Download The Art of the Italian Renaissance

Jacob Schulman
AP Euro
September 27, 2006
Ms. Kim
Days 4&5: The Art of the Italian Renaissance
I. Art and the Artist:
A. 1400s+1500s: witnessed a dazzling creativity in painting, architecture, and sculpture
B. In the “High Renaissance” (period of art history), Rome took the lead
- Characteristics of Ren. art (balance, harmony, restraint) utilized by Da Vinci, Raphael,
Michelangelo
C. Art and Power:
1. Art manifested corporate power: guilds and religious confraternities commissioned art
- Merchants had a dominant influence in the community
- Corporate patronage reflect in the Florentine gov’ts decision to hire Michelangelo to
sculpt the David
2. In the middle ages, art had a religious themeEducational purpose
- In the later 15th century, individuals and oligarchs sponsored art to glorify themselves
and their families
3. 1470: Lorenzo de’ Medici said that over the past 35 years his family had spent 663,755
florins for artistic commissions
- Wanted to exalt themselves, their families and their offices
4. Art revealed changing patterns of consumption in ItalyEconomics developed
5. Middle Ages- ruralPeople spent money on war
Renaissance- nobles settle in towns, adjust to urban cultureUrban palaces
- Luxurious, implied grandeur, had a chest to told its most precious goods
6. Private chapel within the palace symbolized largest expenditureReligious objects
- Served as the center of religious life and its cult of remembrance for the dead
7. Subject matter of art became more and more secular
- Classical themes and motifsThe lives and loves of pagan gods and goddesses
- Individual portraits became very popularMembers of the new middle class had
themselves painted in a scene of chivalry and romance
8. Giotto: Florentine painter, led the way in the use of realism
- More lifelike than Middle Age art work
8. Donatello: sculptor, greatest influence of any Florentine artist before Michelangelo
- Statues express an appreciation for the variety of human natureRevived the
classical figure with balance and self-awareness
9. Masaccio: “Father of modern painting”, Inspired a new style characterized by realism,
narrative power, use of light and dark
- Created an international style: wandering careers of artists, increased art trade
10. Narrative artists depict the body more scientifically and naturally
- Michelangelo’s David and The Last Judgment: male body is strong and heroic
- Female figure is voluptuous and sensual
11. Filippo Brunelleschi & Piero della Francesca: pioneered perspective in painting
D. The status of the Artist:
1. Social status of artists improved in the Renaissance
- Considered a free intellectual worker
- Usually worked on commission from a powerful prince
- Depended upon patronsSome became very wealthy (da Vinci made 2,000 ducats a
year; only needed 300 to live like a prince)
2. Renaissance society respected and rewarded the distinguished artist
- Pietro Aretine wrote to Michelangelo: “the world has many kings but only one
Michelangelo”; Praised him for his brilliant work on the Sistine Chapel
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3. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V picked up paintbrush: patron himself was honored in
the act of honoring the artist
4. Renaissance artists boasted about their powerAll signed their work and some
incorporated self-portraits somehow into their paintings
5. Renaissance had the birth of the concept of the artist as genius
- Renaissance artists and humanists came to think that a work of art was the deliberate
creating of a unique personality who transcended traditions, ruler and theories
- Cosimo de’ Medici: called a painter “divine”Implied that he had godly powers
6. The culture of the Renaissance was that of a small mercantile elite
- It didn’t directly affect the broad middle classes
- A small, educated minority of literary humanists and artists created the culture of and
for an exclusive elite
- Maintained a gulf between the learned minority and uneducated multitude that has
survived for many centuries
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