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World History Unit 1 Day 2 Handout 3
The Science of Renaissance Art
During the Middle Ages (a period of European history from the third through 13th centuries), art and learning were
centered on the church and religion. But at the start of the 14th century (1300 A.D.), people became less interested in
thinking about God, heaven and the saints, and more interested in thinking about themselves, their surroundings and
their everyday lives. Part of this change was influenced by the study of ancient Greek and Roman writings on scientific
matters, government, philosophy, and art. When scholars during the Renaissance began to study these writings, their
interests turned away from traditional areas of study such as religion, medicine and the law. The people of the
Renaissance became interested in other areas of science, the natural world, biology and astronomy. People now studied
mathematics, engineering, and architecture. Artists, writers, musicians and composers began creating work outside of the
church. Artists signed their work and authors wrote autobiographies and memoirs — stories about themselves.
The values and ideals popular during the European Renaissance can be described by the term secular humanism: secular,
meaning not religious and humanism, meaning placing the
The central figures
study and progress of human nature at the center of
of the Madonna
interests.
and child in this
painting from the
The rise of Humanism can be seen in paintings created by
late Middle Ages
Renaissance artists. During the Middle Ages, saints in
are much larger
paintings wore halos (a ring or circle of light) around their
than the four saints
heads. Artists also used hieratic scale in paintings during
who stand below
the Middle Ages, making saints or members of the family of
the Madonna or the
God larger in scale than ordinary or less important figures.
angels gathered
As Humanism became more popular during the
around the upper
Renaissance, ordinary people grew to be the same size as
edges of the
saints in paintings and saints began to look more like
painting. The artists
ordinary people. For example, halos became fainter and
made the Madonna
eventually disappeared during the Renaissance.
and child larger to
help viewers
Saints occupied the same landscape as ordinary people in
understand that
Renaissance paintings and the landscape was earth instead Jacopa di Cione
they are the most
of heaven. In the Middle Ages it was common for artists to
important figures in
Madonna and Child in Glory
represent figures of heaven against a gold background, a
the painting.
1360/65
symbol for the beauty and value of the atmosphere of
Tempera and gold on panel
heaven. As Renaissance artists experimented with new
Humanist ideas, the natural landscape began to appear as a
background in paintings. Saints left their golden atmosphere
to occupy the same gardens, forests and buildings that
everyday people lived in.
During the Renaissance, the use mathematical
perspective to represent space in paintings was
invented. Earlier attempts at representing space
often resulted in furniture or buildings that look just
a little "off." Using mathematical formulas, instead
of just the human eye, gave artists new tools to
represent three-dimensional space in a convincing
way. Renaissance paintings began to give the
impression that the frame around the painting was a
window frame, and looking at the painting was like
looking through a window.
This Renaissance
painting portrays
the holy family of
Mary, Joseph and
baby Jesus are
joined here by
shepherds and an
angel in the center
playing a lute. The
landscape around
them is earthly
rather than
heavenly.
Renaissance painters needed to be able to translate
the three-dimensional world around them onto the
two-dimensional surface of a painting, called the
Giovanni Agostino da Lodi
"picture plane." The solution was "linear
Adoration of the Shepherds
perspective"; the idea that converging lines meet at
1510
a single vanishing
Oil on panel
point and all shapes get smaller in all directions
with increasing distance
from the eye. The discovery of perspective is
attributed to the architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), who suggested a system that explained how objects shrink in
size according to their position and distance from the eye.
Another artistic invention of the Renaissance was oil paints. In the Middle
Ages, egg tempera was used most widely. Egg tempera was make by mixing
egg yolks with pigments. Artists made their own paints. Egg tempera dried
quickly and created a flat, rough surface. Oil paint was invented in the early
15th century and created great excitement among Renaissance artists. Oil
paint dried slowly, and was translucent, meaning light could shine through
the paint. The characteristics of oil paint allowed artists to build layers of
color and create paintings with the appearance of greater depth.
Leonardo da Vinci was known for being an architect, scientist, painter,
sculptor, inventor, mathematician, engineer, botanist, musician, and writer.
He was the definition of a Renaissance Man, which is a person who is
talented in many different areas. Da Vinci would dissect dead human bodies
to learn more about them. He learned the functions of many different organs
and systems in our bodies, and it also helped him to better draw people by
learning correct proportions and the extent and limit of movement of different
parts of the body.
Short essays (7-10 sentences) Please use the reading to complete BOTH questions. These are due at the END OF
THIS CLASS PERIOD and will NOT be accepted as homework.
1. In what ways did science change art during the Renaissance?
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2. During the Renaissance, people changed the way they thought and the things they had valued during the Middle Ages.
What were some of these changes? How did they affect art?
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