Download Italian Renaissance Art

Renaissance
Influences of the Middle Ages
There were 3:
/ Black Death. Killed millions and changed the
balance of peasant / workers to nobility. The
peasants gained power.
/ Church. Powerful force in society. However
losing influence due to corruption (more later!)
/ Hundred Years War. Forced nationalism in
France and England. Peasants’ power in battle
overtakes that of nobility.
How do these affect the Renaissance?
Why Italy? Why Now?
Plenty of money thanks to trade
/ Why Italian trade?
Location.
Crusades
Rivalries between city states
Banking
Renaissance
What was the renaissance?
/ “Rebirth of learning”. But whose?
/ Ideas of ancient Greece and Rome.
/ Church ignored this knowledge because…
Polytheistic people could not know more
than Church!
/ Thomas Aquinas used Greek knowledge
to prove the Bible.
HUMANISM becomes the force of
change during the Renaissance.
Humanism
Renaissance Humanism was the reintroduction of classical thought
(knowledge from Ancient Greece & Rome). The Renaissance began in Italy
15th century (1400’s). The revival was based on interpretations of Roman
and Greek knowledge. This was a great change from the focus on the
Biblical values of the Catholic Church. This knowledge had been largely
ignored by the Roman Catholic Church because of its polytheistic base.
Humanism emphasized the study of science, philosophy, art, poetry,
rhetoric (discussion/debate) and importance of an individual contribution.
Renaissance humanists believed that the liberal arts should be practiced by
all levels of wealth. One of the things you can look for in art and
literature are “classical themes” (Mythological characters, ancient settings,
the individual and the elegance of the human form etc.).
The crisis of Renaissance humanism came with the trial of Galileo. The
church taught that the earth was the center of the universe and Galileo
disputed this based on his mathematic and scientific observations.
This forced academics to choose between the authority of faith and
religious teaching or science (a battle which continues to this
day…intelligent design, creationism, and evolution). The trial exposed the
contradictions between humanism and the teachings of the church, and
humanism was branded a “dangerous doctrine”. Galileo was forced to
recant (take back) his ideas, even though we now know them to be true,
further showing the power of the Church during Renaissance times.
Geometrical Arrangement of
Figures
The Dreyfus
Madonna
with the
Pomegranate
Leonardo da
Vinci
1469
The figure as
architecture!
Realism &
Expression
Expulsion from
the Garden
Masaccio
1427
First nudes since
classical times.
Perspective
The Trinity
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Masaccio
1427
Perspective!
First use
of linear
perspective!
What you are,
I once was;
what I am,
you will
become.
Classicism
Greco-Roman
influence.
Secularism.
Individualism  free
standing figures.
Symmetry/Balance
The “Classical Pose”
Medici “Venus” (1c)
Artists as Personalities/Celebrities
Lives of the Most
Excellent
Painters,
Sculptors, and
Architects
Giorgio Vasari
1550
Lorenzo
the Magnificent
1478 - 1521
Cosimo de Medici
1517 - 1574
Birth of Venus – Botticelli, 1485
2002 Euro Coin
Botticelli’s Venus Motif.
10¢ Italian Euro coin.
T he Liberation of
Sculpture
David by Donatello
1430
First free-form bronze
since Roman times!
Baldassare Castiglione by Raphael,
1514-1515
Castiglione represented
the humanist “gentleman”
as a man of refinement
and self-control.
Book “The Courtier”
defined the Renaissance
Man
T he Renaissance “Man”
Broad knowledge about many things in
different fields.
Deep knowledge/skill in one area.
Able to link information from different
areas/disciplines and create new
knowledge.
The Greek ideal of the “well-rounded
man” was at the heart of Renaissance
education.
Self-Portrait -- da Vinci, 1512
Artist
Sculptor
Architect
Scientist
Engineer
Inventor
1452 - 1519
Vitruvian Man
Leonardo da
Vinci
1492
T he
L’uomo
universale
Mona Lisa – da Vinci, 1503-4
ParodyThe Best Form of Flattery?
A Macaroni Mona
A Picasso Mona
An Andy Warhol Mona
A “Mona”ca Lewinsky
Mona Lisa OR da Vinci??
Refractory
Convent of
Santa Maria
delle Grazie
Milan
T he Last Supper - da Vinci, 1498
& Geometry
vertical
T he Last Supper - da Vinci, 1498
horizontal
Perspective!
Deterioration
Detail of
Jesus
The Last
Supper
Leonardo da
Vinci
1498
A Da Vinci “Code”:
St. John or Mary Magdalene?
Leonardo, the Scientist (Biology):
Pages from his Notebook
An example of
the humanist
desire to unlock
the secrets of
nature.
Leonardo, the Scientist (Anatomy):
Pages from his Notebook
Leonardo, the Inventor:
Pages from his Notebook
Man Can Fly?
Leonardo, the Engineer:
Pages from his Notebook
A study of siege defenses.
Studies of water-lifting
devices.
Brunelleschi’s Dome
A Contest to Decorate the Cathedral:
Sacrifice of Isaac Panels
Brunelleschi
Ghiberti
Ghiberti – Gates of Paradise
Baptistry Door, Florence – 1425 - 1452
The Winner!
The Pieta
Michelangelo
Buonarroti
1499
marble
David
Michelangelo
Buonarotti
1504
Marble
 15c
What
a
difference
a
century
makes!
16c 
T he Sistine
Chapel
Michelangelo
Buonarroti
1508 - 1512
T he Sistine Chapel’s Ceiling
Michelangelo Buonarroti
1508 - 1512
T he Sistine Chapel Details
The
Creation
of the
Heavens
T he Sistine Chapel Details
Creation of Man
T he Sistine Chapel Details
The Fall
from
Grace
T he Sistine Chapel Details
The Last Judgment
T he School of Athens – Raphael, 1510 -11
Da Vinci
Raphael
Michelangelo
T he School of Athens – Raphael, details
Plato:
looks to the
heavens [or
the IDEAL
realm].
Aristotle:
looks to this
earth [the
here and
now].
Averroes
Hypatia
Pythagoras
Zoroaster
Ptolemy
Euclid
Flaying of Marsyas T itian, 1576
Apollo
Stages of
life for the
artist.
(TITIAN?)
Arnolfini and
His Bride
Full of symbolism.
Lots of commentary
about the era
/ Appearance
/ Dog
/ Shoes
/ Bed
/ Window
/ Fruit
/ Chandelier
/ Mirror