The Renaissance

What was the Renaissance?

• This was a time period
following the middle ages that
lasted from the 1400-1600s
• The start of the “modern
world”
• Renaissance was the period of
economic progress.
• Renaissance means “rebirth” in
French.
• New interest in old stuff, like
Greece & Rome
• There was a renewed interest in
learning about the achievements of
the ancient Greeks and Romans.
• The period stirred enthusiasm for
the study of ancient philosophy
and artistic values.
• Changes in thought about art,
religion, literature, education
• It was an era of great artistic and
intellectual achievement with the
birth of secular art.
• As the classical Greeks believed in
the harmonious development of the
person through a sound mind, by the
practice of athletics, the Renaissance
held up the ideal of the well-rounded
man, knowledgeable in a number of
fields such as philosophy, science,
arts, including painting and music –
and who applies his knowledge to
productive and creative activity.
• The focus was on realistic and
humanistic art.
• Renaissance painters
depicted real-life figures and
their sculptures were
naturalistic portraits of human
beings.
• Characterized by accurate
anatomy, scientific
perspective, and deeper
landscape.
• Architecture during this period
was characterized by its
symmetry and balance.
• The greatest cathedral
building of the age was the
rebuilding of St. Peter’s
Basilica in Rome.
Renaissance Mansions
Palace of Versailles
St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome
Where did the renaissance Start?

• Began in Italy
• Later spread north to
Germany and England
 Italian cities such as Florence and
Venice became rich through trade and
industry

These cities became the center for many artists and sculptors.
The Renaissance was a period of artistic
experimentation.
The Renaissance produced new ideas that were
reflected in the arts, philosophy, and literature.
Education became increasingly secular.
 Renaissance Art
• Oil-based paints were
used for the first time.
• Artists began to paint
in perspective (3D)
and use shading.
• Artists painted
everyday life instead
of religious scenes.
 Classical
vs
Medieval
vs
Renaissance
 Classical art showed the importance of
people and leaders, as well as gods and
goddesses

Medieval art and literature focused on the

Church and salvation

Renaissance art and literature focused on the

importance of people and nature, along
with religion
 Classical Art
History Alive! Pg. 316 ‘Discobolus’

• Figures were lifelike but often idealized (more

perfect than in real life)
• Figures were nude or draped in togas (robes)
• Bodies looked active, and motion was believable
• Faces were calm and without emotion
• Scenes showed either heroic figures or real people
doing tasks from daily life
 Medieval Art
History Alive! Pg. 317 ‘Narthex Tympanum'

• Most art was religious, showing Jesus, saints,

people from the Bible, and so on
• Important figures in paintings were shown as
larger than others around them
• Figures looked stiff, with little sense of movement
• Figures were fully dressed in stiff-looking
clothing
• Faces were serious and showed little feeling
• Paint colors were bright
 Renaissance Art
History Alive! Pg. 317 ‘The School of Athens’

• Artists showed religious and nonreligious scenes

• Art reflected a great interest in nature
• Figures were lifelike and three-dimensional, reflecting an
increasing knowledge of anatomy
• Bodies looked active and were shown moving
• Figures were either nude or clothed
• Scenes showed real people doing everyday tasks
• Faces expressed what people were thinking
• Paintings were often symmetrical (balanced, with the right
and left sides having similar or identical elements)
 Medieval Art
vs.
Renaissance Art
 Middle Ages

•No
perspective
•No
proportion
•Little kid
drawings?
• Many
religious
themes.
• Shows how
central
religion was.
 Renaissance
• Everyday
scenes.
• More
realistic.
Renaissance artists embraced some of the ideals of ancient
Greece and Rome in their art.

The purpose of art would no longer be to glorify God, as it

had been in Medieval Europe. Artists wanted their
subjects to be realistic and focused on humanity and
emotion.

New Techniques also emerged.

 Art and Patronage
Italians patrons (financial supporters) were willing to spend a
lot of money on art
– Art communicated social, political, and spiritual values
and therefore, the consumption of art was used as a
form of competition for social & political status.
Characteristics of Renaissance Art
 1. Realism &
Expression

Expulsion from the Garden

Masaccio
1427
First nudes since classical times.
 2. Perspective

The Trinity
Perspective!
Perspective!
Masaccio
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
1427
Perspective!
Perspective!

First use
of linear What you are, I
once was; what I
perspective!
am, you will
become.
3. Emphasis on Individualism

Batista Sforza & Federico de Montefeltre:

The Duke & Dutchess of
Urbino
Piero della Francesca, 1465-1466.
4. Geometrical Arrangement of Figures

Leonardo da Vinci
1469
The figure as
architecture!
The Dreyfus Madonna
with the
Pomegranate
 5. Light & Shadowing/Softening Edges
Sfumato:
gradual
blending of
one area of
color into
another
Chiaroscuro: without a
use of light
sharp outline
and shade

Ginevra de' Benci, a

young Florentine
noblewoman who, at
the age of sixteen,
married Luigi
Niccolini in 1474.
Famous Renaissance
Artworks and Artists
Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtle
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
(1475-1564)
 Michelangelo was an Italian sculptor, painter,
architect, and poet.
He was considered the greatest living artist in
his lifetime, and ever since then he was
considered as one of the greatest artists of all
time.
A number of his works in paintings, sculpture,
and architecture rank among the famous in
existence.
Among his outstanding works as sculptor were
the following: Pieta, Bacchus, Moses, David, Dying
Slave, Dawn and Dusk.
Two of his best known works, The Pieta and
David, were sculpted before he turned thirty.
 Pieta 1499
Marble Sculpture

Captures the sorrow of the Virgin

Mary as she cradles her dead son,
Jesus on her knees
 Michelangelo convinces himself and his spectators
of the divine quality and the significance of these
figures by means of earthly and perfect beauty, but of
course, these are human standards.
Moses
 David

Michelangelo
created his
masterpiece
David in
1504.

The Biblical
shepherd,
David (who
killed Goliath)
recalls the
harmony and
grace of
ancient Greek
tradition
Bacchus
Dawn and Dusk
 He also created two of the most influential works in
fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from
Genesis on the ceiling and the Last Judgment on the
altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
 Sistine Chapel
About a year after creating
David, Pope Julius II
summoned Michelangelo to
Rome to work on his most
famous project, the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel.

Depicts the biblical history of

the world from the Creation to
the Flood
 Creation of Eve Creation of Adam

Separation of Light and Darkness The Last Judgment

Leonardo di ser Piero Da Vinci
(1452 - 1519)
 Leonardo Da Vinci – a great painter,
sculptor, architect, scientist, mathematician
and engineer.
He is known as the ultimate “Renaissance man”
because of his intellect, interest, talent and his
expression of humanist and classical values.
He is widely considered to be one of the greatest
painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely
talented person to have ever lived.
• His well known works were: The Last
Supper (the most reproduced religious
painting of all time), and the Mona Lisa
(the most famous and most parodied
portrait.)
• His other works were: The Virtruvian Mar,
The Adoration of the Magi, and the Virgin
of the Rocks.
Mona Lisa
(1503-1506)
 “Mona Lisa” stems from a description by
Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari, who
wrote, “Leonardo undertook to paint for
Francesco del Giocondo the portrait of Mona
Lisa, his wife.”
Mona, in Italian, is a polite form of address
originating as Madonna - similar to Ma’am,
madamme, or My Lady in English.
This became Madonna and its contraction
Mona.
The title of the painting, though traditionally
spelled “Mona”, is also commonly spelled in
Modern Italian as “Monna Lisa”.
 The Last Supper
(1495-1498)

Jesus and his apostles on the night

before the crucifixion
 Da Vinci
• The first scientist to perform human
dissections of the body to study anatomy.
• Drew the first sketches of man in flight
using wings.
• Sketched plants and animals.
Anatomical drawings by Leonardo Da Vinci
Notebooks

Leonardo da Vinci dissected corpses

to learn how bones and muscles work
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino
–Raphael-
(1483-1520)
 Raphael was an Italian painter and
architect of the High Renaissance period.
His work was admired for its clarity of
form and ease of composition and for its
visual achievement of the interpreting the
Divine and incorporating Christian doctrines.
• Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo
da Vinci, he formed the traditional trinity of
great masters of that period.
• His main contributions to art were his
unique draftsmanship and compositional
skills.
• His famous works were: The Sistine
Madonna, The School of Athens, and The
Transfiguration.
 The School of Athens
Perspective

Subjects are mainly

secular, but can be
religious

Figures look idealized,

but can also look like
everyday ordinary people

Bodies are active

Clothed or unclothed 1510 Fresco

Vatican City
Faces are expressive
An imaginary gathering of great thinkers
and scientists
Detail
 The Transfiguration was Raphael’s last
painting on which he worked on up to his
death.
Commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de
Medici, the late Pope Clement VII, the
painting was conceived as an altarpiece for
the Narbonne Cathedral in France.
The painting exemplifies Raphael’s
development as an artist and the
culmination of his career.
The subject is combined with an
additional episode from the Gospel in the
lower part of the painting.
Pythagoras

Plato and Aristotle

Socrates
 Raphael (back)
Euclid

Zoroaster & Ptolemy

 Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi
(Donatello) (1386- 1466)

B y : M a y Wa t t s
 The beginnings of an Artist
• Donatello was learning the art of the sculpture in
Florence when he was only 14 years old.

• Soon a famous gold smith, known as Lorenzo

Ghiberti, took him as an apprentice. He was
taught how to work with bronze.

• Cosimo de'Medici and Donatello became close

over the years, and in 1419 he actually
nominated Donatello to sculpt a tomb for
Baldassare
 Donatello was one of the Italian great artists
of the period.
He was an early Renaissance Italian
sculptor from Florence.
He is known for his work in bas- relief, a
form of shallow relief sculpture.
His works included the following statues
and relief: David, Statue of St. George,
Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata, Prophet
Habacuc, and The Feast of Herod.
At the time it was created, it was the first known free- standing
nude statue produced since ancient times
 Statue of St.
George
This statue was a piece that was
commissioned for the Armorer’s
guild.

It represents their patron saint.

The art work has been remade and

replaced over the years, though
Donatello was the first person to
design the statue.

**Note- This is a copy of the original statue by Donatello.

 Donatello's equestrian
statue of Gattamelata

This statue ended up being

the model for many heroic
statues that followed.

It is believed that either

the statue of Marucus
Aurelius or the Greek
horses that rest atop the
Church of St Mark’s
inspired this work of art.
 Northern Renaissance
The Renaissance in northern Europe (outside Italy)

• There was increased cultural exchange between

European countries
• Printed materials helped to spread ideas
• Centralization of political power made the
northern Renaissance distinct from the Italian
Renaissance (e.g., nation-states instead of Italian
city-states)
• Growing wealth in Northern Europe supported Renaissance ideas.

• Northern Renaissance thinkers merged humanist ideas with

Christianity.

• The movable type printing press and the production and sale of
books (Gutenberg Bible) helped disseminate ideas and allowed more
people to become educated.
 Renaissance art is the art of calm and
beauty.
Its creations are perfect-they reveal nothing
forced or inhibited, uneasy or agitated.
Each form has been born easily, free and
complete.
Everything breathes satisfaction, and we
are surely not mistaken in seeing in this
heavenly calm and content the highest artistic
expression and spirit of that age.
 What did you learn?
• ½ crosswise
• Answers only
 I. Original
• Determine the creator of each artwork.
• Write A for Michaelangelo
B for Leonardo Da Vinci
C for Raphael
D for Donatello
1. The Transfiguration
2. David
3. Pieta
4. The Last Judgement
5. Statue of St. George
6. Mona Lisa
7. David
8. School of Athens
9. Anatomical Drawings
10. Moses
11. Equestrian Statue of Gattamelata
12. Last Supper
 II. Essay/Recitation
• Explain (Renaissance) defined as “rebirth”.
• Who among the famous Renaissance artists do you like
most? Why?
• What do you think are the best features of the Classical
era arts that were adapted in the Renaissance period?
• What do you think are the best features of the Medieval
era arts that were adapted in the Renaissance period?
• What are the two adjectives that best characterizes
Renaissance architecture?
• Explain, the focus of renaissance was on realistic and
humanistic art.