Battle of the Renaissance

Hans Holbein the Younger
Darmstadt Madonna
Schlossmuseum, Darmstadt

Above is a Northern Renaissance painting by the son of Hans Holbein the older.  Hans Holbein the younger was a portrait and historical painter. He painted the Meyer or Dormstadt Madonna, Schutzmantelmadonna, “a Virgin of Pity” in oil 1526 . Meyer commissioned the painting.

In the middle is the virgin Mary holding Christ . To the bottom left is Meyer himself with his two sons, and to the right are Mayers first and second wife, and their daughter.

  The Madonna  wears a cloak which symbolizes  the protective power of destiny. The scallop shell that encompassed her head symbolizes the womb, divine space, and femininity. Her crown represents her royal rank.

 

The Sistine Madonna
(Madonna di San Sisto)
By Raphael.

For the Italian Renaissance painting is by Raffello Sanizio. Rafello painted The Sistine Madonna or the Madonna Sistina, commissioned by Pope Julius the II  in oil 1512.

In the middle is the virgin Mary  holding Christ, to her bottom left is Saint Sixtus II and to her bottom right is Saint Barbars. Beneath them all resting on their elbows are two cherubs, while Mary stands in front of clouds made of ghostly cherub faces.

 The curtain represents divine truth, the cherubs represent gods attending servants. The robes the saints wear represent truth , the vail Mary wears which also completes a circle around her and her child represent unity.  The color blue represents the love of truth and the color red represents the love of good.

Differences & Simulareties 

Value

The Darmstradt Madonna used dark tones of teal, red, navy and shades of white. The lighting reminds me of flash photography or stage lighting where the light source is coming straight on or slightly from below.

The Sistina Madonna also share the same color pallet, while the color value still dark it a contains more of a middle grey tone. Also the light source comes from behind like she is walking out of the light or out of heaven.

Texture

The Darmstradt Madonna is very crisp and vibrent even though the color pallet is dark. Marys cloths look like satin to the touch, the older son apears to wear vlevet and the daughter a dress made of silk, the rest apear to wear cotton or linen. The folds in the material and the lighting bring me to this conclusion. The adults cloths come across as matte where the children and mary clothing have a type of shine or reflection of the light making there clothing appear softer and more luxurious and gives the overal painting a smoother appearance.

The Sistina Madonna is the opposite,  the color pallet though simular has more of a grey tone which give the painting a more raw texture, an overal soft hazy look. Nothing is too white or crisp, everything comes across as soft as the clouds, modest I imagne they are all wearing cotton or linen with accents of satin in the embroydery. The color pallet gives the painting a humble look, even the saints robes are not muted in color richness but toned down.  It helps keep the attention on the importance of what happening, the welcoming of Christ who himself is told be a modest man.

Form

Both paintings have the shape of a pyramid  where Mary is the tip of the pyramid and the men and women to either side complet the stucture. The Sistina Madonna also gives a three demetinol look because of the light source coming from behind her, like walking through a doorway the cutian on either side helps with the effect giving the space depth.   The Darmstradt Madonna only has a slight two demetional effect in the face and the clothing. Where the Sistina Madonna had the entire body stand out.

Balance, Proportion, Harmoney

Both paintings are well balanced the Darmstradt Madonna is balanced by all the extra pieces, the head dresses, flowing material and the clam shell mantel, the Sistina Madonna is balanced by space, lighting and simplicity.

The Darmstradt Madonna has greater proportion of because of all the extra accents, where the Sistina Madonna has greater harmoney due to the details of chrub faces in the clouds which also bring balance  and the gradient change of light source giveing Mary a halo effect.

 

Conclusion

The Catholic churches enfluences are in both of these paintings. My personal preference would have to be Raphael Sistina Madonna.  I enjoy how the saints appear to be welcoming Mary, as oppose to the Darmstadt Madonna where here company looks like they are begging for blessings. The 3D effect in the Sistina Madonna is very eye catching , I also appreciate the ghostly faces in the clouds that I hadn’t noticed till I had red another blog http://www.themasterpiececards.com/famous-paintings-reviewed/bid/86141/Famous-Paintings-Sistine-Madonna. I think what stands out the most to me in the Sistine Madonna is the humbleness and respect showen in the painting it is very welcoming nature and feeling. The Darmstdt Madonna though beautiful came across as more materialistic and based on class or status.  Which was not what Christ represented at all.

 

works citied

bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02h9c5/po2h96v1

commens.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:Raffaello,_Madonna_sistina_01.jpg

mydailyartdisplay.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/the-meyer-madonna-by-halbein-the-younger

biblemeanings.info/words/artifats/curtian.htm

themasterpiececards.com/famous-paintings-reviewed/bid/86141/famous-painting-sistine-madonna

totallyhistory.com/the-sistine-madonna

renaissance-spell.com/northern-renaissance-artist.html