Example Of Artist’s Contributions Essay

The works of the artists, Jan van Eyck (c.1390-1441), Caravaggio (1561-1610) and Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) represent almost the entire span of the Italian Renaissance period which occurred from the 14th to the 16th Centuries.
Van Eyck was a Flemish painter who painted naturalistic portraits and religious painting on oak panels. Considered to be the leading painter of his day, his works differed from other great Early Italian Renaissance works in that his works recorded his faithful observation of nature , an influence of the Renaissance in the north, rather than the classically idealized works characteristic of the Early Italian Renaissance period.
Said to be painted in collaboration with his brother Hubert, possibly Van Eyck’s most famous work is the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (1432), also known as the Ghent Altarpiece. It is comprised of twelve painted oak panels, and features religious stories and disguised religious symbols . Van Eyck was one of the first painters to work in oils, and in the Ghent Altarpiece, thin layers of oil paint were laid over a white background to achieve a translucent effect in the work .
Caravaggio was an Italian artist of the mid-Renaissance period, who is generally considered to be the first representative of the Baroque school. Italian Baroque did not differ all that much from Renaissance painting, but in the Baroque school, religious themes mere much more prominent and the darker and richer color palette was characteristic of this style. Like Van Eyck, Caravaggio’s paintings were notable for their intense realism, a northern influence and he is said to be the artist who introduced genre painting into the Italian Renaissance. His work, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (1603) is a good example of this. The work features Saint Thomas and two other apostles investigating the wound in the side of the risen Christ. No idealization of characters is seen in this painting. The four figures all appear very natural and lifelike, wearing common, rustic clothing and rough with beards. A notable feature of this painting is Caravaggio’s use of areas of light and dark, a technique known as “chiaroscuro”, which creates intense contrasts within the work and highlights the focal point of the painting, the hands examining Christ’s wound.
Although Bernini, a late Renaissance artist of the Baroque school, was most well-known for his works of sculpture, he was also a painter of some renown. While most Renaissance art depicted a stilted moment in time, Baroque artists showed the exact moment when action was occurring. Unlike earlier depictions of the subject matter which show David in the minutes after having slain Goliath, Bernini’s David (1623-24) is caught at the very moment David is hurling his stone towards the giant.
Bernini’s intention with this sculpture was to be as faithful as possible to the Bible story, and in this work we can again see the intense realism so common of the northern Italian Renaissance. The tension in David’s torso as he prepares with all his might, to throw his stone and a shepherd’s pouch holding stones draped over his torso, are elements of realism not shown in earlier figures of David. One of the first sculptures where the subject shows involvement in events not depicted in the work itself, it is crafted to be seen from multiple angles so that the full story is gradually revealed. David’s powerful stance and his fierce and anguished facial expression is in complete compliance with one of the aims of Baroque art, which was to evoke emotion and passion . Bernini’s marble sculpture of David ably accomplishes this.