art history

Tommaso do Folco Portinari by Hans Memling

Late Middle ages and Renaissance have revived the art of portrait . The main object of upraising humanism was man , and the genre of portrait being earlier virtually forgotten , now attracted standing interest of artists and their customers . Hans Memling (ca .1435-1494 ) was among the most brilliant artists and portrait painters of his time . This is to examine one of his works : Tommaso di Folco Portinari (1470 ) in the terms of formal and style , as well as backgrounds . The portrait is a part of a triptych

, where the left part is a portrait of Thomaso himself , and the left part depicts his wife Maria , both flanking an image of the Virgin and Child (now lost , toward which the husband and wife gaze and gesture in devotion . Commissioned from Hans Memling the portraits reflect the admiration of Italian patrons for Netherlandish art , especially works of such devotional character

The portrait is made with oil and canvas . The face and hands of the character sharply contrast with dark background . The face of the middle-aged man is painted in a transitional Gothic-Renaissance manner with elongated facial features , thin lips and pale skin , lacking glow The hands are tight with long and spindling fingers . Hair is almost invisible , fading with the background and forming part of it . There is no obvious light source , so the painting is in a way similar to an icon Line and shape retain their status of a key element of the painting and Memling still lacks tinctures , shades and half-shades , which later gained great importance in painting . The colors are sick and monotonous so it is exactly the shape , which creates the painting

Tommaso 's face is full of humbling and devoutness , combined with admiration , as he looks at the Queen of Heaven . He folds his hands in the praying gesture and an attentive spectator may notice a ring on his little finger , which is a symbol of marriage . The face is depicted half-turned left , which is a usual manner for the portrait-painters of the time . There is no visible spatial depth and no movement , the character seems to be in a way free of reality in his obeisance to the Virgin . The clothes do not divert attention from the face , since there are no visible clothes . Even in the wedding picture a person stands alone before divine will , reminding about medieval denial of carnal vanity

The observed painting is a classical example of solemn pictures painted for the rich patrons on remarkable events . It is much similar in style and composition with the works of Jan van Eyck , Rogier van der Weiden , Rober Campen and other artists of the time . The style and techniques of painting are more likely to be gothic , but the artists become interested in the world of human feelings and emotions Reflections of such interest are yet few and modest , however they serve as signs of humanistic approach to painting . Such approach will become dominant in the following centuries ...