The Beginning of Modern Painting:

The Renaissance1420 - 1600

Legacy of the Middle Ages…

• Notions of honor, duty, loyalty, and love• European cities / The middle class• The state system - representative

government• English common law -concept of liberty • Equality and the sacred worth of the

individual • Universities• Corporations, Bookkeeping & Banking• Preserved Greco-Roman scholarship• Growth of secularism

Humanism:• A philosophical world view which focused on human

potential and achievement in this world – Secularism.

• Petrarch (1304-1374) and Boccaccio (1313-1375) encouraged the study of Greek and Roman writings to understand their ideas and values.

• 1453 Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks. Byzantine scholars fled to Italy with collections of manuscripts – many of which were thought to be lost forever.

• Humanist scholars influenced artists and architects to carry on the classical tradition.

• A Humanist education (studia humanitatis) grammar; rhetoric; poetry, moral philosophy and history – create a citizenry able to speak and write with eloquence and clarity and be ready to participate in the civic life of the community

Characteristics of Renaissance art

• Oil on stretched canvass• Linear Perspective• Contraposto- showing action• Chiaroscuro- Use of light and

shadow-• Sfumato-without lines or borders, in

the manner of smoke• Pyramid configuration• Realism and naturalism• Details, including artist’s name.

The Birth of Venus, 1482 Sandro Bottecelli

Sandro Bottecelli, Prima Vera 1478

A Roman fresco-The Three Graces

The Renaissance: Why In Italy?

Patrons of the Arts…

• Cosimo de Medeci

Medieval art

Giotto (1266-1337): pre-cursor to the Renaissance

St. Francis Gives His Cloak to the Poor, Giotto

The Last Supper, Giotto

The “Three Friends” in Florence

• Brunelleschi (1377-1446)

• Donatello (1386-1466)

• Masaccio (1401-1428)

Il Duomo, Brunellschi, 1436

David, Donatello , 1430 (David was the patron hero of Florence)

Masaccio, The Tribute Money, 1426

The High Renaissance: 1500-1550

• Da Vinci (1452-1519) • Michelangelo (1475-1564)

• Raphael (1483-1520)

• Titian, (1490-1576)

• DaVinci, 1452-1519“The ideal

Renassance Man” or

“The Universal Man

The Last Supper, 1495

Ginevra de Benci, DaVinci, 1474

• Mona Lisa, 1503-1506

Pyramid composition

Linear perspectiveLight & shadowRelaxed & naturalLayers of glaze-3D

quality

No solid lines-sfumato

“mirror writing” -13,000 pages

Michelangelo 1475-1564

Sculptor, painter, poet &

architect.

Lorenzo, The Magnificent

• Pieta, 1498-1500,

his first masterpiece

• Moses

The Sistine Chapel, 1512

Raphael, 1483-1520

• “The most popular” • most completely

expressed all the qualities of the High Renaissance

St. George Fighting the Dragon, Raphael, 1504

Madonna and Child, Raphael, 1505

Raphael’s Three Graces, 1505

School of Athens, 1510-1511

• socrates

Diogenes

Patron of both Michelangelo and

Raphael:Pope Julius II,

1511

Baldassare Castiglione (1514-15), Raphael's portrait of the famous Humanist philosopher

Lorenzo di Medici,Raphael’s portrait of

“The Magnificent”

Titian, 1490-1576

Self-portrait

• The Father of Modern Painting- no wood panels, no frescoes; only oil on canvass.

Madonna with child and saints, Titian

John On The Island Of Atmos, Titian

Adam and Eve Expelled… Titian,

Characteristics of Renaissance art

• Oil on stretched canvass• Linear Perspective• Contraposto- showing action• Chiaroscuro- Use of light and

shadow-• Sfumato-without lines or borders, in

the manner of smoke• Pyramid configuration• Realism and naturalism• Details, including artist’s name.

• Post- Renaissance painting

Tintoretto, 1592-1594

"Christ at the Sea of Galilee" -- Tintoretto

El Greco, 1547-1614 “View of Toledo” c 1600

Rembrandt, 1606-1669

Fran Hals, 1580-1666

Laughing Cavalier, 1624

Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640

Durer, 1471-1528

Any Questions…