PART FIVE
Key Styles for this chapter include:
• Early Renaissance
• High Renaissance
• Northern Renaissance
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Key Terms for this chapter include:
• oil painting: sfumato and chiaroscuro
• linear and atmospheric perspective
• humanist
• Plato and Neo-Platonism
• art patron
• Medici family
• academy
• Mannerism
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Renaissance
Covering the period from roughly
1400 to 1600, Renaissance means
“rebirth ”. It refers to the revival of interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture. This interest is one of the key characteristics of the period.
• The new and very rich merchant class joined nobility and clergy as art patrons .
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Renaissance
Artists were learned persons whose creative powers were viewed as almost miraculous. They were considered a breed apart because of their abilities, and they transcended social class.
• Painting, sculpture, and architecture were held as intellectual activities allied with mathematics, science, and poetry.
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Renaissance
Influenced by the Greek philosopher
Plato , beauty became equated with moral goodness. Renaissance artists sought an idealized beauty.
• Humankind was viewed as God’s finest and most perfect creation.
• Reason and creativity were considered
God’s gifts .
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Renaissance
• Artists worked to reproduce the natural world as accurately as possible.
• Studying the effects of light, they developed the technique of chiaroscuro .
• Noting that distant objects appeared smaller than near ones, they developed the system of linear perspective .
• Seeing how detail and color blurred with distance, they developed the principles of atmospheric perspective .
• Artists studied anatomy, even dissecting cadavers, to fully understand the human form.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestions:
16.2 The Story of Jacob and Esau
16.3 Trinity with the Virgin, St. John the Evangelist, and Donors
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Early Renaissance
The Early Renaissance is characterized by the work of artists like Donatello , Ghiberti ,
Masaccio and Botticelli .
• Donatello: A sculptor; used the body as the framework on which the fabric draped.
• Sculptors created full-scale clay models of nude figures, then draped clay-soaked linen over the clay models to create garments. This model was then copied in marble.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestion:
16.1 St. Mark
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*St. Mark, Donatello, 1411-13, 7’9”, marble.

Early Renaissance
• Ghiberti: Designed the baptistry doors for the Florence cathedral; his great innovation was the use of architecture and figures on the same scale in his work.
• Masaccio: A painter; used the new technique of linear perspective to create deep, convincing architectural space within his work; used a triangular composition symbolic of the Godhead.
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Left – Trinity with the Virgin, St John the Evangelist, & Donors,
Massacio, fresco, 1425
Right – The Story of Jacob and Esau, Lorenzo Ghiberti, 1435

Early Renaissance
• Botticelli: A painter; worked for the Medici family who commissioned secular artwork.
• Medicis: A wealthy merchant class family who were art patrons ; they sponsored an Academy
(discussion group) where humanist scholars and artists met to discuss Classical culture and its relationship to Christianity . These two combined systems of thought created a philosophy known as Neo-Platonism .
Insert visual(s).
Suggestion: 16.6 The Birth of Venus
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*The Birth of Venus, Botticelli, tempera, 1480

High Renaissance
The High Renaissance lasted for about 25 years ending around 1520. The most outstanding and recognized artists of this period are:
Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo
• Other well-known artists include Raphael , Titian , and Giorgione .
Insert visual(s).
Suggestions:
5.21 Study of Human Proportions
16.8 David
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High Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci
• Embodies the term “ Renaissance man ”; many consider him to have been the greatest genius who ever lived.
• A painter, inventor, sculptor, architect, engineer, scientist, musician.
• Left many works uncompleted.
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Study of Human Proportions, Vitruvian
Man, da Vinci

High Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci
• The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper are his most famous works.
• Sfumato: Italian for “smoke” ; Leonardo’s specialty; a layering of translucent glazes producing a hazy atmosphere, softened contours, and velvet shadows.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestions:
2.4 Mona Lisa
4.45 Last Supper
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*Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, 1503-05

*Madonna and Child with
Saint Anne, da Vinci, 1503-6
Purpose to suggest theological meaning .
3 form single unit
3 generations
Lamb- symbol of Jesus’ future sacrifice
Tree symbolic of cross he will die on.
Sfumato- hazy atmosphere

High Renaissance
Michelangelo
• 25 years younger than Leonardo but his greatest rival.
• A painter, sculptor, poet, and architect.
The artist considered himself a sculptor above all else.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestions:
16.10 Sistine Chapel p.375 Portrait of Michelangelo
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*Pieta, Michelangelo, 1500

*Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo, Vatican, 1473-80, fresco

• David, Michelangelo,
1501-4, Marble, 18’
• Commissioned
• Greeks knew how bodies looked on outside.
Renaissance artists knew how they looked on inside.
• Expressive face
• Symbol of Florence

High Renaissance
Michelangelo
• Tension and energy are characteristics that make David a Renaissance sculpture.
• The Sistine Chapel is another of his famous works. It is a fresco and depicts stories, prophets, and sybils from the Bible’s Old
Testament.
• He was the architect of the new St. Peter’s
Basilica in the Vatican.
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The Tempest, Giorgione, Oil on canvas, 1505.

Northern Renaissance
The Northern Renaissance evolved out of the Middle Ages. This artwork is characterized by the artists interest in details.
• The Limbourg Brothers, Van Eyck, Grunewald,
Hans Holbein the Younger, and Durer are just a few of the artists associated with this period.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestions:
16.16 February
16.20 The Ambassadors
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*February, Limbourgh Brothers, 9”, 1416
The Ambassadors, Hans Holbein the Younger, Oil, 1533.

*Merode Altarpiece, Robert Campin, Oil,
1426

Luke Drawing the Virgin, Rogier can der Weyden, 1435, Oil

Northern Renaissance
The artists interest in details stems from a long tradition of decorative arts including miniatures, manuscript illumination, stained glass, and tapestries .
• They were interested in the precise outer appearance of their subjects.
• Religious artwork tended to be emotionally harsh .
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*The Harvesters, Petier Brueghel the Elder, 1565, oil. Netherland artist

Late Renaissance
Scholars generally date the end of the
High Renaissance in Italy to the death of Raphael in 1520. It was followed by a style called Mannerism.
• Mannerism: Comes from the Italian maniera , meaning “style” or “stylishness ”.
Insert visual(s).
Suggestion: 16.24 The Last Supper
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Late Renaissance: Mannerism
• This artwork grew out of possibilities suggested by the work of the High
Renaissance, especially Michelangelo.
• Characterized by a fondness for elaborate or obscure subject matter .
• The artwork of Bronzino typifies the
Mannerist style.
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Renaissance: SUMMARY
Key Styles and Terms covered:
Early, High, Northern Renaissance
• oil painting: sfumato and chiaroscuro
• linear and atmospheric perspective
• humanist
• Plato and Neo-Platonism
• art patron
• Medici family
• Academy
• Mannerism
© 2013, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

Compare and contrast the two paintings below. Discuss periods and specific characteristics .