The Renaissance, Part II

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The Renaissance, Part II
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Masaccios Holy Trinity
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Venice, Italy
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(on right) Titians Assumption of the Virgin,
painted in Venice. Note the geometrical
organization. What effect does the use of oil
paint instead of fresco plaster have on the
representation of this classic Christian theme?
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The High Renaissance in Venice

• Tradition of easel painting
• Use of oil paints
• Brilliance of color
• Subtlety of light
• Eye for close detail
• Love of landscape

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Giorgiones Le Concert Champêtre
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Titians Venus of Urbino. Renaissance artists,
working for wealthy secular patrons, reflect a
frank love of the human body (the chest in the
background is a wedding chest the dog symbolizes
faithfulness).
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The invention of the printing press in the 15th
century aids the spread of new and old ideas
alike through Europe

• Johan Gutenberg in Germany invents movable type
  the first mass-produced book printed with movable
  type is the Bible, issued in 1455.
• Aldus Manutius founds the Aldine Press in Venice
  created italic type fonts and used fine paper
  made pocket-size, inexpensive editions of
  Classical authors from Aristotle to Xenophon.
• Between 1455 and 1500, European presses had
  already printed almost nine million books. This,
  perhaps more than any other factor, is what led
  to the spread of the humanist ideas and ideals we
  associate with the Renaissance.

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We now leave Venice and turn to Northern Europe
in the 16th Century

• Synthesis of new ideas from Italy
• Alternatives to traditional religious doctrine
• Emphasis on individualism
• Culture and Politics
• Francis I, The Hapsburgs, The Tudors rise to
  power in Europe Italian city-states are
  conquered by northern European armies.
• Scientific, religious revolutionary movements

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We see the Northern Renaissance emphasis on
individualism in Shakespeares sonnets and plays

• Express individuality in the way they are written
  (idiosyncratic metaphors and similes)
• Express the interior state of the artist in
  lyrics
• Express the interior state of characters in drama
  (i.e. Hamlets soliloquy)

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We also see a new emphasis on individualism in
the Protestant Reformation itself

• Martin Luthers 95 Theses critique the practices
  of the Roman Church such as the selling of
  indulgences to pay for all those giant frescos
  and posh cathedrals. It is his own opinion
  launched against the vast authority of the
  church.
• Luthers writing sold about 300,000 copies in
  three years.
• In addition to Luthers attack, there were many
  causes for the reformation
• Economic and nationalistic self-interests
• Unfair political and economic papal demands
• Maturation of reformation ideals
• Desire for more personal, interior piety
• Moral and intellectual depravity of clergy
• Wealth of monastic and episcopal lords
• Print technology enables mass distribution of new
  humanist/reformist ideas, as well as religious
  texts for the masses.

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Cultural Significance of the Reformation

• Spread of literacy
• Diffusion of literature
• Proliferation of vernacular texts
• Latin loses its authority as language of
  scholarship
• Focus on the Word
• Aural vs. visual
• Church patronage of sculpture and painting dies
  out in the north
• Hymns and Bibles are best-sellers
• Stained glass is removed from churches
• Visual art will now be produced for a secular
  audience, not a sacred one

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Luthers German Psalter, a best-seller in
northern Europe
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Intellectual Developments rooted in Renaissance
humanism and individualism

• New Renaissance Scientists
• Rejection of traditional methods, practices,
  assumptions
• New emphasis on personal observation

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The Scientific Revolution. Scientists such as
Andreas Vesalius literally peeled the skin off of
Classical subjects to see how human bodies really
worked. Note how the poses are drawn from
Classical sculptures.
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Based on his re-reading of the heavens,
Astronomer Nicholas Copernicus advanced a new
theory that the sun was the center of the
universe (left), not the earth (below), as was
held by the Church.
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Because Reformation culture is aural and not
visual, the Visual Arts in Northern Europe
largely dont follow Renaissance models but
rather offer radical new artistic visions

• Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470-1528)
• Rejected Renaissance innovations
• Traditional religious themes
• Isenheim Altarpiece, Crucifixion (1515)
• Political, religious sympathies
• Tortured images
• Lack of perspective, proportion

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Matthias Grunewalds otherworldly
Resurrection. How is Grunwalds risen Christ
different from his crucified Christ?
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Painting in the Netherlands

• Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516)
• Pessimistic view of human nature
• Human folly
• Inevitable punishment for sin
• Garden of Earthly Delights (1505-1510)
• Pleasures of the body lead to damnation
• Private and complex symbolism

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• Garden of Earthly Delights (1505-1510)

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Painting in the Netherlands

• Pieter Bruegel, the Elder (1525-1569)
• Futility of human existence
• Pervasiveness of sin
• Order, purpose in natural cycles
• Triumph of Death (1562-1564)
• Hunters in the Snow (1565)
• Scenes from peasant life

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