Painting and Experience in the Fifteen Century Italy by Michael Baxandall

¶ … Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy by Michael Baxandall. The paper presents the thesis of the book, evidence of the arguments put forward by the author to support his thesis, details of the structure of the book, and a critical analysis of the thesis put forward by Baxandall.

Baxandall's book is a classic of art history, which gives both an introduction to fifteenth century Italian painting, and also a discourse on how to interpret social history from the paintings of a particular era. The main thesis of the book is that the style of paintings in any particular era reflects the social life of the time. He argues that life is lent to the paintings by the assimilation of contemporary daily habits and fashions by their creators.

He argues, for example, that Renaissance painting became so vibrant at that time due to the expansion of other branches of the arts around at the time: for example, dance, literature, theatre, opera etc. This expansion in the arts gave inspiration to painters to take their art further, by introducing new techniques, and new ways of representing life in art, through developments in the use of perspective, relief etc.

He argues that artists were so inspired by their social surroundings at this time, and by their patrons, who wished to record their wealth and prosperity, that the artists flourished on their surroundings, producing new styles of representation: rather like neighbors outdoing themselves with newer and better cars, artists and their patrons competed amongst each other to develop the best and most technically innovative paintings. This led to the greatest movement art has known: the Renaissance.

A further argument he develops is that we, from our day and age, with our own set of perceptions, historical experience, and social circumstances, cannot truly understand or comprehend these fifteenth century paintings, as we no longer have ready conceptual access to them.

He argues that we bring our own experiences and concepts to the viewing, analysis and appreciation of these paintings, such that we fail to see their true colours, their true historical messages. By using our own conceptual framework to look at these fifteenth century masterpieces, we fail to appreciate the paintings as a contemporary would have done: we fail to see their social context, and as such, we miss a great deal of information held within the painting that could be useful for an even better, greater, understanding of the works. The book is a cry to heed this argument, and to view painting with a more encompassing eye.

He uses examples of certain artists to reinforce his arguments, and to reach his end point, which is to attempt to re-establish a contemporaries sense of social situation when viewing a fifteenth century painting. He argues that only through this pathway to viewing fifteenth century art, indeed any art, can that art be truly appreciated, as it is only then placed in its correct historical, and cultural framework. Only then can its true significance and beauty be appreciated.

His in-depth analyses of artists such as Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico, Stefano di Giovanni, Luca Signorelli, Boticelli and Boccaccio, reinforce his arguments further, with his 'contemporary view' of example paintings showing us the path through which we can better appreciate the work of these great artists. These sections are wonderful, and open ones eyes to the power of Baxandall's argument.

It is noteworthy that Baxandall's recommendations for analysing paintings became applied to art history so late: similar methods, of cultural or historical empathy, have been used by social historians for decades.

The book is structured logically, taking us from his explanation of the conditions for trade in art in fifteenth century Italy, for example, contracts, and the clients control over the art produced, the value placed on an artists skill by patrons, and the perception of skill amongst the artistic community, patrons, and the wider community.

The book then moves on to discuss the period in more depth, from the relative perspective, to the function of the images generated, to the body and language used by artists at this time, and the influence this had, and the influences upon this. The book then looks at Santi's twenty five painters, and at Landino: themes are then discussed, for example, nature, relief, perspective, foreshortening etc. The book ends with a succinct, and well-written Conclusions section: an extensive Bibliography, incorporating copies of many original documents, allows the reader to continue to follow Baxandall on his exploration of these ideas.

How important is the book for art history? Baxandall's book gives us a new, more involved and complete, way of looking at art. The manner in which Baxandall presents his argument is logical, forceful, and ultimately persuasive. His new method of viewing art lends more depth to the study of art history, and to art appreciation in general. His argument is presented in clear, and stark terms, which leaves the argument difficult to avoid or to refute.