The Art  of the Italian Renaissance
Art and Patronage Italians were willing to spend a lot of money on art. Art communicated social, political, and spiritual values. Italian banking & international trade interests had the money. Public art in Florence was organized and supported by guilds. Therefore, the consumption of art was used as  a form of competition for social & political status!
Charateristics of Renaissance Art
1. Realism & Expression Expulsion from the Garden Masaccio 1427 First nudes since classical times .
2. Perspective Perspective! Perspective! Perspective! Perspective! Perspective! First use  of linear  perspective! Perspective! Perspective! The Trinity Masaccio 1427 What you are, I once was; what I am, you will become.
Perspective
3. Classicism Greco-Roman influence. Secularism. Humanism. Individualism    free standing figures. Symmetry/Balance The  “Classical Pose” Medici “Modest Venus” (1c)
4. Emphasis on Individualism Batista Sforza & Federico de Montefeltre:  The Duke & Dutchess of Urbino Piero della Francesca, 1465-1466.
 
5. Geometrical Arrangement of  Figures The Dreyfus Madonna  with the Pomegranate Leonardo da Vinci 1469 The figure as architecture!
6. Light & Shadowing/Softening Edges Chiaroscuro Sfumato
Renaissance Florence
Lorenzo  the Magnificent 1478 - 1521 Cosimo de Medici 1517 - 1574 PATRONS  OF ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART
Filippo Brunelleschi 1377 - 1436 Architect Cuppolo of St. Maria del Fiore
Filippo Brunelleschi Commissioned to build the cathedral dome. Used unique architectural concepts. He studied the ancient  Pantheon in Rome. Used ribs for support.
Brunelleschi’s “Secret”
Brunelleschi’s  Dome
Comparing Domes
Other Famous Domes   Il Duomo   St. Peter’s  St. Paul’s  US capital  (Florence)  (Rome)  (London)  (Washington)
The Renaissance 'Individual'
The Renaissance “Man” Broad knowledge about many things in different fields. Deep knowledge/skill in one area. Able to link information from different areas/disciplines and create new knowledge. The Greek ideal of the “well-rounded man” was at the heart of Renaissance education.
1.   Self-Portrait  -- da Vinci, 1512 1452 - 1519 Artist Sculptor Architect Scientist Engineer Inventor
Leonardo, the Artist The Virgin of the Rocks  Leonardo da Vinci 1483-1486
 
Leonardo, the Artist: From his Notebooks of over  5000 pages (1508-1519)
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa  – da Vinci, 1503-4 ?
Mona Lisa   OR  da Vinci??
Leonardo’s Last Supper
The Last Supper  - da Vinci, 1498 & Geometry
horizontal vertical Perspective! The Last Supper  - da Vinci, 1498
Detail of Jesus The Last Supper   Leonardo da Vinci 1498 Deterioration
A Da Vinci “Code”: St. John  or  Mary Magdalene?
Leonardo’s   Annunciation
Leonardo, the Scientist (Biology): Pages from his  Notebook An example of the humanist desire to unlock the secrets of nature.
Leonardo, the Scientist (Anatomy):  Pages from his  Notebook
Leonardo, the Inventor:   Pages from his  Notebook
Man Can Fly?
A study of siege defenses . Studies of water-lifting devices. Leonardo, the Engineer:  Pages from his  Notebook
Michelangelo’s David
 
Michelangelo’s Pieta
Michelangelo’s Painting of the Sistine Chapel
 
 
Michelangelo’s Wall in Sistine chapel
Raphael’s  School of Athens-it follows on next slide!!!
 
The School of Athens  – Raphael, 1510 -11 One point perspective. All of the important Greek philosophers and thinkers are included    all of the great personalities of the  Seven Liberal Arts ! A great variety of poses. Located in the papal apartments library. Raphael worked on this commission simultaneously as Michelangelo was doing the Sistine Chapel. No Christian themes here.
DaVinci as Plato  looks to the heavens [or  the IDEAL realm]. Aristotle saying  looks to this earth [the here and now] teacher!
 
 
Averroes Hypatia Pythagoras
 
Zoroaster Ptolemy Euclid
Raphael!
Donatello’s David
 
Botticelli’s Primavera
Primavera  – Botticelli, 1482 Depicted classical gods as almost naked and life-size.
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus follows on next slide!
Birth of Venus  – Botticelli, 1485 An attempt to depict perfect beauty.
 
 
Characteristics of Northern Renaissance Art The continuation of late medieval attention to details. Tendency toward realism & naturalism [less emphasis on the “classical ideal”]. Interest in landscapes. More emphasis on middle-class and peasant life. Details of domestic interiors. Great skill in portraiture.
Jan van Eyck Arnolfini Marriage NORTHERN RENAISSANCE
Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife (Wedding Portrait)   Jan Van Eyck 1434
 
Massys’  The Moneylender & His Wife , 1514
 
 
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) The greatest of German artists. A scholar as well as an artist. His patron was the Emperor Maximilian I. Also a scientist Wrote books on geometry, fortifications, and human proportions. Self-conscious individualism of the Renaissance is seen in his portraits.    Self-Portrait at 26 , 1498.
Dürer  Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse woodcut, 1498
“ The Ambassadors” ~ Hans Holbein the Younger How in the world did he paint this skull to look skewed and slanted?
Holbein’s,  The Ambassadors , 1533 A Skull
Multiple Perspectives
Hieronymus Bosch The Garden of Earthy Delights 1500
Hieronymus Bosch The Garden of Earthy Delights (details) 1500
Hieronymus Bosch The Cure of Folly 1478-1480
Bruegel’s,  Tower of Babel , 1563
Bruegel’s,  The Beggars , 1568
Bruegel’s,  Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind , 1568
El Greco Christ in Agony on the Cross 1600s
El Greco Portrait of a Cardinal 1600

Renaissance artists' work