Northern Renaissance Art Analysis

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The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy and spread throughout Europe changing how art is created. In the 20th century, scholars such as Adams and Smith, explain how this movement took place nationally. Thus, why art historians draw the conclusion that Renaissance art is divided into subcategories; for example, the Italian and the Northern Renaissance. The two subjects are different because of their locations and cultural backgrounds. For example, Northern Renaissance art contains more gothic styles opposed to Italian Renaissance art which uses more Greco-Roman styles to depict their pride of place and study of lost ancient history. Culturally, both areas emphasize different spaces, as one era uses humanistic practices, displaying the interior …show more content…
Firstly, figure 5.5 illustrates the story from the Old Testament and New Testament in a typological manner as the Old Testament predicts the New Testament. As a person would read a book from left to right, the same can be said about this painting. For example, on the left of the image is Adam and Eve as they are kicked from the garden of Eden, covering their faces in shame (Figure 5.5). The idea is a viewer’s eye would follow to the left and witness the story of Mary’s pregnancy. The Annunciation’s illustration helps depict the viewers as sinners until their eye reaches Mary, as she faces her fate, accepts God’s will providing hope the savior will save all sinners. Adams discusses “…the perspective of the garden leads the viewer’s eye to the darkened scene of the Expulsion” as proven before (119). Moreover, Adams concludes the same idea, “… in space the darkness of the Fall of Man symbolizes the persistence of the primal couple’s disobedience until the moment of the Annunciation,” therefore, viewers redeem from Mary’s actions (119). Mary’s hand gesture and the intimacy of the unique setting symbolizes the hope of salvation, fitting for a church. Secondly, in this asymmetrical composition, the hortus conclusus displays the iconography of the Garden of Eden and Mary’s fertility. Therefore, demonstrates the Italian’s great