Download WH Chapter 17 sec 2

WH Chapter 17 sec 2
Name: _________________________________
Date: ____________________ Pd: ___________
Renaissance Literature and Art
Renaissance Literature
1. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1557-1616) was known as Cervantes.
a. Served as a soldier against the Turks, imprisoned for five years by pirates
in North Africa and became a tax collector.
b. Hi eventful life gave him knowledge to write his master piece, Don
Quixote” in 1605.
2. Francois Rabelais (RAHB-uh-lay) was born in France 1494.
a. He was a monk, a scholar and a physician.
b. Studied plants and Roman archeological sites.
c. He wrote, “Let nothing in the world be unknown to you”
3. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an actor, poet, and playwright.
a. In several plays-such as Julius Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra- he
drew on Greek and Roman history.
b. Shakespeare’s admiration for the humanities marked him as a man of the
Renaissance.
c. In the play Hamlet he wrote, “What a piece is man! How noble in
reason!...In action how like an angel!”
Features of Renaissance Art
Individualism
1. Artists of the time looked back to the Greeks and Romans for their themes and
ideas.
2. Medieval artists had used their creativity mainly to serve the Church and express
religious feelings.
3. Renaissance art emphasized uniqueness of each human face and figure.
4. Renaissance artists tried to show each individual’s character and personality in a
lifelike way.
Balance and proportions
1. Renaissance artists and architects saw nature as the standard for balance and
proportion.
2. They tried to show people, trees, buildings, and mountains in their proper size.
3. Renaissance architects turned back to the Romanesque style, adding domes,
windows and balconies to let in light and air. They tried to make all part appear in
perfect balance in size and shape.
Use of perspective
1. Perspective is the impression of depth and distance on a flat surface.
2. The Florentine painter Giotto was the first to use this technique about 1300 but it
looked odd to medieval eyes.
3. In the 1400’s Florentine Filippo Brunelleschi discovered that painters could use
mathematical laws in planning their pictures.
4. Massaccio, a friend of Brunelleschi, applied these laws in his paintings.
New materials
1. Medieval artist used tempera paint which dried quickly.
2.
2. Flemish painter Jan van Eyck (IKE) created oil-based paint. This allowed painters to
work slowly and mix more colors which obtained more life-like effects.
3. Oil-based paint spread quickly from Flanders, a then part of the Netherlands, to other
parts of Europe.
4. In Italy, artists used both oil-paint and perspective to make many of today’s
masterpieces.
Three Geniuses of the Renaissance Art
Raphael: 1. He combined religious art with a Renaissance spirit. He became famous for
his Madonna- pictures of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
2. He was also a master of design. He used perspective to create a sense of space and
balance.
Michelangelo: 1. He was an immensely skilled painter, poet and architect, but above all
he considered himself a sculptor. He called sculpture “the first of the arts”
2. At age 23, he made a statue called Pieta. Carved in Marble it depicts Mary
holding the body of Jesus after the Crucifixion.
3. In 1508 pope Julius II called him to paint the Vatican in Rome. He painted
Frescoes-watercolor paintings on fresh plaster. The scenes were of biblical events.
4. He worked on his back high up on platforms for four years.
Leonardo da Vinci
1. Leonardo lived from 1452-1519. His famous works are The Last Supper and the
Mona Lisa.
2. He left behind many notebooks. To learn about the human body, he cut up
corpses. He examines everything from leaves to bird’s wings to get an accurate
understanding of how things work.
3. He was an engineer. . His notebooks show flying machines, submarines,
parachutes and machine guns.
Artists of Northern Renaissance
1. Northern artists emphasized precise, realistic detail with the use of light and dark.
a. some religious themes
b. some life in towns and countryside
2. Flemish artists Van Eyck first mastered oil paint
Brieghel and Rembrandt
1. Pieter Brieghel (the elder (1525-1569) created large painting of farms workers
and townspeople at work and play.
2. Rembrandt was known for his use of light and shades.
Durer and Hobein