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Art of Europe

October 14, 2023

The art of Europe, also known as Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period between the Paleolithic and the Iron Age.[1] Written histories of European art often begin with the Aegean civilizations, dating from the 3rd millennium BC. However a consistent pattern of artistic development within Europe becomes clear only with Ancient Greek art, which was adopted and transformed by Rome and carried; with the Roman Empire, across much of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.[2]

Apelles painting Campaspe, an artwork which shows people surrounded by fine art; by Willem van Haecht; c. 1630; oil on panel; height: 104.9 cm, width: 148.7 cm; Mauritshuis (The Hague, the Netherlands)
The Art of Painting; by Johannes Vermeer; 1666–1668; oil on canvas; 1.3 x 1.1 m; Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna, Austria)

The influence of the art of the Classical period waxed and waned throughout the next two thousand years, seeming to slip into a distant memory in parts of the Medieval period, to re-emerge in the Renaissance, suffer a period of what some early art historians viewed as "decay" during the Baroque period,[3] to reappear in a refined form in Neo-Classicism[4] and to be reborn in Post-Modernism.[5]

Before the 1800s, the Christian church was a major influence on European art, and commissions from the Church provided the major source of work for artists. In the same period there was also a renewed interest in classical mythology, great wars, heroes and heroines, and themes not connected to religion.[6] Most art of the last 200 years has been produced without reference to religion and often with no particular ideology at all, but art has often been influenced by political issues, whether reflecting the concerns of patrons or the artist.

European art is arranged into a number of stylistic periods, which, historically, overlap each other as different styles flourished in different areas. Broadly the periods are, Classical, Byzantine, Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, Modern, Postmodern and New European Painting.[6]

Prehistoric art Edit

Main article: Prehistoric art § Europe

European prehistoric art is an important part of the European cultural heritage.[7] Prehistoric art history is usually divided into four main periods: Stone Age, Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. Most of the remaining artifacts of this period are small sculptures and cave paintings.

 
Venus of Willendorf; c. 26,000 BC (the Gravettian period); limestone with ocre coloring; Naturhistorisches Museum (Vienna, Austria)

Much surviving prehistoric art is small portable sculptures, with a small group of female Venus figurines such as the Venus of Willendorf (24,000–22,000 BC) found across central Europe;[8] the 30 cm tall Löwenmensch figurine of about 30,000 BCE has hardly any pieces that can be related to it. The Swimming Reindeer of about 11,000 BCE is one of the finest of a number of Magdalenian carvings in bone or antler of animals in the art of the Upper Paleolithic, though they are outnumbered by engraved pieces, which are sometimes classified as sculpture.[9] With the beginning of the Mesolithic in Europe figurative sculpture greatly reduced,[10] and remained a less common element in art than relief decoration of practical objects until the Roman period, despite some works such as the Gundestrup cauldron from the European Iron Age and the Bronze Age Trundholm sun chariot.[11]

The oldest European cave art dates back 40,800, and can be found in the El Castillo Cave in Spain.[12] Other cave painting sites include Lascaux, Cave of Altamira, Grotte de Cussac, Pech Merle, Cave of Niaux, Chauvet Cave, Font-de-Gaume, Creswell Crags, Nottinghamshire, England, (Cave etchings and bas-reliefs discovered in 2003), Coliboaia cave from Romania (considered the oldest cave painting in central Europe)[13] and Magura,[1] Belogradchik, Bulgaria.[14] Rock painting was also performed on cliff faces, but fewer of those have survived because of erosion. One well-known example is the rock paintings of Astuvansalmi in the Saimaa area of Finland. When Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola first encountered the Magdalenian paintings of the Altamira cave, Cantabria, Spain in 1879, the academics of the time considered them hoaxes. Recent reappraisals and numerous additional discoveries have since demonstrated their authenticity, while at the same time stimulating interest in the artistry of Upper Palaeolithic peoples. Cave paintings, undertaken with only the most rudimentary tools, can also furnish valuable insight into the culture and beliefs of that era.

The Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin represents a very different style, with the human figure the main focus, often seen in large groups, with battles, dancing and hunting all represented, as well as other activities and details such as clothing. The figures are generally rather sketchily depicted in thin paint, with the relationships between the groups of humans and animals more carefully depicted than individual figures. Other less numerous groups of rock art, many engraved rather than painted, show similar characteristics. The Iberian examples are believed to date from a long period perhaps covering the Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and early Neolithic.

Prehistoric Celtic art comes from much of Iron Age Europe and survives mainly in the form of high-status metalwork skillfully decorated with complex, elegant and mostly abstract designs, often using curving and spiral forms. There are human heads and some fully represented animals, but full-length human figures at any size are so rare that their absence may represent a religious taboo. As the Romans conquered Celtic territories, it almost entirely vanishes, but the style continued in limited use in the British Isles, and with the coming of Christianity revived there in the Insular style of the Early Middle Ages.

Ancient Edit

Minoan Edit

Main article: Minoan art

The Minoan civilization of Crete is regarded as the oldest civilization in Europe.[15] Minoan art is marked by imaginative images and exceptional workmanship. Sinclair Hood described an "essential quality of the finest Minoan art, the ability to create an atmosphere of movement and life although following a set of highly formal conventions".[16] It forms part of the wider grouping of Aegean art, and in later periods came for a time to have a dominant influence over Cycladic art. Wood and textiles have decomposed, so most surviving examples of Minoan art are pottery, intricately-carved Minoan seals, .palace frescos which include landscapes), small sculptures in various materials, jewellery, and metalwork.

The relationship of Minoan art to that of other contemporary cultures and later Ancient Greek art has been much discussed. It clearly dominated Mycenaean art and Cycladic art of the same periods,[17] even after Crete was occupied by the Mycenaeans, but only some aspects of the tradition survived the Greek Dark Ages after the collapse of Mycenaean Greece.[18]

Minoan art has a variety of subject-matter, much of it appearing across different media, although only some styles of pottery include figurative scenes. Bull-leaping appears in painting and several types of sculpture, and is thought to have had a religious significance; bull's heads are also a popular subject in terracotta and other sculptural materials. There are no figures that appear to be portraits of individuals, or are clearly royal, and the identities of religious figures is often tentative,[19] with scholars uncertain whether they are deities, clergy or devotees.[20] Equally, whether painted rooms were "shrines" or secular is far from clear; one room in Akrotiri has been argued to be a bedroom, with remains of a bed, or a shrine.[21]

Animals, including an unusual variety of marine fauna, are often depicted; the "Marine Style" is a type of painted palace pottery from MM III and LM IA that paints sea creatures including octopus spreading all over the vessel, and probably originated from similar frescoed scenes;[22] sometimes these appear in other media. Scenes of hunting and warfare, and horses and riders, are mostly found in later periods, in works perhaps made by Cretans for a Mycenaean market, or Mycenaean overlords of Crete.

While Minoan figures, whether human or animal, have a great sense of life and movement, they are often not very accurate, and the species is sometimes impossible to identify; by comparison with Ancient Egyptian art they are often more vivid, but less naturalistic.[23] In comparison with the art of other ancient cultures there is a high proportion of female figures, though the idea that Minoans had only goddesses and no gods is now discounted. Most human figures are in profile or in a version of the Egyptian convention with the head and legs in profile, and the torso seen frontally; but the Minoan figures exaggerate features such as slim male waists and large female breasts.[24]

Classical Greek and Hellenistic Edit

Main article: Ancient Greek art

Ancient Greece had great painters, great sculptors, and great architects. The Parthenon is an example of their architecture that has lasted to modern days. Greek marble sculpture is often described as the highest form of Classical art. Painting on the pottery of Ancient Greece and ceramics gives a particularly informative glimpse into the way society in Ancient Greece functioned. Black-figure vase painting and Red-figure vase painting gives many surviving examples of what Greek painting was. Some famous Greek painters on wooden panels who are mentioned in texts are Apelles, Zeuxis and Parrhasius, however no examples of Ancient Greek panel painting survive, only written descriptions by their contemporaries or by later Romans. Zeuxis lived in 5–6 BC and was said to be the first to use sfumato. According to Pliny the Elder, the realism of his paintings was such that birds tried to eat the painted grapes. Apelles is described as the greatest painter of Antiquity for perfect technique in drawing, brilliant color and modeling.

Roman Edit

Main article: Roman art

Roman art was influenced by Greece and can in part be taken as a descendant of ancient Greek painting and sculpture, but was also strongly influenced by the more local Etruscan art of Italy. Roman sculpture, is primarily portraiture derived from the upper classes of society as well as depictions of the gods. However, Roman painting does have important unique characteristics. Among surviving Roman paintings are wall paintings, many from villas in Campania, in Southern Italy, especially at Pompeii and Herculaneum. Such painting can be grouped into four main "styles" or periods[26] and may contain the first examples of trompe-l'œil, pseudo-perspective, and pure landscape.[27]

Almost all of the surviving painted portraits from the Ancient world are a large number of coffin-portraits of bust form found in the Late Antique cemetery of Al-Fayum. They give an idea of the quality that the finest ancient work must have had. A very small number of miniatures from Late Antique illustrated books also survive, and a rather larger number of copies of them from the Early Medieval period. Early Christian art grew out of Roman popular, and later Imperial, art and adapted its iconography from these sources.

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    Bronze statuette of a philosopher on a lamp stand; late 1st century BC; bronze; overall: 27.3 cm; weight: 2.9 kg; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

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    Augustus of Prima Porta; circa 20 BC; white marble; height: 2.06 m; Vatican Museums (Vatican City)

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    Restoration of a fresco from an Ancient villa bedroom; 50-40 BC; dimensions of the room: 265.4 x 334 x 583.9 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

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    Altar with festoons; circa 50 AD; marble; height: 99.5 cm, width: 61.5 cm, depth: 47 cm; Louvre

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    Calyx-krater with reliefs of maidens and dancing maenads; 1st century AD; Pentelic marble; height: 80.7 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

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    Panoramic view of the Pantheon (Rome), built between 113 and 125

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    Head of a goddess wearing a diadem; 1st–2nd century; marble; height: 23 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

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    Couch and footstool; 1st–2nd century AD; wood, bone and glass; couch: 105.4 × 76.2 × 214.6 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

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    Sarcophagus with Apollo, Minerva and the Muses; circa 200 AD; from Via Appia; Antikensammlung Berlin (Berlin)

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    Sarcophagus with festoons; 200–225; marble; 134.6 x 223.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

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    Triumph of Neptune standing on a chariot pulled by two sea horses; mid-3rd century; Sousse Archaeological Museum (Tunisia)

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    The Theseus Mosaic; 300-400 AD; marble and limestone pebbles; 4.1 x 4.2 m; Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna, Austria)

Medieval Edit

Main article: Medieval art

Most surviving art from the Medieval period was religious in focus, often funded by the Church, powerful ecclesiastical individuals such as bishops, communal groups such as abbeys, or wealthy secular patrons. Many had specific liturgical functions—processional crosses and altarpieces, for example.

One of the central questions about Medieval art concerns its lack of realism. A great deal of knowledge of perspective in art and understanding of the human figure was lost with the fall of Rome. But realism was not the primary concern of Medieval artists. They were simply trying to send a religious message, a task which demands clear iconic images instead of precisely rendered ones.

Time Period: 6th century to 15th century

Early Medieval art Edit

Migration period art is a general term for the art of the "barbarian" peoples who moved into formerly Roman territories. Celtic art in the 7th and 8th centuries saw a fusion with Germanic traditions through contact with the Anglo-Saxons creating what is called the Hiberno-Saxon style or Insular art, which was to be highly influential on the rest of the Middle Ages. Merovingian art describes the art of the Franks before about 800, when Carolingian art combined insular influences with a self-conscious classical revival, developing into Ottonian art. Anglo-Saxon art is the art of England after the Insular period. Illuminated manuscripts contain nearly all the surviving painting of the period, but architecture, metalwork and small carved work in wood or ivory were also important media.

Byzantine Edit

Main article: Byzantine art

Byzantine art overlaps with or merges with what we call Early Christian art until the iconoclasm period of 730-843 when the vast majority of artwork with figures was destroyed; so little remains that today any discovery sheds new understanding. After 843 until 1453 there is a clear Byzantine art tradition. It is often the finest art of the Middle Ages in terms of quality of material and workmanship, with production centered on Constantinople. Byzantine art's crowning achievement were the monumental frescos and mosaics inside domed churches, most of which have not survived due to natural disasters and the appropriation of churches to mosques.

Romanesque Edit

Main article: Romanesque art

Romanesque art refers to the period from about 1000 to the rise of Gothic art in the 12th century. This was a period of increasing prosperity, and the first to see a coherent style used across Europe, from Scandinavia to Sicily. Romanesque art is vigorous and direct, was originally brightly coloured, and is often very sophisticated. Stained glass and enamel on metalwork became important media, and larger sculptures in the round developed, although high relief was the principal technique. Its architecture is dominated by thick walls, and round-headed windows and arches, with much carved decoration.

Gothic Edit

Main article: Gothic art

Gothic art is a variable term depending on the craft, place and time. The term originated with Gothic architecture in 1140, but Gothic painting did not appear until around 1200 (this date has many qualifications), when it diverged from Romanesque style. Gothic sculpture was born in France in 1144 with the renovation of the Abbey Church of S. Denis and spread throughout Europe, by the 13th century it had become the international style, replacing Romanesque. International Gothic describes Gothic art from about 1360 to 1430, after which Gothic art merges into Renaissance art at different times in different places. During this period forms such as painting, in fresco and on panel, become newly important, and the end of the period includes new media such as prints.

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    Part of the Royal Portal; 1145–1155; limestone; Chartres Cathedral (Chartres, France)

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    North transept windows; circa 1230–1235; stained glass; diameter (rose window): 10.2 m; Chartres Cathedral

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    Scenes from the Legend of Saint Vincent of Saragossa; 1245–1247; pot-metal glass, vitreous paint, and lead; overall: 373.4 x 110.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

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    French diptych with the coronation of the Virgin and the Last Judgment; 1260–1270; elephant ivory with metal mounts; overall: 12.7 x 13 x 1.9 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

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    Enthroned Virgin and child; 1260–1280; elephant ivory with traces of paint and gilding; overall: 18.4 x 7.6 x 7.3 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

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    Bifolium with the decretals of gratian; circa 1290; tempera and gold on parchment, brown ink, and modern leather binding; overall: 48.3 x 29.2 x 1.3 cm, opened: 47.2 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

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    German diptych with religious scenes; 1300–1325; silver gilt with translucent and opaque enamels; overall (opened): 6.1 x 8.6 x 0.8 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

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    Page of Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry depictic the funeral of Raymond Diocrès; 1411-1416 and 1485–1486; tempera on vellum; height: 29 cm, width: 21 cm; Condé Museum (Chantilly, France)

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    The Lady and the Unicorn, the title given to a series of six tapestries woven in Flanders, this one being called À Mon Seul Désir; late 15th century; wool and silk; 377 x 473 cm; Musée de Cluny (Paris)

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    Austrian statue of Enthroned Virgin; 1490–1500; limestone with gesso, painted and gilded; 80.3 x 59.1 x 23.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

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    Entrance in Jerusalem; circa 1500; painting; Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon (Lyon, France)

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    Flamboyant Gothic cross-windows of the Hôtel de Sens (Paris)

Renaissance Edit

 
Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man (Uomo Vitruviano) (c. 1490), a seminal work from the Renaissance. The drawing is inspired and subsequently named after the 1st century BC Roman architect-author Vitruvius and his notions on the "ideal" human body proportions, found in his De architectura.[28][29] The drawing highlights the movement's fascination with Graeco-Roman civilisations and appropriation of classical art, as well as his pursuit for the correlation between body structure and nature.[29]
Main article: Renaissance art

The Renaissance is characterized by a focus on the arts of Ancient Greece and Rome, which led to many changes in both the technical aspects of painting and sculpture, as well as to their subject matter. It began in Italy, a country rich in Roman heritage as well as material prosperity to fund artists. During the Renaissance, painters began to enhance the realism of their work by using new techniques in perspective, thus representing three dimensions more authentically. Artists also began to use new techniques in the manipulation of light and darkness, such as the tone contrast evident in many of Titian's portraits and the development of sfumato and chiaroscuro by Leonardo da Vinci. Sculptors, too, began to rediscover many ancient techniques such as contrapposto. Following with the humanist spirit of the age, art became more secular in subject matter, depicting ancient mythology in addition to Christian themes. This genre of art is often referred to as Renaissance Classicism. In the North, the most important Renaissance innovation was the widespread use of oil paints, which allowed for greater colour and intensity.

From Gothic to the Renaissance Edit

During the late 13th century and early 14th century, much of the painting in Italy was Byzantine in character, notably that of Duccio of Siena and Cimabue of Florence, while Pietro Cavallini in Rome was more Gothic in style. During the 13th century, Italian sculptors began to draw inspiration not only from medieval prototypes, but also from ancient works.[30]

In 1290, Giotto began painting in a manner that was less traditional and more based upon observation of nature. His famous cycle at the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, is seen as the beginnings of a Renaissance style.

Other painters of the 14th century were carried the Gothic style to great elaboration and detail. Notable among these painters are Simone Martini and Gentile da Fabriano.

In the Netherlands, the technique of painting in oils rather than tempera, led itself to a form of elaboration that was not dependent upon the application of gold leaf and embossing, but upon the minute depiction of the natural world. The art of painting textures with great realism evolved at this time. Dutch painters such as Jan van Eyck and Hugo van der Goes were to have great influence on Late Gothic and Early Renaissance painting.

Early Renaissance Edit

The ideas of the Renaissance first emerged in the city-state of Florence, Italy. The sculptor Donatello returned to classical techniques such as contrapposto and classical subjects like the unsupported nude—his second sculpture of David was the first free-standing bronze nude created in Europe since the Roman Empire. The sculptor and architect Brunelleschi studied the architectural ideas of ancient Roman buildings for inspiration. Masaccio perfected elements like composition, individual expression, and human form to paint frescoes, especially those in the Brancacci Chapel, of surprising elegance, drama, and emotion.

A remarkable number of these major artists worked on different portions of the Florence Cathedral. Brunelleschi's dome for the cathedral was one of the first truly revolutionary architectural innovations since the Gothic flying buttress. Donatello created many of its sculptures. Giotto and Lorenzo Ghiberti also contributed to the cathedral.

High Renaissance Edit

High Renaissance artists include such figures as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, and Raffaello Sanzio.

The 15th-century artistic developments in Italy (for example, the interest in perspectival systems, in depicting anatomy, and in classical cultures) matured during the 16th century, accounting for the designations "Early Renaissance" for the 15th century and "High Renaissance" for the 16th century. Although no singular style characterizes the High Renaissance, the art of those most closely associated with this period—Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian—exhibits an astounding mastery, both technical and aesthetic. High Renaissance artists created works of such authority that generations of later artists relied on these artworks for instruction. These exemplary artistic creations further elevated the prestige of artists. Artists could claim divine inspiration, thereby raising visual art to a status formerly given only to poetry. Thus, painters, sculptors, and architects came into their own, successfully claiming for their work a high position among the fine arts. In a sense, 16th- century masters created a new profession with its own rights of expression and its own venerable character.

Northern art up to the Renaissance Edit

Early Netherlandish painting developed (but did not strictly invent) the technique of oil painting to allow greater control in painting minute detail with realism—Jan van Eyck (1366–1441) was a figure in the movement from illuminated manuscripts to panel paintings.

Hieronymus Bosch (1450?–1516), a Dutch painter, is another important figure in the Northern Renaissance. In his paintings, he used religious themes, but combined them with grotesque fantasies, colorful imagery, and peasant folk legends. His paintings often reflect the confusion and anguish associated with the end of the Middle Ages.

Albrecht Dürer introduced Italian Renaissance style to Germany at the end of the 15th century, and dominated German Renaissance art.

Time Period:

  • Italian Renaissance: Late 14th century to Early 16th century
  • Northern Renaissance: 16th century

Mannerism, Baroque, and Rococo Edit

Main articles: Mannerism, Baroque, and Rococo
Differences between Baroque and Rococo art
 
Baroque art was characterised by strongly religious and political themes; common characteristics included rich colours with a strong light and dark contrast. Paintings were elaborate, emotional and dramatic in nature. In the image Caravaggio's Christ at the Column (Cristo alla colonna)
 
Rococo art was characterised by lighter, often jocular themes; common characteristics included pale, creamy colours, florid decorations and a penchant for bucolic landscapes. Paintings were more ornate than their Baroque counterpart, and usually graceful, playful and light-hearted in nature.

In European art, Renaissance Classicism spawned two different movements—Mannerism and the Baroque. Mannerism, a reaction against the idealist perfection of Classicism, employed distortion of light and spatial frameworks in order to emphasize the emotional content of a painting and the emotions of the painter. The work of El Greco is a particularly clear example of Mannerism in painting during the late 16th, early 17th centuries. Northern Mannerism took longer to develop, and was largely a movement of the last half of the 16th century. Baroque art took the representationalism of the Renaissance to new heights, emphasizing detail, movement, lighting, and drama in their search for beauty. Perhaps the best known Baroque painters are Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, and Diego Velázquez.

A rather different art developed out of northern realist traditions in 17th-century Dutch Golden Age painting, which had very little religious art, and little history painting, instead playing a crucial part in developing secular genres such as still life, genre paintings of everyday scenes, and landscape painting. While the Baroque nature of Rembrandt's art is clear, the label is less use for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in this trend, while also continuing to produce the traditional categories.

Baroque art is often seen as part of the Counter-Reformation—the artistic element of the revival of spiritual life in the Roman Catholic Church. Additionally, the emphasis that Baroque art placed on grandeur is seen as Absolutist in nature. Religious and political themes were widely explored within the Baroque artistic context, and both paintings and sculptures were characterised by a strong element of drama, emotion and theatricality. Famous Baroque artists include Caravaggio or Rubens.[34] Artemisia Gentileschi was another noteworthy artist, who was inspired by Caravaggio's style. Baroque art was particularly ornate and elaborate in nature, often using rich, warm colours with dark undertones. Pomp and grandeur were important elements of the Baroque artistic movement in general, as can be seen when Louis XIV said, "I am grandeur incarnate"; many Baroque artists served kings who tried to realize this goal. Baroque art in many ways was similar to Renaissance art; as a matter of fact, the term was initially used in a derogative manner to describe post-Renaissance art and architecture which was over-elaborate.[34] Baroque art can be seen as a more elaborate and dramatic re-adaptation of late Renaissance art.

By the 18th century, however, Baroque art was falling out of fashion as many deemed it too melodramatic and also gloomy, and it developed into the Rococo, which emerged in France. Rococo art was even more elaborate than the Baroque, but it was less serious and more playful.[35] Whilst the Baroque used rich, strong colours, Rococo used pale, creamier shades. The artistic movement no longer placed an emphasis on politics and religion, focusing instead on lighter themes such as romance, celebration, and appreciation of nature. Rococo art also contrasted the Baroque as it often refused symmetry in favor of asymmetrical designs. Furthermore, it sought inspiration from the artistic forms and ornamentation of Far Eastern Asia, resulting in the rise in favour of porcelain figurines and chinoiserie in general.[36] The 18th-century style flourished for a short while; nevertheless, the Rococo style soon fell out of favor, being seen by many as a gaudy and superficial movement emphasizing aesthetics over meaning. Neoclassicism in many ways developed as a counter movement of the Rococo, the impetus being a sense of disgust directed towards the latter's florid qualities.

Mannerism (16th century) Edit

Main article: Mannerism

Baroque (early 17th century to mid-early 18th century) Edit

Main article: Baroque

Rococo (early to mid-18th century) Edit

Main article: Rococo

Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Academism, and Realism Edit

Main articles: Neoclassicism, Romantic art, Academic art, and Realism (arts)
 
Neoclassical art, inspired by different classical themes, was characterised by an emphasis on simplicity, order and idealism. In the image Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss (1787-1793)

Throughout the 18th century, a counter movement opposing the Rococo sprang up in different parts of Europe, commonly known as Neoclassicism. It despised the perceived superficiality and frivolity of Rococo art, and desired for a return to the simplicity, order and 'purism' of classical antiquity, especially ancient Greece and Rome. The movement was in part also influenced by the Renaissance, which itself was strongly influenced by classical art. Neoclassicism was the artistic component of the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment; the Enlightenment was idealistic, and put its emphasis on objectivity, reason and empirical truth. Neoclassicism had become widespread in Europe throughout the 18th century, especially in the United Kingdom, which saw great works of Neoclassical architecture spring up during this period; Neoclassicism's fascination with classical antiquity can be seen in the popularity of the Grand Tour during this decade, where wealthy aristocrats travelled to the ancient ruins of Italy and Greece. Nevertheless, a defining moment for Neoclassicism came during the French Revolution in the late 18th century; in France, Rococo art was replaced with the preferred Neoclassical art, which was seen as more serious than the former movement. In many ways, Neoclassicism can be seen as a political movement as well as an artistic and cultural one.[37] Neoclassical art places an emphasis on order, symmetry and classical simplicity; common themes in Neoclassical art include courage and war, as were commonly explored in ancient Greek and Roman art. Ingres, Canova, and Jacques-Louis David are among the best-known neoclassicists.[38]

 
Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People 1830, Romantic art.

Just as Mannerism rejected Classicism, so did Romanticism reject the ideas of the Enlightenment and the aesthetic of the Neoclassicists. Romanticism rejected the highly objective and ordered nature of Neoclassicism, and opted for a more individual and emotional approach to the arts.[39] Romanticism placed an emphasis on nature, especially when aiming to portray the power and beauty of the natural world, and emotions, and sought a highly personal approach to art. Romantic art was about individual feelings, not common themes, such as in Neoclassicism; in such a way, Romantic art often used colours in order to express feelings and emotion.[39] Similarly to Neoclassicism, Romantic art took much of its inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman art and mythology, yet, unlike Neoclassical, this inspiration was primarily used as a way to create symbolism and imagery. Romantic art also takes much of its aesthetic qualities from medievalism and Gothicism, as well as mythology and folklore. Among the greatest Romantic artists were Eugène Delacroix, Francisco Goya, J. M. W. Turner, John Constable, Caspar David Friedrich, Thomas Cole, and William Blake.[38]

Most artists attempted to take a centrist approach which adopted different features of Neoclassicist and Romanticist styles, in order to synthesize them. The different attempts took place within the French Academy, and collectively are called Academic art. Adolphe William Bouguereau is considered a chief example of this stream of art.

In the early 19th century the face of Europe, however, became radically altered by industrialization. Poverty, squalor, and desperation were to be the fate of the new working class created by the "revolution". In response to these changes going on in society, the movement of Realism emerged. Realism sought to accurately portray the conditions and hardships of the poor in the hopes of changing society. In contrast with Romanticism, which was essentially optimistic about mankind, Realism offered a stark vision of poverty and despair. Similarly, while Romanticism glorified nature, Realism portrayed life in the depths of an urban wasteland. Like Romanticism, Realism was a literary as well as an artistic movement. The great Realist painters include Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Gustave Courbet, Jean-François Millet, Camille Corot, Honoré Daumier, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas (both considered as Impressionists), and Thomas Eakins, among others.

The response of architecture to industrialisation, in stark contrast to the other arts, was to veer towards historicism. Although the railway stations built during this period are often considered the truest reflections of its spirit – they are sometimes called "the cathedrals of the age" – the main movements in architecture during the Industrial Age were revivals of styles from the distant past, such as the Gothic Revival. Related movements were the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, who attempted to return art to its state of "purity" prior to Raphael, and the Arts and Crafts Movement, which reacted against the impersonality of mass-produced goods and advocated a return to medieval craftsmanship.

Time Period:

Modern art Edit

Main articles: Impressionism, Post Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Modern art, Modernism, and Late modernism
 
Impressionism was known for its usage of light and movement in its paintings, as in Claude Monet's 1902 Houses of Parliament, sunset
 
Art & Language are known for their major input on conceptual art.

Out of the naturalist ethic of Realism grew a major artistic movement, Impressionism. The Impressionists pioneered the use of light in painting as they attempted to capture light as seen from the human eye. Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, were all involved in the Impressionist movement. As a direct outgrowth of Impressionism came the development of Post-Impressionism. Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat are the best known Post-Impressionists.

Following the Impressionists and the Post-Impressionists came Fauvism, often considered the first "modern" genre of art. Just as the Impressionists revolutionized light, so did the fauvists rethink color, painting their canvases in bright, wild hues. After the Fauvists, modern art began to develop in all its forms, ranging from Expressionism, concerned with evoking emotion through objective works of art, to Cubism, the art of transposing a four-dimensional reality onto a flat canvas, to Abstract art. These new art forms pushed the limits of traditional notions of "art" and corresponded to the similar rapid changes that were taking place in human society, technology, and thought.

Surrealism is often classified as a form of Modern Art. However, the Surrealists themselves have objected to the study of surrealism as an era in art history, claiming that it oversimplifies the complexity of the movement (which they say is not an artistic movement), misrepresents the relationship of surrealism to aesthetics, and falsely characterizes ongoing surrealism as a finished, historically encapsulated era. Other forms of Modern art (some of which border on Contemporary art) include:

Time Period:

  • Impressionism: late 19th Century
  • Others: First half of the 20th century

Contemporary art and Postmodern art Edit

 
Charles Thomson. Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision, 2000, Stuckism.
Main articles: Contemporary art and Postmodern art

Modern art foreshadowed several characteristics of what would later be defined as postmodern art; as a matter of fact, several modern art movements can often be classified as both modern and postmodern, such as pop art. Postmodern art, for instance, places a strong emphasis on irony, parody and humour in general; modern art started to develop a more ironic approach to art which would later advance in a postmodern context. Postmodern art sees the blurring between the high and fine arts with low-end and commercial art; modern art started to experiment with this blurring.[39] Recent developments in art have been characterised by a significant expansion of what can now deemed to be art, in terms of materials, media, activity and concept. Conceptual art in particular has had a wide influence. This started literally as the replacement of concept for a made object, one of the intentions of which was to refute the commodification of art. However, it now usually refers to an artwork where there is an object, but the main claim for the work is made for the thought process that has informed it. The aspect of commercialism has returned to the work.

There has also been an increase in art referring to previous movements and artists, and gaining validity from that reference.

Postmodernism in art, which has grown since the 1960s, differs from Modernism in as much as Modern art movements were primarily focused on their own activities and values, while Postmodernism uses the whole range of previous movements as a reference point. This has by definition generated a relativistic outlook, accompanied by irony and a certain disbelief in values, as each can be seen to be replaced by another. Another result of this has been the growth of commercialism and celebrity. Postmodern art has questioned common rules and guidelines of what is regarded as 'fine art', merging low art with the fine arts until none is fully distinguishable.[40][41] Before the advent of postmodernism, the fine arts were characterised by a form of aesthetic quality, elegance, craftsmanship, finesse and intellectual stimulation which was intended to appeal to the upper or educated classes; this distinguished high art from low art, which, in turn, was seen as tacky, kitsch, easily made and lacking in much or any intellectual stimulation, art which was intended to appeal to the masses. Postmodern art blurred these distinctions, bringing a strong element of kitsch, commercialism and campness into contemporary fine art;[39] what is nowadays seen as fine art may have been seen as low art before postmodernism revolutionised the concept of what high or fine art truly is.[39] In addition, the postmodern nature of contemporary art leaves a lot of space for individualism within the art scene; for instance, postmodern art often takes inspiration from past artistic movements, such as Gothic or Baroque art, and both juxtaposes and recycles styles from these past periods in a different context.[39]

Some surrealists in particular Joan Miró, who called for the "murder of painting" (In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods and his desire to "kill", "murder", or "rape" them in favor of more contemporary means of expression).[42] have denounced or attempted to "supersede" painting, and there have also been other anti-painting trends among artistic movements, such as that of Dada and conceptual art. The trend away from painting in the late 20th century has been countered by various movements, for example the continuation of Minimal Art, Lyrical Abstraction, Pop Art, Op Art, New Realism, Photorealism, Neo Geo, Neo-expressionism, New European Painting, Stuckism, Excessivism and various other important and influential painterly directions.

See also Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ a b Oosterbeek, Luíz. "European Prehistoric Art". Europeart. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  2. ^ Boardman, John ed., The Oxford History of Classical Art, pp. 349-369, Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0198143869
  3. ^ Banister Fletcher excluded nearly all Baroque buildings from his mammoth tome A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method. The publishers eventually rectified this.
  4. ^ Murray, P. and Murray, L. (1963) The Art of the Renaissance. London: Thames & Hudson (World of Art), p. 9. ISBN 978-0-500-20008-7. "...in 1855 we find, for the first time, the word 'Renaissance' used — by the French historian Michelet — as an adjective to describe a whole period of history and not confined to the rebirth of Latin letters or a classically inspired style in the arts."
  5. ^ Hause, S. & Maltby, W. (2001). A History of European Society. Essentials of Western Civilization (Vol. 2, pp. 245–246). Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.
  6. ^ a b "Art of Europe". Saint Louis Art Museum. Slam. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  7. ^ Oosterbeek, Luíz. "European Prehistoric Art". Europeart. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  8. ^ Sandars, 8-16, 29-31
  9. ^ Hahn, Joachim, "Prehistoric Europe, §II: Palaeolithic 3. Portable art" in Oxford Art Online, accessed 24 August 2012; Sandars, 37-40
  10. ^ Sandars, 75-80
  11. ^ Sandars, 253-257, 183-185
  12. ^ Kwong, Matt. "Oldest cave-man art in Europe dates back 40,800 years". CBC News. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  13. ^ "Romanian Cave May Boast Central Europe's Oldest Cave Art | Science/AAAS | News". News.sciencemag.org. 21 June 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  14. ^ Gunther, Michael. "Art of Prehistoric Europe". Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  15. ^ Chaniotis, Angelos. "Ancient Crete". Oxford Bibliographies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  16. ^ Hood, 56
  17. ^ Hood, 17-18, 23-23
  18. ^ Hood, 240-241
  19. ^ Gates (2004), 33-34, 41
  20. ^ eg Hood, 53, 55, 58, 110
  21. ^ Chapin, 49-51
  22. ^ Hood, 37-38
  23. ^ Hood, 56, 233-235
  24. ^ Hood, 235-236
  25. ^ Mattinson, Lindsay (2019). Understanding Architecture A Guide To Architectural Styles. Amber Books. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-78274-748-2.
  26. ^ "Roman Painting". Art-and-archaeology.com. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  27. ^ "Roman Painting". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  28. ^ "The Vitruvian Man". leonardodavinci.stanford.edu. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  29. ^ a b "BBC - Science & Nature - Leonardo - Vitruvian man". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  30. ^ Fortenberry, Diane (2017). THE ART MUSEUM. Phaidon. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-7148-7502-6.
  31. ^ Fortenberry, Diane (2017). THE ART MUSEUM. Phaidon. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-7148-7502-6.
  32. ^ Fortenberry, Diane (2017). THE ART MUSEUM. Phaidon. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-7148-7502-6.
  33. ^ Fortenberry, Diane (2017). THE ART MUSEUM. Phaidon. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-7148-7502-6.
  34. ^ a b "Baroque Art". Arthistory-famousartists-paintings.com. 24 July 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  35. ^ . Bc.edu. Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  36. ^ "chinoiserie facts, information, pictures - Encyclopedia.com articles about chinoiserie". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  37. ^ "Art in Neoclassicism". Artsz.org. 26 February 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  38. ^ a b James J. Sheehan, "Art and Its Publics, c. 1800," United and Diversity in European Culture c. 1800, ed. Tim Blanning and Hagen Schulze (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 5-18.
  39. ^ a b c d e f "General Introduction to Postmodernism". Cla.purdue.edu. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  40. ^ Ideas About Art, Desmond, Kathleen K. [1] 29 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine John Wiley & Sons, 2011, p.148
  41. ^ International postmodernism: theory and literary practice, Bertens, Hans [2] 29 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Routledge, 1997, p.236
  42. ^ M. Rowell, Joan Mirό: Selected Writings and Interviews (London: Thames & Hudson, 1987) pp. 114–116.

Bibliography Edit

  • Chapin, Anne P., "Power, Privilege and Landscape in Minoan Art", in Charis: Essays in Honor of Sara A. Immerwahr, Hesperia (Princeton, N.J.) 33, 2004, ASCSA, ISBN 0876615337, 9780876615331, google books
  • Gates, Charles, "Pictorial Imagery in Minoan Wall Painting", in Charis: Essays in Honor of Sara A. Immerwahr, Hesperia (Princeton, N.J.) 33, 2004, ASCSA, ISBN 0876615337, 9780876615331, google books
  • Hood, Sinclair, The Arts in Prehistoric Greece, 1978, Penguin (Penguin/Yale History of Art), ISBN 0140561420
  • Sandars, Nancy K., Prehistoric Art in Europe, Penguin (Pelican, now Yale, History of Art), 1968 (nb 1st edn.; early datings now superseded)

External links Edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Art of Europe.
  • Web Gallery of Art
  • European artists community

October 14, 2023
europe, europe, also, known, western, encompasses, history, visual, europe, european, prehistoric, started, mobile, upper, paleolithic, rock, cave, painting, petroglyph, characteristic, period, between, paleolithic, iron, written, histories, european, often, b. The art of Europe also known as Western art encompasses the history of visual art in Europe European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period between the Paleolithic and the Iron Age 1 Written histories of European art often begin with the Aegean civilizations dating from the 3rd millennium BC However a consistent pattern of artistic development within Europe becomes clear only with Ancient Greek art which was adopted and transformed by Rome and carried with the Roman Empire across much of Europe North Africa and Western Asia 2 Apelles painting Campaspe an artwork which shows people surrounded by fine art by Willem van Haecht c 1630 oil on panel height 104 9 cm width 148 7 cm Mauritshuis The Hague the Netherlands The Art of Painting by Johannes Vermeer 1666 1668 oil on canvas 1 3 x 1 1 m Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna Austria The influence of the art of the Classical period waxed and waned throughout the next two thousand years seeming to slip into a distant memory in parts of the Medieval period to re emerge in the Renaissance suffer a period of what some early art historians viewed as decay during the Baroque period 3 to reappear in a refined form in Neo Classicism 4 and to be reborn in Post Modernism 5 Before the 1800s the Christian church was a major influence on European art and commissions from the Church provided the major source of work for artists In the same period there was also a renewed interest in classical mythology great wars heroes and heroines and themes not connected to religion 6 Most art of the last 200 years has been produced without reference to religion and often with no particular ideology at all but art has often been influenced by political issues whether reflecting the concerns of patrons or the artist European art is arranged into a number of stylistic periods which historically overlap each other as different styles flourished in different areas Broadly the periods are Classical Byzantine Medieval Gothic Renaissance Baroque Rococo Neoclassical Modern Postmodern and New European Painting 6 Contents 1 Prehistoric art 2 Ancient 2 1 Minoan 2 2 Classical Greek and Hellenistic 2 3 Roman 3 Medieval 3 1 Early Medieval art 3 2 Byzantine 3 3 Romanesque 3 4 Gothic 4 Renaissance 4 1 From Gothic to the Renaissance 4 2 Early Renaissance 4 3 High Renaissance 4 4 Northern art up to the Renaissance 5 Mannerism Baroque and Rococo 5 1 Mannerism 16th century 5 2 Baroque early 17th century to mid early 18th century 5 3 Rococo early to mid 18th century 6 Neoclassicism Romanticism Academism and Realism 7 Modern art 8 Contemporary art and Postmodern art 9 See also 10 References 11 Bibliography 12 External linksPrehistoric art EditMain article Prehistoric art Europe European prehistoric art is an important part of the European cultural heritage 7 Prehistoric art history is usually divided into four main periods Stone Age Neolithic Bronze Age and Iron Age Most of the remaining artifacts of this period are small sculptures and cave paintings nbsp Venus of Willendorf c 26 000 BC the Gravettian period limestone with ocre coloring Naturhistorisches Museum Vienna Austria Much surviving prehistoric art is small portable sculptures with a small group of female Venus figurines such as the Venus of Willendorf 24 000 22 000 BC found across central Europe 8 the 30 cm tall Lowenmensch figurine of about 30 000 BCE has hardly any pieces that can be related to it The Swimming Reindeer of about 11 000 BCE is one of the finest of a number of Magdalenian carvings in bone or antler of animals in the art of the Upper Paleolithic though they are outnumbered by engraved pieces which are sometimes classified as sculpture 9 With the beginning of the Mesolithic in Europe figurative sculpture greatly reduced 10 and remained a less common element in art than relief decoration of practical objects until the Roman period despite some works such as the Gundestrup cauldron from the European Iron Age and the Bronze Age Trundholm sun chariot 11 The oldest European cave art dates back 40 800 and can be found in the El Castillo Cave in Spain 12 Other cave painting sites include Lascaux Cave of Altamira Grotte de Cussac Pech Merle Cave of Niaux Chauvet Cave Font de Gaume Creswell Crags Nottinghamshire England Cave etchings and bas reliefs discovered in 2003 Coliboaia cave from Romania considered the oldest cave painting in central Europe 13 and Magura 1 Belogradchik Bulgaria 14 Rock painting was also performed on cliff faces but fewer of those have survived because of erosion One well known example is the rock paintings of Astuvansalmi in the Saimaa area of Finland When Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola first encountered the Magdalenian paintings of the Altamira cave Cantabria Spain in 1879 the academics of the time considered them hoaxes Recent reappraisals and numerous additional discoveries have since demonstrated their authenticity while at the same time stimulating interest in the artistry of Upper Palaeolithic peoples Cave paintings undertaken with only the most rudimentary tools can also furnish valuable insight into the culture and beliefs of that era The Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin represents a very different style with the human figure the main focus often seen in large groups with battles dancing and hunting all represented as well as other activities and details such as clothing The figures are generally rather sketchily depicted in thin paint with the relationships between the groups of humans and animals more carefully depicted than individual figures Other less numerous groups of rock art many engraved rather than painted show similar characteristics The Iberian examples are believed to date from a long period perhaps covering the Upper Paleolithic Mesolithic and early Neolithic Prehistoric Celtic art comes from much of Iron Age Europe and survives mainly in the form of high status metalwork skillfully decorated with complex elegant and mostly abstract designs often using curving and spiral forms There are human heads and some fully represented animals but full length human figures at any size are so rare that their absence may represent a religious taboo As the Romans conquered Celtic territories it almost entirely vanishes but the style continued in limited use in the British Isles and with the coming of Christianity revived there in the Insular style of the Early Middle Ages nbsp Cave paintings from Lascaux caves Montignac Dordogne France nbsp Bison Licking Insect Bite 15 000 13 000 BC antler National Museum of Prehistory Les Eyzies de Tayac Sireuil France nbsp The Thinker of Cernavoda by Hamangia culture from Romania c 5000 BC terracotta height 11 5 cm 41 2 in National Museum of Romanian History Bucharest nbsp Female figure by Vinca culture from Serbia 4500 3500 BC fired clay with paint overall 16 1 cm Cleveland Museum of Art Ohio US Ancient EditMinoan Edit Main article Minoan art The Minoan civilization of Crete is regarded as the oldest civilization in Europe 15 Minoan art is marked by imaginative images and exceptional workmanship Sinclair Hood described an essential quality of the finest Minoan art the ability to create an atmosphere of movement and life although following a set of highly formal conventions 16 It forms part of the wider grouping of Aegean art and in later periods came for a time to have a dominant influence over Cycladic art Wood and textiles have decomposed so most surviving examples of Minoan art are pottery intricately carved Minoan seals palace frescos which include landscapes small sculptures in various materials jewellery and metalwork The relationship of Minoan art to that of other contemporary cultures and later Ancient Greek art has been much discussed It clearly dominated Mycenaean art and Cycladic art of the same periods 17 even after Crete was occupied by the Mycenaeans but only some aspects of the tradition survived the Greek Dark Ages after the collapse of Mycenaean Greece 18 Minoan art has a variety of subject matter much of it appearing across different media although only some styles of pottery include figurative scenes Bull leaping appears in painting and several types of sculpture and is thought to have had a religious significance bull s heads are also a popular subject in terracotta and other sculptural materials There are no figures that appear to be portraits of individuals or are clearly royal and the identities of religious figures is often tentative 19 with scholars uncertain whether they are deities clergy or devotees 20 Equally whether painted rooms were shrines or secular is far from clear one room in Akrotiri has been argued to be a bedroom with remains of a bed or a shrine 21 Animals including an unusual variety of marine fauna are often depicted the Marine Style is a type of painted palace pottery from MM III and LM IA that paints sea creatures including octopus spreading all over the vessel and probably originated from similar frescoed scenes 22 sometimes these appear in other media Scenes of hunting and warfare and horses and riders are mostly found in later periods in works perhaps made by Cretans for a Mycenaean market or Mycenaean overlords of Crete While Minoan figures whether human or animal have a great sense of life and movement they are often not very accurate and the species is sometimes impossible to identify by comparison with Ancient Egyptian art they are often more vivid but less naturalistic 23 In comparison with the art of other ancient cultures there is a high proportion of female figures though the idea that Minoans had only goddesses and no gods is now discounted Most human figures are in profile or in a version of the Egyptian convention with the head and legs in profile and the torso seen frontally but the Minoan figures exaggerate features such as slim male waists and large female breasts 24 nbsp Kamares ware beaked jug 1850 1675 BC ceramic height 27 cm from Phaistos Crete Greece Heraklion Archaeological Museum Greece nbsp The Malia Pendant 1800 1700 BC gold height 4 6 cm width 4 9 cm Heraklion Archaeological Museum nbsp The fresco named the Bull Leaping Fresco 1675 1460 BC lime plaster height 0 8 m width 1 m from the palace at Knossos Crete Heraklion Archaeological Museum nbsp Snake Goddess figurine 1460 1410 BC from the Minoan Neo palatial Period faience height 29 5 cm from the Temple Repository at Knossos Heraklion Archaeological MuseumClassical Greek and Hellenistic Edit Main article Ancient Greek art Ancient Greece had great painters great sculptors and great architects The Parthenon is an example of their architecture that has lasted to modern days Greek marble sculpture is often described as the highest form of Classical art Painting on the pottery of Ancient Greece and ceramics gives a particularly informative glimpse into the way society in Ancient Greece functioned Black figure vase painting and Red figure vase painting gives many surviving examples of what Greek painting was Some famous Greek painters on wooden panels who are mentioned in texts are Apelles Zeuxis and Parrhasius however no examples of Ancient Greek panel painting survive only written descriptions by their contemporaries or by later Romans Zeuxis lived in 5 6 BC and was said to be the first to use sfumato According to Pliny the Elder the realism of his paintings was such that birds tried to eat the painted grapes Apelles is described as the greatest painter of Antiquity for perfect technique in drawing brilliant color and modeling nbsp The Euphiletos Painter Panathenaic prize amphora 530 BC painted terracotta height 62 2 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City nbsp The Artemision Bronze 460 450 BC bronze height 2 1 m National Archaeological Museum Athens nbsp The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis the most iconic Doric Greek temple built of marble and limestone between circa 460 406 BC dedicated to the goddess Athena 25 nbsp Mirror with a support in the form of a draped woman mid 5th century BC bronze height 40 41 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp Calyx krater 400 375 BC ceramic height 27 9 cm diameter 28 6 cm from Thebes Greece Louvre nbsp The Grave relief of Thraseas and Euandria 375 350 BC Pentelic marble height 160 cm width 91 cm Pergamon Museum Berlin nbsp Volute krater 320 310 BC ceramic height 1 1 m Walters Art Museum Baltimore US nbsp Statuette of a draped woman 2nd century BC terracotta height 29 2 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp Venus de Milo 130 100 BC marble height 203 cm 80 in Louvre nbsp Laocoon and His Sons early first century BC marble height 2 4 m Vatican Museums Vatican City nbsp Mosaic which represents the Epiphany of Dionysus 2nd century AD from the Villa of Dionysus Dion Greece Archeological Museum of Dion nbsp Illustrations of examples of ancient Greek ornaments and patterns drawn in 1874Roman Edit Main article Roman art Roman art was influenced by Greece and can in part be taken as a descendant of ancient Greek painting and sculpture but was also strongly influenced by the more local Etruscan art of Italy Roman sculpture is primarily portraiture derived from the upper classes of society as well as depictions of the gods However Roman painting does have important unique characteristics Among surviving Roman paintings are wall paintings many from villas in Campania in Southern Italy especially at Pompeii and Herculaneum Such painting can be grouped into four main styles or periods 26 and may contain the first examples of trompe l œil pseudo perspective and pure landscape 27 Almost all of the surviving painted portraits from the Ancient world are a large number of coffin portraits of bust form found in the Late Antique cemetery of Al Fayum They give an idea of the quality that the finest ancient work must have had A very small number of miniatures from Late Antique illustrated books also survive and a rather larger number of copies of them from the Early Medieval period Early Christian art grew out of Roman popular and later Imperial art and adapted its iconography from these sources nbsp Bronze statuette of a philosopher on a lamp stand late 1st century BC bronze overall 27 3 cm weight 2 9 kg Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City nbsp Augustus of Prima Porta circa 20 BC white marble height 2 06 m Vatican Museums Vatican City nbsp Restoration of a fresco from an Ancient villa bedroom 50 40 BC dimensions of the room 265 4 x 334 x 583 9 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City nbsp Altar with festoons circa 50 AD marble height 99 5 cm width 61 5 cm depth 47 cm Louvre nbsp Calyx krater with reliefs of maidens and dancing maenads 1st century AD Pentelic marble height 80 7 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp Panoramic view of the Pantheon Rome built between 113 and 125 nbsp Head of a goddess wearing a diadem 1st 2nd century marble height 23 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp Couch and footstool 1st 2nd century AD wood bone and glass couch 105 4 76 2 214 6 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp Sarcophagus with Apollo Minerva and the Muses circa 200 AD from Via Appia Antikensammlung Berlin Berlin nbsp Sarcophagus with festoons 200 225 marble 134 6 x 223 5 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp Triumph of Neptune standing on a chariot pulled by two sea horses mid 3rd century Sousse Archaeological Museum Tunisia nbsp The Theseus Mosaic 300 400 AD marble and limestone pebbles 4 1 x 4 2 m Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna Austria Medieval EditMain article Medieval art Most surviving art from the Medieval period was religious in focus often funded by the Church powerful ecclesiastical individuals such as bishops communal groups such as abbeys or wealthy secular patrons Many had specific liturgical functions processional crosses and altarpieces for example One of the central questions about Medieval art concerns its lack of realism A great deal of knowledge of perspective in art and understanding of the human figure was lost with the fall of Rome But realism was not the primary concern of Medieval artists They were simply trying to send a religious message a task which demands clear iconic images instead of precisely rendered ones Time Period 6th century to 15th century Early Medieval art Edit Migration period art is a general term for the art of the barbarian peoples who moved into formerly Roman territories Celtic art in the 7th and 8th centuries saw a fusion with Germanic traditions through contact with the Anglo Saxons creating what is called the Hiberno Saxon style or Insular art which was to be highly influential on the rest of the Middle Ages Merovingian art describes the art of the Franks before about 800 when Carolingian art combined insular influences with a self conscious classical revival developing into Ottonian art Anglo Saxon art is the art of England after the Insular period Illuminated manuscripts contain nearly all the surviving painting of the period but architecture metalwork and small carved work in wood or ivory were also important media nbsp Buckle of Sutton Hoo 580 620 gold and niello length 13 1 cm British Museum London nbsp The helmet of Sutton Hoo early 7th century AD coppery alloy iron gold and garnet height 31 8 cm British Museum nbsp Shoulder clasps from Sutton Hoo early 7th century gold glass amp garnet length 12 7 cm British Museum nbsp The Incipit to Matthew from the Book of Lindisfarne late 7th century ink and pigments on vellum 34 x 25 cm British Library London Byzantine Edit Main article Byzantine art Byzantine art overlaps with or merges with what we call Early Christian art until the iconoclasm period of 730 843 when the vast majority of artwork with figures was destroyed so little remains that today any discovery sheds new understanding After 843 until 1453 there is a clear Byzantine art tradition It is often the finest art of the Middle Ages in terms of quality of material and workmanship with production centered on Constantinople Byzantine art s crowning achievement were the monumental frescos and mosaics inside domed churches most of which have not survived due to natural disasters and the appropriation of churches to mosques nbsp Slab with a relief representing the Nativity of Jesus 4th early 5th century marble Byzantine and Christian Museum Athens nbsp Apse of the Santa Maria Maggiore church in Rome decorated in the 5th century with this glamorous mosaic nbsp Mosaics on a ceiling and some walls of the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna Italy circa 547 AD nbsp The Little Metropolis in Athens built on unknown dates between the 9th century to the 13th century nbsp Cameo 10th 11th centuries jasper almandine emerald and chrysoprase from Constantinople Moscow Kremlin Museums Russia nbsp Gospel lectionary circa 1100 tempera gold and ink on parchment and leather binding overall 36 8 x 29 6 x 12 4 cm folio 35 x 26 2 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City nbsp Icon of the New Testament Trinity circa 1450 tempera and gold on wood panel poplar Cleveland Museum of Art Cleveland Ohio US nbsp Page of an Armenian illuminated manuscript 1637 1638 tempera colors gold paint and gold leaf on parchment height 25 2 cm Getty Center Los Angeles Romanesque Edit Main article Romanesque art Romanesque art refers to the period from about 1000 to the rise of Gothic art in the 12th century This was a period of increasing prosperity and the first to see a coherent style used across Europe from Scandinavia to Sicily Romanesque art is vigorous and direct was originally brightly coloured and is often very sophisticated Stained glass and enamel on metalwork became important media and larger sculptures in the round developed although high relief was the principal technique Its architecture is dominated by thick walls and round headed windows and arches with much carved decoration nbsp Maria Laach Abbey near Andernach Germany one of the most iconic Romanesque churches nbsp Stone bas relief of Jesus from the Vezelay Abbey Burgundy France nbsp Miniature of Saint John the Evangelist before 1147 illumination on parchment 35 5 cm Avesnes sur Helpe France nbsp The stoning of Saint Stephen 1160s fresco height 1 3 m Saint John Abbey Val Mustair Canton of Grisons Switzerland Gothic Edit Main article Gothic artGothic art is a variable term depending on the craft place and time The term originated with Gothic architecture in 1140 but Gothic painting did not appear until around 1200 this date has many qualifications when it diverged from Romanesque style Gothic sculpture was born in France in 1144 with the renovation of the Abbey Church of S Denis and spread throughout Europe by the 13th century it had become the international style replacing Romanesque International Gothic describes Gothic art from about 1360 to 1430 after which Gothic art merges into Renaissance art at different times in different places During this period forms such as painting in fresco and on panel become newly important and the end of the period includes new media such as prints nbsp Part of the Royal Portal 1145 1155 limestone Chartres Cathedral Chartres France nbsp North transept windows circa 1230 1235 stained glass diameter rose window 10 2 m Chartres Cathedral nbsp Scenes from the Legend of Saint Vincent of Saragossa 1245 1247 pot metal glass vitreous paint and lead overall 373 4 x 110 5 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City nbsp French diptych with the coronation of the Virgin and the Last Judgment 1260 1270 elephant ivory with metal mounts overall 12 7 x 13 x 1 9 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp Enthroned Virgin and child 1260 1280 elephant ivory with traces of paint and gilding overall 18 4 x 7 6 x 7 3 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp Bifolium with the decretals of gratian circa 1290 tempera and gold on parchment brown ink and modern leather binding overall 48 3 x 29 2 x 1 3 cm opened 47 2 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp German diptych with religious scenes 1300 1325 silver gilt with translucent and opaque enamels overall opened 6 1 x 8 6 x 0 8 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp Page of Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry depictic the funeral of Raymond Diocres 1411 1416 and 1485 1486 tempera on vellum height 29 cm width 21 cm Conde Museum Chantilly France nbsp The Lady and the Unicorn the title given to a series of six tapestries woven in Flanders this one being called A Mon Seul Desir late 15th century wool and silk 377 x 473 cm Musee de Cluny Paris nbsp Austrian statue of Enthroned Virgin 1490 1500 limestone with gesso painted and gilded 80 3 x 59 1 x 23 5 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp Entrance in Jerusalem circa 1500 painting Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon Lyon France nbsp Flamboyant Gothic cross windows of the Hotel de Sens Paris Renaissance Edit nbsp Leonardo da Vinci s Vitruvian Man Uomo Vitruviano c 1490 a seminal work from the Renaissance The drawing is inspired and subsequently named after the 1st century BC Roman architect author Vitruvius and his notions on the ideal human body proportions found in his De architectura 28 29 The drawing highlights the movement s fascination with Graeco Roman civilisations and appropriation of classical art as well as his pursuit for the correlation between body structure and nature 29 Main article Renaissance art The Renaissance is characterized by a focus on the arts of Ancient Greece and Rome which led to many changes in both the technical aspects of painting and sculpture as well as to their subject matter It began in Italy a country rich in Roman heritage as well as material prosperity to fund artists During the Renaissance painters began to enhance the realism of their work by using new techniques in perspective thus representing three dimensions more authentically Artists also began to use new techniques in the manipulation of light and darkness such as the tone contrast evident in many of Titian s portraits and the development of sfumato and chiaroscuro by Leonardo da Vinci Sculptors too began to rediscover many ancient techniques such as contrapposto Following with the humanist spirit of the age art became more secular in subject matter depicting ancient mythology in addition to Christian themes This genre of art is often referred to as Renaissance Classicism In the North the most important Renaissance innovation was the widespread use of oil paints which allowed for greater colour and intensity From Gothic to the Renaissance Edit During the late 13th century and early 14th century much of the painting in Italy was Byzantine in character notably that of Duccio of Siena and Cimabue of Florence while Pietro Cavallini in Rome was more Gothic in style During the 13th century Italian sculptors began to draw inspiration not only from medieval prototypes but also from ancient works 30 In 1290 Giotto began painting in a manner that was less traditional and more based upon observation of nature His famous cycle at the Scrovegni Chapel Padua is seen as the beginnings of a Renaissance style Other painters of the 14th century were carried the Gothic style to great elaboration and detail Notable among these painters are Simone Martini and Gentile da Fabriano In the Netherlands the technique of painting in oils rather than tempera led itself to a form of elaboration that was not dependent upon the application of gold leaf and embossing but upon the minute depiction of the natural world The art of painting textures with great realism evolved at this time Dutch painters such as Jan van Eyck and Hugo van der Goes were to have great influence on Late Gothic and Early Renaissance painting Early Renaissance Edit The ideas of the Renaissance first emerged in the city state of Florence Italy The sculptor Donatello returned to classical techniques such as contrapposto and classical subjects like the unsupported nude his second sculpture of David was the first free standing bronze nude created in Europe since the Roman Empire The sculptor and architect Brunelleschi studied the architectural ideas of ancient Roman buildings for inspiration Masaccio perfected elements like composition individual expression and human form to paint frescoes especially those in the Brancacci Chapel of surprising elegance drama and emotion A remarkable number of these major artists worked on different portions of the Florence Cathedral Brunelleschi s dome for the cathedral was one of the first truly revolutionary architectural innovations since the Gothic flying buttress Donatello created many of its sculptures Giotto and Lorenzo Ghiberti also contributed to the cathedral nbsp Pulpit by Nicola Pisano 1265 1268 marble height 4 6 m Pisa Baptistery Italy 31 nbsp Crucifix by Cimabue circa 1285 tempera on panel 4 29 x 3 83 m San Domenico Arezzo Italy 32 nbsp Crucifix Giotto circa 1300 tempera on panel 5 78 x 4 06 m Santa Maria Novella Florence Italy 33 nbsp The Maesta Altarpiece by Duccio 1308 1311 tempera on panel 2 46 x 4 67 m Museo dell Opera del Duomo Siena Italy High Renaissance Edit High Renaissance artists include such figures as Leonardo da Vinci Michelangelo Buonarroti and Raffaello Sanzio The 15th century artistic developments in Italy for example the interest in perspectival systems in depicting anatomy and in classical cultures matured during the 16th century accounting for the designations Early Renaissance for the 15th century and High Renaissance for the 16th century Although no singular style characterizes the High Renaissance the art of those most closely associated with this period Leonardo da Vinci Raphael Michelangelo and Titian exhibits an astounding mastery both technical and aesthetic High Renaissance artists created works of such authority that generations of later artists relied on these artworks for instruction These exemplary artistic creations further elevated the prestige of artists Artists could claim divine inspiration thereby raising visual art to a status formerly given only to poetry Thus painters sculptors and architects came into their own successfully claiming for their work a high position among the fine arts In a sense 16th century masters created a new profession with its own rights of expression and its own venerable character nbsp The Tempietto towards 1502 1510 in a narrow courtyard of the San Pietro in Montorio from Rome nbsp David by Michelangelo 1501 1504 marble 517 cm 199 cm Galleria dell Accademia Florence nbsp Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci c 1503 1506 perhaps continuing until c 1517 oil on poplar panel 77 cm 53 cm Louvre nbsp The School of Athens by Raphael 1509 1510 fresco 5 8 x 8 2 m Apostolic Palace Vatican City Northern art up to the Renaissance Edit Early Netherlandish painting developed but did not strictly invent the technique of oil painting to allow greater control in painting minute detail with realism Jan van Eyck 1366 1441 was a figure in the movement from illuminated manuscripts to panel paintings Hieronymus Bosch 1450 1516 a Dutch painter is another important figure in the Northern Renaissance In his paintings he used religious themes but combined them with grotesque fantasies colorful imagery and peasant folk legends His paintings often reflect the confusion and anguish associated with the end of the Middle Ages Albrecht Durer introduced Italian Renaissance style to Germany at the end of the 15th century and dominated German Renaissance art Time Period Italian Renaissance Late 14th century to Early 16th century Northern Renaissance 16th century nbsp The Ghent Altarpiece by Jan and Hubert van Eyck 1432 oil on oak wood 3 4 m 4 6 m opened like in this image St Bavo s Cathedral Ghent Belgium nbsp The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck 1434 oil on panel 82 2 x 60 cm National Gallery London nbsp The Descent from the Cross by Rogier van der Weyden circa 1442 oil on oak panel 220 262 cm Museo del Prado Madrid Spain nbsp The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch c 1504 oil on panel 2 2 1 95 m the central panel Museo del Prado nbsp The Rhinoceros by Albrecht Durer 1515 woodcut 23 5 cm 29 8 cm National Gallery of Art Washington D C nbsp The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger 1533 oil on panel 2 07 2 09 National Gallery London nbsp The Parade Armour of Henry II of France by Etienne Delaune circa 1555 chased steel height 187 96 cm weight 24 2 kg Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City nbsp The Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder 1563 oil on panel 1 14 1 55 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna Austria Mannerism Baroque and Rococo EditMain articles Mannerism Baroque and Rococo Differences between Baroque and Rococo art nbsp Baroque art was characterised by strongly religious and political themes common characteristics included rich colours with a strong light and dark contrast Paintings were elaborate emotional and dramatic in nature In the image Caravaggio s Christ at the Column Cristo alla colonna nbsp Rococo art was characterised by lighter often jocular themes common characteristics included pale creamy colours florid decorations and a penchant for bucolic landscapes Paintings were more ornate than their Baroque counterpart and usually graceful playful and light hearted in nature In European art Renaissance Classicism spawned two different movements Mannerism and the Baroque Mannerism a reaction against the idealist perfection of Classicism employed distortion of light and spatial frameworks in order to emphasize the emotional content of a painting and the emotions of the painter The work of El Greco is a particularly clear example of Mannerism in painting during the late 16th early 17th centuries Northern Mannerism took longer to develop and was largely a movement of the last half of the 16th century Baroque art took the representationalism of the Renaissance to new heights emphasizing detail movement lighting and drama in their search for beauty Perhaps the best known Baroque painters are Caravaggio Rembrandt Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velazquez A rather different art developed out of northern realist traditions in 17th century Dutch Golden Age painting which had very little religious art and little history painting instead playing a crucial part in developing secular genres such as still life genre paintings of everyday scenes and landscape painting While the Baroque nature of Rembrandt s art is clear the label is less use for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in this trend while also continuing to produce the traditional categories Baroque art is often seen as part of the Counter Reformation the artistic element of the revival of spiritual life in the Roman Catholic Church Additionally the emphasis that Baroque art placed on grandeur is seen as Absolutist in nature Religious and political themes were widely explored within the Baroque artistic context and both paintings and sculptures were characterised by a strong element of drama emotion and theatricality Famous Baroque artists include Caravaggio or Rubens 34 Artemisia Gentileschi was another noteworthy artist who was inspired by Caravaggio s style Baroque art was particularly ornate and elaborate in nature often using rich warm colours with dark undertones Pomp and grandeur were important elements of the Baroque artistic movement in general as can be seen when Louis XIV said I am grandeur incarnate many Baroque artists served kings who tried to realize this goal Baroque art in many ways was similar to Renaissance art as a matter of fact the term was initially used in a derogative manner to describe post Renaissance art and architecture which was over elaborate 34 Baroque art can be seen as a more elaborate and dramatic re adaptation of late Renaissance art By the 18th century however Baroque art was falling out of fashion as many deemed it too melodramatic and also gloomy and it developed into the Rococo which emerged in France Rococo art was even more elaborate than the Baroque but it was less serious and more playful 35 Whilst the Baroque used rich strong colours Rococo used pale creamier shades The artistic movement no longer placed an emphasis on politics and religion focusing instead on lighter themes such as romance celebration and appreciation of nature Rococo art also contrasted the Baroque as it often refused symmetry in favor of asymmetrical designs Furthermore it sought inspiration from the artistic forms and ornamentation of Far Eastern Asia resulting in the rise in favour of porcelain figurines and chinoiserie in general 36 The 18th century style flourished for a short while nevertheless the Rococo style soon fell out of favor being seen by many as a gaudy and superficial movement emphasizing aesthetics over meaning Neoclassicism in many ways developed as a counter movement of the Rococo the impetus being a sense of disgust directed towards the latter s florid qualities Mannerism 16th century Edit Main article Mannerism nbsp Entombment by Jacopo da Pontormo 1525 1528 oil on panel 3 12 x 1 9 m Santa Felicita Florence Italy nbsp Madonna with the Long Neck by Parmigianino 1534 1540 oil on panel 2 19 x 1 32 m Uffizi Gallery Florence nbsp Venus Cupid Folly and Time by Bronzino mid 1540s oil on panel 1 46 x 1 16 m National Gallery London nbsp Summer by Giuseppe Arcimboldo 1563 oil on panel 67 x 50 8 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna Austria Baroque early 17th century to mid early 18th century Edit Main article Baroque nbsp The Four Continents by Peter Paul Rubens circa 1615 oil on canvas 209 x 284 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna Austria nbsp Dutch wardrobe 1625 1650 oak with ebony and rosewood veneers overall 244 5 x 224 3 x 85 2 cm Cleveland Museum of Art Cleveland Ohio US nbsp The Night Watch by Rembrandt 1642 oil on canvas 363 437 cm Rijksmuseum Amsterdam the Netherlands nbsp The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini 1647 1652 marble height 3 5 m Santa Maria della Vittoria Rome nbsp Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez 1656 1657 oil on canvas 318 cm 276 cm Museo del Prado Madrid Spain nbsp The entrance of the Palace of Versailles Versailles France the most iconic Baroque building nbsp The Bust of Louis XIV by Gian Lorenzo Bernini 1665 marble 105 99 46 cm Palace of Versailles nbsp The Art of Painting by Johannes Vermeer 1666 1668 oil on canvas 1 3 x 1 1 m Kunsthistorisches Museum nbsp Carpet with fame and fortitude 1668 1685 knotted and cut wool pile woven with about 90 knots per square inch 909 3 x 459 7 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp Dome of the Church of the Gesu Rome made in 1674 by Giovanni Battista Gaulli nbsp The Portrait of Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud 1701 oil on canvas 277 194 cm Louvre nbsp The Karlskirche in Vienna Austria built between 1716 and 1737Rococo early to mid 18th century Edit Main article Rococo nbsp The Chinese House a chinoiserie garden pavilion in Sanssouci Park from Potsdam Germany nbsp The amazing interior of the Wilhering Abbey Wilhering Austria This interior has a trompe l œil on its ceiling surrounded of highly decorated stuccos nbsp Boiserie from the Hotel de Varengeville circa 1736 1752 various materials including carved painted and gilded oak height 5 58 m width 7 07 m length 12 36 m in the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City nbsp Title print by Juste Meissonnier 1738 1749 etching on paper 51 6 x 34 9 cm Rijksmuseum nbsp Pair of candelabrums 18th century soft paste porcelain heights the left one 26 8 cm the right one 26 4 cm by the Chelsea porcelain factory Metropolitan Museum of Art nbsp Mr and Mrs Andrews by Thomas Gainsborough circa 1750 oil on canvas 69 8 x 119 4 cm National Gallery London nbsp Madame de Pompadour by Francois Boucher 1756 oil on canvas 2 01 x 1 57 m Alte Pinakothek Munich Germany nbsp The Swing by Jean Honore Fragonard 1767 1768 oil on canvas height 81 cm width 64 cm Wallace Collection London Neoclassicism Romanticism Academism and Realism EditMain articles Neoclassicism Romantic art Academic art and Realism arts nbsp Neoclassical art inspired by different classical themes was characterised by an emphasis on simplicity order and idealism In the image Antonio Canova s Psyche Revived by Cupid s Kiss 1787 1793 Throughout the 18th century a counter movement opposing the Rococo sprang up in different parts of Europe commonly known as Neoclassicism It despised the perceived superficiality and frivolity of Rococo art and desired for a return to the simplicity order and purism of classical antiquity especially ancient Greece and Rome The movement was in part also influenced by the Renaissance which itself was strongly influenced by classical art Neoclassicism was the artistic component of the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment the Enlightenment was idealistic and put its emphasis on objectivity reason and empirical truth Neoclassicism had become widespread in Europe throughout the 18th century especially in the United Kingdom which saw great works of Neoclassical architecture spring up during this period Neoclassicism s fascination with classical antiquity can be seen in the popularity of the Grand Tour during this decade where wealthy aristocrats travelled to the ancient ruins of Italy and Greece Nevertheless a defining moment for Neoclassicism came during the French Revolution in the late 18th century in France Rococo art was replaced with the preferred Neoclassical art which was seen as more serious than the former movement In many ways Neoclassicism can be seen as a political movement as well as an artistic and cultural one 37 Neoclassical art places an emphasis on order symmetry and classical simplicity common themes in Neoclassical art include courage and war as were commonly explored in ancient Greek and Roman art Ingres Canova and Jacques Louis David are among the best known neoclassicists 38 nbsp Eugene Delacroix Liberty Leading the People 1830 Romantic art Just as Mannerism rejected Classicism so did Romanticism reject the ideas of the Enlightenment and the aesthetic of the Neoclassicists Romanticism rejected the highly objective and ordered nature of Neoclassicism and opted for a more individual and emotional approach to the arts 39 Romanticism placed an emphasis on nature especially when aiming to portray the power and beauty of the natural world and emotions and sought a highly personal approach to art Romantic art was about individual feelings not common themes such as in Neoclassicism in such a way Romantic art often used colours in order to express feelings and emotion 39 Similarly to Neoclassicism Romantic art took much of its inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman art and mythology yet unlike Neoclassical this inspiration was primarily used as a way to create symbolism and imagery Romantic art also takes much of its aesthetic qualities from medievalism and Gothicism as well as mythology and folklore Among the greatest Romantic artists were Eugene Delacroix Francisco Goya J M W Turner John Constable Caspar David Friedrich Thomas Cole and William Blake 38 Most artists attempted to take a centrist approach which adopted different features of Neoclassicist and Romanticist styles in order to synthesize them The different attempts took place within the French Academy and collectively are called Academic art Adolphe William Bouguereau is considered a chief example of this stream of art In the early 19th century the face of Europe however became radically altered by industrialization Poverty squalor and desperation were to be the fate of the new working class created by the revolution In response to these changes going on in society the movement of Realism emerged Realism sought to accurately portray the conditions and hardships of the poor in the hopes of changing society In contrast with Romanticism which was essentially optimistic about mankind Realism offered a stark vision of poverty and despair Similarly while Romanticism glorified nature Realism portrayed life in the depths of an urban wasteland Like Romanticism Realism was a literary as well as an artistic movement The great Realist painters include Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin Gustave Courbet Jean Francois Millet Camille Corot Honore Daumier Edouard Manet Edgar Degas both considered as Impressionists and Thomas Eakins among others The response of architecture to industrialisation in stark contrast to the other arts was to veer towards historicism Although the railway stations built during this period are often considered the truest reflections of its spirit they are sometimes called the cathedrals of the age the main movements in architecture during the Industrial Age were revivals of styles from the distant past such as the Gothic Revival Related movements were the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood who attempted to return art to its state of purity prior to Raphael and the Arts and Crafts Movement which reacted against the impersonality of mass produced goods and advocated a return to medieval craftsmanship Time Period Neoclassicism mid early 18th century to early 19th century Romanticism late 18th century to mid 19th century Realism 19th centuryModern art EditMain articles Impressionism Post Impressionism Fauvism Cubism Modern art Modernism and Late modernism nbsp Impressionism was known for its usage of light and movement in its paintings as in Claude Monet s 1902 Houses of Parliament sunset nbsp Art amp Language are known for their major input on conceptual art Out of the naturalist ethic of Realism grew a major artistic movement Impressionism The Impressionists pioneered the use of light in painting as they attempted to capture light as seen from the human eye Edgar Degas Edouard Manet Claude Monet Camille Pissarro and Pierre Auguste Renoir were all involved in the Impressionist movement As a direct outgrowth of Impressionism came the development of Post Impressionism Paul Cezanne Vincent van Gogh Paul Gauguin Georges Seurat are the best known Post Impressionists Following the Impressionists and the Post Impressionists came Fauvism often considered the first modern genre of art Just as the Impressionists revolutionized light so did the fauvists rethink color painting their canvases in bright wild hues After the Fauvists modern art began to develop in all its forms ranging from Expressionism concerned with evoking emotion through objective works of art to Cubism the art of transposing a four dimensional reality onto a flat canvas to Abstract art These new art forms pushed the limits of traditional notions of art and corresponded to the similar rapid changes that were taking place in human society technology and thought Surrealism is often classified as a form of Modern Art However the Surrealists themselves have objected to the study of surrealism as an era in art history claiming that it oversimplifies the complexity of the movement which they say is not an artistic movement misrepresents the relationship of surrealism to aesthetics and falsely characterizes ongoing surrealism as a finished historically encapsulated era Other forms of Modern art some of which border on Contemporary art include Abstract expressionism Art Deco Art Nouveau Bauhaus Color Field painting Conceptual Art Constructivism Cubism Dada Der Blaue Reiter De Stijl Die Brucke Body Art Expressionism Fauvism Fluxus Futurism Happening Surrealism Lettrisme Lyrical Abstraction Land Art Minimalism Naive art Op art Performance art Photorealism Pop art Suprematism Video art Vorticism Time Period Impressionism late 19th Century Others First half of the 20th centuryContemporary art and Postmodern art Edit nbsp Charles Thomson Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision 2000 Stuckism Main articles Contemporary art and Postmodern art Modern art foreshadowed several characteristics of what would later be defined as postmodern art as a matter of fact several modern art movements can often be classified as both modern and postmodern such as pop art Postmodern art for instance places a strong emphasis on irony parody and humour in general modern art started to develop a more ironic approach to art which would later advance in a postmodern context Postmodern art sees the blurring between the high and fine arts with low end and commercial art modern art started to experiment with this blurring 39 Recent developments in art have been characterised by a significant expansion of what can now deemed to be art in terms of materials media activity and concept Conceptual art in particular has had a wide influence This started literally as the replacement of concept for a made object one of the intentions of which was to refute the commodification of art However it now usually refers to an artwork where there is an object but the main claim for the work is made for the thought process that has informed it The aspect of commercialism has returned to the work There has also been an increase in art referring to previous movements and artists and gaining validity from that reference Postmodernism in art which has grown since the 1960s differs from Modernism in as much as Modern art movements were primarily focused on their own activities and values while Postmodernism uses the whole range of previous movements as a reference point This has by definition generated a relativistic outlook accompanied by irony and a certain disbelief in values as each can be seen to be replaced by another Another result of this has been the growth of commercialism and celebrity Postmodern art has questioned common rules and guidelines of what is regarded as fine art merging low art with the fine arts until none is fully distinguishable 40 41 Before the advent of postmodernism the fine arts were characterised by a form of aesthetic quality elegance craftsmanship finesse and intellectual stimulation which was intended to appeal to the upper or educated classes this distinguished high art from low art which in turn was seen as tacky kitsch easily made and lacking in much or any intellectual stimulation art which was intended to appeal to the masses Postmodern art blurred these distinctions bringing a strong element of kitsch commercialism and campness into contemporary fine art 39 what is nowadays seen as fine art may have been seen as low art before postmodernism revolutionised the concept of what high or fine art truly is 39 In addition the postmodern nature of contemporary art leaves a lot of space for individualism within the art scene for instance postmodern art often takes inspiration from past artistic movements such as Gothic or Baroque art and both juxtaposes and recycles styles from these past periods in a different context 39 Some surrealists in particular Joan Miro who called for the murder of painting In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards Miro expressed contempt for conventional painting methods and his desire to kill murder or rape them in favor of more contemporary means of expression 42 have denounced or attempted to supersede painting and there have also been other anti painting trends among artistic movements such as that of Dada and conceptual art The trend away from painting in the late 20th century has been countered by various movements for example the continuation of Minimal Art Lyrical Abstraction Pop Art Op Art New Realism Photorealism Neo Geo Neo expressionism New European Painting Stuckism Excessivism and various other important and influential painterly directions See also EditHistory of art History of painting Lives of the Most Excellent Painters Sculptors and Architects 16th century book Modernism Painting in the Americas before European colonization Western European paintings in Ukrainian museums List of time periodsReferences Edit a b Oosterbeek Luiz European Prehistoric Art Europeart Retrieved 4 December 2012 Boardman John ed The Oxford History of Classical Art pp 349 369 Oxford University Press 1993 ISBN 0198143869 Banister Fletcher excluded nearly all Baroque buildings from his mammoth tome A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method The publishers eventually rectified this Murray P and Murray L 1963 The Art of the Renaissance London Thames amp Hudson World of Art p 9 ISBN 978 0 500 20008 7 in 1855 we find for the first time the word Renaissance used by the French historian Michelet as an adjective to describe a whole period of history and not confined to the rebirth of Latin letters or a classically inspired style in the arts Hause S amp Maltby W 2001 A History of European Society Essentials of Western Civilization Vol 2 pp 245 246 Belmont CA Thomson Learning Inc a b Art of Europe Saint Louis Art Museum Slam Retrieved 4 December 2012 Oosterbeek Luiz European Prehistoric Art Europeart Retrieved 4 December 2012 Sandars 8 16 29 31 Hahn Joachim Prehistoric Europe II Palaeolithic 3 Portable art in Oxford Art Online accessed 24 August 2012 Sandars 37 40 Sandars 75 80 Sandars 253 257 183 185 Kwong Matt Oldest cave man art in Europe dates back 40 800 years CBC News Retrieved 4 December 2012 Romanian Cave May Boast Central Europe s Oldest Cave Art Science AAAS News News sciencemag org 21 June 2010 Retrieved 25 August 2013 Gunther Michael Art of Prehistoric Europe Retrieved 4 December 2012 Chaniotis Angelos Ancient Crete Oxford Bibliographies Oxford University Press Retrieved 2 January 2013 Hood 56 Hood 17 18 23 23 Hood 240 241 Gates 2004 33 34 41 eg Hood 53 55 58 110 Chapin 49 51 Hood 37 38 Hood 56 233 235 Hood 235 236 Mattinson Lindsay 2019 Understanding Architecture A Guide To Architectural Styles Amber Books p 21 ISBN 978 1 78274 748 2 Roman Painting Art and archaeology com Retrieved 25 August 2013 Roman Painting Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History The Metropolitan Museum of Art Retrieved 19 October 2013 The Vitruvian Man leonardodavinci stanford edu Retrieved 25 March 2018 a b BBC Science amp Nature Leonardo Vitruvian man www bbc co uk Retrieved 25 March 2018 Fortenberry Diane 2017 THE ART MUSEUM Phaidon p 156 ISBN 978 0 7148 7502 6 Fortenberry Diane 2017 THE ART MUSEUM Phaidon p 156 ISBN 978 0 7148 7502 6 Fortenberry Diane 2017 THE ART MUSEUM Phaidon p 157 ISBN 978 0 7148 7502 6 Fortenberry Diane 2017 THE ART MUSEUM Phaidon p 157 ISBN 978 0 7148 7502 6 a b Baroque Art Arthistory famousartists paintings com 24 July 2013 Retrieved 25 August 2013 Ancien Regime Rococo Bc edu Archived from the original on 11 April 2018 Retrieved 25 August 2013 chinoiserie facts information pictures Encyclopedia com articles about chinoiserie www encyclopedia com Retrieved 25 March 2018 Art in Neoclassicism Artsz org 26 February 2008 Retrieved 25 August 2013 a b James J Sheehan Art and Its Publics c 1800 United and Diversity in European Culture c 1800 ed Tim Blanning and Hagen Schulze New York Oxford University Press 2006 5 18 a b c d e f General Introduction to Postmodernism Cla purdue edu Retrieved 25 August 2013 Ideas About Art Desmond Kathleen K 1 Archived 29 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine John Wiley amp Sons 2011 p 148 International postmodernism theory and literary practice Bertens Hans 2 Archived 29 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine Routledge 1997 p 236 M Rowell Joan Miro Selected Writings and Interviews London Thames amp Hudson 1987 pp 114 116 Bibliography EditChapin Anne P Power Privilege and Landscape in Minoan Art in Charis Essays in Honor of Sara A Immerwahr Hesperia Princeton N J 33 2004 ASCSA ISBN 0876615337 9780876615331 google books Gates Charles Pictorial Imagery in Minoan Wall Painting in Charis Essays in Honor of Sara A Immerwahr Hesperia Princeton N J 33 2004 ASCSA ISBN 0876615337 9780876615331 google books Hood Sinclair The Arts in Prehistoric Greece 1978 Penguin Penguin Yale History of Art ISBN 0140561420 Sandars Nancy K Prehistoric Art in Europe Penguin Pelican now Yale History of Art 1968 nb 1st edn early datings now superseded External links Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Art of Europe Web Gallery of Art Postmodernism European artists community Panopticon Virtual Art Gallery Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Art of Europe amp oldid 1177858495, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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