Download What was the Renaissance about?

What was the
Renaissance about?
“It has something to do with art…
Doesn’t it?”
Middle Ages to “Rebirth”
The Renaissance was the time in European
history that followed the Middle Ages, and
by French to English translation means
“rebirth.” Rebirth is the exactly what it was;
it was a time of change in their whole
outlook on life, their daily life, and how
they could express themselves in art and
other forms.
How did things change from the
Middle Ages?
During the Middle Ages art and
learning were centered on the church
and religion. But at the start of the
14th century, people became less
interested in thinking about God,
heaven and the saints, and more
interested in thinking about
themselves, their surroundings and
their everyday lives.
Humanism
The values and ideals popular
during the European Renaissance
can be described by the term
secular humanism: secular,
meaning not religious and
humanism, meaning placing the
study and progress of human
nature at the center of interests
Hieratic Scale in the Middle Ages
The rise of Humanism
can be seen in paintings
created by Renaissance
artists. During the Middle
Ages, saints in paintings
wore halos (a ring or
circle of light) around
their heads. Artists also
used hieratic scale in
paintings during the
Middle Ages, making
saints or members of the
family of God larger in
scale than ordinary or
less important figures.
Jacopa di Cione
Madonna and Child in Glory
1360/65
Tempera and gold on panel
Popularity of Humanism
As Humanism became more
popular during the
Renaissance, ordinary people
grew to be the same size as
saints in paintings and saints
began to look more like
ordinary people. For example,
halos became fainter and
eventually disappeared during
the Renaissance. Saints
occupied the same landscape
as ordinary people in
Renaissance paintings and the
landscape was earth instead
of heaven.
Giovanni Agostino da Lodi
Adoration of the Shepherds
1510
Oil on panel
Early
Perspective
During the
Renaissance, the use
mathematical
perspective to
represent space in
paintings was invented.
Earlier attempts at
representing space
often resulted in
furniture or buildings
that look just a little
"off."
Franconia School
Miraculous Mass of St. Martin of Tours
about 1440
Tempera and gold on canvas on panel
Perspective
Holy Trinity - Masaccio
Perspective is a technique
for representing threedimensional space on a flat
surface. Many artists around
the world have employed
various techniques for
portraying depth. However,
it wasn't until the
Renaissance that artists
invented a mathematical
system to show depth
logically and consistently.
Linear perspective
Linear perspective is
based on the way the
human eye sees the
world—objects which are
closer appear larger, and
more distant objects
appear smaller. To create
this illusion of space, the
artist establishes a
vanishing point on the
horizon line. Objects are
drawn using orthogonal
lines which lead to the
vanishing point(s).
School of Athens - Raphael
Well known Renaissance “Artists”
Peter Laird & Kevin Eastman Creators
“We both had studied art history, so we picked Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo and Michelangelo."
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa
1503-1506, oil on wood panel
“The Last Supper”
Study of proportions
Michelangelo
Creation of man
(detail)
1511
fresco
Sistine Chapel
“Moses”
“David”
“Pieta”
Donatello
Raphael
The Humanists of the Renaissance and
their exploration of the belief that
human beings can live full and happy
lives before they go to heaven is still
with us. Many aspects of the lives we
lead, including the way school is taught
and the subjects that we study, began
in the Renaissance and continue to
influence the way we live today.