color your world with painting

When painters think of the Renaissance today, our minds think of works by the Italian master, and if we think a little harder, perhaps we move a little further north to the Germans, where Dürer springs to mind. It would seem that the whole sixteenth century in art revolved around this north-south bipolar axis. Seldom do we hear much about French Renaissance art or English Renaissance art or Spanish Renaissance art. The fact is, there wasn’t very much of it to the West while the East was still dominated by the Turks and Moslem calligraphic art. In the West we do find some notable Renaissance literature and music but insofar as painting was concerned, in Spain for example, it was mostly imported talent and it had to wait until the seventeenth century when El Greco hit town (Madrid and Toledo) for Renaissance progress in painting to be felt.

In the 1500s, Spain had been enriched by treasure from the Americas, and the next century saw the Golden Age of Spanish painting. The use of the gold background, which had gradually been abandoned in all the other western European schools (except in Germany), persisted until about 1500. In Aragon and Catalonia the high relief of the plaster decoration gave the enormous altarpieces an almost Oriental richness. The many works of the Spanish painters of this period reflect various influences.

Up to now, these works of art are still evident in the country. In case you have tried traveling to Spain, staying in Cheap Alicante Hotels or Cheap Madrid Hotels perhaps, you might have witnessed how these works of art have woven itself to the culture of the place and the people. These Cheap Spain Hotels are just one among many cultural landmarks of the country. Cheap Hotels in Barcelona and Cheap Costa Del Sol Hotels can also attest to it. To many, Spain is a vast museum where forms of art come in different mediums with the places and the people as its canvass.