Introduction
Renaissance art includes the sculpture, painting, and decorative art of the time of European history known as the Renaissances. It has to emerge as a distinct style of about 1400 in Italy. The art gives the perception of royalty of the ancient traditions. In the LACMA, many paintings have used Renaissance art. This paper focuses on "Tommaso - Virgin adoring the Christ child with St. John the Baptist and two angels" from LACMA.
The artwork is of lots of significances to Christian as it shows the Virgin Mary appreciating his baby Jesus. John the Baptist and the two angels being in the painting are symbolic since the angels are known to be holy. Therefore, this symbolizes that baby Jesus is holy and more so the son of God. Angels are also known to symbolize peace as a result; Jesus is seen as the savior of the world. The facial expression that is portrayed by Mary, John the Baptist, and the angel makes this artwork to be more distinguishable despite its theme being common in many other Painting. The artist of this paint has used tempera and has applied it on the background hence the texture of the panel is exposed. The author has used different colors in this artwork. Green is used in the background to show the vegetation (Lavin, 85). The angels are wearing clothes that are brightly colored to portray they are holy. On the background, the landscape is presented using dark colors while light colors represent the horizons.
On the left of the painting Saint John, the baptizer is kneeling before baby Jesus and his hand is on the chest. This shows that Jesus is mighty and the son of God. The fact that both the angels and marry have their hand near their chest demonstrates that the artist of this painting was trying to reveal the mightiness of Jesus as the son of God. All the people in the paint have bound before baby Jesus, and this seeks to portray Jesus as the prophesied Messiah. The ring on the head of baby Jesus is symbolic. The artist of the paint uses it to passes the message that he is a King. The ring symbolizes the crown that kings wear on their head. John the baptizer being in the paint also signifies that the prophesied savior has been born. The angels are there to show that baby Jesus is the son of God. The bright colors of the painting depict holiness and presence of God. This is because Christians believes that God is holy. Bright light are normally used to show his presence. Use of bright colors can also be attributed to the fact that the artist tries pass the message about the birth of a savior. Dark colors are mostly associated with pain and suffering while bright colors symbolize peace love and harmony (Lavin, 86).
Gold colors in the background Show that Jesus was precious to the world. This is mostly because during the Renaissance period gold was seen as a precious stone (Kurz, 390). The Painting is about the birth of the son of God, the artist of this painting was left with no other option. He had to use the gold colors in the background to symbolize celebrating the birth of someone who is of most valued to the world.
The fact that the artist of this painting has used angel and Virgins is a clear explanation that this artwork is of Renaissance period. The two angels, Saint John, and Virgin Mary are employed to show the birth of Christ. The fact that the two angels are there makes this painting unique. The angels also may be seen to symbolize the presence of God who is holy. Since angels are believed to be holy they can move around God. According to the biblical prophesies, the birth of the son of God was a crucial event. This explains the presence of the mighty angels during his birth (Kurz,450).
The angels, Virgin Mary, and john the baptized are shown to adore Baby after he has been born. The artist tries to pass the message that baby Jesus is mighty since he is adored by angels, Mary and John the Baptist (Snyder.etal 123). Biblically John the Baptist is seen to be holy. This shows that baby Jesus is holier since a person believed to be holy adores him. Angels are associated with holiness hence through them appearing in this piece of art it only shows that Jesus is God's son. From the style used in this painting, it has portrayed baby Jesus as the son of god and the savior of the world. The painting is of much significance to Christians as its able to show how precious the birth of Jesus through how the artist has used the angles and Mary adoring the newborn.
In conclusion, I can say that this piece of work is of Renaissance period since it has used the style used by ancient Italian artists. The use of angels and virgins were mostly used at this time. In addition, the colors that are employed in this painting are similar to those used in Renaissance period.
Work Cited
Lavin, Marilyn Aronberg. "Giovannino Battista: A Study in Renaissance Religious Symbolism." Art Bulletin (1955): 85-101.
Kurz, O. (1955). A group of florentine drawings for an altar. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 35-53.
Snyder, James, Larry Silver, and Henry Luttikuizen. Northern Renaissance art: painting, sculpture, the graphic arts from 1350 to 1575. Abrams, 1985.
