Cinquecento: El despertar de las artes
August 26, 2023
Galería Church’s del Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico en Santurce
Here, the creative genius of our men and women will be cultivated, as it was in Rendissance Italy, the creative genius of the people under the inspiration of Greek art, as it was cultivated later throughout Europe.
These words, pronounced in 1964 by the founder of the Museo de Arte de Ponce, Don Luis A. Ferre, resonate with the assessment made by history of the Renaissance, a period that strongly influenced the development of the arts in the Western world until the nineteenth century. A renewed interest in the Greco-Roman culture of antiquity, a scientific vision of nature, and a new humanistic and secular approach to society fostered the flowering of the art of the Cinquecento, a term used to identify the sixteenth century.
In this period, a group of artists converge, who were driven by a new appreciation of the visual arts as an intellectual exercise. Their careers were fostered by the patronage of a new commercial elite, of the European monarchies, and of a strengthened Papacy with a desire to return Rome to its former glory, placing Italian art at the top of the artistic panorama of the time. Among these artists were Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, the great masters of Italian Renaissance art. At the same time, this stage also witnessed the climactic moment of the Venetian school, in which Titian emerged.
The fame of these geniuses transcended the borders between cities and countries, causing a migration of artists who sought to get closer to their milieu to learn from the best, becoming their disciples, collaborators, and followers. The interest in classical culture and the Italian models of the Renaissance was also a pan-European phenomenon during the sixteenth century, to which artists from the north contributed. Paramount among them was Albrecht Durer. The German painter and printmaker not only traveled to Italy during these momentous years but also contributed to the spread of Italian styles outside the peninsula, becoming one of the most admired artists of the time. The Museo de Arte de Ponce has artworks by an important group of artists whose careers developed next to these great masters of the Renaissance. This exhibition seeks to rescue their history and contribution to this kev moment in which the "awakening of the arts" took place.
This project is made possible thanks to the support from Church's Chicken, the Comisión Especial Conjunta sobre Fondos Legislativos para Impacto Comunitario, and the funds provided by the United States Department of the Treasury, "American Rescue Plan." "State and Local Recovery Funds." through AAFAF, Coronavirus State and Local Recovery Funds (CSFRF).