Beyond the Painting: Humanism in Renaissance Art
I started my thesis in tandem with my fall 2009 semester at the Virginia B. Ball Center
for Creative Inquiry where I worked on the project Art in Sight. Art in Sight is a website for high
school art and humanities students which is designed to help them take a closer look at and
understand art using objects from Ball State University Museum of Art. My thesis, compatible
with Art in Sight, focuses on one of the most important aspects of art history. The decision to
make a website devoted to the Renaissance was due to the fact that it is an area that interests me
personally, and it is an important era of art history that warranted further exploration than the
timeline section of Art in Sight could provide. The goal of my thesis, titled Beyond the Painting
(http://artoftherenaissance.weebly.com), is to provide more in-depth historical information on a
specific movement or period in art history, and the resulting website is designed to provide
supplementary information to Art in Sight if students wish to further explore the Renaissance.
Choosing the Art Ball State University Museum of Art was the main resource for this project
because its objects were used in the Art in Sight project and it also has excellent examples of
Renaissance art. Just because an artist's work is not famous does not mean that he or she did not
make an important contribution to art. This is something I wanted my thesis to show. After
looking at the Renaissance art in the collection, I selected three different paintings: Portrait of a
Lady, Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, and Kitchen Still Life with a Scene of the Supper at
Emmaus Beyond. Portrait of a Lady by Domenico Puligo, 1525, is an excellent example of the
typical 1
Renaissance portrait in both style and subject matter. Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine,
by Simone Pignoni, 1635/1655, exhibited a subject matter that was commonly seen in
Renaissance religious art. Kitchen Still Life with a Scene of the Supper at Emmaus Beyond by
, Pieter Aertsen, 155111553, not only has an exceptional still life table scene, but it depicts a
religious story in the background. To inspire comparison and contrast, more famous, yet similar
works of art are displayed alongside the less well-known objects from Ball State University
Museum of Art in each section of the website in order to show the worth of both works of art.
History studied through art is not only something available in famous paintings, but" is just as
prevalent in many works ofart created in the time period. By comparing masterpieces that nearly
anyone would recognize with the paintings of artists who are less famous today but
accomplished in their own time, students will be able to see the influence both had on their time
period, and, in turn, the influence of the time period on them. The plan was to find a similar
painting to match each of the ones I had chosen from BSU Museum of Art. I decided to use
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, 1503/1506, The Entombment by Raphael, 1507, and The
Arnoljini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck, 1434. Mona Lisa is one of the most famous portraits ever
made and an obvious example of Renaissance art. The subject matter and composition of Mona
Lisa is similar to Portrait of a Lady, which makes them easy to compare. The Entombment was a
more difficult choice, but it depicted a different, yet equally popular religious story in the
Renaissance that contrasts nicely with the story alluded to in the Mystic Marriage of Saint
Catherine. Lastly, despite the fact that The Arnoljini Portrait is a portrait, the careful and distinct
painting of the background exemplifies the style and skill of still life painters. Jan van Eyck is a
well-known Northern Renaissance artist whose work fits in well with the discussion of still life.
Finding a Theme
Once I decided which works of art I wanted to use, I organized them into categories:
portrait, religion, and still life. The focus on each of those subjects would be on the art and the
I started my thesis in tandem with my fall 2009 semester at the Virginia B. Ball Center
for Creative Inquiry where I worked on the project Art in Sight. Art in Sight is a website for high
school art and humanities students which is designed to help them take a closer look at and
understand art using objects from Ball State University Museum of Art. My thesis, compatible
with Art in Sight, focuses on one of the most important aspects of art history. The decision to
make a website devoted to the Renaissance was due to the fact that it is an area that interests me
personally, and it is an important era of art history that warranted further exploration than the
timeline section of Art in Sight could provide. The goal of my thesis, titled Beyond the Painting
(http://artoftherenaissance.weebly.com), is to provide more in-depth historical information on a
specific movement or period in art history, and the resulting website is designed to provide
supplementary information to Art in Sight if students wish to further explore the Renaissance.
Choosing the Art Ball State University Museum of Art was the main resource for this project
because its objects were used in the Art in Sight project and it also has excellent examples of
Renaissance art. Just because an artist's work is not famous does not mean that he or she did not
make an important contribution to art. This is something I wanted my thesis to show. After
looking at the Renaissance art in the collection, I selected three different paintings: Portrait of a
Lady, Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, and Kitchen Still Life with a Scene of the Supper at
Emmaus Beyond. Portrait of a Lady by Domenico Puligo, 1525, is an excellent example of the
typical 1
Renaissance portrait in both style and subject matter. Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine,
by Simone Pignoni, 1635/1655, exhibited a subject matter that was commonly seen in
Renaissance religious art. Kitchen Still Life with a Scene of the Supper at Emmaus Beyond by
, Pieter Aertsen, 155111553, not only has an exceptional still life table scene, but it depicts a
religious story in the background. To inspire comparison and contrast, more famous, yet similar
works of art are displayed alongside the less well-known objects from Ball State University
Museum of Art in each section of the website in order to show the worth of both works of art.
History studied through art is not only something available in famous paintings, but" is just as
prevalent in many works ofart created in the time period. By comparing masterpieces that nearly
anyone would recognize with the paintings of artists who are less famous today but
accomplished in their own time, students will be able to see the influence both had on their time
period, and, in turn, the influence of the time period on them. The plan was to find a similar
painting to match each of the ones I had chosen from BSU Museum of Art. I decided to use
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, 1503/1506, The Entombment by Raphael, 1507, and The
Arnoljini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck, 1434. Mona Lisa is one of the most famous portraits ever
made and an obvious example of Renaissance art. The subject matter and composition of Mona
Lisa is similar to Portrait of a Lady, which makes them easy to compare. The Entombment was a
more difficult choice, but it depicted a different, yet equally popular religious story in the
Renaissance that contrasts nicely with the story alluded to in the Mystic Marriage of Saint
Catherine. Lastly, despite the fact that The Arnoljini Portrait is a portrait, the careful and distinct
painting of the background exemplifies the style and skill of still life painters. Jan van Eyck is a
well-known Northern Renaissance artist whose work fits in well with the discussion of still life.
Finding a Theme
Once I decided which works of art I wanted to use, I organized them into categories:
portrait, religion, and still life. The focus on each of those subjects would be on the art and the
