Martin Jay contrasts Renaissance and Baroque approaches to visuality in his article 'Scopic regimes of modernity'. Identify the central characteristics of both systems, and discuss how they apply to 2 or 3 prescribed paintings.

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VSA1000                Nick Altmann

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VSA1000: Introduction to Visual Culture

First Essay

Martin Jay contrasts Renaissance and Baroque approaches to visuality in his article ‘Scopic regimes of modernity’. Identify the central characteristics of both systems, and discuss how they apply to 2 or 3 prescribed paintings.

Tutor: John Gregory

Time: Monday 4pm


Centuries of studying visuality has given birth to several methods of visual analysis. These “scopic regimes” as defined by Jay are quite simply systems for organizing vision.  This essay will focus on the two main systems discussed by Jay: Renaissance and Baroque. Both systems arose during similar time frames, and consequently contain some similarities. Yet, each approach is clearly different. Renaissance’s central themes of order, reason and Cartesian space are clearly in contrast to the themes of the Baroque system, which is far more spectacular and sensational. Images from each regime will be used to illustrate the differences between Renaissance and Baroque.

The Renaissance period lasting between the 14th and 16th centuries was a stark cultural shift from the preceding Middle Ages. Born out of European culture – notably Italian - “Renaissance” means “rebirth”, which suggests how radical this period was for its time (Web Museum, 2004). The Renaissance denoted the rise of individual and social values, and strong growth in scientific exploration (Web Museum, 2004).  The themes associated with this cultural period were transferred into Renaissance art, which is a defining period in visual history.  Jay (1998, p.4) asserts that the Renaissance or Cartesian perspectivalism, is often regarded as the dominant scopic regime for the modern era due to its representation of natural, realistic images.

Renaissance is summarized by “order, closure, and fixity” according to Wollen (1993). Up until then, visual images of the Middle Ages did not represent the natural appearance of objects in real life. They included no sense of depth or realism.  Renaissance art involved for the first time the consistent use of perspective vanishing points (see appendix 1), making the imagery of the period most realistic.  It saw the beginnings of geometrical mathematics used to represent objects, and the portrayal of three dimensional rationalized space, as viewed through a singular eye, rather than jumping from focal point to focal point (Jay, 1988 p.7).    Indeed, the shadows and true representation of a foreground and background made the Renaissance approach to visuality the first real period to express depth.  It is the concept of Cartesian space that underpins Renaissance imagery.  Cartesian space refers to the linearity of Renaissance art (see appendix 1), which is illustrated by the neutrality of the period’s artwork (Jay, 1998, p9).  Jay (1998, p.9) claims that the orderly coldness of the Renaissance perspective resulted in the “withdrawal of the painter’s emotional entanglement with the objects depicted”, which explains why Renaissance visuality is not as surreal as either the preceding Middle Ages or the subsequent Baroque period.  

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To illustrate the Renaissance approach to visual culture, the painting View of an Ideal City (appendix 1) will be considered.  The first thing one notices about this picture is that it is truly balanced, being symmetrical in is imagery. The dominating axes of this picture form an articulated system, as described by Barnard, 2001, p.175).  The size of the buildings on either side of the central piece are the same, and the buildings are spaced equally apart, an underpinning theme of Renaissance imagery.  It should be noted that all these peripheral buildings are square in structure. The focal point of ...

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