The 5 characteristics of the art of the Modern Age

The Modern Age comprises no less than three centuries; despite the fact that, as always, limiting periods is dangerous (because we risk falling into historical absolutisms), it is indeed It is true that, at this time, a series of changes arose that characterized the passage from the medieval human being to the human being. modern.

In this article we are going to focus on the art of the modern age more than in the historical aspects, although, obviously, everything is related. Artistic expression cannot be understood without the historical context; Therefore, we will first examine what happened in the change of the Middle Ages to the Modern Age and, later, we will focus on the 5 essential characteristics of the art of the period.

The cultural and artistic context in the Modern Age

what is known as Quattrocento, that is, the Italian fifteenth century, is essential to understand the changes that occurred in art. The Italy of that century was made up of a mosaic of small states, headed by figures from the urban bourgeoisie. These characters will protect the arts and transform the theocentric vision of medieval times in a humanism that will be promoted by the philosophical academies, protected by these same patron.

In the artistic sphere, there is also a turning point with the appearance of the treatise by the Roman architect Vitruvius (1st century BC. C.) From his text, much studied at the time, León Battista Alberti (1404-1472) created his three treatises on architecture, sculpture and painting. With this, the writer takes an important step towards the intellectualization of these disciplines, which they go from being mechanical arts (characteristic of the medieval period) to intellectual arts of free men.

On the other hand, Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), after studying classical antiquities in Rome (including Agrippa's Pantheon), designed the dome of the Duomo of Florence, which, although it still has an approach closely linked to medieval architecture, represents a technical advance that connects it with the new vision of world.

But the artist will go further, and definitively consolidate one of the main characteristics of the art of the Modern Age: we speak, of course, from the codification of the mathematical perspective, elaborated with a vanishing point, which entails the creation of a space that will revolutionize the world of painting until the arrival of the first dissident voices of the official academy, in the XIX century. This perspective will be applied for the first time in the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of Carmine in Florence by Tommaso Masaccio (1401-1428).

From Florence to Europe

The Medici family, from the time of Cosimo the Elder and, above all, with Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492), favored artistic creation and the numerous innovations produced in this field. Thus, the Medici will make Florence the most important cultural center and model of the moment, which will soon it will be imitated by the rest of the Italian cities and, finally, it will end up spreading to the rest of Europe.

In imitation of the Florentine family, in other Italian states the leaders will emulate the patronage of the Medici: the Sforza in Milan, Federico de Montefeltro in Urbino, the Gonzagas in Mantua, Segismundo Malatesta in Rimini, and so on and so on. On the other hand, the active trade that existed between the Italian states and the Flemish territory led to artistic exchanges between the innovations that are carried out in Central Europe, more linked to the naturalistic observation of reality, and the Italian ones, much more intellectualized.

In addition, Italy's interest in the classical world (not only in the arts, but also in philosophy) leads to a cultural change that, from the peninsula, will radiate to the entire continent during the centuries of the Age modern.

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The printing press and the expansion of ideas

One of the great inventions of history (which powerfully influenced society, culture and the arts of the Modern Age) is the printing press, since its use allowed ideas to reach a greater number of people. Thanks to this, the culture of humanism managed to spread throughout Europe in a short time.

In the artistic field, it is also worth noting, within the framework of this intellectual revolution, the use of prints, which were used to illustrate printed books. The importance of these prints in the development of art is crucial, since they not only disseminated intellectual content, but also artistic forms. At first, the technique used was carving (currently known as xylography). Subsequently, the use of engravings on copper plates made with a burin made the illustration of the books more agile and, therefore, that the expansion was faster.

From a religious point of view, the printing press was fundamental, because it allowed the ideas of the monk Martin Luther (1483-1546) to spread. The Protestant Reformation was highly successful, especially in central Europe, which provoked a reaction from the monarchies, which remained firm in defending Catholicism. This fact is important, since, as we will see in the next point, the art of the 16th and 17th centuries in the Catholic areas will be profoundly marked by the reaction anti-lutheranknown as the Counter-Reformation.

Art as a vehicle of the Counter-Reformation

The aniconic vision of Lutherans causes iconoclastic uprisings in the countries that embrace change and that a conceptual change occurs in the sacred space of these places. On the other hand, the Catholic Church reacts to the expansion of Protestantism through the Counter-Reformation, materialized in the Council of Trent (1545-1563).

The XXV session of this synod was dedicated exclusively to the way in which art should treat religious matters. This produces an important artistic transformation, which begins in Mannerism (late 16th century) and culminates in the Baroque, during the 17th and 18th centuries.

What did the new art of the Catholic Counter-Reformation consist of? Conceptually, it goes from a narrative art, which affected the stories (many times implausible) of the saints, to a representation of the image of the sacred figure with her attributes as a model of holiness. These round-shaped paintings and sculptures reflect a declamatory attitude in the characters represented, since if anything characterizes Baroque art it is precisely its theatricality.

In addition, the Counter-Reformation remains firm in the importance of the sacraments, especially that of the Eucharist, which in the art is reflected in the exaltation of the tabernacles, the monstrances and all the elements related to the cult of the Sacred Shape. On the other hand, the Corpus Christi festivity, with all the artistic elements that it entails, acquired unprecedented importance during the Baroque.

The 5 essential characteristics of the art of the Modern Age

In the 16th century, a series of artists arose who drank from the change produced in the previous century. On the one hand, there is a generation that began to work in the 15th century (in which artists such as Leonardo, Botticelli, Perugino or Piero della Francesca, among others), and, later, we already meet the great artists of the five hundredsuch as Michelangelo, Titian, Raphael, Tintoretto or Il Veronese, among others. Of these artists, the Venetian school will be characterized by a composition based on color, while those belonging to the Florentine and Roman schools will attach greater importance to the line.

These artists will advance towards an art that will define, broadly speaking and with obvious nuances, the general characteristics of the art of the Modern Age, which we briefly review below, as a summary.

1. Using the mathematical perspective

As we have previously commented, during the Quattrocento there will be a discovery that will revolutionize the history of painting and that will characterize the artistic production of the Modern Age. Is about mathematical perspective, codified by Brunelleschi and first applied by Masaccio.

This technique consists of establishing a vanishing point in which all the lines of the composition converge. Over time, this method evolved and artists were able to apply several vanishing points in one work.

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2. The study of human anatomy

In contrast to the low value that in the Middle Ages was given to the study of anatomy, the new humanist mindset encourages artists to analyze the body, either through the dissection of cadavers or through treatises on anatomy, such as that of Andrea Vesalio (1514-1564), widely used at the time.

3. The importance of the portrait

In addition, it is at this time when the genre of the portrait becomes very important. In medieval society we find ourselves with stereotyped portraits, since the importance fell on who the character was, not on what he was like. In other words, to identify the person in question, only the name or other hallmarks, such as those of a heraldic nature, were enough.

In the Modern Age, this is going to change radically. The bourgeoisie that adheres to the humanist movement wants to be remembered with physical, unique and concrete characteristics., since, following Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374), fame conquers death. Therefore, the capture of the exact features of the character guarantees that, after his death, he will continue to be remembered as he was. On the other hand, in the context of matrimonial politics, which acquires its heyday in the Modern Age, European courts will take advantage of this genre to make their marriageable members known to the other ruling houses.

4. The volume

During the Middle Ages, the important thing was the idea that was represented in the work. However, with the arrival of the new modern aesthetic, how that idea is represented will be fundamental. In such a way that, compared to the flat painting of simple volumes of the Romanesque and the Gothic, in the Renaissance and the Baroque the realistic volume of the figures represented will be essential.

5. classicism

Modern culture begins with the revival of classical culture; firstly, from a philosophical and literary perspective and, later, focused from a sculptural, pictorial and architectural point of view. The artists of the Modern Age study Roman ruins, sculptures and paintings, as well as the Vitruvian treatise, and the forms that are applied are inspired by these elements.

In this period, some works that caused a great impact were discovered in Rome, such as the laocoon or the Belvedere Torso, which laid the foundations of a new classicist style. Another great find was the Domus Aurea of Nero, in Rome, where some of the few examples of Roman painting that were known at the time appeared (remember that Pompeii and Herculaneum were not discovered until the 18th century), and that they were spread throughout Europe through of the engraving.

But the prevailing classicism in the Modern Age was not only observed in the forms. The themes also began to be recurrently inspired by the classical past which, without forgetting Christian culture, also represented scenes from classical mythology and the history of Rome.