The M Museum Visit

Renaissance

  It is breath taking to see these masterpieces from epic periods of time. Whenever we mention the Renaissance, names like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo; artworks like <Mona Lisa>, <David> comes to mind. For many people, Renaissance itself is a name of western art.

Rafael was definitely one of the most reputable artist. Despite his short life-37 years- 300 paintings must have considered as fertile. There are many paintings of Virgin and Madonna under Rafael’s stroke. This is The Grand Duke's Madonna, circa 1504-05. Giclee Print - 18 x 24 inch. Rafael painted this not long after he arrived Florence. There is no other decorations, such as beds, chairs, vases, thrones behind Madonna. The lines are soft and the dark background makes us focus more on the character. Rafael did not make her smile, instead she looks down, as if she has gain a lot of composure. This composure is heavy and stable, and somewhat represent the religious believe deep inside of Rafael. However, not just Rafael, masters from the same time were soaked all in the religious atmosphere. Virgins, children, Gods, Jesus had become the typical elements in the paintings of that time. And apparently, Baroque drove a different path.

Baroque

  Compare to Renaissance, Artworks from Baroque not only acquired various objects, it extended to many different fields, such as sculptures, architecture, literature, dancing and music etc. The baroque style also specialized in details. Portraits, for example, reflects the qualities of people’s lives and their indulged leisure activities. The Baroque based on Renaissance which gave it a color or religion, but it is also prosperous and full of passion. Kind of romantic, full of imagination. This is the Portrait of a Man Rising from His chair.  1633, from Rembrandt van Rijn, oil on canvas. Moist skin color and very detailed mixture of black and white. It is not simply a contrast, if we look closely, the man’s black cloth actually sewed with complicated patterns. A kind of cloth may only wore by highborn. Not just colors, lights are also significant. Rembrandt, especially, liked to use lights to lead us. He used lights to create depth, shapes. Sometimes, although with very limited lights on a person’s face, it expressed unlimited sense of emotion beyond description.