Megan Lloyd Question #1 Practice Test Essay I. Introduction Portraiture through the ages has become a way for historians to glimpse into the lives of past generations. We see their fashions, personalities, and beliefs. As time moves on, social stigmas and customs can change, and it is seen in these three portraitures of women: Portrait of a Lady, Giovanna Tornabuoni, and the Mona Lisa, the significant developments in portraiture paintings, particularly with female paintings. II. Rogier Van Der Weyden, Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1460. Oil on panel, Early Renaissance. This portrait is a naturalistic portraiture of a young woman. There is no background, making the woman the sole focus of the viewer. She is beautiful, young, wealthy, pious, modest, but that is all we know. We have no idea if she is literate or anything else along those lines. She is simply painted to be the perfect example of what a woman, a model of piousness and modesty. This is only the start of Renaissance portraiture, from here it evolves and expands past this minimal point. III. Domenico Ghirlandaio, Giovanna Tornabuoni, 1488. Oil and tempera on wood, Italian Renaissance. This work is an advertisement for marriage. As a man would not see the woman in person, everything he would need to know about her would be seen in this painting. Using backgrounds, a man or suitor could learn about the woman. Whether she was literate, religious, could sew, these could be seen from the background and woman in the portrait. To this point portraits of women have already started to change from how they were in the Early Renaissance, and from here they only evolve more. IV. Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 1503-1505. Oil on Wood, High Renaissance. First, the woman is looking at the viewer, unlike other portraitures where they face away. The technique of Sfumato and Chiaroscuro have been employed in this painting, as well as the use of nature in the background. Although she is still related to the house by being on a balcony, a fantastical scene is displayed behind her. Leonardo wanted to show how the female mind was just as intellectual as a man’s, by painting a fantastical scene behind her of mountains, trails, and water. This goes to show how far portraiture had come in 17 short years between the first portrait listed and this one. V.
Conclusion Portraiture through the Renaissance evolved and made significant changes to how it was traditionally. As can be seen in Portrait of a Lady, there is no background, the woman’s eyes are averted, and nothing is really known about the individual besides she is wealthy
and modest. This is later added on to in Italian Renaissance as can be seen with Giovanna Tornabuoni, where women were still not direct with the viewer, but more was learned about them. The High Renaissance changed much of this, with Leonardo’s Mona Lisa. Not only was the subject depicted with nature in the background, but the subject met the eyes of the viewer. Techniques which had not been applied before, such as Sfumato, were also used. Overall, portraiture made several major advances through the Renaissance, and the styles which were applied in these years helped to get us to the point we are today.