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Miranda Mendez
HON-322-01
Catherine Luschek
Take Home Midterm
According to Jacob Burckhardt in a piece called Civilization of the
Renaissance in Italy, The Renaissance era was a time man truly started to
realize his soul as an individual part of himself. Individuality became a
concept accepted to separate oneself from the common groupings in Italy
e.g. race, people, family. Humanism was a huge influence of this way of
thinking. This was caused undoubtedly through political development and
the sense of individual expanding through humanist philosophy. In Italy as
political parties frequently changed individual power expanded. The leaders
seen in Italy had defining personalities and a new sense of egotistical
attitude arose. Men in the Renaissance were expressing new and innovative
talents as complexity in architecture and art emerged. There were new and
superb creations in the Italian Renaissance culture, created by the people.
Knowledge was a resource used by many men as they became highly
educated in philosophy, humanist writings, and language. Women of high
class were even educated at this time. Because of this so-called amazing
new breed of man an idealization started to occur of certain characters
described in writings and art works. This archetype of man was highly
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A biography of Leon Battista Alberti, which mentions close to nothing
about his architecture or art, describes him as an all-knowing and all around
impeccable character. He was skilled in gymnastics, law, painting, modeling,
speaking, walking, riding, physics, mathematics, etc. Alberti achieved almost
everything imagined, but this was all according to his “biography”. While all
of this mentioned, it is almost apparent that not all of this was possible. In
this literature he is portrayed as this immaculate man with the ability not
only to do everything but be perfectly skilled in each task he attempts. Any
scholar has to look at these descriptions and question the accuracy of this
“biographical” piece. Perhaps men were not achieving so much greatness in
this time but wanted to be perceived as such. Why does a man need to be
skilled on how to do everything when he can be written into history attaining
such recognition?
According to Patricia Simons, portraits were created of people with
intentions of displaying individualism but in an ostentatious matter. Portraits
were not made for private enjoyment but for the purpose of illustrating a
sense of individualism. While academics have looked at portraits as a source
of individualistic expression, it has been proven that portraits are defined by
the subject’s class, gender, and age. The art of creating portraits was
construed by artistic interpretation. Within Simon’s text she explains as
Michelangelo created the tombs for the Medici’s he expressed that in the
future no one would know what the dukes even looked like. Portraiture is
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of the time did not sit down to have their portraits painted. It was done
without them and many portraits of the same person tend to vary. For
example, the paintings of Franco Sassetti and Isabella d’Este. Painting
prominent figures of the Renaissance era was a chance for artists to show of
their talent while creating a social climate for the subject. Portraiture was
made for deep admiration. According to Simons, these paintings
representing stability and permanence in a time where wealth and power
could be lost. Biographies and portraits were the only way to form a person’s
actions in the time where skills largely mattered. Men were expected to have
diplomatic skills, exceptional courting etiquette, political knowledge, etc.
In Baldassare Castiglione’s famous piece of literature The Book of
Courtier, one can see the expectations men were expected to follow in
regards to courting women in this time frame. Few of the things mentioned in
this book include men must be, fluent in Spanish, Italian and French, be
fashionably dressed, know how to sing, dance, and draw, be born of noble
stature etc. There are is an immense list of things men must be skilled in to
be a suitable groom according to Castiglione. This piece of literature was
influential in the shaping of the Italian Renaissance man. Etiquette was an
important aspect in the way a man represented himself and this contributed
to the way individual’s wanted to be perceived. This no doubt afected the
appearance men kept up throughout art and literature as they were
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A painting of Baldassare Castiglione, done by Raphael in 1514-1515, is
a great example of portraiture and the intended uses. In this portrait,
Castiglione is dressed in the elegant apparel of a highly important man. He is
wearing a type of headdress, and is covered in a gray fur. His eyes are
centered directly on the audience and he has a white dress shirt underneath
a black coat. His hands are folded gently in front of him. His posture and the
radiance of his skin is reminiscent of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa. According to
Simons, Castiglione wrote in a poem about how his portrait by Raphael was
often used as a point of address for his wife and son when he was away. Men
of this time developed insecurities as they feared their wives would engage
in adultery, or remarriage after their deaths. To battle this insecurity they
placed portraits of themselves throughout the house as an immortal
reminder of their presence. Castiglione’s portrait served the purpose of
assuring his wife would remain chaste and motherly while he was away for
long periods of time. The interactions his family had with his portrait was a
perfect example of the services portraits were created for.
Portraiture was not an art form used to depict a person’s appearance
or personality accurately. All portraits of the Renaissance era are to be
treated with skepticism as they were made for the specific reason to create a
puissant facade. With the influence of humanism on men they were
pressured to make themselves seem as perfect as possible. It is no doubt
