how did Italians view paintings of art in the 15th century?
answer the top and this one: to be more specific how did they view religious art paintings? i need a general answer and the specific one.
This depends on a lot of factors. Firstly Italy as we know it now didn’t exist in the fifteenth century. It was a collection of city states and oligarchies and it is best to refer to it as the Italian peninsula. So here’s the problem – how do you identify a typical fifteenth-century Italian? Also what sort of art are you referring to here, that produced in Italy or other parts of Europe? There were great trade links in and around Europe so art from Europe (especially the Netherlands) was imported both into and out of Italy.
The best I can do is give you an example of a complex devotional work from the fifteenth century and list some of the things that a cross section of society, throughout the peninsula may have seen within it.
The work I have in mind is Antonello da Messina’s Saint Jerome in his Study.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=NG1418
Artists, mathematicians and Neo-platonists may have admired it for the artist’s use of perspective.
Scholars and humanists may have noticed that Jerome was depicted like Petrarch in his study and they also may have been reminded of classical texts that mentioned libraries and studies.
Netherlandish art was very fashionable throughout the peninsula and was admired for its realistic landscapes, the artists’ use of various light sources and the realistic depiction of objects. This work embodies all of these things and so could have been admired on this level.
Saint Jerome who was often depicted as either a penitent in the desert or a scholar in his study and had a wide apeal to intellectuals and religious devotees.
This work may remid people of the Virgin Mary given the amount of Marian iconogrpahy within the work.
This is not an exhaustive list but at least you will have an idea of what is at stake when tackling this Renaissance art.