Final Essay

In my studies of humanitys, I will look at the the social, religious and major historical events surrounding two art periods. Focusing on how these factors affected the content and style used by artist of the respective periods. I will be using paintings from the first period, ranging from around 1520 AD to 1590 AD referred to as the Mannerism period , the second period referred to as the Baroque period begins around 1590 AD and last until approximately 1700 AD. The Mannerist period according to, Encyclopedia Britannica, spans “ from the end of the High Renaissance in the 1520s to the beginnings of the Baroque style around 1590” (“Mannerism”, 2014). The period is marked with such artists as Michelangelo, Parmigianino, Pontormo, El Greco

Some of the notable artist of the period are Reni, Caravaggio, Guercino, Rubens and Rembrandt. Works of this period often display “grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, vitality, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur distinctions between the various arts” (“Baroque”, 2013). Events and circumstances associated with the period are, the end of the religious wars, the Roman Catholic church made a calculated decision to use art to to promote and increase faith in the church. For the most part the church mandated the characteristics and content of the period. Additionally, most of the world had been discovered and europe was benefiting from the new lands and discoveries, along with advancement in science, technology and new crops. Which created “a prominent and powerful middle class, which now came to play a role in art patronage”(“Baroque”, 2013). As well as providing society with new insight into mankind's place in the universe, leading to “ landscape painting, in which humans are frequently portrayed as minute figures in a vast natural setting”(“Baroque”,

One could argue that the primary reason for the the change, was due to the the influence of the church, “the Roman Catholic Church adopted a propagandistic stance in which art was to serve as a means of extending and stimulating the public’s faith in the church”(“Baroque”, 2013). The church viewed the mannerism period art as a threat and therefore deemed it necessary to influence art to turn in a different direction. As seen in most works of the time, there is a distinct spiritual nature to paintings of the time. Furthermore, during the Baroque period you see an increase in landscape