Renaissance and Trade

To say that art stagnated from the fall of the Roman Empire to the start of the Renaissance era is misleading. In between the decline of the Roman Empire in the 300s and the beginning of the Renaissance in the 14th century, there were tremendous architectural advances during the Romanesque and Gothic art periods, and Islamic art in Spain brought new artistic styles to the region. However, the Renaissance began in Italy when  art included a renewed interest in ideas from classical Greek and Roman art and cultures that inspired curiosity in the natural world. This renewed interest placed, "an emphasis on education and on expanding knowledge (especially of classical antiquity), the exploration of individual potential and a desire to excel, and a commitment to civic responsibility and moral duty," otherwise referred to as humanism. (Gardner’s Art through the Ages, 1102)




Art historians look at this time period as a time of shifting worldviews among European artists listing “greater illusionism, more emphatic pictorial solidity and spatial depth, and stronger emotional demonstrations from depicted figures,” among the developments in Renaissance art. (Gardner's Art through the Ages, 542)Meanwhile, economists view this time as a revival of European trade, especially long-distance trade. 


Italy was a natural place for the Renaissance to begin considering its prominent economic position. Italy’s port cities connected Europe with Asia, the Middle East, and Africa and experienced great success and economic growth at trade hubs. From Italy, major trade routes extended towards Portugal and Scandinavia that spread the ideas of the Renaissance as well as commodities.  (Gardner’s Art through the Ages, 521-523)

Nicola Pisano, The Annunciation and the Nativity, 1260

Giovanni Pisano, The Annunciation and the Nativity, 1301

The two relief sculptures above highlight some of the changes during the early Renaissance art period.  The top sculpture by Nicola Pisano reflects interest in imitating or reviving the ancient classical artistic characteristics of Classical Greece and Rome.  The figures are solid, stoic, but rounded and proportional.  However, about forty years later, Giovanni Pisano, Nicola's son, does his own version of The Annunciation and the Nativity.  The relief sculpture is still done in the classical style, but has a more humanistic feeling. The figures are created in a way to give them movement, emotion, and to create the illusion of more depth between the characters—exactly the artistic techniques cultivated during the Renaissance. (Gardner’s Art through the Ages, 526)


The Renaissance was not solely an art movement, but it encompassed the renewed interest in learning about many different subjects.  The Benvenuto Cellini, Salt Cellar (1540) is a functional piece of art, intended to hold spices such as salt and pepper.  Yet its design is intricate, aware of depth and perspective, and includes reflects the nobility class' interest in classical art design.  The female appears to represent earth, while the male figure represents the sea, much like classic Greek and Roman gods.  (Atlas of World Art, 155)

Italy continued to be the center for artistic exchange and discovery in Europe, but upon the European discovery of America, new art from exotic cultures began to arrive in Europe.  Portugal developed major trade routes running to and from South America, Africa, India, the West Indies, and much of Asia.  The Netherlands had extensive trade routes by the 1500s running between Brazil, Africa, and Asia.  And Spain brought new materials from North, Central, and South America in addition to founding Spanish colonies in the Americas.  (Atlas of World Art, 154-155)

"Those countries and individuals that were in a position to exploit the new situation - first the Portuguese and Spanish and later the Dutch, French and English - could gain access to an unprecedented range of natural resources, from slaves and animals to plants and minerals. They, and those they traded with, could also learn from each other how to use the art and artifacts they made from these materials in a competitive display." (Atlas of World Art, 146)

This quotes articulates what the consequences are when certain countries are able to exploit their trade advantages to maximize their own benefit.  For the artists at that time, the "New World" meant there were more materials to work with, more wealthy citizens who could commission art, and the need for artists to reevaluate their perspective of the world now they were aware of a huge and still mostly unknown landmass in the world.  Meanwhile, new wealth and a larger gold supply upped the intensity of competitive display among the European nobles as they enlisted artists to create pieces to add to the elites' collection to show off their wealth and gain status. (Atlas of World Art, 154-155)


No discussion about the Renaissance could be complete without a review of Leonardo daVinci’s contributions to Renaissance art.  In some ways, da Vinci exemplifies the humanism that defines the Renaissance.  He was a talented artist, but also worked on inventions, tried different experiments, had an interest in anatomy, and studied a variety of other topics.  The Vitruvian Man was a study of the human body according to the ancient classical beliefs of the perfect dimensions of a man.  It reveals an understanding of anatomy, proportion, and science at it illustrates the concept of a perfect man.  Today the drawing is more synonymous with medical books than museums, but it shows the multi-dimensionality of many artists in the Renaissance.

Vitruvian Man, 1487

Mona Lisa (1505)

The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous paintings in the world, and it comes from Leonard da Vinci from the high Renaissance era.  It is unusual in part because the mysterious, empty landscape compliments the subject's hidden emotions.  The mysterious smile and soft, dark edges in the painting really engages the viewer in figuring out what the subject hides behind the crossed hands and partial smile. This painting also shows the technique called sfumato, which comes from the Italian word meaning smoky.  It is defined as the technique that softly blends areas from light to dark, which creates subtle transitions that gives the images a vague, hazy, or smoky appearance (Art Fundamentals, 150).  Da Vinci is credited with starting sfumato, though painters before him experimented with light and dark blending techniques as well.  (Gardner’s Art through the Ages, 617-618)




Essentially, the Renaissance art took off when trade and commerce began to thrive once again in Europe.  This time, long-distance trade, economic growth, the discovery of the Americas, and more centralized governments set the foundations for the early stages of European capitalism.  Trade required credits and exchange systems, stable governments, enforceable agreements which led to the establishment of trading firms in places like Florence, Italy.  It's hard to determine exactly which factors contributed to the rise of Renaissance art, but the economic revivals that occured in much of Europe at this time played a major role in sustaining and encouraging artistic experimentation. 


Increased trade coincided with increased European wealth which fueled the demand for art and allowed more people to jump into art production.  New techniques in perspective, shading, dimension, and types of materials led to a distinct change in European art from the flat, usually religious and ornate Gothic art of the 1200s to the emotionally captivating and highly expressive art during the high Renaissance period a few centuries later.  These masterpieces continue to inspire artists to this day and revolutionized how people understand art.  In a sense, the changes during this time changed art from simply a thing one views, to something one can experience and connect with emotionally.




Sources:


Gardner’s Art through the Ages, 521-523, 526, 542, 545, 617-618, 1102


Art Fundamentals, 150


Atlas of World Art, 146, 154-155