Transcript Renaissance intro and art - Mr McElhinney`s History Class

Renaissance
What was it?
• A rebirth
• the time when people began to get interested
in ancient art and ideas from the past
• especially in ancient Rome
• led to many new works of art
• time when people began to think for
themselves
• time when people began to question beliefs
that had been taken for granted
• Huge changes in...
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Art
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Science
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Architecture
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Medicine
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Literature
Starts in Italy – why?
• Buildings and objects from Ancient Rome
were still in italy - Italy had been the centre
of the Roman empire
• many greek manuscripts had been brought to
italy for safekeeping by greek scholars in
1453 after the fall of Constantinople
• Italian merchants were richer than elsewhere
in europe - they had money to spend on art
• competition between diff italian cities to
outdo each other in making their city
beautiful - patrons were will to spend money
to get artists and architects to do this
Differences between medieval
and renaissance
• 1. In middle ages only religious figures could
read and write - they studied the bible
• in renaissance, many people learned how to
read and write - they studied the writings of
Ancient Rome, as well as bible
• 2. In middle ages people accepted the
teaching of the Catholic Church, even in
geography and science - they didn’t think for
themselves
• in renaissance, people started to think for
themselves - started to question the
teachings of the Church
Humanism
• renaissance idea
• belief that humans are at the centre of
everything
Patrons
• rich merchants, and popes and bishops
were patrons
• they paid an artist to produce a work of
art
• famous patrons - Medicis - Lorenzo de
Medici
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always religious topics
no sense of humanity in the faces
2 dimensional - no perspective
haloes around head
no sense of anatomy - ie bodies were not
realistic
• the main person in the picture would be the
biggest
• humans not important to the picture - often v
small
Renaissance paintings
• new techniques used
• perspective - 3D - things further away
look smaller
• anatomy - artists studied human body often dissected dead bodies to
understand
• nature - nature scenes and animals
began to become more realistic
• Renaissance Painting technique sfumato
• real skin has different shades
• sfumato - blurring to create different
shades
• artists rubbed the paint
• blurring the edges
Oils
• in middle ages, egg white used to mix
paints
• dried quickly so artists had to work
quickly
• now in renaissance, oil was used
• dried slowly
• artists had more time to be accurate
New humanism
• artists still painted religious paintings
• but now the characters were more human, more like
us
• also, pictures of just normal people started to be
painted
• in middle ages, this would not have been considered
worthwhile
• these were called portraits
• wealthy patrons would get themselves painted
• or their wives
• example, Mona Lisa is a portrait of a merchant’s wife
Frescos
• a picture painted directly onto a wall
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in ancient rome there had been many
frescos
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now renaissances artists started
using them again
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De Vinci’s ‘The Lat Supper’ is an
example
Da Vinci
• Born in Vinci in 1452 near Florence
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Apprenticed to Florentine artist
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he would often paint the smaller
objects in a painting by his master
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soon became famous
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his dove in * showed people his skill
• often didn’t finish his paintings
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‘Adoration of the Magi’ is unfinished
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lost interest in them
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used the new renaissance techniques
sfumato
portraits
perspective
anatomy - he dissected many bodies
often included animals in his paintings
Mona Lisa
• one of his most famous works
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now hangs in the Louvre museum
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portrait of his patron’s wife
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sfumato used in her face and hands
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we can see the diff shading in her
face
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the creases in her dress are v
lifelike
• mysterious expression in her smile...
• ...shows how he perfectly captured her
human qualities
• shows his knowledge of anatomy
• nature in background
• also perspective in background
• road twists and turns; a river flows
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leaves Florence for Milan
New patron, Sforza, Duke of Milan
Paints ‘The Last Supper’ on wall of a Church
Fresco
Paint has peeled and colors faded
but still famous
although it’s religious, we still see the human qualities of the
apostles
we can see fear, confusion
perspective in background
jesus, even though he is the main focus in the middle...
...is not bigger than the others
Notebook (1)
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Kept his ideas in a notebook
carried it with him
used mirror writing to protect it
perhaps afraid people might steal his
ideas
• also afraid the Catholic Church would
not like his theories
Notebook (2)
• contained diagrams for machines
• inventions of submarine and helicopter
• contains the shocking line, ‘the sun does
not revolve around the earth’
• invented weapons for Zforza, duke of
milan
• also studied biology and made many
drawings of plants and animals in them
France
• his popularity dwindled because of
younger artists such as Michelangelo
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so he moved to france
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died there in 1519
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that’s why ‘Mona Lisa’ is in the Louvre
Importance of Da Vinci
• a Polymath - the typical renaissance man
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tried his hand at everything
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sculpture, painting, inventions
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used the new techniques
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his paintings still admired today