Chapter 16: Renaissance

PART FIVE
Chapter 16: Renaissance
Key Styles for this chapter include:
• Early Renaissance
• High Renaissance
• Northern Renaissance
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Key Terms for this chapter include:
• oil painting: sfumato and chiaroscuro
• linear and atmospheric perspective
• humanist
• Plato and Neo-Platonism
• art patron
• Medici family
• academy
• Mannerism
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Renaissance
Covering the period from roughly
1400 to 1600, Renaissance means
“rebirth”. It refers to the revival of
interest in ancient Greek and Roman
culture. This interest is one of the key
characteristics of the period.
• The new and very rich merchant class
joined nobility and clergy as art patrons.
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Renaissance
Artists were learned persons whose
creative powers were viewed as
almost miraculous. They were
considered a breed apart because of
their abilities, and they transcended
social class.
• Painting, sculpture, and architecture were
held as intellectual activities allied with
mathematics, science, and poetry.
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Renaissance
Influenced by the Greek philosopher
Plato, beauty became equated with
moral goodness. Renaissance artists
sought an idealized beauty.
• Humankind was viewed as God’s finest
and most perfect creation.
• Reason and creativity were considered
God’s gifts.
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Renaissance
• Artists worked to reproduce the natural world as accurately
as possible.
• Studying the effects of light, they developed the technique
of chiaroscuro.
• Noting that distant objects appeared smaller than near
ones, they developed the system of linear perspective.
• Seeing how detail and color blurred with distance, they
developed the principles of atmospheric perspective.
• Artists studied anatomy, even dissecting cadavers, to fully
understand the human form.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestions:
16.2 The Story of Jacob and Esau
16.3 Trinity with the Virgin, St. John the Evangelist, and Donors
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Early Renaissance
The Early Renaissance is characterized by
the work of artists like Donatello, Ghiberti,
Masaccio and Botticelli.
• Donatello: A sculptor; used the body as the
framework on which the fabric draped.
• Sculptors created full-scale clay models of nude
figures, then draped clay-soaked linen over the clay
models to create garments. This model was then
copied in marble.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestion:
16.1 St. Mark
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*St. Mark, Donatello, 1411-13, 7’9”, marble.
Early Renaissance
• Ghiberti: Designed the baptistry doors for
the Florence cathedral; his great
innovation was the use of architecture and
figures on the same scale in his work.
• Masaccio: A painter; used the new
technique of linear perspective to create
deep, convincing architectural space within
his work; used a triangular composition
symbolic of the Godhead.
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Left – Trinity with the Virgin, St John the Evangelist, & Donors,
Massacio, fresco, 1425
Right – The Story of Jacob and Esau, Lorenzo Ghiberti, 1435
Early Renaissance
• Botticelli: A painter; worked for the Medici
family who commissioned secular artwork.
• Medicis: A wealthy merchant class family who
were art patrons; they sponsored an Academy
(discussion group) where humanist scholars and
artists met to discuss Classical culture and its
relationship to Christianity. These two combined
systems of thought created a philosophy known
as Neo-Platonism.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestion: 16.6 The Birth of Venus
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*The Birth of Venus, Botticelli, tempera, 1480
Commissioned by Medici family who also sponsored an Academy. Venus (Roman
goddess of love and beauty) born from sea and is depicted on shell. Wind god Zephyr
blow her toward shore where figure (Spring) awaits to cloth her. Modeled after Greek
(Roman copy) Venus de Milo. In Neo-Platonic thought, Venus is associated with Mary.
Birth of water relates to baptism of Christ by John the Baptist.
High Renaissance
The High Renaissance lasted for about 25
years ending around 1520. The most
outstanding and recognized artists of this
period are:
Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo
• Other well-known artists include Raphael, Titian,
and Giorgione.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestions:
5.21 Study of Human Proportions
16.8 David
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High Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci
• Embodies the term “Renaissance man”; many
consider him to have been the greatest genius
who ever lived.
• A painter, inventor, sculptor, architect, engineer,
scientist, musician.
• Left many works uncompleted.
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Study of Human Proportions, Vitruvian
Man, da Vinci
High Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci
• The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper are
his most famous works.
• Sfumato: Italian for “smoke”; Leonardo’s
specialty; a layering of translucent glazes
producing a hazy atmosphere, softened
contours, and velvet shadows.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestions:
2.4 Mona Lisa
4.45 Last Supper
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*Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, 1503-05
Virgin and Saint Anne, Leonardo
da Vinci, Charcoal
*Madonna and Child with
Saint Anne, da Vinci, 1503-6
Purpose to suggest theological
meaning .
3 form single unit
3 generations
Lamb- symbol of Jesus’ future
sacrifice
Tree symbolic of cross he will die on.
Sfumato- hazy atmosphere
*Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci,
High Renaissance
Michelangelo
• 25 years younger than Leonardo but his
greatest rival.
• A painter, sculptor, poet, and architect.
The artist considered himself a sculptor
above all else.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestions:
16.10 Sistine Chapel
p.375 Portrait of Michelangelo
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Portrait of Michelangelo
*Pieta, Michelangelo, 1500
*Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo, Vatican, 1473-80,
fresco
• David, Michelangelo,
1501-4, Marble, 18’
• Commissioned
• Greeks knew how bodies
looked on outside.
Renaissance artists knew
how they looked on
inside.
• Expressive face
• Symbol of Florence
High Renaissance
Michelangelo
• Tension and energy are characteristics that
make David a Renaissance sculpture.
• The Sistine Chapel is another of his famous
works. It is a fresco and depicts stories,
prophets, and sybils from the Bible’s Old
Testament.
• He was the architect of the new St. Peter’s
Basilica in the Vatican.
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The Tempest, Giorgione, Oil on canvas, 1505.
*The Annunciation, Titian, 1560,
Oil
Northern Renaissance
The Northern Renaissance evolved out of
the Middle Ages. This artwork is
characterized by the artists interest in
details.
• The Limbourg Brothers, Van Eyck, Grunewald,
Hans Holbein the Younger, and Durer are just a
few of the artists associated with this period.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestions:
16.16 February
16.20 The Ambassadors
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*February, Limbourgh Brothers, 9”, 1416
The Ambassadors, Hans Holbein the Younger, Oil, 1533.
*Merode Altarpiece, Robert Campin, Oil,
1426
Luke Drawing the Virgin, Rogier can der Weyden, 1435, Oil
Northern Renaissance
The artists interest in details stems from a
long tradition of decorative arts including
miniatures, manuscript illumination,
stained glass, and tapestries.
• They were interested in the precise outer
appearance of their subjects.
• Religious artwork tended to be emotionally
harsh.
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*Isenheim Altarpiece, Matthias
Grunewald, 1515.
*The Harvesters, Petier Brueghel the Elder, 1565,
oil. Netherland artist
Late Renaissance
Scholars generally date the end of the
High Renaissance in Italy to the death
of Raphael in 1520. It was followed by
a style called Mannerism.
• Mannerism: Comes from the Italian
maniera, meaning “style” or “stylishness”.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestion: 16.24 The Last Supper
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Late Renaissance: Mannerism
• This artwork grew out of possibilities
suggested by the work of the High
Renaissance, especially Michelangelo.
• Characterized by a fondness for elaborate
or obscure subject matter.
• The artwork of Bronzino typifies the
Mannerist style.
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*The Last Supper, Tintoretto,
1592-94, oil
Renaissance: SUMMARY
Key Styles and Terms covered:
Early, High, Northern Renaissance
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
oil painting: sfumato and chiaroscuro
linear and atmospheric perspective
humanist
Plato and Neo-Platonism
art patron
Medici family
Academy
Mannerism
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Compare and contrast the two paintings below. Discuss
periods and specific characteristics .