Lilian Coie
Kevin He
Matt Wong
There was quite a bit of conflict in respect to art during the Renaissance era. There were two conflicting ideas of what art should be. The Catholic Church had a very ascetic view of paintings, thinking it should only be used as a way to portray religious scenes and holy individuals. This view clashed with the emerging ideas of humanism and realism which were becoming prominent in the minds of artists of the time. In order to express themselves, without angering the Catholic Church which was quite powerful at the time, artists had to walk the fine line in between these two views of art.
Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci are two of the very few painters who managed to pull off this feat. They both expressed their realism, humanism, and philosophical ideologies in such a way that the Catholic Church wasn’t upset about it, they were thrilled. Michelangelo found his way to success through his work The Last Supper. In choosing a religious scene to portray he is able to get away with having Jesus look straight at the viewer, a new effect, and show off his accurate portrayal of the human body and still receive praise from religious viewers. Leonardo Da Vinci on the other hand painted the ceiling of a chapel, the Sistine Chapel, in his effort to express himself. His painting of man and God is striking because of its realistic representation of God as a man, a risky move for the time. It was just religious enough though that it became a stunning success.
Both of these artists were able to combine their aesthetic ideas with the pious restrictions of the church to create gorgeous works of art challenging the strict religious rules of Catholicism and getting away with it.
Wylie: Team 3 and Period 5
ReplyDeletePaulina Alvarez, Karen Cao, Emily Teraoka and Angela Oh
Firstly, you guys did a great job explaining the “conflict” of art during the Renaissance era! During the Medieval Era it was expected that devout religious inspiration would be illustrated in all works of art, partly because the Roman Catholic Church was one of the few who owned art. The beginning of the Renaissance era, lead to an evident transition where art was not solely depicting religious scenes, saints, or God. Consequently clashing with one of the most predominant –ism’s during the Renaissance era, Humanism. Humanism, which promoted reason and understanding, came to not only challenge artists of the time like Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci but writers as well. Writers came to secularize the view of history by writing from an unspiritual perspective resulting in an end to the Churches dominance. It is also important to recognize that this transition was most opportune for society which was parting from religious conviction and began integrating science and reason to fulfill personal ideologies and asceticism like literature, art, and science.