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Medieval painting refers to most of the art produced in Europe during a period of about 100 years. This period began with the fall of the Roman Empire in the AD 300's and 400's and ended with the beginning of the Renaissance in the 1300's. Almost all medieval artists dealt with religious subjects, they developed several styles. One of these styles, called Byzantine, became the most important tradition among Christian artists of eastern Europe and the Near East.

Byzantine painting. Starting in the AD 300's, eastern Christians gradually separated from the western Christians, who were ruled by the pope in Rome. Eastern Christians art is called Byzantine because the religion centered in the city of Byzantium (now Istanbul, Turkey). By the 500's, the Byzantine artists had developed a special style of religious painting. The Byzantine painting style has remained largely unchanged to the present day. Byzantine pictures portray colorful but unlifelike figures that stand for religious ideas rather than flash-and-blood people. The artists were not interested to techniques that would help show the world as it was. They generally ignored perspective and gave their works a flat look. They made wide use of symbols in their works in order to tell stories.

The CJTeat age of Russian Art.

When Russia received Christianity from Byzantium in the late 1000's, an important part of the culture transplanted onto Russian soil was the early medieval art that Byzantium had brought to a level of great sophistication. For the Orthodox Church, icons (images of holy personages or events) where an integral part of worship and theology, testifying to the reality of the incarnation. Characteristically icons were painted in tempera on wooden panels, though they may be of other materials, and the fresco wall paintings (occasionally mosaics) with which early churches were always adorned are equally “iconic”.

After the Tatar conquest building activity, and with it painting, revived gradually during the 1400's. First Novgorod, then increasingly Moscow were the major patrons; but the political fragmentation of the time led to productive artistic activity in many smaller places. Contacts will] the Mediterranean world revived: Serbian painters worked in Novgord; the learned Greek Theophanes (in Russian Feofan) worked both there and in Moscow. But home-bred talents made this the great age of Russian painting; notably the monk Andrew Rublyov (c. 1370-1430). He is first recorded as one of the painters of the Moscow Annunciation Cathedral in 1405. He was evidently aware of new stylistic currents in Byzantine art of the time — and also conveys the Hellenistic impetus behind Byzantine art generally. The famous so-called “01d Testament Trinity was painted in memory of St. Sergius when the Trinity Monastery was restored after the Tatar raid of 1408. The scene is the Hospitality of Abraham: three pilgrims, recognized as angles, are given a meal by Abraham and Sarah.

Few icons survive from Kievan Russia: those that do mostly display a static unclutted monumentality. In the early Tatar period Russian art, thrown back on its own resources, shows a “folk” quality, with expressive, plastic distortions and simplifications of figure stye and clear, unnaturalistic colors. When Russian culture revived in the late 1400's its art was able to draw on both these aspects of its past, but also on renewed international contacts, above all with Byzantium. There were certainly also contacts with the South Slavs, but none can be proved with Western Europe. The best painters of the late medieval Orthodox lands seem to have sought a tender expressivity, though in the case of Rublyov combined with gravitas and a pure and monumental line. There seems to be a truly classical impulse at work here, whether looking back to the nobility of Kievan art or through recent Byzantine models to a sort of refined Hellenistic legacy. The painters of the 1500's seemed to share a common interest in unnaturalistic but often dramatic effects of light, notably in scenes such as the Transfiguration and the Descent into Hell, it is reasonable to see in this an effect of Hesychast mysticism.

Icon painters had singular opportunities in the early 15 00's as a result of the development of the iconostasis, a wooden screen closing off the altar area of a church and clad with tiers of icons, often life-Osize or greater. The central tier (the “Deisis”) represented holy figures interceding with Christ on behalf of the worshipers. The iconostasis as a gallery of representations of saints compares with the great sculpted portals of Western medieval cathedrals, while the opening and closing of its central doors enhance the drama of the liturgy. The impact of the whole ambience is increased by the frescoes covering all interior walls and ceilings. Good examples of these survive, though fragmentarily in Novgorod (World War II took a heavy toll here), and include paintings by Theophanes. There are wall paintings by Rublyov in the Dormition Cathedral at Vladimir. A small number of very fine illuminated gospels books of the period have been attributed to the circles of both artists.

Beginning about 1400, European painting flourished as never before. This era of great painting took place during the period of history called the Renaissance. The Renaissance began in Italy about 1300 and spread northward. By 1600, it had effected nearly all Europe.

One very important aspect of the Renaissance was a great revival of interest in the art and literature of ancient Rome. This revival had an enormous influence on painting. Religious subject matter remained important. But artists included elements of Roman architecture in their pictures. The Italian city of Florence and the northern Europe — an region of Flanders became the major centers of painting in the early Renaissance.

Sandro Botticelli, one of the greatest Florentine masters, became the leading interpreter of Neoplatonism. Neoplatonism was a complicated religious theory that combined ancient mythology, Greek philosophy, and Christianity to explain God, beauty, and truth. Botticelli's “Birth of Venus” is based on a Greek myth. The myth tells how Venus, the goddess of beauty and love, was born in the sea and was blown to shore on a shell by the winds. The style and perspective of the picture do not follow the sculptural style of ancient Greece. In his attempt to express spiritual qualities, Botticelli returned to an almost medieval style. Venus' body curves in such a way that she seems much like a paper doll floating in the air. The design of the picture is more flat and decorative than most Italian art.

Leonardo da Vinci was probably the greatest artist of the 1400's. His portrait “Mona Lisa” and his religious scene “the Last Supper” rank among the most famous pictures ever painted.

Leonardo, as he is almost always called, was trained to e a painter. But he became one of the most versatile geniuses in history. His interests and achievements spread into an astonishing variety of fields, such as anatomy, astronomy, botany, and geology. Leonardo's paintings made him famous, and his more graceful approach marked the beginning of the High Renaissance Style.

Leonardo finished painting “The Last Supper” about 1497. He created the famous scene on a wall of the dining hall in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. It shows Christ and his 12 apostles just after Jesus has announced that one of the them will betray him. Leonardo changed the traditional arrangement of the figures from a line of 13 figures to several small groups. Each apostle responds in a different way to Christ's announcement. Jesus sits in the center of the scene, apart from the other figures Leonardo's composition creates a more active and centralized design than earlier artists had achieved.

When painting “The Last Supper”, Leonardo rejected the fresco technique normally used for wall paintings. An artist who uses this fresco method must work quickly. But Leonardo wanted to paint slowly, revise his work, and use shadows — all of which would have been impossible in fresco painting. He developed a new techniques that involved coating the wall with a compound he had created. But the compound, which was supposed to hold in place and protect it from moisture. Did not work. Soon after Leonardo completed the picture, the paint began to flake away. “The Last Supper” still exists, but in poor condition.

“The Mona Lisa” is a portrait of Lisa del Giacondo, the young wife of a Florentine merchant. It is often called “La Gioconda”. “The Mona Lisa” became famous because of the mysterious smile of the subject. Actually, Leonardo showed the woman's face moving into or out of a smile. He arranged her folded hands so that the figure formed a pyramid design. Leonardo's technique solved a problem that had faced earlier portrait painters. These artists had shown only the head and upper part of the body, and the picture seemed to cut off the subject at the cheat. Leonardo's placement of the hands of the “Mona Lisa” gave the woman a more complete, natural appearance. On the whole, Leonardo's paintings are remarkable for their delicate use of Shadow and their sense of motion.

By the early 1500's, Rome had replaced Florence as the chief center of Italian painting. The popes lived in Rome, and they spent great sums on art to make Rome the most glorious city of the Christian world. In addition, two of the greatest artists in history - Raphael and Michelangelo - worked there. The style of painting that centered in Rome during the early 1500's is called High Renaissance. It combined elements of many earlier styles, including graceful figures, classical Roman realism, and linear perspective. The works of Raphael and Michelangelo best show the High Renaissance style of painting.

Raphael painted balanced, harmonious designs that express a calm, noble way of life. This style appealed to Italians of the early 1500's. During this period, the Roman Catholic Church was sure of its supreme position in Europe, and leading Italians were convinced that the great classical Roman civilization had been reborn and was flourishing in Italy.

Raphael was strongly influenced by Leonardo da Vinces style of arranging figures to form a pyramid. He used this compositional form often in a series of paintings of the Madonna (the Virgin Mary). In these paintings Madonna is as graceful as a goddess. Her manner suggests the Renaissance ideal that a good woman should be faithful, humble, and pure.

Raphael's “School of Athens” covers one wall of the Stanza (a room in the pope's private quarters in the Vatican). He used the actual arch in the wall to frame the painting. Three painted arches serve as a background for the ancient Greek philosophers and scientists in the front of the scene. In the center, beneath the arches, stand Plato and Aristotle, the leading philosophers. Raphael grouped the main representatives of the schools of Greek philosophy and science in casual but carefully organized arrangements. The scene expresses the sense of clarity, space, and proportion for which Raphael became famous.

Mickelangelo worked as a sculptor until the pope ordered him to decorate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. "The Creation of Adam" is one frexo from the chapel ceiling. It shows God moving on a cloud among many angels. He extends a figures toward Adam raises his arm to receive the spark of life. Michelangelo's human figures are more sculptural and solidlooking than Raphael's. Raphael's figures seem happier and more graceful, but not so herac and powerful as Mickelangelo's.

Venetian painting. Venice ranked second only to Rome as a center of Italian art during the 1500's. Venice was a commercial city that handled much of the trade between Europe and the East. Venetian painters showed the influence of Eastern art in their fascination with color. Their works also show a trend away from interest in the hard outline and sculptural and heroic figures found in the paintings of Florence and Rome. Venetian painters tried to please and relax the viewers rather than inspire them to noble deeds. Giorgione, Titian and Tintoretto were the most famous. They all were neasters of oil painting.

The texture of the paint itself interested some Venetian artists more than the subject matter. These painters brushed on their paint in thick strokes. Sometimes they seem almost to have painted their pictures in sweeping brushstrokes. These pictures are often full of motion and action, and invite the viewer to an imaginary world where he can relax in the presence of beautiful women and lovely nature.

The Counter Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church's response to the Protestant Reformation, and the rise of nationalism in many European countries helped bring about a major painting style - baroque, Baroque and a related style, rococo, dominated European painting during the 1600's and 1700's. The Reformation forced the Roman Catholic Church to organize against Protestantism. Church officials wanted to use art in order to spread Catholic ideas and teachings. The church told artists that they should create religious paintings that would be realistic and easy to understand and - most importantly - would inspire religious emotional reactions in viewers. These qualities formed the basic of the baroque painting style.

Peter Paul Rubens of Flanders was one of the greatest of the painters who adopted the baroque style. He skillfully combined realism and classical style. Rubens was also influenced by the Venetian technique of painting in thick oils.

The “Elevation of the Cross” shows Rubens' baroque style. This painting is a highly emotional religious scene. Several half-naked bodies strain to lift Jesus into the cross as spectators look on in sorrow and fear. Rubens intensified the feeling of action and struggle by drawing his composition in diagonal lines. He further heightened the picture's lights appeal by painting the highlights in thick masses of pigment and the dark colors in semitransparent brownish glazes. The painting shows Rubens' remarkable ability in drawing the studio and employed many assistants, of whom Anton Van Dyck was the most famous. Diego Velkazquez, who painted at the Spanish court, was another master of baroque. Both Van Dyck and Velazquez gained their greatest fame as portrait painters. Their portraits showed rulers in aristocratic poses. Such portraits were intended to display the vertues and dignity of the rulers. This type of elegant portrait is called a state portrait, and became popular during the 1600's. Anyhow, Velazquez' portraits seem more like personal pictures from a family album than paintings advertising the rulers.

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