Transcript Art and the Renaissance

Society and the Arts
 Remember all that talk about Humanism? – Respecting humanity,
dignity of man.. Etc etc?
 Artist became interested in portraying the beauty of the human
body and the natural world
 Patrons were people who paid artists to produce works..
 Still focusing greatly on religion, similar to the middle ages, renaissance
artists began looking at their work in different ways. (What does this
tell us about the changing worldviews??)
Sandro Botticelli
Birth of Venus (1486)
 Italians were willing to spend a lot of money on art.
 Art communicated social, political, and spiritual values.
 Italian banking & international trade interests had the
money.
 Public art in Florence was organized and supported by
guilds.
Therefore, the consumption of art was used as a
form of competition for social & political status!
Giotto (Middle Ages)
Looking at Renaissance art, we
must consider: How do they
reflect the the Humanist
interest in the individual, the
present world, beauty and
human excellence?
Raphael (Renaissance)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf2G2Il8crw
1. Realism & Expression
 Expulsion from
the Garden
 Masaccio
 1427
 First nudes since
classical times.
2. Perspective
The Trinity
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Masaccio
1427
Perspective!
First use
of linear
perspective!
What you are,
I once was;
what I am,
you will
become.
Perspective
3. Classicism
Greco-Roman influence.
Secularism.
Humanism.
Individualism  free standing
figures.
Symmetry/Balance
Mixing Greek and Roman gods
with and Roman myhtology
The “Classical Pose”
Medici “Venus” (1c) with human world
4. Emphasis on Individualism
 Batista Sforza & Federico de Montefeltre: The
Duke & Dutchess of Urbino
 Piero della Francesca, 1465-1466.
Isabella d’Este – da Vinci, 1499
1474-1539
“First Lady of
the Italian
Renaissance.”
Great patroness
of the arts.
Known during her
time as “First
Lady of the
World!”
 “An architect should be a good writer, a skillful
draftsman, versed in geometry and optics, expert at
figures, acquainted with history, informed on the
principles of natural and moral philosophy, somewhat
of a musician, not ignorant of the law and of physics,
nor of motions laws, and relations to each other of the
heavenly bodies” – Marcus Vitrvius Pollio in Ten Books
• Architects should include features of classical buildings
in their work.
• Position was raised from skilled laborer, to artist!
 Commissioned to build
the cathedral dome.
 Used unique
architectural
concepts.
 He studied the
ancient
Pantheon in Rome.
 Used ribs for support.
 Middle Ages – seen as craftspeople rather than artists
 Part of construction of cathedrals to sculpt biblical
scenes
 Just like wealth raised the status of merchants, so did it
for any of the arts!
 Sculptors (like Michelangelo) became celebrities!!!
 Mary’s beauty to reflect spiritual perfection
 People have been writing for years.. So…….
 Translating Greek and Latin books in the vernacular
(common spoken languages such as Italian, English,
French, German, etc)
 SOO.. Knowledge became more accessible!
 Europe’s first female writer – UNHEARD OF!!!!!!!!!
 Poetry, history, essays and bios
 City of Women – men and women should be judged
based on their virtues, not on the basis of their gender