Art

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Renaissance art
Renaissance was a cultural, sociological, religious, political as well as scientific phenomenon, which occurred between 14th to 17th century roughly and largely shaped the western world as we see it today. Renaissance started in the region of Tuscany, Florence and is considered to be the crucial bridge between the middle and the modern ages because of the intellectual revolutions that added to all the aspects of human thought at that time, and influenced the world for years to come. Most of the progress in Europe after the middle ages can be attributed to Renaissance (Strathern, 2003).

One of the most basic elements of renaissance art is the unique humanism it brought with it (Strathern, 2003). Not only in art, humanism of the renaissance is evident in all endeavors of human intellect at that time. We can say that many factors in society contributed significantly to create such a period of intellectual progress. Humanisms started as a reaction to the utilitarian approach towards education at the time, humanists believed that man should not be pushed into small, highly specialized roles, rather they should be made into good citizens and good human beings, with appreciation for the arts and the written word.

Renaissance was also a great time in terms of the redefinition of aesthetics. Renaissance meant the redefinition of what was considered to be good art by the society of the time. At the time of the renaissance, Italy was divided in a large number of states and renaissance started in Florence due to the patron ship by the authorities and princes of the state. Oil paints started being used for the first time, dried paint pigments were used with linseed oil (Strathern, 2003). This allowed the painter to work on a painting for several months as it took time for the paints to dry.

Linear perspective and lights and shadows increasingly became important in art. This started a wave of realism in art, where linear perspectives were used with realistic lighting techniques to produce realism in paintings. Another great aspect of the renaissance was the evolution of the frescoes, which were perfected by Michelangelo (Osbourne, 2006). In addition to this, in the field of sculpture, the advancement was the all rounded sculpture, instead of relief work.

Giotto is considered to be the father of the renaissance painting. He used approximate perspectives and human emotions in his paintings which gave them a humanistic dimension. In addition to this, he used multiple figures in his paintings which enhanced the human value of his paintings as contrasted to the representation of icons. Masaccio (1401- 1428) was the one of the first artists to apply the new method of linear perspective in his fresco of the Holy Trinity (Osbourne, 2006). In this painting he successfully used perspective to create a realistic looking architectural space within a wall. From the point of view of the observer, it seems as if the wall has opened up to provide this whole view of the holy trinity. Other Notable renaissance artists include, Leonardo Da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael and Michaelangelo (Osbourne, 2006). French Renaissance was a part of this greater cultural awakening of Europe from where the painting under discussion comes, A Lady in Her Bath.

Renaissance was time of great wealth, which fostered great advancements in the arts. This is the example of sublime artistic developments coming out of peaceful times, in the shadow of wealth and plenty. Due to the artists being under the patron-ship of the wealthy, many paintings portray the wealth of those times.
A Lady in Her Bath by Franois Clouet is one such depiction of wealth and beauty of those times. This is a renaissance painting, which is realistic in perspective and has an interesting play of light and shadow. What is even more interesting is the contrast of the wealth of the lady in her bath, her beauty, splendor and youth with the ugliness of her maidservant, who is obviously not wealthy, who does not look young and has to nurse a child while working.

The lady is in her prime, she is an epitome of beauty and is scribbling idly on a piece of paper while in her bath and being waited on by two maidservants. On the other hand, the maidservant has to nurse one  infant, has to look after another child while waiting on the lady. The room shows the wealth of the lady in question and the lavishness and luxury of her life. The fruits placed in front of her portray that she has all the luxuries in her life, while she  the lady looks away from these things in the painting, showing her disregard for the same. The child, on the other hand, is reaching out to the fruits which shows his want for the luxuries of life which have remained just out of his reach. Furthermore, the painting is done is typical renaissance fashion with realism and attention to detail in terms of light and shadows.

The lady, whose pose is seemingly based upon the Mona Lisa has been linked to many women of the time, however she is supped to be an ideal of beauty of those times rather than an actual person. In another version of the painting (Dame au bain), the lady has different expressions and the lighting in the room is dimmer than the version previously discussed (Hampton, 2003). Also, the arm on the first version seems to be more anatomically correct than the second, more lighter version.

All in all, A Lady In Her Bath is a good example of renaissance artwork, it depicts an aspect of renaissance society, while defines the artistic merits of the same. The depth of the painting continues till the scenery that is depicted outside of the room, all in perfect realism and detail.