Assignment: Renaissance Art
• Examine the following slides on the art of the
Renaissance.
• Copy all notes into your notebook.
• Copy and answer all questions that are
presented to you in the PPT.
• Most of all, take the time to look at the
paintings, sculptures, and architecture. They
are all examples of Renaissance art.
• You do not need to copy the headings of slides
if they are just examples of art—example slide
4
Characteristics of Renaissance Art
• Still used religious topics, but with secular
themes
• Sculptors produced works celebrating the
individual and the “pagan” spirit of the day.
• New wealth and materialism led to palaces
and private residences beginning to rival the
magnificence of churches with collecting
Renaissance pieces.
Painting
• Before 1300 most
paintings were two
dimensional
• Giotto (Father of
Renaissance painting)
made painting more
lifelike by varying the
brightness of his colors
• The Lamentation
introduced new
contrasts of light and
shade and gave a
three-dimensional
lifelike quality
Giotto’s Return of Joachim to the
Sheepfold
• It was through patronage that the Renaissance
art was made possible
• Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli,
and many others were employed by popes
and leaders of the city-states
• Anatomical realism through Masaccio and
Botticelli
Masaccio’s “The Expulsion from
Paradise”—anatomical realism
Botticelli’s “Primavera”—view of
Platonism love
Lamentation over the Dead Christ (1490) shows Italian artists skill with
perspective. The down the body view captivates the eye as realistic
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
• lived Renaissance ideal of the
universal person: painter,
advisor to kings, engineer,
physiologist, botanist,
• Scientist and artist; produced
The Last Supper and the
Mona Lisa
• Produced many mechanical
designs
• Also study human anatomy
extensively
Leonardo’s Virgin
and Child With
Saints
Michelangelo (1475-1564)
• Pope Julius II commissioned
Michelangelo to paint the
Sistine Chapel over 4 years
– Sistine Chapel frescoes—10,000
sq. ft., 343 figures, 4 years to
complete
• Scenes from the Bible
• Perfect example of perspective,
anatomy, and motion
Michelangelo was a
sculptor, an architect,
a poet, and a painter.
This could be his
best scene ever.
What is it?
The Creation of Adam
Where is this found?
Religious focus?
Artists’ training
• Michelangelo and Leonardo received
training in Florence under Titian
– Kings and princes of Europe competed
for Titian’s service
• Many artists served as apprentices to
older artists before being
commissioned on their own.
• Rafael and Donatello were
apprentices
Raphael (1483-1520)
• Master of Renaissance
grace and style, theory and
technique
• large Vatican fresco: The
School of Athens
Sculpture
• Renaissance painting owed much of its threedimensional qualities to the painters’
knowledge of sculpture
• Giotto, Leonardo, and Michelangelo were
sculptors
Donatello (1386-1466)
• Father of Renaissance
sculpture
• Donatello’s huge bronze
statue of David was the
first sculptured male
nude in thousand years
Donatello’s Mary
Magdalen
• Made his subject all
skin and bone, lank
hair, and tattered
clothing
• Still is considered
saintly
Michelangelo
• Considered the
greatest sculptor of
all time
• A universal man
• Produced
masterpieces in
sculpture like an 18
foot David
Michelangelo’s Pieta
• Mary mourning the
limp body of Christ
is considered the
most perfect
marble carving
• Most statues weren’t meant to fill the
church, but some did
• Most made it into private collections or
into public squares
Cellini’s Perseus
Architecture
• Filippo Brunelleschi and
Leon Alberti studied
ancient Roman buildings
and used their principles
to design cathedrals
• St. Peter’s Cathedral in
Rome is a model of
Renaissance symmetry
– Designed by Michelangelo
who died before completion
in 1626
• Renaissance architects
relied heavily on Plato’s
writing on geometry
Brunelleschi’s Catherdal of Florence
Inside