Fine Arts Timeline

Fine Arts TimelineBy: Candace Hardesty

Prehistoric EraApproximately 30,000 B.C.

Mal'ta (now Russia) Venus figurine. Dates to around 21,000 B.C. It was carved from the ivory of a mammoth.

Prehistoric EraApproximately 30,000 B.C.

An early painting at Ubirr (now Australia) showing a running male figure with hunting gear. 40,000 B.C.

Greek EraApproximately 5th Century B.C.

Statue in tribute to the goddess, Nike. She was the goddess of battle and athletic events. Late 5th century B.C.

Greek EraApproximately 5th Century B.C.

Eros, God of love.

Roman EraApproximately 2nd Century B.C. and 1st Century A.D.

Egyptian portrait of a mummy. This piece of artwork in particular, struck me as to how alive the boy looks. It also amazed me with the detail, it looks like a modern oil painting.

Roman EraApproximately 2nd Century B.C. and 1st Century A.D.

Tomb panel taken from the Shandong Province, China.

Middle Ages/ Medieval EraApproximately 400 A.D. through 1100 A.D.

Ktisis, the personification of charity. To emphasize her role as donor, she holds the measuring tool for the Roman foot. On her right a man extends a cornucopia toward her as if offering a gift; the Greek word for "good" is near his head. Originally a similar figure probably appeared to her left, and an inscription by his head would have completed the legend "Good wishes." (metmuseum.com)

Renaissance Era1400s and 1500s

Saint Bernard, gathers with his family around the Virgin Mary. This particular work was used as an altarpiece.

Renaissance Era1400s and 1500s

Portrait of a marriage ritual by Michelino da Besozzo. Little of his work has survived.

Renaissance1400s and 1500s

The Hindu god of competence and rightness, Lord Ganesha, made in India-Orissa.

Renaissance Era1400s and 1500s

Portrait of the Roman goddess, Venus and the Roman god, Cupid.

Renaissance Era1400s and 1500s

Engraving by Albrecht Dürer of the first man and woman in the Bible, Adam and Eve. Notice Eve is holding a piece of fig that was broken from the Tree of Knowledge.

Renaissance1400s to 1500s

Portrait of Maria Portinari, member of Italian mercantile family. Painted by Hans Memling.

Baroque Era1600s

Peter Paul Rubens, artist. One of three dozen landscape paintings in his career. Depicts an early morning hunt.

Baroque Era1600s

Adam Elsheimer, artist. Rumored to be either Bathsheba, whom King David spied upon and seduced, or Susanna, who was caught bathing in her garden by two lascivious church elders.

NeoClassical Era18th Century to 1700s

Anton Raphael Mengs’s portrait of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, a writer on Greek art who published several books in the mid 1700s.

NeoClassical18th Century to 1700s

Condesa de Altamira and Her Daughter, Maria Agustina painted by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. This imposing portrait is one of four that Goya painted of members of Count Altamira's family.

Romantic Era19th Century – 1800-1900

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, entitled “Love Song”.

This particular painting caught my attention as well, the beauty of it is breathtaking. You can almost hear the harp playing a love song lullaby.

Romantic Era19th Century- 1800s-1900s

John Singer Sargent, entitled “Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau)”

This painting, as well, struck me for its time. Madame X’s dress is very provocative and she is looking off into the distance as if she is longing for something or someone. It is very beautiful and saddening.

Modern Era20th Century- 1850s-1999

Photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe. He used color contrast with black and white and creates a variety of thoughts and impressions with almost any photo he took. Mapplethorpe is one of my favorite photographers and I thought this photo was very powerful.

Modern Era20th Century- 1850s-1999

Andy Warhol’s protégé, Jean Michel Basquiat, artist.

Another of my favorite Modern artists is Basquiat. His paintings are very visually powerful and extremely open to interpretation. His art makes you think, more so than I think most artists before him.

Contemporary Art21st Century 2000-Present

John Currin’s The Clairvoyant, 2001, oil on canvas.

Contemporary Art21st Century 2000-Present

Reconfiguration IV, Peter Grick, Acrylic on fiberboard, 2006