23/1/07 - History of Art - Artists and the Liberal Arts

In the later middle ages, artists became more important in society. Why were they elevated at this time?

Stylistic changes seem to coincide with the elevation of the status of the artist. Naturalism was more highly prized. There was increasing documentation.

In the 'Madonna and Child' from the Book of Kells, 9th century, there are no signatures or dates on the works, and neither are there any on the figures of Chartres Cathedral. Scholars must deduct information from looking at the work. The figures of the visual arts in the early middle ages tend to have the same idealised style, because there were no models for the figures.

By the second half of the 13th century, there was a change in artists' attitudes towards nature. If we look at Jean Pucelle's Belleville Breviary, c.1328, there is a clear interest in nature in the margins of pictures. Nature is used to decorate; small details are included, which suggests that a close observation of nature was required.

In Jean de Limbourg's page of 'February' in the Très Riches Heures, imagery is used to give a sense of coldness: the whiteness of the snow and the depiction of the peasants. In Pol de Limbourg's 'August' page, recognisable figures and buildings are used, and there is the depiction of heat. The Limbourgs are more widely documented than Pucelle, as if for posterity, which is how we know as much as we do about their lives.

Van Eyck came after the Limbourgs and was even more naturalistic. He depicts texture and light minutely. Life-like portraiture began to be practised at this time, as in Van Eyck's Leal Souvenir of 1432. He was a respected painter at the time and signed and dated his own work. So there is documentation on the painting itself. Sometimes we can identify the sitters using inscriptions and other features in the painting.

Dürer signed and dated his paintings, and wrote about his art extensively. Art historians are more informed about this time as a result. His complete personality was written down. He painted his self-portrait beside the inscription of altarpieces.

Why were artists increasingly attracted by the possibilities of more naturalistic styles in the late Middle Ages? What motivated artists in the 15th century to sign and date their work when this had rarely been practised previously? Why did Dürer and his contemporaries write extensively about their art when in the earlier Middle Ages there is scant evidence for artists ever expressing a view on anything?

On the Last Judgement painting of the mid-13th century, there is inscribed "W. de Brailes", a sign held up by an ecclesiastical figure. It was taught that artists should show humility in their work, and pride evoked beating as a punishment. It was said that such signatures were there to remind Christ to save the artist.

Old prejudices against artists and naturalism in the visual arts were gradually eroded. Such prejudices included those of St Benedict, the founder of western monasticism, who argued against artistic pride or celebrity; the second Biblical commandment about idolatry, which was thought to encompass naturalism; Plato's arguments against mimetic art, as copies of nature are several times removed from 'true' reality and are therefore inferior; Aristotle's arguments against the practice of art, as artists fall into the category of manual labourers rather than the superior work of thought such as mathematics, writing and philosophy; and St Gregory's associating painting with illiteracy.

The intellectual arts were also known as the 'liberal arts'. These were arts based on the study of numbers, like geometry and mathematics, and arts based on the study of words, like grammar and rhetoric. Such arts were intellectual and respected.

Artists began to connect their work to aspects of the liberal arts to elevate their status. For example, they said that pictures in manuscripts tell the stories better than words, and taught people to think visually.

Courtly patronage came up against church patronage. Noblemen had more say in patronage than previously. One king owned twenty copies of the same story in manuscript form, indicating that he was more interested in the variation of pictures rather than the text. Artists took advantage of this by using pictures to relate to the patron and to tell jokes, such as the Limbourgs.

Van Eyck was well read and had intellectual powers. He read Ovid and Homer and refers to them in his work. The motto on his self-portrait translates to "As well as I can," but the inscription is also an anagram of his name. Van Eyck had an elevated status as an artist, his title was almost equal to a king's, and he is not often referred to as a painter.

Putting artists into guild protected their interests. Van der Weyden's St Luke Painting the Virgin Mary, 1430s, added respectability to artists by associating them with St Luke, who was in turn a man associated with words (he wrote a part of the Bible) and was himself a painter.

The god Apelles was thought to be a naturalistic painter, giving incentive to people to follow the arts. Classical literature gave ideas to artists. Self-portraiture came about as painters realised that they could look into a mirror and paint themselves. There are illustrations of female artists painting self-portraits in manuscripts of the time.

Artists gradually came to associate their own activities with the liberal arts, theoretical studies based on words and numbers. Architecture had always had a high status because it depended on geometry and mathematics. Painters began to use this to advantage, such as the page of God Creating the Universe and a manuscript, where the painter had to use compasses to paint God using compasses to create the world.

Villard d'Honnecourt studied Reims Cathedral using naturalistic observation. He associated architectural drawing with artistic imitation. The introduction to his book associates drawing with geometry: "...you will also find here the art of drawing, the elements being such that the discipline of geometry requires and teaches."

Dürer was interested in perspective and the relation of art to mathematics. In St Jerome in his Study, he uses perspectival techniques, distance, etc.

Van Eyck uses foreshortening in his Annunciation painting, and perspective techniques have been used for the floor, incorporating zodiac signs to show his understanding of astronomy. His Singers and Musicians panels are very accurate in terms of knowledge of music. There is also incredible detail in the sketch for St Barbara and Tower, although he made up the tower from principles of architecture which he knew.

By associating painting and sculpture with studies that were considered intellectual (the liberal arts), artists helped to raise their status from craftsmen to valued members of society, capable of prestige and fame.