Paper Assignment I
Throughout Europe, the Renaissance period had various effects on art which can be broken down and seen from Southern (Italian) and Northern paintings. With the renaissance, came disinterest in dogma, and more of a focus on naturalism and humanism. However, the strong influence of religion never left either the Northern or Southern art works, due to the commission by the church. Giuliano Bugiardini’s, Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist, 1510, is a pristine depiction of what Southern European art during the renaissance contained, element by element. Northern artists kept most their roots, focusing heavily on religion while enhancing on the details and adding few aspects of naturalism; while Southern artists took more of a maniera greca and humanistic type approach, where religion and abstraction was in a conflicting battle with what was reality. The color, light, and shadow of Bugiardini’s, Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist, emits a naturalistic feel that is seen throughout the whole painting. The painting’s main colors of brown and green are abundantly found in nature, usually representing trees, grass, dirt, etc. Mary’s red and blue gown contrasts with the rest of the scenery, making her stand out while emitting a calm (blue) but emotional (red) tone. The colors in the painting also seem to tell a story with a dull, dark brown in most of the foreground, and more vivid greens in the background. This could represent current dark times, followed by a future containing bright, happier times. Many Southern arts contained action in the moment pictures, with dramatic pathos conveying a story or message, which roots back to the Greco Roman influences. The striking contrasts from light to dark, or tenebrism, near Mary’s leg covering was different than the previous gradual chiaroscuro. Jesus and St. John are hit with new, stronger