Emergence Of Artistic Individuality example essay topic

Jacob Burckhardts Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy second section is devoted to the development of the individual and claims to have found a great change in human perception during the Renaissance: In the Middle Ages both sides of the human consciousness lay dreaming or half-awake beneath a common veil. The veil was woven of faith, illusion and childish prepossession, through which the world and history were seen clad in strange hues. Man was conscious of himself only as a member of a race, people, party, family or corporation only through some general category. In Italy this veil first melted into air; an objective treatment and consideration of the State and all the things of this world became possible. The subjective side at the same time asserted itself with corresponding emphasisBurckhardt saw individualism as the periods greatest problem and as its greatest asset. Claiming that this fundamental vice found its feet in the Italian nation a people Burckhardt saw as emerged form the half-conscious life of the race and become themselves individuals and firstborn amongst the sons of Europe in virtue of their moral autonomy, cultivation of privacy and the individuality of culture.

The Italians first cast off the authority of a State which, as a fact, is in most cases tyrannical and illegitimate, and what he thinks and does is now, rightly or wrongly, called treason. The sight of victorious egotism in others drives him to defend his own rights by his own arm In face of all objective facts, of laws and restraints of any kind, he retains the feeling of his own sovereignty, and in each case forms his decision independently, according as honour or interest, passion or calculation, revenge or renunciation gain the upper hand in his mind. Burckhardt thought this massive change was the result of increased personal wealth for much of society, the development of culture, a change in the role of the Church but first and foremost, the Italian city-states. The mass insecurities of the past caused by party strife was replaced by personal insecurity (another form of individualism) as men were forced to cultivate their personal worth and outlook. In this mould, Burckhardt saw the rise of the universal man: a concept that meant not only universal knowledge of art, science and politics, but also the ability to express oneself as an individual. The personal development of individual talent was a distinction in its absolute assertion of personality on the world.

Burckhardt saw the new idea of pride in oneself leading to new patriotism in ones townsmen. Local artists, leaders and authors all received commemoration through statues, monuments and biographical writings. However, as pride spurred these things on, jealousy spurred on the short story, invective and cynical wit as well as parody. The universal men that Burckhardt notes as being notably lauded by contemporaries include Leon Battista Alberti, (an athlete, scribe, musician, painter, architect and philosopher) and Leonardo da Vinci (a musician, lover of nature, scientist, engineer, painter, inventor). Burckhardts argument that the different tendencies and manifestations of private life thriving in the fullest vigour and variety were developed in this period and that the private man was indifferent to politics, and busied partly with serious disputes, partly with the interests of a dilettante emerged in this period. He saw Italy as beginning to swarm with individuality at the close of the thirteenth century and a thousand figures meet us each in his own special shape and dress once the ban on human personality was dissolved.

Dante was the most national herald of his time because of the wealth of individuality that he set forth. The breakdown of barriers of race, nationality and family occurred as people stopped classifying themselves according to those criteria. Dante, the first son of Florence said my country is the whole world and Ghiberti said that the learned man is nowhere a stranger. Burckhardt proves his thesis by claiming that the number of universal men rose in the fifteenth century, and although he was unsure whether they consciously developed their spiritual and material existence, several managed to attain as perfect a being as was possible, given the innate failings of humanity. Burckhardt has been thoroughly analysed and attacked since his publication, mostly because Burckhardt relied on brilliant prose, argument construction and sweeping generalisations more than demonstration by examples. His arguments won him praise that soon turned to bitter criticism.

The idea that man had been unaware of himself is ridiculous. Even medieval man used the First Person Singular, and theologians working from Genesis knew that God had differentiated individuals one from another. Burckhardts individuals were different from their predecessors in that they possessed striking, unique personalities and an urge to better themselves. The first part of Burckhardts individual, the unique personality, has been dropped as the exaggerations of a historian radically revising conceptions of the past and trying to do too much. The idea of man as a morally autonomous, emotive being possessive of will-power saw new developments in Quattrocento Italy, but the substantial foundations for these minor changes had been laid during the medieval period.

What was new was the idea of personality depicting the actions, and possibly showing itself through the works and ideas, of the man. Burckhardts use of da Vinci and Alberti is perhaps a little nave, as they were praised, not for being the personifications of the Renaissance man, as Burckhardt thought, but for being the exceptions. Burckhardts theory lacks concrete examples and facts to support it, and it has all but been abandoned in its original form. The Renaissance did evolve a cult of the individual for western society. The modern quirk of valuing the art because of the artist, not because of its artistic value, is a Renaissance value. Michelangelo and Pontormo made cults to their artistic vision and ability in the 1500's in making their art an expression of themselves.

Bufalmacco was notably mocked by Franco Sachet ti for his artistic gait and lifestyle, whilst Manet ti claims that Brunelleschi's muse was his way of life. Although Raphael, Masaccio and Giotto were straight-laced and conventional, such artists as Donatello, who destroyed pieces art when he failed to get a good enough price for it. This cult of such personae is seen as a sixteenth century innovation, but another facet of artistic individualism, the reemergence of the artistic temperament, was recorded by Vasari as occurring in the early fifteenth century and in a novell e by Sacchetti, an author writing in the late fourteenth century. I use the word reemergence as Pliny talks of Kallimachos the Niggler who spent ages fussing over the minute of his work, Apollodorus the Madman who smashed work of his that he felt to be insufficient and Protegees who ate only lupin's steeped in water whilst engaged in a project. Despite such aged roots, the idea as it comes to us is a Renaissance phenomenon that was probably reintroduced by the humanists, as the coincidence of the dates of the re introduction and the dates of the humanist hegemony would suggest.

Many patrons saw innovative lifestyles as a means to innovative creations and tolerated, accepted or supported the artists quirks, and this connection of personality with the art produced is indeed a new innovation for the era. As da Vinci said every painter paints himself. The Bohemians may have been attempting merely to raise themselves above the norms of good society and to show themselves to be of a different social class than their less gifted peers, but even if this is the case, it is still an attempt at showing off a difference of personality that would have been important for an artist. By 1561, Cardan us saw painters as fickle, of unsettled mind, melancholic, and changeable in their manners. To use Pliny's words, artists were seen as queer fish. Vasaris Lives of the Artists is a catalogue of bohemian artists, most of whom are given trite reasons for their brilliance.

Although, he did give nature and grace credit for Desiderio da Settignano and Domenico Puli go, and surmised that long implanted seeds were the reason for Agostino and Ag nolo of Sien as creativity, he usually gave less vague reasons. Gad do Gadd i, Vella no of Padua and Pisa nello earned their talent and inspiration by copying their predecessors. Giuliano da Maia no was supported in his choice of vocation by his father, so giving him an edge. Exile enabled Star nina, Antonio Venezia no and Peru gino to improve their portfolios, whilst Bacco da Monte lupo won his talent through application. Alberti pensive use of artistic theory and Doss os study of art were both extolled.

At the same time, Vasari notes how Andrea del Sarto, Fra Bartolomeo and Rosso were discouraged by Michelangelos inimitable presence in their city of Rome, whilst copying masters hindered Uccello and Verrocchio. Later, Vasari explained the prevalent belief that an artists ability sprung directly from his motivation and situation, so introducing the idea of individuality. Simone, Lipp o Me mmi, Lorenzo di Bocci and Don Bartolomeo were all praised for the way that their good characters shone through their art whilst the art of Do sso and Battista Doss i suffered for lack of an interesting personality. Giottino, Franciabigio and Donatello took the artistic temperament to a new height whilst Raffaello da Montelupos diffidence and passivity failed his art. The devotion required, in Vasaris eyes, to art meant abstinence in order to allow the artists outpourings to be unchecked by other considerations, whilst the creations needed to be coaxed from the artists by exhortation and encouragement a motivational technique. The importance of the individuals vision is clear when one learns of Michelangelos secrecy about his work, and his incredible depression, mood swings and three day work binges.

Wittkower challenges the emergence of artistic individuality in this period by noting that the architect who built Pisa cathedral, Rainaldus, not only recorded his on name but also recorded that he thought his work was remarkable and excellent. Lanfranc us of Modena calls himself clar us, ductus and apt us. The guild system which emerged during the X th century made artists de facto craftsmen with controlled training and workdays. C oulton believes that the guilds diminished individualism, whilst Doren denies such a link.

The importance of motivation and situation was as important to Vasari for artists as for scholars and poets. Contemporaries and classical sources saw poets as a theologian and seer, as he used the eyes of his mind to penetrate deeper truths. Creativity was an asset belonging to the poet: a change in direction from the poet inspired by Gods grace to the poet inspired generally. This creativity was studied in biography after biography of poets. The creative minds were seen as sources of wisdom for patrons, readers or admirers to follow. The Renaissance was the era when the powerful students of the learned bringers of wisdom became famous for their adherence to the philosophies of their adherent sources.

This was set down as early as in Plutarch's Lives. The philosophy was interspersed with illustrations of illustrious followers of the philosophy: the idea of virtue was no longer just as simple as following biblical ethics for a fifteenth century Italian. The importance of following the life suggested by the fashionable philosophies was vital for keeping up appearances and was characterised for the most part by the pursuit of virtue for its own sake. The era leant to man a great non-Christian (although not un-Christian) set of behavioural norms sharply different to the norms known to Christian Europe. The Renaissance was important not in creating individualism, so much as in recognising the importance of a concept of virtue by which everyone could be held accountable and the recognition of the importance of character in creativity which the humanists and artists discovered.

The term Individualism is Victorian and in itself assigns too great an importance to the Renaissance another concept itself not described by a contemporary term. Although I am contrary to much of the revision of Burckhardt in that I would not claim that socio-economic pressures caused the awakening what little concept of individuality was born or developed in this era, I would support an awakening to the role of the individual in artistic talent, and moreover, I would support the idea of an awakening of the concept of humanity as a group of independent beings.