4 ms·

The realism in the depiction of human figures is incredibly advanced and predates Classical Athens sculpture by 1000 years. Like finding an iPad in Mediaeval En

The realism in the depiction of human figures is incredibly advanced and predates Classical Athens sculpture by 1000 years. Like finding an iPad in Mediaeval England.

red75prime 9y ago
Isn't it "Like finding Picasso in Medieval England"?
- benpbenp 9y ago
  Except for the "realism in the depiction of human figures" bit.
  - iamben 9y ago
    Early / pre Blue Period Picasso was pretty real, iirc. The guy was very talented.
  - fsloth 9y ago
    Picasso was a virtuoso artist from child: http://www.pablo-ruiz-picasso.net/period-first.php http://www.pablo-ruiz-picasso.net/period-first.php His later experiments with style were not an artifact of lack of talent, but conscious artistic experimentation. Sadly, modern artists try often to skip the mastering the basics and just start to splat color on canvas.
- fsloth 9y ago
  If you are referring to middle age artistic maturity this portrait of Henry 8 by Hans Holbein the Younger[0] is pretty sweet https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Workshop_of_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_Portrait_of_Henry_VIII_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Workshop_of_Hans_Hol... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger
  - eru 9y ago
    That's past the middle ages though, isn't it?
    - fsloth 9y ago
      Well, one definition for the end of middle ages is fall on Constantinopole (1453) and Hans died in 1543 at the ripe age of 45. So, yeah, renaissance. Now that I looked, the list of english monarchs gives a striking visual transformation from the stereotypically awkward european middle age art to renaissance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_monarchs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_monarchs And Henry the 8'th portrait seems to be the first one that does not contain obviously awkward shapes (to my untrained eye). So in 100 years we transform artistically from kindergarten to realistic portraiture. Pretty awesome - makes the original commment more apt, and my quip somewhat moot.
      - eru 9y ago
        I had a similar experience in some art museums in Britain. In the late middle ages and early modern times a pigeon flying through the painting towards the viewer was a popular motif to symbolize the holy spirit. You could clearly tell that the depiction of the flying bird got better over time, but even with contemporaries you could see huge differences in terms of skill.
mfukar 9y ago
Not quite like that at all. The Minoans were known to carve semi-precious gemstones and the Mycenaeans known to have adopted it from them from the 16th century BC (source: "Encyclopedia of European Peoples, Vol 2, entry on "Mycenaeans", "Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete", R. Castleden). From Minoan sealstones which are already exhibited in museums, the level of detail seems comparable to me. I'm not quite sure where the contrast with classical Athens in the article comes from.

The realism in the depiction of human figures is incredibly advanced and predates Classical Athens sculpture by 1000 years. Like finding an iPad in Mediaeval England.

red75prime 9y ago

Isn't it "Like finding Picasso in Medieval England"?

benpbenp 9y ago
Except for the "realism in the depiction of human figures" bit.
- iamben 9y ago
  Early / pre Blue Period Picasso was pretty real, iirc. The guy was very talented.
- fsloth 9y ago
  Picasso was a virtuoso artist from child: http://www.pablo-ruiz-picasso.net/period-first.php http://www.pablo-ruiz-picasso.net/period-first.php His later experiments with style were not an artifact of lack of talent, but conscious artistic experimentation. Sadly, modern artists try often to skip the mastering the basics and just start to splat color on canvas.
fsloth 9y ago
If you are referring to middle age artistic maturity this portrait of Henry 8 by Hans Holbein the Younger[0] is pretty sweet https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Workshop_of_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_Portrait_of_Henry_VIII_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Workshop_of_Hans_Hol... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger
- eru 9y ago
  That's past the middle ages though, isn't it?
  - fsloth 9y ago
    Well, one definition for the end of middle ages is fall on Constantinopole (1453) and Hans died in 1543 at the ripe age of 45. So, yeah, renaissance. Now that I looked, the list of english monarchs gives a striking visual transformation from the stereotypically awkward european middle age art to renaissance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_monarchs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_monarchs And Henry the 8'th portrait seems to be the first one that does not contain obviously awkward shapes (to my untrained eye). So in 100 years we transform artistically from kindergarten to realistic portraiture. Pretty awesome - makes the original commment more apt, and my quip somewhat moot.
    - eru 9y ago
      I had a similar experience in some art museums in Britain. In the late middle ages and early modern times a pigeon flying through the painting towards the viewer was a popular motif to symbolize the holy spirit. You could clearly tell that the depiction of the flying bird got better over time, but even with contemporaries you could see huge differences in terms of skill.

mfukar 9y ago

Not quite like that at all. The Minoans were known to carve semi-precious gemstones and the Mycenaeans known to have adopted it from them from the 16th century BC (source: "Encyclopedia of European Peoples, Vol 2, entry on "Mycenaeans", "Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete", R. Castleden). From Minoan sealstones which are already exhibited in museums, the level of detail seems comparable to me. I'm not quite sure where the contrast with classical Athens in the article comes from.