Art

Compiled by Vidya Schalk May 2013

For Educational Purposes Only

WHAT IS RENAISSANCE ?
French for REBIRTH Began in Italy specically, this pertained to the rebirth of those intellectual and arFsFc energies that characterized ancient Greek and Roman civilizaFon, and with this the awakening of a whole range of new interests in human beings and the world around them.

When: THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD

oTime Period:
oA period in European history roughly between 1400 1600 CE
o1300 -1400 : Proto Renaissance

Bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern Era

FACTORS LEADING TO RENAISSANCE

Unclear 14th C Europe witnessed several catastrophic events,
Black Death (1346) ConFnuing War between England and France

Discord in the Church

The Church, the biggest patron of Arts was racked with disagreements about spiritual and secular issues. Paradoxically, the weakness of Church gave added momentum to the Renaissance by allowing spread of Humanism which in bygone eras might have been strongly resisted. Extravagant spending by Popes to recapture lost inuence.

Vatican museums

INCREASED PROSPERITY
However, more posiFve currents were also evident Italy, Venice and Genoa: Grew rich on trade with the Orient Florence: Center of Wool, Silk, Jewellery Art and home to the fabulous wealth of the cultured and art- conscious Medici family Banking family : Medici Bank

Some heads of the Medici family

Coat of Arms of the House of de Medici

Medici family members placed allegorically in the entourage of a king from the Three Wise Men in the Tuscan countryside in a Benozzo Gozzoli fresco, c. 1459.

 Italians were willing to spend a lot of money on art.

Art showed social, poliFcal, and spiritual values. Italian merchants and traders had money

Public art in Florence was organized and supported by guilds.

Art was used as a form of competition for social & political status!

Judges, lawyers, and notaries

Bankers and money-changers

Symbols of the guilds in the Palazzo Spini Feroni

Silk weavers and merchants. Included bronze sculptors. Blacksmiths Carpenters

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The ArFst and Social Status

Early Renaissance
ArFsts as crabsmen

High Renaissance
ArFsts as celebriFes

AGE OF EXPLORATION
Christopher Columbus' flagship Santa Maria, from the Latin first edition of Columbus's accounts of his discovery of America, 1493.

Onset of the great Western Age of Discovery European naval explorers discover
New Sea Routes New Continents Establish new Colonies

The most important manuscript map surviving from the early Age of Discovery, the Cantino World Map is named for Alberto Cantino, an Italian diplomatic agent in Lisbon who obtained it in 1502 for the Duke of Ferrara.

The Silk Road and spice trade routes later blocked by the Ottoman Empire in 1453 spurring exploration to find alternative sea routes

Map with the main travels of the age of discoveries, 14821524.

Why did Renaissance Start in Italy

Richest trading naFon with both Europe and the Orient Blessed with a huge repository of classical ruins and arFfacts MigraFon due to decline and fall of ConstanFnople
Genoese (red) and Venetian (green) maritime trade routes in the Mediterranean and Black Sea

 Renaissance Italy (1400s)

Five Major Powers
Milan Venice Florence

The Medici

The Papal States Kingdom of Naples

Independent City- States

Mantua Ferrara Urbino

Who was involved?

Started in Italy, concentrated in Florence Key arFsts to begin the Renaissance were writers Petrarch and Boccaccio, the painter Giofo and the architect Brunelleschi.
Petrarch is oben called the Father of Humanism

Petrarch

Brunelleschi

What is Humanism ?
Humanism is the term generally applied to the predominant
social philosophy intellectual And literary currents Of the period from 1400 to 1650.

Portrait of Niccol Machiavelli by Santi di Tito (1536)

Desiderius Erasmus in 1523 as depicted by Hans Holbein the Younger

The ideal society based on humanist ideals, as conceived by Thomas More (1478-1535) in his book Utopia

Renaissance Philosophy of Humanism

Humanism downplayed religious and secular dogma and instead afached the greatest importance to the dignity and worth of the individual. This philosophy was the foundaFon for many of the achievements from ancient Greece.
(eg. Democracy )

How did this aect Art

The Italian Renaissance re-established Western Art according to the principles of classical Greek and Roman art, especially
Greek Sculpture PainFng

Doryphoros 450 BCE

Remained unchallenged unFl Picasso and Cubism. In tune with the of the arFsts to create a
Universal, even noble form of art

Which could express the new and more condent mood of the Fmes.

Venus de Milo 130-100 BCE

Direct eect of Humanism on Visual Art

(1) The emergence of the individual figure, in place of stereotyped, or symbolic figures. (2) Greater realism and consequent attention to detail, linear perspective increasing realism of human faces and bodies. (3) An emphasis on and promotion of virtuous action Philosophy behind Renaissance ART "happiness cannot be gained without good works and just and righteous deeds".

Sandro Botticelli: Birth of Venus. Tempera on Canvas. Early Renaissance 1485

DepicFon of Nudes
In Renaissance Art

NUDITY

Venus and the Lute Player, ca. 156570 Titian and Workshop (Italian, Venetian, born ca. 1488, died 1576) Oil on canvas

Rediscovery of Greco-Roman culture in the Renaissance restored the nude to the heart of creaFve endeavor. Nude gures based on anFque models appear in Italy as early as mid-13th C, and by mid-15th C, nudes had become symbols of anFquity and its reincarnaFon.

Masaccio: Early Renaissance

InspiraFon for several later arFsts esp. Michelangelo In his rendering of Adam and Eves expulsion Completely naked gures who are ashamed and conscious of their bare bodies Both gures are stocky and peasant-like which points at a new awareness of non-idealized, corporeal human form Also conveys the extreme anguish of the expulsion

Massacio: Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden Fresco. 1426-1428 Altered in 1680 restored in 1980

Michelangelo : The Fall and Expulsion from Garden of Eden. Sistine Chapel. 1509-10. Fresco Masaccios influence seen in this painting. Adam and Eve in nude and non-idealized earthly forms and anguish Michelangelo's teacher, Domenico Ghirlandaio looked almost exclusively to Masaccio for inspiration for his religious scenes.

STAGES OR PERIODS OF RENAISSANCE

BASED ON STYLE

The Dierent Periods of Renaissance (Style) Early Renaissance: 1400 1479 CE High Renaissance: 1475 1525 CE Late Renaissance and Mannerism: 1500-1600

Renaissance ArFsts
Cimabue (c.1240-1302) Noted for his frescos at Assisi. Giofo di Bondone (1267-1337) Scrovegni Arena Chapel frescos. GenFle da Fabriano (1370-1427) InuenFal Gothic style painter. Jacopo della Quercia (c.1374-1438) InuenFal sculptor from Siena. Lorenzo GhiberF (1378-1455) Sculptor of "Gates of Paradise" Donatello (1386-1466) Best early Renaissance sculptor Paolo Uccello (1397-1475) Famous for work on perspecFve. Tommaso Masaccio (1401-1428) Greatest early FlorenFne painter. Piero della Francesca (1420-92) Pioneer of linear perspecFve. Andrea Mantegna (1430-1506) Noted for illusionisFc foreshortening techiques Donato Bramante (1444-1514) Top High Renaissance architect. Alessandro Boqcelli (1445-1510) Famous for mythological painFng. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Creator of Mona Lisa, Last Supper. Raphael (1483-1520) Greatest High Renaissance painter. Michelangelo (1475-1564) Genius painter & sculptor. TiFan (1477-1576) Greatest VeneFan colourist. Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) Leader of High Renaissance in Florence. Correggio (1489-1534) Famous for illusionisFc quadratura frescoes. Andrea Palladio (1508-80) Hugely inuenFal VeneFan architect, later imitated in Palladianism. Tintorefo (1518-1594) Religious Mannerist painter. Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) Colourist follower of TiFan.

RENAISSANCE PAINTING TECHNIQUES

RENAISSANCE PAINTING TECHNIQUES

Linear PerspecFve Example: Flagella8on of Christ by Piero della Francesca. Foreshortening Example: Lamenta8on over the Dead Christ by Mantegna. Quadratura Example: Camera degli Sposi frescoes by Mantegna. Sfumato Example: Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.

4 MAJOR BREAKTHROUGHS TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE WERE

PERSPECTIVE and PROPORTIONS OIL ON STRETCHED CANVAS CHIAROSCURO PYRAMID CONFIGURATION

CHIAROSCURO
Discovered by Masaccio Refers to the new technique for modeling forms in painFng by which lighter parts seemed to emerge from darker areas, producing the illusion of rounded, sculptural relief on a at surface

Chiaroscuro The use of light and shadow

Chiaroscuro is a method for applying value to a two-dimensional piece of artwork to create the illusion of a three-dimensional solid form. This way of working was devised during the Italian Renaissance and was used by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. In this system, if light is coming in from one predetermined direction, then light and shadow will conform to a set of rules.

An element in art, chiaroscuro (Italian for lightdark) is dened as a bold contrast between light and dark.

Caravaggio, 1599-1600; Oil on canvas, 10' 7 1/2" X 11' 2"; Contarelli Chapel, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

LEONARDO da Vinci 1452 - 1519 Full title: The Virgin of the Rocks (The Virgin with the Infant Saint John adoring the Infant Christ accompanied by an Angel) about 1491-1508

The Virgin of the Rocks

LINEAR PERSPECTIVE

Discovering Linear PerspecFve

Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, The Annunciation with Saints Ansano and Massima (1333)

Follower of Pietro Lorenzetti Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels Tempera on panel

1360 / 70 BCE

Linear perspecFve created the opFcal eect of objects receding in the distance through lines that appear to converge at a single point in the picture known as the vanishing point.

PerspecFve
One of the most significant discoveries in the history of art was the method for creating the illusion of depth on a flat surface, called perspective. Perspective became a foundation of European painting for the next 500 years.

Knowledge of perspective greatly enhances your perception and understanding of light and space, and attunes you to spatial recession as the power line of visual design.

The Healing of the Cripple and the Raising of Tabitha, by Masolino (1425) Fresco. Brancacci Chapel

The Healing of the Cripple and the Raising of Tabitha, by Masolino (1425) Fresco. Brancacci Chapel

Raphael. The School of Athens. High Renaissance 1511. Fresco Vatican Museums and Galleries, Vatican City.

1: Zeno of Citium 2: Epicurus Possibly, the image of two philosophers, who were typically shown in pairs during the Renaissance: Heraclitus, the "weeping" philosopher, and Democritus, the "laughing" philosopher. 3: unknown (believed to be Raphael) 4: Boethius or Anaximander or Empedocles? 5: Averroes 6: Pythagoras 7: Alcibiades or Alexander the Great? 8: Antisthenes or Xenophon or Timon? 9: Raphael, Fornarina as a personification of Love or Francesco Maria della Rovere? 10: Aeschines or Xenophon? 11: Parmenides? (Leonardo da Vinci) 12: Socrates 13: Heraclitus (Michelangelo) 14: Plato (Leonardo da Vinci)(Archimedes) (thought to be an amalgamation of the three) 15: Aristotle (Giuliano da Sangallo) 16: Diogenes of Sinope 17: Plotinus (Donatello?) 18: Euclid or Archimedes with students (Bramante?) 19: Zoroaster (Baldassare Castiglione) 20: Ptolemy? R: Apelles (Raphael) 21: Protogenes (Il Sodoma, Perugino, or Timoteo Viti)

The School of Athens by Raphael (1518), a fine example of architectural perspective with a
central vanishing point, marking the end of the classical Renaissance.

Hypatia

Pythagoras

Ptolemy

Euclid

The Disputation of St. Stephen by Carpaccio 1514 Tempera on Canvas

Beyond PerspecFve: PROPORTION

ProporFon
A scienFc measure of raFos ParFcularly important in architecture And also for human proporFons

While art hardly died in the middle ages, what was reborn in the Renaissance was lifelike art.

 The average adult human gure is about 7 to 7.5 heads tall.

The idealized human gure is tradiFonally represented as being 8 heads tall.

The length of the arm is such that the nger Fps come down to mid-thigh. The arms wingspan (measured between the Fps of the middle ngers) is about equal to the body height. The length of the foot is about equal to the length of the forearm.

 The eyes are at the mid- height of the head. The height of the face is about equal to the length of the hand. The corner of the mouth to the corner of the eye is equal to the height of the ear. The width of the base of the nose is equal to the width of the eye.
Head Studies by Leonardo (1470-1500)

Head studies 1504-05 Metalpoint, black and red chalk on paper Head of a Warrior ('The Red Head') 1504-05. Leonardo da Vinci Red Chalk on paper

IN SCULPTURE

The Classical Period

The Renaissance

Ancient Greece

Ancient Rome

The Middle Ages

Inuences Greek / Roman to Renaissance

The Doryphoros of Polykleitos in Naples. 400BCE Greek. Spear bearer

Statue of a wounded Amazon, 1st2nd century A.D. Roman copy of a Greek bronze statue, ca. 450425 B.C. Marble

Donatello, David (1440s) Museo Nazionale del Bargello h.158 cm

Michelangelos David

Michelangelo: David. Marble 1501-1504

FORESHORTENING
In drawing, the term "foreshortening" refers to a method of represenFng an object in a picture in depth.

Mantegna 1480 Lamentation of Christ Tempera on canvas

QUADRATURA
Visually suggest an open sky.

Andrea Pozzo Apotheosis of St Ignatius (1691-4) San Ignazio, Rome

SFUMATO
In ne art, the term "sfumato" (derived from the Italian word fumo, meaning "smoke).

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa 1503-1519 Oil on Poplar

PYRAMID CONFIGURATION
Rigid profile portraits and grouping of figures on a horizontal grid in the pictures foreground gave way to a more three dimensional pyramid configuration.

Rigid profile portraits and grouping of figures on a horizontal grid in the pictures foreground gave way to a more three dimensional pyramid configuration.

Pyramid ConguraFon

Illuminated manuscript 10th Century

A big technical advancement

OIL ON STRETCHED CANVAS

Oil on stretched canvas

In painFng, more and more arFsts turned their afenFon to creaFng depth and form to replace the at, two-dimensional surfaces that characterized medieval pictures.

St.Georges Battle with the Dragon

VITALE DA BOLOGNA

around 1350
Tempera on wood, 80 x 70 cm
Pinacoteca Nazioznale, Bologna

before oil on canvas

VITALE DA BOLOGNA
St.Georges Battle with the Dragon

VITALE DA BOLOGNA 1350

St.Georges Battle with the Dragon

Raphael,St. George Fighting the Dragon 1504-06 (220 kB); Oil on wood, 28.5 x 21.5 cm

Raphael,St. George Fighting the Dragon 1504-06 (220 kB); Oil on wood, 28.5 x 21.5 cm

OIL ON CANVAS

Raphael 1514-1515 The Woman with the Veil Oil on Canvas

Titian's Venus of Urbino (1538) Oil on Canvas

Titian The Concert c. 1510 Oil on canvas 86.5 x 123.5 cm Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence

 Raphael: La Madonna di San Sisto. Oil on Canvas commissioned in 1512 by Pope Julius II as an altarpiece for the church of San Sisto, Piacenza.

Inuence beyond Italy LAUNCH OF NORTHERN RENAISSANCE(1500-1600)

Northern arFsts were inuenced by the great innovaFons in the South Many arFsts traveled to Italy to study Brought in modern science and philosophy into art from the South Inuence spread to Germany, Netherlands, France etc.

The Northern Renaissance

Centered in the Netherlands Very dierent in outlook Were not inspired by the Classics Driven by another set of preoccupaFons:
Religious reform The return to ancient ChrisFan Values The revolt against the authority of the Church

Looked to nature for inspiraFon Very detailed, realisFc painFngs Produced numerous portraits

The Northern ArFsFc Renaissance

Jan van Eyck (c. 1380 1441) Giovanni Arnolni and His Bride Albrecht Drer (1471 1528) Adora8on of the Magi
Jan van Eyck Portrait of a Man in a Turban (actually a chaperon), most likely a self-portrait, 1433.

Self-Portrait (1500) by Albrecht Drer

Durer, Young Hare, 1502, Watercolour and bodycolour

Techniques to look for

Linear PerspecFve ProporFon Chiaroscuro Foreshortening Quadratura Sfumato Oil on Canvas Pyramid ConguraFon.

Albrecht Durer: Adoration of the Magi, 1504, oil on wood Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Jan Van Eyck

1390 1441 The Arnolni Wedding Oil on Oak

Massys The Moneylender & His Wife, 1514 Oil on Panel

HUMANISM
What is humanism? A balance between reason and faith. One humanist wrote, To each species of creature has been allofed a peculiar and insFncFve gib. To horses galloping, to birds ying, comes naturally. To man only is given the desire to learn.

ANALYSIS OF A PAINTING
Masaccios The Tribute Money

Masaccio. The Tribute Money. 1420s. Fresco. Brancacci Chapel, Florence

USE OF PERSPECTIVE

Masaccio. The Tribute Money. 1420s. Fresco. Brancacci Chapel, Florence.

The parting of Lot and Abraham. Mosaic. 430 CE This "shorthand" way of depicting a crowd is sometimes called a "head cluster".

COMPOSITION 3 events in one painting READING THE PAINTING Instead of the normal way of reading from left to right here the first image is presented in the middle vanishing point on Christs fore head makes sure our eyes go there first. From there we see where Jesus and Peter are pointing Second part: Peter goes and picks the coins from the fishs mouth Third part: Peter pays the tax collector

USE OF LIGHT

Detail from the painting showing the use of chiaroscuro. The heads are possibly those of Judas (2nd from left) and Masaccio himself as Thomas (right).

IN CONCLUSION

HUMANISM
What is humanism? A balance between reason and faith. One humanist wrote, To each species of creature has been allofed a peculiar and insFncFve gib. To horses galloping, to birds ying, comes naturally. To man only is given the desire to learn.

Thank You

References:
Frederick HarN, A History of Italian Renaissance Art Keith Chris8ansen, Italian Pain8ng Helen Gardner, Art through the Ages hNp://www.classics.cam.ac.uk:8080/collec8ons hNp://www.metmuseum.org/ hNp://www.wga.hu/ hNp://www.gutenberg.org/les/31938/31938-8.txt hNp://www.renaissanceconnec8on.org/ hNp://www.nga.gov/collec8on/gallery/gg4/gg4-main1.html hNp://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/resources/gallery.html hNp://www.bri8shmuseum.org/explore/cultures/europe/renaissance_europe.aspx hNp://www.geNy.edu/art/exhibi8ons/orence/ hNp://www.mfa.org/collec8ons/featured-galleries/italian-renaissance-art hNp://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/497788/Renaissance-art