Religion has always played a key part in art. How could it not? Religion takes and gives the purest of emotions and deals with the weakness and strengths of all humans, its bound to draw on an artists emotions, thus creating art. However, the position religion held in the medieval period through the metamorphosis to the renaissance period, is quite substantial.
Michelangelo, arguably the most influential artist of the Renaissance period is a prime example of religion effecting his work. He had many works that depicted religion all of them bringing along a certain baggage. The creation of Adam, depicts God and Adam’s fingers reaching out to one another, though never touching. This has been said to show the imperfections of Adam, proving that man can never be God’s perfect creation. Then there is “Last Judgment” a piece which the pope publicly scorned for its use of nudity. The pope had recently decided that nudity would no longer be portrayed in religious art work, and although Michelangelo accepted the popes criticism, it is known that in his private life he grew depressed because of the popes words.
Leonardo Da Vinci another extremely influential artist of the time period was also known for his work with religious paintings. ‘The Last Supper” painted in 1498 is a prime example of his work. This pointing is arguably truly religious due to the fact that he himself was an atheist it is hard to portray the exact passion it takes to reveal such a passion. His use of light in the painting and the way it all seems to illuminate the center, and his color scheme, also his idea to be sure to portray all of the religious keystones as normal people all together show an overall internal battle between religious asceticism and secular aestheticism.
Both artists represent the societies new found questioning of religion and the less overall passion that was held for the the Catholic church as science and new ideas were introduced into the Renaissance period. Both artists are great examples of change.
The honor and attribution this team dedicated for the religion and arts in the Renaissance are great. The post clearly indicated the relationship between art and religion by pointing out two famous artists who not only are appreciative of faith and god, but who are also talented in portraying and reflecting their admiration towards Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci. The arts of Renaissance showed a comparison between imperfection and the paramount status of a God and religious figures; many drawings have distinctions of central figure and others, such technique was used to create a sense of importance. The post also indicates the social importance of a pope, and how nudity was changed, in people’s opinion, as whether if it is considered as a subject of art. The difference between religious asceticism and secular aestheticism in the Renaissance is also seen through the art created by the people of that period. Religious asceticism is a persistent desire and loyalty to religion and religious figures, and experiencing wildly the great pleasures as a way of pursuing religious and spiritual goals, whereas secular aestheticism is the pursuit of pure pleasure in order to satisfy a person’s desire before any significant event. Those people sought pleasures as a way for them to get “sweetened up” before any challenges or contests. Arts and religious are interchangeable in the period of Renaissance, and they have created many legends and figures to be admired and cherished by the future generations. This team shows great interest and respect for the art, religion, and Renaissance. Though the post is already excellent, my team would suggest that maybe adding information that is not relevant to the artists would make the post more broad, having a better connection between the art and religion.
ReplyDeleteWylie Period 5 Team 7
Dan Qi
Samudra Thio
Kevyn Fox