In Europe, why were there few portraits showing a real likeness of the subject before the 15th century?
Upvote:1
It was a matter of medieval iconography, which in turn had a religious basis. That is, Christian themes such as God, Christ, and the Madonna, were depicted in standardized, stylized ways. Mere "kings" did not hope for any better.
Also, until the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, most painters were also wooden "printers." Germany's Albrecht Durer was a case in point. So most painters, of portraits or otherwise, created paintings much like wooden print.
It was the Renaissance, with its emphasis on secular themes stemming from pre-Christian antiquity that broke the above mold. And the widepread adoption of Gutenberg's printing press caused the two arts to diverge, with people choosing one or the other. Concurrent events in art, such as the development of the "third" dimension, and the greater use of color helped artists to make that divergence.
Upvote:3
A personal opinion, which I admittedly cannot back with sources atm, but I suspect it had as much to do with the "rise of the individual" during the Renaissance. Writers, artists etc are largely, though not entirely, anonymous before that. The Reformation emphasised personal salvation, an individual relationship with the Divine, and the individual, as opposed to the group, community, caste or class, began to step out of the shadows - cf Hamlet "What a piece of work is a man!" Earlier, the individual was simply not important, so why would s/he be painted?
More post
- 📝 Who deposited German fuel drums on a Japanese air base in the Kuril Islands in 1943?
- 📝 Why is German spoken in Upper Valais?
- 📝 What is the earliest known writing associating the number three with the dimension of the world?
- 📝 Cult related law made in US
- 📝 Why didn't Ronald Reagan become Republican candidate for the President of the USA in 1976?
- 📝 Athenian tribute lists
- 📝 What is the year of Ethelred the Unready's Laws of London?
- 📝 Was Vox In Rama a factor of the quick spread of the Black Plague?
- 📝 To what extent was prohibition supported by the American public?
- 📝 Why didn't Japan adopt western utensils?
- 📝 Why did JFK give approval for the CIA to encourage Diem's deposal?
- 📝 Why have North and South Korea stopped marching together at the Olympics?
- 📝 Was the painting of men's nails a rare practice in the mid-20th century?
- 📝 Were the greatest rulers from before the Classical Antiquity known by ancient historians?
- 📝 Lion in European monarchies' coats of arms
- 📝 Why didn't the US produce stamped weapons like the Germans during WW2?
- 📝 Has diplomatic immunity ever been ignored in modern times?
- 📝 Autobiographical books about the Atlantic war for WWII from the allied perspective
- 📝 How was the Roman army in fact organized during Caesar's campaigns in Gaul?
- 📝 What if a slave entered a state without slavery?
- 📝 Is it true that the A10 gun was made less accurate on purpose?
- 📝 What was Prince Philip’s surname (prior to Mountbatten)?
- 📝 What did the Soviets know about the Hunger Plan during WWII?
- 📝 How was 'the right to bear arms' understood in 17th-18th century England?
- 📝 Was the concept of religious freedom in the early United States applied to native American faiths?
- 📝 Was the 35 year age minimum chosen for US president roughly equal to the average life expectancy for a reason?
- 📝 Did pagan tribes in the Arab peninsula use bells for superstitious or religious reasons before and with the introduction of Islam?
- 📝 When and why did marriage become about love?
- 📝 Great Sphinx photo from WW2 shows a big platform under the chin
- 📝 When was the last US letter of marque issued?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 In Europe, why were there few portraits showing a real likeness of the subject before the 15th century?
- 📝 Why were there so few American deaths in the Bataan Death March?
- 📝 Why were there no agricultural, city-state forming civilizations in the Ice Age?
- 📝 The WWI Christmas truce of 1914 resulted in no consequences, in spite of clear warnings against such beforehand - why were there no courts-martial?
- 📝 Why were bloody religious wars so incredibly frequent in Europe in the century following the Reformation?
- 📝 Why were so few Luftwaffe attacks flown against the Normandy beaches on 6 June 1944?
- 📝 Why was there little nonwhite migration to Europe in the 19th century?
- 📝 Were there any Chinese expeditions to explore the world? If not, why not?
- 📝 Why were there no increases in the train speed records between 1854-1934?
- 📝 Why were so few Koreans enlisted in the Japanese Army before conscription was introduced in 1944?
- 📝 Why were there so many suffect consuls during the Principate?
- 📝 Why do some painted portraits show the subject pointing?
- 📝 Why were there "Tributary States" to the Ottoman Empire?
- 📝 Were there ever instances of sailors pressed into British service in Europe ending up in the Caribbean?
- 📝 Were there attempts to rename the French language Prussian order Pour le Mérite, why was it never Germanised?
- 📝 Why were there so many US military deaths outside of the major battles in WW2?
- 📝 Why was there a "workers' militia" in Eastern Europe but not in the USSR?
- 📝 Are there notes by the Founding Fathers which indicate why DC citizens were denied a vote in Congress?
- 📝 Why there were no economic sanction wars against Warsaw Pact countries by the West?
- 📝 Were there women who were against giving women the right to vote?
- 📝 What were paper airplanes called before there were real airplanes? (i.e. untethered winged flyers, not kites or balloons)
- 📝 Why were the Romans unable to conquer Germania?
- 📝 Why were so many more Jewish men than Jewish women killed during the Holocaust?
- 📝 Why were there no internment camps for German-American citizens in USA during WW2?
- 📝 Why were there no nuclear detonations in 1959?
- 📝 Why did Europe not see Roman-era numbers of men participating in battles until the 17th century?
- 📝 Why were the Allies so much better cryptanalysts?
- 📝 Why were there no religious wars in Poland?
- 📝 Why were helmets and other body armour not commonplace in the 1800s?
- 📝 Why aren't there major cities on the Atlantic coast of France?
