Artistic & Scientific Achievements of the Renaissance

Artistic Renaissance in Italy • Sought to imitate nature; humans became the focus of

attention • New techniques in painting

– Frescoes- a painting done on fresh, wet plaster with water-based paints

– Massacio considered the first masterpieces of early Renaissance art

• New Renaissance Style Developed– Stressed the technical side of

painting– Investigation of human movement &

anatomy to realistically portray the person

SCULPTURE & ARCHITECTURE

Stunning Advances in Sculpture & Architecture

• Donatello spent time in Rome studying & copying the statues of the Greeks & Romans.

• Architecture also took on this new style seeking to create architecture that provides comfort and fits human needs.

• Like painters and sculptors, architects sought to reflect a human centered world.

• By the end of the fifteenth century, Italian painters, sculptors, and architects had created a new artistic world.

Masters of the Italian Renaissance

• Final stage of Italian Renaissance painting, the High Renaissance, took place between 1490 and 1520

• Three artistic giants– Leonardo da Vinci– Raphael– Michelangelo

Leonardo da Vinci

• 1452 - 1519• Painter, sculptor, architect, inventor and

mathematician• Mastered the art of realistic painting

and even dissected human bodies to better see how nature worked

• Goal to create idealized forms that would capture the perfection of nature & the individual

Raphael

• 1483-1520• At the age of 25 was known as one of

Italy’s best painters. • Known for his madonna’s or pictures of

the Virgin Mary • The School of Athens is one of his most

famous frescoes, found in the Vatican.

Michelangelo Buonarroti

• 1475-1564• An accomplished painter, sculptor, and

architect. • Was hired by the Pope to paint the

ceiling of the Sistine Chapel • It took him four years to complete • Reveals an ideal type of human being

with perfect proportions

• David• 1501-1504• Location: Gallery

in Florence

Sistine Chapel. 1508-1512

Creation of Adam

Other Renaissance Artists

• Jan Van Eyck- The Arnolfini Marriage

• Albrecht Durer – Self Portrait

Johannes Gutenberg

• From Germany • Printed the first European book from

movable type in approximately 1455• By 1500 over a thousand printers in

Europe. • Almost 40,000 titles had been

published- over half of these were religious.

• Printing allowed European civilization to compete with China for the first time.

• The Chinese had invented printing much earlier.