The Allegory of Sight (1618), was painted by Jan Brueghel the Elder. It was one of four works of art; each based one of the senses. Jan Brueghel the Elder was born in 1568 and died from cholera, in 1625: he was of Flemish origin and the son of Pieter Brueghel, another maestro of artistry. The Allegory of Sight was oil on canvas, a very multifaceted and intricate painting, burgeoning with vitality, exaggeration, fancy and vision. What seems like a hoarder's perspective of history is in reality, just an accurate depiction of his times; an amalgamation of myth and actuality. Jan B. lived and thrived in the late Renaissance, where innovative styles of art proliferated, embellished by breakthroughs and new techniques. One could only envisage that this, environment of perpetual metamorphosis and evolution, would be the muse for Brueghel, amongst many other artistes’ art, and more distinctly, for The Allegory of Sight. What I mean by this is that, his painting must have echoed his circumstances, his milieu, his era: The Renaissance. Correlations between elements in his art and life during this epoch are predominantly blatant, although some emerge more obscured than others. The individuals, the technicalities, the mythos and imagery: it was all about what was going on in the Renaissance: the objects are allegorical. They are figurative, representative of something, sometimes even metaphorical.
Take the unclothed Venus as an example: she sits in this painting, perhaps cherishingly contemplating her son, cupid. Some distinctive features here are the fact that cupid has wings, as well as the mythical derivation of these two figures. Venus was a Roman Goddess, an emblem of love, beauty and fecundity. Fundamentally, she was a mythically comparable to Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess. During the glorious period of the Renaissance, artists acquired the autonomy to use their ingenuity and artistic acumen to commence to draw and paint more secular scenes. A painter could now prefer a peasant to a prince and an angel over Jesus for his works. Artists like Botticelli galvanized themselves and their ideas with Greek and Roman mythology. Paintings like La Primavera or Venus Anadyomene are centered on a more folkloric/mythic essence. This may be a substantial indicator as to: when the painting was made and the techniques and elements that were prosperous at the time. Venus might also be symptomatic of the independence in art happening in this era. Cupid, her son, is the god of desire and erotic love. He has wings, a distinguishing attribute that most individuals would not have, for the simple reason that it’s not possible, and yet… here he is evidently seen with angel wings. That signifies the opportunity and option for whimsy and the inconceivable in art. Also, you can effortlessly perceive the parallel between the two figures in this canvas: emblems of love, desire, affection, and fertility. This may be an illustrative way of indicating the foremost themes in art or life during the Renaissance. How painters, brimming with the yearning to charge their art with this new, profane, numinous, mystical, fictitious sensuality worked with representational figures to express this.
The Allegory of Sight also comprises of numerous details, which refer to life in the Renaissance. The structural design, for example, is very gothic, a revival of what the Greeks had created. The sizeable hallway with a arched ceiling, the embellished curve of the corner-walls: this is all about what was happening at the time. The area itself appears grandiose but the specifics (details) in the architecture, such as lining and carving, is comparatively ordinary. This gives an understanding of what contemporary architecture was at that time. Not to mention the multitude of canvases that ornament the backdrop. You can see one of Madonna and Child encircled by a festoon of spring flowers, a portrait of Elizabeth the First and her husband, a scene with angels in the sky, wars and battles and an assortment of other canvases. To me, each depiction means something; it signifies a facet of life and culture at that time. Madonna and Child represent the function of religious conviction and belief in a society where artistic freedom is in place: the everlasting charisma of religious canvases and its societal magnitude. Elizabeth and her husband are English figures painted by a Flemish artist symbolize travel and trade: the communication and relations between countries, associations and ties and acquaintance, they represent an artistic and international relationship and awareness. Angels characterize the presence of religion and the flight of the imagination, intertwined and coexisting in a serene and innovative way. It represents the lighter, more whimsical side to life, belief, and work. War scenes represent reality and current events, societal and communal disagreements, relationships, and hardships. It’s about the actuality of life, how tribulations were solved at the time and perhaps the cause of these disagreements between individuals. It’s demanding to suppose that each feature and element would bear such a profound and precise relation to the Renaissance but it’s only rational that everything is there for a certain reason because all of these “objects and details” were part of Brueghel’s existence.
There are also individual objects with a correlation with what was going on during the Renaissance. There is a horde of sculpted busts in the background. Busts were tremendously popular in Ancient Greece and were also works of amateur artists and professionals in the Renaissance who sought to recreate the works and techniques of the Ancient Greeks. This represents the mindset and occupation of artists in the Renaissance. It also represents their discovery and familiarity with ancient cultures. There is an astrolabe and a telescope amongst other scientific instruments. This embodies development and inquisition. How, mathematicians, scientists and explorers began to develop scientific tools to see the world, to recognize what is unfathomable and to investigate unidentified sectors of our planet. The solar system, countries and trade maps: all the tools were indispensable to accomplish accurate depictions of these things. The exotic animals and the tapestries were an allusion to traveling in the renaissance: discovering new species, exploring the indefinite, importing and exporting goods. They allude to the riches being compiled, the growth and novelty! Countries in the Renaissance developed boats with which they could set out and explore new areas. Soon they developed trade and banking and were able to set up this import and export coordination. Countries in the Renaissance now had more assets, understanding and supremacy. This whole work of art encompasses years and years of development. How amazing is it that an image can so easily represent a whole life?
Artists are inspired by the world around them, its what they know: the world forms our desires, fantasies and ability to imagine. Art representing your world, how you live, what your life is like what is going on etc. All of this isn't new! These elements present themselves in today's art and media. Take contemporary art, filled to the brim with implausible skyscrapers, people in parachutes, couples, animals, airplanes, magnificent fake creatures and the kind. Every one of these things is inspired from daily life. What we can see, smell, taste, hear, perceive, sense. To know an artist’s life and environment all you really have to do is look at his painting.
The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life. ~William Faulkner
