We take plenty of photos but for most of us, it’s pretty difficult to get good at it. No matter how hard we’re trying. Others, however, can produce a spectacular image even when they’re not.
The subreddit r/AccidentalRenaissance is the biggest online “gallery” for these works — it showcases photographs that inadvertently resemble well-composed Renaissance-style art.
“We recognize there are many related art movements between the 14th and 19th centuries, including Baroque, Neo-classicism, Romantic, Dutch Golden Age, etc. All of these styles are appreciated and welcomed within this subreddit!” the moderators of r/AccidentalRenaissance write.
Following up on our earlier publications (part 1, part2), we put together a new list of the best masterpieces the subreddit has to offer. Enjoy.
#1 Stuck My Arm In The Coop To Sneak A Pic Of The Hens Settling Down At Dusk One Night- “Magic Hour”
#2 National Park In Italy
To further explain Accidental Renaissance, the people who look after the subreddit provide these descriptions:
Composition: triangular/pyramidal figures, dynamic, asymmetrical, foreshortening, and, of course, the use of the Fibonacci sequence or Golden Ratio;Lighting: Featuring use of sfumato (blurring/softening of outlines) and/or chiaroscuro (strong contrasts between light and dark);Subject: Landscapes, people, scenes that feature one or both of the above. #3 Billie Holiday Performing “Strange Fruit” In NYC’s First Ever Integrated Club, 1939
#4 This Candid Of My Hubby During The Texas Blackout
A representative of the mod team, u/Openminded_skeptic, told We that “the most popular subjects appear to be scenes with crowds of people doing things like protesting, marching for a cause, or otherwise expressing themselves; highly saturated, photos of people, livestock, or interesting architecture featuring chiaroscuro and many times sun or light rays highlighting a portion of the photo; and photos featuring politicians or world leaders seem to be fairly popular.”
#5 The Winner Of The Miami Street Photography Festival Award By Paul Kessel
#6 Bedtime For Jeff The Goose
As of today, the community has 816K members, or as they call themselves, universalis personae. u/Openminded_skeptic describes them “as passionate and invested in the subreddit and the subject of Renaissance-esque photography, sometimes to the point of getting into spirited debates in the comment section on whether a particular photo is or is not either accidental or Renaissance!”
u/Openminded_skeptic attributes the popularity of the subreddit to the universal appeal of the period. “Renaissance-era art was really about humanity’s rebirth, culturally, economically, politically, and artistically,” they said. “I think that’s something that never goes out of style.”
#7 Vermeer Vibes
#8 Girl With Goose
Indeed. Art, architecture, and science were closely linked during the Renaissance, and often these fields even fused together.
For example, artists like da Vinci incorporated scientific principles, such as anatomy into their work, so they could recreate the human body with extraordinary precision. Architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi immersed themselves in mathematics to accurately engineer and design immense buildings with expansive domes. And scientific discoveries by Galileo, Descartes, and other forward-thinking pioneers led to major shifts in thinking.
Renaissance art was characterized by realism and naturalism — artists strived to depict people and objects in a true-to-life way, and these pictures achieve that too.
#9 Window To An Open Meadow
#10 The Player
#11 Marches In France
#12 Three Friends
#13 This Polaroid My Dad Took In Amsterdam Back In The 1980s
#14 Tea Time
#15 Aide Of A Padre
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#16 French Farmers Use Fire To Try To Save Their Vineyards During Cold Nights
#17 Rainbow Soldier
#18 The Dress Of Novice Monks In Thailand
#19 Earthly Pleasures
#20 Looks Familiar
#21 A Priest In A Church Of Paris, France
#22 Winter Water Main Break At Night
#23 Friend Left A Knot On The Lead Rope By Accident And Left Us This Amazing Piece
#24 The More You Look, The Better It Gets
#25 A Man Outside Of The Courthouse Learns That Derek Chauvin Was Found Guilty On All Three Counts
#26 South Of France – Analog 35mm Film // No Edit
#27 Pandemic Dad
#28 A Bad Hair Day That Turned Out Like An Oil Painting
#29 Rome, Nuns On A Break
#30 A Young Monk
#31 Stephen Fry Being Vaccinated At The Poets’ Corner Of Westminster Abbey
#32 Orthodox Jews In The Time Of Covid
#33 My Step Mother Trying To Cool Off And Sadie, Who Is Terrified Of My 6 Month Old Twins
#34 The Jollification
#35 Covid Reaches The Us, 2020
#36 Portrait Of Familial Exasperation (My Mother Made A Coy Remark To Me, And My Sister Captured My Expression)
#37 Flying At The Crossing
#38 No Paint, Just An Accidental Glitch. (Turin, Italy)
#39 Pigeon The Grey Fights Balrog And Becomes Pigeon The White. The Fellowship Is Stunned
#40 Wife Painting At Noon In Interior Alaska
#41 My Two Friends Enjoying The Sun Yesterday
#42 Tattoo Parlor
#43 Supine In The Summer Heat
#44 Tried To Take A Self-Timer Group Pic And Someone Fell
#45 The First Patient
#46 St.louis Mo Fd
#47 My Father Was Looking Out The Window And Turned His Head And I Got This Great Picture
#48 Silverback Waiting For The Rain To Stop
#49 Brazilian Coffin Maker
#50 The Consternation Of Distance Learning
#51 Immaculate Humor
#52 Veiled Slumberer, My GF, Marble
#53 Taking Christ’s Body Down
#54 The Speaker Of The Parlament Of Finland Listening To An 8 Hour Filibuster Speech
#55 Monkey Fighting For Orange
#56 Tibetan Woman Holding Bitcoin Mining Psus
#57 The Duality Of Woman
#58 Accidental Poser In Hanoi
#59 Major Persephone Vibes
#60 Bülent Kılıç, A Photojournalist Taken Into Custody During The 19th İstanbul Lgbti+ Pride March Held In İstanbul
#61 My Grandma Reading
#62 The Believers (Dome Of The Rock Mosque, Jerusalem)
#63 Two Wild Horses Fighting
#64 Texas Residents Who Lost Power This Week.credit…tamir Kalifa For The New York Times
#65 Accidental Renaissance Treatment Of American Maritime Pretty Boy
#66 Woodstock 1969
#67 A Post-Pub British Tragedy
#68 The Way Back Home.
#69 “The Farmers Morning”
#70 Happy Drunk Me
#71 Picture Of My Friend Fixing A Fluorescent Tube Light Ended Up Looking Biblical
#72 Someone Said I Should Post This Here, So Here I Go
#73 The Pull Of Adam
#74 Star Trek’s Brent Spiner In The Make Up Chair
#75 Sumo Throw
#76 The Music Of Violence
#77 Sausage Making Demonstration, Minneapolis 2016
#78 Triangles Are Everything In Both Renaissance And Pizza
#79 Market Stall In Italy
#80 Pure Renaissance In Blue And Red
#81 Dave In The Bar
#82 The Three Mental Stages One Goes Through Traveling With A Group Of Friends For Two Straight Weeks
#83 Muhammad Ali In 1975 (The Thrilla In Manila)
#84 The Best Supper
#85 Café In Florence
#86 The Assessment Of The Oil Cooler
#87 Italian Senate, 19 January 2021
#88 My Family Setting Up The Christmas Tree
#89 Carried Away
#90 My Friend Struggling With His Pants
#91 Hungover At Lake Tahoe, Feb 2020
#92 Carpet Seller In Istanbul
#93 Swamp Hen Conflict
#94 My Friends And I Building A Geodesic Dome Cabin
#95 Tears Of Mary
#96 The Village Poet
#97 Football Fans.
#98 Fishtine Chapel
#99 Gus And Amy Of Amyl And The Sniffers Taken By Jamie Wdziekonski
#100 Accidental Renaissance During A Photoshoot
#101 First Time On This Sub. I Was Told This Picture Would Fit Here
#102 Parliament (2021)
#103 The Battle Of Sydney
#104 Holy Wine – My Passed Out Friend On New Years Eve
#105 The 2021 Great Clash Of Amsterdam
