Renaissance Art

1
Renaissance Art
2
Introduction

• 15th and 16th century witnesses great achievement
  in art, literature, and architecture
• Begins in Florence
• High Renaissance Period in Rome from 1500-1527
• High Renaissance art characterized by classical
  balance, harmony, and restraint

3
Renaissance Literature

• Humanism
• Inspiration from classical past
• Literature was more secular
• Medieval scholars had interpreted the classics in
  a Christian sense
• Renaissance scholars more skeptical
• Look to understand human nature

4
Renaissance Writers

• Dante (1265-1321)
• Florentine, wrote Divine Comedy which describes a
  journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven.
  Considered the pinnacle of medieval poetry
• Petrarch (1304-1374)
• Best known for sonnets, humanism
• Boccaccio (1313-1375)
• Wrote Decameron, a collection of short stories in
  Italian
• Machiavelli (1469-1527)
• Wrote The Prince, analyzed politics from
  standpoint of reason
• Castiglione (1478-1529)
• Wrote The Courtier, specifies qualities of
  gentlemen, influential in education and behavior

5
Renaissance Art

• Break with medieval in content and technique
• Painting
• Use of religious themes, but often deals with
  secular themes and portraits
• Oil paints, linear perspective, and chiaroscuro
  add realism
• Sculpture
• Copies of classical models and free standing
  pieces
• Works celebrate individualism

6
Status of the Artist

• Considered free intellectual thinker
• Work on commission
• Patrons honored by artists
• Renaissance artists aware of creative power
• Power and status not shared with public at large
• Renaissance is not a broad cultural event

7
Artists of the Renaissance

• Massacio
• Giotto
• Donatello
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Raphael
• Michelangelo

8
Masaccio, Tribute Money
Brancacci Chapel, Florence
9
Masaccio, Tribute Money

• Use of perspective
• Realism among figures and the scene (notice
  shadows on ground chiaroscuro technique)
• Masaccio first to paint cast shadows since
  classical times ( a Roman technique)
• One of his many famous frescoes
• Biblical story of Jesus confrontation by tax
  collector a continuous narrative

10
Botticelli, Primavera (Spring)
11
Botticelli, Primavera (Spring)

• Interest in Greek and Roman mythology
• Shows Venus, goddess of love, in center.
• Roman goddess of flowers and fertility, Flora, on
  the right
• Cupid, son of Venus, point arrow at Three Graces
• Botticelli would later reject this among other
  paintings for pagan themes

12
Giotto

• 1276-1337
• Leads way in use of realism
• Considered father of Renaissance painting
• Introduced natural, life-like realism

13
Donatello

• 1386-1466
• Father of Renaissance sculpture
• David is first statue cast in bronze since
  classical times

14
Michelangelos David

• 14 ft. tall
• Solid marble
• Beauty of the human body
• Notice realism of ribs, leg and stomach muscles

15
Leonardo da Vinci

• 1452-1519
• Ideal Renaissance Man
• Mona Lisa
• The Last Supper
• Idealization of
• Nature went beyond realism

16
Leonardo da Vinci
17
Raphael

• 1483-1520
• Master of Renaissance style
• The School of Athens
• Classical figures of Plato and Aristotle in
  center Pythagoras on left Ptolemy holding globe
  on right
• Roman arches, columns, statues

18
Michelangelo

• 1475-1564
• Master in architecture, sculpting, and painting
• David
• Last Judgement
• Sistine Chapel

19
Brunelleschi, Dome of the Duomo in Florence

• Revolutionary architectural technique
• Dome spread out weight more evenly than towers of
  Middle Ages.
• Took 16 years to finish

20
Brunelleschi
Dome of Duomo, Florence
Church of San Lorenzo, home of Medici burial
sites
21
Brunelleschi, interior of Church of San Lorenzo
22
Women in the Renaissance

• Education
• Examples of successful women
• Sofonisba Anguissola (1530-1625)
• Christine de Pisan (1363-1434)
• Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653)
• Laura Cereta (1469-1499)
• Lower class women
• No effect
• No education