Transcript Chapter 13 The High Renaissance in Italy

Chapter 13
The High Renaissance in Italy
Popes and Patronage
Cellini’s
Perseus
Holding the
Head of
Medusa
(1545-1554)
Contrasting Renaissance Voices
Castiglione’s Courtier
 Chivalry, classical
virtues, Platonic love
 Uomo universale
 Sprezzatura
 Overly refined,
idealized worldview
 Elite aristocracy
Cellini’s Autobiography
 Violence, intrigue,
sex, egotism, politics
 Vignettes of all walks
of life; realistic
snapshots
 Insight into methods
of the artist
Popes and Patronage
Vatican as center of wealth, stability
 Pope Sixtus IV

 Ghirlandaio,

Botticelli, Perugino
Pope Julius II
 Beginnings
of High Renaissance (1503)
 “il papa terribile”
 Raphael, Michelangelo
Popes and Patronage:
Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520)

From Urbino to Perugia
 Apprentice
to Perugino
From Perugia to Florence (1505)
 Madonna of the Meadow (1508)

 Pyramidal
configuration
 Rationally ordered
 Modeling of human forms

Human quality of the divine figure
Raphael, Pope
Julius II’s favorite
artist
“Madonna of the
Meadow”
Pyramidal configuration
Rationally ordered
Modeling of human
forms
Human quality of the
divine
Quite a departure from
medieval
representations of Jesus
Late Medieval Virgin and Child in a more International Style
Popes and Patronage:
Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520)
From Florence to Vatican (1508)
 School of Athens (1509-1511)

 Symbolic
homage to philosophy
 Renaissance ideal
The Transfiguration (1527)
 Balance of philosophy and theology

Popes and Patronage:
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)
Tomb for Pope Julius II

Moses (1513-1515)
 Divine
fury, divine light
 Terribilità

Boboli Captives (1527-1528)
 Neo-Platonic
notion of form and matter
 Insight into methods
Michelangelo
Neo-Platonist sculptor
Popes and Patronage:
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)
The Sistine Chapel
“Michelangelo, Sculptor”
 Architectural and thematic motifs
 Interpretation

 Neo-Platonism
 Old
Testament and pagan prophets
 Complex tree symbolism
 Human wisdom + God’s revelation
Popes and Patronage:
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)

Michelangelesque
 Masculine
anatomy, musculature
 Physical bulk, linear grace, emotionality
 Creation of Adam (1508-1511)
 The Last Judgment (1534-1541)

Medici Chapel
 Architectural
and sculptural design
 Life, death, resurrection
Popes and Patronage:
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)
The New Saint Peter’s

Donato Bramante (1444-1514)
 Tempietto

Michelangelo as architect (1546)
 Bramante’s
plan
 Ribbed, arched dome
 Drum to support dome
St. Peters
The High Renaissance in Venice
Tradition of easel painting
 Use of oil paints

 Brilliance
of color
 Subtlety of light
Eye for close detail
 Love of landscape

Venice, Italy
The High Renaissance in Venice

Giorgione (c.1477-1510)
 Venetian
Renaissance Style
 Enthroned Madonna with Saints (1500-1505)
 Le Concert Champêtre (c. 1510)

Titian (c. 1488-1576)
 Assumption
of the Virgin (1516-1518)
 Venus of Urbino (1538)

Tintoretto (1518-1594)
 “The
drawing of Michelangelo and the color
of Titian.”
(on right) Titian’s “Assumption of the Virgin,” painted in Venice. Note the
geometrical organization. What effect does the use of oil paint instead of fresco
plaster have on the representation of this classic Christian theme?
Mannerism
Artistic “mood”
 Frederick Hartt’s schema (page 313)
 Michelangelo’s mannerist style

 Night,
Day, Dawn, and Dusk
 Laurentian Library
 The Last Judgment
Michelangelo’s Mannerist entrance to the Laurentian Library:
its windows are not windows, its columns support nothing, its
staircases have aggressively rounded steps, its dominant
lines break up space in odd and unresolved ways.
Mannerism

Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo (1494-1557)
 Deposition

(c. 1528)
Parmigianino (1503-1540)
 Madonna
of the Long Neck (c. 1535)
 Implied eroticism

Inventiveness, restlessness
Next class:
The Renaissance in the North
Montaigne’s “Of Cannibals”
Martin Luther’s “Small Catechism”