Fra Filippo

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The painting, “Portrait of a Man and a Woman at a Casement”, is an interesting example of a portrait from the Renaissance period. The portrait was completed by artist, Fra Filippo in 1440. Renaissance artists during this period began to revive the ancient art of portraiture as a way to signal certain characteristics the subject may possess, such as wealth or courtly manners. Much of this was due to the “humanistic interest in classical literature that [lay] behind much 15th-century Florentine art” (Gardner, 580). As a result, “humanism and the celebration of classical artistic values also largely determined the character of panel and mural painting.” Fra Filippo was part of this new movement as displayed through his work.
The “Portrait of …show more content…
However, through the Italians preference for the two-dimensional profile view it seems as if Filippo was limited in his presentation of facial features on the subjects. Therefore, it is difficult to identify the emotional state of the subjects. Another possibility of the woman's rigid and emotionless appeal may suggest that there is a lack of an emotional connection between the two and therefore she may not necessarily be pleased with her groom to be. Another possible sign could be that the gaze of the two subjects does not meet, and instead the coat of arms takes the role of the symbol depicting unity and loyalty despite a visual connection. The setting reminded me of arranged marriage portraits from Pakistani culture. As many marriages were arranged by the parents, the bride and groom often had never met before their wedding day. This portrait may have been commissioned by one of the families in order to show one of the families what such a materialized arrangement would look …show more content…
It serves as adding a perspective to where the two people are and suggests the two people are high above ground and the man is actually peeking out to the woman from a window. The background, seen through the window, shows lifelike representations of trees and houses. The landscape serves two purposes. The first is that is adds contrast to the beauty of the background with the beauty of the woman, and second, it adds locational details while giving the audience the emphasis the artist is making to show perspective. The profile is the main subject of the painting, yet the integrated background has the feature of adding depth to the side profile of the portrait without distracting from the main subject. In addition, the topographic detail could serve to emphasise the seemingly wealthy individuals projected in the portrait. While the houses appearing in the background appear to be lower to the ground from the point of view of the woman, the elevated elegant room could be a sign of a larger house, and therefore greater
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