ART APPRECIATION | Marquez, C.A.

The Romans were the first to use bricks

and cement (Maguigad et al., 2007). The Romans
were also credited for the development of the use
of vaults and arches (Estolas et al., 2007) as well
as the first round dome (Zulueta, 2007).
Examples of Roman architecture were the
Pantheon Basilica, the Arch of Titus, and Nimes.

An order known to Romans was the

Composite order. It is a late Roman development
of the Corinthian and was not ranked as a
separate order until the Renaissance. It is named
as composite because the capital is made of Ionic
volutes and Conrinthian acanthus-leaf
decoration, and has a 10 diameter high column
(Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019).
Arch of Titus and
Nimes Meanwhile, the Etruscans, who first inhabited
Source: pinterest.com West Italy, were credited for the use of the first
radiating arch, and the invention of a new order
called Tuscan (Zulueta, 2007). It is a Roman adaption of the Doric order. In
addition, “the Tuscan has an unfluted shaft and a simple echinus-abacus
capital. It is similar proportion and profile to the Doric but it is much plainer.
The column is seven diameters high. This order is the most solid in
appearance of all the orders” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019).

E. Medieval Period
Painting
Paintings in Medieval times can be characterized in three periods. Early
Christian art’s subject matters were symbols like the crucifix, and human
figure, Christ for instance.

Byzantine art was characterized

by ‘very strong linear emphasis and the
use of rigid artistic stereotypes with
colors ranging from light to dark.
Byzantine artists were also famous in
manuscript and icon painting’. In
addition to this, ‘the central concern of
the Byzantine style is the awe-inspiring
presentation of holy figures to this end.
Figures are portrayed in stylized
postures, serene of expression, and
often halo-crowned. Three-dimensional Mosaic at San Vitale
depth is largely shunned in favor of a Source: essential-humanities.net
single plane; this flatness is especially
striking when robes are drawn with

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complex folds” (essential-humanities.net, 2019). The church interior was the

principal canvas for Byzantine mosaic and painting. Icon painting, which is a
panel painting of one or more holy figures, was popularized during this period.

Lastly, Romanesque art was the combination

of the classic, the Byzantine, and the Eastern Art
characteristics. Moreover, it was during this period
that there was a return to a strong degree of
aesthetic unity across Western Europe and the
most distinctive feature of Romanesque
illumination was the abundance of saturated
colors. One of the most important Romanesque
illuminations is the Winchester Bible.

Sculpture
Sculpture played a secondary role in Early
Christian art. The biblical prohibition of graven
images was thought to apply with particular force
to large cut statues, and the idols worshipped in
The Morgan Leaf and pagan temples. If religious sculpture was to avoid
the Winchester Bible the pagan taint of idolatry, it had to eschew life-size
Source: metmuseum.org representations of the human figure. It thus
developed from the very start in an anti-
monumental direction: away from the spatial depth
and massive scale of Graeco-Roman sculpture toward shallow, small-scale
forms and lace-like surface decoration (Janson, 1995).

Janson (1995) further stated:

The earliest works of Christian sculpture are marble

sarcophagi. These evolved from the pagan sarcophagi that re-
placed cinerary urns for the deceased in Roman society
around the time of Hadrian, when belief in an afterlife arose
as part of a major change in the attitude toward death.
Patterns for decorating them were quickly set, probably by
passing designs from shop to shop in illustrated manuscripts.
The most popular scenes were taken from classical mythology
which, since they occur on sarcophagi and nowhere else, must
possess symbolic significance, not just antiquarian interest.
Their general purpose seems to have been to glorify the
deceased through visual analogy to the great legendary heroes
of the past. Later, in the third century, biographical and
historical scenes projected the deceased's ideal of life,
frequently with moral overtones. From the middle of the third
century on, sarcophagi were also produced for the more
important members of the Christian Church. Before the time
of Constantine, their decoration consisted mostly of the same

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limited repertory of themes familiar from catacomb murals —

the Good Shepherd, Jonah and the Whale, and so forth — but
within a framework clearly borrowed from pagan sarcophagi.
Not until a century later do we find a significant broader range
of subject matter and form.

During the Byzantine period, “large-

scale statuary died out with the last imperial
portraits, and stone carving was confined
almost entirely to architecture ornament.
But small-scale reliefs, especially in ivory
and metal, continued to be produced
through the Second Golden Age and beyond”
(Janson, 1995). However, there was only
little sculpture produced during this period.
Sculptures were mostly in small relief
carvings of ivory. Also, Byzantine sculpture
were usually made part of architecture just
like the vestiges of an atrium in the Great
Palace of Constantinople; and the Barberini
Diptych is an example of Byzantine ivory
work.

Barberini Diptych During the Romanesque era, Janson (1995)

Source: courses.lumelearning.com stated that:

The revival of monumental stone sculpture is even more

astonishing than the architectural achievements of the
Romanesque era, since neither Carolingian nor Ottonian art
had shown any tendencies in this direction. Free-standing
statues all but disappeared from Western art after the fifth
century. Stone relief, in turn, survived only in the form of
architectural ornament or surface decoration, with the depth
of the carving reduced to a minimum. Thus the only
continuous sculptural tradition in early medieval art was that
of sculpture in-miniature: small reliefs, and occasional
statuettes, in metal or ivory. Ottonian art, in works such as
the bronze doors of Bishop Bernward, had enlarged the scale
of this tradition but not its spirit. Moreover, its truly large
scale sculptural efforts, represented by the impressive Gero
Crucifix, were limited almost entirely to wood. What little stone
carving there was in Western Europe before the mid-eleventh
century hardly went beyond the artistic and technical level of
the Sigvald relief.

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Examples of Romanesque sculptures

include the Majestat Batllo, Mary as the Throne
of Wisdom, Tomb of Rudolf of Swabia, and the
Baptismal Font at St. Bartholomew’s Church
which was made by Reiner of Huy.

Architecture
There were three types of architecture
during the medieval times. The Early Christians
continued the old Roman tradition. Early
Christian churches were modeled in Roman
basilicas with the use of old columns. These were
brought in uniform height.

The highest story of the nave and choir was

heavy and the windows were small in the Early
Christian church. The columns have round
arches between the round interiors and were
decorated with mosaics. The roof is flat under
and is simple (Estolas et al., 2007).

Zulueta (2003) stated that Early Christian

buildings hardly had the architectural value of a
style produced by the solution of constructive
buildings. Basilican churches had either closely Mary as the Throne of
spaced columns carrying entablature. The Wisdom
Basilican church, with three or five aisles Source:
courses.lumenlearning.com
covered by a single timber roof, was typical of the
early Christian style.

According to Estolas et al (2007), Byzantine architecture started from

200 A.D. up to the 6th century A.D. The Byzantine architecture was
characterized by a great dome supported by curved triangles called
pendentives and fitted to a square arch. This type of architecture was used in
Russian churches, Mohammedan mosques, Jewish synagogues, and Istanbul
structures.

Another typical feature found in all Byzantine churches is the

iconostasis; and the floor plan was based on the Greek cross (Maguigad et al.,
2007). It may be broadly stated that the Basilican type of plan belonged to
early Christian architecture, and the domed, centralized types of plan
belonged to Byzantine (Zulueta, 2007).

The Romanesque style, during the 10th to 12th century, was the
architectural style of Western Christianity. It was initially derived from the
Roman Basilica. It was remarkable for the tentative use of new constructive

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principle which was the deliberate articulation of structure, in which each

construction part played a designed role in establishing equilibrium.

This style was adapted to meet the needs of the Feudal Europe when
every public structure had to be strong enough to withstand attacks. It was
marked by crude, powerful stonework and heavy walls, projecting a fortress-
like impression (Maguigad et al., 2007) and it was characterized with very
heavy walls with small window opening stone arch or inverted roof window.
It introduced the ribbed vault, which facilitated height and width, and paving
the way for the gothic (Estolas et al., 2007). The general characteristic of the
Romanesque style was sober and dignified (Zulueta, 2007).

F. Gothic Period
Painting
Gothic painting was ‘a combination of the religious and the grotesque’.
Gothic art, painting in particular, was said to be a Germanic influenced art.
Examples of Gothic paintings were the Madonna and the Gargoyles, and
Simon Martini’s Annunciation.

Janson (1995), citing the majestic Notre Dame de la Belle Verriere in

France, stated that:

Although Gothic architecture and sculpture began so

dramatically at St. Denis and Chartres, Gothic painting
developed at a rather slow pace in its early stages. The new
architectural style sponsored by Abbot Suger gave birth to a
new conception of monumental sculpture almost at once but
did not demand any radical change of style in painting.
Suger's account of the rebuilding of his church, to be sure,
places a great deal of emphasis on the miraculous effect of
stained-glass windows, whose "continuous light" flooded the
interior. Stained glass was thus an integral element of Gothic
architecture from the very beginning. Yet the technique of
stained glass painting had already been perfected in
Romanesque times. The "many masters from different regions"
whom Suger assembled to do the choir windows at St. -Denis
may have faced a larger task and a more complex pictorial
program than before, but the style of their designs remained
Romanesque.

It should also be noted that Italy “at the end of the 13th century had
produced an explosion of creative energy as spectacular and as far-reaching
in its impact on the future, as the rise of Gothic cathedral in France”. One
notable work of Gothic features is that of Giotto’s Lamentation since it “arose
from the same “old-fashioned” attitudes in Italian Gothic architecture and
sculpture”.

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Sculpture
One of the most notable sculptural works during the Gothic period was
the sculptural decoration of the Chartres Cathedral, West Portals in France.
Janson (1995) stated that “they probably represent the oldest full-fledged
example of Early Gothic sculpture”. He continued by stating that:

Comparing them with Romanesque portals, we are

impressed first of all with a new sense of order, as if all
the figures had suddenly come to attention, conscious of
their responsibility to the architectural frame-work. The
dense crowding and the frantic
movement of Romanesque sculpture
have given way to an emphasis on
symmetry and clarity. The figures on
the lintels, archivolts, and tympanums
are no longer entangled with each other
but standout as separate entities so
that the entire design carries much
further than that of previous portals.
The Chartres jamb figures, in contrast,
are essentially statues, each with its
own axis.

Gothic sculptural works can also be seen in

England, Germany and Italy. The Virgin and Child is
a masterpiece of Gothic sculpture

Virgin and Child

Architecture Source:
visual-arts-cork.com
Gothic Architectural style was developed in
France between 12th to 16th centuries. It was
adopted in religious buildings. It was also referred to as Christian church
architecture (Maguigad et al, 2007). It has been referred as such because the
decorations were more elaborate and sculpture forms the decoration on the
three postal which were heavy with religious depictions and relics (Estolas et
al., 2007).

This style used the ribbed vault, flying buttresses, pointed arches, and
steep roofs. There was an emphasis on the vertical, with galleries and arcades
replacing internal walls and extensive use of glass (Maguigad et al., 2007).
The pointed arch made the building larger and bigger and the buttresses were
used to support the building. Gothic cathedrals usually have two towers
(Estolas et al., 2007).

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G. Renaissance Period
Painting
Renaissance painters made changes to the medieval styles of painting.
Early Renaissance painters considered ‘simplicity, religious ardor, and piety
together with gestures and facial expressions’. Cimabue and Giotto, for
instance, were able to emphasize the human qualities of their subjects. High
renaissance painters made much more changes for they were able to
introduce new techniques. Chiaroscuro was introduced by Da Vinci while
Contrapusto twist of the human anatomy was introduced by Michaelangelo.
Aside from Da Vinci, who made the ‘The Last Supper’ and ‘Monalisa’, and
Michaelangelo, who painted the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, another
renowned Renaissance artist was Raphael who was known because of his
‘Galatea’ and ‘Sistine Madonna’. The final stage of high renaissance was
Mannerism. It was ‘characterized by spatial incongruity and excessive
elongation of the human figures’. An example of a painting that Mannerism
was apparent was the ‘Slaughter of the Innocents’ of Tintoretto.

Sculpture
According to Janson and Janson (1992), the first half of the 15th
century became the heroic age of the early Renaissance. He added that
“sculptors had earlier and more plentiful opportunities than the architects
and painters to meet the challenge of the “new Athens”. The best among early
Renaissance sculptors was Donatello. He made the statue of David and the
bust of Child Jesus. Donatello sought an attitude toward the human body
similar to that of classical antiquity. He made St. George which is carved in
marble for another niche of the Church of Or San Michelle. This is the first
statue since ancient times that can stand by itself; or to put it in another way,
the first to recapture the full meaning of classical contrapposto.

In high Renaissance, a well-known name in sculpture was

Michelangelo who made the ‘Pieta’ and the marble statue of ‘Moses’. According
to Janson and Janson (1992), he “was a sculptor to the core; more specifically
he was a carver of marble statues”. He further added that the David is “the
earliest monumental statue of the High Renaissance” in which “the unique
qualities of Michelangelo’s art are fully present” in this sculptural work.

Architecture
Renaissance architecture was developed in the 15th century up to the
16 th century. Greek and Roman styles influenced the Renaissance
architecture. It was basically the adaptation of the classical order and design
but there was the introduction of new styles (Maguigad et al., 2007). Among
these differences were the over-hanging cornice, the string course, the
pilaster, and the ornamental pediment. The dome was made much steeper
and was adopted in smaller buildings and symmetrical structures of great
simplicity and beauty (Estolas et al., 2007).

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Renaissance architecture was brought to the construction of

aristocratic residences or palazzos, and churches. It was usually three stories
high. This generally consisted of arches above the windows and between them
at regular intervals are flat columns called pilasters with capitals from the
classical orders. The long, straight line of the roof strengthened the massive,
horizontal emphasis of the structure. Renaissance architecture observed
objective, mathematical standards of measurement and proportion in
accordance to the scientific spirit of the age. The structures did not only revive
the classical orders, but the ideas of balance, symmetry and proportion as
well (Zulueta, 2007).

Though dome is not considered Renaissance work, it can be seen in

early Renaissance architectures just like the Basilica of San Lorenzo. The
founder and leader of High Renaissance architecture was Donato Bramante
who designed the St. Peter’s Basilica. This period also gave rise to the Palazzo
Farnese, which is said to be the greatest Renaissance palace.

Palazzo Farnese
Source: essential-humanities.net

H. Mannerism
Painting
According to Janson and Janson (1992), “among the various trends in
art in the wake of the High Renaissance, Mannerism is the most significant,
as well as the most problematic”. They further added:

Mannerism was the assertion of a purely aesthetic ideal.

Through formulaic abstraction, it translated form and
expression into a style of the utmost refinement that
emphasized grace, variety, and virtuoso display at the expense
of content, clarity, and unity. This taste for affected elegance
and bizarre conceits necessarily appealed to a small but
sophisticated audience, but, in a larger sense, Mannerism
signifies a major change in Italian culture. The quest for
originality as a projection of the individual's personality had a
liberating influence that gave artists license to explore their
imaginations freely. This investigation of new modes was

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ultimately healthy, although the style itself came to be

regarded as decadent. Given such subjective freedom, it is
hardly surprising that Mannerism produced extreme
personalities which today seem the most "modern" of all
sixteenth-century artists.

Paramigianino is one of the painters during this time. His Self-Portrait

suggests no psychological turmoil. According to Janson and Janson (1992),
“the artist's appearance is bland and well groomed, veiled by a delicate
Leonardesque sfumato. The distortions, too, are objective, not arbitrary, for
the picture records what Parmigianino saw as he gazed at his reflection in a
convex mirror”.

He also made The Madonna with the Long Neck which, according to
Janson and Janson (1992), was “painted after he had returned to his native
Parma after several years in Rome. He had been deeply impressed with the
rhythmic grace of Raphael's art. But he has transformed the older master's
figures into a remarkable new breed. Their limbs, elongated and ivory-
smooth, move with effortless languor, embodying an ideal of beauty as remote
from nature as any Byzantine figure. Their setting is equally arbitrary, with a
gigantic (and apparently purposeless) row of columns looming behind the tiny
figure of a prophet”.

Sculpture
It was believed that the Italian sculptors of the late 16th century failed
to match the achievements of the painters. Janson and Janson (1992) further
added that “the “anti-classical” phase of Mannerism, represented by the style
of Rosso, has no sculptural counterpart, but the second elegant phase of
Mannerism appears in countless sculptural examples in Italy and abroad”.

During the period of mannerism, “the best-known representative of the

style is Benvenuto Cellini, the Florentine goldsmith and sculptor who owes
much of his fame to his picaresque autobiography”.

They added:

Cellini's only major work in precious metal to escape

destruction, displays the virtues and limitations of his art. To
hold condiments is obviously the lesser function of this lavish
conversation piece. Because salt comes from the sea and
pepper from the land, Cellini placed the boat-shaped salt
container under the guardianship of Neptune, while the
pepper, in a tiny triumphal arch, is watched over by a
personification of Earth. On the base are figures representing
the four seasons and the four parts of the day.

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Architecture
Only a few buildings are
generally acknowledged today as
Mannerist, because of their
reliance on idiosyncratic gestures
that depart from Renaissance
norms, but this does not provide a
viable definition of Mannerism as
an architectural period style.
Mannerist architecture lacks a
consistent integration between
elements. They places emphasis on
encrusted decoration in order to
create picturesque effects, with the Villa Rotonda
Source: greatbuildings.com
occasional distortion of form and
novel, even illogical rearrangement
of space. By this standard, most late-sixteenth-century architecture can
hardly be called Mannerist at all (Janson and Janson, 1992).

“Palladio insisted that architecture must be governed both by reason

and by certain universal rules that were perfectly exemplified by the buildings
of the ancients”, which can be observed in Villa Rotonda, Vicenza.

I. Baroque Period
Painting
Baroque painting was regarded as pariah. It was another term for
disorder and decadence because of its ‘boldness of execution, sweeping lines
and strong contrasts. Furthermore, baroque painters such as Caravaggio and
Rembrandt experimented on distortion and exaggeration. Caravaggio and
Rembrandt’s ‘The Death of a Virgin’ and ‘Return of the Prodigal Son’ were
examples of paintings that showed features of baroque features and style.
Caravaggio, whose real name is Michelangelo Merisi, was among the foremost
painters during this period. The Calling of St. Matthew is remote from both
Mannerism and the High Renaissance. This work is described as a work of
naturalism so much so that for Caravaggio, naturalism is not an end in itself,
but a means of conveying profoundly religious content (Janson and Janson,
1992).

Sculpture
Bernini Lorenzo was a prominent Baroque sculptor who made the
bronze bust of Louis XIV of France. Carlo Madserno’s work at St. Peters was
“completed by Gianlorenzo Bernini, the greatest sculptor-architect of the
century”. He made David wherein “his figure shares with Hellenistic works
that display unison of body and spirit, of motion and emotion, which
Micheangelo so conspicuously avoids”. Thus, “Baroque sculpture is a tour de
force, attempting essentially pictorial effects that were traditionally outside

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its province. Such a charging of space with active energy is, in fact, a key
feature of all Baroque art” (Janson and Janson, 1992).

Architecture
Baroque Architecture developed in the 17th century and in the first half
of the 18th century. It flourished in Italy, Austria, Germany and Spain.
Though, according to Janson and Janson (1992), “in architecture, the
beginnings of the Baroque style cannot be defined as precisely as in painting”.
It was similar to that of Renaissance but it was far more spacious and there
was the impression of movement and activity. They have domes and cupolas
and they may not have spires (Maguigad et al., 2007). Elaborate sculptural
ornamentation, columns and entablatures decorated with garlands of flowers,
fruits, shells, and water characterized Baroque architecture (Estolas et al.,
2007). The most talented young architect to emerge during this period was
Carlo Maderno. He was given the task of “completing the church of St. Peters.
Maderno’s design for the façade follows the pattern established by
Michelangelo for the exterior of the church. It consists of a colossal order
supporting an attic, but with a dramatic emphasis on the portals” (Janson
and Janson, 1992).

J. Rococo Period
Painting
Another development in painting that begun in 18th century France was
Rococo. It was used mainly in ‘interior decoration, furniture, porcelain and
tapestry’. It made use of the ‘fanciful and frivolous S-curved and scroll-like
forms and ornamentally pierced shell’. There are three Rococo Styles: sensual
rococo, academic rococo and genre rococo. The first is the ‘expression on
voluptuous forms’; the second ‘caters on the picturesque’; and the last
‘presents the farm and country’. In this period, two warring factions were
formed over the issue of drawing versus color. These are the Poussinistes (or
conservatives) against the Rubenistes. According to Janson and Janson
(1992), “the conservatives defended Poussin’s view that drawing, which
appealed to the mind, was superior to color, which appealed to the senses.
The Rubenistes advocated color rather than drawing as being truer to nature.
They also pointed out that drawing, admittedly based on reason, appeals only
to the expert few, whereas color appeals to everyone”.

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One of the most popular

Rubenistes painters was Jean-
Antoine Watteau who made the A
Pilgrimage to Cythera. In this
painting, “he characteristically
interweaves theater and real life so
that no clear distinction can be made
between the two. A Pilgrimage to
Cythera includes just another
element: classical mythology. These
young couples have come to Cythera
to pay homage to Venus, whose Pilgrimage to Cythera (Embarkation
garlanded image appears on the far for Cythera)
right. They are about to board the Source: artble.com
boat, accompanied by swarms of
cupids” (Janson and Janson, 1992).

Sculpture
According to Encyclopedia of Sculpture (n.d.), “the rococo is the
flimsiest of all the generic labels used by art historians, and does not at all
imply a profound change from the baroque. Indeed, the term rococo in so far
as it can be applied to sculpture should be understood as describing not a
different style from the baroque, but merely a variation on the style brought
to fruition by Bernini and his contemporaries. One may, however, talk about
rococo qualities in a work of sculpture – informality, gaiety, a concern for
matters of the heart and a self-conscious avoidance of seriousness”.

According to Boundless Art History, “in sculpture, the work of Etienne-

Maurice Falconet is widely considered to be the best representative of Rococo
style. Generally, Rococo sculpture makes use of very delicate porcelain
instead of marble or another heavy medium. Falconet was the director of a
famous porcelain factory at Sevres. The prevalent themes in Rococo sculpture
echoed those of the other mediums, with the display of classical themes,
cherubs, love, playfulness, and nature being depicted most often as
exemplified in the sculpture Pygmalion and Galatee”.

Architecture
Rococo architecture (1650 -1700) was the style of 18th century French
art and interior design. The word Rococo was seen as a combination of the
French rocaille, or stone garden (referring to arranging stones in natural forms
like shells), and the Italian barocco, or Baroque style. Rococo rooms were
designed as total works of art with elegant and ornate furniture, small
sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapestry complementing architecture,
reliefs, and wall paintings. It was largely supplanted by the neoclassic style.
Due to Rococo love of shell-like curves and focus on decorative arts, some
critics used the term to derogatively imply that the style was frivolous (Janson
and Janson, 1992).

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“The first great architect of the Rococo Central Europe” was Fischer von
Erlach. He designed the church of St. Charles Borromaeus in Vienna which
“combines a thorough understanding of Borromini with reminiscences of St.
Peter’s and the Pantheon portico. The design has “a pair of huge columns
derived from the Column of Trajan substitutes for facade towers, which have
become corner pavilions, reminiscent of the Louvre court”.

K. Neoclassicism
Painting
Janson and Janson (1992) stated that “Neoclassicism has been seen as
the opposite of Romanticism on the one hand and as no more than one aspect
of it on the other. Neoclassicism is a new revival of classical antiquity, more
consistent than earlier classicisms, and one that was linked, at least initially,
to Enlightenment thought”.

They further said that, “in France, the thinkers of the Enlightenment,
who were the intellectual fore-runners of the Revolution, strongly fostered the
anti-Rococo trend in painting. This reform, at first a matter of content rather
than style accounts for the sudden fame around 1760 of Jean-Baptiste
Greuze. The Village Bride, like his other pictures of those years, is a scene of
lower-class family life. What distinguishes it from earlier genre paintings is
its contrived, stage-like character, borrowed from Hogarth's "dumb show"
narratives”.

Sculpture
“Unlike painters, neoclassical sculptors were overwhelmed by the
authority accorded, since Winckelmann, to ancient statues” and “portraiture
proved the most viable field for Neoclassical sculpture” (Janson and Janson,
1992).

The most distinguished neoclassical sculptor was Jean-Antoine

Houdon who “still retains the acute sense of individual character introduced
by Coysevox. His statue of Voltaire (fig. 331) does full justice to the sitter's
skeptical wit and wisdom, and the classical drapery enveloping the famous
sage, to stress his equivalence to ancient philosophers, is not disturbing, for
he wears it as casually as a dressing gown” (Janson and Janson, 1992).

Architecture
Janson and Janson (1992) stated that:

England was the birthplace of Neoclassicism in architecture.

The earliest sign of this attitude was the Palladian revival in
the 1720s, sponsored by a wealthy amateur, Lord Burlington.
Chiswick House, adapted from the Villa Rotonda, is compact,
simple, and geometric — the antithesis of Baroque pomp.
What distinguishes this style from earlier classicisms is less
its external appearance than its motivation. Instead of merely

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reasserting the superior authority of the ancients, it claimed

to satisfy the demands of reason, and thus to be more
"natural" than the "Baroque. This rationalism explains the
abstract, segmented look of Chiswick House. The surfaces are
flat and unbroken, the ornament is meager, the temple portico
juts out abruptly from the blocklike body of the structure.

They added:

The rationalist movement came somewhat later in France,

indicating England's new importance for continental
architects. Its first great monument, the Pantheon in Paris, by
Jacques-Germain Soufflot, was built as the church of Ste. -
Genevieve, but secularized during the Revolution. The
smooth, sparsely decorated surfaces are abstractly severe,
akin to those of Chiswick House, while the huge portico is
modeled directly on ancient Roman temples.

US Capitol Building
Source: visual-arts-cork.com

L. Romantic Period
Painting
The painters of the Romantic Era were influenced by Rousseau’s “I am
not made like anyone I have seen; I dare believe I am not made like anyone in
existence. If am not better, at least I am different”. This statement of Rousseau
made romantic painters give emphasis on subjective individualism. This
meant that romanticists should ‘release their emotions by expressing
sympathies’ say for example for the poor and the oppressed, as well as their
‘visions of universal brotherhood’.

Further, “the rediscovery and utilization of previously neglected or

disliked forms evolved into a stylistic principle in itself, so that revivals
became the “style” or Romanticism in art” (Janson and Janson, 1992). In the

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field of painting, it “remains the greatest creative achievement of Romanticism

in the visual arts precisely because it was less dependent than architecture
or sculpture on public approval.

Considered to be as “unreservedly a genius” of his time, Francisco Goya

was able to produce works containing the ideals of Romanticism. Said to be
his greatest work, The Third of May commemorates the execution of a group
of Madrid citizens.

Janson and Janson (1992) described the painting:

Here the blazing color, broad, fluid brushwork, and dramatic

nocturnal light are more emphatically Neo-Baroque than ever.
The picture has all the emotional intensity of religious art, but
these martyrs are dying for Liberty, not the Kingdom of
Heaven. Nor are their executioners the agents of Satan but of
political tyranny — a formation of faceless automatons,
impervious to their victims' despair and defiance. The same
scene was to be reenacted countless times in modern history.
With the clairvoyance of genius, Goya created an image that
has become a terrifying symbol of our era.

Sculpture
According to Janson and Janson (1992), “the development of Romantic
sculpture follows the pattern of painting. The unique virtue of sculpture – its
solid, space-filling reality (its “idol” quality) – was not congenial to the
Romantic temperament. The rebellious and individualistic urges of
Romanticism could find expression in rough, small-scale sketches but rarely
survived the laborious process of translating them into permanent, finished
monuments. Moreover, the new standard of uncompromising, realistic "truth"
was embarrassing to the sculptor. When a painter renders clothing,
anatomical detail, or furniture with photographic precision, he or she does
not produce a duplicate of reality but a representation of it. To do so in
sculpture comes dangerously close to mechanical reproduction, making it a
handmade equivalent of the plaster cast. Sculpture thus underwent a crisis
that was resolved only toward the end of the nineteenth century.

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One of the sculptors during this time was

Francois Rude who produced the splendidly
rhetorical La Marseillaise on the Arc de
Triomphe in Paris. It depicted the soldiers and
volunteers of 1792 rallying to defend the
Republic, are still in classical guise but the
Genius of Liberty above them imparts her great
forward-rushing movement to the entire group,
lending it an irresistible Romantic sweep.

La Marseillaise (The Departure

of the Volunteers of 1792)
Source: khanacademy.org

Architecture
Janson and Janson (1992) described architecture during the period of
Romanticism in the following:

It is characteristic of Romanticism that, at the time architects

launched the classical revival. They also started a Gothic
revival. England was far in advance here, as it was in the
development of Romantic literature and painting. Gothic
forms had never wholly disappeared in England. They were
used on occasion for special purposes, but these were
survivals of an authentic, if outmoded, tradition. The
conscious revival, by contrast, was linked with the cult of the
picturesque, and with the vogue for medieval (and pseudo-
medieval) romances.

Among those who revived Gothic style were Sir Charles Barry and A.N.
Welby Pugin reflected in the House of Parliament in London which is said to
be the largest monument of the Gothic revival. According to Janson and
Janson (1992), “as the seat of a vast and complex governmental apparatus,
but at the same time as a focus of patriotic feeling, it presents a curious
mixture: repetitious symmetry governs the main body of the structure and
picturesque irregularity its silhouette”.

M. Realism
Charles Baudelaire called for painting that expressed “the heroism of
modern life”. It was Gustave Courbet who made an artistic creed of this
demand.

Janson and Janson (1992) explicated realism by stating the following:

The modern artist must rely on direct experience and be a

Realist. "I cannot paint an angel," he said, "because I have
never seen one." As a descriptive term, "realism" is not very

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precise. For Courbet, it meant something akin to the

"naturalism" of Caravaggio. As an admirer of Rembrandt, he
had, in fact, strong links with the Caravaggesque tradition
and his work, like Caravaggio's, was denounced for its
supposed vulgarity and lack of spiritual content.

Courbet exhibited The Stone Breakers which embodied his

programmatic Realism. Janson and Janson (1992) described the painting in
the following manner:

Courbet had seen two men working on a road, and had asked
them to pose for him in his studio. He painted them lifesize,
solidly and matter-of-factly, with none of Millet's overt pathos
or sentiment: the young man's face is averted, the old one's
half hidden by a hat. He cannot have picked them casually,
however; their contrast in age is significant— one is too old for
such heavy work, the other too young. Endowed with the
dignity of their symbolic status, they do not turn to us for
sympathy.

N. Impressionism
Impressionism started in France which aimed to ‘portray the effects of
experience upon the consciousness of the artist and audience rather than the
objective characteristics of things or events’. It was also characterized by
‘loose brushwork in trying to present nature in its reality’. An example of this
movement was Claude Monet’s The River. Janson and Janson (1992)
described such work as “flooded with sunlight so bright that conservative
critics claimed it made their eyes smart. In this flickering net-work of color
patches, the reflections on the water are as "real" as the banks of the Seine”.

The River
Source: adriancolindoyle.com

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In sculpture, it was August Rodin who “redefined sculpture during the

same years that Manet and Monet redefined painting”. He accomplished The
Thinker through which, Janson and Janson (1992) stated that “as the color
patch for Manet and Monet is the primary reality, so are the malleable lumps
from which Rodin builds his forms. By insisting on this "unfinishedness," he
rescued sculpture from mechanical reproduction just as Manet rescued
painting from photographic realism”.

O. Post-Impressionism
This is difficult to define. As stated by Janson and Janson (1992):

This colorless label designates a group of artists who passed

through an Impressionist phase in the 1880s but became
dissatisfied with the style and extended it in various
directions. Because they did not have a common goal, it is
difficult to find a more descriptive term for them than Post-
Impressionists. They certainly were not "anti-Impressionists."
Far from trying to undo the effects of the "Manet Revolution,"
they wanted to carry it further. Post-Impressionism is in
essence just a later stage, though a very important one.

Other than Vincent van Gogh, another important name in post-

impressionism is Paul Cezanne who was “the oldest of the Post-
Impressionists”. As stated by Janson and Janson (1992), his goal was “to
make of Impressionism something solid and durable, like the art of
Museums”. This quest for the “solid and durable” can be seen in Cezanne’s
still lifes, such as Still Life with Apples.” They described such painting as:

The ornamental back-drop is integrated with the three-

dimensional shapes, and the brushstrokes have a rhythmic
pattern that gives the canvas its shimmering texture. We also
notice another aspect of Cezanne's style that may puzzle us at
first. The forms are deliberately simplified and outlined with
dark colors, and the perspective is incorrect for both the fruit
bowl and the horizontal surfaces, which seem to tilt upward.
Yet the longer we study the picture, the more we realize the
lightness of these apparently arbitrary distortions.

Other Art Movements

Other art movements were Neo-impressionism, Symbolism, Art
Nouveau, Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, abstract art or non-
objective art, photo-realism and installation art.

Neo-impressionism “is considered as a response to empirical realism of

impressionism” (Caslib et al., 2018). It relies on “systematic calculation and
scientific theory to achieve predetermined visual effects. Whereas the
Impressionist painters spontaneously recorded nature in terms of the fugitive

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effects of color and light, the Neo-Impressionists applied scientific optical

principles of light and color to create strictly formalized compositions”
(Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019). The eminent techniques were divisionism
and pointillism, where the latter “basically utilizes discrete dots and dashes
of pure color” (Caslib et al, 2018). Georges Seurat painted A Sunday Afternoon
on La Grande Jatte, which embodies the features of neo-impressionism.

Symbolism in painting took its direction from the poets and literary
theorists of the movement, but it also represented a reaction against the
objectivist aims of Realism and the increasingly influential movement of
Impressionism. In contrast to the relatively concrete representation these
movements sought, Symbolist painters favored works based on fantasy and
the imagination, and thus, turned to the mystical and even the occult in an
attempt to evoke subjective states of mind by visual forms (Encyclopedia
Britannica, 2018). One of the most important artworks in Symbolism was
Gustave Moreau’s Jupiter and Semele.

Art Nouveau “is characterized by its use of a long, sinuous, organic line
and was employed most often in architecture, interior design, jewelry and
glass design, posters, and illustration. It was a deliberate attempt to create a
new style, free of the imitative historicism that dominated much of 19th-
century art and design. The distinguishing ornamental characteristic of Art
Nouveau is its undulating, asymmetrical line, often taking the form of flower
stalks and buds, vine tendrils, insect wings, and other delicate and sinuous
natural objects; the line may be elegant and graceful or infused with a
powerfully rhythmic and whip-like force. In the graphic arts, the line
subordinates all other pictorial elements—form, texture, space, and color—to
its own decorative effect” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018). Antoni Gaudi’s
Casa Mila in Barcelona is an example of architectural site that shows
characteristics of Art Noveau.

The originators of Fauvism were regarded as

‘Les Fauves’ which meant wild beasts as they were
painting with ‘pure, highly contrasting colors’.
Fauvists considered color of primary importance
and they aimed at gay or startling composition.
Their paintings were believed to have been done
with ‘great enthusiasm and intense passion’ like
Henri Matisse’s Woman with Hat and Bonnard who
made use of bold and striking colors which were no
longer confined within the planes but spilled over
freely (Ortiz et al., 1976).

Expressionism, on the other hand, originated

in Germany. It was the ‘use of violent colors to
Woman with Hat express violent emotional content’. What
Source: artsmeme.com characterized expressionists painting were fear,

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loneliness, poverty, and suffering. The painting ‘Scream’ of Edward Munich,

for example, showed ‘isolation, pain, fear and emotional pressure’.

Cubism presents ‘fragmentation and the multiple images’. Further,

cubism reduced three-dimensional objects into two-dimensional images.
Cubists ‘tried to show what they knew was there, not what they saw or felt’.
Hence, Cubism “presented a new depiction of reality that may appear
fragmented objects for viewers” (Caslib et al., 2018). Pablo Picasso is one of
the prominent cubists who made the Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon.

Futurist visual artists were inspired by the manifesto of Marinetti. They

“called for artists to have an emotional involvement in the dynamics of
modern life. They wanted to depict visually the perception of movement,
speed, and change. To achieve this, the Futurist painters adopted the Cubist
technique of using fragmented and intersecting plane surfaces and outlines
to show several simultaneous views of an object. But the Futurists
additionally sought to portray the object’s movement, so their works typically
include rhythmic spatial repetitions of an object’s outlines during transit”
(Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018). An important futurist art was The City Rises
which was made by Umberto Boccioni.

The City Rises

Source: theartstory.org

Abstract art and non-objective art are sometimes used interchangeably.

Reynoldson (2015), however, made a distinction between the two. He stated
that “the fewer the similarities that the image has to its real-world
counterpart, then the higher its degree of abstraction. This means that any
image can be slightly abstracted like a photograph, or highly abstracted like
Picasso’s Guernica”. When the artist pushes abstraction further and further,
eliminating superfluous details to a greater and greater degree, a point is
reached wherein all resemblance to the original referent disappears and we
are left with a shape that seems to resemble nothing (not a person, not a

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place, not an animal and not a thing). At this point, the word "abstract" no
longer suffices and a different word must be used: "non-objective".”

Hence, Dadaism, Surrrealism, Constructivism, De Stijl, Abstract

Expressionism, Optical Art, Pop Art, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art may be
categorized under abstract art or non-objective art.

Dadaism ran contrary to the ‘laws of beauty and social organization’ for
it was based on deliberate irrationality, anarchy, and cynicism. Kurt
Schwitters’ Merz Barn manifested negation of the laws of beauty.

Surrealism ‘linked symbols between the conscious and unconscious

mind’. It ‘explored the subconscious’ trying to ‘search hidden motives’ and it
tended to ‘analyze the suppressed desires, irrational acts, and dreams’.
Surrealism was defined as beneath the real. An example of a surrealist
painting was Hieronymus Bosch’s ‘The Damned Hell in Garden of Delights’.

Constructivism may have borrowed ideas and concepts from cubism,

suprematism and futurism but it has abolished the traditional artistic
concern with composition and replaced it with construction. Created objects
were not to express beauty or to present the artist’s outlook or to represent
the world, ‘but to carry out a fundamental analysis of the materials and forms
of art, one which might lead to the design of functional objects (The Art Story
Foundation, 2018). A prominent constructivist was Valdimir Tatlin who
created the Monument to Third International.

De Stijl is an art movement which started in the Netherlands and it

espoused a visual language which consisted of “precisely rendered geometric
shapes like straight lines, squares, and rectangles, and the use of primary
colors” (The Art Story Foundation, 2018). De Stijl artists sought laws of
equilibrium and harmony applicable to art and life (Encyclopedia Britannica,
2018) as a response to the horrors of war (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018).
Piet Mondrian is a prominent de stijl artist who made the Composition A.

Abstract expressionism is an art movement that filled the canvasses

with fields of color and abstract forms and abstract expressionists attacked
their canvasses with vigorous gestural expressionism (The Art Story
Foundation, 2018). They underscore ‘free, spontaneous, and personal
expression, and they exercise considerable freedom of technique and
execution to attain this goal, with a particular emphasis laid on the
exploitation of the variables’ physical character of paint to evoke expressive
qualities’ (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018). Jackson Pollock’s Number 1 shows
the features and characteristics of abstract expressionism.

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Number 1
Source: artsy.net

Optical art is popularly known as “op art”. It “relied on creating an

illusion to inform the experience of the artwork using color, pattern, and other
perspective tricks that artists had on their sleeves” (Caslib et al., 2018). It
deals with optical illusion, which is “achieved through the systematic and
precise manipulation of shapes and colors” wherein “the effects are based on
perspective illusion or on chromatic tension and surface tension”
(Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018). An example of this is Bridget Riley’s Blaze.

The subject matter in pop art “became far from traditional “high art”
themes of morality, mythology, and classic history” Furthermore, they
“celebrated commonplace objects and people of everyday life, in this way
seeking to elevate popular culture to the level of fine art” (The Art Story
Foundation, 2018). Citing Hamilton (1957), Caslib et al. (2018) mentioned
that “Pop art is: popular (designed for a mass audience), transient (short-term
solution), expendable (easily forgotten), low cost, mass produced, witty, sexy,
gimmicky, glamorous, big business”. Campbell’s Soup Cans by Andy Warhol
is an example of pop art.

Minimalism was “seen as an extreme type of abstraction that favored

geometric shapes, color fields and the use of objects and materials that had
an “industrial” sense” (Caslib et al., 2018). They “created works that
resembled factory-built commodities and upended traditional definitions of
art whose meaning was tied to a narrative or to the artist” (The Art Story
Foundation, 2018). Tony Smith’s Die is an example of minimalism.

Conceptual art “makes use of an ‘environmental object’ or an

‘environmental composition’. The objects could be styrofoam pieces shaped
and painted to resemble such objects as loaves of bread and arranged in
interesting patterns on the floor or wall of a gallery”. Conceptual artists are
influenced by minimalism but they “reduced the material presence of the
work to an absolute minimum – a tendency that some have referred to as the
“dematerialization” of art” (The Art Story Foundation, 2018). Joseph Kosuth’s
One and Three Chairs exemplify the characteristics of conceptual art.

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Photorealism is also known as

hyperrealism or superrealism. It
“complicates the notion of realism by
successfully mixing together that which is
real with that which is unreal. While the
image on the canvas is recognizable and
carefully delineated to suggest that it is
accurate, the artist often based their work
upon photographs rather than direct
observation. Therefore, their canvases
remain distanced from reality factually and
metaphorically” (The Art Story Foundation,
2018). Photorealist drawing and paintings
“are so immaculate in their precision these
start to look like photos without a direct McDonalds Pickup
Source: pinterest.com
reference to the artist who created it” (Caslib
et al., 2018). An example of this is
McDonalds Pickup by Ralph Goings.

Installation art, which is a form of conceptual art, “involves the

configuration of objects in a space”. It “allows the viewer to enter and move
around the configured space and/or interact with some of its elements”. It
“may engage several of the viewer’s senses including touch, sound and smell,
as well as vision” (Encyclopedia of Arts, n.d.). Etant donnes by Marcel
Duchamp is an example of installation art.

Performance art is presented “live”. It was “performed” by artists who

became “discontented with the conventional forms of art” and they “have often
turned to performance as a means to rejuvenate their work”. It is particularly
focused on the body which is why it is often referred to as body art. Yoko
Ono’s Cut Piece was performed in 1964 which invited audience to participate
in an “unveiling of the female body” (The Art Story Foundation, 2018).

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