Renaissance and Baroque Art

                                                           Art in the Renaissance 

Madona and Child (1520) by Francesco Granacci.

This painting is titled Madona and Child. It was painted by Italian artist Francesco Granacci in 1520. In this artwork, we can see how the virgin Mary and the baby Jesus are depicted in a realistic way. This is because
painters had discovered the significance of form and anatomy during this period of time. For this reason, painters tried to portray the human forms in a very accurate way. Humanism played an important role in Renaissance art. It minimized religious and secular dogmas and emphasized the dignity and value of the individual.
In this piece of art, we can see the use of bright colors. In the Renaissance, artists used bright colors and implemented other characteristics such as realism, expression, perspective and focus on the individual. For this reason, Mary and Jesus are clearly the focal points of this painting instead of the surroundings. It is interesting to me to see how the majority of the artworks from this period of time were religious or had religion as a theme.


                                                                       Baroque Art

Marie Antoinette with a Rose in 1783 by Vigee Le Brun. 

This painting titled Marie Antoinette with a Rose is one of the most popular artworks done by French artist Vigee Le brun. Le Brun painted this portrait of Queen Marie Antoinette in 1783. She was considered the official portraitist of Marie Antoinette. Baroque painters were more interested in light than in forms and figures unlike painters from the Renaissance.
This is why, we can see how the face, torso and arms of Marie Antoinette look brighter than the rest of the painting.
We can also see that Marie Antoinette is depicted in a realistic way as well as the background. The techniques of implementing light and dark shadows as well as realism made Baroque artworks look more dramatic and real than the ones from the Renaissance period. For this reason, this portrait of Marie Antoinette almost look like a photograph of her.