3 ms·

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/

• 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.