History of art: the story on HearLore

History of art

The oldest known non-stationary human art dates to between 43,000 and 35,000 BC, discovered in the Swabian Jura region of Germany. These artifacts, including carved animal and humanoid figurines and the oldest musical instruments unearthed so far, emerged from the Caves and Ice Age Art UNESCO World Heritage Site. This period, known as the Upper Paleolithic, saw the creation of small prehistoric statuettes known as Venus figurines, which featured exaggerated breasts and bellies, small heads, and wide hips. The Venus of Hohle Fels and the Venus of Willendorf are the most famous examples, found in Germany and Austria respectively. While many of these figurines lack arms and feet, and often have faceless heads, they represent a profound shift in human expression. The best-known prehistoric artworks are the large Paleolithic cave paintings that depict animals in continental Europe, particularly the ones at Lascaux in the Dordogne region of France. Several hundred decorated caves are known, spanning the Upper Paleolithic period from 38,000 to 12,000 BC, with examples in Ukraine, Italy, and Great Britain, though most are located in France and Spain. Many theories have been suggested about the art's purpose, the most accepted being that it was part of religious rituals, possibly to evoke hunting success. Containers from the Middle Stone Age in South Africa, dating as far back as 100,000 years ago, may have been used to hold paints, suggesting that the impulse to create art is as old as the species itself.

Cities And The First Empire

In the 4th millennium BC, the region of Mesopotamia witnessed the emergence of the first cities and the earliest form of writing, setting the stage for the first great empires. Ancient Mesopotamia covers present-day Iraq, and parts of Syria and Turkey, nestled within the Tigris, Euphrates river delta. The Sumerians established the first city-state, Uruk, ruled by King Gilgamesh, and developed the first organized religion, the first known writing, cuneiforms, the first irrigation system, and the first vehicles with wheels. Their architecture was characterized by the use of bricks, lintels, and cone mosaic, with notable examples being the ziggurats, large temples in the form of step pyramids. The political, economic, artistic, and architectural traditions of the Sumerians laid the foundation for Western civilization. Later, the Akkadian Empire became the world's first great empire, followed by Assyria, which dominated the entire Middle East from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. Assyrian art is best known for its detailed stone reliefs, depicting scenes of court life, religious practice, hunting, and epic battles. These reliefs were initially painted in bright colours and placed in palaces, depicting Assyrian life and views of the world, including Assyrian clothing and furniture. In the 6th century BC, Babylon became the largest city in the world, greeted by visitors with the impressive Ishtar Gate, with its walls covered in vivid blue glazed bricks and reliefs showing dragons, bulls, and lions. This gate is named after Ishtar, the goddess of war and love. The Babylonian Empire fell to the Achaemenid Empire, ruled by King Cyrus II, stretching across the Middle East and Central Asia, from Egypt to the Indus Valley. Its art incorporated elements from across the empire, celebrating its wealth and power, with Persepolis serving as the capital, full of impressive sculptures showing religious images and people of the empire.

Common questions

When and where was the oldest known non-stationary human art discovered?

The oldest known non-stationary human art dates to between 43,000 and 35,000 BC and was discovered in the Swabian Jura region of Germany. These artifacts emerged from the Caves and Ice Age Art UNESCO World Heritage Site during the Upper Paleolithic period.

What are the key characteristics of Venus figurines from the Upper Paleolithic period?

Venus figurines are small prehistoric statuettes that feature exaggerated breasts and bellies, small heads, and wide hips. The Venus of Hohle Fels and the Venus of Willendorf are the most famous examples found in Germany and Austria respectively.

Which ancient civilization developed the first city-state Uruk and the writing system cuneiform?

The Sumerians established the first city-state Uruk and developed the first known writing system called cuneiform in the 4th millennium BC. Their architecture was characterized by the use of bricks, lintels, and cone mosaic with notable examples being the ziggurats.

How did the Roman Empire influence the development of Western art and architecture?

No civilization has had an impact as enduring and powerful on Western art as the Roman Empire. Roman architecture often used concrete and features such as the round arch and dome were invented by them.

When and where did the Renaissance period begin and what were its main characteristics?

The Early Renaissance started in Florence in present-day Italy in the early 15th century. It is characterized by a surge of interest in classical literature, philosophy, and art, the growth of commerce, and the discovery of new continents.

What defines the Baroque art style and when did it emerge in Europe?

Baroque art emerged in the late 16th century and describes art that combined emotion, dynamism, and drama with powerful color, realism, and strong tonal contrasts. The Baroque and its late variant the Rococo dominated more than two centuries of art and architecture in Europe, Latin America, and beyond from circa 1580 to circa 1750.

The Human Figure And The Ideal

Through harmonious proportion and a focus on aesthetics, ancient Greek and Roman art became the foundation and inspiration of all Western art, being the standard to which most European artists aspired until the 19th century. The Latin poet Horace, writing in the age of Roman emperor Augustus, famously remarked that although conquered on the battlefield, captive Greece overcame its savage conqueror and brought the arts to rustic Rome. The power of Greek art lies in its representation of the human figure and its focus on human beings and the anthropomorphic gods as chief subjects. The artworks of the Greeks were meant to decorate temples and public buildings, to celebrate battle victories and remarkable personalities, and to commemorate the dead. They were also given as offerings to the gods. Although there was no definitive transition, the art is usually divided stylistically into the four periods of Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic. During the Classical period, from the 5th and 4th centuries BC, realism and idealism were delicately balanced. In comparison, the works of the earlier Geometric and Archaic ages can seem primitive, but these artists had different goals, as naturalistic representation was not necessarily their aim. Greek artists built on the artistic foundations of Egypt, further developing the arts of sculpture, painting, architecture, and ceramics. Among the techniques they perfected include methods of carving and casting sculptures, fresco painting, and building magnificent buildings. Five of the Wonders of the World were Greek, including the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. However, Ancient Greek architecture is best known for its temples, many of which are found throughout the region, and the Parthenon is a prime example of this. Later, they will serve as inspiration for Neoclassical architects during the late 18th and 19th century. The most well-known temples are the Parthenon and the Erechtheion, both on the Acropolis of Athens. Another type of important Ancient Greek buildings were the theatres, which used a complex mix of optical illusions and balanced ratios. Looking at the archaeological remains of ancient buildings it is easy to perceive them as limestone and concrete in a grey taupe tone and to make the assumption that ancient buildings were monochromatic. However, architecture was polychromed in much of the Ancient world. One of the most iconic Ancient buildings, the Parthenon, had details painted with vibrant reds, blues, and greens. This practice of coloring buildings and artworks was abandoned during the early Renaissance because Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance artists, including Michelangelo, promoted a color palette inspired by the ancient Greco-Roman ruins, which because of neglect and constant decay during the Middle Ages, became white despite being initially colorful. The pigments used in the ancient world were delicate and especially susceptible to weathering. Without necessary care, the colors exposed to rain, snow, dirt, and other factors, vanished over time, and this way Ancient buildings and artworks became white, like they are today and were during the Renaissance.

The Empire Of Concrete And Light

No civilization has had an impact as enduring and powerful on Western art as the Roman Empire. The legacy of ancient Rome is evident through the medieval and early modern periods, and Roman art continues to be reused in the modern era in both traditionalist and postmodern artworks. Sometimes it is viewed as derived from Greek precedents, but also has its own distinguishing features, some of them inherited from Etruscan art. Roman sculpture is often less idealized than its Greek precedents, being very realistic. Roman architecture often used concrete, and features such as the round arch and dome were invented. Luxury objects in metal-work, gem engraving, ivory carvings, and glass are sometimes considered in modern terms to be minor forms of Roman art, although this would not necessarily have been the case for contemporaries. An innovation made possible by the Roman development of glass-blowing was cameo glass. A white shell was first created, into which coloured glass was then blown so as to produce an interior lining. The white shell was then cut down to create relief patterns of white against a darker background. They also made mosaics, this way producing durable pictorial art with cut-stone cubes and chips of coloured terracotta and glass. Some villas of wealthy Romans had their walls covered with frescos, aimed at dazzling and entertaining guests. Much of Roman wall painting that survives comes from sites around the Bay of Naples, in particular Pompeii and Herculaneum, thriving towns that were preserved under metres of volcanic debris when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. As a result, Roman wall painting is often discussed in terms of four Pompeian styles. The Romans were deeply influenced by all aspects of Hellenistic culture. In architecture, just like in other art media, they essentially adopted the Classical language and adapted it to new situations and uses. The Romans also have their own innovations brought to Classical architecture. They used the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders in a far freer manner than the Greeks had, creating their own version of the Doric and using the Corinthian far more frequently. They also added two new orders to the repertoire: the Tuscan, a simpler, more massive version of the Doric derived from Etruscan architecture, and the Composite, a combination of the scroll-like volutes of the Ionic with the Corinthian's acanthus leaves. Other important innovations include the arch, and the dome. Using arches, they built aqueducts and monumental triumphal arches. Roman emperors were proud of their conquests, and commemorated them at home and in the conquered territories through triumphal arches, a good example of this being the Arch of Constantine in Rome. Between 30 and 15 BC, the architect and civil and military engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio published a major treatise, De Architectura, which influenced architects around the world for centuries.

The Rebirth Of The West

Encompassing Early, Northern, and High Renaissance, the term Renaissance describes the rebirth in Europe of a new interest for Classical antiquity. For the first time since antiquity, art became convincingly lifelike. Besides the ancient past, Renaissance artists also studied nature, understanding the human body, animals, plants, space, perspective, and the qualities of light. The most common theme were religious subjects, but depictions of mythological stories were produced as well. Also, there was no uniform Renaissance style. Each artist developed their own distinct visual language, influenced by their predecessors and contemporaries. The Early Renaissance was a period of great creative and intellectual activity when artists broke away completely from the parameters of Byzantine art. It is generally accepted that it started in Florence in present-day Italy in the early 15th century. It is characterized by a surge of interest in classical literature, philosophy, and art, the growth of commerce, the discovery of new continents, and new inventions. There was a revival of interest in the art and literature of ancient Rome, and the study of ancient Greek and Latin texts instigated concepts of individualism and reason, which became known as humanism. Humanists considered life in the present and emphasized the importance of individual thought, which affected artists' approaches. Despite being highly associated with Italy, particularly with Florence, Rome, and Venice, the rest of Western Europe participated to the Renaissance as well. The Northern Renaissance occurred in Europe north of the Alps from the early 15th century, following a period of artistic cross-fertilization between north and south known as International Gothic. There was a big difference between the Northern and Italian Renaissance. The North artists did not seek to revive the values of ancient Greece and Rome like the Italians, while in the south Italian artists and patrons were amazed by the empirical study of nature and the human society, and by the deep colors that northern artists could achieve in the newly developed medium of oil paint. The Protestant Reformation increased the northern interest in secular painting, like portraits or landscapes. Two key northern artists are Hieronymus Bosch, known for his surreal paintings filled with hybrid creatures like The Garden of Earthly Delights, and Albrecht Dürer, who brought the new art of printmaking to a new level. The High Renaissance took place in the late 15th-early 16th centuries and was influenced by the fact that as papal power stabilized in Rome, several popes commissioned art and architecture, determined to recreate the city's former glory. Raphael and Michelangelo produced vast and grandiose projects for the popes. The most famous artwork of this part of the Renaissance is probably the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Mannerism broke away from High Renaissance ideals of harmony and a rational approach to art, to embrace exaggerated forms, elongated proportions, and more vibrant colors. It developed in Italy between 1510 and 1520, among artists who prized originality above all. The name of this movement comes from the Italian maniera, meaning style or manner. The word was meant to describe the standard of excellence achieved during the High Renaissance, to which all art should now adhere, but in practice it led to stylization and art to show art, sometimes with great success, an example being Raphael's pupil Giulio Romano. Mannerism has also been used more generally to describe a period following the Renaissance and preceding the Baroque.

Drama And The Global Stage

The 17th century was a period of volatile change, both in science, through inventions and developments, such as the telescope or the microscope, and in religion, as the Catholic Counter-Reformation contested the growing popularity of Protestant faith. After the Protestant Reformation the Catholic Church reacted with the Counter-Reformation, decreeing that art should inspire viewers with passionate religious themes. Succeeding Mannerism, and developing as a result of religious tensions across Europe, Baroque art emerged in the late 16th century. The name may derive from barocco, the Portuguese word for misshaped pearl, and it describes art that combined emotion, dynamism, and drama with powerful color, realism, and strong tonal contrasts. Between 1545 and 1563 at the Council of Trent, it was decided that religious art must encourage piety, realism, and accuracy, and, by attracting viewers' attention and empathy, glorify the Catholic Church and strengthen the image of Catholicism. In the next century the radical new styles of Baroque art both embraced and developed High Renaissance models, and broke new ground both in religious art and in new varieties of secular art, above all landscape. The Baroque and its late variant the Rococo were the first truly global styles in the arts, dominating more than two centuries of art and architecture in Europe, Latin America, and beyond from circa 1580 to circa 1750. Born in the painting studios of Bologna and Rome in the 1580s and 1590s, and in Roman sculptural and architectural ateliers in the second and third decades of the 17th century, the Baroque spread swiftly throughout Italy, Spain, and Portugal, Flanders, France, the Netherlands, England, Scandinavia, and Russia, as well as to central and eastern European centers from Munich to Vilnius. The Portuguese, Spanish, and French empires and the Dutch trading network had a leading role in spreading the two styles into the Americas and colonial Africa and Asia, to places such as Lima, Mozambique, Goa, and the Philippines. Just like paintings and sculptures, Baroque cathedrals and palaces are characterized by the use of illusion and drama as well. They also frequently use dramatic effects of light and shade, and have sumptuous, highly decorated interiors that blurred the boundaries between architecture, painting, and sculpture. Another important characteristic of Baroque architecture was the presence of dynamism, done through curves, Solomonic columns, and ovals. In France, Baroque is synonymous with the reign of Louis XIV between 1643 and 1715, since multiple monumental buildings were built in Paris, Versailles, and other parts of France during his rule, such as the Palace of Versailles, the Château de Maisons, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, the Louvre Colonnade, or The Dôme des Invalides. Besides the building itself, the space where it was placed has a role too. Baroque buildings try to seize viewers' attention and to dominate their surroundings, whether on a small scale such as the San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane in Rome, or on a massive one, like the new facade of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, designed to tower over the city. Applied arts prospered during this period as well. Baroque furniture could be as bombastic as the rooms they were meant to adorn, and their motifs and techniques were carefully calibrated to coordinate with the architect's overall decorative programme. One of the most prestigious furniture makers was André Charles Boulle, known for his marquetry technique, made by gluing sheets of tortoiseshell and brass together and cut to form the design. His works were also adorned with gilded bronze mounts. Complex Gobelins tapestries featured scenes inspired by classical antiquity, and the Savonnerie manufactory produced big highly detailed carpets for the Louvre. These carpets with black or yellow backgrounds had a central motif or a medallion. Chinese porcelain, Delftware, and mirrors fabricated at Saint-Gobain in France spread rapidly in all princely palaces and aristocratic residences in France. During the reign of Louis XIV, big mirrors are put above fireplace mantels, and this trend will last long after the Baroque period. Originating in 1720 Paris, Rococo is characterized by natural motifs, soft colors, curving lines, asymmetry, and themes including love, nature, and light-hearted entertainment. Its ideals were delicacy, gaiety, youthfulness, and sensuality. Beginning in France as a reaction against the heavy Baroque grandeur of Louis XIV's court at the Palace of Versailles, the rococo movement became associated particularly with the powerful Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of the new king Louis XV. Because of this, the style was also known as Pompadour. The name of the movement derives from the French rocaille, or pebble, and refers to stones and shells that decorate the interiors of caves, as similar shell forms became a common feature in Rococo design. It began as a design and decorative arts style, and was characterized by elegant flowing shapes. Architecture followed and then painting and sculpture. The French painter with whom the term Rococo is most often associated is Jean-Antoine Watteau, whose pastoral scenes, or fêtes galantes, dominate the early part of the 18th century. Although there are some important Bavarian churches in this style, such as the Wieskirche, Rococo is most often associated with secular buildings, principally great palaces and salons where educated elites would meet to discuss literary and philosophical ideas. In Paris, its popularity coincided with the emergence of the salon as a new type of social gathering, the venues for which were often decorated in the Rococo style. Among the most characteristically elegant and refined examples is the Salon Oval de la Princesse of the Hôtel de Soubise, one of the most beautiful 18th century mansions in Paris. The Rococo introduced dramatic changes to elite furniture, as it favored smaller pieces with narrow, sinewy frames and more delicate, often asymmetrical decoration, often including elements of chinoiserie. The taste for Far Eastern objects, mainly Chinese, led to the use of Chinese painted and lacquered panels for furniture. The movement spread quickly throughout Europe and as far as Ottoman Turkey and China thanks to ornament books featuring cartouches, arabesques, and shell work, as well as designs for wall panels and fireplaces. The most popular were made by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, Jacques-François Blondel, Pierre-Edmé Babel, and François de Cuvilliés.

Order And The Modern Turn

Inspired by the excavations of the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum from 1748, a renewed interest in the arts of antiquity occurred. Neoclassicism dominates Western art from the mid to late 18th century until the 1830s. Embracing order and restraint, it developed in reaction to the perceived frivolity, hedonism, and decadence of Rococo and exemplifying the rational thinking of the Age of Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason. Initially, the movement was developed not by artists, but by Enlightenment philosophers. They requested replacing Rococo with a style of rational art, moral and dedicated to the soul. This fit well with a perception of Classical art as the embodiment of realism, restraint, and order. Inspired by ancient Greek and Roman art, the classical history paintings of the French artist Nicolas Poussin, and the ideas of the German writer Anton Raphael Mengs and the German archaeologist and art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Neoclassicism began in Rome, but soon spread throughout Europe. Rome had become the main focus of the Grand Tour by the mid-18th century, and aristocratic travelers went there in search of Classical visions to recreate on their country estates, thus spreading the style across Europe, particularly in England and France. The tour was also an opportunity for collecting Classical antiquities. Neoclassical paintings tended to be populated with figures posed like Classical statues or reliefs, set in locations filled with archaeological details. The style favored Greek art over Roman, considering it purer and more authentically classical in its aesthetic goal. In 1789, France was on the brink of its first revolution and Neoclassicism sought to express their patriotic feelings. Politics and art were closely entwined during this period. They believed that art should be serious, and valued drawings above painting; smooth contours and paint with no discernible brushstrokes were the ultimate aim. Both painting and sculpture exerted calmness and restraint and focused on heroic themes, expressing such noble notions as self-sacrifice and nationalism. This movement paved the way for Romanticism, that appeared when the idealism of the revolution faded away and after the Napoleonic period came to an end in the early 19th century. Neoclassicism should not be seen as the opposite of Romanticism, however, but in some ways an early manifestation of it. Many art historians place the origins of modern art in the late 18th century, marking a shift away from the strictures of the past toward new forms of expression that would define the modern era.