Oil Versus Water, a Look at Renaissance Painting and Wines.

It’s lovely, isn’t it? What can you say? It is Fra Angelico! Though this is a fresco painted on the walls of the Convent of San Marco, it manifests all of the beauty and elegance of the elements that Angelico developed as a painter of miniatures under the tutelage of Lorenzo Monaco (1370-1425). It has been said that their work contained the same, “distinctive palette, unequalled in subtlety by any other artist of the day, in which colors are brilliant and myriad in hue, highlighted by thinly brushed filaments of white” theartstory.org. Guido di Pietro (1395-1455) became the Dominican monk known to us as Fra Angelico. He was a contemporary of Masaccio, Brunelleschi, and Donatello, and one of the greats of the early Italian Renaissance because of the fine quality and delicacy of his paintings. His work along with that of other fine artists, especially the painters of those wonderful frescoes associated with that time period, is what brought art historians to use the name Renaissance to distinquish it from all the “lesser” work known at the time, such as Gothic and the Flemish Primitives.

Wait a minute! Flemish what?

This painting is now in the Prado in Spain. How it got there is a long story of war between the so-called Low Countries and Spain but interesting to note that when the gigantic Van der Weyden retrospective took place in Leuven, Belgium, in 2009, Spain did not let this piece leave its possession. (Did they fear getting it back?) Modern controversies aside, one cannot help but see a great difference in the detail in the painting technique, and not just the vibrant colors and the masterful composition, but just in the overall sense of volume and depth. But Van der Weyden was a Flemish “Primitive” and Angelico from the Italian Renaissance. Of course the real Renaissance (the Italian one) wins out as superior. Really? Well, the painters of that period, both north and south in Europe, had wonderful skills. What it all comes down to, however, is oil versus water, i.e. oil paint versus tempera. Let’s take a closer look.

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Obviously both artists have a good comprehension of human, or in the case of the angel, human-like forms. However, the richess and volume with which the Van der Weyden is done seems years away from the flatter, stiffer, rendering of the Angelico. Admittedly Angelico did come from the tradition of miniature painting, and Van der Weyden only has one known miniature. However, the main thing is the type of paint used. Tempera, a water-based paint held together with a binder of egg, was the paint of the Italian Renaissance. It brought us those wonderful frescoes seen in Rome and Florence. Its colors could be absorbed into wet plaster where they have lasted for hundreds of years. It was the perfect type of painting for the warm, often dry, Italian climate. Whereas Van der Weyden, a northerner from what is now Belgium, lived in a wetter, colder, climate not amenable to fresco painting. The solution of those painters was to use oil paints on panels or canvas, and with that came a richness in detail and life-like volume that astounds us even today. To go deeper into this, do not miss this video clip where art historian Waldemar Januszczak goes into the composition of the painting above, calling this work his choice for the greatest painting of the 15th century. The Renaissance Unchained youtube.com.

Of course, oil painting did eventually come to Italy. It took a rather circuitous route through a variety of trading centers, but one painter, a certain Antonello da Messina, would show up in Venice in 1475 and capture the attention of one of the great Venetian painters of the time, Giovanni Bellini. It bears taking the time to really look at the difference the use of oils made to the paintings of this master of tempera.

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I must admit that Bellini’s Gabriel is my favorite painting of this Archangel. It sits high atop an altarpiece in the church Santi Giovanni e Paolo. The angel has wings in colors reminiscent of those used by Fra Angelico, and as this is a Venetian painting, Gabriel wears a string of pearls to crown his head, a reminder of the sea that surrounded La Serenissima. Yet, even though Bellini skillfully turns the torso of the figure to show both shoulders in order to give the illusion of depth, there is a flatness to the painting. Just compare it to the full-face, frontal portrait of the Doge, who seems to be a figure full enough to stand apart from the background, as though one could actually put something around him. His face and head look three dimensional, with the side of the head going into the background of the painting.

Now, I certainly do not want to take anything away from the Italian Renaissance, which was glorious in so many ways, including the adoption of oil painting by many artists. The fact that oil could be painted on canvas, which could be rolled up for transport, became yet another feature that many artists took advantage of. That is how Leonard da Vinci transported the Mona Lisa to France. The frescoes and the tradition of fresco painting should be honored greatly. However, I do protest the wonderful work of the Flemish artists being called Primitive. One can see that it is clearly not that at all (nor by the way is Gothic art barbaric). I do think that art historians need to take a step back and not confuse their love of going to Italy, wonderful though that is, with its total superiority in art. There was a re-birth in the northern countries as well. The art history term Primitives to describe these painters’ works should be updated to Northern Renaissance.

Paintings used in this essay are in public domain. Reference articles and video are mentioned in the text of the essay.

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com. Her author page is at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

And now for some wine: Pinot Gris vs. Pinot Grigio. What’s all the fuss?

While we are on the subject of Northern Renaissance painters from the medieval duchy of Burgundy and their Italian counterparts, it is a good time to talk about wine grapes with northern and southern varieties: Pinot Gris (Burgundy) and Pinot Grigio (Italy). Your first question might be, but what about Pinot Noir? Well, genetic science has proved that the Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio varieties are basically color mutations of the Pinot Noir grape. They are even sometimes called clones of the Pinot Noir, which sounds rather terrifyingly sci-fi. Pinot Noir was being grown in Burgundy in the middle ages. Its name comes from the pine cone like shape of the grape clusters and the dark color of the grapes. Pinot Gris grapes are bluish gray hence the term gris, which is French for gray. Pinot Grigio grapes are also bluish gray but can be pinkish and even rather white. They are grown in northern Italy, hence their Italian name grigio, which means gray.

The grapes are grown now in a variety of countries all over the world, but here in the U.S. the place to look at is Oregon. Oregon is known as a “monograpist” region, meaning it specializes in one grape, in this case Pinot Noir. The Pinot Gris that is made there is a medium-bodied wine that comes in a yellow color as well as a coppery pink, with fruit aromas. In contrast, the Pinot Gris made in California is much lighter, crisp and refreshing, but with a hint of pepper and arugula. As can be seen by the example just mentioned, the quality and type of soil and climate where the grapes are grown can make this difference. The French call this combination of things le terroir, and it is very important in winemaking. The Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio grapes are extremely sensitive to le terroir, as it affects levels of acidity, fruit flavors, and aromatics. All of this is a winemaker’s delight, as having these kinds of possibilities as well as being able to choose stainless steel fermentation and/or barrel fermentation, allow for the artistry of the winemaker to be employed.

Pinot Noir got a special boost in the 2004 film Sideways where Paul Giamatti’s character declared it to be the most drinkable of wines and dished Merlot because his ex-wife liked it. The film and those comments reshaped the wine industry, suppressing sales of Merlot and increasing sales of Pinot Noir by 170% (See “The Sideways Effect” npr.org.) One positive thing that only adept wine consumers benefited from was the suppressed prices of top quality Merlot. Such are the continued fluctuations in taste, and how they affect the popularity of wines and their prices.

As for Pinot Grigio, “Dry: Is all you need to know” according to the article on finedininglovers.com. They pair it with light foods, like seafood, salads, and chicken. I say it is also quite tasty with cold chicken. To be avoided, however, are dishes with heavy sauces. Pinot Gris is more full-bodied and can be served with roast chicken, veal, pork, lamb and fois gras. Both wines are good for sipping, but the Pinot Gris has the added benefit of coming in sweet varieties that are good dessert wines.

For a little extra fun and information on a number of white wines, my go to as always is Madeleine Puckett of Wine Folly. I link here to her video on Pinot Grigio youtube.com. For those of us who are calorie conscious, her Infographic on Wine Nutrition Facts winefolly.com is easy to read, making it a great benefit to calorie counters.

So from Burgundy and the countries of northern Europe with their full-bodied paintings and wines to the delights of Italy’s lighter paintings and lighter wines, it is easy to see that the Renaissance in all of its manifestations left us with a legacy of great paintings to be enjoyed with a matching glass of great wine.

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©marjorie vernelle 2021

Coming Soon: The Painting that Cost Marie Antoinette Her Head and Champagne, Mon Amour

Ah yes, Bastille Day is in July, so it is time to take a look at a seemingly simple thing that caused a great stir in pre-revolution France: how the queen dressed. More dangerous that the outrage over Obama’s tan summer suit, it became another thing that paved the queen’s path to the guillotine, and the artist was a woman! I imagine in the queen’s company, they might have both had her favorite drink, champagne.