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Slide Notes
The most important city artistically in the Renaissance is Florence. The Renaissance started with humanism and a study of classical Greek and Roman culture, history, and science and those studies would lead artists to rediscover in those ancient worlds the ideas of perspective, and depth, and realism in sculpture and painting. And while Medieval or Gothic buildings soared fantastically toward the heavens or were often unplanned, fanciful structures, architects during the Renaissance would bring buildings back to classical human proportions.
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Renaissance
Art, Architecture, and Patronage
The most important city artistically in the Renaissance is Florence. The Renaissance started with humanism and a study of classical Greek and Roman culture, history, and science and those studies would lead artists to rediscover in those ancient worlds the ideas of perspective, and depth, and realism in sculpture and painting. And while Medieval or Gothic buildings soared fantastically toward the heavens or were often unplanned, fanciful structures, architects during the Renaissance would bring buildings back to classical human proportions.
Photo by jiuguangw
New Principles and Subjects
- Perspective informed by math and optics
- Realism and Idealism
- Glorification of the human body
- Renewal of sculpture
- Secular or classical mythology as subjects
After this lecture and all of our discussions in class the student should be able to discuss works of Renaissance Art and describe new methods and how those methods and choice of subjects reflected the values of the time period.
Early Renaissance in Florence
Baptistery Door Competition for the Florence Cathedral
We can date the beginning of the Early Renaissance to a competition in Florence for the doors on the St. Giovanni baptistery in front of the Florence Cathedral. Lorenzo Ghiberti's winning design used a newly rediscovered method from antiquity to give the panels depth and perspective. The method, rediscovered by Donatello, uses very shallow figures in relief and one point linear perspective to convey realistic space. Each panel tells stories from the Old Testament.
Photo by HarshLight
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A closeup of one of Ghiberti's panels showing the expulsion of Eve from the Garden of Eden
Photo by 2sirius
Masaccio
Perspective and Lighting (chiaroscuro)
Giotto, Masaccio and Brunelleschi were hugely important in Florence for their study of one point linear perspective and their use of chiaroscuro to convey light and shadow. Note the classical architecture, realistic human forms and faces, and sense of depth in the painting. This painting is called The Tribute Money and it tells the story of St. Peter, the first Pope.
Photo by Erik Daniel Drost
The High Renaissance
Commission of the Sistine Chapel
The High Renaissance is marked by an intense focus on the human form and was informed by artists' dissections of cadavers. This practice had been outlawed by the church in Medieval times. Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael are the three main artists of the High Renaissance in Italy.
Photo by photographerglen
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This is The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci and it achieves and perfects all of the principles of the Renaissance. Check out SmartHistory online for some great commentary on this painting.
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/leonardo-last-supper.html
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/leonardo-last-supper.html
Photo by nathanh100
Michelangelo
ignored all other features to focus on the human form
This is a panel from the Sistine Chapel depicting the creation story of Genesis. You can see that Michelangelo is really focusing on the human form and is able to depict different and difficult poses correctly as well as all the subtleties of human musculature and structure.
Photo by archer10 (Dennis)
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Compare Michelangelo's David with Donatello's and you will see the difference between the early and high Renaissance. You'll also see how art is used differently for public and private purposes. Donatello's David was commissioned for the Medici's garden in Florence while Michelangelo's was commissioned originally for the top of the Florence Cathedral. David was a favorite subject of Florentines and this one was meant to be heroic and a public symbol. It was ultimately displayed in front of the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of government for Florence.
Photo by mulaohu
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This is Michelangelo's Pieta and depicts Mary holding the dead figure of Christ. This theme was very popular in the Northern Renaissance and is a little odd that it shows up in Italy. It is the only piece that Michelangelo every signed. It is noted for it's realism and naturalism and while the figures are slightly out of proportion, there is an intimacy between them. The sculpture is in a classic pyramid with Mary's drapery becoming wider and the rock of Golgotha anchoring the base. Michelangelo has again balanced the Renaissance ideals of classical beauty and naturalism.
Photo by Prof. Mortel
RAPHAEL
THE LAST OF THE HIGH RENAISSANCE ARTISTS
Raphael's School of Athens is a perfect example of the values of humanism and Greek and Roman antiquity in the Renaissance. Here we have many of the most well known ancient philosophers (sometimes depicted with the faces of famous Italians) gathered together. This could be a metaphor for Italian society and art during the Renaissance, as it gathered all the expertise and knowledge of antiquity into one time period. Again, check out Smarthistory for more detailed commentary.
Photo by JustinMN
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
- Ordered
- Columns, domes, arches
- Flat or coffered ceilings
- Symetrical
- Proportional
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An example of coffered ceilings. Gothic cathedrals would have gone straight to the roof while Renaissance ceilings were flat or coffered and often painted.
Photo by profzucker
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This is the Palazzo Farnese in Rome and was designed by Michelangelo. We often expect palaces or castles to be ornate but during the Renaissance they reflected a simpler, symetric style of ancient Rome or Greece.
Photo by zio Paolino
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This is St. Peter's Basilica designed by Bramante. It's rebuilding was financed by the selling of indulgences, a sore point for the Protestant Reformers of Northern Europe.
Photo by photographerglen
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The main government building in Antwerp, Belgium shows influences from the Renaissance and is proof that the Italian Renaissance spread northward to include architecture, the art of Albrecht Durer and Jan Van Eyk and the plays of William Shakespeare.
Photo by 4nitsirk
PATRONAGE
THE COMMISSIONING OF WORKS BY THE WEALTHY OR POWERFUL
The Renaissance would not have been possible without the concentration of wealth in the Italian City States. This wealth enabled artists to make a living and paid for the incredibly complex and large works of the period. This particular work, The Adoration of the Magi by Sandro Boticelli depicts the Medici family members as some of the wise men that came to honor Christ upon his birth. The artist himself is also pictured on the far right facing the viewer.
Photo by perledarte
BIGGEST PATRONS
- Leo X and Raphael
- Sixtus IV and the Sistine Chapel
- Alexander VI and everybody
- The Medici Family
