TAKING A TURN

          Like the highly flourished walls built in Italy, art took its turn for the better. Following the Christian art, the dark age rose up from the holy wars caused by the crusades. This certain period lasted for about 700 years and spread plagues, wars and poverty. Albeit full of negative events, this era actually paved way to a much more royal and sophisticated period. After so long, the dark age started to die little by little and only then did the people of Europe start to retake and rebuild its land and art. They went back from the start and this is where the RENAISSANCE period evolved. The Renaissance started in Florence, Italy. Renaissance is a french word for "re-birth", which is pretty self-explanatory. This period gave birth to a new, more sensible and higher level of art.

          Before the Renaissance, the notable art of the Christian era were religious architectures such as churches, basilicas and cathedrals. From here on, we can imply that the Renaissance art incorporated a hint of classicism in its own. The Renaissance art was centered on humans and religion.

A portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife,
my favorite symbolism painting by Jan Van Eyck.

 These were the main subject matters in the artworks. Their distinct styles include realism, naturalism, idealism and symbolism. Various techniques were also invented such as the sfumato and chiaroscuro. Another technique famous in this era is called "Trompe-l'oeil" which dates back to the Greek and Roman times and the Christian art too. These 3 techniques are all about illusions. The sfumato, commonly used by Da Vinci, is a technique that creates smooth transition between colors and tones without the use of borders and is most notable in Mona Lisa, whose face, when looked at, creates a confusing illusion as to whether she is actually smiling or not. Chiaroscuro is basically shadowing and employs the effect of having a source of illumination and the shadow casted by it. This allows art to show much more drama and heightens emotional tension. Trompe-l'oeil or trick-the-eye is a technique that creates an illusion of depth and makes the subject (or art as a whole) seem three dimensional.

The Matchmaker by Gerrit van Honthorst, an example of painting which uses the chiaroscuro technique.

Escaping Criticism by Pere Borrell del Caso, a painting that uses "Trompe L'oeil".

          I state the significance of this era in the history of art with all my heart. This huge turn in art made it possible for the artists in that era to improve their skills and techniques more. Such is the use of oil paint. I have noticed that a lot of paintings from this era was made with oil paints and they looked very professional and well made. These improvements in skills and techniques made a huge development in art that spread all over the world and is present today. This marked the new start and further innovation in world of art.