We’ve seen this somewhere, probably in the cinema or in a museum, but many of these images we don’t even know why we think we recognize them. This is the phenomenon of the accidental Renaissance.
Dramatic lighting, religious motifs, fight scenes, Mona Lisa on the subway… the phenomenon became known a few years ago on social media as the “Accidental Renaissance” or “Accidental Baroque” and basically consists of photos taken with a smartphone or modern digital camera that almost immediately take us to a museum.
From the point of view of Art History, “Renaissance” and “Baroque” designate distinct periods and languages. The Renaissance encompasses productions between the 14th and 17th centuries that recovered values associated with Greco-Roman antiquity. Baroque appeared later, from the end of the 16th century and continued until the beginning of the 18th century. In many cases, it favors the dramatism, emotional intensification and expressive exaggeration. But it also has exuberant decorations like the ceilings of Versailles; or more restrained works, such as some by Caravaggio and Vermeer.
Many images circulating on social media with the description “Accidental Baroque” seem to reactivate visual patterns sedimented by art. Even when they are trivial images, they seem to gain a sense of gravity by producing a déjà-vu effect.
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If you’ve seen Cristiano Ronaldo above and the star also reminded you of a Renaissance painting, see if this Portuguese soldier kissing his wife, before leaving for the First World War, takes you to the Renaissance like this Reddit user did.
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