Renaissance Art & Architecture

The Rebirth of Classical Ideas?

Background & Phases

• 1050 – 1350– Population

growth– Economic

development– City – states

• 1200 – late 1500s– Artistic shifts &

achievement

Bellini: Sacra Conversazione

Intellectual Development: Humanism

• Glorify Human Form & Potential

• Revival of classical antiquity

• Individualism• Course of study• Secular focus

Titian: Assumption of the Virgin

Renaissance Italy

• City-States

• Power People– Medici (F)– Este

(Ferrara)– Sforza (M)– Doge (V)– Pope (PS)

Florence

• Commerce / Trade

• Banking: Medici

• Textile

• Patronage

Renaissance Art: Techniques

• Religious >> Secular subjects

• Realistic

• Perspective

• Movement

• Symmetry

• Proportion

Ghirlandiao: Adoration of the Shepherds

Medieval v. Renaissance

• Medieval– Flat– Religious– Static

• Renaissance– 3-D– Secular / Human focus– Movement

Ghirlandaio: Angel Appearing to Zacharias

Giotto de Bondone: The Mourning of Christ

• Florentine School * Fresco * Individuals

Massaccio: Tribute Money• Florentine School * Perspective * Realism

Sandro Botticelli: Madonna of the Magnificat

• Expression Botticelli Face Emotional

• Double focal points: Crown + Book

Major Artists: Ninja Turtles!

Raphael – Michelangelo – Donatello – Leonardo

Raphael: Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals 1518

• Vatican Murals Commissioned by Pope Julius II

• Leo X = Julius II successor

• Focal Point = Face

Raphael: The School of Athens• In the Vatican: Stanza della Signatura

• Blending of Greek + Renaissance

• Symmetry

• Perspective

• Depth

• Light

Leonardo da Vinci

• Renaissance Man– Multi-talented– Anatomy,

mechanics, art, astronomy, weaponry…

• China?

Leonardo: The Last Supper

• Fresco * Symmetry * Individual Expression

Leonardo: Mona Lisa

• Symmetry• “Sfumato”

– Blur – Blend– Mystery

• The Grin

Leonardo’s Notebooks

• Vetruvian Man

• Anatomy advances painting & sculpture

Michelangelo: Sistine Chapel• M = sculptor,

painter, architect• Commissioned by

Pope Julius II 1508• Scaffold, personally

completed• Old & New

Testament reflects the Renaissance Era

Michelangelo: Sistine Chapel

Renaissance Sculpture

• Classical Realism

• Free standing• Marble & Bronze• Full body, busts

& reliefs

Humanism & Individuality

• Individuality portrayed in details

Ghiberti’s Doors - Florence• 1423,

Florentine, he was only 23!

• Bronze cast + gilding

• 20 yrs N doors

• 25 yrs E doors

• “Creation”

• Realism

Donatello’s David

• Free standing nude

• Proportion of human form

• 5’ tall, After beating Goliath

Michelangelo’s David• Marble

• 16’ tall

• Details

• As David decides to battle Goliath

• Classical style, details

Renaissance Architecture

• Columns

• Arch

• Dome

• Harmony via proportion

• The Circle is key

• Math!

Church & Architecture• RCC

builds to draw people

• Tells the Biblical narrative

• Visual & Symbolic

Santa Maria del Fiore in Firenze

• Lily is symbol of Florence

• Firenze = Florence• 1296 > 1418 complete,

except for the dome…• Filippo Brunelleschi took

over, finished the “cupola” (dome) in 1436.

• Largest dome in the world when completed. Still largest masonry dome

Church Architecture: Florence

• Dilemma: Octagonal Building to Dome?

• Filippo Brunelleschi, 1418 figured out how to complete… ever decreasing circles with ribs to bear weight

• Scaffolding upwards

Brunelleschi’s Cupola aka Dome

Santa Maria del Fiore in Firenze

Church Architecture: St. Peter’s• Michelangelo hired by Pope Paul III in 1546… worked

until death in 1564

• Inside St. Peter’s:– High Altar– Nave Ceiling

• Roman arches

– Under Dome• Single

dome with arch support

Church Architecture: Bramante’s Tempietto• Renaissance

“Greatest Architect”

• Commissioned by K+Q of Spain: Ferdinand & Isabella

• St. Peter’s death site

• Doric columns + Roman dome, 15’ diameter

Northern Renaissance

• Erasmus• Scholar, writer

• Reconcile Christian character w/ Humanism

• Colloquies, Adages, new Bible

Northern Renaissance • Began in Flanders >> Holland

A. Dűrer – Hans Holbein (Young) – van Eyck

Northern Renaissance• A. Dűrer (G) 1471-1528

– Woodcuts– Mass Marketing

• Holbein the Younger (G) 1497-1543

– Portraits, Henry VIII

– Expressions • Van Eyck (Flem) 1390-

1441

– Oil Paint developer

– Realism possible

English Renaissance: Elizabethan Era

• G. Chaucer– Canterbury Tales:

Vernacular

• Sir Th. More– Utopia: Ideal place of

virtue

• Spenser– Faerie Queen: Ode

• Shakespeare plays– Comedy, tragedy,

morality

Renaissance Impact• Genius of humanity all at once… why?

• Changed art & architecture forever

• Individualism drives future thought