Download art history ap the high renaissance

ART HISTORY AP THE HIGH RENAISSANCE
EUROPE IN THE 16TH CENTURY
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age of social, intellectual, and religious ferment that transformed European culture
marked by continual warfare triggered by the expansionist ambitions of the continent’s various rulers
religious reformers within the established Church challenged beliefs and practices centered around financial
contribution to the Church in return for forgiveness of sins and insurance of salvations
 protesters referred to as Protestants, movement called the Reformation
 Italy remained staunchly Catholic, the Reformation had profound repercussion there though
 also to seek internal reform and renew- Counter Reformation
o political maneuvering of Pope Clement VII led to direct clash with Hole Roman Emperor Charles V
 May 1527, Charles’ German mercenary troops attacked Rome, beginning a 6 moth orgy of killing,
looting, and burning= The Sack of Rome
o 17th century patrons valued artists highly and rewarded them well, not only with commission but also with
knighting (Titian)
o many artists began recording their activities in private diaries, notebooks, and letters
o Giorgio Vasari: Live of the Best Architect, Painter, and Sculptors
 more than simple biographical details
 value judgments on work
 commented on the role of patrons
 argued that art had become more realistic and more beautiful over time
o humanists’ argument that the conception of a painting, sculpture, or work of architecture was not a manual
art but a liberal (intellectual) art
o myth of the divinely inspired creative genius arose
ITALY IN THE EARLY 16TH CENTURY
o sense of gravity, a complex but balanced relationship of individual parts to the whole, and a deeper
understanding of humanism
o tempera gave way to the more flexible oil medium
o economically, commissions from private sources increased
o artists no longer depended so exclusively on the patronage of the Church, the aristocracy, or civic
associations
o middle class became avid collectors
o The 3 Great Artists of the Early 16th Century
 Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael- 3 leaders of the classical phase of the Italian Renaissance
 Leonardo Da Vinci
apprentice in the shop of the painter and sculptor Verrocchio until about 1476
spend much of his time in Milan on military and civil engineering projects, including both
urban renewal and fortification plans for the city
The Last Supper
Virgin and Saint Anne with the Christ Child and the Young John the Baptist
Mona Lisa
unified his compositions by covering them with a thin, lightly tinted varnish, which resulted
in a smoky over haze called sfumato
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was not particularly interested in classical literature or archaeology: interests were in
mathematics, engineering, and the natural world
 Raphael
The Small Cowper Madonna
School of Athens
Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio De’Medci and Luigu De Rossi
 Michelangelo
 Early Work
13- was apprenticed to Ghirlandaio: whose workshop he learned the rudiments of fresco
painting and studied drawings of classical monuments
joined the household of Lorenzo the Magnificent- head of the ruling Medici family
studied sculpture with Bertoldo di Geiovanni, a pupil of Donatello
fell under the spell of the charismatic preacher Fra Girolamo Savonarola
Pieta
David
The Sistine Chapel
 Later Sculpture
Moses
VENICE AND THE VENETO
 Venice emerged as a major artistic center- embraced the oil medium
 use of oil glazes permitted the brilliant color and lighting effects
 Giovanni Bellini
work matured into a grand, simplified, idealized style
San Zaccaria Altarpiece the Virgin and Child
 Giorgione
portraits, altarpieces, and frescoes
made a few paintings that show figures placed in mysterious, intensely observed landscapes
died from plague
introduced enigmatic pastoral themes, sensuous nude figures, and above all, an
appreciation of nature in landscape painting
The Tempest
 Titian
Pastoral Concert
Pesaro Madonna
Venus of Urbino
 Veronese
Feast in the House of Levi
 Tintoretto
goal of combining his mater’s color with the drawing of Michelangelo
seemed to paint so rapidly because he employed a large workshop
often developed a composition by creating a small-scale model like a miniature stage set
(wax figures)
adjusted lighting
used a grid of horizontal and vertical threads placed in front of this model, he could easily
sketch the composition onto squared paper
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MANNERISM
o Italy
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Last Supper
Andrea Palladio
Villa Totunda
arose in Florence and Rome in the 1520’s
suggest intellectually intricate subjects, highly skilled techniques, and art concerned with beauty for
its own sake
extraordinary virtuosity; sophisticated, elegant compositions; fearless manipulations or distortions
of accepted formal conventions
irrational spatial effects and figure with elongated proportions, exaggerated poses, and enigmatic
gestures and expressions
some artist favored obscure, unsettling and often erotic imagery
unusual color and juxtapositions
unfathomable secondary scenes
sculpture: often small in size
precious metals
exaggerated body forms
extraordinary technical skill
architecture: defies uniformity and rationality as well as the conventional use of classical orders
Brunelleschi
Capponi Chapel
Pontromo
Capponi Chapel
o Deposition
Bronzino
Pontormo’s assistant
best known today for his courtly Mannerist style
Portrait of a Young Man
Sofonisba Anguissola
taught by Michelangelo
Self-Portrait
Lavinia Fontana
father was a follower of Raphael
Noli Me Tangere
France
 Primaticcio
combined the arts of woodworking, stucco relief, and fresco painting in his complex but
lighthearted and graceful interior design
stucco nymphs recall Pontormo’s painting style
elongated bodies and head
spiraling posture and bits of clinging drapery
wall surface is almost overwhelmed with garlands, mythological figures ad Roman
architectural ornament
 Giambologna
2nd ½ of the 16th century- probably the most influential sculptor in Italy
greatly influence by Michelangelo
Venus Urania (Astronomy)
MANNERIST ARCHITECTURE
o Giacomo Barozzi (Vignola)
 work seems more expressive of Italian Renaissance than French Mannerist ideals
 Church of Il Gesu
GERMAN ART
o worked in every medium
o produced some of their finest and most original work in the wood of the linden tree which grew abundantly
in the central and southern Germanic lands
o Riemenschneider
 Altarpiece of the Holy Blood
o Painting and Prints
 Matthias Gruenwald and Albrect Durer dominated the 1st decades of the 16th c.
 Gruenwald continued the long tradition of German mysticism and emotionalism
 Durer intense observation of the natural world represented new interests in empirical observation ,
linear perspective, and the northern ideal of the human figure
Gruenwald
o Isenheim Altarpiece
Albrecht Durer
o leading German Renaissance Artist, son of a Nuremberg goldsmith
o published theoretical writings and manuals that discussed Renaissance problems of
perspective, ideal human proportions and the techniques of painting.
o Self Portrait
o Adam and Eve
THE REFORMATION AND THE ARTS
o broad dissatisfaction with financial abuses and lavish lifestyles among the clergy, religious reformers began
to challenge specific practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church (i.e. sale of indulgences)
o Desiderius Eramus of Rotterdam and Martin Luther (Dutchman) led the Reformation= Protestants
o emphasized individual faith and turned to the Bible as the ultimate religious authority
o Luther’s On Christian Liberty= pamphlets
 1521, Pope condemned him
 while in hiding translated the bible into German
o Reformation promoted Rome to launch a Counter- Reformation
 Council of Trent
 formulated a program that included the Inquisition, with its special tribunals to root out heresy
o some protestants considered religious imagers to be idolatrous
o Catholic Church scrutinized works of art for heretical or profane subject matter
o Four Apostles
o Albrecht Altdorfer
 landscape, with or without figures, was an important new category of imagery after the Reformation
 Danube Landscape
o Hobein
 Henry VIII
NETHERLANDISH AND SPANISH ART
o Netherlands: Holland and Belgium
o some artist continued the styles of the later 15th century; others looked back to even earlier Flemish painters
for models
o some became Mannerists
o Hieronymus Bosch
 Garden of Earthly Delights
o Pieter Brugel the Elder
 began his career imitating Bosch
 artfully composed works that reflected contemporary social, political and religious conditions
 did not record the ruins of ancient Rome
 fascinated by the landscape= Alpine valleys
 used imagination as his painted the flat and rolling lands of Flanders as broad panoramas, even
adding imaginary mountains on the horizon
 Hunters in the Snow
o Catarina van Hemessen
 illustrious international reputation
 portraits typically depict a subject in 3 quarter view
 background elements included
 Self Portrait
o El Greco
 Kyriakos Theotokopoulos= El Greco, the Greek
 Byzantine icon painter
 worked in Titian’s sop in Venice about 1566
 mature style untied the intense emotionalism seen in Byzantine religious art with rich color and
loose brush work reminiscent of Tinoretto
 Burial of Count Orgaz