EARLY EUROPE & COLONIAL AMERICAS PART 2
200 CE - 1750 CE

Cultural Influences

• The arts of 15th-century Europe reflected an interest in classical models, enhanced naturalism, Christianity, pageantry, and increasingly formalized artistic training.

Materials & Techniques

• Developments in the form and use of visual elements, such as linear and atmospheric perspective, composition, color, figuration, and narrative, enhanced the illusion of naturalism.

• Corporate and individual patronage informed the production, content, form, and display of art—from panel painting, altarpieces, sculpture, and print to myriad decorative arts, such as metalwork and textiles. Displayed in churches, chapels, convents, palaces, and civic buildings, the arts performed various functions (e.g., propagandistic, commemorative, didactic, devotional, ritual, recreational, and decorative).

• The emergence of academies redefined art training and the production and identity of the artist by introducing more structured, theoretical curricula in centralized educational institutions.

Theories, Interpretations, & Cultural Interactions

• The 16th-century Protestant Reformation and subsequent Catholic Counter-Reformation compelled a divergence between western European art in the north and south with respect to form, function, and content. Production of religious imagery declined in northern Europe, and nonreligious genres, such as landscape, still life, genre, history, mythology, and portraiture, developed and flourished. In the south, there was an increase in the production of political propaganda, religious imagery, and pageantry, with the elaboration of naturalism, dynamic compositions, bold color schemes, and the affective power of images and constructed spaces.

• In the 17th century, architectural design and figuration in painting and sculpture continued to be based on classical principles and formulas but with a pronounced interest in compositional complexity, dynamic movement, and theatricality. There was an increasing emphasis on time, narrative, heightened naturalism, and psychological or emotional impact.

• The advent of the Age of Exploration in the late 15th century resulted in the emergence of global commercial and cultural networks via transoceanic trade and colonization. European ideas, forms, and practices began to be disseminated worldwide as a result of exploration, trade, conquest, and colonization.