For this is a narrative, an expository one. We then take a rest at the end visiting domestic environments.Īnd all this thematic unveiling is presented with a continuous stream of examples of art works that illustrate the narrative. We observe the men (and a few women) who called the shots, and review the ample catalogue of different political units that composed what we now call Italy. We move away from museums back into sacred and devotional settings. We examine the way artisans organized themselves and how they stood vis-a-vis those who paid them. We are reminded of the importance of the materials used, of how these were the details stipulated in contracts and over which judicial cases would arise.

Welch acknowledges from early on that this is the path of investigation she has chosen but states that we need to go further and “to multiply our vision, sensitizing our understanding” in trying to recreate the historical context.Īnd so, instead of a lineal chronology, we move in a thematic wheel: from the material, to the spiritual, to political and religious power and back to the more down to earth, or domestic. Baxandall’s effort was to use documentary evidence (such as sermons and other writings) to help us in conjuring up “the period eye” through which we could contemplate the works. There, Baxandall gave a sharp twist to the traditional art historical approach, -ironically invented during the Italian Renaissance by Vasari. This is an excellent complementary reading to another account of Art in Renaissance Italy of a more traditional sort.Įvelyn Welch is treading on the path first opened by Michael Baxandall when in 1972 he published Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial Style. My second reading has consolidated the impression I had during my first encounter. From paintings and coins to sculptures and tapestries, Welch examines the issues of materials, workshop practices, and artist-patron relationships, and explores the ways in which visual imagery related to contemporary sexual, social, and political behavior. Art in Renaissance Italy 1350-1500 dramatically revises the traditional story of the Renaissance and takes into account new issues that have greatly enriched our understanding of the period.

Here, Evelyn Welch presents a fresh picture of the Italian Renaissance by challenging traditional scholarship and placing emphasis on recreating the experience of contemporary Italians: the patrons who commissioned the works, the members of the public who viewed them, and the artists who produced them. The Italian Renaissance was a pivotal period in the history of Western culture during which artists such as Masaccio, Donatello, Fra Angelico, and Leonardo created some of the world's most influential and exciting works in a variety of artistic fields.

Art in renaissance italy evelyn welch