Download History of modern Europe 6

History of Europe
1
HISTORY
Subject
:
History
Paper No.
:
Paper - V
The Rise of Modern West
Topic No. & Title
:
Topic – 1
European Renaissance
(1330 AD – 1530 AD)
Lecture No. & Title
:
Lecture - 3
Renaissance Art
(For under graduate student)
FAQs
1.
How did humanism
affect
Renaissance art,
architecture and sculpture?
Renaissance art was humanist art in its sources,
content, and style. It was in the Renaissance that
man once more became the focal point of human
interest instead of a cog in a theological machine. It
was this humanism of the Renaissance that gave its
art forms their undeniable affinity with those of
classical
antiquity
and
it
was
also
because
of
humanism and the admiration of the human body
History of Europe
2
that led men to construct buildings and sculptures,
both
temporal
and
ecclesiastical
that
were
of
harmonious ratios.
2.
Did Renaissance mark a break with the artistic
tradition of the Middle Ages?
Early
Renaissance
art
saw
an
almost
complete
revolution in the thought of the time as it was
characterized
by
a
rational
interpretation
of
experience as opposed to the institutional mysticism
of the Middle Ages, and called for a wholly new
approach
to
reality.
This
implied
a
systematic
investigation of the world man knows through his
senses, and a correlation of sense impressions with
the organized knowledge of science. The interest in
nature that is apparent in Renaissance thinking may
seem to be the logical outcome of the realistic view of
material forms in the Middle Ages. But medieval
realism reflected the then prevalent conception of
nature as a manifestation of divine purpose, whereas
Renaissance realism was scientific in the modern
sense and was born of a searching inquisitiveness
History of Europe
3
about things believed to have meaning in and of
themselves rather than as symbols in a previously
determined abstract order.
3.
Why
is
Florence
called
the
‘cradle
of
Renaissance Art’?
Florence produced most of the major figures of the
early Renaissance, who brought a new sense of
humanity and drama to religious painting. Most of the
artists were patronized by the merchant houses, and
acted according to the dictates of these people. The
artist had a kind of independence not regarding the
subject but in the execution of the painting like style,
perspective and colour. In Florence, the old cathedral
of Santa Reparata, became Santa Maria del Fiore – a
very important edifice, where every important artist
in
Florence
worked,
like
Brunelleschi,
Giberti,
Donatello, Celini, and Michelozzo. And each of these
artists was working in a particular craft. It is due to
the vast range of skills in different fields of art that
Florence
has
been
Renaissance art’.
described
as
the
‘cradle
of
History of Europe
4.
4
How did Masaccio influence Leonardo da Vinci,
Michelangelo and Raphael?
One of the giants of the early Renaissance painting in
Florence was Massacio(1401-1428). His outstanding
work is on the walls of the Brancacci Chapel in the
church of the Carmine in Florence which he decorated
in fresco between 1422 and 1427. In ‘Tribute Money’
the chief fresco at the chapel, Massacio reveals a new
freedom. His men seem to stand on their own feet, to
move freely of their own volition and for the first time
the action takes place in a deep landscape. All great
Florentine
artists
like,
Leonardo
da
Vinci,
Michelangelo and Raphael went to this little chapel to
learn from Massacio about
how to show forms in
motion, how to indicate the organically functional
structure of the human body, and how to suggest the
interaction of atmosphere and colour and the bending
of colours in light and air.
History of Europe
5.
5
Why was the early 16th Century called the
golden age of Italian Renaissance?
The early sixteenth century has been called the
‘Golden Age’ of Italian Renaissance as this was the
time that the three great masters – Leonardo da
Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael lived and worked.
Through their minds and in their works, Italian art
acquired the discipline that gave it the status of
classic authority. The work of Leonardo da Vinci
reveals the nature of the transformation that took
place. In works like ‘The Adoration of the Magi’, ‘The
Last Supper’ and ‘Mona Lisa’, Leonardo gave a
definitive exposition of the Renaissance science and
art of painting. Michelangelo was another titan of the
age, an architect, painter, poet and above all a
sculptor he embraced all the arts. His great works are
the ‘Fall of Man and Expulsion’, ‘God Separating Day
from Night’ and the ‘Resurrection’. His paintings
convincingly
portray
the
powerful
symbols
of
humanity like birth and death and of exaltation and
suffering. Raphael is the third of the great masters
who painted masterpieces of the Madonna and Child.
History of Europe
6
In seeking clarity through order and consistency he
pursued a dominant principle of Italian art.
6.
Assess Durer’s contribution to Renaissance art.
In Northern Europe Albrecht Durer’s contribution to
Renaissance art was in the field of the graphic artswoodcut, engraving and etching. Apprenticed as a
youth to one of the leading book illustrators in
Germany in the late 15th century, he used literary
subjects for his own first distinctive projects, notably
the ‘Apocalypse, the Revelation of St. John the
Divine’. ‘The Four Horsemen’ of the ‘Apocalypse’ is
the most widely known of the fifteen woodcuts of the
series. Durer was also familiar with the work of many
Italian artists through the medium of prints. Even so,
Durer still thought largely in medieval terms, and the
difference between his rather harshly angular figures
and those of his Italian contemporaries was not lost
upon him. For some years around 1500, he strove
conscientiously to grasp the principles of classic
beauty which guided the Italians. ‘The Fall of Man’
sums up Durer’s interests that resulted from these
History of Europe
studies.
7
On his return to Germany in 1507, he did
three metal engravings between 1513 and 1514‘Knight, Death and Devil’, ‘St. Jerome in his Cell’, and
‘Melencolia I’, which reveals his ultimate compromise
between the fundamentally emotional values of his
northern inheritance and the rational beauty of Italian
Renaissance forms.
7.
What was the contribution of Bramante to the
architecture of High Renaissance?
Donato
Bramante (1444–1514)
was
an
Italian
architect, who introduced the Early Renaissance style
to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome,
where
his
most
famous
design
was St.
Peter's
Basilica. Around 1474, Bramante moved to Milan, a
city with a deep Gothic architectural tradition, and
built several churches in the new Antique style. The
Duke, Ludovico Sforza, made him virtually his court
architect, beginning in 1476, with commissions that
culminated in the famous trompe-l'oeil choir of the
church of Santa
Maria presso
San Satiro (1482–
1486). Space was limited, and Bramante made a
History of Europe
8
theatrical apse in bas-relief, combining the painterly
arts of perspective with Roman details. There is an
octagonal sacristy, surmounted by a dome. In Milan
he
also
built
the
tribune
of Santa
Maria
delle
Grazie (1492–99) and the cloisters of Sant'Ambrogio.
8.
Why is Michelangelo famous?
When Michelangelo was born, the Renaissance was
two hundred years old and at its peak. Michelangelo
is looked upon as a superman who tackled singlehandedly the kind of tasks that others approached
with teams of assistants like painting the vast ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel, carving colossal statues and
directing work on the largest church in Christendom.
The Sistine Chapel fresco was completed in four
years
and
presents
philosophically
traditional
an
unified
Christian
incredibly
complex
composition
that
theology
with
neo
but
fuses
Platonic
thought. His sculpture ‘David’ has remained another
indicator of his genius.
History of Europe
9.
9
Who was Andrea Palladio?
Andrea
Palladeo
(1508
–
1580)
was
an Italian
Renaissance architect active in the Republic of Venice.
He is widely considered the most influential individual
in the history of Western architecture. All of his
buildings are located in northern Italy, but his
teachings, summarized in the architectural treatise I
Quattro Libri dell'Architettura (The Four Books of
Architecture), and gained him wide recognition. His
talents were first recognized by Count Gian Giorgio
Trissino,
an
influential humanist and
writer,
who
gave him the name by which he is now known
(Palladio
is
an allusion to the Greek goddess of
wisdom Pallas Athene, and to a character of a play of
Trissino itself). After Trissino's death in 1550 Palladio
benefited from the patronage of the Barbaro brothers
who encouraged his studies of classical architecture.
The Palladian style, named after him, adhered to
classical Roman principles he rediscovered, applied
and explained in his works. He designed many
palaces, villas and churches, but Palladio's reputation
has been founded on his skill as a designer of villas.
History of Europe
10
10. How did the sculpture of the High Renaissance
differ from that of early Renaissance?
In early Renaissance sculpture one notices a renewed
interest in classical forms and a more positive
realism. The early fifteenth century witnessed a
return of the nude human figures as this determined
harmonious ratios. The perfection of the human body
was sought to be upheld by the sculptors of this
period. The works of Lorenzo Gilberti (1378 to 1455),
one of the three outstanding sculptors of the early
Renaissance in Italy, illustrates the early Renaissance
interest in classical forms. In the second half of the
fifteenth
century,
the
two
trends
that
can
be
distinguished in Florentine sculpture are the search
for lyrical beauty and the tendency towards drastic
realism that developed from the scientific aspect of
Donatello’s art. The youthful and feminine forms
contrast sharply with the aged male portraits of the
realists. One of the best examples of this lyric style is
a relief of Madonna and Child by Desiderio da
Settignano.
Renaissance
The
dominant
sculpture
was
personality
of
Michelangelo
High
whose
History of Europe
11
‘David’ done in 1504, shows the hooked wrist of the
right hand, the detailed anatomy, the fixed gaze of
the
eyes
which
were
all
fifteenth
century
characteristics. The great height of the figure, the
manifestations of physical proportions, the strain
created
by
exaggerating
the
difference
in
the
shoulder level and the tension of the neck muscles
that results from turning the head towards the left or
raised side of the body, are all characteristic of High
Renaissance styles, which aimed to create a form
that would typify the unbound energy and confidence
of youth in all its physical strength.