A Comparison of Art from
Medieval to the
Renaissance
We start with:
Late Medieval Art
St. Francis’ Rule Approved
 Giotto, ca 1288-92?
 Tempera on wood and ground gold.
The Lamentation
 Giotto, 1302 ca.
 Tempera on wood and ground gold.
The Crucifixion
 Giotto, 1305 ca.
 Tempera on wood and ground gold.
Medieval Art = Religious Themes
The Epiphany
Giotto, 1320 ca.
Tempera on wood and ground gold.
1. Realism &
Expression
 Expulsion from
the Garden
 Masaccio
 1427
 First nudes since
classical times.
2. Perspective
 The Trinity
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Masaccio
1427
Perspective!
First use
of linear
perspective!
What you are,
I once was;
what I am,
you will
become.
3. Classicism
Greco-Roman
influence.
Secularism.
Humanism.
Individualism  free
standing figures.
Symmetry/Balance
The “Classical Pose”
Medici “Venus” (1c)
4. Emphasis on Individualism
 Batista Sforza & Federico de Montefeltre: The
Duke & Dutchess of Urbino
 Piero della Francesca, 1465-1466.
5. Geometrical Arrangement of
Figures
 The Dreyfus
Madonna
with the
Pomegranate
 Leonardo da
Vinci
 1469
 The figure as
architecture!
6. Light & Shadowing/Softening Edges
Sfumato
Chiaroscuro
7. Artists as Personalities/Celebrities
 Lives of the Most
Excellent
Painters,
Sculptors, and
Architects
Giorgio Vasari
1550
The Liberation of
Sculpture
 David by Donatello
 1430
3 Ninja Turtles!!!
1. Self-Portrait -- da Vinci, 1512
 Artist
 Sculptor
 Architect
 Scientist
 Engineer
 Inventor
1452 - 1519
Leonardo, the
Artist
 The Virgin of
the Rocks
 Leonardo da
Vinci
 1483-1486
The Last Supper - da Vinci, 1498
& Geometry
vertical
The Last Supper - da Vinci, 1498
horizontal
Perspective!
Deterioration
 Detail of
Jesus
 The Last
Supper
 Leonardo da
Vinci
 1498
Leonardo, the Sculptor
 An
Equestrian
Statue
 1516-1518
Leonardo, the Architect:
Pages from his Notebook
Study of a
central church.
1488
2. Michelangelo Buonorrati
 1475 – 1564
 He represented
the body in
three
dimensions of
sculpture.
 David
 Michelangelo
Buonarotti
 1504
 Marble
 15c
What
a
difference
a
century
makes!
16c 
The Popes as Patrons of the Arts
The Pieta
Michelangelo
Buonarroti
1499
marble
The Sistine
Chapel
Michelangelo
Buonarroti
1508 - 1512
The Sistine Chapel’s Ceiling
Michelangelo Buonarroti
1508 - 1512
The Sistine Chapel Details
The
Creation
of the
Heavens
The Sistine Chapel Details
Creation of Man
The Sistine Chapel Details
The Fall
from
Grace
The Sistine Chapel Details
The Last Judgment
3. Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520)
Self-Portrait, 1506
Portrait of the Artist with
a Friend, 1518
Baldassare Castiglione by Raphael,
1514-1515
 Castiglione
represented the
humanist
“gentleman” as
a man of
refinement and
self-control.
Perspective!
Betrothal
of the
Virgin
Raphael
1504
The School of Athens – Raphael, 1510 -11
Da Vinci
Raphael
Michelangelo
The School of Athens – Raphael, details
Plato:
looks to the
heavens [or
the IDEAL
realm].
Aristotle:
looks to this
earth [the
here and
now].
Averroes
Hypatia
Pythagoras
Zoroaster
Ptolemy
Euclid
Pope Leo X with Cardinal Giulio deMedici
and Luigi De Rossi by Raphael,
1518-1519
 A Medici Pope.
 He went through the
Vatican treasury in a
year!
 His extravagances
offended even some
cardinals [as well as
Martin Luther!].
 Started selling
indulgences.
Birth of Venus – Botticelli, 1485
An attempt to depict perfect beauty.
,
,
Should not be considered an appendage to Italian art.
-But, Italian influence was strong.
-Painting in OIL developed in Flanders, was
widely adopted in Italy.
,
-The differences between the two cultures:
Italy  change was inspired by humanism with its
emphasis on the revival of the values of classical
antiquity.
Northern Europe  change was driven by religious
reform, the return to Christian values, and the revolt
against the authority of the Church.
,
CHARACTERISTICS:
,
-More princes & kings were patrons of artists.
,
-The continuation of late medieval attention to details.
,
-Tendency toward realism & naturalism [less emphasis on the “classical ideal”].
,
-Interest in landscapes.
,
-More emphasis on middle-class and peasant life.
,
-Details of domestic interiors.
,
-Great skill in portraiture.
Jan van Eyck (1395 – 1441)
,
The Virgin and
Chancellor Rolin,
1435.
Giovanni
Arnolfini and
His Wife
(Wedding
Portrait)
Jan Van Eyck
1434
Jan van Eyck - Giovanni Arnolfini & His Wife
Rogier van der Weyden (1399-1464)
The
Deposition
1435
van der Weyden’s Deposition (details)
Quentin Massys (1465-1530)
Massys’ The Moneylender & His Wife, 1514
,
A new phase of Italian influence in France began with
the French invasions of the Italian peninsula that began
in 1494.
,
-The most important royal patron was Francis I.
 -Actively encouraged humanistic learning.
 -Invited da Vinci and Andrea del Sarto to France.
 -He collected paintings by the great Italian masters like
Titian, Raphael, and Michelangelo.
Jean Clouet – Portrait of Francis I, 1525
Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)
,
,
Court painter at
Wittenberg from
1505-1553.
His best portraits
were of Martin
Luther (to the
left).
Matthias Grünewald (1470-1528)
,
-Converted to
Lutheranism.
,
-Possibly involved in
the Peasants’ Revolt on
the peasants side.
,
-Depictions of intense
emotion, especially
painful emotion.
,
The Mocking of
Christ, 1503 
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
,
Self-Portrait at 26, 1498.
Dürer – Self-Portrait in Fur-Collared Robe, 1500
Dürer
The Last
Supper
woodcut, 1510
Durer – The Triumphal Arch, 1515-1517
The Triumphal Arch, details
The Triumphal Arch, details
Dürer
Four
Horsemen
of the
Apocalypse
woodcut, 1498
Hans Holbein, the Younger (1497-1543)
,
-One of the great German
artists who did most of his work
in England.
,
-While in Basel, he befriended
Erasmus.
-Henry VIII was his patron from
,
1536.
,
,
Great portraitist noted for:
 Objectivity & detachment.
 Doesn’t conceal the weaknesses of
his subjects.
Erasmus Writing, 1523 
Artist to the Tudors
Henry VIII (left), 1540
and the future Edward VI
(above), 1543.
Holbein’s, The Ambassadors, 1533
A Skull
Multiple Perspectives
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569)
,
One of the greatest artistic geniuses of his age.
,
Worked in Antwerp and then moved to Brussels.
,
In touch with a circle of Erasmian humanists.
,
Was deeply concerned with human vice and follies.
,
A lot of his work is biblical…parables
Bruegel’s, The Triumph of Death, 1562
Bruegel’s, Hunters in the Snow, 1565
Bruegel’s, Winter Scene, 1565
Bruegel’s, The Harvesters, 1565
,
master of landscapes; not a portraitist.
 -People in his works often have round, blank, heavy faces.
 -They are expressionless, mindless, and sometimes malicious.
 See The Beggars – next slide
Bruegel’s, The Beggars, 1568
Conclusions
,
The artistic production of Northern Europe in the 16c
was vast, rich, and complex.
,
The Northern Renaissance ended with a Mannerist phase,
which lasted a generation longer in the North than it did
in Italy, where it was outmoded by 1600.
Mannerism = maniera – style
, Distorted figures and exaggerated musculature and
and heightened color to express emotion
,
 Titian – master of color – Vivid Red & Blue
 Michalangelo – Last Judgement