9/1/07 - History of Art - What is Classicism?

The 'Middle Ages' did not exist as such. This is just a label for the period between Antiquity and the Renaissance. The Middle Ages do not have a definite start or finish date. They could be said to begin around 300 AD and end around 1492 upon the discovery of America, but these dates are equally contested. Out of the concept 'Middle Ages' comes the notion that these are 'Dark Ages', as opposed to 'light ages.' Yet this would be an inaccurate image, for the conception of light was important in the Middle Ages, in terms of large windows, reflective mosaics and an appreciation of jewels. There were many important figures at that time who were also seen as 'light' figures.

S. Maria Maggiore was built under Popes Celestine I and Sixtus III, c. 422-40. It has a nave of twenty columns on each side, and an elegant entablature. In fact, it is on the whole a very elegant building. According to Krautheimer's 'The Architecture of Sixtus III: A Fifth-Century Renascence?' in his book De Artibus Opuscula XL. Essays in Honor of Erwin Panofsky, first published 1961, buildings that are related to Sixtus III are 'light'. The Lateran Baptistery in Rome, first built under Constantine c. 313 and remodelled under Sixtus III 432-40, is one other example. Krautheimer considered it very Classical. S. Sabina c. 422-32 and S. Stefano Rotondo c. 470, were also Classical buildings, the latter due to its regularity and use of entablature.

So why was there a kind of Renaissance in the fifth century? Krautheimer claimed it was due to the upheaval of the Christian church by Constantine. Despite the urgency that Constantine felt to change his kingdom into a shrine of Classical Christianity, it took a long time for Rome to become a Christian city. This was because it had been such a stronghold for paganism. Paganism was finally pronounced dead and Rome named a Christian city. Symbolically, Christian buildings drew their strength from the foundations of Imperial Rome by pilfering materials from imperial architecture.

Despite all this, the new architecture was in fact very un-Classical.

So what is Classical Antiquity? Conventionally it was the period between the Persian Invasion to 338 BC. Classical art is the name given to art informed by the Roman principles of strength, beauty, stability, the power of reason and simplicity. The transmission of these qualities from Antiquity to new objects is generally known as the Classical Tradition. The past became for Renaissance Europe the place from which to learn. This wished to imitate the values of art of Classical Antiquity, including clarity, self-control, reason and simplicity. These were considered to be the greatest universal values, not simply the values of Rome. By taking these values, however, something more original was created. The resulting art was a more emotional and personal response to the values of the Classical Tradition.

The earlier examples are not really examples of the Classical Tradition. They have been altered and remodelled from the original Classical versions, although sometimes pieces were taken directly from Classical buildings.

Deliberate recreations of Classical art in the Renaissance included bronze castings, marble and sarcophagi. They had to be recreations and not exact imitations because it was impossible to know the original method of production. Hence the new art was a 'rebirth' and not a direct copy. Panofsky defined the difference between 'birth' and 'rebirth' as a fixed distance of time. Because of the time delay, there developed a systematic way of looking at the past. In the Middle Ages it was not that people were unaware of Antiquity, it was just that they felt no nostalgia for it, like the people of the traditional Renaissance.

The renewed interest of Classical Antiquity reached its peak in the Carolingian Renaissance, in the ninth century. The arts of this period were associated with a patron, Charlemagne, although he was not the only patron. We should remember that Classical Antiquity was an inspiration throughout the ages for goldsmith work, illuminated manuscripts and coins and seals.

The baptistery pulpit by Nicola Pisano, c. 1260, is very different compared to earlier pulpits, such as the pulpit by Guido da Como. This is because Pisano was more influenced by Classical Antiquity than Guido da Como. The arches of Pisano's pulpit remind us of triumphal arches. The number three was significant to Christianity, symbolising the Holy Trinity, hence the trefoil arches of the pulpit, reflecting the number of arches on the Arch of Constantine.

Pisano's figure of Fortitude, 1260, seems to be based on ancient sculptures such as the sarcophagus carvings of Hippolytus and Phaedra, from the second century. It could also be based on images of Hercules, who represented strength.

Pisano was a great sculptor because he did not merely copy the images of Classical Antiquity. He used them as sources of inspiration. Pisano's relief sculpture of The Adoration of the Kings on the pulpit matches the images of Hipolytus and Phaedra in terms of figure size, occupied space, composition and voluminous bodies.

Pisano's image of the Nativity, from the pulpit, shows Mary reclining on a couch like the figures of Antique sculptures.

In his Presentation in the Temple, Pisano uses examples of images from NeoAttic vases, yet interprets them in a more voluminous way.

Michelangelo made sketches of Pisano's work for his statue of Moses on the Sepulchral Monument of Pope Julius II, c. 1515. Interestingly, he does what Pisano does when researching for a sculptural project; he takes inspiration from Pisano and ends up producing something completely different. Michelangelo refers to Pisano's Fortitude for his own statue of Bacchus, 1496, taking the softness of the flesh from him. For David, 1501-4, Michelangelo copies the muscular stature of Fortitude.

Giovanni Pisano's pulpit with the Cardinal Virtues is an interpretation of the Venus de Medici of the first century AD. The Venus was probably an inspiration for the virtue Prudence, as she has been made more modest and her expression has been taken from Giovanni's own time, made more emotional and original. Emotionality was typical of Giovanni's work. He was a source of inspiration for Michelangelo, such as the Delphic Sybil, which Michelangelo seems to have taken from Giovanni's Sybil from the S. Andrea pulpit of 1301. Giovanni also interpreted Pisano's Fortitude for his own version of 1302-10, which he has made more agitated and emotional. This shows how differently Classical Antiquity was interpreted and used within the same era.

The style of Antiquity have been copied for manuscripts and frescoes. Sometimes Classicism appears in tiny details of paintings and frescoes, such as the one of Assisi, from the thirteenth century. The architecture in Giotto's Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple, c. 1305-15 is inspired by Classical Antiquity. Emotionality has been depicted by way of the emptiness of space into which Joachim is being pushed. It serves also as a metaphor for the emptiness of Joachim's life.

In the fresco Last Judgement by Pietro Cavallini, 1290s, the figures are wearing togas. Moreover, their bodies are indicated through the clothes in the way that the bodies of Antique figures do. Cavallini's use of light also indicates the art of Classical Antiquity.

Jacopo Torriti's Coronation of the Virgin in S. Maria Maggiore, c. 1290-95, has decorative 'scroll' shapes and depictions of birds and figures that are clearly inspired by or directly copied from examples of Classical Antiquity.