Transcript 2007

Recreating the
Renaissance
An Experience
Welcome to the Golden Age
• During this tour, please keep in mind:
• Wait for the slide to finish its dialogue
before continuing.
• Explore. Look and appreciate the art,
and enjoy it.
• Please do not touch any of the artwork.
To:
Italian Artists
To:
Other
Artists
Albrecht Durer
painted in a humanist style.
He was a German
Renaissance artist who
created multiple woodcuts
(over 350) as well as many
self portraits. The realism
and humanism within the
painting is visible. He created
his first self-portrait at age
13, and continued to create
them due to his friends
support (he created 5, to be
exact).
Albrecht Durer was a
Christian. He read from the bible
and produce paintings and
woodcuts from them. One of
these woodcuts was “The Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” It
depicts the opening of the first
gate to the destruction of the
world. These horsemen emerged
from the gate in an interesting
order. First, came a white horse
with a man wielding a bow,
representing Conquest. Then
emerged a man riding a red
horse, wielding a Sword, War.
Then, upon a brown horse a
man wielding scales appeared,
Famine. Finally, the last
horseman came, and all be
brought was Death. He rode a
black horse.
Neverlandish Proverbs
was painted by Pieter Bruegel.
Like many Flemish works from
this period, proverbs, or wise
sayings, were incorporated into
paintings to spread a message
to the audience. Netherlandish
Proverbs, however, was one of
the first to have so many
themes spread throughout a
single picture. Bruegel was
known for painting scenes of
peasant life, which is also visible
in this painting. It was painted
in 1559 with oil on an oak
board. Some examples are
“carrying a basket of light into
the daylight”, which means
working hard at unnecessary
labor, and “having your roof
covered in tarts”, which means
having a great quantity of
everything.*
The Death of the Virgin was painted around 1564 with
oil by Pieter Bruegel. It was made at the request of one of
Bruegel’s friends, Abraham Ortelius. It is based on the event
from Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine in which the Virgin
Mary dies and multiple biblical people surround her.
The Crucifixion and the Last
Judgment are both very significant
biblically mentioned events. Jan van
Eyck, the artist of this painting, put them
next to each other to show contrast.
Inscribed on the frame and within the
picture of The Crucifixion and the Last
Judgment are verses from the Bible that
describe the two events depicted. It was
painted in 1433 with oil on canvas. One
of these contrasts is that the Crucifixion
portion of the painting was painted very
realistically while the Last Judgment half
used size and placement of individuals to
show importance. For example, the figure
in the Last Judgment in the upper center
beneath the cross is most likely Jesus, and
because of his importance he is bigger
than all the other characters in the
picture, besides the skeleton, which is also
important, since it probably represents
death and Hell.
In this painting of
Boticelli’s, The Mystical Nativity, it
shows his distinguish emphasizes
on outlines. As you can see the
lines in this painting are very
heavy and dark, giving it the
Boticelli bold and melancholy
feeling. It also gives away the
Renaissance essence of setting
religious themes on the classical
Greek or Roman background, due
to the lines in Greek on the very
top of the painting. What makes
this painting interesting is that it
is the only painting he signed, and
that it associates him with the
hellfire preacher Savonarola.
In this selfportrait of his, Leonardo
exercised his genius in
details with just red chalk
alone. As you know
individual achievements
was a main point of the
renaissance humanism
movements, so this
portrait captures the
very heart of it all. Not
to mention this painting
could be the only portrait
Leonardo painted of
himself
In Titian’s painting
Pietà, he used shades of coloring
to make it realistic, although
straying from the a bit from
perspective view caused the
painting to lose some of its
realism. However, the painting
still managed to reflect the
renaissance style. This painting is
also gifted by Titian’s talent in
giving the subjects of his
paintings a persona, or the raw
emotions and dramatic effects
from within a painting. The
persona portrayed is
unparalleled through this work
of Titian’s. It should also be
mentioned that this painting,
unfinished through Titian’s
death, was completed by Palma
il Giovane who added the final
touch of the cherub holding the
torch.
In the painting, St. Peter
healing with his shadow based in
the Acts of Apostles (5: 12-14),
Massacio displays his famed
technique and the spirit of the
Renaissance. His technique uses
scientific perspective to give it a 3D
optical effect, as you can see by the
objects it uses to the sizes of the
objects, giving them the
appearance of distance. The spirit
of the Renaissance being humanism,
which strived for individual
achievements as one of its main
components, shows as the people in
the portrait besides St. Peter and
St. John were the well-known
people of the day such as Donatello.
St. George Fighting the
Dragon (Washington Ed.) by
Raphael is about the story
of St. George saving a
princess who was to be
sacrificed to a dragon. He
probably drew this work of
art because of its popularity
during the time, and its
religious background.
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