Fresco painting developed in the Italian artists the ability to work very rapidly and therefore, very broadly, to ignore all possible detail. In Flanders the damp climate was so unfavourable for its use the artists perfected the more durable process of oil painting, which permitted them to work on panels with the same attention to detail which they had devoted to the miniatures of the manuscripts.
In spite of the rules of the church, the Gothic sculptors and illuminators had developed an astonishing degree of realism in their work, the realism which culminates in the painting of the Van Eycks.
In his portraits, which have never been surpassed, Jan Van Eyck (1385?-1441) shows us people of solid flesh and bone, on whose faces life has traced its story, and because they are real, we see their souls. He gives poetry to reality.
Rogier Van der Weyden and Hans Memling prepare the way for Italianism.
The Flemish love for detail was often carried to an excess by German artists. However, two men of genius, Holbein and Diirer, knew how to subordinate this detail and make of it a power ful aid in characterization. Just as an orchestra brings out a soloist, so the backgrounds and accessories in their portraits evoke sensations which make the impression of the figure all the stronger. As a thinker Diirer ranks with Leonardo and Michelangelo ; as an objective painter of portraits Holbein equals Rembrandt and Velasquez. His portrait drawings are the most striking examples of individualization. Never have lines expressed more powerful modelling, profound psychology, rhythm and harmony. When Germany was torn by religious strife he found at the court of Henry VIII. in England the right field for his work. Lucas Cran ach (1472-1553) was an independent, positive artist. Antonello da Messina (c. 1414–C. who is said to have studied in Flanders and to have introduced the technique of oil painting into Italy, combined Flemish love of realism with his Italian sense of beauty.
The classic traditions had never quite died out in Italy, and were revived by the study of antique examples. The result was a magnificent school of portraiture which brought out the finest qualities of the sitter and artist. The Renaissance worshipped beautiful aristocratic types and the artists delighted in painting them at their best, accentuating their nobility of character by har monious composition and colouring, ignoring all disturbing detail. If Waetzoldt has compared a portrait to a lyric poem, we are re minded by these Italian portraits of Shelley's definition of poetry : "Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the highest and best minds. . . . Poetry thus makes immortal all that is best and most beautiful in the world. . . . Poetry redeems from
decay the visitation of the divinity in man." The artists were pioneers and delighted in solving new problems. Many of the great painters of religious subjects excelled in portraiture. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), in his search for greater truth, sacrificed the pure colouring and line of the primitives, enveloping his modelling, giving depth to his shadows.
Raffaello Santi (1483-1520), Andrea del Sarto Andrea del Castagno, Benozzo Gozzoli (142o-98), Pontormo and Bronzino (1502-72) were masters in portrait painting. The Venetian, Giambattista Moroni (1510-78) was, however, the first artist to devote himself exclusively to por traiture.
In Venice conditions were favourable to the development of a brilliant school of portraiture with Bellini and Giorgione as leaders. There were fewer religious restrictions and the general atmosphere was one of wealth and splendour, of gaiety and moral and physical health. This reflects itself in the masterpieces of Titian Vecelli, whose rich colouring and profound insight into human nature places him among the greatest portrait painters. Sir Joshua Reynolds speaks of "the unaffected air of the portraits of Titian, where dignity, seeming to be natural and inherent, draws spontaneous reverence." Tintoretto, Sebastiano del Piombo, Paolo Veronese and Lorenzo Lotto have left us portraits of great strength and beauty. When the joy of blazing new trails was over and Italian painters settled down to inventing formulas for giving their sitters the aristocratic appearance they desired, the art degenerated into mannerism.
In Holland the reformation triumphed after a struggle of 8o years against the Spanish yoke. In 1579 the seven Dutch provinces had formed a republic which developed into the most civilized State of the times. Tolerance attracted to it those who were per secuted for their advanced ideas in other countries. Wise laws raised the standard of the people and a vast trade brought con tacts with all countries of the world. General wealth and culture was the result. The Dutch burgher, who had accomplished so much, did not desire to ape aristocracy. Their success had given them self-respect and they wanted portraits which showed them as they were. This gave their great artists a most ideal oppor tunity. Their knowledge of composition had free rein in great group paintings ordered by societies and guilds to adorn their meeting halls aril so perpetuate the memory of the men and women who had rendered services to their country. Little wonder that painting became the highest developed form of Dutch art. The painters reflected the love of independence in their work. They saw with their own eyes.