How Art Made the World More Human Than Human

Early representations of the human being body were for sacred or religious purposes.

The lack of perspective makes Egyptian figures seem contorted to the modern eye. Withal, the artists' system of proportions was remarkably accurate!

Both common people and mythological figures are depicted in Hellenistic sculpture.

The idealization of the human figure in Classical Greek art was tremendously influential to later on artists, most notably artists in the Renaissance.

The Greeks idealized the proportions of the trunk and showed it in able-bodied poses and heroic acts.

Classical and Hellenistic sculptures were very dynamic, often showing the figure in dramatic or agile poses.

Many of the sculptures from the Parthenon are on view in the British Museum.

The Romans extended the Greek tradition of idealizing the figure, but their portraits were often more than individual and revealing.

To support the Roman empire, the Romans arcadian warlike attributes in many of their sculptures.

Narrative relief sculpture was the newspaper front folio of Roman times, the place where events were recorded and communicated to the populace.

African and Japanese artists of the Renaissance era often represented the human form with exaggerated features, only for very different reasons.

The woodblock art of the Uyiko-e period provided an amusing education manual on sexuality. This representation of the body occurred centuries before Western artists explored this theme.

	Aboriginal Arab republic of egypt

In the terminal lecture, we learned nigh the architecture of aboriginal Arab republic of egypt. In this lecture, we will begin by examining the Egyptians' treatment and representation of the human body.

To grasp their approach to representing the human being figure, we must start learn near the Egyptians' attitude towards life and decease. In a give-and-take, we need to talk about:

Mummification

Accept you ever wondered why the Egyptians embalmed and mummified corpses? The Egyptians believed that a person's torso must be preserved after death, if his soul was to live on in the afterlife. And then they embalmed their dead kings, wrapping them in layers of cloth, and placing the mummy in a series of coffins inside other coffins. (The procedure was like a Russian matrioska doll, in which the smaller wooden doll goes inside a bigger 1, and so on.)

The tomb of the pharoah Tutankhamen (1327 BC) is the site of the near famous mummification in history. Tutankhamen's tomb consisted of three coffins, ii outer ones made of wood, and an interior 1 made of solid gilt. The exterior bury conformed to the shapes of the king's body, showing Tutankhamen in a rigid frontal pose, with his arms crossed beyond his breast.

This frontal pose is 1 of 2 mutual human being poses in Egyptian imagery. In a variation, sometimes the arms are shown extended down by the sides, with the hands closed in tight fists.

Tutankhamen's mask. The aureate layer of the mask indicates that the king is of a higher social status than his subjects. Tutankhamen wears a stern withal benevolent expression that is plumbing equipment for a king.

The second pose used frequently by Egyptian artists was a profile pose in which each part of the body was shown from its most characteristic angle. In this blazon of pose, the head is more often than not shown in profile, just with a unmarried heart pointing forrard. Similarly, while the torso might be in profile, the shoulders and breast would be seen from the front, so that nosotros can see how the arms are hinged to the trunk. Arms and legs are shown sideways, and both anxiety are seen from the within, to conspicuously outline the foot from the big toe upwards.

The characteristic profile pose tin can exist seen in this reproduction of Egyptian wall paintings.

This approach to depicting the effigy in profile can exist seen on the wooden carving Portrait Console of Hesy-ra, from Saqquara (c. 2660 BC).

Near Egyptian carvings, paintings, and sculptures depict Pharaohs or loftier-ranking officials and their wives. Most of the human being representations are statues recovered from funerary temples or tombs. One of the finest is that of Chefren (c. 2500 BC), from Giza. Information technology is carved out of diorite—a very difficult rock—and it shows the King seated at his throne.

Proportion

Viewed with modern optics, the Egyptians' pictures of the figure in profile seem very flat and contorted. The artists had not yet developed an arroyo to portraying the human figure in perspective from a single point of view.

However, information technology should exist noted that the Egyptians did follow a very strict canon of proportion for drawing, painting, or sculpting the human being body.

The surface on which a figure was portrayed was divided into a filigree of squares, each equivalent to the width of the figure's fist. The Egyptians would and then use the length of the fist to continue everything in proportion.

On average, the Egyptian artists calculated that the distance from the hairline to the ground was xviii fists. The distance from the base of the olfactory organ to the shoulder was found to exist one fist, while from the fingers of a clenched fist to the elbow it was 4 and half fists. The length of a foot (from heel to toe) was estimated to be three and a half fists.

Egyptian carving demonstrating proportion. Take your time to prove the Egyptian catechism in this prototype. With a ruler and pencil, you can count 18 fists in the body length of the biggest figure.

Following a system of exact proportions made possible it for Egyptian artists to maintain continuity in style for over 2,000 years.

After the civilization of ancient Egypt waned, Aboriginal Greece emerged to go the birthplace of western culture, most 2,500 years ago. The great achievements of the Greeks notwithstanding influence our lives, not simply in the arts, but too science, philosophy, and politics.

Few Greek paintings accept survived. Our knowledge of Greek painting comes mainly from painted pottery, though some mosaics and frescoes remain. We can sympathize how the Greeks depicted the human torso by examining dissimilar historical periods and pottery techniques.

Historic Styles of Pottery

The first style of pottery to emerge in ancient Greece was the geometric fashion (1000-700 BC). The ancient Greeks would decorate a vase called an amphora and use it as a grave marker. Around the side of each amphora, artists would inscribe scenes depicting mourning rituals. In the geometric style, the man torso was represented by a flat blackness triangle for the torso, a round head, and slightly-formed sticks for the arms and legs.

Detail from an urn showing the geometrical style.

This style evolved into the orientalizing mode (700-600 BC). Under the influence of Egyptian canons, the figure became larger and more than curvilinear than those in the geometric manner. The profile view of the figure was the same as the contorted Egyptian ane. Mythological scenes start to appear at this fourth dimension.

The archaic mode emerged around 600-480 BC. While the fashion of drawing the human being figure remained consistent, the techniques and materials used began to change. The painting technique used during this period is called black figure. The artists painted figures in black silhouettes with a paste made of clay and h2o. Details were incised with a sharp tool, exposing the orange clay beneath. Later on the vase was broiled, the painted parts remained blackness and the surface of the vase turned reddish-orange.

Exekias (c. 550 BC) is the best-known blackness effigy artist. Figures during this flow are yet depicted sideways, with the Egyptian frontal middle, simply their postures are rendered in a more three-dimensional style.

Achilles and Ajax - Exekias. Movement and a lively quality is obtained by the pose of two figures engaged in some sort of lath game.

Midway through the archaic menstruum, the classical style (530-400 BC) emerged. This style involved a red effigy technique that was basically the reverse of the black effigy technique. Figures were left in red confronting a black painted background, and details were painted in blackness. This arroyo permitted the representation of more natural forms and the orange clay was close to the actual peel color of the Greeks.

Detail of a classical Greek vessel. The figures are less stiff than in the black figure technique, although the scene is all the same apartment and lacking in perspective.

As the Classical period drew to a close, the well-known Hellenistic style (450-1 BC) took the stage and white-ground vases were introduced. In this style, a wash of white clay formed the background. Figures were then added in black, and boosted colors were sometimes added after the baking process was consummate.

Illusionism was in vogue, so figures were depicted equally naturalistically as possible, from any view and in any pose. Zeuxis was a Hellenistic painter who perfected trompe fifty'oeil (fooling the center). He was reputed to accept painted grapes that were then perfect they fooled a bird who tried to pick them.

Classical Sculpture

Greek sculptors portrayed figures of gods, goddesses, and human beings. Sculptures were produced in every era of Greek civilization, simply in this grade, we volition focus on the classical and Hellenistic periods of sculpture, when the great masterpieces were produced.

Classical artists (450-323 BC) idealized the human being form. Sculpted figures in this period are commonly young, with no trace of physical defect. They are well proportioned and symmetrical in grade, but they lack personality and expression. Almost of the figures were inspired by athletes, who enjoyed a high rank in the social strata.

One of the most impressive works of this menstruum is the Discobolus (Discus Thrower, c. 450 BC) by Myron. The original does not exist, only a Roman marble re-create exists. Discobolus consists of a freestanding statue of an athlete ready to throw the discus. The twisted body of the athlete in perfect remainder conveys the essence of the action.

Discobolus (460 - 450 BC) - Myron. This sculpture reflects the fascination of the Greeks with the man figure and their total understatement in representing balance and perfection in human anatomy and athletic action.

Another bully figure sculptor of this catamenia is Phidias. He directed the sculpture carvings of the Parthenon (448-432 BC), which has some of the finest sculptures and friezes of all time. Each effigy portrayed is infused with life and movement, from the mortals to the divinities with their rippling draperies, to the horses that gallop across the frieze.

Praxiteles is some other late classical sculptor well known for mastering feminine grace and for the sensuous evocation of the flesh through his art. His most acclaimed statues are Demeter (340-330 BC), Cnidian Aphrodite (350 BC), and Hermes and Infant Dyionisius (340 BC). Lyssipos of Sikyon sculpted mainly youths. He favored thinner bodies and smaller heads. In his Apoxymenos (320 BC) he increased the movement of freestanding sculpture, making the whole appearance of his work lighter and livelier. He is a key creative person in the transition from late classical to Hellenistic style.

Hellenistic Sculpture

The Hellenistic menstruum (323-31 BC) started with the decease of Alexander the Nifty and lasted until the Romans took control of Hellenic republic. The sculpture in this menstruum leaned toward a more than expressive and dramatic style. Figures in the sculpture began to showroom extremes of emotions: pain and pleasure, anguish and sweetness, withered old age and the bloom of youth, victorious athletes and those who have been crushed, and nearly of all, majestic battles.

This dramatic consequence tin can be seen in The Altar from Zeus in Pergamon (164-156 BC). The group of figures in the sculpture represents a battle between the Titans and the Gods. The scene rages with terrible violence, frenzy, and pathos. It is very unlike from the harmony and refinement of early Greek sculpture.

Another Hellenistic masterpiece is the Nike or Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC). It depicts a winged goddess descending from the skies. The curtain of the figure's dress evokes the pressure of the wind as she comes down from the heavens. Her stretched out wings indicate that she hasn't notwithstanding settled to globe.

Winged Victory of Samothrace (Discovered 1863) . Though the body is not twisted as in the Discobolus sculpture, at that place is a sense of movement and activity provided past the wonderful carving of the figure'due south robes.

Probably the greatest example of Hellenistic sculpture is the larger than life sized marble Laocoon and His 2 Sons (175-150 BC). What remains today is a Roman adaptation. It depicts an incident from the terminate of the Trojan State of war in which Laocoon and his sons are devoured by a pair of giant serpents. The sculptors were Athanodorus, Hagesandros, and Polydorus of Rhodes.

Roman sculptors and painters (509 BC - 337 AD) borrowed from the Greek artists in their idealization of human form. Even so, Roman artists went further in creating realistic sculptural portraits that revealed the individual personalities of their subjects.

The almost pop discipline thing for Roman artists was the important events of the day, and the about important medium was sculpture depicting figures in a narrative relief. Painting was used for decorative purposes; large wall paintings showing garden landscapes, even so-life images, mythology, and everyday life scenes adorned the houses of wealthy Romans.

In this section, we will concentrate on the study of sculptural portraits and narrative relief, areas of Roman art that employed the human trunk as their primary subject thing.

Portraiture

Ane of the most characteristic types of Roman portrait was the homo head detached from the body, or bosom. Busts were normally carved in marble, ofttimes from a wax mask, so that fifty-fifty the effectively physiognomic details were preserved.

Bust of a Roman youth from twoscore Advertisement.

Why was the bust so popular? Portraits of upper-class Romans were pop throughout the whole Roman empire. This reflects a patriarchal Roman custom that dates from artifact. At the death of the head of the family, a waxen mold of his face up was preserved in a special family altar. In the 1st century BC, Roman families began to demand to have facial portraits duplicated in marble.

The "father prototype" spirit can be found in the life-size marble Portrait of a Roman (80 BC). The effigy shows an elderly man. His facial wrinkles are true to life, and the carver has treated them with a selective emphasis in order to bring out their distinctive personality: stern, rugged, and devoted to duty. It is a father image of frightening authority.

Portraits of women became popular around the 1st century Ad, when women began to savour increasing emancipation, retain their own legal identity, have contained wealth, and participate in politics and the arts. The Portrait of a Flavian Lady (90 AD) shows a immature woman with a fashionably curled crew that frames the softly carved confront. Her head is gracefully tilted and the glance of her wide eyes is gentle.

While everyday people were often captured in portrait, the nearly important field of study of Roman portraiture was the emperor himself. In that location were 2 major ways of depicting the emperor: freestanding sculptures, and the equestrian monument, a blazon of imperial portrait invented by the Romans.

1 of the finest freestanding sculptures of an emperor is Augustus of Prima Porta (1st century Advertizing). It is slightly larger than life-sized (6 human foot, 8 inches alpine) and it shows Augustus addressing his troops as a general. Though Augustus was 76 years old when he died, the statue represents a cocky-confident, dominating, and youthful figure. We tin can perceive the Greek influence of idealizing the human effigy in this marble statue.

The well-nigh impressive equestrian monument is a bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius (164-166 AD). In this statue, the emperor is unarmed and his right arm is extended in the conventional gesture of an orator. Both domination and conquest are implied past equestrian iconography. The equus caballus and rider are depicted in a highly illusionistic fashion, with veins, peel folds, and muscles all visible.

Statue of Marcus Aurelius. Simply emperors were depicted in this majestic manner. I imagine Aurelius entering Rome from a successful campaign, greeted by his auspicious citizens.

Later on in the 4th century, the emperor Constantine (the first Christian emperor) was depicted in a colossal marble statue (313 Advertising). The monumental caput alone is 8 foot, vi inches alpine! Everything is so out of proportion to the scale of ordinary men that we experience crushed by its immensity (probably an intended reaction). This piece is called superhuman non simply because of its size, only as well because it is an image of absolute imperial majesty. In the end, the colossal marble tells us more than almost Constantine'due south view of himself than about his actual concrete advent.

Narrative Relief

The focus on government and the military power is too nowadays in the Romans' use of narrative relief, merely the presentation is quite different.

In Roman order, the reliefs on commemorative architecture such every bit arches, columns, or altars, functioned somewhat like war reports in a newspaper today. In the exceptional Trajan's Cavalcade in Rome (114 Advertisement), a detailed chronicle of an emperor's campaigns is carved in a unique manner that is almost movie-like. The documentary narrative of the battles is carved into stone, starting from the bottom of the cavalcade and winding effectually the cavalcade all the way to its elevation, 128 feet high.

Trajan'south Column - Apollodorus of Damascus. The spiral composition reminds us of a motion picture roll. The impressive level of item shows us how important celebrated monuments of this kind were to keeping the people of Rome informed.

The cavalcade depicts no fewer than 2500 figures in an exquisite depression relief, capturing moment-by-moment the fighting and conquering. Information technology is a truthful cinematographic feel. In contrast to the solemnity and stillness of Roman portraiture, narrative reliefs depict the human trunk in full action and vitality.

Other important works of commemorative architecture of the flow includes the Ara Pacis or Altar of Peace in Rome (thirteen-ix BC) and the Arch of Titus as well in Rome (81 Ad).

For more on the human being figure, allow'due south discuss the following piece of work, which yous may already be somewhat familiar with.

We plough our attention now to Africa, where important human figure artwork emerged around the aforementioned time as that of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Sculpture is the best-known African art form. The primary materials used by African artists are woods, iron, clay, bronze, ivory, and textiles. The human trunk is the main subject matter, and many African sculptures share the same characteristics: heads that are enlarged, big stomachs, arms held to the side, eyes in the frontal position, weight equally distributed on both anxiety, and protruding navels. The head is often exaggerated considering it is considered the center of character and emotion.

African artists through the ages combined naturalistic and geometric shapes to produce a recognizable human torso. They also distorted human features and limbs in gild to achieve dramatic furnishings. African sculptures are religiously empowered—they are rarely displayed in public and are stored in shrines, cached, or placed in containers. African art was intended to not simply delight the center, just also to uphold moral values.

The longest surviving African sculptures are figures in terracotta, dating back to the 5th century BC (contemporary to ancient Hellenic republic's classical period). They are Nok sculptures (named for their tribe) from northwest Nigeria. Terra cotta figures have besides been found in Ife (Nigeria) and Mali, dating from the twelfth to the 15th century AD.

A terra cotta Nok sculpture. The emphasis of the caput creates a disproportion in the figure. Withal, the statue enjoys a grace typical of African sculpture.

Most wooden carvings have been lost throughout the years, because of the perishable attributes of forest and the fatal work of termites. Even so, some tribes mastered the bronze and metal casting technique. During the 15th century in Benin, powerful statuary and copper heads and life-sized masks were produced. They are surprisingly realistic.

Much later and halfway effectually the world, a very different style and technique of representing the human effigy began to develop. During the Edo period in Nippon (1600-1868), Uyiko-eastward fine art flourished. Uyiko-e is the fine art of "the floating world of pleasures." The nigh commonly used technique was woodblock printing that depicted the daily life of the mutual human. Amongst these everyday images, artists inspired by the pleasure and theater quarters of Edo (at present Tokyo) produced romantically intimate and sexually explicit images called Shunga (spring pictures) or Makure-east (pillow pictures).

These pleasance-seeking woodblocks were used to inspire and instruct in the art of love. Many forms of human sexuality were portrayed, though Shunga woodblocks do not portray actors or prostitutes. Instead, they evidence married couples of all ages, shy and inexperienced youngsters, adulterous wives and husbands, liaisons across course boundaries, and aforementioned-sex lovers.

Every bit dresses were almost identical for women as for men, the sexual differences in Shunga prints are explicitly stressed in oversized and minutely depicted genitals. Other parts of the body (with the exception of face and legs) were ordinarily concealed under superb folds of fabric. Many Shunga take comical texts and dialogues accompanying the graphics, which makes the genre substantially humorous.

The Adonis Plant (1815) - Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusai emphasizes the genitalia past showing them in farthermost item, while depicting other parts of the body in a less elaborate fashion.

Shunga erotic pictures and book illustrations were enjoyed past all ranks of society, and the woodblock printing technique made it possible to mass-produce them at low cost. I call back the popularity of pornography, the graphic novel, and manga anime in modern Japan is, to some extent, the result of the popularity of Shunga books.

Many Shunga woodblocks were unsigned by the artists, merely among its famous artists nosotros can count Hishikawa Moronobu (died c. 1695), Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770), and Kitagawa Utamaro (1754-1806). They all produced color and monochrome woodblock prints, but sometimes they would hand-color their pictures.

Da Vinci studied nigh every discipline—anatomy, astronomy, botany, geology, geometry, you name it! He was the original "Renaissance homo."

Dutch and Flemish painters of the Renaissance used oil painting to portray nature in meticulous, naturalistic detail.

Van Eyck's phrase "As practiced equally I tin" is an inspiring motto for whatsoever artist.

In the Renaissance, the effigy of the artist himself became a more than popular subject, through cocky portrait and also by inclusion in paintings of other people.

Bosch was among the first artists to show the human body disfigured and disarticulated, literally in pieces.

Mannerist artists showed the body in elongated, exaggerated, elegant, circuitous, and twisted poses.

"El Greco" means "the Greek," the pop name for Dominikos Theotokópulos. His work inspired 20th century artists such every bit Picasso.

Dramatic poses and compositions are characteristic of Baroque sculpture.

Study Carvaggio if you lot need a lesson in contrast.

Realistic scenes featuring ordinary people were also characteristic of Baroque painting.

The fleshy figures in Ruben'south paintings evidence how irresolute standards of dazzler are reflected in art.

Rembrandt was the king of the self-portrait; he painted hundreds of them.

Mod sculptors often reacted against Classical ideals of the figure by using imperfect models in imperfect poses.

Abstract sculptors of the 20th century attempted to reduce the body to its essentials parts—or to convey the essence of motion.

In the 20th century, the self portrait—portraying the artist and his or her experience—again became a master focus of art.

In the terminal lecture, we looked at the representation of nature in the High Renaissance (1490-1527). While nature was important in the Renaissance, the flow is very much dominated by art representing the human effigy. Masters such every bit Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, each forged individual styles while taking the classical Roman treatment of the body and the canons of proportion into account.

Perspective theory was to become the well-nigh of import new technique of the era. The study of the homo figure was so precise that artists could draw a portrait of a person from any bending. For instance, Michelangelo'due south painting at the Sistine Chapel must be appreciated from below—a very hard bending for a painter. Yet all the human figures seem impressively alive because they accept naturalistic proportions and the laws of perspective are perfectly practical.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) was one of the most versatile geniuses in history. A main painter, Da Vinci likewise studied beefcake, astronomy, botany, geology, geometry, and eyes. He designed the airplane, the parachute, and the catapult. He dissected human bodies and pioneered the study of embryology. He was an skillful in human proportions. One of his virtually widely recognized drawings is the Vitruvian Human being (1492). In this drawing, he demonstrates the statement past a Roman builder Vitruvius that a human being should fit perfectly in a circle and a square.

Vitruvian Man (1492) - Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo's gesture of plumbing fixtures a human trunk into geometric shapes reflects his desire for a scientific caption for every natural phenomenon.

One of Da Vinci's main contributions to painting was to develop a technique chosen sfumatto. In Italian, this literally means "vanished in smoke."

Sfumatto can be seen in certain lighting conditions whereby delicate graduations of light and shade grade a blurred outline. Da Vinci achieved it in oil painting through the use of glazes, producing a misty, dream-like effect. We can see this technique in Da Vinci's nearly famous painting, the Mona Lisa (1503-1505). The film shows a adult female staring directly at the observer, with a mysterious expression: half smile, half daydreaming. Leonardo created parallels between the human figure and the landscape, inviting comparisons of flesh to soil, os to rocks, and blood to waterways.

Virgin of the Rocks (1506-1508) - Leonardo Da Vinci. Y'all tin meet the sfumatto technique in the face up and body contours of the characters. This technique gave a soft quality to the skin texture.

Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpieces include Virgin of the Rocks (1483), The Last Supper (1495-1498), Madonna and Child with St. Anne (1503-1506), and Woman with an Ermine (1483-1490).

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Like Da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was an anatomy expert. He was a painter, a sculptor, an builder, and a poet. His first monumental sculpture is the marble Pietà (1498-1500), which depicts a young Mary mourning the dead Christ. This sculpture has a unique rhythm guided past Christ's position and Mary's drapery work. Michelangelo had the capacity to lead the eye of the observer throughout the whole marble statue, and then that viewers practise not miss a unmarried detail.

Pietà (1498- 1499) - Michelangelo. Michelangelo guides our middle through the statue, starting at the virgin's face, jumping to Christ's disturbing facial gesture, following his weakened body all the mode to his feet, and catastrophe on the folds of the virgin's elaborate vesture.

In 1501, Michelangelo was commissioned by the metropolis of Florence to carve a marble of David. The result is the masterpiece David (1501-1504), an impressive etching of heroic calibration, depicting a young David in an alert pose, set up for battle. His hands are large in proportion to the balance of his body, and his neck and torso muscles and veins are strained, giving him an advent of power and grandeur.

The statue of David consolidated Michelangelo'southward fame, and he was summoned by the Pope to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. This was to be his almost impressive work. It took Michelangelo four years to finish the frescoes (1508-1512). Information technology is said that during this time Michelangelo shut himself up in the chapel and worked lying and standing on scaffolding he designed. He even used live male person models to plan the female characters. This gigantic work (45' x 138') represents images from the Sometime Testament, including the famous creation of Adam. It is said that Leonardo and Michelangelo competed with each other to exist considered the leading artist in Florence.

Raphael

Born Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520), Raphael was a painter and an architect. He is well known for painting altarpieces, frescoes of historical and mythological scenes, and portraits. His most popular works are his gentle paintings of Virgin and Child, such every bit Madonna of the Meadow (1505) and Madonna of the Goldfinch (1506). As an builder, he directed the structure of the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. His portrait of Pope Julius II (1511-1512) captures the pope's personality, making it a psychological portrait, rather than an icon of power.

Portrait of Julius II - Raphael. Raphael depicts the Pope in a meditative mental attitude with a deep sadness in his eyes. The passing of time is implied not just by his white beard, only also past the slight inclination of his head.

Raphael mastered Leonardo's sfumatto technique, and he knew how to achieve a sense of depth without upsetting the residual of a pattern. This can exist seen in School of Athens (1509-1511), a fresco painted for the Pope'southward apartments at the Vatican. In information technology, he depicted not only Classical Greek philosophers, simply also portrayed artistic personalities of the time such every bit Michelangelo and Leonardo. He fifty-fifty included a self-portrait in the composition. In his concluding works, such as The Nymph Galatea (1512-1514), Raphael shifted towards a style of greater emotion and movement that would influence the next generation of Italian artists.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, artists in countries like Germany, the Netherlands, and Flemish region (part of modern day Belgium), shared the Italian preference for representation of iii-dimensional space and lifelike figures. However, they were less afflicted by the classical revival. Artists in northern Europe continued to work primarily in a Gothic tradition of effigy painting, which they integrated with elements of Renaissance fashion.

Meanwhile in Italy, panel paintings were mainly executed in tempera until the 16th century, Dutch and Flemish painters preferred oil paint because it satisfied their interest in meticulous, naturalistic particular. This approach characterizes much of the 15th and 16th century northern European painting.

Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was the well-nigh famous painter and printmaker in the history of German art. A scholar and an writer, he published books on geometry and perspective and the measurements of the man body. Between the ages of xiii and forty, Dürer painted and drew a remarkable series of revealing self-portraits. The most famous 1 is Self-Portrait (1500), where he appears solemnly staring directly into the viewer's centre. The portrait has a Christ-similar idealization of the features that asserts his sense of dominance.

In his engraving Adam and Eve (1504), Dürer uses a biblical subject field as an excuse for displaying two platonic nudes. Skin, muscles, and hair are wonderfully represented, though the ballocks are strategically covered by twigs from nearby trees.

In 1514, Dürer made a portrait of his female parent. The drawing, a black chalk on paper, is a truthful study of a worn old woman. The detail of the wrinkles and saggy skin may shock usa at first, but the cartoon has a tremendous sincerity. The beauty of the cartoon does not lie in the beauty of its subject, simply in the truthful rendering of human aging.

In his engravings and watercolors, Dürer also studied nature: animals and landscapes. He devoted much labor to his works. Though nosotros are studying the homo body in this lecture, I want to point out Dürer's watercolor A Young Hare (1502). Every tiny pilus and whisker is carefully recorded. It is an splendid example of his loving patience towards all of his subjects.

A Young Hare (1502) - Albrecht Dürer. Dürer imparts tri-dimensionality to this simple image by slightly shading the floor beside the hare. Note the attending put into every brush stroke.

January Van Eyck

Jan van Eyck (1380?-1441) also achieved stunning realistic effects through his mastery of the oil painting technique. Some scholars even say he invented this technique. He was certainly one of the showtime artists to adopt oil as his primary medium.

Amongst his masterpieces we can count the Ghent Altarpiece (completed in 1432) and The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment (1430-1425). It is believed he collaborated with Hubert van Eyck, probably his blood brother, in the realization of these art pieces.

Many of van Eyck's paintings include a disguised symbolism. The realistic objects in the pictures ofttimes have a deeper meaning. In his oil The Arnolfini Portrait (1434), a young merchant and his bride are exchanging wedding vows. The ceremony is taking identify in the couple's room; a single candle burns in the chandelier as a symbol of unity. Their shoes are off to remind them of the holy footing equally they exchange vows. The little dog represents allegiance in union. In a minor mirror on the dorsum wall, two persons are reflected: the witnesses, one of them the artist himself. Over the mirror the phrase "Johannes de eyck fuit hic" (Jan van Eyck was here) tin can confirm this.

The Arnolfini Portrait (1434) - January van Eyck. Van Eyck had the capacity to create many dissimilar textures in his oil painting. The skin quality is totally different from the velvet of the dresses and the hairy fur of the canis familiaris.

My favorite painting of all fourth dimension is a van Eyck painting chosen Man in a Red Turban (1433) and scholars say it may be a cocky-portrait. I am convinced this small (10' x 7') but powerful painting is van Eyck's cocky-portrait. He has a stern but piercing gaze, and his lips are tightly sealed equally if something is worrying him. The ruby-red turban on his head is masterfully executed. But what actually fascinates me about this picture is the golden frame painted around it, creating an illusion of a real wooden frame, with the words engraved (really painted) on it. It reads "Als Ich Kan" which tin be loosely translated every bit "As proficient as I can."

When I lived in London, every fourth dimension I had an artistic block or serious doubts almost my do, I would go to the National Gallery to look at this painting. You lot can run into information technology here. I would await at Mr. van Eyck's worried expression, and I would remind myself that even the masters suffer from insecurities or doubts regarding the work. I also told myself that as long as "I did it as best equally I could" everything would be okay.

Rogier Van Der Weyden

Rogier van der Weyden (1399/1400-1463), known equally Rogier, was strongly influenced by van Eyck, although his man figures are longer and larger in relation to their spatial setting. The painter's Descent from the Cross (1435) is a set up of wooden panels depicting a biblical scene. The crowd effectually Jesus and the fainting Mary fills up the space, leaving no room for any kind of background.

In Saint Luke Depicting the Virgin (1435), Rogier captures the psychological aspect of the mother-child relationship. Mary looks down at Christ while she breast feeds him, while he gazes upwardly at her. His physical pleasure in breastfeeding is revealed past his upturned toes and extended fingers.

Hans Holbein

Slightly after Rogier's fourth dimension came Hans Holbein, also known as Hans Holbein the younger (1497?-1543). Holbein ranks among the globe's greatest portrait painters. He portrayed many personalities of his time, notably the Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus (1523).

Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus (1532) - Hans Holbein. Erasmus is portrayed by Holbein equally a noble character, with his scholarship represented by his books. Note the conscientious work on the details in the face up details and hands.

In 1532, he became courtroom painter to King Henry VIII of England, and in 1540 he illustrated Henry Viii, reinforcing the King'due south strong personality through his motion picture. Fusing style with content, Holbein captures Henry'due south wealth, power, cocky-confidence, determination, and political acumen in this picture.

Hiëronymous Bosch and Pieter Brueghel

Bosch (1450-1516) is one of the nigh puzzling artists, taking a far plough from the artists we just discussed. He has been called the "creator of devils" due to the outlandish alien creatures that populate his work. Bosch is the outset artist who disarticulated and disfigured the human torso. Though nigh of his subject field matter is religious, he combines it with alchemist symbols, popular literature, Dutch proverbs and puns, astrology, and witchcraft.

Bosch's favored format was the triptych (a three-paneled painting), which he populated with malformed people, fantastic demons, distorted animals, large and oddly-shaped pieces of food and, sometimes, unidentifiable objects. Bosch's largest and almost complex work is the triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights (1504). The left panel depicts the Garden of Eden, God presenting it to Adam and Eve. The central panel shows the world before the Flood. In this panel, humans are committing all kinds of folly and stupid acts, also engaging in sexual pursuits. Decadence is imminent. The correct panel is hell. Humans are tortured in all possible ways by a legion of fauna-similar demons. An arrow pierces two ears with no head. Anarchy reigns.

Hell (part of The Garden of Earthly Delights ) (1504) - Hiëronymous Bosch. The complexity of the composition makes Bosch a great story teller. He guides our eye from the frontal and lower plane upwards to the upper, darkest part of the picture.

Pieter Brueghel (1525-1569), or Brueghel the Elder, was a follower of Bosch. In his paintings instead of idealized humans, you tin can see normal people: drunks, farmers, blind-men and gossiping women. His works include Hunters in the Snowfall (1565), The Peasants' Wedding (1565), and Blind Leading the Blind (1569).

The Harvesters (c. 1560) - Pieter Brueghel. Normal people abound in this Brueghel painting; so normal, they are depicted eating and sleeping as well every bit working.

If classical Renaissance symmetry created a natural, stable feeling for the viewer, Mannerist art (1520-1600) did quite the opposite. The primary field of study in Mannerism is the human trunk, which is often elongated, exaggerated, elegant, and arranged in complex and twisted poses. A sense of instability in figures and objects is created. Spaces tend to exist crowded and compressed, classical proportions are rejected, and odd juxtapositions of size, infinite, and color oft occur.

Famous Italian mannerist painters include Jacopo da Pontorno (1494-1557), who started experimenting with contorted poses and contrasting colors; Parmigiano (1503-1540), who stated that in that location is no single correct reality and that baloney is every bit natural equally the appearance of things; Angolo Bronzino (1503-1572), whose paintings were very sexually charged; Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594), who had both anti-classical but elegant effects in his piece of work; and Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625), the start renowned female artist since the heyday of Ancient Hellenic republic.

Self-Portrait (1554) - Sofonisba Anguissola. Sofonisba depicts herself in a girlish manner, past enhancing the size of her head relative to her trunk, and enlarging her blue eyes, which stare at us with a kind of innocent glare.

Mannerism likewise was establish in sculpture. Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) created elaborate and richly-ornamented utilitarian objects, such as the golden Saltcellar of Francis I (1543), also as oversized bronzes, such as the statue of Perseus (1545-1555). Gianbologna (1529-1608) is known for his painting Mercury, a modest bronze depicting the god stretched upwards as if he is flight.

The most famous Mannerist artist is El Greco (1541-1614). He was built-in in Crete only did most of his piece of work in Kingdom of spain. His paintings are washed with a mystical fervor and exalted emotion. His singular way consists of over-elongated figures, acid colors, and swirls of unreal atmospheric events. His best works include The Burial of Count Orgaz (1586), The Resurrection of Christ (1597-1610), and Laocoon (1610-1614).

Baptism of Christ (1590s) - El Greco. Greco'southward figures are distorted and seem to be floating in space. The swirly characteristics of their bodies gives us a sense of their loss of gravity in the water.

Slightly overlapping and following the Mannerist menstruum is the Bizarre menses. The Baroque era started around 1600 in Italy, spread through Europe, and lasted until around 1750 in areas of Germany and Republic of austria.

Bizarre artists rejected the virtuosity and the stylization of the figure of the Mannerists, only absorbed their use of chiaroscuro technique and their theatrical effects. Bizarre art achieved a new kind of naturalism, based in the direct study of nature.

Dramatic activity, tearing narrative, contrasting color and light, rich textures, and asymmetry were widely used in Baroque artists' compositions.

Bizarre fine art was also strongly influenced by the historical context: the perceived decadence of the Holy Roman Empire, the colonization of the "uncivilized" earth, rationalism, and the discovery that the sunday is the center of the solar system. Permit'south meet some of the Baroque artists.

Italian Baroque Artists

Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) was the most famous Baroque sculptor. His life-size white-marble David (1623) represents a David in total action. The fighter is leaning to his right and stretching his sling, while looking over his shoulder at Goliath. The body forms a dynamic diagonal, which extends from caput to pes.

The diagonal plane is a recurrent mode in Baroque sculpture and painting. In contrast to Michelangelo'due south David, this statue almost seems to move; the effigy's facial expression indicates he is in the middle of a battle. Looking over his shoulder, he seems aware of the presence of Goliath, expanding the sculptural space psychologically as well as formally. This is a Baroque technique for involving the spectator in the work.

Apollo and Daphne (1622-1625) - Gianlorenzo Bernini. The arms of the characters make a clear diagonal that gives movement to the composition, at the very moment when Daphne is turning into a bay tree.

Among Bizarre painters, Caravaggio (1573-1610) was leader. He had an innovative mode of working directly on the sheet without making preliminary drawings. Caravaggio's painting appealed to the ordinary observer and was not aimed at the elite. He studied nature and was able to render realistic images of the trunk. Far from painting classical, idealized bodies, however, he would paint everyday, imperfect humans in a "perfect" illusionistic way. His vehement contrast of lite and shade is called tenebrism. His discipline affair ranges from biblical scenes to themes of a homoerotic nature. His masterpieces include Boy with a Basket of Fruit (1594), The Calling of Saint Mathew (1599-1600), and Doubting Thomas (1602-1603).

The Calling of Saint Matthew (1599-1600) - Caravaggio. Tenebrism is achieved by dramatically shading the scene to enhance the upshot of the calorie-free entering through the window. The ray of light from the window points direct to the chief graphic symbol: a crouched St. Matthew.

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) was one of the beginning female artists to emerge as a significant personality in Europe. She was one of Caravaggio'south followers, called the Caravaggisti. She is known for her pictures of heroic women and fierce scenes—they contain an inner drama that is unique to her. Her well-nigh famous painting is Judith Slaying Holofernes (1614-1620).

Bizarre Outside of Italian republic

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was a Flemish creative person known for his sensual depiction of the human trunk and bright colour palettes. Consistent with the beauty standards of his fourth dimension, Ruben's characters are total and fleshy. The men in his paintings are generally overweight or have exaggerated musculature. Women are round and generous in flesh; past today's standards, we might say they are slightly overweight. Children are stubby with red cheeks.

Self-Portrait with Isabella Brant in the Honeysuckle Bower (1610) - Peter Paul Rubens. Ruben's fascination for particular can be seen in his depiction of the muscles of his crossed legs, and in the different textures of the fabrics.

In Ruben's painting Venus and Adonis (1635), Venus is depicted nude, in an agile and sensual pose. She is stretched forming a diagonal, trying to convince her lover to stay. Rubens emphasized her generous breasts and rippling, dimpled mankind. She has a round belly and ample hips. She even has a double chin! For Rubens, such full figures reflected the Flemish equation of fleshiness with prosperity.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) was born in Holland. Rembrandt is one of my favorite artists, partly considering he produced an amazing number of self-portraits (around 100 are known). I similar to look at them and imagine what was passing through his head at the moment. No other artist has left such an account of the transformation of historic period, concrete and emotional. He was a prolific etcher, drawer, and painter. Rembrandt was a genius at manipulating light and dark, which he used to create the characters of his figures. For me, he is the father of psychological portrayal—he would really analyze the personality of his field of study and bring it out in the portrait...starting with himself!

Self Portrait (c. 1660) - Rembrandt. The Dutch main painted more than 100 self portraits.

Rembrandt was an skillful in facial expressions and gestures. His subject matter included biblical scenes, mythology, portraiture, landscapes, animal studies, history, nudes, and everyday life scenes. His works include The Blinding of Samson (1636), Anatomy Lesson of Professor Tulp (1632), and the famous Night Watch (1642) that was brutally slashed with a knife by a mad person in the 1990s.

Nighttime Watch (1642) - Rembrandt. Though this motion-picture show is dark, Rembrandt illuminates every face up in the picture show. Note that the bright character on the left hand side is the only female in the grouping.

Diego Velazquez (1599-1660) was the greatest Spanish painter of the Baroque catamenia. Velazquez was the court painter of Philip Iv. At court, Velazquez painted the imperial family unit, besides as dwarves, jokers, and servants who served at the palace. He portrayed both the beautiful and the ugly.

The painter'south awe-inspiring masterpiece Las Meninas (1656) shows his utilize of realism and his ability to control the viewer's gaze through the composition. On the left side, we see the painter himself working on a canvass, from which we merely see the behind of the sheet. In the heart, Princess Margarita has entered the room with her maids and entertainers. She seems to arrogantly despise a little drinkable that is being offered to her. A domestic dog lies peacefully on the correct side, while a little person kicks him. In the back of the room, an open door lets us see a waiting nobleman, or perchance some other servant. Abreast this door, a mirror reflects the King and Queen, who are probably the subject of Velazquez'due south canvas.

Las Meninas (1656) - Velazquez. Annotation how every single grapheme in the picture is engaged in some sort of activity, giving the painting a unique dynamic quality and a sense of vitality.

Velazquez created an illusion of infinite both inside and across the painting. Past including the reflection of the Rex and Queen, who would be continuing where the viewers stand, he includes the space in front of the sheet as part of the composition. He also makes a tribute to the very art of painting, by including himself in activity. Some other one of his great works is the Surrender of Breda and Venus with a Mirror (1648).

Nosotros'll now turn our attending back to sculpture, exploring some of the means in which modernistic sculptors have represented the human trunk.

We start with the famous Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), a French sculptor who revolutionized the working methods of sculptors. He was primarily a modeler, preferring to work with clay or wax rather than etching in stone. Rodin would leave surfaces unpolished and rough, showing traces of the instruments used to model. He was interested in the experimental procedure of sculpting, rather than the finished piece of work.

Rodin would use unprofessional models in unprofessional poses. His figures had a smashing emotional intensity and explored a wide range of man passions. Their inner feelings were expressed past gestures that emphasized dissimilar parts of the body. Many of his figures are incomplete or fragmented: a body, a head, or just hands.

My favorite Rodin slice, and one of the all-time known, is The Thinker (1879-1902). It depicts a seated man, hand property his mentum, carried away by deep thoughts. Information technology is a large muscular body that gives a sense of independent energy.

The Thinker (1876-1902) - Rodin. Find how Rodin is able to imply the pose of the feet without having to detail every concluding nerve and muscle. Also note how unlike this texture is from the stone the subject is seated on.

While Rodin was inspired much by the sculptor's process and past specific feelings and gestures, Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was inspired by ethnographic sculpture. In his Reclining Nude I Aurora (1907), we can perceive a well-defined nude, despite the jutting distortions of the anatomy. He manipulates the human effigy to obtain an intricate rhythm and a muscular tension.

Taking a different approach to figure representation was Humberto Boccioni (1882-1916), part of the Futurist move. In his running figure entitled Unique Forms of Continuity in Infinite (1913), he attempts to stand for non the human form itself, but the banner of its movement in the surrounding space. The result is a quasi-robot human, with flares protruding from the limbs that give the sense of motility.

Henry Moore (1898-1986) was an English artist with an abstract approach. His sculptures are based on the man form, though they are abstruse expressions of the body. He did not attempt to make a trunk in stone, but a stone which suggests a body. His figures are composed of flowing convex and concave curves that create rich contrasts of light and dark. His surfaces are polished smooth. I call back of cliff or rock formations when I wait at his work. A practiced case of how he treated the human effigy is his rock Family Group (1955).

Iii Piece Reclining Figure Draped (1976) - Henry Moore. In Moore's abstruse piece of work, the polished surface of the sculpture resembles the skin and though a consummate man body is non depicted, we tin can recognize a neck, an arm, and a leg. Information technology can be found on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) concentrated on human figures after 1945 (the end of the Earth War Ii). These modeled and later cast figures are small, sparse, and elongated, as if they could disappear in any moment. They have crude surfaces and blank, expressionless faces. Whether single figures or in groups, the sculptures are bundled to propose a sense of loneliness, isolation, and existential anxiety.

To wrap up our wait at the human course in art history, we'll briefly explore some Expressionist pieces that do not necessarily represent specific figures at all. Rather than present a realistic or abstruse figure, the 20th century abstract Expressionists put their own human experience into their work, mirroring man emotions and efforts, though non necessarily human forms.

An important variant of Abstract Expressionism was action painting. Activeness painters developed characteristic methods of applying the paint. They dripped, splattered, sprayed, rolled, and threw paint onto their canvases. The last epitome was a reflection of the artist'due south torso action in the artistic process.

Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) is the best-known action painter. From 1947 onward, he used a dripping technique to produce his paintings. He engaged his whole body in the act of painting. He would stretch the canvass on the floor, instead of vertically, and he would command the drips with the movement of his arm and torso. He would oftentimes leave chance to take its course, but there is an underlying chromatic organization in his canvases. His addiction of cropping finished canvases adds to their dynamic quality, for the lines appear to movement in and out the motion picture plane.

Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) (1950) - Jackson Pollock. The energy in Pollock's paintings is elemental; it can exist compared to the forces of nature.

Other notable action painters are Franz Kline (1910-1962), Lee Krasner, and Wilem de Kooning.

Performance Fine art

Also called live art, or in some occasions "happenings," operation art originated in the early on 20th century with the Dadaist performances in the Cabaret Voltaire (which we will study in a afterward lecture). All the same it was non until the 1960s that it exploded as an art trend with the activity of the Fluxus group.

Fluxus was a grouping of intellectuals organized past George Maciunas. It included musicians like John Cage, artists like Yoko Ono, and video artists like Nam June Paik. Fluxus organized events that incorporated literature, music, theater, dance, video, and other materials. In a reaction to minimalism, artists sought to assert their presence over again, past becoming, in effect, living works of fine art.

Farbtest, Die Rote Fahne ll (video installation) - Felix Gmelin. In this contemporary operation piece, Gmelin re-enacts an action made past his father thirty years ago, by running with a red flag through the streets of a city.

In performance art, a "performance" could consist of ane person or a group. It could take identify anywhere and concluding any length of time. Performance art used (and still uses) the performer's body every bit the primary art medium. It may be autobiographical or make a political argument. It oft merges art with every day life.

The German artist Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) was an of import pioneer in functioning art. For Beuys, life was a creative process in which everyone tin be an artist. In his piece Coyote, he spent one week caged up with a coyote in a New York gallery. The coyote represented America, a country he was visiting for the first time, and with whom he intended to first a relationship. Eventually the coyote and the artist co-habitated in the space and got used to each other.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the English artists Gilbert and George combined elements of traditional sculpture with functioning art. They would wearing apparel like traditional English language men and stand up over depression platforms, sometimes singing, but mostly assuming static poses. By calling themselves living sculptures, Gilbert and George explored the ambiguous areas betwixt living and not-living, illusion and reality, and art and life.

Give-and-take
Share your thoughts on fine art history with your young man students.

Practice
Analyze artworks that correspond men and women in different periods.