Chapter 16: Renaissance
& Baroque Europe
Miss McAlpine
Week 6
What are we doing?
• Syllabus updated
• Head count for Warhol
• Review previous material
• Introduce Renaissance
Comparison
• Greeks  focused on idealized physical form
• Romans  emphasized physical accuracy
• Middle Ages  focused on spiritual concerns rather
than physical existence
• Renaissance  portrayed Christian subjects in human
terms
Renaissance
• Shift in attitude from religious dedication of the
Middle Ages to the new philosophical, literary, and
artistic movement – called humanism
• Shift from God and the hereafter to humankind and
the here and now
• Renaissance = rebirth
“Lamentation” by Giotto di Bondone;
Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy
The Renaissance in
Italy
The Renaissance in
Italy
• Italy was the principle homeland of the Renaissance
• Artists sought to integrate Christian spiritual traditions
with rational ordering of physical life
• Began intense study of anatomy and light
• Linear perspective – based on the fact that parallel
lines or edges appear to converge and objects appear
smaller as the distance between them and the viewer
increases
“The Holy Trinity” by
Masaccio
Florence, Italy
Donatello
• Brought Greek ideal of human into Christian context
• Works:
• “David”
• “Mary Magdalene”
“David” by Donatello
Medici Family
• Dominated the life of Florence and Tuscany with great
political skill and certain wealthiness
• It is thought that “David” was commissioned for this
family
• Commissioned “Birth of Venus”
“Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli
The High Renaissance
10 min break
The High Renaissance
• 1490-1530
• Reached peak of accomplishments in Florence, Rome
and Venice
• Developed style of art that was calm, balanced, and
idealized
• Christian theology + Greek philosophy + science of
the day
Leonardo da Vinci
• Motivated by strong
curiosity and belief
in the human ability
to understand the
physical world
• Kept many journals
• “Babe in Womb”
• “Mona Lisa”
• “The Last Supper”
• Believed art and
science came to the
same end –
knowledge
“The Babe in the Womb”
“Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da
Vinci; 1503-1506
“The Last Supper” by
Leonardo da Vinci
Michelangelo
Buonarroti
• Works of art:
• “David”
• “The Sistine Chapel”
“David” by
Michelangelo
Buonarroti
“The Creation of Adam” by
Michelangelo
Raphael
• Warmth and gentleness in contrast to Leonardo’s
Solitary
• Most expressive is the clarity and balance, which
marked the art of the period
• Paintings present his awareness of the divine in
humans
“The School of Athens” by Raphael
Pope Leo X
• Medici ascendant
• Wanted to illustrate important events in the “Acts of
the Apostles”
“Paul Preaching at
Athens” by Raphael
Renaissance in
Northern Europe
The Renaissance in
Northern Europe
• Interest in realism arose in Northern Europe
• Artists to look at:
• Jan van Eyck
• Albrecht Durer
• Lindbourg Brothers
Jan van eyck
• Leading painter in Flanders (present day Belgium)
• One of the first to use Oil paints
• Painted detail, illusion of depth, directional light,
mass, rich textures
“The Arnolfini
Portrait” by Jan van
Eyck
“The Knight, Death, and
the Devil” by Durer
“Les Tres Riches Heues du
Duc de Berry”
From “The Book of
Hours”
By
The Limbourg Brothers
LATE RENAISSANCE IN
ITALY
Late Renaissance in
Italy
• Later in 16th cent. Architects made a deliberate effort
to rethink and extend classical rules
“Villa Rotonda” by Andrea
Palladio
“Feast in the House of Levi”
by Paolo Veronese
Baroque
1600-1700
Baroque
• Dramatic use of light, scale and composition
• Art often appeals to emotion first
• Foreshortening
“The Conversion of St. Paul”
by Michelangelo Merisi da
Caravaggio
“David” by Bernini
“The Ecstasy of St. Teresa”
by Bernini
“Maids of Honor”
by Diego Valazquez
de Silva
“Return of the Prodigal Son”
by Rembrandt
“Happy Accidents of the Swing” by
Jean-Honore Fragonard