The Italian Renaissance
Renaissance art was born out of a new,
rapidly evolving civilization. It was a time
period marked by the departure from the
medieval into the modern world.
Italy was the major catalyst for progress
during the Renaissance- the birth of new in
art, science, society and government.
Artists to Know:
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Masaccio
Botticelli
Da Vinci
Michelangelo
Titan
El Greco
Click on image for hyperlink to
a video
Pieta, Michelangelo, 1490, marble
http://www.cedcc.psu.edu/khanjan/europe_images/best_of_europe.htm
Renaissance= “re-birth”
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The Renaissance covers three centuries
The rebirth was found in artists, scholars,
scientists, philosophers, architects, and
rulers.
A rejection of the recent past (Medieval
and Gothic eras) led them to study the
ancient Greeks and Romans.
Renaissance Painting
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Began in the mid 13th century in Italy and
quickly spread all over Europe.
Humanism and Classicism were very important
to these artists.
Massaccio was the revolutionary painter of the
Renaissance.
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Born in 1401 In Florence Italy, he died when he was
27.
He studied Giotto’s work and included Giotto’s
humanity and spatial depth in his work.
Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise, c.
1427, Masaccio
http://www.artofcolour.com/fresco/fresco-image-files/masaccio-adam-eve.jpg
•Masaccio’s understanding of three-dimensions was
greatly owed to the sculptor and architects who came
before him.
•Sculptural realism lies at the heart of Renaissance
painting.
•Masaccio studied Donatello’s sculptures-he applied the
effects of real light falling onto objects and filtering
through spaces.
•In Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise, you see the
human emotions of horror, they are blinded with grief
and are unaware of anything but their own loss of
happiness.
Masaccio had a concern for the true appearance of thingspainting shadows with authority and placing people’s feet
so that they looked as if they were actually on the ground.
St. Jerome and St. John the Baptist,
c.1428, Masaccio
http://keptar.demasz.hu/arthp/art/m/masaccio/jerome.jpg
David, Donatello, This was one of the first nude statues
of the Renaissance c.1430
Botticelli
Primavera, Botticelli, c. 1482, 10’4” x 6’9”, Tempera on wood
http://www.wga.hu/art/b/botticel/5allegor/10primav.jpg
Neo-Platonism
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This was a new school of philosophy that mixed
elements from classical Greek systems and
Christian beliefs.
Botticelli’s Primavera displays a link between
nature and humankind. It contains mythical
creatures including Venus, Mercury, Zephyr,
Chloris, Flora, Cupid and the Three Graces.
Cupid was one of the most popular figures in
Renaissance art.
The High Renaissance
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The Florentine artists Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo, the Umbrian- Raphael, and the
Venetian, Titan were some of the greatest
artists ever known.
A common theme links these four artists:
Each artist began his career with an
apprenticeship to a painter of good standing.
Each took the same path of accepting and then
transcending the influence of his master.
Da Vinci
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Leonardo da Vinci- (1452 – 1519)
A genius who came from an insignificant
background and rose to universal
acclaim.
His overabundance of talents may have
caused him to take his artistry lightly-he
seldom finished a picture.
“The first object of the painter is to
make a flat plane appear as a body in
relief and projecting from that plane”da Vinci
“Life is pretty simple: You do
some stuff. Most fails. Some
works. You do more of what
works. If it works big, others
quickly copy it. Then you do
something else. The trick is
the doing something else.”Da Vinci
Cecilia Gallarani, Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1485
http://home.uchicago.edu/~laporte/music.htm
Virgin of the Rocks, da Vinci, c. 1508,
Oil on wood
http://www.leonardo-davinci.net.au/images/TheVirginoftheRocks.jpg
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The "Mona Lisa" is a picture of
Lisa Gioconda, the real-life wife of
a merchant, but that's far from
certain. For da Vinci, the "Mona
Lisa" was forever a work in
progress, as it was his attempt at
perfection. The painting was never
delivered to its commissioner; da
Vinci kept it with him until the end
of his life. Today, the "Mona Lisa"
hangs in the Louvre Museum in
Paris, France, secured behind
bulletproof glass, and is regarded
as a priceless national treasure.
Mona Lisa, oil on panel, da Vinci
1503-1519
SPAIN, March 22, 2012 – “The Mona Lisa”, the
most well known painting in the world, has a
twin that is now the center of attention.
Replica of the Mona Lisa, unveiled in 2012,
Painted by an unknown apprentice side by
side Da Vinci in his studio
The Prado Museum unveiled their Mona Lisa, or
“La Gioconda” at a press conference on February
1st and on February 21st to throngs of eager art
enthusiasts. Painted by one of Leonardo da
Vinci’s disciples simultaneously, between 1503
and 1506, and in the same workshop, “La
Gioconda” stands out among all other copies.
The painting had been stored in The Prado since
1819, considered one of many replicas painted
after Da Vinci’s time.
“La Gioconda” is not just a good quality replica.
It is virtually identical to Da Vinci’s, yet has one
advantage; while the varnish of the original is
discolored and faded, La Gioconda’s is as vibrant
as Da Vinci fist desired.
Using infrared reflectography as they compared
both paintings, researchers at The Prado
identified corrections made throughout the
process, all of which were identical. Thus, they
deduced with certainty that Da Vinci and his
apprentice painted both side by side. Museum
experts narrowed possible painters down to
Francesco Melzi and Andrea Salai, Da Vinci’s two
best and closest students
Michelangelo Buonarroti
(1475-1564)
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Leonardo da Vinci did not exert the
influence on future artists like
Michelangelo only because his artwork
was of another world.
Michelangelo resisted the paintbrush,
learning from his teacher (Ghirlandaio)
how to chisel marble and to draw.
Only the power of the pope forced him
into the Sistine Chapel and his
reluctance led to the world’s greatest
single fresco.
Beauty was divine to him, one of the
ways, he believed, that God
communicated with humanity.
In the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo
spells out the story of creation in a
complex and filled with power.
“If you knew how much work went
into it, you wouldn’t call it genius”.
-Michelangelo
http://history.hanover.edu/courses/art/micsis3.jpg
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/sistine/0s-Sistine.jpg
http://www.twingroves.district96.k12.il.us/Renaissance/SistineChapel/Michelangelo/Michelangelo%20Gifs/sistine3.jpg
The Creation of Man, from the Sistine Chapel ceiling, 1511-12
http://www.bioeng.auckland.ac.nz/information/newsletters/nov04/sistine_chapel.jpg
David, 1501-04, 14’3” tall, marble
http://faculty.evansville.edu/rl29/art105/img/michelangelo_david2.jpg
The Last Judgment, detail, west wall of Sistine
Chapel, self-portrait as flayed skin
being held by St. Bartholomew, 1537-41
http://faculty.evansville.edu/rl29/art105/img/michelangelo_david2.jpg
Titan: The “Modern Painter”
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The third area of art development in Italy
was Venice.
Bellini taught two artists: Giorgione and
Titian
Titian’s work incorporated landscapes and
poetry into his paintings
He became the most sought after
portraitist of his day.
Man with Gloves, Titian, 1523
Oil on canvas
Portrait of Ranuccio Farnese, Titian,
1542, oil on canvas
Northern Renaissance
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The influence of artistic discoveries
(scientific perspective and a link back to
Greek and Roman art) did not make it’s
way to the North for 75 more years.
Artists working in Switzerland, Germany,
northern France and the Netherlands had
a style that developed from a fondness of
recreating the visual world.
Religious artwork
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Robert Campin’s Merode Altarpice
demonstrates his intuitive perspective
(they had no information of the principles
of linear perspective in Northern Europe)
Despite his inconsistent perspective, his
symbolic painting us an example of sheer
beauty
The Mérode Altarpiece is a triptych by the Early Netherlandish painter Robert Campin
(This should be familiar to you, since it was presented in Gothic power point)
Symbolism:
Mary’s purity is symbolized by the
lily on the table, the just-extinguished
candle
Mary sits on the floor to show her humility,
and the folds of her dress, and the way
the light plays on them, create a star,
probably alluding to many theological
comparisons of Mary to a star or stars.
The tiny infant on the cross descends
into the room from the light in the window
symbolizes the embryo of Jesus
entering Mary’s womb by God’s will
Joseph is working in his carpenter shop
On a mousetrap, symbolizing Jesus
Trapping the devil.
The donors, in the left panel, watch the
scene
Late Renaissance
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The High Renaissance is generally thought
to have ended with the death of Raphael
in 1520.
Titian and Michelangelo were still working,
however, a new style called Mannerism
was emerging.
Mannerism
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Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years
of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in
Italy, when the Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism
continued into the early 17th century.[1]
Stylistically, Mannerism encompasses a variety of approaches influenced by,
and reacting to, the harmonious ideals and restrained naturalism associated
with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and early Michelangelo.
Mannerism is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial
(as opposed to naturalistic) qualities.
The definition of Mannerism, and the phases within it, continues to be the
subject of debate among art historians. For example, some scholars have
applied the label to certain early modern forms of literature (especially
poetry) and music of the 16th and 17th centuries. The term is also used to
refer to some Late Gothic painters working in northern Europe from about
1500 to 1530, especially the Antwerp Mannerists—a group unrelated to the
Italian movement. Mannerism also has been applied by analogy to the
Silver Age of Latin.
Madonna with the Long Neck,
Parmigianino’s Mannerist work from 1534-40
Mannerism makes itself known by elongated
proportions, affected poses and eerie
perspective .
Château de Fontainebleau
The Palace of Fontainebleau, located 55
kilometres from the centre of Paris, is one
of the largest French royal châteaux.
The palace introduced to France the Italian Mannerist style in interior decoration
and in gardens, and transformed them in the translation. The French Mannerist
style of interior decoration of the 16th century is known as the "Fontainebleau
style": it combined sculpture, metalwork, painting, stucco and woodwork, and
outdoors introduced the patterned garden parterre. The Fontainebleau style
combined allegorical paintings in moulded plasterwork where the framing was
treated as if it were leather or paper, slashed and rolled into scrolls and combined
with arabesques and grotesques. Fontainebleau ideals of female beauty are
Mannerist: a small neat head on a long neck, exaggeratedly long torso and limbs _
almost a return to Late Gothic beauties
Rosso Francois I Gallery, Château de Fontainebleau, France.
Rosso Fiorentino, brought
Florentine mannerism to
Fontainebleau in 1530,
where he became one of
the founders of the French
16th-century Mannerism
called the "School of
Fontainebleau".
The examples of a rich
and hectic decorative style
at Fontainebleau
transferred the Italian
style, through the medium
of engravings, to Antwerp
and thence throughout
Northern Europe, from
London to Poland, and
brought Mannerist design
into luxury goods like
silver and carved furniture.
A sense of tense
controlled emotion
expressed in elaborate
symbolism and allegory,
and elongated proportions
of female beauty are
characteristics of his style.
El Greco's dramatic and expressionistic style was
met with puzzlement by his contemporaries but
found appreciation in the 20th century. El Greco
is regarded as a precursor of both Expressionism
and Cubism, while his personality and works
were a source of inspiration for poets and
writers such as Rainer Maria Rilke and Nikos
Kazantzakis. El Greco has been characterized by
modern scholars as an artist so individual that
he belongs to no conventional school.
He is best known for tortuously elongated
figures and often fantastic or
phantasmagorical pigmentation, marrying
Byzantine traditions with those of Western
painting.[4]
In this, his greatest surviving landscape,
El Greco portrays the city he lived and
worked in most of his life.
Toledo, El Greco
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"I hold the imitation
of color to be the
greatest difficulty of
art."
— El Greco, from
notes of the painter
in one of his
commentaries
Click image for fun video on
the basic history of the Italian Renaissance
El Greco, Adoration of the Shepards,
1596-1600