Renaissance Art
Byzantine mosaic in SicilyLate 12th century
Wilton Diptych - 1400
Medieval Art
The Effects of Good Government Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1338
Art during the Hundred Years War
Early Renaissance Art• What was different in the Renaissance:– Realism– Perspective– Classical (pagan) themes – Geometrical arrangement of figures– Light and shadowing (chiaroscuro)– Softening of edges (sfumato)– Backgrounds– Artist able to live from commissions
• Lived 1401-1428• First great painter of the
Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance
• Considered the greatest painter of his generation
• Noted for his skill at:– Recreating lifelike figures
and movements– Creating a convincing sense
of three-dimensionality by utilizing linear perspective
Masaccio
Masaccio Self-Portrait
Masaccio• Realism and expression– The Expulsion from Paradise
Perspective
Masaccio• One of the most significant discoveries in
the history of art was "perspective" --the method for creating the illusion of depth on a flat surface.
• Perspective became the foundation of European painting for the next 500 years. Linear perspective created the optical effect of objects receding into the distance through lines that appeared to converge at a single point in the picture, known as the vanishing point.
• Painters also reduced the size of objects and muted colors or blurred detail as objects got further away.
• The vaulted arch in the painting to the right by Masaccio is a perfect illustration of the linear perspective that he pioneered.
• Masaccio painted this scene so that all the sightlines converge on a single point, just as we would see the lines painted on a straight road getting smaller as the road recedes into the distance. The Holy Trinity, Masaccio, c 1420, fresco
Masaccio• Perspective
– The Tribute Money– Size of people diminishes with distance– Use of light, shadow and drama
Masaccio• Perspective (cont.)– The Holy Trinity
with the Virgin and St. John
– Geometry– Inscription: “What
you are, I once was; what I am, you will become.”
Perspective
Sandro Botticelli
Self Portrait from Adoration of the Magi, c 1475,Tempera on panel
• Lived 1445-1510• Belonged to the Florentine
school under the patronage of Lorenzo de’ Medici
• One of the greatest artists of the “golden age” of the Italian Renaissance
• His reputation as an artist suffered until the late 19th century
• Best known works are:– The Birth of Venus– Primavera
• Pagan themes– La Primavera– The Birth of
Venus
• Attempt to depict perfect beauty
Sandro Botticelli
Botticelli, Sandro Primavera c. 1482Tempera on wood, 203 x 314 cm, Uffizi, Florence
3 Graces of Poetry, Music, DramaNature = goddess of spring (Flora)
Botticelli, Sandro, The Birth of Venus c. 1485Tempera on canvas, 172.5 x 278.5 cm, Uffizi, Florence
The Individual
Botticelli
• Pure visual poetry, Botticelli’s paintings are stylistically unique.
• There is a deliberate denial of rational spatial construction and no attempt to model solid-looking figures; instead the figures float on the forward plane of the picture against a decorative landscape backdrop.
• The forms are defined by a dark outline.
Classical Pose
Birth of Venus
Medici Venus
(1st century AD)
Leonardo da Vinci
Self Portrait, c 1510, Red chalk on paper
• Lived 1452-1519• Educated in the studio of the
renowned Florentine painter Verrocchio
• The ideal Renaissance Man, who was considered an expert:– Painter, sculptor, architect,
musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer.
• Broad knowledge about many things in different fields
• Deep knowledge of skill in one area
• Able to link areas and create new knowledge
• Why were there so many Renaissance men during the Renaissance?– Lack of boundaries between
disciplines– Knowledge was just knowledge
Renaissance Man
• Madonna of the Rocks– Geometrical
arrangement of figures
– Chiaroscuro– Sfumato– Foreshortening– Background
treatments– Artists live on
commissions
Da Vinci – Early Life
• Last Supper– Used new fresco
method– Built into the room's
end• Light from the side
with the window• Door cut below
• During WWII a bomb hit the monastery
• Destroyed by erosion
Da Vinci - Milan
Da Vinci“Among all the studies and reasoning, Light chiefly delights the beholder; and among the great features of mathematics the certainty of its demonstrations is what preeminently tends to elevate the mind of the investigator. Perspective, therefore must be preferred to all the discourses and systems of human learning.”
– Leonardo da Vinci
• Acclaimed as the greatest painting in history
• Thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini
• The expression of the woman, composition, subtle modeling and atmospheric illusionism all contribute to the continued fascination of the painting
Da Vinci – Mona Lisa
Da Vinci, The Mona Lisa c. 1503-1519Oil on poplar, 77 x 53 cm, The Louvre, Paris
Da Vinci - Science"'Those [artists] who are enamored of practice without science,' Leonardo explained, 'are like sailors who board a ship without rudder and compass, never having any certainty as to whither they go.'"
– Isacoff, Stuart, Temperament, Vintage Books, 2001, p. 85.
Da Vinci’s Notebooks• Coded– Read R L with a
mirror
• Scientific illustration– Used science to
support art
Da Vinci – Military
Da Vinci – Aeronautics
Da Vinci – Anatomy
Da Vinci – Anatomy
Da Vinci – Technology
• Machines• Hydraulics• Vehicles on
land• Architecture• Scientific
method
“Those sciences are vain and filled with errors which are not borne of
experiment, the mother of all certainty.”
Leonardo da Vinci
Da Vinci - Science
• Only 17 paintings• Notebooks• Drawings of unfinished
works• Diverted rivers to
prevent flooding• Principles of turbine• Cartography• Submarine• Flying machine• Parachute• …And much more….
Da Vinci – Legacy
Michelangelo Buonarroti• Lived 1475-1564• Considered a contender for
the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with Da Vinci
• The attempts of subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelo's impassioned and highly personal style resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance.
• Lived in the Medici palace• Studied anatomy• Several pieces for the
Medici tombs, etc.
Commissions by Medici
Michelangelo• The Pietá• 1498-1499• St. Peter’s
Basilica, Vatican City
• Only piece signed by Michelangelo
Michelangelo – David
Return to Rome
• Worked on tomb for Julius II
• Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo – Legacy• World’s greatest sculptor– See the figure inside the stone
and remove excess
• Painter– Mannerism
• Poet• Architect• Engineer
• Lived 1483-1520• Italian painter and
architect of the High Renaissance.
• His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition
• Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.
Raphael
Raphael – School of Athens
Raphael – School of Athens
• The Madonna of the Meadow
• C. 1506• Using Leonardo’s
pyramidal composition for subjects of the Holy Family
Raphael
• Saint George and the Dragon
• For the court of Urbino
• Louvre, Paris
Raphael
• Transfiguration• 1516-1520• Last piece by
Raphael, left unfinished at his death
Raphael
• Refinement • Exemplar of the
Renaissance• Expertise:– Artist,
archeologist, writer, philosopher, teacher
Legacy of Raphael
Mannerism (1520-1600)
The Changing Role of the Artist• Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the
Artists, 1568.• He believed that the artist was
no longer just a member of a crafts guild.
• The artist was an equal in the courts of Europe with scholars, poets, and humanists.
• Therefore, the artist should be recognized and rewarded for his unique artistic technique [maneria].
Background• Late Renaissance [Pre-Baroque].• Art was at an impasse after the perfection and
harmony of the Renaissance.• Antithetical to the principles of the High
Renaissance.• From the Italian de maneria.– A work of art done in the artist’s characteristic
“touch” or recognizable “manner.”• First used by the German art historian, Heinrich
Wölfflin in the early 20c.• Influenced by Michelangelo’s later works.
Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment”(Sistine Chapel)
Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment”(Sistine Chapel – left side)
Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment”(Sistine Chapel – right side)
Features of Mannerism1. Replace Harmony with Dissonance & Discord2. Replace Reason with Emotion3. Replace Reality with Imagination4. Create Instability instead of Equilibrium5. Bodies are Distored6. Colours are Lurid7. Pictorial Space is Crowded8. A Void in the Centre9. Hanging Figures
1. Replace Harmony With Dissonance & Discord• “Susanna & the Elders”
• Alessandro Allori
• Twisted bodies or “weight shift” [contrapposto]
2. Replace Reason with Emotion
• “Pietà” by Rosso Fiorentino• 1530-1540
“Pietà” by El Greco 1587-1597
3. Replace Reality with Imagination
• “The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine”
• Parmigianino
• 1525-1527
• “Charity”
• Andrea del Sarto
• 1518
• An allegory of the French royal family.
4. Create Instability Instead of Equilibrium
• “The Rape of Helene”
• Francesco Primaticcio
• 1530-1539
5. Bodies Are Distorted
• “Christ in Agony on the Cross”
• El Greco
• 1600s.
• An attempt to express the religious tensions of the times.
• “Adoration of theName of Jesus”
• El Greco
• 1578-1580.
• Philip II of Spain in “Adoration of the Name of Jesus”
• “The Baptism of Christ”
• El Greco
• 1608-1628.
• “Portrait of a Cardinal”
• El Greco
• 1600
• “St. Jerome” by El Greco
• 1587-1597
6. Colors are Lurid
• “The Tempest”
• Giorgione
• 1510
• Caravaggio ,The Calling of St. Matthew 1599-1600, Oil on Canvas
• El Greco • View of Toledo • 1597 • Oil on Canvas
7. Pictorial Space is Crowded
• “Madonna with the Long Neck”
• Parmagianino
• 1534-1540
• Jacopo Pontormo, Joseph in Egypt 1515-1518; Oil on wood
• Tintoretto The Last Supper 1594
8. A Void in the Center• “Bacchus &
Ariadne”
• Titian
• 1522-1523 ??
• Giorgione Pastoral Concert 1508-1510
??
9. Hanging Figures
• Tintoretto The Annunciation 1583-1587
• “Moses Drawing Water form the Rock”
• Jacopo Tintoretto
• 1577