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Content Area 3: Renaissance
REBIRTH
● Important secular works of 15th century
architecture are influenced by Gothic church
architecture.
● International Gothic Style dominates
● Flemish painting is characterized by
symbolically rich layers of meaning applied to
crowded compositions with high horizon lines
● Printmaking!!!! 1st mass produced art form,
radically changes art history!
● Northern Renaissance altarpieces are
cupboards rather than screens.
● Gold is used in abundance to show wealth
Causes of the Reformation
1. Corruption of the Roman Catholic Church
during the Renaissance; sale of indulgences,
nepotism, sale of church offices, decline of
morality among the clergy.
2. Humanism questioned Church traditions; it
contradicted the emphasis on salvation.
3. Resentment of secular rulers over the power
of the popes and the clergy.
Differences between Italy & Northern Europe
● Oil Paint
The artists of the North invented oil paint! They use oil paint
fifty years or more before they use it in Italy (where they use
tempera until then). Think about what oil paint can do that fresco
and tempera can not do! Keep this in mind as you look at the
Merode Altarpiece. The Renaissance in Northern Europe is very
different from the Renaissance in Italy. (SmartHistory)
3 reasons why oil paints are better:
a. Brighter colors
b. More details
c. Preservation is better
● Classical Antiquity
The fact that we are far from Italy tells us something about the
character of the Northern Renaissance. Remember that in Italy we
said that the Renaissance was a rebirth of the art and culture of
Ancient Greece and Rome? Well, in Northern Europe we're pretty
far from the important centers of Ancient Greek and Roman
culture, and so the Renaissance in the North is not a rebirth of
Ancient Greek and Roman culture the way it was in Florence.
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15 CENTURY FLEMISH ART
• Bruges is capitol city. Very wealthy with trade,
banking, and industry.
• Symbolism in painting
• Furthering the International Style
• development and use of OIL PAINT, slower
drying time, ability to use transparent glazes
– Deep, intense tonality
– deeper shadows, brilliant highlights
Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece). Workshop of Robert Campin. 1427–1432
C.E. Oil on wood.
**domestic symbolism to reference Christian theology
triptych – three panel painting
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• made for donor (left)
for private home
• perhaps made to pray
for pregnancy
• city messenger is alert
and ready to send
message, perhaps of
the annunciation?
perhaps of the donors
hopeful pregnancy?
lilies + pot +
towel =
purity
flying naked
baby with
cross
perspective
is skewed,
not quite to
the level of
the Italian
perfection
of
perspective
yet…
• Joseph as carpenter
• depicted in a way to show respect
for artisan values and the virtue of
Christian citizen – work hard, be
pious
• wood = cross
• nails + hammer = crucifixion
• mousetrap = trap for the devil
"The devil exulted when Christ died, but
by this very death of Christ the devil
was vanquished, as if he had swallowed
the bait in the mousetrap. He rejoiced
in Christ's death, like a bailiff of death.
What he rejoiced in was then his own
undoing. The cross of the Lord was the
devil's mousetrap; the bait by which he
was caught was the Lord's death...."
The Arnolfini Portrait. Jan van Eyck. c. 1434 C.E. Oil
on wood. approx. 2' 8" x 1' 11 1/2”
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Quattrocento: 15 century Italian
Renaissance
Humanism Grew in Interest
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emphasis on education and knowledge
exploration of individual potential
commitment to civic responsibility
keen interest in classical antiquity: Rome & Greece
appealed to the wealthy and powerful
Art as a Result
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infused with humanist ideas: images of classical history and mythology
increased concern in perspectival and anatomical systems
revival of portraiture and self-aggrandizing forms of patronage
citizens’ great participation in civic and religious commissions
`
67a
/b
Pazzi Chapel. Basilica di Santa Croce. Florence, Italy. Filippo Brunelleschi
(architect). c. 1429–1461 C.E. Masonry. (2 images)
video
Plan of Pazzi Chapel
What is Classical?
Brunelleschi’s Linear Perspective
• Perspective
Palazzo Rucellai. Florence, Italy.
Leon Battista Alberti (architect).
c. 1450 C.E. Stone, masonry.
Rucellai family was a wealthy merchant
family
Leon Battista Alberti (whom you can know
as Alberti) wrote a very important treatise
on Classical architecture and painting
Floor One: Business
Floor Two: Location to receive guests
Floor Three: Family’s private quarters
Floor Four: (hidden) servant quarters
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entablature
LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, Palazzo
Rucellai, Florence, Italy, ca. 1452-1470
Engaged Corinthian pilaster
Engaged Composite pilaster
Engaged Tuscan pilaster= Etruscan version of Doric
Michelozzo, Palazzo Medici-Ricardi, begun
1444—rusticated walls first floor
David. Donatello. c. 1440–1460 C.E.
Bronze.
video
first freestanding nude since Classical Antiquity
re-emergence of Humanism
contrapposto – counter balance, relax, movement
eroticism and femininity, overt sexuality
Commissioned by Medici family – super important,
wealthy family of Florence –
David was a symbol of the city of Florence
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To throw a wrench into all of this… Some art
historians see this sculpture as Mercury – NOT David
Donatello, David,
1440-1460
“Given its breadth, the ramifications of male
sodomitical practices touched all Florentines in
one way or another. So famous was the city on
the Arno for promoting it, that in Germany,
homosexual sex was described by the verb
florenzen, and in France its was called ‘the
Florentine vice’”...
-Excerpt from Adrian W.B. Randolph, Engaging
Symbols: Gender, Politics, and Public Life in
Fifteenth-Century Florence
Greek High Classical,
Polykleitos, Doryphorus,
~450 BCE
Madonna and Child with Two
Angels. Fra Filippo Lippi. c. 1465 C.E.
Tempera on wood.
Teacher of Botticelli
Sweet elegance to the figures
idealized landscape
“window” allusion
commissioned by Cosimo de Medici who
recognized the “genius” in an artist, not just a
worker.
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Madonna and Child with Two
Angels. Fra Filippo Lippi. c. 1465 C.E.
Tempera on wood.
Virgin (Theotokos) and Child
between Saints Theodore and George.
Early Byzantine Europe. Sixth or early
seventh century C.E. Encaustic on wood.
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Birth of Venus. Sandro Botticelli.
c. 1484–1486 C.E. Tempera on canvas.
Aphrodite of Knidos, Praxiteles, Late Classical
Birth of Venus. Sandro Botticelli.
c. 1484–1486 C.E. Tempera on canvas.
Leonardo da Vinci
The heavens often rain down the richest gifts
on human beings, but sometimes they bestow
with lavish abundance upon a single individual
beauty, grace and ability, so that whatever he
does, every action is so divine that he distances
all other men, and clearly displays how his
greatness is a gift of God and not an
acquirement of human art. Men saw this in
Leonardo. (Vasari, Lives of the Most Excellent
Painters, Sculptors, and Architects)
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Last Supper. Leonardo da Vinci. c. 1494–1498 C.E. Oil and tempera.
Because Leonardo sought a greater detail and luminosity than could be achieved with traditional
fresco, he covered the wall with a double layer of dried plaster. Then, borrowing from panel
painting, he added an undercoat of lead white to enhance the brightness of the oil and
tempera that was applied on top. This experimental technique allowed for chromatic brilliance
and extraordinary precision but because the painting is on a thin exterior wall, the effects of
humidity were felt more keenly, and the paint failed to properly adhere to the wall.
These ideal geometric forms refer to the renaissance interest in Neo-Platonism (an element of
the humanist revival that reconciles aspects of Greek philosophy with Christian theology).
“Take, eat; this is my body” and blessing the wine and saying “Drink from it all of you;
for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins”
(Matthew 26)
From the Quattrocento… (1447)
15-Minute Essay – Quiz grade
The work shown is Leonardo’s Last Supper, created
between 1494-1498.
1. Identify the materials that were used in the work.
2. Why was the use of materials so problematic?
3. How did the original viewers respond to the work?
4 & 5. Use both specific visual and contextual evidence to discuss
the compositional decisions that the artist employed in this work.
Pull the language from the question as stems
for your responses.
To Restore or Not…
Sistine Chapel ceiling and
altar wall frescoes. Vatican
City, Italy. Michelangelo.
Ceiling frescoes: c.
1508–1512 C.E.; altar
frescoes: c. 1536–1541 C.E.
Fresco. (4 images)
video!
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Pope Julius II
Pope Paul III
Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall
frescoes. Vatican City, Italy.
Michelangelo. Ceiling
frescoes: c. 1508–1512 C.E.; altar
frescoes: c. 1536–1541 C.E. Fresco. (4
images)
75
a
Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall frescoes.
Vatican City, Italy. Michelangelo. Ceiling
frescoes: c. 1508–1512 C.E.; altar frescoes: c.
1536–1541 C.E. Fresco. (4 images)
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b
75
c
Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall frescoes. Vatican City, Italy. Michelangelo. Ceiling. frescoes:
c. 1508–1512 C.E.; altar frescoes: c. 1536–1541 C.E. Fresco. (4 images)
75
d
Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall frescoes. Vatican City, Italy. Michelangelo. Ceiling
frescoes: c. 1508–1512 C.E.; altar frescoes: c. 1536–1541 C.E. Fresco. (4 images)
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School of Athens. Raphael. 1509–1511 C.E. Fresco.
Entombment of Christ. Jacopo da
Pontormo. 1525–1528 C.E. Oil on wood.
Mannerist Style occurring in High Renaissance
Mannerism is derived from the term maniera,
which translates to style
Defining Mannerism is problematic because is
speaks to unique styles of different artists.
In a nutshell, Mannerism emphasizes complexity
and virtuosity over naturalistism that is
championed in the High Renaissance.
Pontormo is best known for his bizarre
psychological tension
General characteristics:
1.
2.
3.
some distortion of the human figure
flattening of pictorial space
cultivated intellectual sophistication
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Monsignor della Casa
Pontormo
1541/1544
Oil on panel
Florence
• Discuss with your
group the formal
decisions that
Pontormo made in
creating this
painting. In your
opinion, what
justifies this work
as Mannerist?
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16 Century NORTHERN Renaissance
• Albrecht Durer is the 16th century Northern
Renaissance ROCKSTAR
• Printing press invented in Germany around 1450
– we see combinations of image and text for books
• This printing accelerated Martin Luther’s
translations of scripts for the Protestant
Reformation
Adam and Eve. Albrecht Dürer.
1504 C.E. Engraving.
Durer created his figures from the
canonical writings of Vitruvian
(Roman architect and theoretician)
at this moment, there is a perfect
equilibrium, both with Adam and Eve,
and the animal kingdom.
Adam is inspired by the Roman
marble copy of the Greek Apollo
Eve is inspired by representations of
Venus
Traveled to Venice and learned about
Italian Renaissance ideals:
proportions
compositions
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Adam and Eve. Albrecht Dürer
1504 C.E. Engraving.
4 Humors in
Greco-Roman
Medicine:
• Melancholic: elk,
black bile
• Phlegmatic: ox,
phlegm
• Sanguine: rabbit,
blood
• Choleric: cat,
yellow bile
Just for your information…
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Isenheim altarpiece. Matthias Grünewald. c. 1512–1516 C.E. Oil on wood. (2 images)(closed)
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Isenheim altarpiece. Matthias Grünewald. c.
1512–1516 C.E. Oil on wood. (2 images) (open)
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Catholicism
Protestantism
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Allegory of Law and Grace. Lucas Cranach
the Elder. c. 1530 C.E. Woodcut and
letterpress.
Venetian Painting =
Color and Harmony
Florentine and Roman Painting
SCULPTURESQUE FORMS
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Early 16 Venetian Painting
colorito vs. disegno
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Venus of Urbino. Titian. c. 1538 C.E.Oil on canvas.
Venus of Urbino. Titian. c. 1538 C.E.Oil on canvas.
• Titian (working in Venice) is known for his colorito: his
focus on layering color glazes = creates a real sense of
flesh
• Objectification of female figure - “Male gaze”
• sensuality + sexuality, Titian creates new genre of
painting: Female Nude
Venus of Urbino. Titian. c. 1538 C.E.Oil on canvas.
80
• commissioned for the Duke of Urbino