RENAISSANCE ART

RENAISSANCE

REBIRTH OF
GREEK AND
LATIN CULTURE
ITALY
15
TH
CENTURY
Influenced all forms of art: architecture,
sculpture, painting and literature.
Followed the classical models (Greek,
Roman)
Try to represent nature and beauty in
art.
Principles: classical models, proportion,
balance, harmony and perspective.
Connection between art and science
(treatises).


It spread from Italy to different regions
of Europe.
The printer contributed to disseminate
new ideas and artistic models.
QUATTROCENTO (15
th
century):
Fixing of new ideas and models.
FLORENCE (Medici) was the
most important center of
creativity.
CINQUECENTO (16
th
century):
The artistic center move to
ROME, where Popes sponsored
art. Consolidation of the
previous period and evolution
to personal interpretations
(MANNERISM)
GENERAL CONTEXT
General optimism in the society because of new scientific
discoveries, new commercial routes, new geographical discoveries.
Growth of cities and general growth of population
Development of capitalism.
Art and culture were more accessible thanks to the printer.
Humanism: love of classical learning
Individualism: Individuals become more important than institutions
like churches, guilds, etc. Artists wanted to be remembered
(biographies, portrait painting )
Secularism implies the belief that religion should have little part in
political or public affairs. As a consequence there was an enjoyment
of worldly pleasures and art had more earthly subjects.

Human figure became
more important
(protagonist of
paintings and
sculptures)
Buildings were
designed in proportion
to human size.
Some classical ideas
regained importance:
balance, proportion,
dignity.
They gained social prestige (no
longer anonymous or an
artisan).
New relation between client
and artist. Artists received
protection from wealthy
patrons (patronage) who
decided on artistic issues to
satisfy their preferences
(MEDICI family in Florence)
Some artists excel in more
than one discipline.

HUMAN FIGURE ARTISTS
Use of classical elements: columns, pillars,
lintels, semicircular arches, pediments,
semicircular domes...
The decorative elements had also a classical
reference (classical capitals, volute ...)
General principles: symmetry, simplicity,
geometry, proportion and regularity.
More typologies: churches, palaces,
hospitals...
Architecture in Italy
DOME OF STA MARIA DEI FIORI, FLORENCE CATHEDRAL.
FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI
drum
Outer dome
lantern
SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE
LEN BATTISTA ALBERTI

pediment
rose
volute column
Upper
body
Lower body
(Triumphal
arch)

RUCELLAI PALACE (1450-1560) , L.B. ALBERTI

VILLA CAPRA (rural residence) , VICENZA, 1551
PALLADIO
BASILICA OF ST PETER, BRAMANTE. (DOME, BY MICHELANGELO)

Sculpture gained more importance
It became more independent from architecture:
used to decorate squares in cities, chapels in
churches and rooms in palaces.
Main principles: nature and beauty. Also
symmetry, proportion, balance.
Achievements(science): human figure
(anatomy); perspective.
Sometimes sculptures were very big in size
Materials used: bronze and marble; also
terracotta, and wood.
Subjects: realistic ,religious, mythological.

Sculpture in Italy
GATES OF PARADISE, FLORENCE
BAPTISTERY DOORS (CATHEDRAL).
GHIBERTI

DONATELLO

David , Florence
1440s
Gattamelata (1453), Padova
Judith and Holofernes,
Florence 1460

Marble, relievo schiacciato
Maria Magdalena, Florence 1453
(polychrome wood)
MICHELANGELO

Moses. The Tomb
of Pope Julius II, c.
1545
The Statue of David,
Florence 1504
Piet, 1499
Bound slave, known a
Atlas (153034)

Main principles: nature and beauty. Also proportion,
balance,...
Achievements: perspective; light (used to define
volumes, colors and the space of the paintings) human
being as protagonist (anatomy, movement, postures);
Subjects: religious, realistic (portraits) and
mythological. Also nude and landscapes (background).
Flemish school (main centers in Ghent, Bruges): art for
the wealthy middle class.
Techniques: fresco, oil painting (innovation from the
Flemish school)

Painting
QUATTROCENTO
The Expulsion from the
Garden of Eden,1 426
"Trinity with the Virgin, Saint
John the Evangelist, and
Donors" (c. 1427) - Fresco, Santa
Maria Novella, Florence
MASACCIO

SANDRO BOTTICELLI
Primavera ( 1482)
The Birth of Venus, 1486. Uffizi, Florence


CINQUECENTO
LEONARDO DA VINCI
The Last Supper (1498)Convent of Sta. Maria delle Grazie, Milan
La Gioconda
(150305/1507)
The Vitruvian Man (1485)
Anatomical study of the arm ( 1510)
A design for a flying machine (1488)

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel , Rome (150812)
MICHELANGELO
The Last Judgment (153441)

RAFAEL
Madonna of the Meadow, 1506
The School of Athens, Vatican. Rome 1509


FLEMISH SCHOOL OF PAINTING
Jean Van Eyck. The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434
The Descent from the Cross (1435)

Hieronymus Bosch. The Garden of Earthly Delights


There were three important values that set Renaissance thought
apart from the Middle Ages
Humanism: Love of classical learning

Individualism: Celebration of the Individual:
Individuals become more important than churches, guilds, etc.
Artists wanted to be remembered- everyone did (Biographies
and portrait painting )

Secularism (the belief that religion should have little part in
political or public affairs):
Enjoyment of Worldly Pleasures
Art had more earthly subjects