What Is the Major Difference Between Baroque Art and Renaissance Art?
I've been asked more than once, and I have encountered various people who have expressed confusion regarding Baroque vs. Renaissance art. In fact, despite my several courses in fine art history and appreciation, it still took me several hours of private study to really get a grasp of the difference. Well-nigh people understand that if a painting or sculpture is fabricated in Europe between 1300 and 1600, it's likely a Renaissance work. And, if information technology's a European work made between 1600 and 1750, so it's Baroque. Only if you don't know the dates of a work, or if you don't know the artist or when the artist lived, how can y'all tell if it's Baroque or Renaissance?
Well, before we discuss what differentiates the two, let'due south look at some similarities between the Baroque and Renaissance art so that we tin can clearly understand why in that location is confusion: Both terms ("Renaissance" and "Baroque") are used to identify two dissimilar things regarding pictorial art: the historical era and the artistic fashion. Both terms refer to decidedly European eras and styles. Both styles are known to excel in portraying realism. Both styles apply brilliant, evocative pigments, and, what is maybe most vexing is that, where bailiwick thing is concerned, both eras have strong emphases on topics from the Judeo-Christian Bible or from Greco-Roman mythology. It'due south really no wonder that there is confusion of the eras and styles. If you're one of them, exist encouraged; you are far from alone.
Every bit a foundation for learning the difference betwixt these ii eras and these two styles, it might be helpful to begin with ii key words. A good word for Renaissance art is "stabilize," while a good one for the Baroque is "dramatize." I fine way to demonstrate the importance of these two words is to wait at art in the 21st-century globe of scientific discipline fiction. Artists who piece of work in the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises likewise have to exist able to demonstrate drama and stability separately.
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PART I: THE LINE STRATEGY
In the realm of Star Trek, when artists and directors want to show the Enterprise (when not at warp speed), or a space station—K7 or DS9—as stationary and stable, they show the discipline as horizontal from the viewer'southward perspective. Alternatively, to demonstrate stability for something that needs to be narrow and standing, a perfect vertical perspective achieves the same effect. It is a simple device, whether horizontal or vertical, simply most effective for demonstrating that nothing is amiss. Now, let'southward understand something on this: We're talking about space. For those inside a ship or station, there is a clear up and downwards, just for the station itself or for the transport itself, out in space, there is no upward nor downwards. If you and I are approaching a space station in a space ship we could be entirely on 1 side or even upside down in relation to the station and no one would really feel a difference. Merely for the sake of the movies or TV, showing both from the aforementioned bending in infinite suggests to viewers that all is stable.
Renaissance art uses the aforementioned device and for the same purpose, even though you'll seldom (if always) find a Renaissance spacescape. But when you encounter a representation of The Madonna and Child or of the Crucifixion, the apply of distinctly horizontal or vertical lines is clearly emphasized. Sometimes the artist will go so far as to compose a painting to exist visually like to a pyramid so that the widest part of the subject is toward the lesser and the narrowest office at the top, considering the pyramid is the well-nigh stable 3-D shape. Look beneath at "The Madonna of the Goldfinch," which is presented twice to demonstrate the horizontal and the pyramid shape in an edited version.
The pyramid-shape composition besides applies to sculpture during the renaissance. Consider the famous "Pietà" by Michelangelo. Every bit seen from the front end, the pedestal and Mary's legs incorporate the bottom with Christ, who is markedly smaller that Mary, on her lap in the middle of the sculpture, and Mary's shoulders and head mark the peak. It, similar then many Renaissance works of fine art, conforms to the horizontal stability factor.
Nevertheless, equally I mentioned earlier, there is another way to create the sense of stability in Renaissance art: the vertical line. In most cases, with the vertical line, there is still some grade of horizontal line that accompanies it, which is ane reason that the cross for a crucifixion painting his always and then prominent. Likewise, this is non to say that there won't be diagonal lines. What we're discussing with the idea of stability in Renaissance art is the majority and the more prominent focus of the limerick. In "Crucifixion" by Andrea Mantegna the vertical lines are emphasized in the poles of the three crosses, but the iii horizontal lines are crated, at the acme, by the 3 cross beams, in the mid department by the feet of the condemned with the tops of the heads of the spectators, and at the bottom with the lateral lines in the steps at the base. Below is Mantegna'due south "Crucifixion" first without, and so with editing. Later on that are four other crucifixion scenes for you to find the horizontal and vertical lines for yourself.
Every bit I mentioned before, while the key word for the Renaissance is "stabilize," the key give-and-take for the Bizarre is "dramatize," just with the concept of drama too comes a noted instability or intense energy, and the artists of Star Trek apply some tactics that were well known in Baroque Europe. When they need to testify that a ship or station is in problem or afloat, they place the Enterprise or their station at an intense bending from the viewer's perspective, usually with something else in the image to emphasize the off-kilter orientation—another larger or closer object, possibly.
Another effect of depicting a subject at an bending is to demonstrate bang-up energy, such as in the picture of the Klingon Cruiser below. In this moving picture, the send is supposed to be travelling at great "warp" speeds. The angle of the ship helps to capture that feeling of speed and energy.
The Bizarre artists of Europe also understood this principle: build a composition on an angle to give energy or to create instability or to add together drama. In the Baroque, however, the lines that are there are still less emphasized visually than they are in the Renaissance. Information technology seems that often in the Renaissance, items are placed in the limerick in order to emphasize the horizontal and Vertical lines, fifty-fifty including the horizon itself. In the Bizarre, the lines might start with one part of the composition and go along with another, seemingly unrelated part of the composition. In fact, sometimes the black of the background functions as a diagonal line. In order to make the distinction between the two eras as articulate equally possible, I'll proceed with the same painted topics as earlier, and then that you can more hands compare and contrast.
Consider first the painting "Madonna with Child and St. John the Baptist." There is no emphasis on the horizontal except in the base of operations of the window, just even that covers less than a tertiary of the canvass, and seems entirely incidental. However, there is a strong diagonal line marked, in part, by the edge of scarlet curtains, and by Mary's head and hand, Christ'south head and back. There are also two parallel diagonal lines: 1 extends from Mary'south caput and downwards her arm, the other follows the left arm of John the Baptist and goes up toward the arm of Jesus. Detect as well that both Mary's and Christ'due south eyes are fixed on John producing an implied "5" in the centre of the canvas. This painting is presented below, once without and once with editorial markings.
In the "Madonna and Child" by an unknown Bizarre Belgian artist, at that place is a distinct line that runs from the optics of John the Baptist to the optics of Christ and up to the eyes of Joseph. Observe that Mary's eyes are non included, but are placed well above the line fabricated by the other three to emphasize her place in heaven. It is made fifty-fifty more prominent by the angel, centred above her, but who is looking downward on Mary, and this creates a 2nd line almost vertical, simply not quite. A third line is created by the angle of the angel's trunk that creates a line that extends to the top of Joseph's caput. These three lines create an about invisible triangle. Too annotation that there is near nothing horizontal in the painting. Instead, as if in defiance of the horizon, the artists has used Mary'due south dress to create a semi-circle along the lesser. Over again, this painting is placed below twice.
The aforementioned use of diagonals is used in the topic of the Crucifixion as well, but with fifty-fifty greater drama. In the "Crucifixion" past Pedro Orrente there is the obvious diagonal of the ladder, which is doubled by the ii people on that ladder. Some other line begins with Christ's left manus, past his eye and straight downward to the tiptop of the accusation that is to be nailed to the cross simply above him. Some other line begins with the toe of the person on the upper correct of the canvass, past the eyes of the three witnesses and follows down the line of their bodies. I have likewise indicated a line that is not at all visible, obscured by the witnesses, but implied by the bases of the iii cross poles in the footing, and this line would contrast directly with the Christ's cross beam to a higher place it.
Interestingly, there is a horizontal line in this painting made past moving beyond the anxiety of the three condemned men and to the male child'south head and shoulders on the left. This may accept religious connotations, perchance suggesting the stability brought by Christ's sacrifice, but when you lot consider the absolute necessity of perspective from i human being to the next, and the impressive quality of the art, ane must consider that this line across the feet is admittedly intentional, and therefore has some significant.
PART II: THE TEMPORAL Statement
There is a lot more to the stability of Renaissance art besides its use of horizontal and vertical lines; the fourth dimension frame must also be considered. There is a reason that the composition of the Renaissance Madonna and Child motif is oft pyramidical and stable: There is an unsaid length of fourth dimension—from a number of seconds to, peradventure minutes—in Renaissance art. I'1000 not talking most "timelessness," in which the content of the slice could accept identify in virtually any era, I'm talking about a duration of time in the slice itself.
It goes without saying that the Crucifixion scenes would suggest a duration, fifty-fifty several, split up events illustrated at a fourth dimension. Merely in the case of the Madonna and Child we can look at both Da Vinci'southward and Ghirlandaio's executions of this motif. In the latter of the ii, there is a delightful ambiguity of the substitution between mother and child. In once sense, it appears that Mary is looking at babe Jesus, who returns her gaze as whatever baby would look back to his mother. His stance, as he leans on his female parent for . . . stability . . . could be a purely childlike attempt of an unproficient stand. Fifty-fifty his correct hand gesture could be 1 of an infant unsure of whether he's about to autumn or non.
At the same time, withal, looking closer at their gazes, you can encounter that Jesus doesn't really look at Mary in her optics, but is looking off in the distance a bit. His stance could be seen as one of someone in deep but coincidental discussion, and the gesture of his right hand could be seen as indicating a future in heaven or as a counterpoint argument—well-nigh as though Christ as an babe, still has all the capabilities for intelligent discourse of a mature adult. Mary, on closer inspection, is also not really looking to baby Jesus, but is looking down to the left (from her perspective) of Jesus, and her expression is sadness, mayhap considering the horror of her eldest son'due south impending demise on the cross. However yous look at the painting, though, there is time consumed inside the composition. Mary could go along to stand equally she is for hours as could the Babe Jesus.
This primary stands true in Renaissance sculpture too. Consider Michelangelo's famous statue of David. Here we accept a 20-human foot tall young homo in a very stable stance. His right leg is engaged and is entirely vertical as a result, as is his correct arm and trunk. The statue portrays David equally he is merely about to have the giant, Goliath, in battle, and David is either engaged in contemplating his strategy or waiting for Goliath to consummate his wonted taunts. Either way, this sculpture consumes fourth dimension. David can maintain that posture for a long period.
There is also Donatello's David, which portrays David after his battle with Goliath. His pes rests on the behemothic's head while his engaged leg is placed solidly beside his sword. At that place is a distinct attitude that comes beyond from the sculpture, only, in one case again, there is no immediacy to the sculpture.
In the same vein, consider the facial expressions of these ii representations. In that location is emotion with both; in that location is singled-out agreement of thought translated to the viewer, simply there is no distinct muscular intensity with either subject. Once more, there is no reason that these expressions cannot last for bully lengths of time.
In sharp dissimilarity with these expressions, below is the face of David past Giovanni Bernini, an Italian Bizarre sculptor whose depiction of David puts him smack in the middle of whipping the stone at Goliath. In his face is the fleeting expression of exertion, decision and the distinct concentration of someone employing a well practiced skill. The point is, it's a portrait of the briefest of instances—a snapshot of move.
Because information technology's a sculpture rather than a painting, we are dealing more with curvatures than nosotros are with lines, but the aforementioned angles still apply to Baroque sculpture as it does with painting; the intersecting arcs give Baroque sculpture the same dynamism as the painting, but in both cases, we are in the dramatic throes of an instant of time. The David of Bernini's sculpture would non be able to maintain his pose for more than a frozen fleeting fragment of a moment in time.
PART Three: THE BACKDROPS
The final section of this article deals more with the key discussion of the Bizarre than it does with the key word of the Renaissance, because information technology deals with the backgrounds of the paintings, which do more than for drama in the Baroque than they practise to add together stability in the Renaissance. Nevertheless, there is a stark contrast between the two, and and then information technology can be explored.
In the Renaissance, the back grounds are always fully adult parts of the paintings. The may be scenes of the horizon or scenes of the back of a room, simply the backdrops are at that place in surprising item. Equally such, they don't practice a lot for stability, but they do add a dimension of completion. Consider, for example, Leonardo's famous "Mona Lisa" painting: a portrait of a immature woman sitting on a balcony with a purely fictitious background in the altitude. You still have the vertical and horizontal lines in the visible parts of the balustrade, and in the horizon, likewise. You have the singled-out time component. After all, how long is a person able to sit comfortably on a cute balustrade? And you have a complete background replete with that typical da Vinci-esque sfumato effect (giving an expanse a hazy result by causing colours to blend gradually together). The "Mona Lisa" is everything that a great Renaissance painting should be.
In the Bizarre, nonetheless, the backdrops are considered so unimportant that they are frequently simply blackened out. Heed you lot, sometimes—with portraits—Renaissance artist would use this approach, but far less often. Simply the Baroque artists apply this concept to their advantage to dramatize their painting. But over again, to fully empathize the issue, permit'south wait at a modern example: Bev Doolittle'south extraordinary work called "Unknown Presence." The sheet itself is strikingly horizontal with more than half of information technology entirely shrouded in darkness. The subject of the painting, a lonely, 19th-century traveller and his horse at alert near their burn down. Their attention drawn dramatically into the darkness. Their expressions evidence surprise, caution, vigilance and, perhaps, a chip of fear, as the traveller reaches for his rifle.
The darkness of this painting is not unimportant. What is unimportant is precisely what has alerted the traveller and his horse to rouse them and so. The darkness, nonetheless, serves to dramatize for viewers exactly what the traveller is feeling. Nosotros see him looking into the darkness and and so, nosotros do as well. We squint and try to focus at the black paint, just as the traveller is or will be doing into the dark, trying to discover some faint hint equally to what's in that location. It is NOT "nothing."
This is a prime example of great use of what is called "tenebrism," which, depending on how you want to focus is either the nighttime itself, or it'south the dissimilarity of the lighted surface area against the darkness. It is as well known as "dramatic illumination," and is brought about by the use of very dark pigments, not necessarily just black, and highly pronounced "chiaroscuro," which is the name given to the effect of light falling from a unmarried management or source. The artists of the Baroque used this device, "tenebrism," to great outcome for 150 years.
Consider Peter Paul Rubens version of "Prometheus Bound," where the tenebrism carries the dorsum of the hawkeye into the depths of doom. Consider his "Raising of the Cross" and the tenebrism right behind the head of Christ. There the dark is so rich that one man appears behind Jesus from nowhere to help heighten the cross. Virtually all of Rembrandt'southward groundwork is darkness in his own version of "Raising of the Cantankerous." The tenebrism tin can be used to bring about a sense of the bleak or desolate, or it tin can be used to emphasize the drama of the momentary action that appears to exist lighted.
CONCLUSION
Yes, I practice suppose there is more that I could talk about: the differing uses of the artists' castor strokes, the wider field of topics in the Baroque, the maddening abundance of Greco-Roman allusions in the Renaissance, but you have plenty now to begin your own exploration of the two styles/eras. The fundamental words "stabilize" and "dramatize" for the Renaissance and Bizarre, respectively, and how they draw those ideas out in their fine art remain consequent with other things to exist discovered, simply they are clearly outlined in the horizontal and vertical orientations in the Renaissance, and the highly angular orientations in the Baroque. The stability of time in the Renaissance in contrast with the fleeting moment in the Baroque. Now, examine the styles for yourself and discover new differences of your own.
Below is a brief quiz with ten paintings, some are Baroque and some are Renaissance. (There may or may not exist v of each.) They are all numbered, and I challenge you to quiz yourself with it to run across, non just how much you lot picked upward in this article, but how clearly the article is written. Yep, some of them are tricky. Permit us know how you scored and what you think I can make more clear in the commodity.
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Renaissance vs Bizarre Art Quiz:
Directions: Number a spare sheet of paper from 1-10. Carefully examine the paintings i at a time, and abreast each number on your page, betoken the era of the painting by writing an "R" if the work is from the Renaissance, and a "B" if the work is from the Baroque. The answers are shown at the end of this folio.
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Quiz Answers further below
Near the Author:
A. J. Mittendorf is an gorging art lover who has studied art history, art appreciation and art estimation, for more than two decades. His Master's degree is in Literature and his undergraduate degree is in English Pedagogy. Every bit an educator, he enjoys writing for an online, international art magazine, Art, Artists, Artwork so he tin can use his educational background and skills in the field of art to help promote artists and help buyers select the art that is best for them.
Renaissance vs Bizarre Art Quiz Answers
1. Bizarre: "Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee" (1633) by Rembrandt (1606-1669)
2. Baroque: "Crucifixion of St. Peter" (1600) past Caravaggio (1571-1610)
3. Renaissance: "Pieta Bandini" (1547) Michelangelo (1475-1564)
4. Renaissance: "La Belle Jardinière" (1507) past Raphael (1483-1520)
5. Renaissance: "Portrait of a Cardinal" (1510) past Raphael (1483 -1520)
half-dozen. Baroque: "The Calling of St Matthew" (1600) by Caravaggio (1571-1610)
7. Baroque: "The Man With the Aureate Helmet" (c. 1650) by Rembrandt (1606-1669)
8. Bizarre: "The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa by Bernini" (1598-1680)
9. Renaissance: "The School of Athens" (1509-1511) Raphael (1483-1520)
ten. Renaissance: "Venus and Mars" (1483) by Boticelli (1445-1510)
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Source: https://artsartistsartwork.com/renaissance-art-vs-baroque-art-understanding-the-difference/
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