Analyzing Renaissance Art Project
The descriptions of each characteristic of Renaissance Art are located on page 2 of this assignment. With a partner, each
of you will pick one piece of art from the Renaissance period and analyze that artwork. Consider the following
information as you and your partner choose your artworks and include this following information in your descriptions:

Name of the artwork

Person who created the artwork

What year was it created

Type of artwork (statue, fresco, painting, drawing?)

Explanation of how the artwork contains all 5 characteristics (Realism, Humanism, Individualism, Secularism &
Perspective)
Step 1: Using a school-issued iPad, y ou will search google images to select a piece of art & save the image to your
camera roll.
Step 2: Open iMovie and paste your picture into the iMovie 6 times, similar to creating 6 powerpoint slides. Once for the
name, person and year and one time for each characteristic.
Step 3: Add a title for each time the picture is inserted.
Step 4: Record your narrated description (your voice recorded) of how the artwork meets all 5 characteristics.
Step 5: Repeat same steps for partner
Step 6: Save and upload iMovie to Camera Roll
Step 7: log into google drive app and upload both iMovies from Camera Roll. Share with bpitcher@lz95.net.
All projects will be viewed in class and you will have the opportunity to participate in an electrnoic discussion about the
artwork shared by all of your classmates.
Grading Criteria:
Item
Pictures inserted
Name of each artwork
Name of each artist
Year each was created
Type of artwork for each
Characteristics (titles) & narration
Participation in small group & class
TOTAL POINTS
Point Value
/2
/2
/2
/2
/2
/5
/5
/15
The 14th century was a time of great crisis; the plague, the Hundred Years war, and the turmoil in the Catholic Church all
shook people’s faith in government, religion, and their fellow man. In this dark period Europeans sought a new start, a
cultural rebirth, a renaissance.
The Renaissance began in Italy where the culture was surrounded by the remnants of a once glorious empire. Italians
rediscovered the writings, philosophy, art, and architecture of the ancient Greeks and Romans and began to see antiquity
as a golden age which held the answers to reinvigorating their society. Humanistic education, based on rhetoric, ethics and
the liberal arts, was pushed as a way to create well-rounded citizens who could actively participate in the political process.
Humanists celebrated the mind, beauty, power, and enormous potential of human beings. They believed that people were
able to experience God directly and should have a personal, emotional relationship to their faith. God had made the world
but humans were able to share in his glory by becoming creators themselves.
These new cultural movements gave inspiration to artists, while Italy’s trade with Europe and Asia produced wealth that
created a large market for art. Prior to the Renaissance Period, art was largely commissioned by the Catholic Church,
which gave artists strict guidelines about what the finished product was to look like. Medieval art was decorative,
stylized, flat, and two-dimensional and did not depict the world or human beings very realistically. But a thriving
commercial economy distributed wealth not just to the nobility but to merchants and bankers who were eager to show
their status by purchasing works of art (the Church remained a large patron of the arts as well). Artists were allowed
greater flexibility in what they were to produce, and they took advantage of it by exploring new themes and techniques.
Realism – during the Middle Ages artists were hired, paid by the Church and instructed on what to paint.
Renaissance art deals with the realistic treatment of material elements, both natural and man-made. Real items,
people and places were depicted in Renaissance art. The artwork portrays them exactly how they would be in real
life.
Humanism – studying topics related to humans, their accomplishments, and their potential. Among the most
important topics in this return to classical education were history, literature, and philosophy (all of these very human
topics). Together we refer to these topics today as “the humanities.”
Perspective – creates the appearance of three dimensions. Classical artists had used perspective but medieval artist
abandoned the technique. It is based on an optical illusion. As parallel lines stretch away from a view they seem to
draw together, until they meet at a spot on the horizon called the vanishing point.
Individualism – belief in the unique and valuable qualities of each person in society. This idea emphasized the
worth of all people and celebrated the things that made them different from others, including their physical
appearance, personalities, talents and skills
Secularism – dealing with non-religious subject matter. The philosophy, literature, and art of the Renaissance began
to include non-religious themes. Shakespeare, for instance, wrote plays that investigated very human topics like
jealousy, love revenge and political power.