Avignon School (painting)
The Avignon School of Painting emerged in the 14th and 15th centuries in the French city of Avignon, during the period when the papacy resided there (1309–1377). This artistic movement was fueled by the influx of artists attracted by the papacy's patronage, particularly from Northern Italy and the Flemish region. The Avignon style is characterized by a blend of Italian and Flemish artistic traditions, showcasing techniques such as chiaroscuro and linear perspective, marking a significant development in the Gothic period of art. Notable works from this school, such as the "Pietà de Villeneuve-lès-Avignon" attributed to Enguerrand Quarton, reflect the high artistic standards of the time.
The school's influence was bolstered by the presence of royalty, particularly King René of Anjou, who was an avid patron of the arts. While the Avignon School produced works comparable to the leading Italian schools, its stylistic elements often provoke debate among experts, making attribution to specific artists challenging. Despite its eventual decline following the papacy's return to Rome, the Avignon School played a significant role in the evolution of European art, contributing to the development of the international Gothic style and influencing later movements in religious art across Germany and Italy. Interest in the Avignon School saw a revival in the early 20th century, highlighting its lasting impact on the art world.
Avignon School (painting)
The Avignon school of painting originated in the French town of Avignon, in Provence, when the papal court settled there from its traditional seat in Rome (1309–1377). Seven popes lived in Avignon during that period. The papacy was a strong source of patronage for the arts, therefore attracting thousands of artists to the city of Avignon, especially from Northern Italy and the Flemish region. Even after the papacy’s return to Rome, Avignon remained the center of the Avignon painting style, born from the admixture of Italian and Flemish traditions. One of its most renowned works from this school is the Pieta de Villeneuve-les-Avignon, attributed to Enguerrand Quarton, also known as Charonton. Many works attributed to the Avignon school are the source of much debate, mostly because the stylistic elements of the school are often not clearly defined. It is also difficult for experts to identify some pieces as the work of specific artists.
Brief History
The Avignon School of Painting evolved during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, centered in the city of Avignon, in the French region of Provence. Because of the settlement of the popes in the city, Avignon became a cosmopolitan hub where artists and merchants from all over Europe gathered. Many of the works produced during this period are considered as good as that of the preeminent Italian schools of the era. The school of Avignon peaked at the end of the fourteenth century during the reign of King René of Anjou. René, nicknamed the Good King René, was a strong patron of the arts. In fact, René was also known to be an amateur painter and some of the Avignon school’s surviving works of art have been attributed to him.
The school of Avignon emerged from the convergence of Italian and Flemish traditions, two principal schools of medieval painting. The Avignon style, according to many experts, offers a good example of the synthesis of these influences, including the Italian chiaroscuro, or light and shadow, as well as the linear elements of the early Netherlandish painters. This period is also known as the Gothic period, and was characterized by elements of realism new to the Western art at the time. Excellent miniature and book illumination also flourished concurrently. Among the preeminent Flemish artists of the era is Barthelemy van Eyck, who painted for ecclesiastical patrons in Avignon and was a court painter for René of Anjou.
The art schools of Florence and Siena, adapted to Provence, were a strong influence of the Avignon school, brought to the city by Italian merchants and artists who settled there. Elements from the Italian trecento school, for example, were adapted into the local artistic ferment and precipitated the Renaissance period. Especially representative of the preeminent trecento artists are Simone Martini and Giotto di Bondone.
Other trends that influenced the Avignon school were the painters of Tournai and of the northern French art of the Midi. The Avignon school, in turn, helped propagate the Sienese school through France, and influenced later German and Italian works, especially in the field of religious art. Afterward, it faded into obscurity. However, appreciation of the Avignon school enjoyed a revival in 1900, when Charonton’s masterpiece The Coronation of the Virgin was exhibited in Paris.
Overview
The Avignon school formed during the era of the Avignon papacy (1309–1377) when Pope Clement V moved the papal court to Provence, in southeastern France, following social turmoil in Rome due to the conflicts between Philip of France, who sought to have a dominant influence upon the Church, and Popes Boniface VIII and Benedict XI. For a time, there were actually two popes in Europe, one seated in Rome and one in Avignon.
The perceived dominance of French royalty over the papacy eventually undermined Church authority in the Western world, even though the papacy purchased the town of Avignon making it, in effect, a papal state. The last Avignon pope, Gregory XI, though French himself, moved the papacy back to Rome in 1377, despite French opposition, effectively ending the era of Avignon papacy. The decades of the Avignon papacy, however, made of the city a hub of intellectual, artistic, and commercial activity. In fact, the Avignon papacy gained a reputation as a court of great luxury and extravagance, focused on worldly concerns. This state of affairs proved highly encouraging to the rise of a local art industry, which assimilated the innovations of art schools in the surrounding regions. Imbued by the spirit of the incipient Gothic era, the Avignon school would help spark the international Gothic style and the early Renaissance.
During the Gothic era, visual images were the most effective way of communicating ideologies, values and ideas, mostly those sanctioned by the Church. Gothic art served religious, social and political purposes, at a time in which the Church, the main patron of the arts, played an important political role in Europe. Therefore, the visual art of this era can be said to be primarily Christian, and secondarily, to establish the power of the elite through the portraiture of eminent individuals.
In Avignon, artists from various countries worked together under the patronage of both the royal and the papal courts. Among the elements that flourished during this era was a growing realism in visual representation, the incorporation of the chiaroscuro, a vernacular literary activity that departed from strictly religious-themed works, and an emphasis on secular songs. In short, besides the traditional ecclesiastical themes, the era saw a surge of secular themes patronized by the nobility and the wealthy, such as the depiction of hunting or romantic scenes, and an abundance of ornamental detail based on nature.
Northern Italian artists had continued the traditions of Byzantine art, but began to develop a physical aspect to the spiritual themes preferred by church patrons. These were the seeds that flourished in the humanism of the Renaissance art and letters, giving center stage to visible reality and the individual. Nevertheless, religious themes remained dominant, even as secular topics grew in popularity. All of these factors were assimilated into Avignon’s art production.
The convergence of styles in Avignon contributed to the birth, according to some scholars, of the international Gothic style, although not as one of the main contributors. Towards the end of the fourteenth century, the Papal court left Avignon to return to the Vatican, which led, in time, to the eventual decline of Avignon as an important hub of artistic and intellectual work.
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