There is a prevailing argument that artists during the renaissance matured, from mere craftsman into creative intellectuals, and the process of producing art grew into a philosophical endeavor. Before these statements are explored further, perhaps the literal meaning behind these words should be investigated. What is the difference between a craftsman and a creative intellectual, art as technique and art as philosophy? Are these ideas and modes mutually exclusive? The idea of craftsman seems to imply a type of specialization in a manual craft of some kind.
This involves technical knowledge, and skillful application. An artist as a craftsman needs to have all the knowledge available to him/her to succeed in their field. This includes knowledge of materials and how to manipulate them, as well as knowledge of form, light, shadow, and so on. But what does it mean to be an intellectual, and to create art through a philosophical process? Surely many of the knowledges essential to a skilled craftsman could be thought of as intellectual. Philosophy is a love of wisdom, its core feature being the meticulous scrutiny and exploration of every aspect of knowledge itself.
When this comprehensive idea of knowledge is applied to art, it means that art is no longer simply about, technique, materials, and objects as mere forms. It becomes an in depth study of each aspect of technique. The subjects are not two dimensional forms, rather they move through and occupy space. They think, believe, and feel. The artist considers all these aspects in a more complex way, moving beyond technical skill, and visual observation. It’s the comprehensive mastery of technique as well as intense intellectual thought. During the early Renaissance art was considered a labor.
A young boy was sent to apprentice under a master artist and learn how to draw, paint, sculpt, etcetera. This apprenticeship would be almost like a trade school is today. The young boy goes to learn a trade, to make a living wage, and this is how one became an artist. Because it was thought of this way, creating art was not considered an intellectual craft, and it was not necessarily taught or practiced as one either. Students would learn the rules, techniques, and methods, practicing them until they were good enough to go out and earn a living as an artist.
This was a long trusted way to turn out artists as laborers. However this began to change as a demand for more highly skilled artists grew, and the field became increasingly competitive. With this as the driving force, new more advanced techniques were developed, and art moved from a manual craft to an intellectual endeavor, more along the same lines we think of art today. This is not to say, art was not at all intellectual before, only that this view became generally accepted and encouraged in artists. This change in perspective propelled the way art progressed from the early to the high Renaissance period.
During the early Renaissance Brunelleschi developed one point perspective. This is considered one of the most important techniques adopted by Renaissance artists. It is a scientific way to represent space, where a vanishing point marks the horizon. With the use of this method artists were able to consistently and convincingly represent three dimensional space. Perhaps the most significant and iconic early use of one point perspective was in Masacchio’s fresco The Trinity c. 1425. By placing the vanishing point at eye level, this painting creates a spacial illusion, which causes the viewer to feel as if they are part of the scene.
Piero della Francesca refines and builds upon Masacchio’s Trinity to create a different emotional affect in the Brera Alterpiece c. 1475. Another important development during this time is the use of drawing as studies and as preparatory exercises, rather than templates. Drawing becomes a more intellectual process, which leads artists to the best depiction of the subject. This can be seen in the preparatory drawings of Adam for the Sistine Chapel frescoes by Michelangelo. He uses these drawings to explore the expressive potential of the human body, rather than as a universal template for the male form.
Oil painting became more mainstream during the Renaissance as well, allowing a greater flexibility in painting. Because oil takes much longer to dry than other mediums it enables an artist to develop paintings more gradually. Oil paint renders colors more transparent, allowing artists to layer color and develop rich jewel like tones, resulting in a complexity of colors. These technical developments in art created more advanced and skilled artists, and competition among them. This was part of the challenge for young apprentices.
Not only were they forced to engage in more advanced techniques to stay competitive, but the masters they learned from were not versed in these new techniques, and so they were not necessarily teaching these skills. An artist was no longer guaranteed success through an apprenticeship. As a result young artists began to travel to places like Rome in order to stay on the cutting edge, to actively seek out inspiration. They would study ancient greek sculptures like Lacoon and his sons.
This is depicted in Federico Zuccaro’s Twenty Drawings depicting the Early Life of Taddeo Zuccaro c. 595. This series of drawings really illustrates the difficulty of succeeding as an artist during the Renaissance. Another great influence in art as an intellectual practice was Leonardo da Vinci. Not only did he employ the techniques mentioned above, but he was very interested in the sciences, including anatomy and engineering. He drew machines, did studies of water, and dissected bodies. He studied proportions, and seemed interested in the way things operated. This fascination led him to an incredible understanding of the internal workings of things, and of the body in particular.
His paintings of the human body show a superiority to human forms represented by artists like Pollaiuolo. The difference between their depictions can be seen in comparing Pollaiuolo’s Battle of the Ten Naked Men c. 1475 and da Vinci’s drawing The Vitruvian Man c. 1490. Da Vinci’s drawings and paintings of the human body are much more convincing than artists before him because he understood the internal anatomy of the human body and how that translated visually. Leonardo da Vinci’s use of art as a form of poetry transformed ideas about painting.
His early Portrait of Ginevra de’Benci c. 1475, for example, is a subtly idealized portrait which employs themes of love poetry. The shadow from her hair on her cheek is a reference to this. The juniper (ginepro in Italian) is a play on her name, and her hair is like spun gold. This portrait is not meant to merely describe Ginevra, but to celebrate her inner and outer beauty, much like a poet. In da Vinci’s Mona Lisa c. 1503 he is able to create a smile that causes the viewer to wonder what she is thinking.
He places the vanishing point in such a way to suggest that she resides over nature, or is perhaps the symbol of nature itself. These subtle suggestions in paintings like Leonardo’s elevate painting into a philosophical meditation. Michelangelo carved his Pieta c. 1500 at the young age of twenty-nine. He masterfully plays with proportions in such a way to convince the viewer that a full grown man lies across his mother’s lap. Although the Virgin would have been close to fifty at the time of Christ’s death Michelangelo portrays her as a young woman. Christ is beautiful and does not appear emaciated and tortured like many other depictions.
Again, this is a philosophical and intellectual portrayal of Christ and the Virgin Mary. The ideal beauty represents purity, and the expression on Mary’s face shows her perfect sadness, inspiring religious devotion. Not only were artists themselves great influences in the direction of art during the Renaissance, but so were the people employing them. Works were created for patrons, this again produced competition between artists. Patrons of the arts during this time included wealthy people like Isabella d’Este, the Medici family, as well as several popes.
Not only could these patrons afford the most talented artists, but they desired subject matter which demands philosophical contemplation. For example Isabelle d’Este had works like Andrea Mantegna’s Allegory of Virtue c. 1500 created with a sophisticated literary and philosophical purpose. Paintings for Patrons like Isabella d’Este were a way of social expression. As the wealthy in todays society are able to create demand for certain products or trends, the wealthy during the Renaissance expected a certain quality and influenced how art was produced.
Beginning with the development of more advanced techniques, like one-point perspective, preparatory drawing, and oil painting Renaissance art began to move in a more intellectual direction. These techniques gave artists a way to create more naturalistic paintings and sculptures, which were highly valued during this period. One-point perspective created a formula for creating convincing spatial relationships, while preparatory drawings moved figure studies away from formulaic expression, allowing more natural variation in forms. Oil painting created the ability to perfect a painting like other mediums could not.
From this emerged artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who really pushed art towards its potential as a philosophical endeavor themselves, and by the influence of wealthy patrons. Renaissance art gradually moved from what Vasari called the infancy of art to its maturity or perfection through the development of new techniques, a shift in perceptions about art, and the relationship between artists and patrons. It is the combination of all these things which not only propelled art towards a more intellectual endeavor, but also revealed the potential of art as philosophy and poetry.