The Brooklyn Museum holds an interesting art collection with artworks from the ancient world to the contemporary period. The artifacts originate from regions worldwide. A visitor has the opportunity to see the long-term exhibitions, but also the current ones and touring.
The long-term exhibition of European Art is located at the Beaux-Arts Court at the third floor and includes artworks from the period of Early Renaissance to World War II. These include mainly paintings, prints, sculptures in mediums such as marble, bronze, and plaster. This essay aims to present some of the basic painting principles of the Early Renaissance and examine three relevant artworks found at the Brooklyn Museum, created by two different artists.
The Renaissance extends from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. It is the art period which influenced all fields of art such as painting, sculpture, literature, music, theater, and became the bond between the medieval and modern period. ‘Economic prosperity promoted patronage of art in the fourteenth century Italy, so artists began to emerge as individuals’ (Stockstad 573). Furthermore, one of the commonplace polarities that people in Renaissance Italy inherited from the ancients, whose culture they admired and sought to emulate, was the complementary pairing of arts and natura. Art did not allude to an inspiration of genius as it tends to do today, but rather it meant skill. Art was also contrasted with ingenium, in a commonplace that also sought to define art in terms of contrasting qualities. The meaning of the word ingenium is not well served in modern English translations, as the term was developed during the eighteenth century along with the contemporary meaning of artist, which did not exist during antiquity and Renaissance (Summers 10). Therefore, during the period of the Renaissance the connection between art and naturalistic depictions is developed and gradually it conquered all art production in central Europe. Sienna and Florence created two rival schools of painting in the fourteenth century. ‘The maniera greca continued to provide models of dramatic pathos and narrative iconography, but gradually the figures and scenery became more naturalistic’ (Stockstad 576).
The Renaissance is divided into two periods, Early and High. The artworks which are the subject of this essay belong to the first period. The artists who are considered the leaders of this period are Giotto, Cimabue, and Pisano. They developed a style more naturalistic which was considered as a victory over static Byzantine style. However, their work was still strongly associated with religious themes.
The first artwork is attributed to the Italian painter Maso di Banco. It is a triptych depicting on the left wing the Nativity and the Annunciate Angel, on the central panel Madonna and Christ Blessing with saints, and on the right wing the Crucifixion and Virgin Annunciate. It is dated circa 1336 and it is tempera and tooled gold on poplar panel surrounded by a wooden frame. Triptychs were destined for private worship but originate from Early Christian art when they were used initially to worship the dead and commemorate the living and there were made of ivory (Rodley 43). During the middle ages, they became a popular style of altarpiece. In their first form, they were designed to fold. In this particular triptych, the wings depict scenes from the Great Twelve Feasts of the liturgical year while the center shows the Virgin Enthroned with Christ on her lap. The placement of the scenes on the wooden triptych resembles their position in a Byzantine church where the conch of the apse, the center, depicts the Virgin Enthroned, above it the two protagonists of the Annunciation divided into two panels and on higher levels of arches or pendentives scenes from the Great Feasts (Rodley 309). In the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel comes to announce that the Virgin is to bear the Son of God. Startled at the appearance of the heavenly being the Virgin draws back and is always placed to the right side. In her hand she holds a book inscribed with the relevant prophecy. The Crucifixion is one of the older themes which appear in the repertoire of Christian iconography. The elements that identify the style in a Crucifixion depiction are the shape of Christ’s body, the postures of the Virgin and the Apostle John, the number of additional mourners, the appearance of the two thieves and soldiers, and the organization of the background. In this triptych the artist followed the simple Middle Byzantine prototype (Rodley 145). The first depictions of the Nativity date to the fourth century. It is a complicated scene combining five juxtaposed events. The five instants depict the Mother and Child, the maidens, Joseph standing alone, the shepherds listening to the angels, and the three Magi. One important aspect is Mary’s pose; she can be seated, reclined, standing upright, looking towards or away from Joseph or the Christ Child. Here the artists chose the reclined position.
The following two artworks belong to Nardo di Cione. Nardo di Cione was a painter, sculptor, and architect during the Early Renaissance period. He was a member of the Painter’s Guild of Florence, along with his brother Andrea and Jacopo. He worked both as an independent artist, but also through the family studio. The first piece is an altarpiece dated to the mid-fourteenth century which depicts the Madonna and Child Enthroned with saint Zenobius, John the Baptist, Reparata, and John the Evangelist. There is a hypothesis that this altarpiece was drawn for the most important church in Florence, Duomo, as the Cathedral is linked to both saints represented. Saint Zenobius relics were held in the Duomo and Reparata is the patron saint of the city. The technique is the same as above; tempera and tooled gold on a panel and its dimensions are 196.9*100.3 cm. An interesting element of this depiction is that Christ is holding a bird. The European goldfinch appears in several Renaissance panels. The theories why, include the opinion that it was a popular children’s pet, this bird sat on Christ’s head on the road to Calvary and the red spot around his neck was created by one his thorns, and finally that it symbolizes death and resurrection (Brooklyn Museum). In both paintings, the Madonna and the Child are placed in a divine space made entirely of gold. Their halos are also created completely out of incised patterns on the gold leaf to remind us of their holiness.
The exhibition includes another artwork which is believed to be the missing part of the above altarpiece by Nardo di Cione. The panel depicts Christ blessing in a frontal position. It was discovered in 2000 and scholars associated it with Nardo di Cione’s altarpiece, estimating that its initial position was above Madonna and the Child. Its dimensions are 20.3*22.9 cm and the technique is the same followed for the altarpiece.
Early Italian artists frequently painted on poplar panels and tempered their pigments with egg. The technical restraints were such that the painter had to wait for each brushstroke to dry before applying the next one. The result was that even the most delicate brushstrokes were visile. The robes of all figures are modeled in graduated tones which develop from deep shadow to a fine mesh of white highlights.
Medieval Italian painters such as Duccio and Giotto had only an approximate idea of perspective. Therefore, they unfolded architectural backgrounds around the figures in order to create a three-dimensional space. However, all three examples lack this feature, proving that they are primary examples of Renaissance art.
Western artists seem able to absorb Byzantine and new pictorial ideas; patrons and spectators learn to confront a range of experiences (Cormack 192). The art of the Early Renaissance still presented a strong religious background and had a scent of the Byzantine style. However, gradually the artworks become more naturalistic and less static and during High Renaissance the subject escape from all religious restrictions.
Works Cited
Brookly Musem: European Art. Brooklyn Museum. Web. 10 May 2016.
Cormack, Robin. Byzantine Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print.
Rodley, Lyn. Byzantine Art and Architecture: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Print
Stockstad, Marilyn and Michael Cothren. Art History Vol. 2. Washngton: Pearson, 2013. Print.
Summers, David. The Judgment of Sense: Renaissance Naturalism and the Rise of Aesthetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Print.
