Essays on Frescoes

Introduction

The Minoan Civilization was the forerunner of the ancient Greek culture which emerged from the island of Crete. The island of Crete was isolated from the rest of the Greek mainland by the Sea of Crete to the north and by the Mediterranean Sea to the west. The island with its mountainous rugged terrain and white sand coastal areas proved to be a great spot for international affairs and trade routes especially for the European, Africa, and Asia Minor merchants. Because of its isolated landscape, many scholars have proposed the existence of cultural interactions between Cretan civilization and those ...

Introduction

The restoration of the Sistine Chapel, perhaps one of the most famous examples of western art by Michelangelo began in 1965 as an initiative by Deoclecio Redig de Campos, who would later become the Vatican Museums’ general director in 1971. The scientific aspects arising in this project would be handled by Fabrizio Mancinelli as well as Gianluigi Colalucci, Maurizio Rossi, Bruno Baratti and Giorgio Bonetti master restorers. The cleaning of these frescoes would include only the depictions of the scenes with Jesus and Moses in the fifteenth-century paintings. At this time, the two 16th century frescoes located at the ...

Surfaces in visual arts evolve according to the technology present in a particular time. Surface in art is defined by the sense of touch which is either rough or smooth. Materials also contribute to the visual texture of the arts; for instance, the medieval paintings are done using variety of materials such as mosaics, vellum, and regular wall paintings or frescoes. The surfaces of a mosaic artwork is rough due to the raised pebbles making the texture rough, vellum was an animal based material used for scrolls and books, an animal skin is rough, therefore, vellum paintings also tend ...

The huge ceiling of Palazzo Farnese displays the theme “The Loves of the Gods” and was done in the seventeenth century, and the beautiful masterpiece was to influence generations of young painters. Annibale Carracci renovated the reception room into a collection of framed paintings that depict different scenes and foil the ceiling and the room with color and movement. Carracci gallery ceiling at the Palazzo Farnese is looked upon as one of the most important Renaissance commissions in Rome (Carracci Gallery at the Palazzo Farnese 2016). ” Loves of the Gods” is a pictorial exhibition of love in Greek mythology ...

History is a ‘process of interaction between historian and his facts, an unending dialogue between the present and the past’ (Carr 1) this statement may be supported with the different types of evidence – from literature, sculptures, paintings etc. In the scope of this paper, three following paintings (from V&A Museum in London (vam.ac.uk 1)) - as they represent the contemporary historical periods, would be assessed and their link to the historical background would be provided. The first one is ‘The Death of Ananias’ – Raphael’s Cartoon and Tapestry; the second one is the ‘The Industrial Arts Applied to War’ ...

Preparatory drawings by Correggio

Antonio Allegri is more famous by the name of the small town of Correggio, and this is where the artist spent his professional career. He was a reputed name and maintained a high position among the Italian Renaissance artists. He is looked upon as one of the most skilled draughtsmen of the sixteenth century1. He is counted among the most famous early sixteenth-century artists. His drawings call for a scrutiny of his styles and skills and are beautiful but utilitarian. The artist completed his work with steps in its construction and drew only when required. He drew only when ...

In the formation of art of the peoples who lived in the Mediterranean basin, a huge role was played by the so-called Aegean, or Mycenaean art. The Aegean culture was formed and developed in III—II millennia BC and was created by tribes that lived on the island of Crete, the Peloponnese, the West coast of Asia Minor (Boardman 21). In 1871, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated Hissarluka on the hill "pre-Homer" cities that can be dated to the III Millennium BC and which belong to the prehistory of the Aegean culture. Soon Schliemann began excavations in the ...

Medici played a significant role not only in politics, but also in the cultural life of Europe of their time. Like other wealthy and influential people, they ordered a work of art for the greater glory of themselves, their family, of the city and God. Under the influence of the new ideas of the Renaissance, Medici saw in the artists not only artisans. They were interested not only on a beautiful pieces and its content, but also on its creator. Not by chance, as an example of Renaissance patron relationship to the artist, Cosimo the Elder quoted words of Filippo Lippi. Monk ...

With Luca Signorelli (1445/1450 - 1523) was accomplished, with a clearer awareness, the transition from painting as a representation to painting as example of a more aware artistic poetic. The antithesis between the pictorial formal system of Piero della Francesca and the Florentine method was essentially the antithesis between being and becoming, between stasis and movement. The historical moment was of a great religious crisis: the Catholic Church needed a form of art that did not search the absolute, on the contrary the role of a work of art was to speak and persuade the shaken believers with clear arguments. Luca Signorelli was born ...

Tiziano Vecellio native of Pieve di Cadore (1480/1485), but Venetian by choice, has reached precocious stardom when, little more than a adolescent, worked with Giorgione in the decoration of the facade of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi. He soon became a painter sought by important personalities such as Francis I, Charles V, Philip II, the Duke of Mantua and Urbino, the Duke of Ferrara and Pope Paul III. His ongoing research and its persistent renew, certainly due to the strong consensus, to the honor and the celebrities, has kept his pictorial vein always fresh, almost inexhaustible. The development of his painting has been ...

If you believe the archaeologists and historians, art itself emerged in the Upper Paleolithic. In those days, a woman was the personification of the continuation of life and fertility - hence hypertrophy secondary sexual characteristics of Paleolithic Venuses. Ancient "Venus" - are usually small figurines from mammoth ivory, antler, stone, clay and ash. Sculptures made of clay mixtures are the most ancient examples of ceramics. Primitive female figures, being very far from real resemblance to nature (a statement of this fact are some rock paintings depicting women muscular and mobile), they suggest that primitive sculptors created image of the character, summarizing ...

Many talented artists lived during the Renaissance period in Italy. For example, Andrea del Verrocchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Benozzo Gozzoli, Carlo Crivelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Pisanello, Donatello and others. One of the great artists of this period is Raphael, who created numerous great works, which are still valued highly all over the world. His artworks are the reflection of his great artistic talent that will never die. He is considered as one of the famous artists of all time, who made a contribution to the development of art. Today, Raphael’s works can be found in almost all museums all ...

The tie between culture and art is profound and close as the two have a joint and beneficial relationship. Art can facilitate the exposure of culture through paintings, sculptures, drawings, and other masterpieces. For instance, contemporary art can serve as a channel of culture. In addition to that, culture is not a predetermined concept. It is evolving, continuous, and subject to change over time. Culture is influenced by an array of factors, and contemporary art is among them. Art is a dynamic, predominant element which can be considered “an aspect of culture” (Hatcher 1). There are several views that people uphold denoting that ...

Over the years, there has been a controversy about whether ancient sources give an accurate record of events as they happened during the Greek Bronze Age. To put matters to rest, several archaeologists have excavated some areas around ancient Greece and their discoveries suggest that the ancient records on the Bronze Age are not farfetched. From time immemorial, people have used stories, poems and other pieces of writing to preserve their most precious heritages. This has enabled generations after generations not only to gain an insight into the ancient Greece, but also other civilizations in the world as well. A ...

Between 1425 and 1426, the renowned Italian painter and one of the most prominent Renaissance artists, Masaccio, painted several frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence (Adams). On the upper right wall of the Chapel, Masaccio painted The Tribute Money that not only became his but even the Chapel’s most famous painting. Masaccio has used an old narrative format such that the same fresco depicts three consecutive events. This technique had probably not been used for hundreds of years of years before Masaccio and he most likely picked it up when studying classicism in Rome. Although frescoes are ...

Renaissance marks a period in the history of Europe when the Middle Ages were almost coming to an end and the Modern World was rising. Beginning in the 14 century and lasting till the middle of the 17th century, Renaissance represents the cultural rebirth that took place during this period. In the 15th century, the Early Renaissance art period was predominant chiefly in Italy, where it served as a bridge between the gap in the Italian Middle Ages and the High Renaissance. Generally, it is said that Early Renaissance fully developed in the late 16th century. The purpose of this research ...

Diego Rivera is one of the most well known Mexican artists. He is not only the husband of Frida Kahlo, whose paintings are famous far outside Mexico but also an independent author, whose style is bright, recognizable and not alike someone else’s. The artists managed to reborn the frescoes art, and introduce it, and make it popular on the American ground (Diego Rivera About the Artist). Actually, at the time when both Rivera and Kahlo were alive the husband was more famous that his wife. This happens not only because of his paintings and murals but also because ...

According to Hartt and Wilkins (2010), the name Giotto di Bondone became synonymous to the Early Renaissance period. Most of the details of Giotto’s birth and death is speculated by experts due to the lack of public records and statements about the artist. In some recounts, the Italian artist is said to be from Colle di Romagnano in the northern region of Florence. Records in 1267 noted that his father is called “Bondone”, a man with high standing in Florence. While records have no clear idea as to where Giotto was born, a hamlet in the northern region of Florence ...

Giotto’s artistic style changed the whole history of the art. He moved from the dark and heavy Byzantine style. His paintings was the starting point of the art as it is now. For example, in his frescoes landscape, architecture, and figures had been reduced almost to the minimum (Janson & Janson, 2004, p.363). Giotto used less gold and sparkling elements. Besides, his frescoes make spectators feel closer to the event depicted. This is achieved by placing the main scene at the foreground, at the lower part of the panting. Giotto’s space on the pictures is limited, yet it ...

Evolution of the Renaissance Style

Through the history, human perception of reality and subsequently depiction of it had evolved just human civilization itself. The divine world perception of Middle Ages was embodied in the Byzantine art and painting style, in which the main emphasis was placed on worshipping and divine nature of saints, making them as unreachable to a mortal being as the very comprehension of God Himself. Finally, human world perception was ready for the next step – self-realization and humanization of art in all of its perspectives, even such matters as saints and religious descriptions. Thus, the era of Renaissance and contemporary human-centric world ...

Domenico Ghirlandaio, whose real name was Domenico di Tommaso Bigordi, was born in Florence in 1449. The son of jeweler Tommasso di Curradi Bigordi, Domenico started out as a locksmith and gained the nickname Ghirlandaio, which means garland-maker, because of his specialty of manufacturing diadems that became popular among the women in Florence, Italy.

Ghirlandaio started independently working in the 1460s, producing various works for the church of Ognissanti. This includes The Last Supper fresco. He worked in San Gimignano in 1475, painting in the Collegiate Church the fresco of The Life of St. Fina. He worked on the Sistine ...