{"id":4991,"date":"2014-02-21T14:17:46","date_gmt":"2014-02-21T13:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/?p=4991"},"modified":"2015-07-18T10:38:22","modified_gmt":"2015-07-18T08:38:22","slug":"how-can-an-artwork-be-ugly-in-some-periods-and-strikingly-beautiful-in-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/02\/21\/how-can-an-artwork-be-ugly-in-some-periods-and-strikingly-beautiful-in-others\/","title":{"rendered":"How can an artwork be ugly in some periods and strikingly beautiful in others?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-4991 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/02\/21\/how-can-an-artwork-be-ugly-in-some-periods-and-strikingly-beautiful-in-others\/n-0722-00-000024-pr\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/N-0722-00-000024-pr-e1392988373225.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Swabian \u201cPortrait of a Woman of the Hofer Family\u201d, about 1470, Oil on silver fir - The National Gallery, London \u00a9 The National Gallery, London\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-4992\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-4992'>\n\t\t\t\tSwabian \u201cPortrait of a Woman of the Hofer Family\u201d, about 1470, Oil on silver fir &#8211; The National Gallery, London \u00a9 The National Gallery, London\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/02\/21\/how-can-an-artwork-be-ugly-in-some-periods-and-strikingly-beautiful-in-others\/n-0946-00-000021-pr\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"106\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/N-0946-00-000021-pr-e1392988429167.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Jan Gossaert (active 1503; died 1532), \u201cA Man holding a Glove\u201d, about 1530 2, Oil on oak. The National Gallery, London \u00a9 The National Gallery, London\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-4993\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-4993'>\n\t\t\t\tJan Gossaert (active 1503; died 1532), \u201cA Man holding a Glove\u201d, about 1530 2, Oil on oak. The National Gallery, London \u00a9 The National Gallery, London\r\n\r\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/02\/21\/how-can-an-artwork-be-ugly-in-some-periods-and-strikingly-beautiful-in-others\/n-1314-00-000197-pr\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"147\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/N-1314-00-000197-pr-e1392988470158.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Hans Holbein the Younger (1497\/8 1543), \u201cJean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve (&#039;The Ambassadors&#039;)\u201d, 1533, Oil on oak, The National Gallery, London \u00a9 The National Gallery, London\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-4994\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-4994'>\n\t\t\t\tHans Holbein the Younger (1497\/8   1543), \u201cJean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve (&#8216;The Ambassadors&#8217;)\u201d, 1533, Oil on oak, The National Gallery, London \u00a9 The National Gallery, London\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/02\/21\/how-can-an-artwork-be-ugly-in-some-periods-and-strikingly-beautiful-in-others\/n-2925-00-000017-pr\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"98\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/N-2925-00-000017-pr-e1392988505661.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472 1553), \u201cCharity\u201d, 1537 50, Oil on beech. The National Gallery, London \u00a9 The National Gallery, London\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-4995\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-4995'>\n\t\t\t\tLucas Cranach the Elder (1472   1553), \u201cCharity\u201d, 1537 50, Oil on beech. The National Gallery, London \u00a9 The National Gallery, London\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/02\/21\/how-can-an-artwork-be-ugly-in-some-periods-and-strikingly-beautiful-in-others\/n-6344-00-000017-pr\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"102\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/N-6344-00-000017-pr-e1392988542699.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472 1553), \u201cCupid complaining to Venus\u201d, about 1525. Oil on wood. The National Gallery, London \u00a9 The National Gallery, London\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-4996\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-4996'>\n\t\t\t\tLucas Cranach the Elder (1472   1553), \u201cCupid complaining to Venus\u201d, about 1525. Oil on wood. The National Gallery, London \u00a9 The National Gallery, London\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/02\/21\/how-can-an-artwork-be-ugly-in-some-periods-and-strikingly-beautiful-in-others\/adam-and-eve-1504\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"118\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Strange-Beauty-X8362.pr_-e1392988578815.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Albrecht D\u00fcrer (1471 \u2013 1528),\u201dAdam and Eve\u201d, 1504, Engraving, 25.2 x 19.3 cm \u00a9 The British Museum, London\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-4997\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-4997'>\n\t\t\t\tAlbrecht D\u00fcrer (1471 \u2013 1528),\u201dAdam and Eve\u201d, 1504, Engraving, 25.2 x 19.3 cm \u00a9 The British Museum, London \n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There are some shows which are able to maintain the rigor of scientific studies while offering to the general public an excellent insights on art.<\/p>\n<p>One of these exhibitions is now on at the National Gallery, London, until 11 May, titled &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalgallery.org.uk\/strange-beauty\" target=\"_blank\">Strange Beauty: Masters of the German Renaissance<\/a>&#8220;. It is a major show that offers visitors great masterpieces and that seeks to stimulate reflection on the changing taste of the public throughout the centuries. In short, it is an attempt to show how a work can be considered bad in some periods and, in contrast, strikingly beautiful in other ones.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Amongst the pieces on display we find, to name just a few, the drawing of \u201cAn Elderly Woman with Clasped Hands\u201d by Matthias Gr\u00fcnewald, the renowned Holbein miniature of \u201cAnne of Cleves\u201d and \u201cPortrait of Young Man with a Rosari\u201d by Hans Baldung Grien, \u201cChrist taking Leave of his Mother\u201d by Albrecht Altdorfer, \u201cCupid complaining to Venus\u201d by Lucas Cranach the Elder, and a collection of fine drawings and prints by Holbein, D\u00fcrer and Altdorfer: all works that today we consider masterpieces haven&#8217;t always enjoyed the right appreciation from critics and from the public. While highly praised during the 16<sup>th<\/sup> century, German Renaissance art was perceived with ambiguous feelings in the last two centuries.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The exhibition, then, is a further confirmation of the fact that every work is like a hardware: in order for it to function, it needs the right software. Furthermore, it highlights how the interpretation of a painting of the past is always the result of a complex system of information related to the context in which the work was produced and linked to the cultural environment in which the visitor lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; There are some shows which are able to maintain the rigor of scientific studies while offering to the general public an excellent insights on art. One of these exhibitions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1793],"tags":[339,1632,1631,1569],"class_list":["post-4991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-to-be-discovered","tag-albrecht-durer","tag-hans-holbein-the-younger","tag-jan-gossaert","tag-lucas-cranach-the-elder"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}