We opened class today by concluding our discussion about Mannerism by analyzing two works by Agnolo Bronzino: Allegory with Venus and Cupid and Portrait of Eleonora da Toleda and Her Son Giovanni de Medici.
The Portrait of Eleonora particularly stood out to me. Her stoic expression and upwards location on the canvas felt as though she was looking down at the viewer. This oil painting was definitely one of the more impersonal portraits that I have seen in this class, functioning solely as a display of wealth and status, as well as the presentation of a male heir.
We then transitioned to talking about the High Renaissance in Northern Europe through the analyses of various works by Albrecht Durer: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Self-Portrait, Watercolors, Four Books on Human Proportions, and Adam and Eve.
I found interesting the amount of progress seen in just a couple of decades with woodcuts. We compared The Four Horsemen to Buxheim St. Christopher and the difference was immense. Whereas St. Christopher’s purpose was clearly solely as a devotional image, Durer’s woodcut felt more like a work of art and expression.
Durer’s Self Portrait, in my opinion, is quite narcissistic, although Prof. Plesch did make a fascinating point about comparing an artist to a creator and the ideal of christlike features in Christianity.
We compared Durer’s Great Piece of Turf watercolor to Leonardo da Vinci’s Star of Bethlehem, and recognized that da Vinci was more of a detail oriented artist, studying the way that systems work as a whole, whereas Durer was moreso big-picture. However, we continued to compare Durer’s study of Vitruvian anatomy with da Vinci’s — in my opinion, the artists are not so different, especially compared to other Northern European artists of the time, which seem to retain a more traditional Germanic style.
I particularly appreciated the representation of the humors via the animals in Adam and Eve… the engraving is full to the brim of scenes of tension and drama. Durer perfectly encapsulated a moment in which the temperments are completely balanced, and yet about to break as the original sin is committed.
We continued by analyzing Matthias Grunewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece, which is a good example of a northern European High Renaissance artist maintaining a more traditional, medieval style. The crucifixion panel was absolutely brutal and expressionistic — I felt uncomfortable…in a good way.
We concluded class by looking at Hans Holbein the Younger’s Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve (The Ambassadors), which might be my favorite piece we’ve covered this year. The anamorphosis blows my mind each time, and the message of looming death despite human achievement (religious and secular) is absolutely haunting.