34
Nuray Gümüştekin
Considering the architecture in the Western plastic arts, it is evident that the cathedrals
of the late twelfth and the early thirteenth centuries have been constructed at the gigantic
dimensions at which all of the humanly transient and worthless matters has been dwarfed.
“Along with their strength and power, these early churches had represented “the church of the
earth,” shilding and defending against the attacks from the evil and darkness completely. New
cathedrals consisting of the golden and transparent windows and doors adorned with
gemstones, however, have represented a different thought of the world to the believers
hearing the celestial city’s voice. And now this scene was landed on from the sky to the earth.
All of the heavy, worldly and ordinary elements in these structures was destroyed.”
(Gombrich, 1986, 140) Light, delicate and graceful ornamentations of those structures
combined with the co-existing the rhythmic and peaceful components could have made the
weight and massiveness of the stones secondary and insignificant. These featheriness and
weightlessness have also been prominent in the statues embellishing these spaces. It has been
given great importance on physical expressions of the figures; the curves of the bodies are not
in the curlycue-like manners as in the Medieval era. During the thirteenth century, the artists
have walked on further in their attempts of giving lives to the stones. The statues of male and
female figures have been sculpted through an extraordinary kinesis and strength.
Nurturing and training of a painter of the Medieval era begins with the apprenticeship
accompanied with a competent and experienced master. Along with the guidance of his
master, he learns all the details and presicions of his profession, and eventually he achieves
the ability to depict a scene without practising upon a model. When he has been asked to
portray someone, he would has not concerned about what we call as “resemblance” today.
The portraits were not like today’s. The artist was depicting a figure in accordance with the
tradition. To portray a king, for example, he was including a stone and a rod of royalty to the
image and perhaps writing down his own name under it to avoid misunderstanding.
France has been the wealthiest and the most important country of Europe during the
thirteenth century when the major cathedrals have been typified the period, and the University
of Paris was the cultural centre of the West. Yet Italy has been making gradually progress.
“Cities such as Venice have been in close relation with the Byzantine Empire, and the Italian
artists have tended to seek for inspirations and guidances in Constantinople rather than Paris.
During the thirteenth century, the Italian churches still have been ornamented with
magnificent Greek mosaics.Such dependence on the conservative manners of the East could
have prevented all kinds of changes and so indeed, it has delayed the improvements in the
country. The alteration has become apparent by the thirteenth century, and it was Byzantine
art that has revolutionized in not only the architecture, but also the painting art.” (Gombrich,
1986, 140)
Image 1.
Judge St Joshua from Hosios Loukas. (12-13th century,
New Roman)
Image 2. Pietro Cavallini. The Most Holy Mother of God. Basilica
di Santa Maria in Ara
Coeli. Roma ITALY. late 13th century
35
West and The Ottoman Period Comparative Description
Image 3. Byzantium, Constantinople, Hagia Sophia, South Gallery or Catechumena, The
Deesis, third quarter of the 13th century, mosaic, Istanbul, Turkey.
Considered the Anatolia of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Anatolia could not
has adopted an individual sense of art like in the West, because the individuals have been
socially hard-pressed, and therefore they could not have criticised the society. It is obvious
that there are no conceptions of “art” and “artist” in the Ottoman period. Because, what was at
the
forefront was the society, and anything related with the individual was meritless, although
art has to had the individual characteristics. What have been conceived as important during
this period when the anonymity has primarily dominated, were social interests. Because the
individuals have believed that their labors for the society were also
for their own interests, the
anonymity has ruled over the art.
The prohibition of representational painting has orientated Muslim artists to two
manners of depicting by escaping from figures or devitalising them. The artists using the
former manner have begun to use directly abstract forms. The tendency to devitalise figures,
on the one hand, has provided the forms inspired by the nature to transform into abstract
styles by remodeling and fully estranging them to their original references, and on the other
hand, has allowed these forms to become independent by purifying them from some
traditional elements.
Especially, regarding the writing sacredly has allowed the art of calligraphy to achieve
an aesthetical level as a consequence of avoiding figures in images as well as miniatures in
the Ottoman culture. Various compositions with Arabic letters have been created onto panels
and other surfaces, and they have been hung on walls as a painting.
3. The Fourteenth Century
The Europe of the fourteenth century was a period that individuals have disposed of adhering
strictly to the traditions in assesment and thinking, and attempted to enlighten values and
norms leading their lives through their own wisdom, experimentations and observations. To
be able to achieve that, the Europeans have tried revivifying the elements of Ancient Greek.
This attempt is named as Renaissance; “Rebirth”. Conscious and reason take the place of
faith. It is essential in this thought to head towards the nature firstly and to conceive it
through an objective attitude in which the observations are evaluated by reason; not the
subjective notions of religious imagination. To put it more explicitly, in addition to its various
contributions to history of man, the Renaissance Italy also introduced a type of man which we
may name as a ‘Renaissance man’, versatile, elegant in every aspect and with superior
abilities starting from the 15th century. This
l’uomo universale (Universal Man) who
absorbed all the elements of the culture of his age is versatile: he had not a shallow or thinly
knowledge on arts, sciences, linguistics, classical culture, religion and technology, but was a
Image 4.
Framed inscription
Image 5. This single panel praises Prophet Muhammad’s
son-in-law Ali and his famous double-edged sword Dhu al-
Fiqar.