Transcript Where do you see geometric perspective?

Renaissance Architecture
and Art
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Mike Stratas
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patronage
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It would be a mistake to overlook the role of
patronage in the development of Renaissance
art.
Wealthy merchant and noble families had the
excess wealth to spend on art. Take for
example, Isabelle d’Este and the Medicis.
Doing so had a purpose beyond merely
creating beauty. Commissioning and owning
art allowed one to show off to one’s neighbors.
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The Four R’s of Renaissance Architecture
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Rome
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Rules
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Reason
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Rithmetic
Rome
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In keeping with their passion for
the classics. Renaissance
architects systematically
measured Roman ruins to copy
their style and proportion. They
revived elements like the
rounded arch, concrete
construction, domed rotunda,
portico, barrel vault, and
column.
Rules
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Since architects considered
themselves scholars rather than
mere builders, they based their
work on theories s expressed in
various treatises. Alberti
formulated aesthetic rules that
were widely followed.
Reason
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Theories emphasized
architecture’s rational basis,
grounded in science, math, and
engineering. Cool reason
replaced the mystical approach of
the Middle Ages.
‘Rithmetic
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Architects depended on arithmetic
to produce beauty and harmony. A
system of ideal proportions related
parts of a building to each other in
numerical ratios, such as 2:1 ratio
of a nave twice as high as the
width of a church. Layouts relied
on geometric shapes, especially
the circle and square.
Alberti (1404-72)
The Renaissance’s major
theorist. He downplayed
art’s religious purpose and
urged artists to study
“sciences” like history,
poetry, and mathematics as
building blocks. He wrote
the first systematic guide to
perspective and provided
sculptors with rules for ideal
human proportions.
Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
Another Renaissance man,
he is best known as the
father of modern
engineering. Not only did
he discover mathematical
perspective, he also
championed the centralplan church design that
replaced the medieval
basilica. He constructed
the dome (duomo) for the
Florence Cathedral. It has
been called the Eighth
Wonder of the World.
Brunelleschi’s “Duomo”
What elements
of classical style
elements do you
see?
How do you see
geometric
perspective?
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Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel (1440-1461)
What
elements of
classical
style
elements do
you see?
How do you
see
geometric
perspective?
Bramante (1444-1514)
He built the Tempietto
(Little Temple) where Saint
Peter was crucified. It was
the perfect prototype of the
domed central-plan church.
It expressed the
Renaissance ideals of order,
simplicity, and
harmoniousness.
Bramante’s Tempietto (1444-1514)
Where do you
see order,
simplicity,
and
harmoniousness?
One sees the following classical
elements:
Dome
 Columns
 Symmetry
& Balance
 Tuscan
capitals
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Palladio (1508-1580)
Known for his villas and
palaces, his treatise Four Books
on Architecture was enormously
influential in later centuries.
Thomas Jefferson used his
book as a guide.
His Villa Rotunda incorporates
Greek and Roman details like
porticos with Ionic columns, a
flat dome like the Pantheon,
and rooms arranged
symmetrically around a central
rotunda.
Palladio’s Villa Rotonda (begun 1550)
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Renaissance art ushered a
number of dramatic changes
in how art was produced. To
better understand the
significance of Renaissance
art, we should first look at art
from the Middle Ages.
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WHICH IS MORE REALISTIC OR
MORE NATURAL?
Late Middle Ages
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Early Renaissance
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Characteristics of Renaissance Art
Overall, technical innovations
and creative discoveries made
possible new styles of
representing reality in a humancentered naturalism.
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The Four Artistic Breakthroughs In
the Search for Naturalism
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1. Oil on stretched canvas: allowed artists to
represent textures and simulate three-dimensional
forms.
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2. Geometric Perspective: allows for the illusion of
depth
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3. The use of light and shadow (chiaroscuro):
allows for figures to look rounded as opposed to
flat. Thus they are more natural looking.
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4. Pyramid Configuration: allows for figures to look
more three-dimensional and are thus more natural.
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Characteristics of Renaissance Art
1. Emulation of the Ancient Greeks and Romans
2. Good Use of Depth in Painting.
3. Linear (further away=smaller) and atmospheric (further away=hazi
perspective.
4. Paintings began to have more detailed backgrounds.
5. Not necessarily religious, more focus on earthly themes and
humans.
6. More realistic, geometrically precise and mathematically accurate.
7. Subjects show signs of more emotions.
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Heroes of the High Renaissance
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Raphael
Michelangelo
Leonardo Da Vinci
Artists of the High Renaissance attain a high
social status as people revere them.
An artistic breakthrough with human-centered
naturalism is found in the works of Raphael and
da Vinci. Raphael and Michelangelo display
use of classical styles and geometricperspective.
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Raphael (1483-1520)
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Raphael’s Madonna of the Chair
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How do you see
human-centered
naturalism?
How do you see
geometric
perspective?
Where is there
evidence of
classical style?
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Raphael’s Madonna of the Chair
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Look at
Raphael’s
subjects. They
are real flesh
and blood
women and
children.
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Raphael’s The School of Athens
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This is his masterpiece.
Where do you see evidence of classical style
(Greek and Roman architecture and Greek
and Roman figures)?
Where do you geometric perspective?
Where do you see human-centered
naturalism?
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Raphael’s The School of Athens
Note the more detailed background
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Plato and Aristotle
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Michelangelo as Heraclitus
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Michelangelo (1475-1564)
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In the following slide tell
me where you see…
1. geometric
perspective
 2. Classical style
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Michelangelo’s David (1503)
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Michelangelo's David conveys the Greek ideal of
beauty with its classical proportions, anatomical
perfection, and glorification of the human body. The
biblical David is portrayed as an independent moral
agent who embodies reason and free will, and
exhibits virtu, the striving for personal excellence.
As an act of patronage, the Medicis ordered the
statue and placed it before the city hall in Florence
as a symbolic defender of the republic. To the
humanists, republican government was a superior
form because it invited the participation of citizens
in the dialogue of governing on which human
progress depended.
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Michelangelo’s
La Pieta (1500)
Pieta means
“pity”
Where do you
see classical
style?
Where do you
see geometric
perspective?
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Michelangelo’s
La Pieta (1500)
The accurate dissection
of Christ’s body is due to
Michelangelo’s
dissection of corpses.
The classic composure of
the Virgin’s face reflects
the calm, idealized
expressions of ancient
Greek sculpture.
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Typically people in the Renaissance would exhibit selfpromotion. In Medieval times, this was seen as sinful.
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Michelangelo’s The Sistine
Chapel (1508-1512) covers
the ceiling and describes the
origin and fall of man.
There are 340 human figures
ten to eighteen feet tall.
Where do you
see geometric
perspective?
Where do you
see classical
style?
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Mannerism and the Late Renaissance
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After the death of Raphael, 1520 to 1620, art of this period is also
known as Mannerism.
In 1527, a mercenary army of Charles V sacked Rome in search of
pay. The art of this period reflects the days of disorder.
Mannerism can also seem to originate from a reaction to against the
Renaissance ideal of classical perfection
Dissonance replaced harmony, emotion overcame reason, and
imagination overtook reality.
The term comes the Italian term “di maneira” meaning a work of art
done according to a style rather than depicting nature.
Not all artists were mannerists and artists did not always exhibit this
style.
To find mannerism, look for figures that writhe and twist in
unnecessary contrapposto. Bodies are distorted-generally elongated
but sometimes grossly muscular. Colors are lurid, heightening the
impression of tension, movement, and unreal lighting.
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Michelangelo’s Moses (1515)
How can this be a Mannerist
work?
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The Sistine Chapel: Michelangelo’s
Last Judgment (1541)
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Michelangelo depicted
Christ not as a merciful
Redeemer but as an
avenging Judge with such a
terrifying effect that Pope
Paul III feel to his knees
when he saw the fresco.
“Lord, hold not my sins
against me!”
How does Michelangelo use
the nude to express human
aspiration and emotion”?
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Which aspects of
Renaissance art do
you see?
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Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Leonardo showed a mastery of
chiarascuro, sfumato, and the
portrayal of nature that few others
have been able to achieve.
Leonardo demonstrated a new
technique sfumato (smoky) which
he developed for modeling figures
by virtually imperceptible
gradations from light to dark thus
making the figures more natural.
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Madonna (Virgin)
of the Rocks
(1486)
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There is a
compositional triangle
here. Where is it?
Where do you see a
human-centered
naturalism?
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The Last Supper
The painting is a psychological
study of the reactions of the
twelve disciples when Christ said
“one of you shall betray me.”
Where do you see humancentered naturalism?
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Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper (1498)
.
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Mona Lisa
Where do you see
human-centered
naturalism?
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Renaissance etiquette
books stressed that a
woman must never look
directly at a man. Her lips
show a hint of a confident
smile. Her hands are
gracefully poised and
further reinforce the sense
of calm that she exudes.
The background is of a
storm which further
accentuates her calm.
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