Norther Renaissance: The Supreme Art

After watching the documentary and pondering over all of the pieces viewed and facts heard, I feel that there were several different values in the Northern Renaissance. From the beginning of the video until the end, I felt like with each topic there was an important value that the Northern Renaissance culture had. The first value that caught my attention was religion. Van Eyck's "Figure of Adam" was very popular for its overall composition and the fascinating use of detail and depth but I also think that the religious aspect behind the painting also made it more ideal for their culture. Van Eyck created many pieces dedicated to religion, including the "Virgin with Chancellor Rolin," which hung on the wall of a hospital that Chancellor Rolin was a benefactor for. In this painting, sacred objects were shown. People believed that if they looked at a painting with sacred objects, the sacred objects could enter the soul through the eye. This was also known as visual communion. We viewed prayer books and the great detail that was put into their illustrations. Borders were created, making the pictures within look as if they were in a world of their own. The pictures looked real and gave a sense of comfort as the owners of these prayer books could read and also feel close to the sacred characters that they were reading about.

The second value that I feel the Northern Renaissance culture had was their class and where they stood on their cultures social ladder. I feel that their taste in the artwork that was created grew and they became more aware of what they were purchasing and whom they were purchasing it from. When Van Eyck became well known, he was the primary artist for the Duke of Burgundy. The Duke of Burgundy spent a ton of money on work done by Van Eyck and claimed that he felt he was helping his people by spending so much money. The pieces took time and a lot of labor yet many people wanted them especially from Van Eyck. Old documents infer that Van Eyck may have eventually had workers under him, helping to create and manufacture some of his work to please the people who were demanding work from him. Paintings as well as tapestry were well crafted and citizens were willing to spend more money on them. Especially on silk tapestry depicting religious scenes on them. Religious scenes became a sort of artistic style in the Northern Renaissance and people were willing to pay the price for it. Eventually self portraits became popular and as it was stated in the video, a portrait was a lasting memorial of the person having the portrait done. It was also more appealing when one could brag about who painted their portrait which, to me, shows that class was important. Also, paintings done by prestigious artists such as Van Eyck, were well crafted. Van Eyck used many different types of mediums to emphasize areas of his paintings and gave them a more realistic effect. Purchasing a painting done by Van Eyck was purchasing a painting from one of the Northern Renaissances top artist, which meant that it had to be expensive. If one could afford precious art or if one could have a painting crafted by Van Eyck, then they must have been wealthy. Many of Van Eyck's paintings also show wealth with the crowns, the gems and jewels, and the clothing that those in his portraits wear. Gems and stones are even seen in religious paintings, pairing them up with their cultures other important value.

The art that was produced in the Northern Renaissance culture seemed to be based a lot around religion and many self portraits were done. The style behind these paintings was very fascinating in the fact that everything appeared to be so realistic. Through the use of oil paints, artists were able to layer and grasp the full effect of the human face and body as well as the objects around. In Van Eyck's "Figure of Adam" we can see how painting had evolved as Adam appears to nearly be stepping out of the canvas, with his left toe rising a bit. The style seemed to greatly revolve around humans in the Northern Renaissance. All of the paintings that were viewed in the documentary revolved around the human form. I think this was because the human form became more detailed and alive. The human form not only became more alive in paintings but also in sculpture. Claus Sluter creating many religious scenes using stone. He too created human forms with great detail and depth and managed to make them look real.

One famous painting that was created using the stylized depth and detail seen through all of his paintings is Van Eyck's, "The Arnolfini Portrait." The portrait looks as if one could walk right into the scene that is being depicted. The painting is said to be a depiction of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife perhaps on their wedding day. In the documentary, one art historian digs deeper into the meaning behind the painting. Through documentation she finds that Arnolfini couldn't have had this portrait done with his wife because she died nearly a year before this portrait was done. She said that the only possibilities would be that the portrait was done with another wife that was not documented, that she found documentation of another Giovanni Arnolfini, or that the painting was done in remembrance of his deceased wife. I found that she had good evidence to support that this painting was done as a memorial to Giovanni and his deceased wife. One clue being the mirror in the background that resembled death. The mirror also had the Passion of Christ around it showing the birth of Christ on Giovanni's side and the death of Christ on his wifes side. Above the couple is a chandelier and above Giovanni is lit candle and above his wife is an unlit candle. This painting is one of Van Eyck's greatest pieces and although the exact meaning behind it remains unknown, it was beautifully crafted and shows the common style seen in Northern Renaissance art.