TOPIC ESSAY QUESTION IV

Essay 6b

Art and Religion

QUESTION: What is the relationship of Protestantism to the art of the northern Renaissance, as compared to that of Catholicism to the art of the southern Renaissance and was either “art” more affected by religion or, was the “religion” more affected by the art?

PART ONE:

SUMMARY: What I experienced in my attempt to answer this Topic Question was trying not to get lot with all the information relevant to the Renaissance and trying to incorporate the information needed cohesively in the essay.

REASON: The reason this question was asked was to see the similarities and differences of the impact religion had in the art of northern and southern Renaissance.

PURPOSE: The purpose this question was asked was to better understand the relationship between art and religion. How societies change and affect others.

DIRECTION: I read a lot of information on the Renaissance, art, religion (Catholicism and Protestant Reform), and some information on Early Medieval period. I started outlining what was important and trying not keep looking up information that seemed relevant, which ended up not being necessary to answering the question.

IMPRESSION:  I had a basic idea of how I was going to answer the question, already knowing some of the basic history on the Renaissance and about Martin Luther’s 95 theses, but I had a bit of difficulty finding and then later using the information to correctly answer the question.

PART TWO:

The Renaissance or “rebirth” started in Medieval Italy. It was believed that the “dawn of day” would extinguish the “darkness” of the Early Medieval period, by reviving the art and architecture of Ancient Greece and Rome. The creation of a “new universe” was achieved by returning to the past. During this period man discovers himself and the meaning of having a “unique individual consciousness” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTrEazY_pGo).

            The Renaissance period is not a total breaking-free of religion, but an amalgamation of secularism and religion (http://arthistoryclub.com/art_history/Northern_Renaissance). During this period man was seen as logical and capable of feeling or consciousness, with the capability to make his own decisions. This concept, humanism, saw man as essentially good, contradicting the Christian point-of-view, which sees man as a sinner in need of redemption (http://arthistoryclub.com/art_history/Italian_Renaissance). “Man found that in classical as well as biblical antiquity existed an ideal of human life, both moral and intellectual” (http://history-world.org/renaissance.htm).

            In southern Italy during the Romanesque period, artists had already begun to draw inspiration from ancient sculpture (Art History, M. Stokstad M. W. Cothren, p.522). The Roman sarcophagus reliefs near the Pisa Baptistery could have been used as reference models for Nicola Pisano’s carvings (Art History, M. Stokstad M. W. Cothren, p.524). “The sculptural treatment of the deeply cut, full-bodied form is certainly Classical in inspiration, as are the heavy, placid faces” (Art History, M. Stokstad M. W. Cothren, p.524).

Source Link Pisano’s Annunciation, Nativity and Adoration of the shepherds, Pisa Baptistery, Italy.

The sculptures in the Pisa Baptistery, shows a “degree of pathos and physical realism”. One of the figures in the pulpit resembles the “classical Hercules,” infused with the Christian spirit. Its “sinuous upper torso”(ribcage) is repeated, on a smaller scale, in the figure representing the crucified Christ, intensifying the agony of his suffering on the cross (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTrEazY_pGo).

Source Link Pisano’s Hercules on pulpit, Pisa Baptistery, Italy.

Source Link Pisano’s Crucifixion on pulpit, Pisa Baptistery, Italy.

With the increase of wealthy patrons of art in Italy during the fourteenth century, artists began to develop a sense of self-confidence and individuality, perhaps encouraged by their social and economic freedom (Art History, M. Stokstad M. W. Cothren, p.531). Where once, during the Middle Ages, living in fear of sin, death, and judgment was the norm and were ignorance was seen as proof of devotion to God, the Renaissance freed man from the “thick veil” obscuring his path of self-discovery and the world around him (http://history-world.org/renaissance.htm).

The beginnings of northern Renaissance saw a familiarity in art with that of the southern Renaissance. Both the north and south shared the same faith and a religious theme in art, until 1517, when Martin Luther ignited the spark of Reformation (http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/north_ren_2.htm). Albrecht Durer’s introduction of classical themes into Northern art, with his knowledge of Italian artists and humanist way of thinking, has fortified his standing as an influential figure of the Northern Renaissance (http://www.albrecht-durer.org/).

Source Link Durer’s Magnani Collection, Mamiano, 1495, Parma Region.

In the north unlike Italy, Gothic art had a lengthier run in the Renaissance period, influencing the architecture well into the sixteenth century. The social changes during the Renaissance brought about differing facets in the northern and southern Europe. Humanism, in Italy, led to their need to learn from Classical antiquity and discover the extent of human rational. The north being more concerned with religious reform, believing Rome to have drifted from Christian values, began defying the power of Church, which lead to the art shedding its religious cloak and turning to secularism (http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/north_ren.htm).

Northern Humanism focused on using the Classical knowledge acquired to deeply examine religion (http://www.worldhistory.knowledge4africa.com/reformation/reformation-01.jsp). The Reformation came about with the wanting to break-free of rigid religious institutes and the sense of individualism, that each man is responsible for their own standing before God (http://arthistoryclub.com/art_history/Protestant_Reformation). “The Reformation exhibits, in the region of religious thought and national politics, what the Renaissance displays in the sphere of culture, art, and science- the recovered energy and freedom of humanity” (http://history-world.org/renaissance.htm).

Unlike Italian artists, during the Renaissance, who focused on proportion, anatomy, and perspective, northern artists focused getting as many details as possible into a painting and color beyond form. Because of the location and climate in the north, oil paints were developed. On the other hand in Italy, egg tempera paintings and frescos were produced (http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/north_ren.htm).

Giotto Di Bondone of Florence is considered to be the first of several artists to contribute to the Italian Renaissance (http://www.giottodibondone.org/). From his observation of life he painted three-dimensional figures occupying actual space displaying profound emotions (http://history-world.org/italren2.htm).

Source Link Giotto’s Adoration of the Magi, Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, Padua

Jan van Eyck, a northern Renaissance painter, is recognized for figuring out how to layer oil paints in his paintings to create light and depth of color (http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/north_ren_3.htm).

Source Link  Van Eyck’s Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife 1434

Northern Renaissance artist Pieter Brueghel’s paintings include landscapes and scenes of peasant life, stressing the absurd and vulgar, also “expose human weaknesses and follies” (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bruegel/).  

Source Link Brueghel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

“The connection between religion and art has ever contributed to render both more attractive, and to give strength to the influences of each” (http://www.oldandsold.com/articles30/art-theory-9.shtml). Both religion and art, strive to elevate and awaken in us the desire towards an ideal world (http://www.pravmir.com/article_132.html). “Religion has…done much for art, not only indirectly by affording the best patronage for it which it has received, but directly in a more important manner by supplying it with the noblest themes for its exercise that it has obtained” (http://www.pravmir.com/article_132.html). Art was used to bring to life the stories, teachings and morals of religion (Art History, M. Stokstad M. W. Cothren, p.473).