Art History: what is it and what does this discipline study?

Art history has not always existed. We explain ourselves. Like most disciplines, the branch of the Humanities that studies art is relatively recent. Of course, of all the humanistic disciplines, it is perhaps the oldest, along with historical science.

When did art history begin to be studied? How did it come about? When did the first studies on the subject begin to be created? In this article we briefly summarize the trajectory of art history studies and tell you what they are currently based on.

What is art history?

As its own manifest nomenclature, This branch of the humanities focuses on the study of works of art and artistic manifestations within their historical and stylistic context.. As we have pointed out in the introduction, this discipline is relatively recent, since it did not begin to be formed until the time of the Enlightenment, that is, in the 18th century; that yes, with some previous antecedents.

What object does the history of art cover? Any human manifestation that has either an aesthetic or an expressive purpose (for example, of a moral or religious idea), or both. The discipline covers, then, from the first artistic manifestations of the Paleolithic (for example, the paintings of Altamira) to the most modern expressions and forms of art.

Despite the fact that the concept "art" is currently very broad and includes areas such as cinema or body painting, art history studies are usually limited to painting, sculpture and architecture. It is usual, however, that within the career that studies these disciplines some subjects are included (generally, of an optional nature) that include other artistic manifestations, in order to have a much more complete.

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The origin of art history as a discipline

It can be said that the beginning of artistic studies came with the Renaissance. During the medieval centuries, the concept of "art" and "artist" did not exist or, rather, they were not related to the production of artistic works. We explain ourselves.

In the Middle Ages, there were studies of the so-called "liberal arts", which had nothing to do with what we today consider a career in fine arts or art history. On the contrary. "Art" was strictly related to the intellect, never to manual production, so the so-called liberal arts had to do exclusively with the mind.

The concept of liberal arts, however, is not the exclusive patrimony of the Middle Ages. The idea came from classical antiquity, and was a way of differentiating the activity of scholars and sages from that of artisans and slaves. The liberal arts, as its name indicates, "dignified" man and, therefore, they were only intended for free men and of a certain status. This aversion towards manual work (which included painting and sculpture) spread to modern times and, in fact, only the end of the Old Regime managed to modify this idea.

But what, then, were the "arts" in the Middle Ages? The same Augustine of Hippo lists, in the fourth century, grammar, rhetoric, dialectic and astronomy, among others. However, it is Marciano Capella who, a century later, establishes which are the arts that must be considered "liberal"; on the one hand, grammar, rhetoric and dialectics formed the Trivium, and on the other, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic and music would configure the quadrivium. As we can see, none of these disciplines has anything to do with our modern concept of “art”.

And what happened to the activities that we would call "art" and to the people who would now be "artists"? We have already said it; they were mere artisan workers, since they carried out their activity with their hands and not with their intellect. In the Middle Ages, nothing differentiated a shoemaker from a fresco painter, For example; both were specialist workers in their own field. That is the main reason why no painter or sculptor from the Middle Ages signs his works. Did a shoemaker sign the shoes he made?

And, of course, no learned man (neither clerics nor nobles) "lowered" himself to the trade of painting or sculpting, with the exception, of course, of miniatures. of the medieval codices that, being inserted in the scholarly texts and illustrating the important passages, did not fall into the classification of "official trade". manual".

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The path towards the autonomy of art

We have already commented that the Renaissance constitutes a turning point in the trajectory of art history studies. And this is so because, during this time, the artist begins to acquire a different status than he had enjoyed in previous centuries. The artist is no longer just the mere craftsman who creates with his hands (almost as if it were a machine), but also imbues his work with intellectual inspiration..

Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) and his treatises on the Roman Vitruvius (s. I a. C.) have a great influence on the process of "intellectualization" of art and, therefore, on its separation from other manual works. From then on (at least in Italy, since in other latitudes it will be a more laborious process), and with the support of the Medici family of Florence, painting, sculpture and architecture are imposing themselves as intellectual activities, at the same level as the other "liberal arts". medieval.

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), in his work The lives of the most excellent Italian architects, painters and sculptors, presents the biography and work of some of the most outstanding artists of his time or of the time immediately preceding it; among them, the great Michelangelo Buonarrotti (1475-1564). The path towards the intellectualization of art and, above all, towards its autonomy, has already been traced, and it will be in the 18th century, the Age of Enlightenment, when its study and codification will proceed.

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The Illustration and the beginning of the Theory of Art

Professor Valeriano Bozal is undoubtedly correct in stating that, parallel to the autonomy that art begins to enjoy in the eighteenth century, we also find the autonomy of research scientific. In other words; both science and art are "liberated" from the weight of ideological, religious and moral factors, and the independence of artistic creation begins to prevail. Obviously, this supposed "liberation" is not absolute at all, since each artistic manifestation is necessarily the daughter of its time, even in a very small part.

Be that as it may, it is in the Enlightenment when art begins to be theorized. Thus, three related disciplines emerge: art history proper, art criticism, and aesthetics. The first was "inaugurated" with the publication, in 1764, of the volume History of art in antiquity (how could it be otherwise in an era obsessed with the classical), while the main works of the other two disciplines are, respectively, the halls (1759-81) by Denis Diderot and the Esthetic (1750-58), by Alexander G. Baumgarten, as beautifully collected by Gonzalo M. Borrás Gualls in his Art Theory I (see bibliography).

What is art history currently studying?

It is from the eighteenth century when these three paths in terms of artistic studies differ and separate, despite continuing to feed each other. Thus, we can say that aesthetics, as an autonomous discipline, studies art related to its qualities, namely: beauty, ugliness, proportion, etc. On the other hand, art criticism inevitably expresses a value judgment, since it judges the “quality” of a piece in relation to many variables.

Art history, on the other hand, focuses on the evolution of artistic expression in relation to different historical, social and cultural contexts. It is, therefore, closely linked to historical science, and both nourish and complement each other. On the other hand, the history of art also takes into account the different artists and their creations. artistic, not only from a purely biographical perspective, but also in relation to his own context.

One of the innovations that has been taking place with increasing force within this discipline is the inclusion of artistic expression from other latitudes. The history of art, as "codified" by the Enlightenment, has always been linked to Western art; Fortunately, at present, artistic studies have opened their sights and more and more frequently studies of the artistic manifestations of other cultures are included.