Matthew DEredita

13 January 2016
Comp Civ
Mrs. Lucarelli
Museum Visit
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is home to many spectacular
Renaissance artworks. Some of the most famous artists in the world painted during this
time period. Below are three examples of Renaissance art found at the Met. The painting
on the left is the Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints done by Raphael in 1505.
This is a portrait of what art looked like before the Renaissance. The presences of halos
on the god and goddess heads are significant because that was common in many preRenaissance paintings. Also, the painting is shaped like a square with a half circle on the
top. This was an important characteristic to look at because before the Renaissance,
artwork was shaped in a certain way to give of a focal point, which was usually at the
center of the painting. In Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints, the focal point is
Madonna and the children, who are sitting right in the middle of the painting.
The painting in the middle and to the left are pieces of artwork during the
Renaissance time period. The Lamentation by Scipione Pulzone in 1593 shows some of
the many characteristics of Renaissance art. First, the background is very earthy and gave
off the feel of nature. Also, no halos were depicted in the artwork and all of the figures
were to scale. Before the time period, many of the painters drew heavenly people larger
then the mortals to show their true power. After the Renaissance, gods and goddesses
began to look like regular people. The painting on the left, The Formation of the Virgin
done by Carlo Saraceni in 1602, also displays Renaissance artwork characteristics. The

person sitting in the center is the virgin, surrounded by numerous holy figures, but the
people in this painting are all proportional to one another. No halos are found in the
painting except for a glowing yellow light above the virgins head, which might
symbolize importance. Humanism, or a system of thought attaching prime importance to
human rather than divine or supernatural matters, is a major characteristic to both pieces
of artwork because the Renaissance time period heavily reflected the use of humanism
rather than gods and goddesses.