HIS 3343: Renaissance, Reformation, & the Rise of Nation States: Art

Sofonisba Anguissola was one of the first European women to achieve international recognition as a painter. She was renowned for her innovative portraits, which were characterized by their naturalism, psychological intimacy, and emotional expression, and for her family-oriented genre scenes.

At an early age Artemisia began producing paintings in the strong, bold manner of chiaroscuro popularized by Caravaggio, and she painted in the history style, which had been traditionally closed to women. She was the first Italian woman whose works were praised by contemporaries and whose paintings were influential in the work of other artists.

According to contemporary, Bartolommeo Fazio, Jan van Eyck was "the leading painter of our time" for his technical accomplishments. These abilities are evident in van Eyck's handling of oil paint. His "jewel-like" paintings seem to emit light from within the paintings themselves. As a Flemish painter, van Eyck's work reflects the Renaissance north of the Alps. 

Caravaggio’s bold use of chiaroscuro, provocative reinterpretations of canonical subjects, and revolutionary commitment to realism established a new painting style that made a significant contribution to the definition of Baroque painting. He was a prolific and influential painter whose style became popular quickly, producing an international movement known as Caravaggism.

Lorenzo Ghiberti, one of the most famous Italian sculptors, created a sculpture for the baptistery in Florence that is often considered the first example of Renaissance art in Italy. Taking the example left by Andrea Pisano almost seventy years prior, he brought bronze into the mainstream as a medium of intellectual and aesthetic expression.

Leonardo da Vinci, who laid the foundation for the High Renaissance style in painting, drawing, sculpture, and architecture, is considered by many the best painter and draftsman of all time. In addition, he made a number of unprecedented discoveries in botany, anatomy, mechanical engineering, and medicine that were unparalleled until the twentieth century.

 Flemish artist, Hieronymus Bosch, produced strikingly original paintings whose brilliant style, flickering brushstrokes, and fantastic, nightmarish visions influenced twentieth-century Surrealists. Bosch’s message, however, is rooted in the preoccupations of the early sixteenth century. His obsessions with sin, death, and damnation reflect orthodox Christian concerns.

Lorenzo Ghiberti, Porta del Paradiso, 1424-52. Bronze parcel-gilt, about 17ft (5.2m) high. Baptistery, Florence.

Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434, oil on oak panel, 82cm x 59.5cm, National Gallery, London.

Sofonisba Aguissola, The Chess Game, 1555, oil on canvas, 72cm x 97cm, National Museum in Poznan, Poznan.

Artemesia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1614- 1620, oil on canvas, 199cm x 162.5cm, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples. 

Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1599-1602, oil on canvas, 145cm x 195cm, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome.

Artemisia Gentileschi and Viviano Codazzi, Bathsheba, 1645-1650, oil on canvas, 259cm x 218cm, Neues Palais, Potsdam. 

Caravaggio, Narcissus at the Source, 1597-1599, oil and chiaroscuro on canvas, 100cm x 92cm, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome. 

Leonardo da Vinci, Saint John the Baptist, 1513-1516, oil on panel, 69cm x 57cm, Louvre Museum, Paris.

Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights (inner right wing, Hell panel), 1480-1505, oil on panel, 200cm x 97cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid.