Artists of The High Renaissance

Graduate PowerPoint Presentation

By: Susan NieskeFebruary 29th, 2012

One of the greatest things about Renaissance art is that each artistic master had a distinctive style. Each one brought to their art a different perspective of the world,

a different artistic mission, and a different personality.

The four great art masters of the High Renaissance were Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian.

Leonardo was a master mind of math and science. Raphael mastered the technique of perspective with a classical painting approach. Michelangelo is

second to none in his amazing sculpture expertise but was also a multi- talent in poetry, architecture, and painting. Titian rounds out this group of artists with a

sensuality and richness to his painting that earned him the legacy honor of master colorist.

All of these Renaissance artists created something that inspired the world. Their art remains popular and valuable even to this day, further demonstrating their

abilities as eternal masters.

The Great Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni ,born in1475 , commonly known as Michelangelo, was a sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art.

His versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such mastery that he is often considered a contender for the title of the “Renaissance Man” along with fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci (who is discussed in a separate presentation.

Michelangelo is known to be one of the greatest artists of all time. A number of his works in painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence. He is the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was still alive.

Pieta Sculpture by Michelangelo “The Sculptor”

At the age of 12, Michelangelo became an apprentice to a famous painter in Florence, Domenico Ghirlandaio. After a year or so he stopped painting and began working as a sculptor. It was during this time that he lived with the Medici family, an influential Italian family. When they lost power he went to Rome, and it was there in 1498-1499 he carved the marble sculpture "Pieta” (Pity) when he was only 23 years old. The sculpture shows Mary holding the lifeless body of Jesus after He was taken down from the cross.

Completely magical to view, as she holds Jesus' lifeless body on her lap, the Virgin's expertly carved facial expression shows not total grief and anguish but serenity and majestic acceptance of this immense sorrow.

When first unveiled in the chapel of Santa Petronilla in the old St. Peter’s, a proud Michelangelo stood by and watched as people admired the beautiful Pieta. Perhaps his pride turned into anger as he overheard a group of people attributing the work to another artist. This caused Michelangelo to add one last thing to his sculpture. Across the breast sash on the Virgin Mary, Michelangelo carved his name. "MICHAEL. ANGELUS. BONAROTUS. FLORENT. FACIEBAT" (Michelangelo Buonarroti of Florence Created This). He later regretted that his emotions got the best of him and vowed to never sign another one of his works again. The statue stands 69 inches high and depicts a surprisingly young Mary. Asked why he chose to portray Christ’s mother like that, Michelangelo answered, “Women who are pure in soul and body never grow old.”

Pieta continued…

The figures are quite out of proportion, owing to the difficulty of depicting a fully-grown man cradled full-length in a woman's lap. Much of Mary's body is concealed by her monumental drapery, and the relationship of the figures appears quite natural.

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. Pope Julius II, requested that Michelangelo paint the chapel ceiling. Julius was

determined that Rome should be rebuilt to its former glory.The main panels down the center depict scenes from the Book of Genesis, from the Creation, to the Fall, to shortly after Noah. Next to each of these scenes, on either

side, are portraits of prophets who foretold the coming of the Messiah.Even high overhead, the colors are brighter and richer than they are in any

photograph. Then there’s the rest of the massive painting all around it; a riot of color and people and activity and scenes (more than 300 painted figures). It is clear that

the Sistine Chapel is a painting like none other in the world.

Three things about this ceiling created in 1508-1512 make it perhaps the greatest painting in the entire world:1.The ceiling was 68 feet above the floor and the size of a basketball court. Michelangelo built scaffolding and climbed up, insisting on doing all the work by himself looking up with an arm raised and his back arched. 2. It was painted in fresco (fresh plaster); a very difficult medium to perfect due to its fast drying qualities. Also, the varied shape of the barrel vault ceiling meant Michelangelo needed great technical skill to account for perspective shifts/design issues not usually found on most flat walls or canvases!

3. The most amazing thing about this huge, challenging fresco? Not only was it Michelangelo’s first major painting commission in any medium, it was the first time, Yes! The first! that he painted a fresco. In his first work, in a famously difficult medium, he created a masterpiece that still, 500 years later, inspires awe in anyone who sees it. Not bad for a rookie!

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling

Michelangelo’s painting style

Michelangelo perfected the painting of the human figure through his study of anatomy that he had applied to his sculptures. “Son of Man” on Sistine Chapel ceiling (left)

Another earlier painting completed by Michelangelo in 1506, “Holy Family” , (tempura on panel)( shown right) was complete before beginning work on the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo insisted he was a sculptor, not a painter. Therefore, this surviving easel painting shows solid, statuesque people posed in a sculptural group; the work of a sculptor with a brush.

“The Last Judgment” at Sistine Chapel

“The Last Judgment” was painted on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City.

The work took four years to complete and was done between 1536 and 1541 (preparation of the altar wall began in 1535.) Michelangelo began working on it twenty years after having finished the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

The work is massive and spans the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel. It is a depiction of the Second Coming of Christ and the final and eternal judgment by God of all humanity.

In the “Last Judgment” painting, St. Bartholomew was painted by Michelangelo displaying peeling skin.

This is considered by many art historians as a self-portrait by Michelangelo .

Michelangelo often had drawn himself in a state of lost strength. He painted “The Last Judgment” in his sixties and may have painted this self-portrait as a representation of his aging.

Michelangelo’s Self-Portrait?

Raphael’s Mastery of Perspective

In “Madonna of the Meadow” painted in 1506, Raphael showed the influence of Leonardo da Vinci. The desolate meadows emphasize the isolated coziness of the interaction between the three figures as Madonna’s figure protects the holy babies from the outer world. Raphael brilliantly used his knowledge of perspective, linear and arial, in this work and others.But the background reminds the viewer of possible dangers, such as those awaiting Christ in the city where he would be tried in the future. By venturing outside the studio in his paintings, Raphael confronted viewers with the uncertainties of a more public life.

Raphael Sanzio was born in 1483 in the province of Umbria. Raphael lacked the depth of knowledge of Leonardo and could not match Michelangelo’s power, but unlike them he was a likable and even tempered artist that made him a favorite with potential patrons.

Raphael’s “School of Athens”

Raphael arrived in Rome in 1508 and Pope Julius II found work for the young artist. He was asked to decorate the Pope's private library in a selection of rooms known as the Stanze. The paintings include "The School of Athens", "Disputation of the Sacrament" and "Parnassus", all housed in the signature room. These remain among the most famous images produced by this painter.

Mannerism is a term which is used to describe art which is transitional between the High Renaissance and Baroque periods. The Renaissance ends around 1550, and the Baroque begins around 1600, so Mannerism takes place in approximately the 50 years in between. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it.

Mannerism is characterized by elongated, distorted, and exaggerated figures. The pictoral space in Mannerism paintings is crowded, complex, and can be confusing.Artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, and early Michelangelo are responsible for this movement. Mannerism is noted for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial (as opposed to naturalistic) qualities.

Mannerism

One of Titian's most famous paintings, Bacchus and Ariadne (left), is one of five commissioned by Alfonso D’Este for his palace in Ferrara, Italy.  Titian painted this between 1520-23. It shows his innovative usage of color and movement for this time period. The happy mood, spirit of pagan abandon, and the exquisite sense of humor in this interpretation of an idyllic world make it one of the miracles of Renaissance art.

Titian and ColorTiziano Vecelli, known in English as Titian, became known as the most versatile of Italian “Venetian School” painters. No one ever knew his exact birth year but he lived a very long life. He was equally talented with portraits, landscapes, mythological, and religious subjects. His painting methods associated with the Mannerism movement, particularly in the application and use of color, would exercise a huge influence not only on painters of the Italian Renaissance, but on future generations of Western art.

It took Titian two years (1516–1518) to complete his Assunta (Assumption of the Virgin) (left), whose three-tier composition and color scheme established him as the preeminent painter north of Rome.

Titian’s Assunta

In the Gothic church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice, this work of Titian’s moved away from the rigid centralized schemes of the Early Renaissance to form a new style. In this one, the “Assumption of the Virgin” altarpiece, the composition follows new dynamic action. To the excitement of the apostles below, angels raise the Virgin towards the open arms of the Lord. It is a picture of motion, light, and color.

Titian was recognized as a towering genius in his own time. Lomazzo described him as “the sun amidst small stars not only among the Italians but all the painters of the world”. His reputation as one of the giants of art is intact (it has been commonplace for centuries to describe him as the greatest of all colorists).

Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin (the Assunta) is arguably the greatest Venetian painting in the world. It is a grand 23 feet high!

Titian continued…