Reflections On Christie

The Europe in the Fifteenth century (1401‐1500years), is in the end of the Middle Ages and the start of the Renaissance. During this time, the development and the transformation of painting mainly occurred in two areas, the north and the south. The northern part is the Netherlands which is ruled by the Duchy of Burgundy. The southern part is the Florence which is dominated by the Medici family (1434‐1494). The change and development of Portraiture were mainly conducted around the northern region, the Netherlands region. Then they gradually spread to the southern part. Through the study of the various changes of European Portraiture in the fifteenth century, this research reflects the changes in the ways of European Portraiture, discusses the causes of these changes (including ideological, aesthetic and social spheres), and states the changes which is how the development of portraiture impacted on the later development of the paintings.The first chapter describes the generation of portraiture, which has two reasons. The first one is the development of the religious paintings in Europe, which was under the rule of the Christian. Meanwhile, the second one is the change of the donor’s status among the donations to the western‐religious paintings, reflected the revolt of people against the thoughts of the Church.The second chapter discusses the social context of the change of portraiture, which is the collapse of the asceticism which was pursued by the Church, is the spread of the humanism, the rise of city‐state and the development of the art guild.The third chapter presents the major changes occurred in portraiture, which is argued from five parts. Firstly, a change happened in ideology which is the sitter’s eyes in the paintings. During1425to1435, the sitter’s eyes changed. The sitters had the eye‐contact with the portraitist’s eyes (Jan Van Eyck). Secondly, the ideology‐change was reflected in the change of people’s aesthetic orientation during1440‐1450. The background of portraits had been changed from a single color to indoor or outdoor scenes. Thirdly, it was the change of portraiture’s service‐object, from depicting the Virgin Mary, the Jesus, the church to depicting the nobles and the commoners. At the same time, the Bourgeoisie replaced the church and the palace to become the main art‐providers. Moreover, the painting‐way had changed. Oil painting born in this period and gradually replaced egg whit, as a medium. Finally, the observing‐method of painters changed from observing by the uncased hole to using optical equipment (Brunelleschi invented perspective in1420).The interaction of the North and the South during this period is described in Chapter IV. Also the northern artists traveled to Italy. At the same time, the social status of the artists had changed.To sum up, the development and changes of portraiture in the15th century had a huge impact on the development of the portraiture in the16th and17th century. Furthermore, these changes in portraiture mapped and reflected the revolution of European history.