Northern Renaissance Art Analysis

This painting is composed of three panels picturing different scenes of the New Testament: The Annunciation, The Adoration of Shepherds and the Flight into Egypt. The left and central panels depict the subjects in what seems to be a Gothic Temple. This is not a surprising characteristic due to the tradition in Northern Renaissance paintings illustrate characters from the Bible in a contemporary earthly environment that is known by the artist. This can be perceived in the scenery he set the painting in: it seems like a northern European landscape. The Mérode Altarpiece by the Maître of Flémalle and many other artworks from that period feature the presence of biblical characters in a setting familiar to the artist. Additionally, Renaissance painters …show more content…
Roman Mythology is full of references to orgies, incest, and acts of cruelties, which degrades the mind of religious individuals. This idea is enforced in this painting by the impression that the statues are ostentatiously showing their nudity. This is a complete opposite to the other individuals in the painting as they are all wearing clothes. The demonization of those religious figures was inherited from the Middle Age, where demons were often depicted naked and the traditional iconography of Olympian deities showed them either naked or draped. Thus it was thought that they both had an ability to lure and appeal people in believing in them. It is interesting to note that there seems to be a dichotomy between vice and virtue. Vices are represented by the presence of Pagan divinities and virtue is represented by symbols of Mary’s virginity and the divine conception. Indeed, in the left panel we can see on the floor a vase containing white lilies and in the right panel, there is a shell and a …show more content…
Indeed, Olympian deities would appear in autonomous representation. There were three main contexts for representing these gods. First, it was a mean for artists to show their skills, especially in sculpture. The representation of those gods were seen as canons, so whenever a renaissance artist could get close to this level of representation it allowed certain artists to achieve fame. Second, it was an artistic means for achieving fame and glory, whenever the public could link the image of deities to a certain artist. Lastly, it was used in the ornamentation of the urban setting, since these figures were recognized for its aesthetics. It is plausible that through his Triptych, de Beer’s intended to attack this religion, but also to allow the viewer’s eye to dwell on this figure with pleasure. The statues have a double role of aestheticization of the gothic temple and as a temptation to sin. Thus, this painting is a departure from the autonomous representation of Olympian deities in the Italian