’s figures.
As Stokstad states, this composition does carry with it the complex allegoric ambiguity relevant from this time period, but could imply a rather disturbing difference then Pontormo’s work. The erotic imagery, which appealed to mid-sixteenth century courts, suggests emotions of lust and jealousy. Mannerism is made up of several approaches and ideals defining its style. Rather then the humanistic approach of life like figures, Mannerism, is more concerned with grace and elegance. It was very much influenced by the more naturalistic works of artists like da Vinci and Raphael.

Formal Analysis of an Early Italian Renaissance Art Piece

The Italian Renaissance marked a period of great cultural change and bridged the transition from Medieval art to Early Modern in Europe. Artists that emerged during this time period had a lot of medieval influence and it wasn’t until the end of the fourteenth century that new styles started to develop. Paolo Uccello was an emerging artist that broke ground with the pioneering use of perspective within paintings. An apprentice to sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti at an early age, Uccello was greatly influenced by his narrative style. Paolo was also close friends with artist and sculptor Donatello, who also influenced his style specifically within visual perspective.
Uccello was born in Pratovecchio Italy in 1397 and was a great Italian painter and mathematician. He is well known for his use of visual perspective, used to create a feeling of depth within his works. The Battle of San Romano is one of his best known works and is actually a panel of three separate paintings. While other artists during this time were depicting images that represented classical realism within their works, Paolo Uccello’s work did not and definitely stood out. Paolo does depict images in his paintings through the use of Realism, but emphasizes different points within his works, such as color and texture. The Battle of San Romano is considered by most art historians as one of the leading works in the development of linear perspective.
When looking at detail of Paolo Uccello’s The Battle of San Romano, there are many different aspects that are quite interesting. To understand the formal elements of this piece, the historical context behind it is highly relevant. This Battle took place between the Sienese and Florentine people in the year of fourteen thirty-two. It is said that these three panels were most likely commissioned by Lionardo Bartolini Salimbeni who; “ led the Florentine governing Council of Ten during the war against Lucca and Siena” (Cothren & Stokstad, 593). Royal patronage was a major factor in the Italian Renassiance, and because of this a lot of paintings were not only influenced before they were completed by also after. It is said that they were commissioned at the time of Salimbeni’s wedding, suggested by fertility symbols incorporated into the piece and consisting of bushes of oranges, roses, and pomegranates seen in the first panel, Niccolo Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano.
In the first panel of this triptych, modernly sometimes called the London painting because of its current location, the viewer focuses centrally on Niccolo da Tolentino. Tolentino is shown in a large hat patterned with both gold and red coloring, mostly red. This is significant in the previously mentioned style of Uccello, to incorporate rich and sometimes unpredictable colors and texture. The viewer also sees in the foreground to the right of Tolentino, a dead soldier and a couple of broken lances. These lances and solider are said to be very carefully aligned in order to create a certain visual perspective that Paolo Uccello was known for constructing. The broken lances seem to point towards the vanishing point of this certain panel, something which Uccello was extremely concerned with. It was said by previous mentors and artists that sometimes he would stay up all night trying to depict this device carefully.
Also seen here, the central soldier that supposedly depicts Tolentino, has few protective gear on him and evokes a more festive and almost playful image. The young boy located behind Niccolo Tolentino also doesn’t wear a helmet or anything and in fact what is detailed is his long boyish hair. Paolo Uccello has depicted a scene here that is suggestive of a carnival like moment. Also complementary to this idea is the enormous white horse that Tolentino sits atop, which looks more similar to a show horse then one you would take into battle. Paolo Uccello seems to depict a triptych series that expresses more playful and bulbous features of a battle. Between these aspects and that of the visual perspective that Uccello has created within this series, shows the different formal elements that this artist was known for. However, despite having a small following of initial support, Uccello was a pioneering artist in this sense.

Response to “Northern Renaissance: The Supreme Art.”

Joseph Leo Koerner argues that the Renaissance in Northern Europe laid foundations for modern art, calling the Italian influence during this time a "counterpart". Although both regions had significant influence within the emerging Renaissance, artists in Northern Europe tended to focus on a slightly different artistic style. Artists of the North were interested in the natural world and their works depicted plant and animal life with great detail. Focusing on details of light and shadow, pieces expressed an authentic feeling of three dimensionality within them. Other devices also used by artists in fifteenth century Northern Europe were intuitive perspective and aerial perspective.

Intuitive perspective was achieved by scaling certain aspects within a work of art, creating extremely accurate spatial representations. Aerial perspective was used by these artists as well, and specifically so in landscape portrayals. These artists were known to have highly developed this perspective, also called an atmospheric perpective, which reappears throughout many works of fifteenth century Northern Europe. Portrait artists of this time led the style into a new direction never before seen, developing a highly realistic style of portraiture.

For example, German painter Albrecht Durer would “lavish extreme attention” within his self-portraits, mostly concentrating on hair quality. So much so that when Koerner looks at Durer’s preserved hair, he claims right away how he recognizes the color from Durer’s works. Koerner also goes on to explain why Durer’s self portrait idealizes Christ, using a symmetrical and frontal view, rather then a pose where the head is at an angle. Although the painting is directed at the viewer, it is also directed inward toward “the self”. There was a large influence of Christ and the portrayal of Christ in portraits that went into Durer’s self-portrait.

Durer was the first known artist to accomplish many different styles of self-portraiture. He was also the first to publish and illustrate his own book, “ the definitive portrayal of the end of the world and a new beginning for art”. In which he is most famously known for, these drawings depict such exact detail and imaginative imagery. He also made woodcut prints, and was also the first artist to do so in this medium. Albrecht Durer was just one of many great artists of the fifteenth century Renaissance in Northern Europe. Jan Van Eyck and Hieronymus Bosch were other great artists that emerged from this time period.

Art 236 Blog Introduction Post #1

Hello All! My name is Patrick Mahoney and I am a Studio Art major here at Central. I enjoy outdoors, sports, and the occasional Call of Duty session. Often you can find my roommates and I riding a mini ramp we built in our garage this past summer. I am also a member of the CWU Wake Team which is currently ranked 16th in the Nation! Recently a group of us just started up the CWU Ski and Snowboard Club and already have had a solid turnout of members for our first few meetings. I like doing new things and figure out different ways to create, especially within artistic mediums. I myself enjoy shooting photographs and using media such as video and music to create pieces of art. I guess you could say I am a fan of the general notion of progressiveness, and within art there has been so much development throughout different mediums in recent centuries. However, the Renaissance period of the 15th and 16th centuries paved the way for this progressiveness and variation throughout art. With the progression of art and art mediums, nowadays you can go into a museum and an empty shoebox could be the main exhibit. Works of paintings and sculptures of Renaissance artists have set a core basis for art guidelines and although those guidelines have evolved immensely, it was classic pieces from artists like Michelangelo and Raphael that more or less defined this notion of real art. I think a huge reason why our culture focuses on “big name” artists is because people are aware of this notion of modern art losing it’s artistic aesthetic. When anything could be considered art these days, classic works from the 15th and 16th century hold a static foundational status within the Art World. Also people tend to focus on those works because we always have, the Renaissance Period was a pivotal time in the World where new ideas of not only physical art works but philosophy, sciences, literature and music emerged. These ideas have developed into many of the modern processes we use today, and still continue to influence new ones. Relating back to progressiveness, the 15th and 16th centuries emerged with advancements within mathematics, type printing, and new ideals such as the emergence of a humanist philosophy. Also this time period sparked an interest in past artists, and works like that of sculptor Donatello and thus further influenced artistic works. This was a period where for the first time different works influenced each other, between architecture, and paintings, and sculptures; many works of this Renaissance period were influenced by artists developing broad mediums of art. Although I am an advocate of progression and overall development of new trends throughout art mediums, I still find it critically important as an artist to at least be aware of these works. In a world with so many different cultures and ideas emerging, it’s a scary thought to think that emerging artists these days may not be aware of this history of art.