Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Parmigianino's Antea
Any visit to the Frick Collection will impress even the most experienced museumgoer. This is because the building housing the Frick Collection is so impressive. It is the former mansion of steel magnate Henry Frick. Beyond the obvious grandeur of the building, however, one finds a sweeping collection of old master paintings. One of my favorite paintings in the permanent collection is Holbein's portrait of Thomas More. Holbein does an amazing job of capturing More's elegant red velvet and fur coat. This is one of those rare experiences in art where the coat actually looks real, rather than painted. In terms of Italian Renaissance art, I was very impressed by Bellini's St. Francis in Ecstasy. It is a sublime painting that perfectly captures the union between the spiritual and the natural.
Currently, the Frick Collection is featuring an exhibition of Parmigianino's painting Antea. This painting is in many ways a mystery of Renaissance art. No one knows for sure whether the woman that the painting portrays was real or imaginary.
Beyond the intrigue posed by the painting, the work itself is indicative of Parmigianino's mastery of the paintbrush. Parmigianino has a painting style that is grand, sweeping, yet also quite graceful. You can tell he was influenced by painters like Raphael, but in a painting like Antea, he manages to restrain himself - he never goes overboard in the presentation of the woman. He manages to render her as a subtle beauty. Her pale skin seems to shimmer in the light, while her elegant golden dress establishes her as a person of nobility and importance. While at first glance it seems to be a posed portrait, it is actually a lot more clever. The woman in the painting has just removed one glove and is apparently in the process of removing another when she is interrupted. In this sense, the painting works almost like a well composed modern photograph.
Italian Renaissance Renaissance ("Rebirth") refers to the period after the Middle Ages when a series of dynamic intellectual, cultural and artistic movements from the 14th to 16th century catapulted Europe towards rapid development leading to the Age of Enlightenment, the industrial revolution and the modern time. During this rich period of exciting developments in arts, sciences and politics, Italy was the major catalyst and became the cultural leader of Europe. It
People were traveling to lands like Jerusalem or Egypt, the Greek Islands and to cities like Barcelona, Lisbon or Bruges. Merchandise and aliens were bringing along traditions and civilizations different from their own. Another factor that influenced a cultural unity in Italy during the Renaissance was according to Welch the claim of being the inheritor of Rome every major Italian city had. The culture of the antiquity, Latin or Greek
Italian Renaissance brought humanity into a golden age of artistic expression and the rejuvenation of humanism as a philosophy and a way of looking at the world. (Italian Renaissance, 1) The re-discovery of many ancient Greek and Roman texts allowed architects, artists, historians, and scientists to build upon the greatest achievements of man from the ancient world. After centuries of feudalism and a strong Catholic Church, wealthy elites began to
However, there was also an embrace of past, existing forms of Mediterranean literary ideals, such as the Italian sonnet form that became the Elizabethan sonnet form. The latter modified the original Italian sonnet's rhythmical constraints for the English language. The focus upon Italy was not simply intellectual but was also aesthetic. The ideal of the beauty of Italy, and the passionate atmosphere of the land is evidenced in such plays
I had a lot to learn from Giorgione. Having been taught in the fresco technique by Ghirlandaio, I was not acquainted much with oil painting and did not truly know the mastery of this type of painting. How to mix the oil and the paints so that one was in enough quantity? More so, how to use enough oil so as to obtain the right amount of darkness or pale
The two seem to be squaring off in generosity, each inviting the other to go before him to make obeisance. The postures and figures in the crowd range of arrogance to humility. A figure on the left appears to be frowning haughtily at the scene before him as though he could not possibly give up his dignity to bow before such a poor family. The fact that the setting is