Subjects:
the new techniques and styles came directly from this period but rather an integration of
old methods and new. This resulted in realistic, vivid, and emotional portals in works of
art. Such example is the engraving titled “Adam and Eve” by Albrecht Dürer. It was
created in c1504 during the Renaissance period. Throughout this period the ideas formed
were expressed in music, the arts, and literature.
Dürer was a religious man like many of the Early Renaissance Artists. This
engraving shows the event when Adam and Even ate from the fruit of the Tree of
Knowledge. In the beginning many people were still illiterate and could not decipher the
bible by themselves. So many portraits were made to become a “visual bible.”
This black and white engraving depicts when Eve breaks off a branch from the
Forbidden Tree, and Adam is outstretching his hand to accept the fruit. They are lying
against the tree while the Four animals assembled around the tree. The animals are the
cat, ox, rabbit, and elk. They represent the medieval idea of the four temperaments, which
. . .
were a major reason why there was a sudden surge in the literacy rate of the peasant and
middle class. The arts
became more realistic, more down to earth and not exaggerated, but all the while it stayed
religious.
Dürer portrays Adam and Eve rather realistically which corresponds with the
Renaissance idea of humanism.
If you look at the figure closely you will notice that the figures farthest left and
farthest right leg will create a triangle where the vertex is the top of the tree. Dürer
extensively used the concept of perspective, the representation of solid objects into the
deception that they are actually three dimensional. This period of Art and history gave us some of the most magnificent pieces by
a multitude of artists. During the Renaissance, artists sought out to understand both nature and
the body itself. Dürer’s style of hard
strokes was used to define and detail the area’s of dark. This
religious tone was meant to declare the human supremacy over all other creatures but
lower than god himself. The art in the Renaissance showed both the beliefs and history of
that time period. Again he shows the Renaissance proposal of combing old and
new methods. After coating the gloomy section of the engraving with charcoal he would
then smudge the top layer and use the luster to shade into the figures where appropriate.
He would smudge the black coloring around the white; bright; figures so they would not
abruptly appear to stand out vividly while in the shadowy environment. This technique of
shading is called chiaroscuro, which in Italian means light and dark.
Essay's Topics
All research is for reference purposes only.