Introduction

Art has been an important medium for human expression throughout history, reflecting the social, cultural, and political contexts of different eras. I chose to analyze art during the Renaissance because it was a transformative period in art history, known by the revival of classical techniques and the development of new artistic styles. As a turning point in Western history, it was great revival of art that took place in Italy from about 1400, including a renewed interest in science, humanism, and individualism.

‘RENAISSANCE’ is a French word meaning rebirth, and here, it is used in English to describe the revival of art . The aim of this project is to provide a visual analysis of artworks in the Renaissance period, with a particular focus on their anatomy, including color palette, culture, medium, and themes, etc. While the Baroque and Rococo movements will also be discussed as extensions of the Renaissance style, the primary emphasis will be on the art and artists of the Renaissance and their significant contributions to the history of art. Understanding the art of this era helps us better understand the social and cultural context of the time, and also the historic artistic expression.

Dataset and Tools

To conduct the visual analysis of artworks in different historical art movements, the primary source of artwork data used was from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). The MET open access CSV data from GitHub and MET API were utilized in collecting the dataset. During the process of preparing the dataset, I faced several challenges. Sorting out the relevant artworks from the dataset was the most difficult part as the CSV file contained art from diverse cultures, styles, and periods. Therefore, I finally used Python as the main tool to request data from the MET API and applied specific search terms such as ‘Renaissance art’ and a time frame from 1400 to 1600 to narrow down the results. Then,  after taking some time to refine the dataset using Excel, I was able to successfully clean and prepare the dataset for the analysis.

After preparing the dataset, the next step was to visualize the data. R ggplot was utilized to create graphs and charts. The final step was to combine all the visualizations into an infographic using Adobe Illustrator. The process was time-consuming, but it allowed for a comprehensive analysis of the artwork data in a visually appealing way.

Visualizations and Findings

Analysis of artworks

A color palette displaying how artists use color in Renaissance art can be incredibly helpful for understanding the choices made by artists during this period. Renaissance painters had a limited range of pigments available to them, and as a result, their color palette was relatively restricted. This limitation, however, forced them to experiment with different color combinations and techniques to create new colors and shades. Dark colors such as brown, ochre, and gray were often used extensively, as they were readily available and provided a sense of warmth, depth, and richness to the paintings. Brighter colors like red, green, blue, and gold were also used, but in a more subdued manner, often in combination with the darker tones. By visualizing the prevalence of certain colors or color combinations, viewers can gain insight into the stylistic trends of the time.

For this visualization, I got data of hex color code for dominate colors in artworks of Renaissance. Hex code, such as ‘#8d5532’, which is a brownish-orange color, consists of six characters, each representing a different level of intensity for the RGB colors red, green, and blue in the color spectrum. After I got the color data, I decided to use R and its ‘ggplot2’ package to create a visual representation of the color codes. Instead of using varying sizes to indicate the hierarchy of dominant colors, I chose to show all colors in the same size, arranged in a color palette format. This style was more fitting for the subject of the project, and fitted in the final infographic better.

Then, I used package ‘wordcloud2’ and ‘jiebaR’ in R to create word clouds for the most frequent words in artwork titles, which helped to convey a large amount of information in a visually engaging way, making it more accessible and memorable for the user. The most frequent words in artworks during the Renaissance period included religious figures like Child, Saint, Virgin, Christ, Madonn, Annunciation, and Angels. Other commonly used words were related to portraiture such as Portrait and Man. Holy Family, Enthroned, and Young were also used a lot. Overall, I found word cloud is a creative and effective way to help viewers know the top themes of Renaissance art, which is about religion and portraiture.

I created pie charts using package ‘ggplot’ in R showing numeric data in the form of proportions. This chart above shows the different mediums used by artists during Renaissance period. From it, it is clear to see that more than 50% of Renaissance artworks were created using oil as the primary medium.

Timeline

To show the evolution of art during the Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo periods, I used two timelines in the infographics. After the Timeline JS project I did earlier this semester, I found timelines to be a great tool for presenting complex information in an easy-to-understand format. By visually illustrating a sequence of events over time, timelines can help make sense of and highlighted several important historical contexts. In this project, one of the timelines was more detailed and focused on the events that happened during the Renaissance period. It included significant historical events, artistic movements, and major works of art in the Renaissance period. The other timeline, on the other hand, provided an overview of the overall evolution of art during the three periods. It helped to see how the art styles and techniques developed over time, and how they were influenced by the cultural and historical contexts of their respective eras.

UX Research

The process of UX research involved recruiting two individuals who had some level of interest or knowledge in art history or visual design. I first asked them to go through the entire infographic and then asked if they understood the purpose of the infographic easily. Then, I asked them to review the infographic and provide feedback on several certain points for how it could be improved, such as which types of word cloud work the best, and whether the text is readable. The UX interviews helped me identify many areas for improvement that I may not have noticed on my own. For instance, interviewees pointed out the importance of having clear header and footer information in the infographic, and suggested adjustments to the color of the text to enhance readability. These details may seem small, but they can make a significant impact on the user’s overall experience with the infographic. They also introduced me several tools I can try for my infographics, including Figma for better interaction and animated infographic, and an Adobe tool to check colors. Overall, the UX research process helped me to create a more effective and user-friendly design.

PROS

1. Topic is interesting.

2. Beautiful typography and font choices that enhance readability.

3. The infographic presents a wealth of information that is engaging to explore.

4. Consistent color palette and design elements.

CONS

1. The text is hard to read due to its unclear color.

2. The content would be more engaging with a better storytelling.

3. The word cloud graph could be improved by creating a clearer hierarchy and ensuring it matches the color scheme of the infographic.

4. The infographic is missing header or footer information.

Previous Infographic

Before finalizing the infographic, I went through several iterations to make sure that the final version to be effective and beautiful. One of the early iterations is shown above. In this version, I tried using pie charts to display the different mediums and cultures during the Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo periods. However, during the UX research process, I received feedback that participants want to see more concise and engaging information, and I found that the pie chart wasn’t effective in expressing the numeric data in this situation. By directly displaying the percentage numbers in a larger font, I was able to create a clear and concise representation of the data that was easy for viewers to understand quickly. This helped to make the information more accessible and engaging for a wider audience.

Additionally, I received suggestions to improve the color palette and the hierarchy, and make the information more visually appealing, which I incorporated into the final version of the infographic. By going through multiple iterations and incorporating user feedback, I finally create a more effective and engaging infographic.

Final Infographics

After collecting the feedback from the UX interviews, I designed and revised the final infographic using Adobe Illustrator. I created two infographic posters to showcase my findings. The first poster was a detailed analysis of Renaissance art, with a particular focus on anatomy, color palette, medium, culture, and themes. The second poster was an overall comparison of Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo period art. To keep the consistency of the two infographics, I created a general template in Adobe Illustrator and made it into a poster format to provide an organized and concise visual representation of the data, with the clear hierarchy of the information, which allows the viewer to quickly grasp the main findings and take away important insights. What is more, the storytelling aspect of the poster format was also essential to create a more engaging and informative experience for the audience.

Reflection

The process of creating an infographic to visualize the history of art during the Renaissance period was both exciting and challenging. It was a project that required a lot of research, creativity, and attention to detail. One of the most helpful aspects of this project was the UX research that I conducted. I found it particularly valuable when creating an infographic poster that was both informative and engaging. Through conducting UX research, I got valuable insights into how users interact with data visualizations and what makes them effective. I learned that considering the user experience was essential for the overall success. This meant taking into account factors such as the target audience, the medium of presentation, and how users would interact with the infographic. So I have no doubt that I will incorporate the principles of UX research into my future projects to ensure that I create data visualizations that are both informative and engaging for the audience.

For further study in data visualization, I am interested in creating vertical interactive infographics that offer a more engaging online experience, and trying Figma for that purpose. Specifically, for this topic, I want to expand the dataset beyond the MET to include more details about the experiences of artists life. Overall, there is much to explore in the field of data visualization, and I want to continue learning and experimenting with new approaches to creating effective and engaging infographics.

Reference

Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2023). Open Access. GitHub Repository. Retrieved May 2, 2023, from https://github.com/metmuseum/openaccess

artincontext. (2022, October 10). Art Periods – A Detailed Look at the Art History Timeline. https://artincontext.org/art-periods/

Cartwright, M. (2020, October 20). Colour & Technique in Renaissance Painting. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1628/colour–technique-in-renaissance-painting/

World History Encyclopedia. (2019, January 31). Renaissance art timeline. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/timeline/Renaissance_Art/

Ajvazi, I. (2023). Art History: Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo. Caravaggio Academy of Arts. https://doi.org/10.17613/t0bg-rs48

Voight, J. (2023, March 28). What is the difference between Baroque and Rococo art? https://www.musicalexpert.org/what-is-the-difference-between-baroque-and-rococo-art.htm

Tate. (n.d.). Renaissance. Tate. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/r/renaissance