Originally Posted by MAStudent
(Post 823315)
I once did an internship in Washington DC. I was there for a summer, and I visited the National Museum of Art. My brother is has a degree in Art, and had never been. I decided to write him up a summary of what I saw in the Renaissance area.
"The first paintings they talk about so much were about the 1300's in Italy. Some rich guy would get an artist to paint a dark depressing picture of him on a canvas about 12" X12", and put some angels on it. Damn the dark ages!
In the 14 and 1500's, the paintings got larger and more ridiculous. They would make the artist paint them into famous settings like the last supper, and they used light as well as dark colors, and dramatic reds, etc, on larger canvasses. These paintings were about 18" X24". Then they also started elaborate graffiti everywhere, including on the walls and ceilings of churchs.
Then, in the 15 and 1600's, the English realized they were eating a bunch of boiled meat and weeds with no taste, while the Italians were living it up! But they were more afraid to have outright graffiti, so they started painting moderately lighted pictured of fruit. An apple. Some bananas and a tea pot. At least they were decent sized. Since England is so small, I think they wanted to have bigger paintings than the Itailians. Maybe they had canvas envy.
Not to be left out, the Dutch and Germans in the 1600's started painting very dark and depressing pictures of bad weather, boats in bad weather, and general misery. If the Itailians can have fun, so can we! But we're tough and determined, so we will be miserable while we do it.
After that, they apparently started having art classes, so everybody could paint. No longer would rich guys paint some loafer to hang around banging his wife and/or his brother, but pretending to be busy while the rich guy was home. "Hurry up, he's almost home!"
"Uh, here, I painted you some canteloupes"
Really with the advent of art classes to end the Rennaissance, painting quality really went down though. Some Mexican painters didn't even bother to put eyes on their subjects."
My brother hated that review.
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