Importance of modern history in art history
As a reflection on the course, the Modern History Professor Jacinto Juan de Vega Domínguez of the University of Salamanca exposes us, students of the 1st course of the degree in art history, the approach on the realization of a personal essay to close to nearbyof modern history, in this case the theme chosen has been the following: "Relevance of modern history for their training as a student of art history".
The story, regardless of the period we study, is a subject that not only tells us about what happened long ago, but once the subject is learned, it gives us a look at the past differently with which thanks to it we can understandthe current human behavior and the one that can come. Based on how they relate to each other, how an event that happened in the 16th, 18th or 18th century can influence pictorial, literary or sculptural works among others among others.
Likewise, this subject has been belittled in all fields for a long period of time, but we must affirm that modern history from the sixteenth century begins to have some more prominence between society and students who study related studiesWith the Branch of Humanities. This interest in crescendo from the history of the 16th century is perhaps because it is closer to our day, we have inherited numerous forms of behavior and characteristics of these centuries (XVI, XVII and XVIII), and there were also some times of changes, revolutions and a marked social, intellectual, artistic, economic advance … that is, the world in all its facets began to change.
As for art historians, it is generally claimed that these students limit themselves to analyzing pictorial, sculptural or architectural works, their creation date and at most who was one who made them. But we are very wrong if you think so. The history of art covers much more, covers what the thought of a society through artistic representations was, also studies the iconography of works, pigments and their realization … and a long etcetera. And it is very important not to belittle the work of an art historian since something that differentiates us from the humans of other living beings is art. But understanding certain data such as why you can find certain pigments in a city and why not later, or vice versa, to give an example, you could not understand if it were not thanks to the information provided after the study of the subject of historyModern.
Modern history will be the item in which we focus on this writing most;It is important to clarify why an art historian of any course has to study a subject that has not been appreciated from an early academic courses. And it is that the story, apart from providing general culture, gives a global vision of life, of the events that occurred in the past and the way they have penetrated in society. Throughout history, social behaviors, international relations, why certain events occur in our days and even better understand why our society is what it is like is.
But this perhaps think that it is important at a general level, that we already learn it from primary to end the high school courses, but we return to the main issue and the one that really matters to us: how important is modern history in the formation ofAn art history student? Well, really through art (whatever its means of representation) brings us closer to the human thought of the time to which the work we are observing or analyzing corresponds. Through art we can see how international contacts were, the economic level of the time, what social class was the one that predominated as well as the one that had the most power, and among other things, we can even observe the historical moment that happened as well as factsrelevant collected in different works such as portraits of kings, queens, relevant cardinals as well as both victorious battles and those that ended in defeats, among many others. Regardless of the time when literary or pictorial works will be carried out, since the 16th century they are usually works that narwhat is represented in the paintings or writings of the time is represented.
Modern history is an important fact of study in terms of art history since the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were centuries of expansion, battles, of a new world that was created, of change in the thought of society. These three centuries also form a very interesting period since the three were different between: three very interesting stages arose in art history which were rebirth, baroque and illustration;The 16th century was of growth, expansion, corresponding to the Spanish Golden Age, which was a historical period in which Castilian arts and writers suffer a period of growth and expansion, also highlights a political boom both in the Spanish empireas in dynasties from different countries. They also highlight events which inspired the creation of paintings such as 1492 Date of the Reconquest, the discovery of America among other facts (these are cited because their pictorial works are perhaps the best known, therefore it is a good example ofThe relationship of history with art as well as with art history). The seventeenth century was a stage of decline in which tenebrismo is created, data that thanks to the study of modern history A art historian can understand better artistic works. This century was marked by crisis, transformations that made the world and specify. From this seventeenth century the event of the plague is remarkable, which ravaged a large part of the European population estimating some 300 million deaths, becoming the cause of Europe suffering that setback above all economic but also making society transform, also highlighting the fact that it contributed the necessary inspiration for literary works not to be created not in that year, but also in later times as the book with the same name of the pandemic: "The plague" written by the Frenchman Albert Camus,Which wrote this work in the twentieth century, specifically 1947, (with this we can exemplify the importance of modern history in art history, and thanks to the first we can as historians of art understand, analyze and expand information from works of worksof any artistic nature that are carried out in subsequent or current times). Likewise, although the seventeenth century was a century of decline, it contributed to society a series of important pictorial creations called vanitas, pictorial representations that are within the Bodegón genre, characteristics of the Baroque (artistic movement that was born as we have already said inThis century, highlighting that in each century, depending on the events and living of society as well as its progress arose a certain artistic movement) in Las Vanitas life is represented, but in an ephemeral, passenger way, showing the insignificance of theboth material and carnal things, showing the human being their fragility and that of their existence. This concept was used in a double purpose: the first was to enhance the "live the moment" that is, "Carpe Diem" since life is passed in a sigh (thought developed due to the situation of economic and health crisis of the century);It was also a reflection of the waste of worldly life, which we do not do to feed the soul. We talked about the vaits because it is a fairly clear example of the relationship of history with art because these were thorough and very realistic paintings in which elements were represented with a remarkable symbolism, among which the death, the brevity of the brevity ofLife, beauty, wealth, knowledge, as well as the three social classes of the time, referring to the fact that death did not understand privileges or privileged, for her all human beings are of the same nature. If we want to exemplify them graphically, I recommend looking for the vain of the painters of that century Antonio de Pereda and Juan de Valdés Leal, being those of the latter perhaps the best known.;And finally we have the 18th century, a century in which Goya stands out, as well as a century in which with its study the modern world is understood since many political, social and economic events, as well as cultural and intellectuals have extendedits influence until today.
A century also known as "The Century of Lights" since the well -known intellectual movement of the Enlightenment arises in it. This century is perhaps the most relevant since of this century the influence today is significant, both political, socially and culturally. In this century of lights, the most important events and which were and are inspiration in different artistic works were the creation of encyclopedia, the independence of the United States, the French Revolution (these last two events have been specially represented in artistic worksdue to the inspiration that contributed to different artists) and finally the invention of the steam machine, following which the railroad was created, being an essential machine in the history of art for the trips of enlightened and artists that enhanced the exchangeand knowledge of numerous works between countries as well as the relationship between artists which induced a greater dissemination of artistic techniques, inspiration, ideals …
It should be noted that from the hand of the Enlightenment there is a growth and development in the artistic field as well as in the science, worldwide but also in European zone. This growth is understood thanks to the information and studies provided by the subject of history as well as modern history, and this was due to the fact that among the inhabitants, reason beat faith, feudalism collapsed, finally eliminating and leading to the revolution in the revolutionIndustrial, a fact that enhanced the change in social mentality and economic change to a more prolific society. After these events and more what happened is that the European society of the moment again strengthened its world predominance as well as its influence on society.
We live in a totally visual world, so from a different point of view we can affirm that it would be more effective to study art history than history, learning history and studying important events through images, since if we study for example the plague, it ismuch more interesting to see it represented graphically, staying better with the essence. But even so, art history and history go hand in hand, because even more effective understand an event with an image, if we do not have the previous data, the general context that gives us the story … we can hardly understand it. So the history and history of art are joined by the hand, they complement each other, being not one more important than another, but both the same weight having.
To study historical facts, historians resort to various sources of information, whether written or preserved documents in national archives, in addition to many other cultural works of which traces are left in our time: constructions, sculptures, paintings, traditions, customs, languages. And of course, it is more complex.
Thanks to modern history studies I have been able to better understand the creations of certain documents such as hours of hours, or why in the seventeenth century there begins to be a decay in terms of works of art, creating darker and "depressing" paintings ". Likewise, the 18th century corresponds to a rich century historically speaking. It is the time of both social and literary revolutions, a change that is collected in artistic expressions and that thanks to the data narrated we can better understand the realization of the pictorial works.
I have to say that in a roughness the story awakens curiosity among those that you attend it, a quite useful curiosity even for art historians since they through the works try to understand the society of the moment, but if they have another source of information,Understanding will be much richer, even better understanding social processes.
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