What was really valued in the beginning of the renaissance art was the sculpture which later changed to paintings. Religious figures were carved as center pieces in altars. What really makes these pieces stand out is the realistic quality they have. Each person in for instance the Well of Moses each person is individualized. Heavy drapery casts shadows creating an effects that seem so real. Paintings in the beginning were just an embellishment compared to sculpture. Later people were more drawn to the realistic paintings done by Jan Van Eyck. He was in fact, argued to be the greatest painter of all time. He too, captured the realism of the world and humans in his pictures. in the Ghent Altar piece for instance he captured the realism in each figure. The lighting was set perfecting to where the piece was actually place in the church to give the effect of light casting through the church onto the figures was in fact real light. The figures are so realistic they look as if they are extending of the board, and are actually three dimensional. Gemstones and water are depicted as transparent. But how is it possible for pieces on a painting appear so real when they were actually two dimensional and made the paint? Oil paints came into play and the use of them really gave Van Eyck’s images a three dimensional effect. Oil paints allowed the painter to paint in layers and use less opaque pigments to show a contrast of dark and light. Portraits became almost evidence of the people who lived at this time and what they truly looked like. People were less idealized and were shown in more of a natural state. For example, Van Eyck’s own portrait shows exact wrinkles and lines on his face. You can really see what he looks like if he were alive today. Portraits and realistic painting from this era are almost a way to keep the dead alive. No photographs were taken so this is the closest thing that we have to prove that these people where here. What was really impressive about van Eyck was not the fact that he created beautiful realistic pieces of our history, but the personal interest he seemed to have with each figure he painted. Van Eyck’s painting seemed to display how important the person of interest was. He included signatures and dates which documented and celebrated the people in them. Lastly the use of personal prayer books also known as “Book of Hours” displayed a three dimensional world into such a small piece of space. Small spaces were used to capture and entire three dimensional world. The detail that was cast into these images gives off the effect that there was an eternal background that went back forever. Rather than earlier pieces of art that captured the sense of space by stacking images on top of one another, artists of the renaissance seemed to have mastered the sense of eternal space which is why people today can relate to the images. They are so close and mirrored images of our natural world.
Jan11
thoresor 