Transcript The Renaissance

The Renaissance
The Rebirth of Learning In Europe
Egyptian Art
Art of India
Chinese Art
Greek Art
Roman Art
Early Medieval Art
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Religious in nature
One dimensional
Illuminated
Sometimes
referred to as
Gothic
Renaissance Art
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The word "Renaissance" comes from the French
and means rebirth,
the rebirth of ancient learning. In Italian, the word is
Rinascenza.
The Italian Renaissance period is usually divided
into
Early Renaissance (1420-1500) and High
Renaissance (1500-20).
13th Century
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Christian painting and sculpture were just beginning to break away
from the restraints of the dogma and conventions of the earlier
medieval period.
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Breaking away in order to give greater human emotional content to
religious subject matter.
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The life and teachings of St. Francis of Assisi had been largely
responsible for this.
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Also responsible were the contacts with French Gothic art.
14th Century
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Once attention had been drawn to human emotion,
it was only natural that interest in the human being
himself and in his physical surroundings should
follow.
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The resulting secularization of religious subject
matter is apparent in the paintings of the 14th
century.
15th Century
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More detailed observation of man himself and of nature followed in the 15th
century with the growth of interest in anatomy, perspective, details of nature,
landscape backgrounds, and form and color in light.
Paintings of the 15th century also reflect the growing curiosity about man's
achievement in Italy's past--that is, the Classic past.
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It is this preoccupation with and study of Classic culture and art that gave the
Renaissance in Italy its particular character.
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Classic culture also brought with it mythology and the ideal of beauty.
16th Century
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Christianity was added to Platonic ideal: Neo-platonism.
Michelangelo in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and Raphael in the
Vatican Stanze are representative of this movement at the beginning
of the 16th century; they brought the Renaissance to the highest
achievement in painting in Rome.
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But the attempt to reconcile paganism and Christianity foundered.
The Reformation intervened and the works of the Mannerists show
what resulted in painting.
The Counter-Reformation ushered in the new period, the Baroque.
Classicism
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In the broadest artistic sense, Classical art is that art which is based on the study of
classical models, and art which emphasizes qualities considered to be characteristically
Greek and Roman in style and spirit:
Reason
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Objectivity
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Discipline
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Restraint
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Order
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Balance
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These characteristics can be summed up in one term: Harmony.
Five Great Achievements of the
Renaissance
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There are five fundamental elements in the great achievements of the
Italian Renaissance in the world of Art:
Naturalism
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Organization of space
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Invention of parallel perspective by Filippo Brunelleschi: the scientific use of a
perspective based on lines that come together at a single vanishing point on
the horizon
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The use of classical motifs
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The new dignity of the individual
Characteristics of Renaissance
Painting
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Harmonious proportions among all elements of a painting
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Reintroduction of chiaroscuro: the gradations of light and dark
within a picture, especially one in which the forms are largely
determined, not by sharp outlines but by the meeting of lighter
and darker areas
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The perfection of geometric or parallel perspective
Characteristics of Renaissance
Sculpture
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The reintroduction of contrapposto: the pose of the human
form in which the head and shoulders face in a different
direction from the hips and legs -- a spiral twist
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The systematic study of anatomy and of the organic functions
of the body
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Free-standing monumental statues
Characteristics of Renaissance
Architecture
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A harmony of all parts
with symmetry and
order of geometric
proportions and
designs using
Classical architectural
elements.
Donatello
Leonardo da Vinci
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Considered the
Renaissance Man
Engineer, inventor,
painter, sculpture
Michelangelo
Raphael
El Greco
Rembrandt
Rubens
Durer
Holbein
Renaissance or not?
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Look at the next two slides and
determine if they are Renaissance in
style and why or why not.