Art of the Italian Renaissance

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Art of the Italian Renaissance
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The Renaissance

• The Renaissance was a time of rebirth, revival of
  learning, and renewed cultural awareness.
• As the Middle Ages drew to a close, a new spirit
  emerged and the focus of study shifted from
  theology to humanity.
• This exciting cultural movement began in Italy in
  the late 1300's and ended in about 1600.

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Renaissance Art

• The changes that the Renaissance precipitated are
  most evident in the art of that period.
• There was an evolution from the strict, symbolic
  figures of the Middle Ages, to the fluid,
  emotion-filled figures that gave life to
  Renaissance art.

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Pre-Renaissance Art

• The Byzantine art style preceded the Renaissance.
  
• Does the style seem warm and inviting, or cold
  and distant to you?

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Pre-Renaissance Architecture

• The Romanesque and Gothic styles preceded the
  Renaissance.
• Romanesque was round and sturdy
• Gothic was tall and pointed up to heaven.
• Which one seems to be a warmer, more inviting
  atmosphere? Why?

Romanesque round arches of St Savin
Gothic rib vaults of Durham Cathedral
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Proto-Renaissance

• This period, roughly 1200 - 1400 A.D., is the
  time that the Italian style was just beginning to
  show breaks from the Byzantine and Gothic styles.
  
• We see the first attempts to display realism and
  greater interest in depicting the human form.

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Byzantine v. Proto-Renaissance

• Compare a Byzantine painting with one of Giotto's
  paintings.
• Which one looks more realistic?

Byzantine Art
Detail from Giottos Mourning of Christ
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Proto-Renaissance Art Giotto

• Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267 - 1337) was a
  Florentine painter and architect.
• He was recognized as the first artistic genius of
  the Italian Renaissance.
• He dealt largely in the traditional religious
  subjects, but he gave these subjects an earthly,
  full-blooded life and force.

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• A sad, remote, inscrutable Virgin from the 13th
  century

• A very human woman, her lips parted in a hint of
  a smile that reveals the white of her teeth.

13th c. Madonna -Cimabue'sSanta Trinita Madonna
Giottos Ognissanti Madonna
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Early 15th Century Renaissance

• In the early 15th century, the spirit of the
  Italian Renaissance was strongest in Florence.
• One Italian family, the Medici, bankers to all
  Europe, were such generous patrons of the arts
  that it has been said they "financed" the
  Renaissance.

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Early 15th Century Renaissance Innovation
Perspective
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Late Middle Ages Treatment ofSpace It
Encompasses Viewer

• Artists have always portrayed space in ways that
  suit their worldview.
• In the religious painting of the late Middle
  Ages, space seems to open out from the picture
  plane. It encompasses the viewer to make him part
  of the sacred events taking place.

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Early Renaissance Treatment of Space It Recedes
from Viewer

• During the early Renaissance, as humanism focused
  attention on man, the viewer assumes the active
  role.
• Space recedes from the viewer's eye into the
  picture plane.
• The viewer himself is the point of reference.

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Late Middle Ages
Early Renaissance
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Early 15th Century Renaissance Architecture
Brunelleschi

• Filippo Brunelleschi (1421 to 1440) was the
  first architect to employ mathematical
  perspective to redefine Gothic and Romanesque
  space and to establish new rules of proportion
  and symmetry.

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Gothic
Early 15th Century
Romanesque
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Early 15th Century Renaissance Sculpture
Donatallo

• Donatello (1386-1466) created the first
  free-standing statues of the Renaissance,
  independent of architecture or decoration.

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Early 15th Century Renaissance Artist Masaccio

• Masaccio (1401-1428) took up the inheritance of
  Giotto, developing his art according to the new
  techniques and methods of perspective.

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Late 15th Century Renaissance

• By mid 15th century, the Renaissance movement had
  spread throughout Europe.
• However, Italy was still at the heart of this
  cultural rebirth and it continued to produce
  ingenious artists like Mantegna, Antonella da
  Messina, and Botticelli.

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Late 15th Century Renaissance Andrea Mantegna

• Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506) painted heroic
  figures, often using a dramatic perspective that
  gives the viewer the illusion of looking up from
  below.

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Late 15th Century Renaissance Mantegnas Triumph
of Virtue

• This detail of Mantegnas The Triumph of Virtue
  (c. 1540) depicts Athena as moral guardian
  expelling the Vices from the garden.

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Late 15th Century Renaissance Antonella da
Messina

• Antonella da Messina (1430-1479) made his
  portraits so perfect that they give the illusion
  of life. Particularly careful of perspective, his
  painting is characterized by strong colors and
  precision of architectural forms.

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Late 15th Century Renaissance Sandro Botticelli

• Sandro Botticelli (1444/5-1510) had a
  sophisticated understanding of perspective,
  anatomy, and humanism. His Birth of Venus (c.
  1485) and Primavera (1477-78) are often said to
  epitomize for modern viewers the spirit of the
  Renaissance.

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The High Renaissance

• The essential feature of High Renaissance art was
  its unity. Paintings invoked increasing dramatic
  force with the human forms becoming so life-like,
  they almost seemed to be breathing. Three artists
  whose work dominated this period were
  Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci.

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The High Renaissance Michelangelo as Sculptor

• Michelangelo (c. 1501-1504) preferred the chisel
  to the paint brush and he has left us with such
  astounding sculptures as David and the Pieta.

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The High Renaissance Michelangelo as Painter

• Through the insistence of Pope Julian II,
  however, Michelangelo set the chisel aside for a
  time and conceived the world's greatest single
  fresco in the walls and ceiling of the Sistine
  Chapel.

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The High Renaissance Raphael

• Raphaels (1483-1520) paintings reveal a soft,
  poetic quality.

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The High Renaissance Raphaels Nymph of Galatea

• The sheer beauty of his figures is breathtaking.
  When he had finished the Galatea, he was asked
  where he had found a model of such beauty. He
  replied that he did not copy any specific model
  but rather followed a certain idea he had
  formed in his mind.

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The High Renaissance Raphaels Madonna dell
Granduca

• A painting like Raphael's Madonna dell Granduca
  is truly classical in the sense that it has
  served countless generations as a standard of
  perfection.

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The High Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci

• Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) epitomized the
  Renaissance humanistic ideal. He wanted to know
  the working of everything he saw in nature and
  filled more than 4,000 pages of notebooks with
  detailed diagrams and observations.

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The High Renaissance Leonardo da Vincis Mona
Lisa

• Leonardos The Mona Lisa is considered the
  prototype of the Renaissance portrait.

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The High Renaissance Leonardo da Vincis Last
Supper
Before Peeling and discolored after years of
neglect
After The restored masterpiece was open to
visitors in May 1999.
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The Madonna and Child

• "Madonna and Child" was a common subject for
  artists of the Renaissance period.
• Lets compare the works of artists from three
  different periods
• Cimabue (Proto-Renaissance)
• Sandro Botticelli (mid 15th century)
• Leonardo da Vinci (High Renaissance)

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CimabueProto-Renaissance
BotticelliMid-15th Century
Leonardo da Vinci High Renaissance
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Discussion Questions

• In your opinion, which painting conveys the most
  warmth and tenderness? What is there about the
  painting that gives it that appearance?
• What changes do you notice in the treatment of
  the human form by these three different artists
  in these three different stages of the
  Renaissance?
• Look at the treatment of the background in each
  painting. Consider the use of line, light, and
  space. How do these elements vary in each
  painting.