18th Century art

In the 18^th century the ‘Enlightenment’ era was bursting with new ideas and ways of life. Men like John Locke, Isaac Newton, and Bernard de Fontenelle discovered the scientific method. This is to see the world through empirical means and make an educated hypothesis on how it functions based on the evidence collected. Rational thought declared that all men should have equal rights and that everyone deserves to live. An artist that embodied this desire for knowledge was Joseph Wright of Derby. The artwork that I will be discussing is The Alchymist.

            Joseph Wright of Derby was a man who was fascinated by machinery and science. Living during the Industrial Revolution he had many opportunities to meet many intellectuals, artists, and philosophers. His love for science eventually reached his love for painting. In the painting The Alchymist, it shows a scientist doing an experiment in what seems like a gothic like church. He is in awe of what he has discovered. It is believed that the man is Henning Brandt and his discovery of Phosphorus. Like the Gothic Church, there seems to be other religious connotations in the painting, such as the scientist bending on his knee in a religious fashion. The Derby Museum describes his kneeling position as the referencing of St Francis receiving the stigmata or St Jerome in prayer.

            Joseph Wright of Derby also uses the effect of chiaroscuro in his paintings. This is apparent in The Alchymist. The glass orb that the scientist is experimenting on has a very bright glow to it giving the surrounding room a calm glow. Wright was fascinated with the effects of light on objects and people so in many of his painting one can see a large source of light illuminating a room full of objects and people. Although the painting seems very magical, 18^th century critiques at the time of its creation were seen very uncomfortably. The religious and scientific subject matter puzzled many viewers and it toke almost four years for Wright to sell his work. Some historians believe that the painting was to celebrate the wonders of scientific discovery, some thought it was the message of science explaining religious questions, or that the painting helps vindicate chemistry from the past associations it had with alchemy. Whatever its real purpose it is a very compelling piece. Wright’s painting plays with such concepts as knowledge and enlightenment, theory and practice, spectatorship and discovery, temporality and historicity, and the local and national to suggest a type of enlightenment.

            The Alchymist did not gain as much recognition as An Experiment on a bird in the air-pump or The Orrery, but it seems to have a more puzzling characteristic about it that makes some art historians question the purpose of the painting. One historian concludes that the painting is to turn the roles of demonstrator, discoverer, and spectator around from any rational point of view. The scientist is as much the discoverer as the demonstrator, he is watching the phosphorus created with his assistants and he is also a spectator, as he accidentally discovered the element. His expression gives off the impression that he has no rational explanation for the phenomenon. In the Enlightenment age this would be seen as troublesome because rationality was the only way to make way for reason. In science usually the scientist is fully aware of his workings and his surrounding, so to see this on a painting confused many. I believe that Wright was trying to promote science in a different way, so as to make the viewer have a scientific and analytical view of his painting.

References:

http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/jom/0706/byko-0706.html

http://www.derby.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/museums-and-galleries/treasures-of-derby/museums-art/alchymist/

http://www.oberlin.edu/amam/Wright.htm

http://www.reocities.com/jvertesi/wright/#_ftn11

Baroque Art

            During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the Renaissance and the Reformation society was growing accustomed to change in the religious world as well as the scientific one. The shattering of the Roman Catholic Church brought many people to interpret the Bible their own way and led many like Martin Luther to a new way of approaching Christianity. Protestantism came forth in many versions and many artists now had opportunities to seek patrons not only in religious sects, but in secular ones as well. As time approached to the seventeenth century, many of the landscapes changed to the new majority of Protestants. Most of Northern Europe converted to Protestantism and Southern Europe clung to Catholicism. Science also changed the perception of the world, now that the knowledge that the world was not the center of the universe had come out, many saw that world around them was much more complicated. From all this change came the style of art called Baroque. Baroque incorporated and rejected many of the ideals of the Renaissance. Humanism was incorporated into the art in the Baroque period by portraying humans in different everyday activities, not only that but unlike the Renaissance artists the Baroque artists conveyed the humans in more emotional aspects. Unlike the Baroque period, Idealism was the dominant style in art during the Renaissance. Many of the Renaissance artists valued idealism and this left the viewers of the art to only observe the art not interact with it. Baroque art was the exact opposite, the artists emphasized movement, emotion, and energy to incorporate the viewer to interact with the piece. Naturalism also was incorporated in the Baroque period, but unlike the Renaissance the artists wanted to portray nature in a more emotive way. Still life’s and genre paintings depicted everyday objects and scenes so the viewer can relate to the piece and is more inclined to be responsive to the piece. Visual Harmony was used in a more dynamic and interactive way during the Baroque period as well. Instead of the usual pyramidal composition or symmetrical composition, many Baroque artists utilized asymmetrical balance to establish their compositions. This made the pieced much more interesting to look at and receive a greater emotive reaction from the viewer.

            Bernini’s David and Michelangelo’s David share some similarities in artistic style, but unlike Michelangelo’s Renaissance David, Bernini’s Baroque David has some different styles that pay homage to the Baroque period. Bernini’s David shares the ideals of humanism, naturalism, and idealism with Michelangelo’s David. For humanism, both pieces share the promotion of human achievement; they both wish to convey the best of the human being and portray the human body reminiscent of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The difference between Bernini’s David and Michelangelo’s David was Bernini’s David was a much more humanistic David, Michelangelo’s David is more idealistic. Bernini portrays David in movement, his body twisting as he is ready to launch the rock at Goliath. The viewer is forced to interact with the piece, to envision what is to come next. Michelangelo’s on the other hand is very stable, calm, and resolved. His David looks like he is contemplating the situation, so this leads the viewer only to think in an unemotional way. Both Davids exhibit the ideal of idealism though with the musculature of David although, Bernini’s David is much more mature and built. Bernini’s David shows tension in his muscles, unlike Michelangelo’s. Since Bernini’s David and Michelangelo’s David have similar visions of the human body, I can say that both the periods of the Renaissance and the Baroque periods had a similar style in naturalism. Both periods wanted to show the world in empirical means, but the Baroque wanted a more emotive response to how the world should be looked at. Renaissance art only showed an idealistic look at the natural world, so the viewer could not connect with the piece. In the Bernini’s David naturalism is shown by the way David would actually react to the action at the time. Michelangelo’s David looks more like hes walking on runway showing off his greatness. Bernini’s David is crouched, ready to attack his opponent in a serious and determined manner. Lastly, visual harmony in Bernini’s David is different that Michelangelo’s David by the way it is juxtaposed. Michelangelo’s David is in a balanced weighted pose that was popular in the Renaissance period. Called the Canon of Polykleitos, many of the sculptures at the Renaissance time had a proportionate body in a balanced posed. The body was commonly in an ‘S’ shape with one of the legs weighted against the other. Michelangelo’s David copies these canons of proportions and so does Bernini, but Bernini’s goes away from some of the traditions. For instance, Bernini’s David is proportioned correctly, but his body is not balanced in an upright symmetrical way. Bernini’s David is twisting in different directions implying asymmetrical balance. By doing this Bernini’s David exhumes more energy and movement. Visual harmony is still reached, but Baroque art molds visual harmony with the emotive senses to convey a more stimulating experience.

16th Century art in Northern Europe

In 1517 Martin Luther, a former catholic priest, wrote the 95 Theses stating the Reformation of the Church. Many people were tired of the rich and lavish lifestyles the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church was living while many of the people were starving. Men such as Martin Luther proposed to learn about Christianity through individual means, to seek God not through the Pope, but through the Bible. What helped evolve Reformation was the invention of the printing press, the printing press helped distribute ideas and debates of how religion should be followed. As well as the translation of the Bible to vernacular Italian or other languages helped the common people who could read better understand for themselves of what the meanings of the Bible are. As the Church was losing its influence on the people many Catholic artists had to move to other countries to find patronage to pay for their art. Also many artists made their own interpretation of the religious texts and decided to portray religious art more humanized. Art was no longer important in the religious realm; so many artists started depicted self-portraits, secular (non religious) objects, still lives, landscapes, and more humanized humans.

            The types of subject matter at that time that was sought after were usually self-portraits or paintings of scenery. A sort of Capitalistic system was starting to burgeon in Northern Europe, many men started to acquire wealth through selling commodities and other business like affairs, unlike the past way of inheriting wealth. As these men started to build their wealth many wanted to decorate their homes with furnishings and art. Individualism was taking place across the Northern European land, so many wanted artists to paint themselves in self- portraits to embody themselves in a grandeur style. Religious art was still made, but many artists started to make their own interpretations of religious scenes. For example in the Engraving of Adam and Eve by Albrecht Durer there is still a presence of religious subject matter that was popular in Catholic art. The differences are that Catholic art was more focused on the subject matter, the message, than the art itself. Durer went away from this and combined the immaculate detail of the Northern Renaissance to the religious theme of the piece. As one can see the background is very detailed, the foliage of the leaves, the array of bark markings on the tree, the feathers of the bird, the cliffs in the background, the animals around the forest and the humans themselves. Durer went away from the Catholic human form to the Classical representation of the human body. Durer made an ideal depiction of Adam and Eve, giving them appropriate proportions and well presentation of human anatomy.

Although Durer was immaculate in his detail, he still tried to include symbolism in his art to pay homage to the Catholic art. In the engraving Durer tried to emphasize the fall of man and his weakness. The animals portrayed in the engraving all have symbolic meaning to the weaknesses of man. The text Art History describes the symbolism as the stubbornly elk, the choleric cat, the phlegmatic ox, the sensual rabbit, and the mouse a symbol of Satan. Durer was able to mold both the past artistic trends of the Catholic art of subject matter and religious theme, and the future, of including fine detail and proportionate human beings.