A Brief and Incomplete Snapshot of the Renaissance

I feel it’s important that before I continue telling you about my adventures in Florence and about all the various art I’ll be seeing while I’m here, that I give a brief, and incomplete snapshot of the Renaissance, the concepts, thoughts, and view of life. For those of you who simply know the historical version of the Renaissance, I’ll catch you up on the Art version, which, by the way, is infinitely better. Just saying.

If you look at art from the Middle Ages, the decorations on churches, icons, mosaics, you’ll notice a certain flatness, a lack of perspective, and a heavy emphasis on the richness of cloth. Throughout, there is no sense of individualism, instead there is a focus on fulfilling certain rules. In fact, the only way one can tell the various saints apart is if that person is familiar with the represented symbols and their meanings. (Ex.: Matthew is symbolized by a winged angel, Mark by a winged lion, Luke by a winged ox, and John by an eagle.) Why can we only read medieval art through it’s symbols? Despite what I originally thought, it’s not because of the artist’s lack of skill, but simple because of the worldview they were emphasizing. The Middle Ages were dominated by religion and the Catholic Church. They placed emphasis on the duality of body and spirit, stating that the body and its “lusts” were evil and should be mortified or conquered, by the spirit which was pure and good. This meant that the art of this time, while trying to tell the story of the Bible also was trying to emphasize the good of humanity: its spirit or soul.

One of the panels of Ghiberti's "Doors of Paradise." Can you tell what the story is?

In the Renaissance, people became interested in the philosophy, architecture, art, and lifestyle of the Ancient Romans and Greeks. Through studying Plato and Aristotle, people rediscovered, among other things, the concept of the individual, and the idea of government run by representatives of the people instead of despots. Looking at the buildings, like the coliseum, and the parthenon, that dominated the newer churches and buildings built in the Middle Ages, led to a desire to outdo their ancient ancestors. This meant studying methods, concepts, and ideology of ancient architecture. The end of the Plague in 1350, that caused the death of millions, as well as the end of the 100 Years War, led to an increase in wealth, which in turn led to an increase in patronage of the Arts. Hence, the Renaissance was born.

Many argue that the center of said Renaissance is Florence. It is here that the most famous (or infamous) of patron families, the Medicis, lived. It is here that artists such as Botticelli, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci (no they are not mutant turtles,) Fra Fillipino Lippi, Masaccio, Ghirberti, Brunelleschi, Verocchio, Alberti, and Titian, lived for many years, and where some of their most famous works reside. (By the way, those eleven are only a few of legion artists that lived and worked in Florence. Overwhelmed yet?) During the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, Florence set itself up as a second Rome. A better version, because these Florentines were full of virtue, their goal was to rule over their physical passions and desires through Reason, and Faith. If you look at the art of the Renaissance, it is ordered, logical, and beautiful. Concepts were portrayed through visual allegory and metaphor.

It is also during this time that the rise of the Artist begins. In Medieval times, manual labor was seen as shameful, and reserved for serfs, and guilds. There was absolutely no mobility between the classes. You were born a serf, and you died a serf, just as your children, grandchildren, so on and so forth. But in the Renaissance, artists started an argument. They worked with their hands, so many were seen as pure manual laborers. It was only the most famous who achieved a certain status, and security. The problem was, art was still manual, so they started becoming learned gentlemen. During the Renaissance, artists became scientists, philosophers, architects, mathematicians, theologians, poets, and authors. Slowly, art became included as entire subject under the humanities. A few centuries later, various arts (theatre, music, visual arts) were given their own category and called “fine.”

And so, the modern day artist started to be born.

Michelangelo's last Pieta. He died before finishing what was to be the monument of his grave.

Overwhelmed at the Uffizi

Tuesday, was our first full day in Florence. It, like the entire first week passed in a veritable oceanic universe of art, sleepiness, excitement, and general bouncing off the walls with giddiness.

Our apartment is called “Ugone,” and is located in the Piazza di Santo Spirito (a really pretty little church, that just happens to contain an altar piece by Fra Fillipino Lippi.  No biggie. It’s just Italy.) I share a room with two other girls named Liz, and Charis. Our bathroom is gigantic, it has a shower, jetted tub, toilet, bedet, sink, and a washing machine that also happens to be a dryer. There are three other bedrooms and bathrooms, all filled, a living/dining room and most importantly a kitchen.

My roommate Liz and I started the day out the right way by going grocery shopping in a produce store that had the most delicious strawberries, eggplants, zucchini, pasta and tomato sauce, the butcher had fresh made pork sausage, and a bakery where we got (what else?) fresh bread. By the time we got back to our apartment, it was time to go get our museum passes, or lunch, depending on how starving we were. We stopped at a little panini shop near the ponte vecchio, where we got some sandwiches and were able to sit out back, looking over the bridge and the other side of the river. It was beautiful, peaceful, and felt so much like France, that I had to keep pinching myself to remind myself that we were in Italy. (The constant flow of Italian helped, but I’m still covered in bruises.)

After lunch we went to the Uffizio museum, which only enormous with art peeking out of every crack, cranny, crevice, wall, ceiling, and atom. It was gorgeous, inspiring, and utterly overwhelming. There were people everywhere, no one taking pictures tho (most museums in Italy won’t let you,) and no air conditioning to be felt either. In Europe, lack of air conditioning leads to stuffy rooms, and smelly people. Picturesque, but another thing to assault and distract one from the awe of being in a room the size of Carter Lobby filled with works from the fourteenth century.

Our assignment for the day was to study either a Botticelli painting or the Virgin Mary, and her representations. Most of our group picked Botticelli as we’d spent years studying him and are intimately familiar with “The Birth of Venus.” This painting is not only a poetic interpretation of the myth of Aphrodite, but an iconic representation of beauty that has helped define our modern day ideal of said quality. Ask yourself: where would we be without “The Birth of Venus?” Without it, what would be our understanding or view of beauty?

Interestingly, Botticelli seems to have settled onto one ideal or version of beauty and stuck with it. All of the women in each of his paintings has the exact same body. The only difference is an old woman in a painting about Midas, and the men who are all portrayed according to their saintly or godly attributes (depending on the subject of the painting.) Other wise, the only way the viewer can tell the women apart is through slight variations in the faces of women. Again, what does that say about how women were seen in the Renaissance? Let’s just say, most women of today would have major issues with Botticelli. I for one, would dearly like to travel back in time and have a heart to heart with him. It would not be pretty. (Evil grin.)

However, no one can deny Botticelli’s skill, nor can we ignore the fact that his painting’s are utterly distinctive. His ability to narrate through painting, is impressive, as is the almost poetic use of color, and the lyrical movement of his figures. “The Birth of Venus,” is undeniably beautiful. In person, one can notice that this is indeed a humanistic painting, in that the only things portrayed with any kind of realism are his figures. The trees and ocean are representational and stylized. I’d always imagined the painting to be full of bright colors, but in truth, I think it has oxidized a bit, as it has a very pastel look. I would have been able to enjoy seeing it a little more if not for the fact that the room was packed to the gills, maneuvering was practically impossible, and it was a balmy 80 degrees. Still, I’ll be going back this week.

We weren’t able to see everything in the museum, because we were so utterly image saturated after only an hour. We went back to our apartment, where I cooked up some pork spaghetti, with a quick ratatouille for veggies. After cleaning up, and agreeing to take turns cooking evening meals, we all collapsed into bed. Sleeping the sleeping of the severely jet lagged, unbothered by the nightly noises of a European city, yet anticipating the next day and the opportunity to FINALLY see Verrocchio’s, Donatello’s, and Michelangelo’s Davids. Ciao for now.

An Introduction

I always find introductions to be the hardest thing to do, and do well. So here goes nothing. My name is Kara, I am an Art Major at a little place called Covenant College. The school sits on top of what we locals like to call a “mountain,” but Colorado relatives have dubbed it a hill. Despite this debate, Covenant sits up high enough to overlook Chattanooga, and be a visual landmark to all the city people. It is a refuge, that can be something of an isolated island, even if you live off-campus and are only there when attending class. So when the administration decided to allow the sculpture professor, Kayb, to take some students to Florence Italy for the month of may, ten other students and myself jumped at the chance.

Some people might be wondering why on earth we would decide to subject ourselves to an entire extra month of classes. The thing is how could we not? Florence is considered the birth place of the Renaissance, without which, art and the value we place on the individual, would not exist (just two examples of the many.) Most of us, as art majors or art history buffs, have spent the past few years studying, discussing, “dissecting,” drawing, sculpting, and painting, many of the artworks that are here. How could we not come and see them in real life? True, we can see many excellent pictures of them online whenever we want. But there is a certain aura, or presence that the real work has that cannot be reproduced, an immediate sense that we are in the presence of something great, of maybe just a microcosm of truth. Given the chance to experience this, to feel it, and to sketch them in person, there really was no choice. Besides, it’s freaking Italy.