THE RENAISSANCE
The Book Of Hours: Autumn Months
Limbourg Brothers
GOTHIC YIELDS TO THE RENAISSANCE
•
figures start to look like real people, displaying real emotions
•
naturalistic representation (this is found in Gothic art / architecture, and
even more so in Renaissance)
•
if the figures in the Reims portal (Gothic Cathedral) seem to about to step
off their columns, Renaissance figures actually do so
•
for the first time since classical antiquity, human beings are represented as
casting actual shadows on the ground
•
actual space is rendered (perspective)
THE RENAISSANCE
•
Renaissance means REBIRTH
•
in Europe, toward the end of the thirteenth century, a new kind of art began to appear, at
first in the south, and somewhat later in the north
•
by the beginning of the fifteenth century, this new era, marked by a revival of interest in
arts and sciences that had been lost since antiquity, was firmly established
•
ITALIAN RENAISSANCE : 1300s - 1500s
•
HIGH RENAISSANCE : 1490’s - 1527
•
NORTHERN RENAISSANCE : 1497 – 1500s
DONATELLO
•  c. 1386 – 1466
•  the most important
early Renaissance
sculptor in Florence
David
Donatello
c. 1425 - 30
BOTICELLI
•  c. 1445 – 1510
•  painted in the style of
Early Renaissance
•  worked under the
patronage of Lorenzo de’
Medici
Primavera
Boticelli
1482
Birth of Venus
Boticelli
c. 1482 - 1485
HIGH RENAISSANCE
•
began around the 1490’s and ended around 1527
•
the start date is attributed to da Vinci’s Last Supper and the death of Lorenzo de’ Medici
(an extremely wealthy patron of the arts, especially for Botticelli and Michelangelo)
•
the end date is specific due to the sacking of Rome in 1527
•
the visual arts of the High Renaissance were marked by a renewed emphasis upon the
classical tradition, the expansion of networks of patronage, and a gradual attention of
figural forms into the style later termed Mannerism (Wikipedia)
LEONARDO DA VINCI
•
1452 - 1519
•
painter, sculptor, engineer, cartographer,
inventor
•
credited with the inventions of the parachute,
tank, and helicopter
•
widely considered to be the most diversely
talented person ever to have lived in the
Western world as well as one of the greatest
painters of all time (Wikipedia)
Vitruvian Man
Leonardo da Vinci
c. 1492
Annunciation
Leonardo da Vinci
1475 – 1480
Tank
Leonardo da Vinci
1487
Backwards Writing
Leonardo da Vinci
The Last Supper
Leonardo da Vinci
1520
Mona Lisa
Leonardo da Vinci
1503 – 1507
Lady with Ferret
Leonardo da Vinci
1489 - 1490
RAPAHEL
•
1483 – 1520
•
Learned from both Leonardo and Michelangelo
•
in 1508 was awarded the largest commissions of the
day, the decoration of the papal apartments at the
Vatican in Rome
•
on the four walls of the first room, the Stanza della
Segnatura, he painted frescoes representing the four
domains of knowledge – Theology, Law, Poetry, and
Philosophy
•
the most famous of these is the last, The School of
Athens (1509 -1511)
PLATO
ARISTOTLE
Concerned
with the
spiritual
world of
Ideas (he is
pointing
upwards).
Concerned
with the
matter-of-factness of
material reality (he is
pointing over the
ground upon which
he walks).
MICHELANGELO
Portrayed as the
philosopher
Heraclitus, the
brooding, selfabsorbed figure in
the foreground.
Small Cowper
Madonna
Raphael
1505
Madonna of the
Meadows
Raphael
1506
Madonna Sixtina
Raphael
1513 - 14
NORTHERN RENAISSANCE
•  Renaissance that occurred in
Europe north of the Alps
•  before 1497, Italian
Renaissance humanism had
little influence outside of Italy
•  from the late 15th century, its
ideas spread around Europe
NORTHERN RENAISSANCE
•
this influenced the German
Renaissance, French Renaissance,
English Renaissance, Renaissance
in the Low Countries (Belgium,
Netherlands, French Flanders),
Polish Renaissance (Wikipedia)
PETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER
•
c. 1525 - 1569
•
Dutch Renaissance Painter known for his
Genre Painting (scenes of daily life)
•
in 1565, Bruegel was commissioned to
make a series of paintings portraying
each month of the year
•
today, few of these paintings survive
and some of the months are paired to
form a general season (Wikipedia)
The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind
Peter Bruegel the Elder
1568
The Hunters in Snow (January)
Peter Bruegel the Elder
1565
Gloomy Day (February)
Peter Bruegel the Elder
1565
The Return of the Herd (November)
Peter Bruegel the Elder
1565
MICHELANGELO
•
1475 - 1564
•
identified as a sculptor
•
on May 10, 1506, Michelangelo received
an advance payment from Pope Julius II
to undertake the task of frescoing the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the
Vatican in Rome
•
by the end of July, a scaffolding had
been erected
MICHELANGELO
•  by September of 1508,
Michelangelo was painting,
and for the next four and a
half years, he worked
almost without interruption
on the project
Pieta
Michelangelo
1498 – 99
David
Michelangelo
1501 - 04
The Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo
c. 1508 - 1512
Creation of Adam
Michelangelo
c. 1511 - 1512
Studies for the
Libyan Sibyl
Michelangelo
c. 1510
The Libyan Sibyl
Michelangelo
c. 1510
The Sistine Chapel :
The Last Judgement
Michelangelo
1534 - 41
MEANING IN THE LAST JUDGEMENT
•
figures of grotesque proportion
arranged in an almost chaotic, certainly
athletic, swirl of line
•
this piece, in particular, is a nod to the
shift in visual preferences - from the
High Renaissance feelings of “balance
and proportion” to a mannered,
“consciously artificial,” and stylized
approach in Mannerism
This remnant of a
person is
supposedly
Michelangelo
himself.
MANNERISM
•
started in Italy around 1520, after Raphael’s death
•
highly individualistic and mannered (consciously artificial)
•
dedicated to “invention” – the technical and imaginative virtuosity of the
artist became paramount importance
•
colors are often bright and clashing
•
more than one focal point might be utilized, making a rather contradictory
scene
Madonna with the
Long Neck
Parmigianino
1534 - 1535
Deposition
from the Cross
Pontormo
1525 - 1528
Venus, Cupid,
Folly, and Time
(Allegory of Lust)
Bronzino
c. 1545
TIME
FRAUD AND OBLIVION
CUPID
VENUS
JEALOUSY, DESPAIR,
AND THE EFFECTS
OF SYPHILIS
JEST, FOLLY, PLEASURE
The Burial of
Count Orgaz
El Greco (“The Greek”)
1586