Transcript Italian Renaissance - Jean Bordner Portfolio

Italian Renaissance
* At the beginning of the 15th Century there was a
renewal of interest in the classical arts and literature
of ancient Greece and Rome.
* The interest began in Italy
* Scholars and artists began to use non-religious subject
matter for their inspiration.
* This period in time was called the “Renaissance”
* The word Renaissance means “Rebirth”
Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance Emerges
1) 15th Century was a time of great growth and discovery:
a) Commerce spread
b) Wealth increased
c) Knowledge increased
d) Artists flourished
2) Florence was one of many cities in Italy that grew in
trading and industrial centers.
3) Florence became the capital of cloth trade and had the
richest banking house in Europe.
4) The Medici family were the ones who controlled this
banking empire and became general patrons of the fine
arts.
Italian Renaissance
What Shaped the Renaissance
1) During this time, artists and scholars
developed an interest in the art and literature
of ancient Greece and Rome.
2) The interest in the classics was called
Humanism.
3) Those who followed the beliefs of Humanism
were Humanists.
4) Humanists embraced the Greco-Roman belief
that each
individual has dignity and worth.
5) Artists really admired the realistic (or) lifelike appearance of classical works and wanted
to capture that same quality in their work.
Italian Renaissance
What Shaped the Renaissance
6) To achieve this they studied nature and the
remaining sculptures that survived through the
years.
7) During the 15th Century the printing press was
invented by a German printer named Johannes
Gutenberg.
8) This invention was one of the most important
contributions of the Renaissance.
9) This invention lead to mass-production of
books, poetry and prose of Greek and Roman
writers allowing artists and scholars to study
to this work, to perfect their own.
Italian Renaissance
http://www.history.com/topics/italianrenaissance/videos#the-book-thatchanged-the-world
Italian Renaissance
Masaccio (1401-1428)
1) He was a young carefree painter from Florence who
brought about a revolution in art.
2) He is given the credit as the first notable artist of the
Italian Renaissance.
3) He developed a style that became the trademark of the
Italian Renaissance.
4) It was a style that was similar to the fresco technique.
5) One of his greatest works of art is The Holy Trinity.
Italian Renaissance
The Holy Trinity (1428, Fresco)
1) This was a fresco created by Masaccio which is located
in the Florentine church of Santa Maria Novella.
2) This was one of his greatest works.
3) His focus and attention for this painting was on mass
and depth.
4) He wanted his figures to look solid and real so he
modeled them in light and shadow.
5) To really highlight the different distances from the
viewer he overlapped his figures.
Italian Renaissance
The Holy Trinity (1428, Fresco)
6) To make his painting appear more lifelike he created
an illusion of a small chapel.
7) In the chapel, he painted the Holy Trinity, St. John the
Baptist and the Virgin Mary.
8) The 2 figures in the lower left and right hand corners
are members of the wealthy family who commissioned
Masaccio to paint this art piece.
9) These 2 figures are life-size which is another technique
to highlight the depth and dimension.
Italian Renaissance
The Holy Trinity (1428, Fresco)
Italian Renaissance
Linear Perspective
1) An architect by the name of Fillippo Brunelleschi made
the discovery of linear perspective.
2) Linear Perspective: A graphic system that showed
artists how to create the illusion of depth and volume
on a flat surface.
3) This new discovery allowed artists to paint figures
and objects so that they seem to move deeper into a
work rather than across it.
4) Using the concept of a horizon line and vanishing
point was how this technique worked.
Italian Renaissance
The Tribute Money(1427, Fresco)
1) Masaccio worked on this painting after painting The Holy Trinity,
which is also a fresco located in another Florentine church.
2) This particular painting is a group of 3 scenes to tell a story from
the life of St. Peter.
3) In the center of the painting is Christ who tells Peter that he will
find a coin in the mouth of a fish. He is to use this coin to pay a
tax collector.
4) The tax collector is located to the right with his back showing.
5) Off in the distance to the left, you see St. Peter kneeling down to
remove the coin from the fish’s mouth.
6) Located to the far right of the painting is St. Peter giving the coin
to the tax collector.
Italian Renaissance
The Tribute Money(1427, Fresco)
Italian Renaissance
Aerial Perspective
1) Aerial Perspective=uses hues, value and intensity to
show distance in a painting.
2) Aerial Perspective was clearly used in Masaccio’s The
Tribute Money and he did NOT use it in his painting
The Holy Trinity instead he clearly used linear
perspective.
3) The use of aerial perspective helped Masaccio to create
an impression of endless space.
Italian Renaissance
Masaccio VS. Reality
1) He modeled his figures so they seemed to be as solid statues. To
accomplish this effect, he used strong light and of shadows as
well.
2) He always placed his figures in front of a dim background, which
helped his subjects appear much closer to the viewer.
3) His figures are very large in relation to the rest of the painting.
4) In Tribute Money he shows the importance of natural and lifelike
gestures and poses apparent when he painted the apostles.
5) St. Peter’s expression and gestures also show Masaccio’s use of
realism.
6) All of these uses makes Masaccio’s paintings lifelike and realistic.
Italian Renaissance
Fra Angelico(1400-1455)
** During this time, some artists still used a blend of both
Renaissance style as well as Gothic. One artist in particular was
the painter Fra Angelico.
1) He was an excellent painter and a monk.
2) He was a very holy man and always said a prayer
before he began a painting.
3) He was also well known for NEVER retouching or
improving one of his paintings once it was completed
in that he felt if he did so, it would tamper with God’s
will.
Italian Renaissance
The Annunciation (1440-1445)
1) This particular painting was painted by Fra Angelico a
few years after Masaccio’s death.
2) This painting is of the angel Gabriel announcing to
Mary that she is to be the mother of the Savior.
3) Fra used some of Masaccio’s Renaissance style in this
particular painting, in that he uses only 2 figures
placing them in a modest, realistic and architectural
setting.
Italian Renaissance
The Annunciation (1440-1445)
4) Fra only used some perspective because he wasn’t seriously
interested in creating an illusion of deep space in his paintings.
For Example: a) Mary and the angel do not overlap
like the figures in Masaccio’s paintings
do.
b) Fra’s figures are separated and placed
within a limited area marked off by
arches.
c) Fra doesn’t use Masaccio’s modeling techniques
to make his figures look round and solid because
there is little to suggest that real people exist
beneath the garments he paints.
Italian Renaissance
The Annunciation (1440-1445)
5) The gestures and facial expressions are easy to read in
that he used the Gothic style of making this religious
story understood.
6) Telling the story was more important to Fra than
making his picture seem true to life.
Italian Renaissance
Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455)
1) Similar to Fra Angelico, Ghiberti combined elements of
both the new Renaissance style and the earlier Gothic
style.
2) Ghiberti was a sculptor who was most famously
known for his works that he created for the Baptistery
of the Florence Cathedral.
Italian Renaissance
Compare/Contrast Renaissance to Gothic in Bronze
** The transition from Gothic to Renaissance style is
very apparent in the bronze relief sculptures created by
Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti. Both
artists created the scene “The Sacrifice of Isaac”.
Filippo Brunelleschi, “Sacrifice of Isaac”
Lorenzo Ghiberti, “Sacrifice of Isaac”
Italian Renaissance
Compare/Contrast Renaissance to Gothic in Bronze
Filippo Brunelleschi
1) His panel shows the Gothic
Style of flatness in that each
Object is formed separately
And the figures do NOT relate
other.
2) His panel can be divided
Horizontally into 3 layers that
Are placed one on top of the other
To preserve the Gothic Style.
Lorenzo Ghiberti
1) His work forms a more unified
whole. Objects overlap in a
more natural way which reflects
the Renaissance style. There’s To each
Obvious Glances and
gestures.
2) His panel can be divided
vertically into 2 scenes that each
Tell part of the story. This
arrangement strongly reflects the
Renaissance style=balance/harmony
Italian Renaissance
Compare/Contrast Renaissance to Gothic in Bronze
1) These 2 particular art pieces being compared were part
of a competition/contest. All the panels submitted had
to utilize the same Gothic frame used by Pisano on
another set of doors within the same church.
2) Although at a quick glance both panels created by
Brunelleschi and Ghiberti look like pictures from
medieval manuscripts, only one panel shows the true
Gothic style.
3) Ghiberti was declared the winner of the contest and he
spent the next 21 years of his life completing the 28
bronze panels used on the doors of the Baptistry.
Italian Renaissance
The Gates of Paradise (1425-1452, Gilt Bronze)
1) This was Ghiberti’s 2nd set of doors he worked on for the
Baptistry.
2) He used more of a Renaissance style on these set of doors.
3) This particular art piece/door scene is of the Old Testament.
4) Ghiberti did away with the use of the Gothic frame style and
instead made the individual reliefs square.
5) He also began to use linear perspective which gave a greater
feeling of space.
6) The figures in EACH panel stand out so much they seem fully 3D.
7) Michelangelo was so impressed, he stated, ” These doors were
worthy of being used as the gates of heaven.”
Italian Renaissance
Development of Renaissance Style
1) The search for salvation gradually changed to a
humanist focus based on the classical culture of
ancient Greece and Rome.
2) Because of this rebirth, artists gained additional areas
of interest to gather their ideas from for their work.
3) Artists began to develop techniques that brought an
exciting new energy to their paintings and sculptures.
Italian Renaissance
Paolo Uccello (1347-1475)
1) He was an artist who enthusiastically accepted new
Renaissance ideas.
2) His concern for perspective is evident when you
examine his painting “The Battle of San Romano”
Italian Renaissance
The Battle of San Romano(1445, Tempera on wood)
1) Bodies and broken spears are placed in such a way that lead your
eye into the picture.
2) There is a fallen figure in the lower left corner.
3) He used a technique in this painting called foreshortening (pg.
362).
4) Even with the depth, this painting doesn’t reflect realism.
5) It looks like a grouping of puppets arranged in a mock battle
scene.
6) Because solely focused on perspective Uccello didn’t make his
figures and their actions seem lifelike.
7) Uccello created an artificial world that was dedicated almost
entirely by the rules of perspective.
Italian Renaissance
The Battle of San Romano(1445, Tempera on wood)
Italian Renaissance
Innovations in Painting, Sculpture and Architecture
* There was a new emphasis on realism which was inspired by surviving
models from classical Greece and Rome.
* This new emphasis revealed itself in various practices of visual arts which
included: paintings, sculpture and architecture.
1) Painting: a) More artists began to turn their attention to creating depth
and form in that these would replace the flat, 2D surfaces that
characterized medieval pictures.
b) The use of perspective and modeling in light and shade were
used to achieve astonishing realistic appearances.
2) Sculptures: a) Donatello and Michelangelo used that same concern for
realism in their lifelike figures which seemed to move freely and
naturally in space.
3) Architecture: a) Architects began to leave behind the Gothic style and
took on a new architectural style.
b) This new style traced its origins back in time to the
carefully proportioned, balanced and elegant buildings of classical times.
Italian Renaissance
Donatello (1386-1466)
1) He began as one of the assistants who helped Ghiberti
create the 1st set of doors for the Baptistry of Florence,
who would go on to become the greatest sculptor of
the early Renaissance.
2) He was close friends with Brunelleschi and he also
shared Masaccio’s interest in realism and perspective.
3) When he created sculptures that had to be above eye
level in the church he used perspective.
4) To do this, he made the upper part of the bodies longer
so that when viewed from below, the sculptures would
seem more naturalistic.
Italian Renaissance
Compare/Contrast Greek Sculptures to Renaissance
Donatello’s “St. George”
1) His sculpture has a lifelike/realistic
Quality.
Polyclitus’ “Spear Bearer”
1) His sculpture is of a Greek Athlete.
2) This sculpture is of a knight who
Seems to be leaning forward in
Anticipation which reflects the use
Of Contrapposto
2) Polyclitus introduced the use of
Contrappasto with this sculpture
3) This sculpture of St. George is fully
Clothed but you can’t mistake that
The presence of the human body is
underneath
3) His sculpture is nude and not fully clothed.
Italian Renaissance
Compare/Contrast Greek Sculptures to Renaissance
Donatello’s “St. George”
Polyclitus’ “Spear Bearer”
Italian Renaissance
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
1) He was the artist given the credit for discovering linear perspective.
2) He began his art career as a sculptor, but when he lost the Baptistry Doors
contest to Ghiberti he abandoned sculpture for a career in architecture.
3) 16 years after the contest, he faced Ghiberti again in a competition in
which they had to design a huge dome for the Cathedral of Florence.
4) Many claimed the large dome design could not be done. Brunelleschi
disagreed and submitted a design based off the Gothic building
techniques and was awarded the task.
5) He used the concept of using 8 Gothic ribs that met at the top of the dome
and were joined by horizontal sections around the outside of the dome
and its base.
6) This particular design included: the use of bricks, the done was placed on a
drum and circular windows were in the drum.
7) It took 16 years to complete the structure and once completed he earned
his name as a great architect.
Italian Renaissance
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
8) His dome was so influenced that later on Michelangelo borrowed
his ideas to create the dome for St. Peter’s.
9) Another project he took part in the designing of a
Chapel for the Pazzi family, who was one of the
Wealthiest and most powerful families in
Florence.
10) For the design of this chapel he rejected the
Gothic style and instead chose a style based on ancient Roman
Buildings.
Italian Renaissance
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
11) The chapel he designed was a balance between vertical and
horizontal movements
For Example: a) He used curved, rounded arches
b) Dark molding was used
c) Pilasters and columns were used to divide and
organize the flat, white wall surfaces
12) The overall effect was NOT dramatic or mysterious like Gothic
churches but rather it was simple, calm and dignified.
Italian Renaissance
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
Pazzi Chapel
Italian Renaissance
Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510)
1) He was very influential in that his paintings are now considered among the most
admired of the Renaissance period.
2) One of his most famous works is Adoration of the Magi (1481, tempera and oil on
wood)
a) Its an image of grouping of kneeling people who are surrounding the Holy
Family.
b) These people include the Magi, 3 kings/wise men and their
attendants.
c) The Magi is presenting their gifts to Christ the child.
3) Botticelli used a combination of line, proportion and emphasis in his painting.
4) Line: The figures are drawn with crisp, sharp contour lines and their clothing have
folds that twist and turn in a decorative pattern.
5) Proportion: A graceful style can be seen in the figure Mary.
6) Emphasis: Line is used to unify the painting and to emphasize the most important
parts.
Italian Renaissance
Adoration of the Magi (1481, tempera and oil on wood)
Italian Renaissance
High Renaissance
1) The thing that represented the Renaissance the most was its great
wealth of artistic talent.
2) Between 1495-1527 was considered the High Renaissance and
around the time when such artists as Leonard da Vinci,
Michelangelo and Raphael created their timeless masterpieces.
3) All 3 of these well-known artists lived in Italy and were
commissioned by the popes of Rome to create ambitious artworks
that glorified religious themes.
4) Never before has such amazing art been produced simultaneously
on 3 different fronts-paintings, sculpture and architecture.
Italian Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
1) Leonardo was blessed with many talents starting at a
very young age and had a curiosity that drove him to
study everything.
2) He studied architecture, mathematics, sculpture,
painting, anatomy, poetry, literature, music, geology,
botany and hydraulics.
3) It is estimated that he completed 120
notebooks/sketchbooks filled with drawings along
with explanations.
4) Leonardo did things such as dissect cadavers to
thoroughly analyze arms, legs, eyes and the brain.
Italian Renaissance
The Last Supper (Fresco, 1495-1498)
* Leonardo was very impatient which caused him to leave many
projects unfinished. He was always experimenting and many of
experiments ended in failure. One of his “so-called” greatest
failures is his version of The Last Supper.
1) This painting was glorious painting but this amazing art piece
began to flake off shortly after its completion in that Leonardo
used an experimental painting technique.
2) This painting was painted on a wall in the dining hall used by
monks in the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.
3) He used linear perspective so he could design his scene to look like
the continuation of the dining hall.
Italian Renaissance
The Last Supper (Fresco, 1495-1498)
4) Christ is placed in the center of the painting.
5) The apostles are grouped in 3’s and you can clearly see the
expression of disbelief of shock on their faces from discovering
what Judas just revealed.
6) The 3rd figure on Christ’s right is Judas and he has an expression of
anger and defiance.
7) Leonardo’s painting has an unusual feature: All the apostles are
crowded together on the far side of the table, this is because
Leonardo thought that spreading out the figures would reduce the
impact of the painting.
8) Another difference in his painting from pervious paintings of The
Last Supper is that he included Judas amongst the apostles.
Italian Renaissance
The Last Supper (Fresco, 1495-1498)
Italian Renaissance
http://www.history.com/topics/italianrenaissance/videos#life-after-people-thelast-supper
Italian Renaissance
Mona Lisa (Oil on Wood, 1503-1506)
* As mentioned before, Leonardo’s curiosity kept him
from completing many of his works. One of his most
famous unfinished works was the Mona Lisa.
1) When Leonardo died, he still had this painting in his
possession.
2) He worked on this particular painting for 16 years and
he claimed it was still unfinished!
3) This so-called unfinished art piece is one of the most
popular art pieces ever painted.
Italian Renaissance
Mona Lisa (Oil on Wood, 1503-1506)
Italian Renaissance
http://www.history.com/topics/italianrenaissance/videos#leonardos-deluge
Italian Renaissance
Michelangelo (1475-1564)
1) He was ranked alongside Leonardo as one of the
greatest artists of the Renaissance.
2) Michelangelo was also very gifted. He could paint,
sculpt and wrote poetry.
3) One of his first famous pieces is his sculpture, Pieta
(Marble, 1500)
Italian Renaissance
Pieta (Marble, 1500)
1) Pieta: Is a work showing Mary mourning over the
body of Christ.
2) This sculpture is larger than life-size and it’s of Mary
seated at the foot of the cross mourning the death of
her son, Christ.
3) Michelangelo made Mary much larger that Christ in
that he wanted Mary to support with ease the heavy
body of her son.
4) Michelangelo also wanted the viewer to focus more on
the message rather than whether Mary could support
Christ’s body.
Italian Renaissance
The Sistine Chapel (Fresco, 1508-1512)
1) Everything Michelangelo did everything on a grand scale and the
Sistine Chapel is a prime example of this.
2) He was asked to paint this grand task by Pope Julius II. The Pope
originally asked him to design a tomb for him but soon after
changed his mind and instead asked him to paint the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel.
3) The chapel was about 40 ft wide and about 133 ft long and had a
rounded ceiling.
4) Michelangelo protested at first because it looked tedious, timeconsuming and ceiling paintings were considered less important
than wall paintings so he felt his pride and reputation would be
hurt by doing this project. He also considered himself more a
sculptor rather than a painter.
5) The walls had already been painted by other well-known artists
so he didn’t have a choice in the matter.
Italian Renaissance
The Sistine Chapel (Fresco, 1508-1512)
6) He built a large scaffold stretching the length of the
chapel.
7) He refused to have assistants as aids, so day after day
he bent over backward to work on his masterpiece.
8) The ceiling was divided into 9 main sections and each
section contained the story of humanity from the
Creation to the Flood.
9) You can clearly see the sculptural side of Michelangelo
coming through in this masterpiece in that all his
figures are highly modeled in light and shad to look
solid and 3D. They also are shown in constant
movement, twisting and turning as if they are coming
out of their niches and out of the frames.
Italian Renaissance
The Sistine Chapel (Fresco, 1508-1512)
Italian Renaissance
Raphael (1483-1520)
1) Raphael was successful, wealthy and admired throughout his brief
but brilliant career.
2) He started out by doing an apprenticeship with a respected artist
and there he learned to use soft colors, simple circular forms and
gentle landscapes in his paintings.
3) When he was young, he traveled to Florence to study the works of
artists who leading the way during that time period.
4) He learned from Leonardo how to use shading as an illusion of 3D
form and he learned from Michelangelo how to add vitality and
energy to his figures.
5) From those artists and their knowledge he was able to use their
ideas along with his own to create a new unique style which in
turn he became the most distinctive artist of the Renaissance.
Italian Renaissance
School of Athens (Fresco, 1509-1510)
1) At the same time when Michelangelo was painting the Sistine
Chapel, Raphael was commissioned by Pope Julius II to decorate
a series of rooms in the Vatican Palace.
2) In the first of these room is where he painted his famous painting,
“School of Athens”.
3) This painting was a tribute to the 4 domains of learning: Theology,
philosophy, law and the arts.
4) This painting has the title “school” in it in that Raphael was
referring to 2 opposing schools of thought represented by the 2
great classical philosophers Plato and Aristotle.
Italian Renaissance
School of Athens (Fresco, 1509-1510)
5) These 2 figures are placed below an archway in the center of the painting
to signify their importance.
6) On the side in which Plato resides (Left) consists of the ancient
philosophers who were involved with the metaphysical-the mysteries
that go beyond here and now.
7) On the side in which Aristotle resides (Right) consists of philosophers and
scientists interested in nature and the affairs of humankind.
8) Plato is pointing to the sky to indicate and symbolize his concern with an
idealistic world whereas Aristotle makes a gesture towards the earth the
indicate his interest in the real and practical world.
9) Above Plato’s right is a statue of Apollo who is the patron of poetry and
above Aristotle’s left is a statue of Athena who is the goddess of reason.
Italian Renaissance
School of Athens (Fresco, 1509-1510)
10) Raphael painted an ages Leonardo to play the role as Plato and
Michelangelo is portrayed by the philosopher Heraclitus.
11) Raphael painted himself in the lower right hand corner as a
young man amongst the mathematicians which symbolizes t he
Renaissance belief that geometry and art were strongly linked and
that a knowledge of mathmatics was essential to an artist’s
development.
Italian Renaissance
School of Athens (Fresco, 1509-1510)
Italian Renaissance
School of Athens (Fresco, 1509-1510)
Italian Renaissance
http://www.history.com/topics/italianrenaissance/videos#the-renaissance