This document provides an overview of Renaissance art from the 13th to 17th centuries. It describes key developments like the invention of oil paints and linear perspective. Major artists discussed include Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, and northern European masters like Durer and Van Eyck. The text outlines the three periods of the Renaissance - Early, Italian, and Northern - and highlights influential works and artistic advancements during this time of rebirth and revival of classical ideas.
1. Compiled by Anriette van Wyk by
utilising the studies of various
subject matter experts as source
documents.
2. Renaissance Era
1,200 A.D. - 1,700 A.D.
• Renaissance means rebirth.
• Revival of cultural awareness and learning
• Renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman
art and design
• Emphasis on human beings, their
environment, science, and philosophy.
• Artwork was done on walls and ceilings of
churches, public buildings, and private
dwellings.
3. • Renaissance art
wanted to show joy in
human beauty and
life’s pleasures.
Renaissance art is
more lifelike than in
the art of the Middle
Ages.
5. Invention of Oil Paint
• Tempera paint was made by mixing
pigment powder with egg yolks or gum
VERY RESTRICTIVE.
• Oil paint was invented by mixing
pigments with linseed oil
• Oil paint was easily blended, long
lasting, slow drying, many different
colors
6. Renaissance Terms
• Quattrocento:
– Century beginning in 1400
• Humanist:
– scholars who studied classical texts
• Vernacular:
– common, everyday language
7. Three Major Periods
I. Early Renaissance
II. Italian Renaissance
III. Northern Renaissance
8. Early Renaissance
• Florence - early 1400s
• Patron - a person who financially
supports an artist
• Major Players:
•
Masaccio
•
Donatello*
•
Botticelli*
9. Masaccio (1401-1428)
• Christ Descending
from the Cross
• Used the technique
of perspective, which
had been developed
by Brunelleschi, to
give the appearance
of distance.
10. Donatello di Niccolo Bardi
(1386-1466)
• Donatello is known
for his sculpture.
• Acquired great fame in
his lifetime and was
called to many Italian
cities to share his gift
of sculpture
12. David, 1425 A.D.
• First free-standing
nude sculpture in a
1000 years
• Church was finally
less restrictive
• Depicts David
slaying the Goliath
• The sculpture of
David became a
symbol for Florence
16. Venus – Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty
Zephyrus – God of Wind with his lover, Chloris
Pomona – Nymph greeting Venus with a robe
• Painting inspired by a poem by Angelo Poliziano, an Italian Humanist
• Commissioned by the Medici for the Medici family, a powerful wealthy
Italian family
• From a series of paintings based on Classical themes
Botticelli, Birth of Venus
19. Italian Renaissance
• 16th Century, artistic
leadership spread
from Florence to
Rome and Venice
• There was a focus on
technical mastery
including:
composition, ideal
proportions, and
perspective
• Major Players:
–
–
–
–
Da Vinci*
Michelangelo*
Raphael*
Titian
20. Leonardo Da Vinci 1452-1519
• Trained in Florence, Italy as a
painter and sculptor not a
scholar
• Was a genius both scientifically
and artistically
• Was not interested in books and
what scholars had to say-he was
interested in his own
explorations and ideas
• Always had to prove everything
• Struggle to work for commission
and finish work
• Did drawings and sculptures on
his own terms.
21. Leonardo Da Vinci
• Renaissance Man
• Stressed the intellectual aspects of art
and creativity
• Didn’t like the solemnity of most
portrait paintings so he hired musicians
and jesters to amuse his subjects
• Most important contribution might be
his notebooks
22. “Mona Lisa”
• Most famous portrait of all
time
• Painting is the wife, Lisa,
of Francesco del Giocondo
• Painting has no hard lines
or contours, technique
called sfumato
• Painting leaves us
something to guess
• Most striking is her
ambiguous half smile
23. First portrait in which a
woman looked straight
into the viewer.
Portrait suggests a history,
personality, mood, and
feeling.
First recognized for its
background.
26. • Painting demonstrates
one point perspective
• Jesus' head is the
vanishing point
• Leonardo would
spend a full day just
looking at the
painting-studying
27. • Located on end wall of the refectory of Santa Maria delle in
Millan
• One of the most renowned paintings of the Renaissance
• Painting depicts the scene Jesus and the apostles at the last
supper, when Jesus tells the apostles that one of them will
betray him
30. His notebooks…
Machine gun
flight
flight
canon
Designs for: canals, central
heating, printing press, telescope,
portable bombs, theory of
circulation 100 years before
Harvey, studies of fetus in womb so
accurate that they could be used
today to teach embryology
31. • Was a pioneer in the study
of human anatomy
• Dissected over thirty
bodies
• Almost 2,500 drawings and
studies of his ideas left in
notebooks
• Most of his notes and
drawings were kept-people
knew of the importance of
them and the genius of
Leonardo
32. • Leonardo was left handed
• He took all of his notes from right to left
• Need a mirror to read his notes
33. Inventor
• Created many
drawings of machines
and different items of
functions
• Examples of war
machines: armored
car, ladder for
besieging walls, rock
thrower
37. Michelangelo Buonarroti
• He was one of the
greatest artists of all
time. Like Leonardo,
Michelangelo was a
“Renaissance Man”
of many talents. He
was a great sculptor,
a painter, and an
architect.
38. Michelangelo Buonarroti
(1475-1564)
• Trained in Florence, Italy
• Dissected humans and drew the human
body in many different positions
• Influenced by Greek and Roman
Sculptures
• Sculpture was his true love,
he hated to paint
39. • Michelangelo was a prickly-tempered,
mistrusting and lonely man, lacking in both
interpersonal skills and confidence in his physical
appearance.
• Was often hated by other artists because of his
supreme talent and he often told you about how
good he was
• His conceit and arrogance cost him many friends
and found himself working alone
• Nobody could argue his brilliance and geniuses
40. Michelangelo
• Patron = Lorenzo de’Medici at the age of 15 as
a sculptor
• Believed that creativity was divinely inspired
• Lived a life of solitude – never apprenticed
anyone
• Like Da Vinci, he dissected corpses to study
anatomy
• Later in life focused on architecture improving
several structures for popes and civic leaders
41. The statue of
“David”
• Stands over 14’ tall
carved of marble
• Three long years to
complete the sculpture
42. The Statue of “David”
•
•
•
•
“A civic hero, he was a
warning...whoever governed
Florence should govern justly
and defend it bravely. Eyes
watchful...the neck of a
bull...hands of a killer...the body,
a reservoir of energy. He stands
poised to strike." -Michelangelo
Combined beauty with powerful
meaning
Statue stood Palazzo Vecchio, as
a symbol of our Republic
Statue took 40 men 5 days to
move it in place
43. Sistine Chapel How it began:
•
•
•
Michelangelo, while working
on what he loves most
(sculpture), is summoned to
The Vatican by Pope Julius II
to paint the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel.
Bramante, persuaded the
Pope to commission
Michelangelo to paint the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
Bramnate did not want
Michelangelo involved in the
construction of the St. Peters
Cathedral
•
•
•
Bramante knew that
Michelangelo was a selfproclaimed “terrible painter”
Hoping he would “screw” up
the paintings and the Pope
would have him killed and
Raphael (his friend) would
take the paintings over.
Plan did not succeed
44. Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
“Genius is Internal Patience”
• Commissioned by Julius II
• Began creating drawings and studies in 1508
• Him and a team of artist starting painting in
the fall of 1508
• 1509, Michelangelo fired all of his assistants
and removed all paintings and took the job
over himself
• Kept his work hidden to all except the Pope
• He painted high on scaffolding on his back
45.
46.
47. "After four tortured
years, more than 400
over life-sized figures, I
felt as old and as weary
as Jeremiah. I was only
37, yet friends did not
recognize the old man I
had become."
-Michelangelo
60. Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520)
• Raphael was strictly a
painter
• Raphael was well liked
with an easy going attitude
• Had a tough artistic
reputation to live up with
Leonardo (31 years older)
and Michelangelo (8 years
older)
• Heavily influenced by both
• Had a short career
61. Raphael
• Most popular by the
people who lived at the
time
• Decorated rooms in the
Vatican
• Star of the Papal Court
and with the ladies…
• He combined the
strengths of Da Vinci
and Michelangelo
67. Titian (TISH un)
• Father of Modern Painting
• First to really use oil on canvas as his
main medium
• Used strong colors
• Venetian (different from Florence and
Rome in that they were fascinated with
color, texture and mood)
69. Northern Renaissance
•
•
•
•
This is the Renaissance north of Italy
Netherlands, Belgium, Holland, and Germany
Lacked Roman ruins, inspiration was nature
Lacked Classical sculpture, painted reality as
they saw it instead of ideal proportions
• Used perspective by making objects in the
back appear “hazy” suggesting depth.
70. Hans Holbein
• One of the greatest
portraitists ever
• His patron was
Erasmus
• Enjoyed symbolic
knickknacks (typical
of this movement)
72. It is an anamorphic image of a human skull.
An
anamorphosis is an image that is distorted in such a
way that it only assumes the proportions of a
recognizable image when viewed from a certain angle,
or by reflection in curved surface. The image of the
skull in The Ambassadors is only visible as a skull when
viewed from below and to one side of the painting. It
has been suggested that it was meant to be displayed
above a staircase, so that those climbing the stairs
would be startled by the apparition of the skull as they
glanced upward at the painting. You can see a
photographic restoration of the skull image as seen
from that angle here.
74. Dürer (DEWR er)
• -”Leonardo of the North”
• Believed art should be based on scientific
observation
• Raised the status of artist from craftsman to
near prince
• First to do many self-portraits
• Famous for his woodcuts
• First to use printmaking as a major medium
for art
78. Albrecht Durer(Germany)
• Artists like Durer helped
spread Renaissance
ideas to Northern
Europe. Durer traveled
France to work for
Francis I. When he
returned to his home in
Germany, he brought
with him Renaissance
techniques and ideas.
80. Jan van Eyck (Flanders)
• Italian merchant and his
wife living in Flanders
• Symbolism in the
painting:
• Candle in the chandelier
represents Jesus
• Fruit on the windowsill
represents the innocence
of humanity
81. Jan Van Eyck
• Painted microscopic
details in brilliant
color
• -Portrait painting =
had sitter look at
painter (1st)
84. Bruegal (BROY gull)
• Flemish painter of peasant life
• -satiric edge
• -Elevated genre painting (scenes of
everyday life) to the stature of “high art”
89. Resources:
•
•
•
•
•
Boyer-Switala, J. (2011). Renaissance Art. [Online], Available:
http://www.slideshare.net/jboyerswitala/renaissance-art-9085448 Accessed: 8
March 2014
Coon, I. (2012). Art history. [Online], available:
http://www.slideshare.net/waukeestudent/art-history-14489743 Accessed: 8
March 2014
Dale, A. (2013). Early Renaissance Art in Italy. [Online], available:
http://www.slideshare.net/loveart2/early-renaissance-in-italy-19241166?
qid=48890e77-ddc1-4c33-8712-91473f1508cc&v=qf1&b=&from_search=11 Accessed: 8
March 2014
David, J. (2010). Renaissance. [Online], available:
http://www.slideshare.net/Daviddrake/renaissance-5709486 Accessed: 8 March
2014
MrRed. (2009). Renaissance Art. [Online], available:
http://www.slideshare.net/MrRed/renaissance-art-2674528 Accessed: 8 March
2014
Notas del editor
A revival or rebirth of cultural awareness and learning that took place during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, particularly in Italy, but also in Germany and other European countries. The period was characterized by a renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman art and design
1452, the village of Vinci in Tuscany
Though illegitimate, Leonardo was taken in and raised by his father. A child of unearthly beauty, Leonardo showed precocious genius in math, music and art. His greatest desire was to be apprenticed to a painter, a profession which was looked down upon at the time.
Eventually, his father was worn down by the boy's undeniable talent, and took him to Florence to study painting, sculpting and engineering under the great Andrea del Verrocchio. Leonardo quickly outstripped his master (though he continued to study with Verrocchio until around 1476) and was admitted to the Florence painters' guild in 1472.
How to make this brief? Leonardo spent about twenty years (1480s - 1499) in the service of Lodovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan (who frequently neglected to pay Leonardo). His output during this period included two of his best known paintings: The Madonna of the Rocks (1483-85) and the mural The Last Supper (1495-98).
When Milan was seized by French troops in 1499, Leonardo returned to Florence. It was here that he painted one of the most famous portraits of all time, The Mona Lisa, more correctly known as La Gioconda (1503-06).
Leonardo spent his later years moving between Florence, Rome and France, working on a variety of projects. He lived long enough to be appreciated and well-paid, a rarity among artists. Throughout it all, he kept prodigious notebooks, in "mirror" writing, to keep track of his ideas, designs, and numerous sketches. Leonardo eventually settled in France, at the invitation of Francis I, an ardent admirer.
Leonardo may also be credited with the most famous portrait of all time, that of Lisa, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, and known as the Mona Lisa (Paris, Louvre). An aura of mystery surrounds this painting, which is veiled in a soft light, creating an atmosphere of enchantment. There are no hard lines or contours here (a technique of painting known as sfumato—fumo in Italian means "smoke"), only seamless transitions between light and dark. Perhaps the most striking feature of the painting is the sitter's ambiguous half smile. She looks directly at the viewer, but her arms, torso, and head each twist subtly in a different direction, conveying an arrested sense of movement. Leonardo explores the possibilities of oil paint in the soft folds of the drapery, texture of skin, and contrasting light and dark (chiaroscuro). The deeply receding background, with its winding rivers and rock formations, is an example of Leonardo's personal view of the natural world: one in which everything is liquid, in flux, and filled with movement and energy.
Leonardo's Last Supper, on the end wall of the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, is one of the most renowned paintings of the High Renaissance. Recently restored, The Last Supper had already begun to flake during the artist's lifetime due to his failed attempt to paint on the walls in layers (not unlike the technique of tempera on panel), rather than in a true fresco technique. Even in its current state, it is a masterpiece of dramatic narrative and subtle pictorial illusionism.
Leonardo chose to capture the moment just after Christ tells his apostles that one of them will betray him, and at the institution of the Eucharist. The effect of his statement causes a visible response, in the form of a wave of emotion among the apostles. These reactions are quite specific to each apostle, expressing what Leonardo called the "motions of the mind." Despite the dramatic reaction of the apostles, Leonardo imposes a sense of order on the scene. Christ's head is at the center of the composition, framed by a halo-like architectural opening. His head is also the vanishing point toward which all lines of the perspective projection of the architectural setting converge. The apostles are arranged around him in four groups of three united by their posture and gesture. Judas, who was traditionally placed on the opposite side of the table, is here set apart from the other apostles by his shadowed face.
The examples below demonstrate that Leonardo Da Vinci was not the only artist who depicted the Disciple John in such a way within the context of The Last Supper (and it should also be noted that Medieval Christian apocryphal tradition also maintains that the Disciple John was married to Mary Magdalene – as claimed in the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voraigne, when discussing Mary Magdalene’s "journey to Marseilles", for example).
Young Michelangelo, motherless by the age of six, fought long and hard with his father for permission to apprentice as an artist. At the age of 12, he began studying under Domenico Ghirlandajo, who was the most fashionable painter in Florence at the time.
Fashionable, but extremely jealous of Michelangelo's emerging talent. Ghirlandajo passed the lad off to be apprenticed to Bertoldo di Giovanni, the sculptor, and here Michelangelo found the work that became his true passion. His sculpture came to the attention of the most powerful family in Florence, the Medici, and he gained their patronage.
Michelangelo's output was, quite simply, stunning, in quality, quantity and scale. His most famous statues include the 18-foot David (1501-1504) and the Pietà (1499), but his sculpture encompassed many other pieces including elaborately decorated tombs. He did not consider himself a painter, and (justifiably) complained throughout four straight years of the work, but created one of the greatest masterpieces of all time on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1508-1512). Additionally, he painted The Last Judgment (1534-1541) on the altar wall of the same chapel many years later. As an old man, he was tapped by the Pope to complete the half-finished St. Peter's Church in the Vatican. Not all of the plans he drew were utilized but, after his death, architects built the dome still in use today. His poetry was very personal and not as grand as his other works, yet is of great value to those who wish to know Michelangelo.
Accounts of his life seem to portray Michelangelo as a prickly-tempered, mistrusting and lonely man, lacking in both interpersonal skills and confidence in his physical appearance. Perhaps that is why he created works of such heartbreaking beauty and heroism that they are still held in awe these many centuries later.
Michelangelo, while working on what he loves most (sculpture), is summoned to The Vatican by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Little did he know that his arch rival, Bramante, persuaded the Pope to commission Michelangelo because of Bramante's fear that he (Michelangelo) would eventually weasel his way into the design and construction of the new St. Peter's Cathedral, something that Bramante did NOT want to share with anyone else.
Bramante came up with the perfect plan: have the Pope hire Michelangelo, who was self-admittedly not at all a fresco painter, to do the frescoes, which were a super long term project. Michelangelo would naturally screw up the ceiling because he wasn't a painter and because his own personality, would eventually sabotage the project anyway. Next, the Pope gets upset, kills Michelangelo, and then Raphael (a personal friend of Bramante) would step up to the plate and finish the frescoes off. What a plan!
The only problem is that Bramante's plan didn't work. Michelangelo, complaining every step of the way, finished the frescoes in four years, and did them so beautifully, so magnificently, that his reputation was greatly enhanced, both with the public and the Pope. Fifteen years later, Bramante dies, and Michelangelo starts (guess what?....) designing the dome and facade of the new St. Peters.