Humanism in Paintings, Essay Example

Each epoch in human civilizational development has its features and importance in the overall human evolution. On the other hand, some epochs are more crucial in human self-exploration and self-realisation than the others. In terms of the development of Humanism, Renaissance and Enlightenment were particularly crucial times. The aim of this paper is to outline certain reflections of Humanism in paintings of these periods.

Unlike the Middle Ages, Renaissance paintings were more human-centred and demonstrated humanness in the figures of saints. This was demonstrated in painting saints and human figures of the same size and proportion. The previous golden or heavenly backgrounds were substituted by the natural, earthly landscapes. Gradually, halos of saints disappeared and they were described full of human emotions and sensuality. Another feature was attention to the details of the description of figures and also backgrounds, making them more credible and realistic (Nauert, 1995).

Another feature of Renaissance was the development of distinctive painting techniques such as “chiaroscuro” and “sfumato”. In both cases, the essence of the technique is the play of light and shadow aimed at emphasising the depicted figure or a certain aspect of the composition. On the other hand, “sfumato” is characterised by gradual change from light to the shadow through the means of half-tones and blurring the lines of the figures. This technique is the most vivid in Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”. In this painting, the edges of the figure are very soft just as lines of her face and smile. The tones are chosen very close creating the impression of inner light (Damisch, 2002). On the other hand, “chiaroscuro” uses light and shadow as a contrast to emphasise the details of the target object strengthened by the dark background. The best example of this is Rembrandt’s “Belshazzar’s Feast”, where the expressiveness of the main figures is contrasted with the dark background (Damisch, 2002). In terms of achieving these effects with a brush, palette and canvas, the painter would have to make a sketch first and then use various tones from light to the shadow to achieve a mellow “sfumato” effect. For “chiaroscuro,” the fewer tones would be used; light and dark colours would be placed closer to one another, creating the depth of contrast (Nauert, 1995).

Another representation of Humanism movement in painting is Rubens’s work of Baroque period. The main reason for Rubens’s belonging to the Humanism movement is his concentration on the humanness of the described figures and his attention to the details. He also often used natural backgrounds and floral motives in his paintings, making his paintings more earthly and realistic (Nauert, 1995). Rubens’s devotion to Humanism was also shown through his admiration for the female body of voluminous shapes and depiction of not only historical and religious but also mythological themes. The best example is his work “Diane Returning from Hunt.” This painting demonstrates the beauty of half-naked female body opposed to the rough male nature of the described satires (Damisch, 2002). Rubens paid attention to the details in facial expressions, body language and clothes details. He used the light-shadow technique to emphasise the female beauty in contrast to the satire’s dark vulgarity. In this regard, the figure of Diane is demonstrated to be the most luminous as an expression of her divine nature (Nauert, 1995). In this regard, Rubens demonstrates the divinity of human beauty in contrast to saints of the Christian Church.

In terms of Rubens’s relation to the Baroque movement, he certainly was one of the core painters of it, but he also made a step closer to Enlightenment, because he was not only showing saints more emotional and human in their depiction, he was actually concentrating on human beings and their realistic reflection on various themes, many of which were far from religious (Damisch, 2002). In this regard, Rubens was unique for this period, since he had his own vision of how Baroque trends could be reflected in painting. On the other hand, other painters had different perspectives. For instance, Abraham Janssens concentrated on the historical paintings and their accuracy rather than expressiveness of humanness.

References

Damisch, H. (2002). A Theory of Cloud: Toward a History of Painting. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Nauert, C.G. (1995). Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.