1. High Renaissance
c.1490 – 1525
15th -16th Century

2. Architecture, Painting & Sculpture
 C. 1490-1525
 Culmination of developments from the Early
Renaissance period – anatomy, perspective
 Resulted in technically perfected work by
artists
 Key Words: clarity, simplicity, harmony,
idealism, order, balance.

3.  Figures placed in harmonious groups
 Carefully balanced compositions
 Idealised landscape backgrounds – nature
used to express the divine
 Classical dress
 Technical brilliance
 Self confident Humanism
Concepts

4. High Renaissance Architecture
 High Renaissance Architecture represents
the peak achievement in classical simplicity
and harmony.
 The central-plan layout (rotational symmetry
where the plan when rotated around its
central point, looks the same from any
viewpoint),was often used for Roman
temples, was now exemplified as the ultimate
in classical balance.

5. High Renaissance Architecture
 The founder and leader of High Renaissance
architecture - Donato Bramante (1444-1514)
 Born in Urbino. Turned from painting to
architecture
 Greatest completed work is the Tempietto - a
Doric shrine which is traditionally held to mark
the site of St Peter’s martyrdom. Despite its
small size, the Tempietto is often considered the
crowning work of High Renaissance architecture.

6. Bramante’s
Tiempetto
Tempietto:webs.woford.edu
 A small circular temple
(marking where St Peter
was martyred) The
building is heavily
influenced by the style
of the Temple of Vesta -
the most sacred site of
Ancient Rome.

7. High Renaissance Architecture
 Bramante designed the Cortile of St. Damaso
and the Belvedere at the Vatican.
 In 1506 Bramante’s design for Pope Julius II’s
rebuilding of St Peter’s Basilica was selected,
and the foundation stone laid. After Bramante’s
death and many changes of plan,
Michelangelo, as chief architect, reverted to
something closer to Bramante ’ s original
proposal.

8. Bramante’s unfinished
masterpiece is a central-plan
design for Saint Peter’s Basilica in
Rome.
After his death in 1514 the
construction of this building
encountered consistent delays
and the replacing of numerous
architects inevitably resulted in a
complete transformation of
Bramante’s original design.
(Michelangelo was one of these
architects and is responsible for
the present appearance of the
great central dome.)
Saint Peter’s Basilica Plan

9. Other Noted Architects
 Antonio da Sangallo (1485-1546) was a
student of Bramante’s – designed the Palazzo
Farnese, arguably the greatest Renaissance
palazzo.
 Michelangelo Buonarroti ( 1475- 1564) – Dome
and Façade of St Peter’s Basilica, Rome ,
Laurentian Library
 Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1537) – Villa
Farnesia, Palazza Massimo alle Colonne.

10. High Renaissance Painting
 Painting reached its peak of technical competence,
rich artistic imagination and heroic and harmonious
composition.
 Artists disregarded extraneous detail and showed
an ideal world.
 Forms, colors and proportions, light and shade
effects, spatial harmony, composition, perspective,
anatomy - all are handled with total control and an
unprecedented level of accomplishment.

11. High Renaissance Painters
 Giovanni Bellini (1430 - 1516)
 Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)
 Michelangelo (1475 - 1564)
 Raphael (1483 - 1520)
 Titian (1477 – 1576)

12. Giovanni Bellini (1430 - 1516)
 Venetian artist born into a family of painters
 A skilled painter of portraits integrated with
detailed landscape settings.
 Considered to have revolutionized Venetian
painting, moving it towards a more sensuous and
colouristic style.
 Most noted paintings: Agony in the Garden
(1460), the San Giobbe Alterpiece(1487) and
Enthroned Madonna with Saints (1505)

13. The Agony in the Garden is an early painting c.1459-65.
National Gallery, London

14. The San Zaccaria Altarpiece
(also known as Madonna Enthroned with Child
and Saints) . 1505

15. San Giobbe Alterpiece
(c.1487)

16. Leonardo da Vinci
(1452-1519)
Louvre,Paris
Mona Lisa (c. 1503-06)
 A painter, scientist, inventor,
sculptor from Florence.
 Trained under Verrocchio.
 Small number of works
survive.
 Love of botany, geology and
anatomy. Most noted works
include The Last Supper,
Mona Lisa and The Virgin on
the Rocks.
 Developed the technique
known as Sfumato – layering
of paint with subtle gradation
of tone

17. Lady with an Ermine
Czartorsyski, Poland
Baptism of Christ,
Uffizzi, Italy

18. The Annunciation
Uffizi, Italy

19. Leonardo Da Vinci
(1452-1519)
The Virgin and Child with St.
Anne,
Louvre, France
 Depicts emotion in
expression and gesture.
 Innovative use of
figurative composition.

20. Which one was painted first?
Louvre, Paris National Gallery, London
Answer:Thepaintingontheleftisbelievedtohavebeenpaintedfirst

21. The Last Supper,
Milan

22. Michelangelo
(1475-1564)
UFFIZI,Italy
The Holy Family with the infant St. John the Baptist
(15 06-1508)
This is one of the few examples of Michelangelo’s painting
( together with the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel)
 A painter, sculptor
and poet, considered
one of the greatest
High Renaissance
artists.
 Raised in Florence
and trained under
Ghirlandaio.
 Considered himself
foremost a sculptor.

23. Michelangelo
(1475-1564)
 Raised in Florence, his
patrons included the Medici
family and the Papacy in
Rome ( Pope Julius II)
 Apprenticed to prominent
Florentine painter Domenico
Ghirlandaio at the age of 12,
but soon began to study
sculpture instead.
 Classical & Idealised human
forms
 Profound religious themes.
The Entombment (c.1500)
National Gallery, London

24. Michelangelo
 The Sistine Chapel is considered to be the
greatest artistic creation in the history of
mankind.
 It From 1508 until 1512 Michelangelo worked
on this project. He had always considered
himself foremost a sculptor and resisted the
task but relented and bowed to pressure from
Pope Julius II.

26. The Sistine Chapel

27. Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) 1483-1520
 Painter, Architect
 Noted his Madonna’s and for large figure
compositions in the Vatican in Rome.
 Clarity of form and ease of composition
 Most famous work is The School of Athens –
perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of
High Renaissance Art

28. The School of Athens

29. The Wedding of the Virgin
(1504)
An altarpiece

30. The Sistine Madonna (c1513)The Triumph of Galatea (c1512)

31. Titian (1477 – 1576)
 Trained with Bellini and Giorgione .
 One of the most expressive painters of his time and is
known as the greatest Venetian artist of the sixteenth
century,
 Most noted for his glorious use of colour in his
paintings and was a highly skilled portraitist.
 He excelled in highly decorative mythological
paintings.
 Unlike other artists of the time, he devoted himself
solely to oil painting

32. Titian's first major public
commission in Venice:-
The Assumption of the Virgin
For the high altar of Santa Maria
Gloriosa deiFrari (1516–18)
Established his place as the leading
painter of the city.

33. Venus of Urbino
(Uffizi, Italy).
Venus, the mythological goddess of love, is the subject of a number of paintings
by Titian.

34. Titian's portraits are
remarkable for the way in
which they seem to
express a psychological
dimension while also
suggesting something of
the sitter's status and
importance. His ability to
flatter, idealise whilst
encompassing realism
soon became the
benchmark for future
aristocratic portraiture.

35. Bacchus and Ariadne
(1523-24)

36. High Renaissance Sculpture
 High Renaissance
sculpture is characterized
by an "ideal" balance
between stillness and
movement.
Madonna and Child
1501-05, Marble, Bruges

37. High Renaissance Sculptor
 Michelangelo - God put
the sculpture within the
rock and that the artist
must uncover it
 Humanist

38. At age 23, Michelangelo
completed his magnificent Pieta.

39. • The employment of contraposto
is almost exaggerated in the
composition.
• He began work on the colossal
figure of "David" in 1501, and by
1504 the sculpture ( 4.34m/14 ft
3 in tall) was in place outside the
Palazzo Vecchio.
• The statue became a symbol for
the new republic that had
replaced Medici rule.
• Michelangelo portrayed David
partly as the ideal man, partly as
an adolescent youth at the
moment he faces the giant, with
the deed before him.

40. During the High Renaissance
there was the development of
small scale statue for private
patrons, the creation of busts
and tombs also developing.
The subject matter related to
sculpture was mostly religious
but also with a significant
strand of classical individuals
in the form of tomb sculpture
and paintings as well as
ceilings of cathedrals.
Moses – detail from the Tomb of Julius II
1545

41. Tomb of Julius II
1545
Marble
Rome

42. Acknowledgements
Art Associates
Maria Moore
Margaret O’Shea
Local Facilitator Team
Aine Andrews
Joe Caslin
Jane Campbell
Siobhan Campbell
Niamh O’Donoghue
Niamh O’Neill
Keith O’Rahilly
Sheena McKeon
Tony Morrissey
Monica White
Many thanks to the following for their invaluable contribution to the European
Art History and Appreciation series of workshops and resource materials.
PDST Professional Development Service for Teachers

43. PDST Professional Development Service for Teachers
The PDST is funded by the
Department of Education and
Skills under the National
Development Plan 2007 -
2013
Cultural & Environmental Education
Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST)
Dublin West Education Centre,
Old Blessington Road,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24
National Co-ordinator
Conor Harrison
Mobile: 087 240 5710
E-mail: conorharrison@pdst.ie
Administrator
Angie Grogan
Tel: 014528018 Fax: 014528010
E-mail: angiegrogan@pdst.ie.