Artists of the Italian Renaissance

The Rebirth of Europe

New Artistic Styles

• Look to Roman and Greek influences.

• Use of realistic perspective in depicting scenes.

• Portrait painting becomes popular.

• Depiction of Renaissance ideals.

• New dignity of the individual

Early Renaissance• Florence the leader in Renaissance art esp. in

quattrocento (1400s)• Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) – architect of

cathedrals (il duomo in Florence)• Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), architect of

cathedrals.• Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) -- sculptor: bronze

doors for Florentine baptistry• Donatello (1386-1466 – sculptor: David (in bronze)• Masaccio (1401-1428) painter: nude human figures• Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516) – Portrait of a

Condottiere• Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1574) – goldsmith and

sculptor

Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337)• Considered to be the

Father of the Italian Renaissance

• Broke with linear style of Middle Ages.

• First to us chiaroscuro.

• Reputed to be a shrewd and witty character.

• Praised by the poet Dante.

Giotto - The Mourning of Christ

Giotto - The Flight into Egypt

Fra Angelico (1400-1455)

• Dominican Friar who began career decorating manuscripts.

• Professional and highly successful artist despite his religious convictions.

Fra Angelico – Presentation in the Temple

Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510)

• Spent almost his entire life in Florence.

• Only significant journey was to Rome to work on Sistine Chapel.

• Died in obscurity and his fame was not reestablished until the 19th century.

Botticelli-Primavera

Botticelli- Birth of Venus

High Renaissance

• “High Renaissance” centered in Rome (1500-1527) – cinquecento (1500s)

• Most worldly of Renaissance popes – Alexander VI (1492-1503); Julius II (1503-1513); and Leo X (1513-1521), funded great art projects

• Characteristics: classical balance, harmony, restraint

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

• Painter, sculptor, architect and engineer.

• Often left work unfinished.

• Conducted extensive scientific studies.

• Invented the armored tank and designed aircraft.

Leonardo Da Vinci - Mona Lisa

• Probably the most famous painting in the world.

• Brought a new “life-like” dimension to painting.

• People focus on her enigmatic smile.

Da Vinci – The Last Supper

Da Vinci’s Other Works

Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564)

• Sculptor, painter, architect, and poet.

• Tormented genius who was rarely satisfied with his talents.

• In painting and sculpture his work focused mainly on the nude human form.

Michelangelo - David

Michelangelo – La Pieta

Michelangelo – Sistine Chapel

Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520)

• Child prodigy in the world of art.

• Patronized by the popes and named Papal Architect in 1514.

• Died of fever at age 37.

Raphael – Three Graces

Raphael – School of Athens

Raphael – School of Athens

Timeline of Renaissance Artists

Giotto breaks with earlier styles of painting.

Black Death rages through Europe.

Fra AngelicoPaints his religious devotion

Botticelli paints mythological and secular works

Italian Wars rage between city-states of the peninsula

Leonardo Da Vinci completes the Mona Lisa.

Michelangelo paints the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.

Raphael dies at the age of 37 years.

c. 1300 1347-1352 c. 1430 c. 1480 1494-1559 1505 1508-1512 1520

Exit Ticket

• What changes occurred in art over the two centuries of the Italian Renaissance?

• How does the art we examined exemplify Renaissance ideals and values?

• How do the artists themselves embody the principles of the Renaissance period?