History of Art: From Middle Ages to Modern Times Art Evaluation

This essay explores the history of art from the Middle Ages to modern times, focusing on key artworks and their representation of the contemporary world. The analysis begins with Giotto's 'The Lamentation of Christ,' highlighting its three-dimensional qualities on a two-dimensional surface. It then examines Masaccio's 'The Tribute of the Money' and Pietro Perugino's 'Christ Giving the Keys to Peter,' both reflecting elements of their contemporary Italian context. The essay further delves into Jan Van Eyck’s 'Giovanni di Nicola Arnolfini and His Wife,' discussing the use of light, oil paint, and realistic details to depict a wedding ceremony. The author argues that these artworks, through their innovative techniques and subject matter, effectively illustrate contemporary world events within the constraints of two-dimensional painting.

Running head: HISTORY OF ART FROM MIDDLE AGES TO MODERN TIMES
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History of art from middle ages to modern times
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Part 1
The lamentation of Christ by Giotto is one of the artworks progressively illustrating the
work of the art in natural world. It is a three-dimensional artwork mounded on two-dimensional
painting surfaces. The painting illustrates the body Christ cut down from the cross and
surrounded by his family members weeping (Šefců, Pitthard, Chlumská & Turková, 2017).
The tribute of the money by Masaccio within the Brancacci chapel is another element of
artwork which depicts the contemporary world (Boskovits, 2016). Third painting by Pietro
Perugino shows Christ giving Peter the keys of the kingdom depicting the elements of the
contemporary world resembling the Italian paintings. The painting gives the illustration of Jesus
giving the keys of heaven to St. Peter the scene seen in the book of Mathew (Berger, 2012).
Part 2
Jan Van Eyck’s painting illustrates Giovanni di Nicola Arnolfini and his lovely wife
wedding preparations (Ashrafian, 2018). Effects of light and the oil paint depict his subtlety and
anxiety of the event in the picture. In my opinion, his wedding depicts the real-life situation by
the decoration of the wife’s contemporary fashion skirt. The mirror reflection is not realistic and
it is not seen in the real-life situations. Giovanni di Nicola Arnolfini and his wife wore fitting
clothes hence their wedding looks realistic.
The subject matter of the Jan Van Eyck is to depict the wedding ceremony just like it is in
real life situation. The oil painting and light depicts the love of the couples in social wedding

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aspect (Ashrafian, 2018). The light painting represents the delightful event just like normal social
wedding ceremony basically shown by the unique clothes and anxiety of Giovanni di Nicola
Arnolfini. In my comment, the two artworks in part 1 and 2 basically illustrate the contemporary
world events illustrated by the three-dimensional paintings in the two-dimensional surface.

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References
Ashrafian, H. (2018). Hypothyroidism in the “Arnolfini Portrait”(1434) by Jan Van Eyck (1390–
1441). Journal of endocrinological investigation, 41(1), 145-147.
Berger, P. (2012). 8. The Domed Temple in Renaissance Italy and in Early Printed Sources.
In The Crescent on the Temple, pp. 149-158.
Boskovits, M. (2016). Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. The
Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2016, 121-130.
Šefců, R., Pitthard, V., Chlumská, Š., & Turková, I. (2017). A multianalytical study of oil
binding media and pigments on Bohemian Panel Paintings from the first half of the 14th
century. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 23, 77-86.