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| Julius II (1512) Rfaello Sanzio |
We can
find it in many museums: portraits of Popes, Kings, nobles and
courtiers. Nowadays we admire it as an artwork, but every portrait is
also a historical document of a time and a specific ideology. Art is
not only about beauty. What makes a work to be art is precisely its
link with the context and, in the case of Renaissance and Baroque
portraits, WHO was the person portrayed and why. Hence it is through
art that the most important characters of an age are immortalized and
every portrait becomes a reminder of their legacy.
For
example one of the most prominent names of the Hight Renaissance
would be Pope Julius II, the Warrior Pope and also Michelangello's and
Rafaello's patron. But which contemporary artist could leave us a
portrait of the new Pope Francis I? In the effort to preserve our
past aren't we ignoring our own footprint? The answer is no. What
really happens is that our footprint has changed over the centuries
so the right question here will be: What will we find in futur museum
when we look to portraits of our the 21st Century?
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| Marilyn Monroe (1960's) Andy Warhol |
The
figures we see immortalized in contemporary art are no longer the
political and religious leaders, these groups are not anymore the
most important for our society. Think about famous portraits of the
20th
Century. Probably one of the most famous would be Andy Warhol's
Marilyn Monroe. The show business! The most important characters of
our time, those that are now immortalized, are singers, actors and
athletes. What would we see in futur museums showing our age? Lady
Gaga's portrait.
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