Transcript PowerPoint Presentation - The Renaissance in Art

THE
RENAISSANCE
The Renaissance
in Art IN
REVIEW
-Uhh… what’s a Renaissance?
-Italian Renaissance
-Northern Renaissance
Why Italy?
• A. Urban City-states (no feudal past due to
landscape… too many small mountains for
large farms)… trading of ideas & growth of
education & wealth in city environments
• B. Wealthy (Need money to have time for
leisure/enjoyment of art… Medici family)
Money from trade, finished goods (glass,
textiles/cloth, etc.)
• C. Geography (Greek teachers moved there
following fall of Constantinople… Muslim
traders, w/knowledge of Greek past, trade there
often… )
• D. Resources (Rome… brought money from all
over Europe with Church; Classical artifacts
found all throughout daily life; many
monasteries for ancient manuscripts, &
universities to push scholarship/learning)
I. Renaissance ID
• Who? Humanists… scholars, teachers
& artists (see next slide)… keep
in mind that the Renaissance was about
education in Italy, so it was an UPPER
class phenomenon
• What? A Rebirth of classical past.
• Where? Italy first, esp. Florence
• When? Around 1350-1550
• Why (Sig.)? Birth of modern thought…
more secular, more individualistic,
more rational
Humanism:
• Educational philosophy… antischolasticism (don’t memorize, but
understand)
• Emphasis on Classical Past
• Taught history, language,
literature, philosophy
and rhetoric
• Petrarch was “Father”
The Art of the Renaissance
… Italian Ren.
• Many masters… vivid, detailed & lifelike
works
– Perspective (depth) & chiaroscuro (shading
to add natural qualities)
– Free-standing statues (see next slide)
• Bright colors (new oil based paints), themes
reflect thoughts of day (+ where money
came from… rich merchants seeking their
place on Earth, while in a Catholic nation)
Sculpture through the Ages…
Michelangelo’s David…
• Medieval:
Bas Relief
(Who’s got man’s
back? The Church.
Man can’t stand
alone in the MAs!)
Renaissance: Free Standing
• Shows key values of It. Ren…
Individualism & Secularism (man
stands alone on earth) & Rationalism
(study of anatomy, realism)
very different
interpretation than
Donatello’s (later)
The Renaissance Art Experience
• For each of the following pictures, first look
at the work and examine the ways in which
it reflects the values of the day (for the
cinquecentro, or 15th century). After
viewing pictures, thinking through your
analysis, click to bring up brief overview of
pics/statues.
Donatello, David
• 1440… earliest free-standing
nude (& free standing Bronze)
since Classical times
• Notice the sly, playful look of
David after slaying Goliath (head
under foot)… this is definitely a
new age, a Renaissance of the
Individual!
• David is very common subject of
Renaissance; human being,
fighting against odds and doing
great things… virtù!?!
• Michelangelo,
• Creation of Man (from the ceiling of Sistine Chapel)
Early 16th century; Where is God in relation to Adam? Notice
attitude of Adam, placement of hands, realism of anatomy…
Renaissance masterpiece, painted from his back!)
• Raphael, School of Athens
• Love of classics… Plato &
Aristotle walking through
School of Athens, discussing
key values/thoughts of day.
• Unbelievable perspective…
eye focuses on center point
in picture, creates definite
foreground and background.
• Raphael painted
contemporaries
(Michelangelo, Raphael, &
Leonardo) into painting…
showing ultimate respect for
classics, ‘we would have
loved to have been there
• Michelangelo, The Pieta
• This is made of marble… wow!
Look at flow of Mary’s gown, the
wrinkles in dress, the emaciated arm
of Jesus… unbelievable realism &
anatomical study!
• The subject reflects who is paying
for work… the Church. Found
today in St. Peter’s in the Vatican.
Other Key Intellectuals…
• Machiavelli, The Prince
– Ends justify means… utilize virtù
• Baldasare Castiglione, Book of the Courtier
– All the rules of how should act in life; nothing religious about
topic, very secular
– Kind of an early “Miss Manners”… don’t spit on floor, try not to
wipe mouth with your sleeve, and how to impress ladies/men
• Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man
– All about the potential greatness of man; man is only creature that
has the ability to choose his own destiny… can soar to greatness,
or can drop down to lowest levels of humanity. Key point is that
it is his choice, not a religious principle (very much along the
lines of thought for Neo-Platonists, those modern Renaissance
thinkers who turned to Plato for answers to cosmological
questions).
The Northern Renaissance
• Art of Northern Ren. mirrors ideas of
Reformation… simpler messages, more lay
audience; Used Printing Press (Gutenberg)
Italian Ren.
Northern Ren.
• “Simpler” themes
•Ornate scenes, often
-Often Death, Piety or
stressing individualism,
Village scenes; Portraits
mythology, etc.
• No classical past (no
•Antiquity
fascination w/Rome or Greece)
• Few paintings for Church
•Roman Catholic
(influence of Reformation…
Church funded lots…
wanted simple religion, not
ornate & wealthy)
• Albrect Durer,
The Four
Horseman of the
• Strong
theme of death & destruction…
Apocalypse
sign that apocalypse was coming (largely in
response to lavish lifestyle & corruption of
church officials)
•Portrayed death by famine, disease &
war… running over helpless people
• Woodcut (carved in relief in wood)
• Jan van Eyck,
• The Arnolfini Wedding
• Common scene of wedding… normal
people (merchant and wife)
• Used oil based paints… bright &
realistic
• TONS of symbology here… one
candle burnign in chandelier, symbolizing
one guiding light of Jesus; dog is sign of
fidelity or faithfulness; did artist paint
himself in mirror in back? Is this
wedding in a church?
• Hans Holbein
• The Ambassadors
• Portraits very common in North…
Holbein was the master. If Church
didn’t fund works for artists in North,
needed patronage of newly rich
merchants
• Look at how guys are portrayed as
“Renaissance Men”… instruments,
globe, books, telescope, scrolls & map;
all included for sole purpose of making
themselves appear smart & worldly
Other Intellectuals
• Erasmus, In Praise of Folly
– Julius Excluded from Heaven
• satire making fun of Julius II… pope
too corrupt to get into heaven!)
– “The Prince of Humanists”
– Called for end to church corruption, but never
gave up on Catholicism
• Thomas More, Utopia
– Possible to improve life… while still on earth!
– Utopia either showed perfect society based on
Christian principles (though in foreign land…
natives loving thy neighbors, sharing in
property for early sign of Communist ideas)