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

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