Download About Renaissance Art - Core Knowledge Foundation

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I. Art of the Renaissance
Cross-curricular Connections
continued
Mathematics
Science
Computation
Measurement
Geometry
The Human Body
• The Vitruvian Man
At a Glance
The most important ideas for you are:
◗ The Italian Renaissance revived the ideals, learning, and styles of
ancient Greece and Rome.
◗ Both the Christian Church and wealthy and powerful patrons from the
independent city-states of Italy commissioned art in order to broadcast
their power and wealth.
◗ Italian Renaissance art included religious, mythological, and historical
themes as well as portraits of the elite.
◗ Renaissance painting and sculpture aimed to reproduce the world
around them. This style became known as realism.
◗ Precise observation of the natural world pervaded the northern
Renaissance style.
◗ The Renaissance produced some of the most famous artists the world
has ever known.
What Teachers Need to Know
Background
What exactly was “reborn” during the European Renaissance? The
Renaissance, which is generally said to have lasted from around 1400 to 1600,
was a “rebirth” of learning, art, and awareness, based largely on classical
Greek and Roman art and literature. The ancients saw beauty in the world and
tried to capture it in their artwork. They made beautiful sculptures, buildings,
and other works of art. However, the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome
both declined, and the latter was replaced by the dominance of the Church during the period we call the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, some classical texts and many classical works of art were lost or forgotten. New styles
emerged in art and architecture, such as the Gothic style, which students in
Core Knowledge schools should have studied in Grade 4.
The humanists and artists of the Renaissance defined themselves in opposition to the Gothic style. Instead of gargoyles and stained glass, they wished
to return to classical elements and styles—to pillars, domes and friezes. Even
when they built a cathedral, they wanted to build it with Greek and Roman
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elements. The influence of classical styles eventually proved to be very fruitful, and the Renaissance developed into one of the greatest ages for art and
artists in the history of the world. Spurred by trade, the growth of cities, and
a renewed interest in the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome, great
advances were made in literature, scholarship, navigation, astronomy, engineering, philosophy, education, and art.
Note that the topics in this section are closely connected with the
Renaissance topics in the World History and Geography section “The
Renaissance and the Reformation,” (pp. 164–188), as well as with certain topics in the Music and Language Arts sections. We suggest that you teach this
unit on Renaissance art in tandem with your study of other aspects of the
Renaissance. Your students’ understanding of the works discussed below will
be much increased if they are able to connect the artists and artworks
described in this section to the humanists, patrons, and city-states described in
the history section.
Note: The descriptions and activities in the main text below are
intended to help you become familiar with the artworks before presenting them to students; however, some of the activities might be adapted for
classroom use. Activities intended specifically for students can be found
in the Teaching Idea sidebars. The Looking Questions given below are
also printed on the reverse side of the Art Resources, and have been written with students in mind, so that they might be used as a rough plan for
class discussion. You should feel free to use these questions or develop
questions of your own. Be sure students have time to look at the reproductions carefully before asking the Looking Questions.
Developments in Art
Patronage
The Roman Catholic Church remained a significant patron of the arts during
the period of the Renaissance, as it had been in the Middle Ages. The popes commissioned artists like Raphael and Michelangelo to decorate cathedrals and other
church buildings. However, wealthy merchant families (such as the Medici) and
independent city-states (such as Florence, Pisa, Bologna, etc.) also commissioned
works of art that announced their wealth and power. Wealthy persons or institutions who supported artists and commissioned works were (and still are) known as
patrons. Patrons generally dictated subject matter, which might include religious,
historical, or mythological scenes, as well as portraits of patrons and their families.
You can read more about the Medici as patrons of art in the World History and
Geography section “The Renaissance and the Reformation,” pp. 164–188.
The Increasing Status of Artists
During the Renaissance, the modern concept of artists as individuals with
creative genius emerged. Previously, artists were generally considered mere artisans and manual laborers of a trade. From the earliest times, they had worked in
workshops producing art that was often more functional than decorative. During
the Renaissance, many continued to work collaboratively. An expert painter
might be assisted by a handful of apprentices who were learning the trade.
However, at the same time, a number of individual artists became well known.
One sign of the new status of art and the artist was that many painters began to
Teaching Idea
Pair students, and have one “commission” the other for a particular type of
art, just as patrons would have done
during the Renaissance. The
“patrons” should give specific
instructions about the work’s scene,
story, and mood. Have pairs switch
roles, so the “artists” become the
“patrons” and vice versa. Afterward,
have students write journal entries
about what it was like to have to create art according to another person’s
dictates. What are the advantages
and disadvantages as compared to
drawing whatever you want?
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I. Art of the Renaissance
sign their names on the works they created. Before the Renaissance this was much
less common.
Types of Art
Renaissance artists made important advances in many media. There were
major frescos painted on walls and ceilings, as well as portraits and everyday
scenes painted on canvas. Many great sculptures were also produced, including
some that were free standing, rather than attached to a wall or building, as had
been the custom in the Middle Ages.
Renaissance architecture adapted the geometry and symmetry of classical
Greek and Roman buildings such as the Parthenon and Pantheon. Builders used
columns, carved or painted scenes, friezes, and pediments. They abandoned the
highly ornate Gothic style of the Middle Ages with its vaults, flying buttresses,
stained-glass windows, and gargoyles.
Growing Realism
One important characteristic of Renaissance art is an increased degree of realism. In the Middle Ages, a great deal of beautiful art was created, but much of this
art did not put a high premium on realism. Saints and religious figures were often
depicted in a way that looks somewhat flat and/or abstract. This was partly
because some classical knowledge about how to make flat pictures appear threedimensional had been lost. But it also reflected the priorities of medieval artists
and their patrons. The painters and patrons of the medieval period were eager to
inspire religious thoughts in the viewer, and this did not always require exact realism.
The artists of the Renaissance looked back to classical models. Greek and
Roman sculptors had created some very realistic figures, especially in their sculptures, and these became the inspiration for a new emphasis on realism in sculpture and painting.
Renaissance artists and scholars also rediscovered specific techniques that
allowed them to make more realistic depictions. The rediscovery and development of linear perspective in paintings promoted the illusion of depth as the
human eye sees it in the natural world. In linear, or single-point perspective, lines
seem to converge on a vanishing point along the horizon line. Artists used this
technique not only to foster a sense of depth, but also to focus the viewer’s eye.
(For more on perspective, see the discussion of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last
Supper on pp. 336–337.)
Artists who began this revolutionary change to Renaissance style included
Giotto, who painted in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. He painted in a less
Byzantine and more naturalistic way, imitating nature and using anatomy,
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perspective, and expressive human detail in his works. Giotto’s works influenced
the style of Masaccio, a 15th-century Italian painter who employed perspective,
three-dimensionality, and the use of light to create natural and realistic art.
Through the works of these and other artists, the Renaissance brought about a
slow evolution from medieval, Church-dominated culture to one more “modern”
in which the artist could develop his or her individual expression.
The increased focus on realism can be seen as one aspect of the gradual
growth of scientific observation. Indeed, some of the artists studied in this section—including Leonardo da Vinci—could be considered scientists as well as
artists. Leonardo did engineering work as well as painting, and his sketches of the
human body were based in part on his examination of cadavers.
The Renaissance in Northern Europe
The Renaissance began in Italy but eventually spread to other parts of Europe.
Artists in 16th-century Netherlands and Germany learned much from Italian
painters but also developed distinguishing characteristics of their own. In particular, they strove for precisely accurate depictions. Artists in the north paid enormous attention to detail in their portraits, religious scenes, and genre paintings.
Looking at the Included Reproductions
1
Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (c. 1485)
Renaissance artists sometimes painted mythological themes, looking back to
classical literature for inspiration. One of the best-known mythological paintings
of the Renaissance is The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (1444–1510).
Lorenzo de’ Medici, a member of the great Florentine family, commissioned this
painting for his villa at Castello.
Botticelli himself was born in Florence. As a young man he was apprenticed
first to a goldsmith, then to Fra Filippo Lippi (a well-known painter and subject
of a poem by Robert Browning) where he worked with Andrea del Verrocchio, in
whose shop Leonardo da Vinci later apprenticed. Botticelli did many works for the
Medici family. After the 1490s, Botticelli appears to have been heavily influenced
by a fiery preacher named Savonarola. Botticelli’s style of painting changed to be
less natural and idealized as he became more focused on politics and religion.
How does Botticelli indicate that the scene is clearly not of this world? His
central figure, Venus, the goddess of love in Roman mythology, stands on an enormous seashell that somehow floats on water whose very waves create a beautiful
pattern rather than portraying real ripples. On the left, the wind gods Zephyr and
Aura blow Venus toward shore. On the right is one of the three Horae, or goddesses of the seasons, who were attendants of Venus; this hora personifies spring.
She is clothed in a billowy gown, ready to drape the newly born (and therefore
nude) goddess in a flowered cape.
Although the scene derives from classical mythology, in Renaissance times it
reflected a Christian meaning as well. Venus’s birth represented the mystery
through which God gifts the world with beauty. Thus, in her purity, Venus represents sacred love in an exquisite, divine realm.
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