#9. Last posting

For the quarter, I really enjoyed to learning the Europe Renaissance period art. Before I took this class, I just know the famous artworks but did not know that when it was made and who is the artist. I learned lots of interesting and important things in this quarter. Among them, personally I liked Jan van Eyck’s artworks in the 15^th century art in northern Europe. Especially, my favorite work is the ‘Double Portrait of a Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife’. Even though he is not an inventor of oil painting, he put a gorgeous color in his painting. I really liked the expression of fabric. It looks like real and every single winkle are meticulous. In the background, he put his signature and himself in the wall and mirror. I think that it is brilliant idea that he could express himself through his painting. This painting is intrigued me by the visual details. This painting was originally famous but through this quarter I like more about this painting.

Other type of art is Mannerism in the 16^th century art in Italy. I knew about the word Mannerism but did not know that this kind of story was in it. Actually, Mannerism style painting was the most interesting for me. I could not say these are not great works but definitely it has some weird things. Especially, the vivid colors stand out too much and it is not matched with overall the painting. Also, the background is not recognizable and roughly put it. “Entombment’ by Pontormo looks like people moves about their arms and legs limply and people who is in the top looks flying and not recognizable. In addition, ‘Allegory with Venus and Cupid’ by Bronzino was the most interesting one. I guess that artist wants to tell about many stories, so he put all the random things in this painting. Unless reading the description, nobody would understand this painting. In this painting, there are interwoven with seven figures, two masks, and a dove. According to the textbook, individual figures are exaggerated poses, graceful forms, polished surfaces, and delicate colors that characterize Mannerist art. In the left side, there is a screaming man and in the right side, there is a girl who is holding a beehive. This Mannerism style painting is definitely intrigued by the visual details.

Lastly, I had to tell about the Renaissance perspective. I did not know that it is started from 15^th century in Italy. Also I did not know that the perspective is really important thing in the painting. Linear perspective and atmospheric perspective made more realistic and great artworks. When comparing with 15th century Italy and Northern Europe, we could definitely notice that there is big different thing between them. As we could see, perspective technique makes depth of artwork.