The Renaissance in Spain

           The Spanish renaissance refers to a movement in Spain. This line materialize from the Italian Renaissance during the 14th century which spread to Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Spanish empire extended throughout Western Europe. Italian artist ideas in motif‘s were definitely noticeable in Spanish paintings and sculptures.

The Renaissance in Spain, The Morata Master

        Alonso Berruguete was the first sculptor of the renaissance of Spain. He created sculptures from painted wood that portrays emotion through their dramatic positioning such as poses, gestures, and even facial expressions. He was the creator of the “Retablo” which is an altarpiece. This particular piece included the nativity, the annunciation, the Madonna and Child, the coronation of the virgin, the adoration  of the Magi, and the resurrection. All of these scenes were focused on the life of Christ. It was devoted to the Virgin Mary as shown in the picture. Critically thinking, the nativity was paired across with the resurrection representing the life and death of Jesus. On the bottom there is the annunciation where Mary bears the son of God and on the opposite side of that is the adoration of the magi, where they worship the Christ child. This focuses on the incarnation and that God is made flesh. On the top Mary is crowned in heaven as the queen of heaven, because she is the mother of God. Mary is actually the redemtrix, meaning the redemption of the faithful. Within the artwork there is a technique of tying in together all the clothing for that specific person is matching in every scene. There is also matching halos for every specific person as well. Another technique that is used is gesso, it is used to create a three dimensional quality. If a flickering light was turned on it would cause your eye to be drawn towards one of the most important parts of the painting, which is the halos.


- Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank, "The Renaissance in Spain," in Smarthistory, July 1, 2018, accessed February 4, 2021, https://smarthistory.org/the-renaissance-in-spain/.

- “National Gallery of Art.” Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain, www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2019/alonso-berruguete-renaissance-spain.html. 

- “The Renaissance in Spain, The Morata Master.” Performance by Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank, and Dr. Beth Harris, Smart History, 2019. 


Comments

  1. Glori MartelFebruary 12, 2021 at 10:21 AM

    This had a lot of great detail! Loved to read your description. Well done!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comparison Indrajit & Utagawa

Image
  To start off I have chosen to compare "I ndrajit meets with Ravana, then binds Rama and Laksmana with magic serpents; Sita is told they are dead " and "Utagawa Kunisada." To start off with a little information about the artworks, Indrajit is a scene that is a part of a larger story, the Ramayana. The story focuses on the dispute of good and evil. The characters in the scene experience love, loss, loyalty, conflict, fear, and friendship. These encounters highlight one’s meaning. Utagawa is a picture, there is a woman wearing a kimono, whom is standing by a vacant carriage. Her kimono is green that matches the carriage symbolizing a connection. Her robe and headscarf indicate it is cold outside. The whole artwork represents modern beauties.  “Indrajit meets with Ravana, then binds Rama and Laksmana with magic serpents; Sita is told they are dead,” folio from the  Yuddha Kanda  of the  Ramayana , by Sahib Din, Udaipur, c. 1650-52, watercolor on paper, approximately 9
Read more

The Pueblo Revolt and The Virgin of Macana

Image
           To start off with the background of The Virgin of Macana, it was created in the 18th century which was 1680. In the painting, Mary is a statue, she is bleeding from the forehead. She is wearing a crown and is holding a Macana, which is a wooden weapon embedded with obsidian blades commonly used by the Nahua people of central Mexico.  The Virgin of the Macana , second half of the 18th century, oil on canvas (History Collections New Mexico History Museum)           The Virgin of Macana is telling a story of the fight of the Spaniards and the Puebloians, during the Pueblo revolution in 1680. In the middle right side of the painting it shows the natives attacking the statue, I believe is historically in accurate because historians have questioned, "why are the pueblo people shown as violent, barbaric aggressors in the painting?" This shows that it is biased towards the Spaniards. The painting is intended to convey that it is one-sided because of the questions asked abo
Read more

The Great Enclosure Zimbabwe

Image
The Great Enclosure     The Great Zimbabwe Enclosure was completed approximately 1450. I t was a wall structure punctuated with turrets and monoliths to form the earlier Hill Ruin. Turrets were a small tower on top of a larger tower. A monolith was a single piece of stone standing upright and usually large, it served as a  monument  or a pillar. T here is a massive outer wall that is 32 feet high. On the  inside the enclosure is smaller, the walls are parallel to the exterior wall creating a tight passageway leading to large towers.  There are three sections the first is the Hill complex, the second is the Great Enclosure which is obviously the most exciting, and the last is the Valley ruins.   Great Enclosure Map        Starting with the first section the Hill complex, it is a structural ruins that sits at the top of the steepest Hill of the site. It is a religious center and the oldest part of great Zimbabwe it was built around 900 C.E.       T he second section is The Great Enclosur
Read more