Renaissance
1400-1600
“rebirth”
A time of renewed interest in science,
art and religion.
Masaccio Painter
• His most famous work can be found in the
Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine
in Florence.
•
Famous for many things
including the youthful
sculpture of David in
Florence. 1440
Donatello Sculptor
Brunelleschi Architect
The church, on which construction began in 1299, is crowned by the massive dome
designed by Brunelleschi almost two centuries later. This building did not have a roof
for over 175 years because it posed a major architectural challenge with the large area
the dome had to span.
Leonardo da Vinci scholar/artist
• People were recognizing their value as
humans and looking beyond religion toward
science to understand the workings of their
universe. One of the greatest minds of that
period was Leonardo da Vinci. Through his art
you can see his meticulousness and passion,
through his science, you can see his wisdom
and creativity.
Leonardo da Vinci
Vitruvian Man
divine proportion
Mona Lisa
Technique
• Sfumato
– The idea of sfumato
was to blend one
shade into another in
order to create
perceptions of depth,
form and volume. The
most famous example
of this technique is the
Mona Lisa.
Michelangelo Buonarroti
• A skilled painter who spent many years
completing the frescoes that adorn the Sistine
Chapel, Michelangelo had trained as a
sculptor and created two of the world's
greatest statues--the enormous David and the
emotional Pieta.
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Pieta
David
Technique
• Fresco There are two
types of frescoes, buon
fresco and fresco secco.
Buon fresco consisted of
mixing pigments with water,
and in fresco secco
pigments were mixed with
binding agents and painted
on dry plaster.
Frescos of the Sistine Chapel
Bellini
• Agony in the Garden 1465
Hans Holbein the Younger –
The Ambassadors
Technique
• Foreshortening
The idea of foreshortening is meant to add
depth to a painting by creating the illusion of
objects retreating into a background. One
artist known for this technique was Andrea
Mantegna.
Titian
Titian's first major public commission
in Venice, the Assumption of the Virgin
for the high altar of Santa Maria
Gloriosa dei Frari (1516–18),
established his place as the leading
painter of the city
Tintoretto
The Wedding Feast at Cana, c.1545
Technique
Humanism and Perspective
– Humanism was a means of reverting back to the
classical ideologies. The idea of perspective is to
create a three-dimensional appearance on a twodimensional object (e.g. canvas).
Botticelli
The Birth of Venus is a 1486 painting by Sandro Botticelli. It depicts the goddess
Venus, having emerged from the sea as a fully grown woman, arriving at the seashore. The painting is held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Caravaggio
• The Sacrifice of Isaac
1590-1610; Oil on canvas
Technique
• Chiaroscuro
–
This type of painting uses the contrast of light
and dark to create dimension to a painting, which
gives the illusion of depth or three-dimensionality.
An example of this technique would be works by
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, who
developed tenebrism (a form of chiaroscuro
where objects appear to emerge from
blackness).
Lorenzo Ghiberti
• Gates of Paradise
– Joseph being sold
into slavery(below)
Raphael
•
The School of Athens (1510 - 11)
Fresco
Technique
• Perspective
– Raphael’s best-known ‘prospettiva’ is the ‘School
of Athens’, a fresco painted on one wall of the
Raphaelle Stanze at the Vatican in 1510 (Figs. 4 &
6). It is a pre-eminent example of the perspective
construction, evoking a strong sense of both
depth and classical spirit
Use of perspective
Pieter Brueghel the Elder
• Return of the Hunters
– Oil on wood
Hieronymus Bosch
Garden of Earthly Delights
Exterior panels
closed
Garden of Earthy Delights
Triptych-three panels
Jan Van Eyck
Arnolfini Wedding
the artist has juxtaposed
secular and religious
themes in a work that
seems to have several levels
of meaning” (Stokstad 600)
including:The chandelier
has one lit candle signifying
matrimony and the unity of
marriage (Stokstad 600);
The man uses his left hand to support but does
not grasp the women’s hand. He holds his
right hand up as if he is taking an oath (Kloss
95);The removed shoes suggest sanctity
(Crenshaw 29);
The spotless convex mirror
on the back wall alludes to purity, and the
reflection of two other individuals in the room
(including the painter) infers that witnesses are
present
Technique
• Glazing
• Glazing is a technique employed by Flemish
masters such as J. Van Eyck. A painting began
with transparent glazes that differentiated the
shadows; the bulk of the painting included dark
tones. To create softer transitions between the
edges of these dark tones, a painter applied
transparent glazes that soften the lines over
transitional areas of the painting; in the same
way, a tinted lens will change the image
perceived by a camera.
Albrecht Durer
Technique
• Grid
– The Dürer Grid is a
modern adaptation of the
historic drawing tool used
by Renaissance artists,
such as Da Vinci and
Dürer. It is attributed to
Albrecht Dürer, whose
masterful drawings of the
16th century still amaze
us for their realism.
Giuseppe Arcimboldo
Fire
Vertumnus
Andrea Mantegna
The Lamentation over the Dead Christ
Tempera on canvas, 68x81 cm,
Technique
• Foreshortening The idea of foreshortening
is meant to add depth to a painting by
creating the illusion of objects retreating into
a background. One artist known for this
technique was Andrea Mantegna.