The Renaissance Art Gallery

Caravaggio--The Calling of St. Matthew

Caravaggio--The Calling of St. Matthew

Caravaggio is famous for his innovative use of light and dark. He uses light in the painting to highlight and direct you to exactly what he wants you to look at. Take from the Gospel of Saint Matthew, this scene shows Christ inviting Matthew, a tax collector, to join him as one of his disciples. If you look at this painting, you se the light centered on the face of the future apostle of Christ. Some of the men at the table see not to notice what is happening, which may be a commentary on how some people refuse to see Christ. Art depicting bible scenes is very common during the Renaissance as Christianity was still a powerful part of most Europeans lives. Caravaggio’s use of light and dark will be copied by artists for centuries to come. It is a powerful technique he invented and it is known as Chiaroscuro.

Caravaggio--The Medusa

Caravaggio--The Medusa

Caravaggio is famous for his innovative use of light and dark. He uses light in the painting to highlight and direct you to exactly what he wants you to look at. This use of light and dark will be copied by artists for centuries to come. It is known as Chiaroscuro. In this painting he depicts the head of the frightening mythological creature, Medusa. In Greek mythology, Perseus used the severed snake-haired head of the Gorgon Medusa as a shield with which to turn his enemies to stone. Artists of his day were amazed by how the head is suspended in space, and the blood seems to fall to the floor.

Leonardo Da Vinci--The Mona Lisa

Leonardo Da Vinci--The Mona Lisa

When DaVinci painted the Mona Lisa, he had no idea that it would become perhaps one of the most well-known paintings in the world. But why? Most art historians would agree that she is famous, simply because she is famous. There has been much speculation about her mysterious smile--a smile that is a constant source of debate and discussion. Does she have a secret? National Geographic studies suggest that perhaps her secret was that she was pregnant. A thin gauze around her head and clothes was the typical addiction for a pregnant woman. She currently resides in the Louvre Museum in Paris, behind a bullet-proof, glass casing. She is not much bigger than the one you are looking at today--but her fame continues to make this painting one of the “must sees” in the world of art.

Leonardo Da Vinci--The Last Supper

Leonardo Da Vinci--The Last Supper

The Last Supper is considered one of Da Vinci’s masterpieces. It is a “Fresco” which means it is painted on a wall instead of canvas. Jesus is pictured in the center of the painting surrounded by his apostles and even the infamous Judas who betrayed Jesus. A common rumor surrounding the painting is that the same model was used for both Judas and Jesus. The story often goes that the innocent-looking young man, a baker, posed at nineteen for Jesus. Some years later, Leonardo discovered a hard-bitten criminal as the model for Judas, not realizing he was the same man. There is no evidence that Leonardo used the same model for both figures and the story usually overestimates the time it took Leonardo to finish the mural. Some believe the person to Jesus’ right is Mary Magdalene. This theory plays a central role in Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code. But once again, historical evidence suggests this theory is also false. The poor condition of the painting is due to years of weather and wear.

Sandro Botticelli--The Annuciation

Sandro Botticelli--The Annunciation

Most of Botticelli’s paintings depict scenes from the Bible or scenes of Greek Mythology. In this painting, the angel Gabriel is announcing to Mary that she is going to give birth to Christ. Botticelli, lets us look through a room out, onto a landscape--both full of symbolism. The lively movement of the figures of Mary and Gabriel contrasts with the very orderly lines and angles of the floor and walls of the room. The angel Gabriel bows to Mary as his robes, which are billowing in great folds, show that he has just made a sweeping landing. In his hand he holds a lily, the symbol for purity and innocence. The tree in the background symbolizes new life.

#2 Arcimboldo

#3 Arcimboldo

#1 Arcimboldo

#4 Arcimboldo

#5 Arcimboldo

#6 Arcimboldo

Summer, Winter, Spring, Autumn, Fire, Vertumnus

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books--that is to say, he painted representations of these objects, arranged in such a way that the whole collection of objects formed a recognizable likeness of a person. These portraits of human heads made up of vegetables, fruit, and tree roots, were greatly admired by his fellow artists and remain a source of fascination today. Art critics debate whether these paintings were whimsical fun or the product of a crazy, deranged mind. Most people believe that because riddles, puzzles, and the bizarre were very popular during the Renaissance; Arcimboldo, far from being mentally imbalanced, was just following the trends of his time.

Arcimboldo

Raphael--Sistine Madonna

Raphael--The Sistine Madonna

This painting was originally part of the tomb of Pope Julius II. The figures stand on a bed of clouds, framed by heavy curtains which open to either side. The Virgin Mary holds Christ and actually appears to descend from a heavenly space, through the picture plane, and out into the real space in which the picture is hung. The two winged ‘genii (angels), that are visible at the bottom of the painting, have been used as a “detail.” A detail is when a small portion of the painting is taken and made into its own independent pictures. These angels have become contemporary and used to symbolize “love” themes. They are used in stationary, greeting cards--and interestingly enough--funeral themes.

Rembrandt--The Night Watch

Rembrandt--The Night Watch

This painting is known for its colossal size (10ft x 14 ft) and the use of light and shadow. With effective use of sunlight and shade, Rembrandt leads the eye to the three most important characters in the crowd, the two gentlemen in the center (from whom the painting gets its original title), and the small girl in the center-left background. Behind them the company’s colors are carried. You see a great deal of the color yellow which is often associated with victory. This painting was meant to inspire revolution.

Van Eyck--The Arnolfini Wedding/The Arnolfini Portrait

Van Eyck--The Arnolfini Wedding/The Arnolfini Portrait

This painting is believed to be a portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife in a room, presumably in their home in Belgium’s city of Bruges. It is considered one of the most original and complex paintings in Western art history. It is complex because once again, there is a debate over what exactly it is a painting of. Look at the back of the cozy room and you will see a small mirror. The mirror reflects the two figures we are looking at, and also reflects one person in the middle of the two, who may be Van Eyck himself. Above the painting is Van Eyck’s signature on the wall. Those who believe it is an actual wedding portrait believe that this signature acts as some form of documentation of a wedding where he (Van Eyck) was present. But others feel that because the woman looks pregnant, the couple must be already married.

Bruegel--The Fall of Icarus

Bruegal--The Fall of Icarus

Bruegal specialized in landscapes populated by peasants. This particular painting depicts a Greek myth. In ancient Greek mythology, Icarus succeeded in flying with wings made of feathers and secured together with wax. Foolishly, he flew too close to the sun, melting the wax, and fell into the sea and drowned. The painting may be intended to show humankind’s indifference to suffering by highlighting the ordinary events which continue to occur, despite the unobserved death of the mythic figure, Icarus, who is drowning in the bottom right area of the sea.

Murillo--Boys Eating Grapes and Melon

Murillo-Boys Eating Grapes and Melon

Murillo was born in the country of Spain. Living in Seville, his native city, his life was a simple one, free of serious problems. He is one of the first to focus his paintings on figures of rascals and beggars and the poor souls of the world, enjoying life as best they could. This is the spirit of the Boys Eating Grapes and Melon. His realism and attention to detail are some of the aspects that made him famous.

Michelangelo--The David

Michelangelo--The David

David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture as created by Michelangelo from 1501 to 1504. The 17ft marble statue portrays the biblical King David. Unlike previous depictions of David, which portray the hero after his victory over Goliath, Michelangelo chose to represent David before the fight contemplating the battle yet to come. One of the reasons this sculpture is so renowned is because it shows knowledge of the male human form. In the Renaissance, sculpture is considered to be the finest form of art because it mimics divine creation. Michelangelo worked under the premise that the image of David was already a block of stone he was working on--in much the same way as the human soul is found within the physical body.

Holbein--The Ambassadors

Holbein--The Ambassadors

This painting is full of symbolism, meant to represent the discoveries, inventions and changes of the Renaissance period. The most notable and famous of Holbein’s symbols in the work, however, is the skewed skull, which is placed in the bottom center of the painting. The skull, rendered in “anamorphic perspective,” another invention of the early Renaissance, is meant to be a visual rendereing of the human soul. It is unclear why Holbein gave it such prominence in this painting. One possibility is that this painting represent the three levels: the heavens (as portrayed by the astrolabe and other objects on the upper shelf); the living world (as evidenced by books and a musical instrument on the lower shelf); and death (signified by the skull). It has also been hypothesized that the painting is meant to hang in a stairwell, so that a person walking up the stairs from the painting’s left would startled by the appearance of the skull. A further possibility is that Holbein simply wished to show off his ability with the technique in order to secure future commissions. Artists often incorporated skulls as a reminder that we would all die some day.

Modern Renaissance Art

Used as an example for interpreting art.

Christensen--Outside the Box

This hunchback ‘Everyman’ of James C. Christensen’s symbology is not only thinking Outside the Box, he is outside of his box. He’s arrived and if he had any trouble getting here, it’s behind him now. It’s like getting up very early in the morning, before everyone else, to take quiet time to reflect. It’s a perfect moment, sitting on the checkered gameboard of life and contemplating a cloudless future. In a couple of hours he may be joined by others, or maybe not, but for now the sky’s the limit, the air smells great and the possibilities are endless.